Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Background
Welp,, after a long break from Warhammer 40k, 8th edition has sucked me right back in. I played quite a bit during 3rd and 4th edition, but was not able to stay interested after that. With all of the preview material that led up to 8th, a few friends and I decided to give it ago.

With a new edition came a need for a new army to play with. I took a look through the current range of miniatures and decided that this time around, I would follow the rule of cool and choose something I liked. Space Marines were out. They're everywhere, and I played Black Templars my last go 'round. I like Orks. Who doesn't like Orks? Ultimately I decided they might be cool as a secondary force, but not as my primary. I continued to find myself leaning towards Imperial Guard. Cadians are totally whitebread boring though. Taking a second mortgage on my house for a forgeworld army wasn't a good idea either.

Then it happened. I remembered about those sleeveless studs with bandanas. Hell yeah. So I went down to my LGS and picked up a blister of metal Catachan snipers, and a plastic command squad box. That seemed like an okay start. I start clipping the parts off the command squad sprue and I notice that they're total weenies. They're scaled down. Somehow, these musclebound death machines are Cadian sized jabronis. This is not going to work.

So look, I've got to come clean here. Calling this a new army isn't entirely accurate. It's really a new OLD army. I've spent a lot of time scouring the internet for metal catachan figures as well as new in box OOP plastic catachans. Finally, after a few months, I've got enough to round out my army and get to work on modeling and painting.

As if I didn't make this hard enough, I've never actually finished painting an entire army. Now that I'm old enough to sit still and enjoy a quiet moment, I'm thinking this is my chance.

What can you expect?
A whole bunch of classic plastic and metal catachans complete with some small conversions and a sprinkling of some forgeworld goodness as needed. Oh, and Valkryies. A bunch of Valkryies.

What do I need from you?
Be honest. If it sucks, tell me it sucks. If it's cool, cool. Say that too. The bottom line is that I'm using this log as a way for me to stay accountable and productive. It's much easier, for me at least, when there's some dialogue involved!





Automatically Appended Next Post:
When I started this project, I knew I needed to do something to help them stand out. So, a few small rules I hope to carry through the force to help tie everything together:

1) All models will have a customized base.
2) Veterans will be painted in "tiger stripe" camouflage to help set them a part.
3) Minimize duplicate poses as much as possible.

With those things in mind, I've done a number of variations of boonie style caps as well as patrol caps.



Here's a sample of what to expect with the bases. Since this photo was taken, I've made many more.


Command squads are all modeled with a guidon to represent the company they're from.







Automatically Appended Next Post:
Here are my first three completed models for the force. I'm working towards completing a unit at a time. This one needs one more meltagunner to be complete. They're not perfect. I'm aiming for a high tabletop standard. C+C encouraged!




I'm hoping to have this guy finished up in the next day or two:

Looking good dude. Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

EDC

Great stuff- especially the guide-on and the tiger stripe cammies. The color balance really works, too. And you're much better at painting faces tan I am- I'm still observing, practicing (and painting over), so these pics are a big help to me.

I look forward to seeing more!

evildrcheese wrote:Looking good dude. Looking forward to seeing how this develops!

EDC

Thanks for the interest!

Meer_Cat wrote:Great stuff- especially the guide-on and the tiger stripe cammies. The color balance really works, too. And you're much better at painting faces tan I am- I'm still observing, practicing (and painting over), so these pics are a big help to me.

I look forward to seeing more!

I appreciate the kind words!

First squad finished!

Melta Veterans with Meltas

The hats are brilliant, well done!

And the paint jobs are v good too, I like these a lot.

Only thing that stands out to me is the green plastic plants, I wonder if they would look better painted?

 Slinky wrote:
....Only thing that stands out to me is the green plastic plants, I wonder if they would look better painted?

I've wondered about this myself. They're easy to be removed (just a hole drilled through and superglue on the underside of the base). I think I'm going to do another squad or two like this and see how it looks before I make a choice.

Here's my next squad for basing. It's a full 10 man veteran squad equipped with:

1 x Heavy Flamer
3 x Flamer
5 x Shotguns
1 x Sergeant with Chainsword and Plasma Pistol.

I've opted to skip the hats and backpacks with these guys and stick with the more classic Catachan bandanna look. I'm planning to give each of these guys some camouflage face paint and base them more heavily with tall grass and vegetation. The shotguns are mostly from an old Necromunda weapons sprue. One of the shotguns came from the Chaos Cultist Leader out of the Dark Vengeance box and the other was scratch built. I'm wrestling with maybe sculpting some small flames for the flamers. We'll see.

On the tabletop, this squad in particular has been a monster when paired with a Company Commander and dropped out of a transport. Hoping to do them some justice with a paint job to match!

Bonus restoration of this stud in the works too.
AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!


More to follow!

Nice!

I presume you have seen the new GW basing releases - Could these be useful for you?

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Barbed-Bracken-2017

This threat just went wild on me. Excellent dedication and work.

Slinky wrote:Nice!

I presume you have seen the new GW basing releases - Could these be useful for you?

https://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Barbed-Bracken-2017

I have! I actually have some of the creeping vines on the bases of the shotgun/flamer vets. Definitely nice basing kits.

cormadepanda wrote:This threat just went wild on me. Excellent dedication and work.

Thanks!

Very messy update:

Camouflage face/body paint in progress:

Promising start on the body camo.

EDC

Forgeworld has delivered a serious dice rolling delivery system.

Hell yes

These chaps look great, the tiger stripe on veterans is a cool way to make them stand out from the crowd.

I like the attention to detail on the bases as well, is makes such a big difference to the overall look of a model.

As an aside, where did you get the little plastic spider on one of the bases from? I've been looking for something similar for my Orks.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

I've wondered about this myself. They're easy to be removed (just a hole drilled through and superglue on the underside of the base). I think I'm going to do another squad or two like this and see how it looks before I make a choice.

I've been experimenting with them myself and a quick wash with a darker colour does help. You can get some that are less luminous as well though, especially in fake plants from pound shops and the like.

 Kroem wrote:
These chaps look great, the tiger stripe on veterans is a cool way to make them stand out from the crowd.

I like the attention to detail on the bases as well, is makes such a big difference to the overall look of a model.

As an aside, where did you get the little plastic spider on one of the bases from? I've been looking for something similar for my Orks.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

I've wondered about this myself. They're easy to be removed (just a hole drilled through and superglue on the underside of the base). I think I'm going to do another squad or two like this and see how it looks before I make a choice.

I've been experimenting with them myself and a quick wash with a darker colour does help. You can get some that are less luminous as well though, especially in fake plants from pound shops and the like.

Thanks! I'll experiment with trying some washes on the plants.

The spiders came from the arachnarok spider kit from AoS/WHFB.
Check out eBay. You'll find them on there.

Small update:

I've got the shotgun/flamer veterans about half way done. Hoping to finish them up and post them here this week. Otherwise, I finished up a squad of Scions with some basic conversions. They'll need some cleaning up and a little greenstuff work before they get primed, but this should give you all the idea. I'm planning to paint them with dark armor with camouflage cloaks/hoods.

WHat parts did you use for those scions? I can see the scion kit poking our, but what are the lower legs? Are those skitarri ranger heads?