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Can i just say your JO looks AWESOME

I've come to realize that most armies that win tournaments also have dioramas. Mine will be no exception. So, to tackle this I booted up Illustrator and tried to remember how to use it. After some fiddling, I came up with this.



We have a Krieg base of operations with a ramp going up into no-mans land. I will probably not be able to get ALL of this onto the display, or if I do, it will be a bit more crowded.
O is for objectives. I have 2 out in no-mans land (Ogryn holding the Kreigsman, and the dying Kriegsman from the Quartermaster set) and one in the camp (a big pile of bombs).
C is for commisars
HQ and JR and the officiers and their retinue. They were supposed to be standing around a table of operations, but... now I remember that the JR officier is in an action pose. He's not reading the war map but rather shooting it. I'll have to reposition him.
Q is for Quartermaster and servators.
S is for Storm troopers.
A is for Armored Fist, but could easily turn into Storm troopers.
HW are heavy weapon bases.
We have some Chimeras, a Hellhound, Basalisk, Vanquisher and Demolisher.

Just over the lip we have a bunch of barbed wire, so if I play Apocalypse games I could use that asset. Or something to it's equivalent since it will also be magnetized. I'm planning for more troops than I actually will be using in an 1850 point list because once I drill the holes, glue it on, and start painting it, there's no going back. I chose 50 troops (not counting Storm troopers) because that's how many fit in a Gorgon. I can put in dummy bases or other items to fill in the unused holes when I go to tournaments.

The Krieg staging area will be about an inch down below the no-mans land so the infantry can fire over it. To start it all off, I purchased a 24x36 dry erase board, a sheet of galvanized tin, and a quarter inch thick piece of particle board (24x48 was the smallest I could find).



What's that on the upper right part of the metal you ask? Why it's Krieg advancing of course!



Yes, that is my painted Jr Officer leading the charge up to the top! The whole point of this board and the magnetic bases was to keep my figures safe when being moved around. This proves it. I got the dry erase board because it's wood frame raises up about a quarter inch, so it will fit flush when I put in the metal and the drilled board. Problem is the dry erase board is 24x36 WITH FRAME, so now I have to cut both the tin and the particle board down to fit inside. I also didn't get any of the closed cell pink insulation foam because Home Depot only sold it in HUGE slabs, and I really didn't need a 5 foot by 3 foot item for something that I'm only going to use a foot or two of. I'm going to see if my friend has any left over from when he rebuilt his house... and some power tools

I took a break from taking a long designer test and visited a friend for a few hours. A friend with a garage and power tools. Soooo... step 2 of the diorama took shape.

Using tin snips, I cut the tin sheet down and wood glued it to the dry erase board.



As I feared, my original drawing was too grand; things are going to be a lot more cramped, but I kept most of it. What I did get room for:



6 10 man units
3 5 man units
3 objective counters
2 1 man units
2 3 heavy weapon teams
Room for 1 hellhound, 4 chimmeras, 2 tanks and basilisk.

I used photoshop to darken in the areas/show the height on the board where noman's land will be. Then, 60 holes were drilled.



We couldn't find the metal piece that held in the round saw bits so the objective markers and weapon platforms weren't done. Once finished, there will be a lot of sanding of the holes and then it will be glued onto the board.

I will probably not use 20 of the squad holes for most of my games, but I wanted to make MORE than I needed because once it's glued... I can't go back. I plan on making about 20 grave markers to fill the ones that are not in use. Soooo... if you have extra headstones... I wouldn't turn them down. ;D

Wow, man - what before seemed like an ambitious project is now even more so! I continue to be captivated by this thread.

Wow I must really see this project unfold into it's rightfull glory.

And really love the Death korps, its pure genouis those models.

Ah, what's a regiment of fine boys from Krieg without an exquisitely bleak trench diorama?

Quick update. Not too much to report since I'm painting figures on a commission, those will be done soon. But, now and then I keep plugging along.

Krieg artillery crew- heavy mortar. He's holding an Inferno shell. Shells will be color coded per type.


Krieg Grenadier Sgt getting fleshed out.


Bad angle of the Quartermaster, so more soon.


Banner bearer almost finished.


Krieg "medic". I was trying to figure out how to convert a medic for when I use this army as standard IG, and this was the easiest solution.


His Lordship has taken to the field. Sr. Heroic Officer and a dynamic base. He's toward the back of the base as I wanted him to be a bit stand-offish.

Really like the way the Quartermaster is turning out - the bone looks really great.

WOW!

i wish i had seen this before i made my display board..... I made the top layer of mine with foamcore and used a circle cutter to make all my spots. Let me tell you that is a collosal pain in the ass. Holesaw FTW! Hell my army has changed so much my old board doesn't fit anymore anyhow, maybe i'll be using your method soon. In short Ingenious man!

Thank you!

Like a good painting or drawing, a good project is laid out before it's begun. Build from the ground up and everything becomes bite sized problems to solve.

Example- I knew I needed stability when I started my Krieg. Resin is very light and very fragile so I needed heavier bases and something to put them on so they would not move. The tin works out well because it's a solid grip, yet it's not a fight to get them apart (like it would have been with two magnets); too much grip and you'll wind up poping your mini off the base sooner or later. Another one was magnetizing the side sponsons of the tanks.

Other rules involve paint schemes and keeping them consistent across the regiment (tight color pallet w/variation colors here and there).

More soon.

Moopy the base on that heroic senior officer is amazing!

It looks great, is that from the Citadel resin basing set?

Gundam-Mecha wrote:It looks great, is that from the Citadel resin basing set?

Thank you!

It's either from that (and I think it is) or it's from the original Cityfight basing kits that came out a long long time ago.

I am sad to say that the furry titan has passed on. No longer will the paint water be demanded. RIP.

Current WIP from my craptastic camera. I'm waiting for tomorrow to take another shot of the banner and Quartermaster.



Not sure if I like the white face mask for the Grenadier Sgt. We'll see.



Guard, His Lordship, and Mr. Bomb Holder. I was looking at the Krieg poster that comes with IA:6 and it shows the Senior Officer wearing a read overcoat. Nooooottttt entirely sold on that, but it would counter the black overcoat worn by the commissars. We'll have to see.

Its scary how crappy they look on the first base coat it makes me cringe . But after your ink work and highlights they look real nice . I would just thin down the gold a tad . GO GUARD!!

The bronze is actually pretty thin, it's just my crappy camera like to make highlights of everything and thus it looks bumpy.

And yes, they look horrible right now. I like to scare people and then surprise them.

More done. Some have said I need to thin my paint. Sadly the small bumps you see are not the problem with the paint. There is highway work being done near me and will continue to be so for the rest of the year. It's kicking up dust and grit all over the place and is getting (ruining?) my work, and my lungs. Good times.

Anyways, here's the latest batch now that I finished my dwarf commission.

Quartermaster front, front/under, and back.






Servator (Lil' Wonky Mk2) or Medic depending if you've got a Krieg or an IG list.


Platoon Command Squad Banner bearer. This means... I have my first complete Krieg unit. Go me.

Quartermaster is done. Going to try and take better pictures of him tomorrow. His leaning over pose is proving quite hard to get photoed right. : /

Have to say that I love what you've done with the Quartermaster. The scheme looks great and the pose is interesting.

Thank you!

This weekend the Seattle Battle Bunker held a painting competition where each store submitted their best painters and contributed models to compete against each other. I submitted the Quartermaster and the Command Squad for two separate categories. Both took first place and pushed the SBB to first place. It feels very nice to have put all that work into these things and have someone else validate it.

Currently working on the servitor and some lascannon teams.

Small update- I've been doing a lot of job hunting. One prospect, but it involved moving to another state. Fate is like that.

I've rounded out my command squad as I would actually try and play with this army and I need to get the core choices rounded out. First we have a selection of the Vox operator and the special weapons trooper.



Next, I converted a heavy weapons team. This involved sawing a couple of Krieg in half and some green stuff. I didn't get the sash as well as I wouild have liked it, but I'm not a great sculptor.



So far I have assembled the following for the command squad: 2 guardsmen with lasguns, 1 plasma gunner, vox operator, regimental standard, heavy weapons team. A man must have options. If I turn them into regular IG, I already have a medic (servator), and plan on converting 2 bodyguards, master of the fleet and master of ordinance. That last one will be the most difficult since he looks like the vox operator. This will be a rough one.

Man its funny like everyone else, when I saw the first pick I went woah. and hit the back button. And missed out on this thread until today.

Good luck with the job hunt man.

Really nice stuff any chance of a description of how you did the Power Swords?

Thank you to everyone!

Llamahead wrote:Really nice stuff any chance of a description of how you did the Power Swords?

Well, the Grenader's sword hand was cut off and repositioned.

Painting:
I started with a medium blue- this sword is buzzing with energy so there shouldn't be darks here. The metal bits were a medium silver with a light wash of black/blue ink. Some areas were then highlit by platinum.

Next I used the same technique that I used for everything else. I start by wetting down the area I plan to paint. Then with a brush that is a step above damp, I take a bit of the pigment I want on the very tip of my brush. Then I drag the edge of where the paint ends, along the edge of the object. The paint is drawn down through the area by capillary action, creating a natural blending. I do this several times, until I am happy with the results, often with lighter pigments each time. It's a watercolor technique that works well, although I am not very fast with it.

The sculpting looks fine as long as you dont look to close

When I looked at page one I was terrified, I thought you we're really ruining FW models with horrible paint jobs and nearly tore my hair off. The I kept looking and was very positively suprised over how well they came out

I only have one thing, and I would suggest making their weathering look more "muddy" since Vraks is a muddy planet, not a dusty one.

Moopy wrote:Quick update:

Grenaders have started to come together. We have the melta gunner and a converted Vet. Sgt. I had to cut off the hand and put on the power weapon one from the Krieg sprue. That sword is SOOOOOO thin I'm afraid to look at it. Added a resin basing bit from the 40k set and added some greenstuff all around it to make it make sense. I used the rock from the Heavy Stubber figure to create the texture. When the greenstuff hardens, I'll trim down the sides. All Vets will have something special on the base

[b] I'm a bit late but, try these sites, if you need alot of resin bases these sites: http://armorcast.com/
http://dragonforge.com/

Hello all!

Trying to find a job has taken up a lot of my time, so progress has been slow. I'll have a couple new picts when I've finished assembling the next troop squad. I'll also have one of all the different command squad conversions done.

@Müller Mud and dust are just times of the year. I live in the Seattle area, and normally we get a good amount of light rain. Howver, we hit a 29 day dry streak (a record!) at the end of Spring. What was supposed to be mud, turned into dust.

Great stuff cheers for the tips

Some updates.

First off, I wanted to see what I had, and what I still needed to round out my forces so I could actually... you know... play some games with these guys. What came to mind was: how do I determine who's in what squad? Krieg all look alike, so what to do? Answer: Krieg do not look all alike but very close to it!



The above picture shows four distinct configurations that revolve around the shoulder armor and the backpack. Between those two variations, I was able to get four separate squads! Enough for some bare bones troop choices. I'll figure something out if I want to add more squads into the mix. This will probably involve painting different platoons should armor different colors, giving me the option of having up to 4 squads in a platoon. Nice!

Next was to line up the squads to see if I had a basic legal list. I stuck everyone on the tin board and took count. Magnetized bases make for very easy storage- they're still up there!



First thing I saw was that I'm missing a second platoon command squad. Next would be filling out the special weapons squad and getting my heavy weapons teams put together. I've gotten the idea of drilling a base-sized hole in the larger weapons base, so that gunner and spotter can be on an even level, otherwise the spotter will always be on a hill. Huh. Other figures are from the heavy mortar squads, another of the Quartermaster's retinue (used for medics in a regular IG army), and extras for the Stormtrooper (See: Grenadiers) squad (special weapons swap outs). I've converted an Master of Ordinance figure for the Command Sqaud and was figuring out how to do the Master of the Fleet. I might just buy that figure, because the MoTF comes from the Navy and isn't Krieg. Hmmm.

Other things to try and figure out: how to make veterans and possibly penal troops. Hmmmm again.