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I was really impressed by Court last night when I played against them(bat-rep, or possibly owl-rep, to follow) but not for the obvious reason of durability - it's the fact that they can all Let's Go! makes them crazy fast, like the league but more savage.

And progress. Not any painting, but my Calth set arrived and I've assembled the first few models. I'm still waiting on some bits and some green stuff, so the more exciting conversions are still on hold, but this first squad is going to be my effort in pushing the limits of the plastic set with no/minimal modification or addition.

First off we have the sergeant of one of the three Veteran Squad in my planned list. His squad will be the more defensive of them, kitted out with plasma guns and given the Tank Hunters USR, so I want for a similarly defensive pose on him. Second shot is a bit blurry, but you can hopefully make out the battle damage carved into the shoulder pad. Expect lots of that sort of thing from this set:



Next we've got the Legion Vexilla bearer, I wanted a quite static pose for the chap so minimal conversion was done. I did apply some damage, severing a couple of the strands of his tabard:



A couple of Basic Bolter Brothers, one in mid grenade-lob. This was tricky as the kit lacks a grenade hand, so I had to repose an arm at the shoulder and cut a hand from a bolter and the top from a Krak grendade:



And the first of two plasma-gunners. Most of the damage here is to the top of the backpack, it doesn't really show up but it will when painted.




A few thoughts on the kit:
- Mk IV itself is awesome! Some really nice lines, parts and variations on the MkIV pieces we've seen in existing kits. The addition of old-style guns sets it apart as well.
- Casting is about as sharp as I've come to expect from GW, which is to say pretty damn good. There were a few consistently major mould lines on the backpacks and helmets, but still nothing a file can't fix.
- On balance, I'd say it's just a little more limited than the 40k Tactical kit from a modelling perspective. There's more variety (particularly in the legs), but it misses out of a few of those bits that I just love to use, like the pointing/open/grenade-holding hands and the odd smaller combat knife. Much less heraldry or decoration type stuff, though that's a) fluffy and b) made up for by the extra packs, pistol holsters and such over the 40k version. Still, I hope I have some spare hands and such in my bits box.
- Brings me nicely onto my last observation, which is more of a personal peeve than anything else; the hands sculpted onto the bolters makes things like 1-handed bolter poses or bolters slung from belts/holsters a lot more difficult. Just one or two bolters with handles attached on the sprue and I'd be very pleased.

All in all, good stuff.

On a less good note, I've having serious camera issues at the moment. The one I was using is on the way out, the newer and supposedly better one I've been given is in actual fact abysmal, at least for small stuff (the macro is just terrible at focusing on anything) and to make it all worse, the app I used to import pics to my laptop has one of those helpful 'updates' that moves all the buttons around and changes up the interface, so I'm currently working through a very convoluted process to upload pics at the moment until I can figure that out. Short version, sadly I can't promise many pics until I get this at least partly sorted. Sorry!

Anyway, that's all for now! Thanks for looking, and as a final note, I'm undecided on which Legions these marines are going to belong to as part of the Istvaan force, so if any of them scream Iron Hand, Salamander or Raven Guard to you let me know!


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Got the Sarge painted up. Just a quickie, I'll get more pics tomorrow. Legion Vexilla bearer is up next!

Ah I experienced that personal peeve of yours just yesterday. It only dawned on me whilst making that tac squad that yeah, to get a boltgun with a handle now in nigh impossible! I had to cut the hand off and then cut off a holstered BP handle and carefully glue it straight in the hole that was left. Makes it tougher to have grenade toss poses, points and the like, especially when if you're like me and prefer having marines holding bolters realistically as though the point is temporary and they'd be about to grip the bolter with both hands again. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but i've never been a fan of the sort of one handed boltgun arm pointingy poses, just doesn't strike me as uber practical or realistic.
Started to ramble, but just know that I feel your pain

Looking good Para. Nice work on the grenade lobber especially.

EDC

Cheers EDC!

@LDP, frankly brilliant idea on using the bolt pistol handle, I resorted to carving down the hand into a rough handle and hoping the paint would cover it up. When I can get back to my bits box, it should be less of an issue, as like most Marine collectors I have loose bolters by the score!

Gotta dash for a lecture, but before I do, a quick round of pics... I think I've just about got this new camera figured out now.

The sergeant Sallie:





And the Raven Guard Legion Vexilla bearer, with a scavenged Emperor's Children shoulder pad:






And the two together, I honestly think the combo of black and green is going to look quite good on a squad/army level, to me at least neither is upstaging the other:



Next up will be an Iron Hand, just so I can test all 3 schemes. Probably the plasma guy. That's all for the moment, cheers for looking and as ever, let me know what you think!

Nothing but nothing but nothing cooler than Mk4

Except Mk III of course... but that could just be my inner Imperial Fist saying that. The MkIV is certainly nice enough and different enough to painting the MkVII. Need to get some beakie heads and maybe MkVI legs for some of the Raven Guard in this force, though...

Just finishing off a test paint for the Iron Hands, I've just about figured out how to make them distinct from the RG despite both being predominantly black/white/silver, but I'm keeping it under wraps until I know it works. It's a pretty common technique for IH, so shouldn't be too hard to take a guess at.


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And here we go, Iron Hands test mini done.




Unlike the Raven Guard, I haven't fluked this scheme on the first try, but as an experiment, I think it works and I'll definitely refine the process for the next couple of Iron Hands (one more in this Demi-squad, another one in the other half). The process is simple enough- prime black, drybrush the whole mini silver, glaze with thinned black, apply details, apply weathering, wash sparingly with Agrax for a bit of contrast. Probably took less than an hour start to finish, not including drying times.

As this shot hopefully shows, he looks notably different to the black of the RG model, so they shouldn't look too similar on the shelf or tabletop. The RG is black up to a mid grey, where the IH is black black.


And thus the first 3 test models are done!


Have to say, rotating the schemes has been a lot more interesting than doing 3 the same! It also works out nicely time-wise; if I've got a good while, I'll do up a Salamander as they take the longest, while I could probably get an IH done in a break between lectures if I wanted to, which is handy. The RG fall somewhere in the middle; the black is still dead fast, just a 5 minute wet blend, but the white and such takes a bit more time than just attacking the IH with silver!

I'll finish this Demi-squad before starting on anything else, and then it'll probably be a Terminator (Salamanders, Heavy Flamer). Any thoughts welcome, as ever!

Nice work para. I like how you have managed to get more poses out of the kit.

What are you studying btw?

Cheers. With this first squad I want to push the limit of just one set of sprues, for the later units I'll be adding some green stuff, extras from my bits box and other such stuff. Converting from pretty simple sprues like this is one of my favourite parts of the hobby!

I'm studying contemporary military history, really fascinating course.

Lovely work so far Para. Are you painting up the set to represent all the differnt chapters or just a few of them?

Just those 3 legions, the loyalists that survived the Istvaan V massacre.

Those minis are looking fantastic! Especially have salamander -- love the shade of green you picked and the flame work on the pauldrons

Ta! That green did take a while to get right, in the end it was the final recipe I concocted for my 40k Salamanders and then a final glaze of Waywatcher Green to restore the hue.

You're doing great stuff with what seems to be quite a basic, yet still lovely kit. The intricate things you've done to make them yours really makes them shine over other BaC minis Good stuff!

Cheers mate. A couple of more interesting conversions coming up tomorrow!

And here they are!

First up, a very fiddly conversion to get a dude brandishing a combat knife. Had to take a bolter, trim off the hand, replace it with a handle and then take the hand from a left arm, bend that round to grip the bolter and cover the join with a bolted-on piece of scrap, then take that hand, shave down the straps from the kinfe and stick in on there. I think I'm starting to find the limits of this kit now, but my GS should arrive soon enough.



Next, another bolter and bayonet fellow; the other was leaning back, so this one is leaning forward. Might add a low wall to his base or something to give the impression he's leaning round cover.


Then a plasma gunner, nothing fancy here sadly, as I'm running short on really interesting bits (off this sprue, at least)


And now the Termies. No conversion here beyond some battle damage:



Not 100% pleased with that last pose, I might revisit him further down the line.

And because I don't like to update without some paint, the second Iron Hand. I'm a lot happier with the grenade conversion now it's painted.






I really am rather pleased with how this scheme looks, considering how dead easy it is.

Thanks for looking, any thoughts welcome, more coming later!

Liking those Ironhands. chipping and weathering works really well. Thinking about getting ol' Ferrus in the new year. Time to start on the those primarchs

The RG are looking cool. I am really impressed with the granade guy, he looked cool before but painted up he's wicked.

What scheme you going to do the Termies in?

EDC

@Januine: Ferrus? I'll hold you to that!

@EDC: Grenade guy is an Iron Hand. But yeah, I think he looks better now he's got some paint on him. The Termies will be a mix of Iron Hands and Salamanders, and the Seeker Squad I have yet to build will be all Raven Guard.

They look great. The grenade throwing guy is my favourite. You have achieve a real sense of motion with him. I think the blacks between the Iron Hands and Raven Guard have a really distinct difference which is a real achievement. I really like the idea of combined squads of survivors. So I am keen to see where you go.

I just can't warm to the cataphract terminator armour. I think the 40k ones look way better. But that is a personal opinion only.

You're throwing updates out at an impressive pace. Good work, keep it up

 Paradigm wrote:
@Januine: Ferrus? I'll hold you to that!

Ferrus or Mortarion. I really don't like Mortarion in the fluff (he's a miserable fethstick in all honesty) but really really like the fig FW have done. Perturabo is interesting me a bit too as is the Arch Magos chappy.......we'll see. Won't be till well into the new year though

Course sounds interesting. Does that mean we may sew more historical from you in the future?

That title though... never spaghetti. Wait, SW weren't involved! LOSERS!


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But seriously, nice models.

Plenty more where that came from! Next Salamander finished!

Played a bit more with the scale pattern I mentioned a few pages back, it's worked out pretty well this time, I think. He's also sporting a Night Lords shoulder pad... yes, I'm aware that it's a bit silly that both scavenged parts in this squad so far are left shoulder pads, but there won't be any more for a while so it shouldn't be too noticable!




And that brings me up to half a squad painted. To me, at least, the unified style but varied colour schemes looks exactly how I had hoped:


This squad is set to have 1 more Salamander, 1 more Raven and 2 more Iron Hand.

@Archer: Indomitus vs Cataphractii Terminator armour is like asking me to pick a regular Dread or Contemptor, I just couldn't do it! But I do really like these Cataphractii though, and there's a ton of awesome parts on the sprue.

@LDP: Honestly can't remember the last time I was this eager to get into a big project. I think a combination of such nice models to play with, the 'new shiny' factor and the results and feedback I'm getting are combining to be very motivational.

@Matthew: Nah, the Wolves were too busy making sure the most dangerous Legion sided with Horus...

@Carlos: Not sure yet. There are plenty of historical kits I'm looking at getting to use in assorted Fantasy projects, but at the moment I have no real plans to do proper historicals. That said, I'm kind of tempted to do some more scale modelling some time soon, it's been ages since I've done that and I used to do a lot.

Thanks for looking, everyone! I'm treating myself to painting up a Terminator next, let's see if I can manage 3 updates in one day! Any thoughts always welcome!

Yay, update 3 today!

Got the last minis from the first squad assembled. On these last ones, I had to think outside the box a little and do a lot of cutting to get some uniqueness. This is probably as far as just the contents of this kit alone will stretch regarding conversion.

First up, a Marine who's 'armless enough... Sorry, sorry! There will be a few maimed and injured Marines scattered throughout the force, as not everyone would have got out of the Dropsite Massacre in one piece. (and, yeah, I was running out of interesting arm poses!)



Next, a more aggressively posed knife wielder to contrast with the quite menacing but passive one above. Arms here had to be cut at the shoulder and the elbow, and the hand reposed to grip the knife.




So that's all of the first squad built. Now I had some bits spare, I set to work about converting the Chaplain into a Vigilator (stealthy, shooty type, the perfect choice for a RG character). This again was quite involved. The pointing hand had to be carved out of a terminator chainfist, the gun is a mashup of a Bolter and a spare Combi-Bolter, and the left arm is actually built from two separate parts joined below the elbow.




Pretty happy with that. It's not the pose I had in mind when I first saw the model, but that didn't work out with the parts I had to hand, and I think it conveys the look of a forward observer/sniper well enough. As far as painting goes, I'll be keeping him rather less ornate than the standard version.

And again, some painting. The first Terminator, in Iron Hands colours:




You can't really see it there, but I used some glazes across the larger armour panels to add very feint colour hues, inspired by the FW examples that employ the same technique.

Next up, a couple more Ravens. Apologies for the somewhat erratic/intermittent updates today, I wasn't expecting to get this much done. In future, I'll try and just stick to daily updates and not get carried away!

Thanks for looking, any thoughts welcome as ever!

Paradigm, we've already established you're a great painter, but how do you manage to dull the colourts down while still making them pop?

You've got some pretty sweet conversions going on there... although it seems you need to call in some apothocaries for that poor armless guy. Did the medicae run out of plastic glue? Also, great work on that Termie.

Thanks both!

@Matthew: It's all in the highlighting, or in this case lack thereof.

On the Salamanders, I go from an olive to a mid green, wash it all black, highlight up a bit and then wash hit whole thing with a green glaze, tying it all together and darkening the tone without losing the depth of colour (it did take me a while to get the hang of it, green has always been a tricky colour for me).

For the RG, again the last stage is a black wash across the whole armour, dulling everything down but keeping the depth of shade given from the layering. Same with the Iron Hands, although in their case it's all done with washes over the undercoat and a silver drybrush, there's no highlighting involved at any stage.

Does that help at all?

@brushcommando: I freely admit the armless chap was a bit of a cop-out on my part, I'd run out of interesting things to do with arms so I just lopped it off! Still, it should hopefully look quite good painted up.

Oh I was not criticizing the pose -- it was just one of those "wow. sucks to be that guy..." moments.