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 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Going with Dark Angels, and have never liked the Contrast results for black,

I know what you mean about this, but...

I have had quite some success with Black Templars contrast combined with the Slap Chop method (example here - check out how the shoulder pads turned out: https://ttgamingdiary.wordpress.com/2022/10/19/da-goff-fumpas/). If you can make that work, you may get through more than ten guys a week.

Now, not taking my own advice (!), I have nevertheless managed to get a whole squadron of Predators done for my Space Woofs:

Also, just arranged to swap me 20 Cataphractii for 40 MkVI Marines.

This should let me get a really solid infantry horde for greater list flexibility.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Going with Dark Angels, and have never liked the Contrast results for black,

I do however have an airbrush, and a really nice glossish black for it from Vallejo.

I figure I basecoat 20 in on evening using the airbrush. From there, do 5 Marines a night, churning out a squad a week with time to spare.

I think I’m probably a better painter than I give myself credit, I just need to build up hobby stamina and not expect super speed - a hangover from “gifted child” days.

Or even just do a stage or two a night across all 20.

A stage or two a night across 20 marines will be efficient, but will also feel like work. OTOH you have an airbrush, so unless you are going for a highly decorated Dark Angels look, the bulk of your work can be done with just airbrushing and drybrushing the metal areas. Unless you are into Eavy Metal style edge highlights, that is..

If you are going for quantity over quality, maybe working in batches of 20 isn't a bad idea. Personally, I find general procrastinating to be a much bigger time sink than doing actual painting, once you commit to a plan and get going, you can get to tabletop standard pretty fast.

-nevermind

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Also, just arranged to swap me 20 Cataphractii for 40 MkVI Marines.

This should let me get a really solid infantry horde for greater list flexibility.

pondering similar here, so far the Terminators I have (10x Tartaros for my XVth) have managed to look scary but have only gotten into combat once, they seem to be a very expensive distraction carnifex and not a lot more - I suspect the same points of basic marines will manage a heck of a lot more, even if only slightly more mobile.

seems to my not very experienced eye unless you can deep strike them or fork out for a somewhat expensive transport (which itself won't be that hard to kill anyway and will draw fire) they probably manage a single round of combat, yes they likely win it, but probably don't get another due to lack of mobility, the Cataphractii especially

besides I like the idea of a horde of marines

I've managed to do pretty well with Terminators and have been on the receiving end of some brutal combats from them in return.
I feel like the biggest issue people still come up against is a lack of LoS blocking terrain or avoiding variant deployment/mission types. If you only ever play one type of mission with Dawn of War deployment, you're definitely missing out on missions and deployments that can work to your advantage when it comes to making Terminators useful. Terrain makes a game IMO and if you're playing with no LoS blocking and just a couple of small ruins then the game can become one-sided very quickly.

Also...

today I is mostly disliking how the Mk VI models go together. the concept is nice, paired arms each with a paired gun that should fit any body. nice concept.

for the love of gork why is the gun not keyed in some way to the arms, and the arms key with enough flex to make later fitting the gun a PitA

wanted to part assemble and paint to make painting the front and rear of the weapon easier, but seems essentially impossible to do that without then having to fill small but irritating gaps

Well, i started painting 2 HQ's and an elite choice.

Casual 34 models. base and metal bits started.

Built me a Sicaran kit this afternoon.

Went pretty smoothly, but one of the track assemblies was being difficult when attaching it to the hull. Couldn’t find anything obviously causing a problem, and putting the chunky top plate in position seemed to sort it out.

Not sure I’d add another, but will consider its variants once they come along.

Building 3 Contemptors in parallel. Magnetizing all arms.

Decided to kick off the new year with a new army - this is my take on the Zhao-Arkhad...





Not amazingly keen on the results of the metallic green... Went with a Stormhost Silver base with an Ork Flesh contrast, and a very light dusting of Sotrmhost after to bring out the metalness. Does not seem to be as 'rich' as it should be...

I see what you mean on the green. But whilst it might not be what you wanted, hoped for or intended? For what it’s worth, I kind of like it.

A nice aged Victoriana type green. The sort of thing you can tell used to be much more vibrant, but has aged gracefully despite losing its original lustre.

have to say I somewhat like that green

in other news, a second ten man tactical squad has been largely assembled - this time just the shoulder pads and backpacks left to assemble post painting. nice discovery that with care the studded shoulder pad can be assembled while still on the frame to make priming easier

still not hugely impressed with the gun arms though, and may be an obvious point, but where the feck is the bolt pistol? (and more to the point why is there a plasma pistol instead of it?)

likewise at least one chainsword would have been nice, indeed the same equipment options as per the Mk III box would have been good

You'll need to wait until bitz sellers get their hands on the upcoming Jetbike kits for bolt pistols & chainswords, unless you have plenty of spare arms from the Heavy Weapons upgrade kits and dont mind kitbashing those with existing plastic pistols & chainswords

 tauist wrote:
You'll need to wait until bitz sellers get their hands on the upcoming Jetbike kits for bolt pistols & chainswords, unless you have plenty of spare arms from the Heavy Weapons upgrade kits and dont mind kitbashing those with existing plastic pistols & chainswords

was pondering making a few Apothecaries, likely still will but with the Mk III kit which has a chainsword and bolt pistol hand as part of it

leopard wrote:

 tauist wrote:
You'll need to wait until bitz sellers get their hands on the upcoming Jetbike kits for bolt pistols & chainswords, unless you have plenty of spare arms from the Heavy Weapons upgrade kits and dont mind kitbashing those with existing plastic pistols & chainswords

was pondering making a few Apothecaries, likely still will but with the Mk III kit which has a chainsword and bolt pistol hand as part of it

Not sure if the MKIII plastics have larger hands? I think they do.. OTOH those MKIII chainswords look fab, and the ammo clips which come with the kit are a purrfek match for beakie Umbra Bolters

Here is one Apotechary conversion pict from /r 30K which I really liked.. AFAICT uses all plastic bits, you can see a MKIII chainsword hanging from the back

Currently lamenting how many subassemblies I need if I want to paint the Contemptors properly. But I guess now I just pin a paperclip handle to each part for airbrushing and I'm done with 3 of them, with magnetized arms. But not gonna do any extra arms beyond the loadout in my initial roster right now.

The Word Bearers muster goes well the sons of cholchis grow in numbers

Just had my Rhino doors arrive for my first rhino awaiting my Transfers sheet A4 627 pieces of Decal goodness

So what have I completed over 2022

Right... lol

Praetors + Consuls and Diabolists,Chaplains,Librarian etc
Tactical Squads x3 Mk3 mixed with 4 and mark 6 purely (Mk3 and 4 salvaged from Betrayal of Calth and Mk3 from Burning of Prospero)
Special weapons/support squads of which I have three
Terminators 15 Cataphractii ones
3 Contemptors one that can double as a Ma'ra Gal
Spartan

2023 WIP pile (So Far)
Still have to paint a Rhino (One of what will be eight) and a Land Raider

(What I want)
Legion Contemptor
My Etsy Lorgar
MK 4 Praetor (The one that compliments the Tartaros one that I already own)
Mk 6 Marines about 3 boxes with shoulder pads and heads that GW/FW just previewed
8 more Rhinos (Lol) with Doors from FW
Proteus
3 Leviathans
Typhon
Predators and Predator support tanks
Kratos
Sicarans
Scorpius pattern Whirlwind
Gal Vorbak
Breachers (So want breacher shields and Mk3 Marines)
Upgrade parts and parts and parts and parts (Trails off into a echo)


(RIP wallet)

second Mk VI tactical squad primed, aim is the basic bone colour applied and wash today

So much good heresy hobby


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BalerionTheBlackDread wrote:

The Word Bearers muster goes well the sons of cholchis grow in numbers

Just had my Rhino doors arrive for my first rhino awaiting my Transfers sheet A4 627 pieces of Decal goodness

So what have I completed over 2022

Right... lol

Praetors + Consuls and Diabolists,Chaplains,Librarian etc
Tactical Squads x3 Mk3 mixed with 4 and mark 6 purely (Mk3 and 4 salvaged from Betrayal of Calth and Mk3 from Burning of Prospero)
Special weapons/support squads of which I have three
Terminators 15 Cataphractii ones
3 Contemptors one that can double as a Ma'ra Gal
Spartan

2023 WIP pile (So Far)
Still have to paint a Rhino (One of what will be eight) and a Land Raider

(What I want)
Legion Contemptor
My Etsy Lorgar
MK 4 Praetor (The one that compliments the Tartaros one that I already own)
Mk 6 Marines about 3 boxes with shoulder pads and heads that GW/FW just previewed
8 more Rhinos (Lol) with Doors from FW
Proteus
3 Leviathans
Typhon
Predators and Predator support tanks
Kratos
Sicarans
Scorpius pattern Whirlwind
Gal Vorbak
Breachers (So want breacher shields and Mk3 Marines)
Upgrade parts and parts and parts and parts (Trails off into a echo)


(RIP wallet)

That's a very impressive list of completions and goals 😀

pondering a second AoD box, thinking being I know I want more marines, and likely more than one box (circa £80 for two boxes), I can likely use the terminators (as one box is meah but twenty of them starts to be an elite force on its own), thats another £40 at which point the box is only another £20..

the second contemptor is useful a second spartan less so but nicely annoying, could maybe eBay the rulebook or find someone locally who wants one

irritation being its hard to justify getting anything like more marines without considering the box.

The Spartan holds decent resale value if nothing else.

I now have 80 MkVI awaiting assembly.

I think….. third 20 strong Tactical Squad, 2 x 10 Heavy squads (Lascannon and Volkite) and 2 x 10 Support Squads (Melta and Big Volkite).

Which leaves 20 wanting a role.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
The Spartan holds decent resale value if nothing else.

I now have 80 MkVI awaiting assembly.

I think….. third 20 strong Tactical Squad, 2 x 10 Heavy squads (Lascannon and Volkite) and 2 x 10 Support Squads (Melta and Big Volkite).

Which leaves 20 wanting a role.

thought here is 2x20, then maybe a third 20 man squad, then probably a ten man support squad of some flavour, with the hope the pressure of the 40-60 advancing means the support squad either isn't fired at much or if it is its actually a help... borderline Soviet Strelkovy tactics. thinking is too many support units and they just get wiped, need a threatening core of warm bodies first.

backup will be at least one (because its built) veteran squad, potentially three (a flamer & melta gun in each, again for redundancy, did think one melta squad and two flamer squads but then the melta one dies quickly, this way they need to zap 30 to get them all, not ten)

also that second Spartan could be fun in a terminator heavy list, a bit like a Tiger tank list, simply having it and using it occasionally means opponents who try to list tailor can't assume "infantry horde"

If I had extra Spartan kits laying around, I'd ebay LR Proteus bits and use them for making those. You don't need that many extra bits to make an LRP Explorator out of a Spartan kit

Spartans are a kind of Swiss army tank, after a fashion.

Decent enough firepower to worry even Super Heavies, spesh as it’s all twin linked, and a decent transport capacity, even if not originally fielded as a transport.

I mean, if you’ve a bunch of nutters about to descend on a unit, you can hide them in the Spartan for a turn, potentially.

Spartan, and indeed Land Raiders have always come over in 28mm as a bit "make up your mind will you". they have long range stand off anti tank firepower, and transport capacity

wanting to both keep the range and get close, and with the current HH rules wanting to get close but needing screening infantry around a mobile enemy for safety

you end up paying with for transport capacity you do not need (with the expensive 'assault' rules) or for heavy weapons you likely won't fire (Death Guard excepted)

Doc, if you're looking to use spare bodied have you considered a support squad with plasma repeaters? Ive been running them in a squad of 5 and they're quite nasty. A squad of 10 in a rhino would do horrible things to people.

Another option would be a veteran squad. They make for a good cheapish delivery option for tooled up praetors/paladins and are quite versatile in themselves.

 tauist wrote:
If I had extra Spartan kits laying around, I'd ebay LR Proteus bits and use them for making those. You don't need that many extra bits to make an LRP Explorator out of a Spartan kit

They might also release the Typhon frame seperately, they surely know we have spare Spartans lying around.

I got my first ten 22nd Chapter Ultramarines done. My ultimate goal is simplicity and speed so I can finish 70 of these guys + tanks, dreadnoughts, and artillery without wanting to stab my eyes with my paintbrush. So far so good.

 Coolyo294 wrote:
I got my first ten 22nd Chapter Ultramarines done. My ultimate goal is simplicity and speed so I can finish 70 of these guys + tanks, dreadnoughts, and artillery without wanting to stab my eyes with my paintbrush. So far so good.

I like them! The scheme is simple but has a good mix of colours, and the finish is gritty but not overdone. I am collecting ideas for my Ultras, and this will be added to the pile.