WIP IW army(pic heavy), update w/FW MK3s

[Xeonic]

OK, so my IW have been sitting on my shelf with a single model painted for a good year waiting for me to get to them, and I figured with my renewed interest I'd start a WiP thread to hopefully spur me on. The painted ones aside from the lieutenant model were all painted in the last two-three weeks to a basic TT level and paintjobs should be considered WiP as well(critique anyways!). Beware, the following post is rife with poor photos of barely passable paintjobs and terribly written fluff! You have been warned!

 

My IW is a strike cruiser based assault company that has recently destroyed the fortress monastery of my DIY chapter, the Grey Phantoms(AKA yet another grey RG successor). Though they destroyed the fortress monastery and looted the armory, they were forced to abandon most of their heavy vehicles in the field due to their hasty retreat in the face of the arrival of allied Imperial reinforcements. The company's terminator elite then were given the obliterator virus to provide heavy fire support. They're currently attempting to obtain Necrontyr technology from a cluster of tomb worlds in the eastern rim of ultima segmentum whilst the Grey Phantoms and Ultramarines 5th company are persuing them. Due to the fact that they've been operating without support behind imperial lines for so long they've incorporated many loyalist armor and weapons parts into their wargear loadouts.

 

*end rough fluff mode*

 

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWChaosDreadWIP01.jpg

WIP of the dread. I'm finally relatively happy with the basing and can get on with the paintjob. The PC is magnetized so I can swap for a TLHB but it's a little saggy since the old chaos dread has it's peg located far back from the center of the arm. The flamer+tank is the old one from the imperial tank accessory sprue(IG maybe? not sure since they came with a pair of old rhinos I found on ebay).

The dead marine will be painted as a Grey Phantom tactical squad sergeant.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWChaosRhinoWIP01.jpg

My first rhino, which I painted up a couple weekends ago. Note that it needs transfers and the like and the havoc launcher is magnetized - the hatch flips over and the searchlight is mounted on the other side. Skulls need 1-2 more coats of bleached bone and a wash, and the vehicle needs a proper name and unit markings. This is my first chaos rhino of 5. The dozer is from the same old imperial accessory sprue, magnetized under the hull, and the next one will have a chimera dozer instead, as it's much larger and imposing.

I sculpted a jaw on the FW skull to make what I feel is a pretty nice representation of the IW skull icon details<--link

left side detail showing hazard stripes. <--link

front detail, showing mini IW skull icon w/sculpted jaw. <-- link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWLieutenantWIP01.jpg

This is my Lieutenant(aspiring champion with combi-melta and powerfist), he leads the first unit of normal CSM in my smaller lists(undersized squad).

He's the old warsmith model, and the only model in the entire army that has been painted for over a year. I plan to redo his sloppy hazard stripes(I'm much more precise now) and his trophy pole(a recent addition) needs some touchups. Still, I'm overall happy with this model and once based and the above are fixed he'll be done.

Rear view of the same model <--link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWSergeantBrazenClawWIP01.jpg

Sergeant BrazenClaw! I rescued this old mini who had his head half chopped off for cheap on ebay, replaced it with a plastic CSM head and a bolt pistol arm. I love that powerfist, it's simply fantastic. I was thinking that the spaces between banding on his pfist would be a good place to put more caution stripes, but that's a project for a later date.

left side angle <--link shows off his IW shoulderpad, also shows he needs weapon casing hazard stripes.

check out that powerfist <--link

the skull on the back of the fist is full of character <--link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWslanysorcWIP01.jpg

Old metal noisemarine I'll probably be running as a wind of chaos sorc. I love the model too much to not field it, but have no room for actual noisemarines, so he'll just be a slaneesh sorc. His electric guitar/bolt pistol up close sonically punches right through armor and kills instantly, or at short range represented by wind of chaos template, and his force weapon PW and ID ability. Of course there's always the chance he'll lose his muse and be unable to perform(psychic test), and sometimes he'll miss a note and hurt himself(perils of the warp) ;) Fluffwise he'll be a Sergeant who slew a noise marine in single combat and discarded his powersword for the shiny sonic weapon dropped. This of course led to slannesh worship and his ascension to third in command below the Lieutenant.

Alternate angle <--link

backpack detail <--link

rear right angle <--link

front right, showing off his magnificent mane <--link

lower front angle so you can see his underslung bolter/pistol dealie <--link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWwarsmithWIP01.jpg

My Iron Warriors Captain(chaos lord with twinclaws). That's a really, really old head from the RT plastic beakies. I think it suits the dispassionate killing nature of the IW well, as it has no expression. He needs an IW decal on his left shoulderpad, might be tricky. His cloak is a really deep almost black red.

left shoulder detail, showing hazard stripes <--link

I'm getting better at the whole hazard stripes thing <--link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWwingedsorcWIP01.jpg

Winged sorcerer(with warptime). His force axe is heated by his mind(tried a progression effect) and he is primarily a seer, represented by Warptime. While maintaining no official place in the chain of command, his activity as a seer mean he often leads elements of the company into battle on critical missions, and he also acts as an all important adviser to the captain. It was his ability alone that convinced them to abandon perfectly good ordinance in the field allowing them to withdraw after sacking the Grey Phantoms fortress with no further casualties. Though he never speaks of it, his wings are ancient relics rumored to have been forged in the heart of Medrengard by Perturabo himself.

frontal view <--link

wings/blade detail <--link

wings/jumppack detail <--link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWzerksullchampWIP01.jpg

Skull champ WiP. His powerfist is the regular chaos one with the pointy fingers cut down and the iconography shaved off. He has an auspex mounted in it's place as I imagine a close combat oriented squad would need one. As IW are about precise application of brute force, my skull champ has large combat drug injectors as well as medical gear for monitoring the status of the squad. Note that he has a khornite shoulder pad and pendant and is the most devout follower of Khorne in my army.

righthand side view showing the scratchbuilt claw/gripper and the ancient CCW attachment on his bolt pistol. <--link

lefthand side angle <--link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWzerksWIP01.jpg

3 of the 'Zerks. I'm particularly happy with the rightmost guy(longhorns with a polearm). Note that his backpack is at a crazy angle because they're magnetized. None of my zerks except the champ have overt khornite symbols, and some of them are waiting for FW chainaxes and thus are missing their CCWs.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWzerksWIP03.jpg

My second favorite berzerker, with twin chainswords.

Another angle <--link

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWzerksWIP02.jpg

The other 3 berserkers, for a total of 8.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWplasmaWIP01.jpg

Away from face! My favorite pose ever. His buddy is using the iconic "pray and spray" posture. In the angle below you can see his plasma gun has partially slipped from his hands - I don't glue detail obscuring weapons until after I paint a model.

alternate angle <--link

Obliterator test model thread. <--link

But wait, there's more!

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWunstainedhorde.jpg

That, plus a few others on the workbench in various states of disassembly are all I have left to do! :cuss

 

C&C on models, paint, or poorly written fluff appreciated!

[Xeonic]

Update, Melta Raptor, Marksman, Away From Face! plasmagunner, fairly rough TT ready paintjobs that still need little details(it's the WIP forum!).

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWmiscwips01.jpg

Side View, showing hazard stripes on the plasma gun

Rear view, showing jumppack details <--link

The jumppack is a PH chapterhouse turbine. The backpack on the marksmen is from the chiurgeon pack from the GW direct store. Obviously basing needs to be done and hazard stripes need to be painted on the melta guy and marksman's bolter.

 

No C&C so far obviously means my skill level is "decidedly average", as if it were horrible or good people would have commented already no? :P

C&C appreciated, of course.

[KaosRaptor]

I can't understand why no-one else has posted in this thread already...your Iron Warriors are top-notch, good sir.

You're rhino looks great, I'm loving the hazard stripes, and the simple-yet-effective paint scheme it has going on.

I am also in love with the "Not the face!!" pose, freaking brilliant, and adds some humour to an otherwise grim and forboding force.

The Berzerkers look great too...though they're not painted, the conversions make them distinctly more Iron Warrior-y and less World Eaters-y.

 

I was gonna mention something about the hazard stripes on the lieutenant, but looks like you've noticed that anyway, so....keep it up! ;)

[Warsmith Aznable]

I can't understand why no-one else has posted in this thread already...

 

Because my phone wouldn't load the pictures, for some reason. Indeed these are nice conversions, very characterful. I got my own War Smith in the mail from GW the other day, so I will be watching this thread for interest, looking for inspiration. Well done, sir; keep up the good work!

[Xeonic]

Thank you for your kind replies, this is an ongoing project and more exciting stuff to come!

I just got my packages from forge world and maxmini, MK III armor(great sculpts, though the poses look a little static, but I'll be mixing in bionics so no problem), the character conversion pack(super awesome powerfist, can highly recommend this product), chainaxes, and maxmini steam heads and bionics(great bionics here, good sculpt and maxmini castings can hardly be faulted at all), exciting stuff.

 

Over the next couple days I shall be assembling a "command squad"(plaguemarines) from the MK III suits with plenty of bionics and a little chaos flair, I just need to pick up a command squad box to build the apothecary(won't stop me from assembling the rest!).

 

To back up my claims of owning forge world delicious delicious resin:

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWForgeworldbling.jpg

Also what I was working on last night instead of my IWs. Just showing how you can use chaos components in loyalist models(zerk legs, powersword, bannerpole). Also my first shot of freehanding a chapter symbol, needs a little tidy. :)

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/Ultracapt02.jpg

More images of him in my photobucket album.

[Xeonic]

Bitter and ruthless, the members of the Siege Breakers squad have strode across thousands of battlefields and slain ten thousand foes. Las rounds and even the mighty bolts of Astartes bounce harmlessly off of their ancient heavy armor and bionics without even causing them pause. Their weapons specialists, armed with the most advanced energy weapons available in the Warsmith's arsenal, are able to take out even the heavily armored terminators with contemptuous ease.

 

Poor photography ahoy!

Updates on the FW MK 3s. More or less chaosified, just waiting on some pressmoulded iconography to dry to finish the squad.

Champion with powerfist:

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWmk311.jpg

The champion's backpack had a bad mis-mold on it's vents so I replaced them with chaos marine ones. The net result looks really cool and at first glance once painted up it should resemble at cursory inspection a normal CSM backpack(If I didn't like the MKIII powerplant vents so much I would consider doing them all like that). He's equipped with a maxmini steam knight head and bionic leg. Both arms are from the FW character upgrade sprue. I really, really wanted to equip him with the character upgrade plasma pistol as it is just a fantastic bit, but I don't see it being an efficient use of points on the TT. Maybe I'll magnetize it to his hip as if it were holstered just for display, hmm...

The rest of the heads in the squad are chapterhouse rebreather heads, but that pack is only 4 heads.

 

Bolter, bolter, champ:

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWmk305.jpg

I'm more or less happy with the way these turned out. The leftmost guy's chest vent is from a space marine backpack center vent, and his chainsword arm is a mix from the chaos marine, MKIII(upper arm), maxmini bionics(lower arm), plus an old khorne berserker chainsword. You can't see the detail on his groin guard(bad photos), but it's a skull. The guy on the right has two arms from the FW character conversion pack (the bolter arm is slightly reposed), a pressmoulded vent, and a plasticard chaos arrow, as well as another of the fantastic maxmini bionic legs.

 

Plasmagunners:

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWmk304.jpg

Since this is a bad picture of the plasmagunners, another can be found here<--link.

The left guy has a khorne berserker chainsword mounted on a chaos marine CCW hand implanted into a MKIII armor righthanded bolter arm. His left arm is a maxmini bionic arm coupled with a space marine tac squad plasma pistol hand.

The right guy sports a bionic leg from the FW character conversion pack coupled to his MK III groin, and a plasma gun that is powered by his backpack. His left upper arm is another maxmini bionic coupled with a MKIII left bolter forearm and a chaos marine squad CCW hand.

 

Once again, there are more images in my photobucket linked in the post above.

The plan was to include an apothecary in the squad, but I reasoned after reading of Cassius in Codex Space Marines that they don't need one, as the increased toughness and fnp can easily be explained as a combination of enhanced armor, bionics, and general bitter stubbornness in general. I am probably going to expand this squad to 10 with the purchase of a MK II armor set(and probably another character conversion pack as well), netting me 3 more bolter bodies and a pair of melta troopers so I can swap specials.

 

Feedback appreciated as always.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I'm not really a fan of the gas mask style helmets, but they do give a pre-Heresy look. I like that you didn't just by Forge World bits and call it a day, but added little details like the plasma rifle's power cable and the chain on the axe. And that you're doing molded devices for them, which I admire the dedication thereof. Very characterful. The Ultramarine looks very nice, as well. For a dirty loyalist, anyway. Keep up the good work!

[Molloch]

very inspiring work! I love the poses and conversions you've got here; clearly I'm going to have to order some of those maxmini bionics :)

[DaPheel]

Woop Woop! old school noise marine for the win. I had one of those in mint condition, but he's lost to the sands of time.

Cool minis amigo.

[Xeonic]

@Molloch

The maxmini bionics are extremely nice, especially the heads and legs. The hands are a little funky though. The FW bionics are a bit nicer but they look a little more fragile, and there's only a couple in the character pack. The rest of my army also includes some metal Iron hands bionics, which are also fantastic, and I've made some with small springs/wires/guitar wires and etc. that are passable as well. Actually the iron hands box in general is a good buy as you can get a lot of mileage out of loyalist components(it's a whole tac squad!) to add flavor to your chaos marines.

 

@DaPheel

I love that mini, but then again, I'm a little bit of a metalhead. So much of GWs stuff from that era has so much character too. This one I got for a sing ($5 IIRC?) due to the gallons of multicolor paint it had on it. Easy fix as far as I'm concerned, though bending my fluff to fit in a noisemarine model was interesting.

 

So anyways, I've been idle due to personal drama, plus on top of that consternation on my new athlon2 X4 came in with mobo or CPU DOA and no way for me to check which. RMA away... -_-

 

Today, I started paining the squad up, got everyone basecoated and some work on the champ done(pardon the yellow tac holding his fist and backpack on).

That fist is doubly awesome because it has a cutout showing the normal marine sized gauntled hand that is in it.

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWmk3wip01.jpg

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWmk3wip02.jpg

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/Xeonicfront/IWmk3wip03.jpg

armor plates have been given a 50% dilute badab black wash, and next step is a drybrush/highlight of boltgun on exposed armor plates(such as would catch light, then a wash of similarly watered devlan mud, followed by a final light highlight and detailing. I love painting metal, it's so easy to get decent looking highlights and shading with just washes.

The chaos star is the worst pressmould of the whole bunch, and I might be pulling it off to try to get a cleaner cast on there. Of course I may be able to just heavily wash the spaces between the points of the star to try to bring the icon into good definition first, which combined with a highlight may fix it up nice. We shall see.

The cadian helmet is glued to the front of his base as if it rolled off the skull that's mounted there, I was going for "dynamic" and I think it just kinda looks cheesy.

Oh, and his grenade is an orange frag. I went with orange instead of DA green like all the rest because it's a chem grenade representing blight grenades. Or something, whatever.

Also I'm painting seperately(not pictured) a short length of chain(from the CSM box, normally has a skull on it I think) that I'll be hanging from his belt or backpack with 3x termie box crux terminatus dangling from it, as trophies. Might make the model too busy though, we shall see.

 

C&C appreciated.