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I have been building the whole lot but decided to do a test figure, mostly to try out some bronze recipes and come up with steps so I can paint everything as close together as possible. It'll probably end up being infantry and then vehicles.

For the bronze (the main army colour) I wanted something cooler but still earthy, whilst not being coppery or red hued. The art/images in the IAs vary a lot in hue, with nearly every single one being a different bronze and ranging from coppery to golden.

I personally like the paler ones best, particularly the art of Asterion in IA 12. I also wanted something I could do neatly but quickly. This project is to get an army painted that looks good together, rather than getting lost doing individuals and losing sight of the goal: to get an army together to play with for the end of September at the latest :smile.:

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Still WIP but he has served his purpose, which was to find a bronze recipe I am happy with. Basically:

1) Chaos black undercoat

2) Air brush VMC Bronze mixed with acrylic thinners (to consistency of milk)

3) Mix leftovers from 2 with VMA Bright Brass (50/50) and airbrush highlight (sort of zenithalish)

4) Wash Devlan Mud (Agrax Earthshade). slightly watered down with water (5:2)

5) Light zenthial highlight with VMA Bright Brass.

6) Glaze with watered down Ogryn Flesh (Reikland Fleshshade) (1:1)

The shoulders miss out the VMA Bright Brass to stay closer to the base coat bronze. I found the transfers show up better against it and it fits closer to some of the IA art (as Lorenzen pointed out).

The figure is a AoBR tactical marine that had his helmet, shoulders, and backpack Doghoused. Next for him is to test how far to go with weathering powders on his feet to match his base. If I don't go too far and ruin it he'll be kept for tactical squad IV, which will be in MK VII. I will be using FW Bone Dust/Ash Grey 1:1 and a tiny bit of Dry Mud as well (probably first and then dust on top of that).

Edit: Forgot the slight verdigris. It is Hawk Turquoise (Sotek Green) and Orkhide Shade (Caliban Green) mixed 1:1 and then dilute the mix with acrylic thinner 1:4 and apply in very thin lines very lightly (using a detail brush) and allow to dry. It is very watery thus semi-transparent and therefore flows readily so it will spread enough naturally to blur rather than forming weird looking bands or stripes.

Repeat if required as it is very dilute, building up layers for the desired effects. If I went too far I lined over with the Devlan Mud (Agrax Earthshade) wash from step 4. I didn't put verdigris everywhere, I found less was more with this.

Edited by Marius Perdo
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Ta lads.

 

@Lorenzen: The gun casing is just Mephiston Red mix with Scab Red. Then some Red Gore. It is a little bit bright, I'll give it a wash of Scab Red and tone it down. Problem with painting at night under artificial lights :smile.: In future I'll start darker, probably Scab Red and some Dark Flesh and work up from there. I am trying to use up lots of old paints for anything other than the bronze. I suppose I should use him to test the red too. Regards the VMA Steel do you mean scratching on the red casing or highlights for the plain metal? If it is edge highlighting on the bronze that is out due to my eyes (things that fine are just a blur) and the time it would take.

 

The base...well, just like my Doom Fists really.

 

I made yellow/grey Miliput pancakes (Ravendove technique) and when dried snapped and cut them into blocks of collapsed walls and carved some holes and chips in them. Just glued to a base and the slopes filled in with Miliput again. I then used coarse bird sand for the gravel. I drilled a hole into the base and put a plastic rod in there for a pipe of some kind, and then added some guitar wire to do a power cable. The girder is just a bit of plastic with Grandt Line hex bolts glued to it.

 

For painting:

 

1) Undercoat Chaos Black spray

2) Lightly basecoat with car grey acrylic primer

3) Some VMA Gun lightly airbrushed on the metal bits

4) Several layers of burnt umber/lamp black oil paints (4:1) thinned with artists spirits into a wash (1:2) on the metal bits to make it look like aged steel and slightly greasy

5) Light drybrush Codex Grey on the concrete

6) Wash the lot liberally with Devlan Mud

7) FW powders of Dried Mud/Light Earth on the gravel, and Bone Dust/Grey Ash on the concrete, and Aged Rust then Orange Rust on the metal; due to blending I used MiG Thinners for Washes as opposed to MiG Pigment Fixer

8) 4B pencil dragged across the metal to highlight scrapes

 

Very easy to do really even though it sounds long winded.

 

PS as can be seen by the old names I haven't even opened my new mega-paints box. Still using up all my old new paints.

 

Edit: I quite like how he turned out and I am concerned I'll bollix up the weathering powders on his legs. He does make me want to do some more so I think I'll rummage through my old un-built AoBR marines, find some as close to pure MK VII as possible, and then Doghouse them, and then do another 4 or so for a sort of test combat squad.

 

As an aside the test guy was loosely based on Brother Alkyon, so I guess that is who he is. The strap is a bit odd, as I imagine they would maglock, but I guess he strangled Secessionist Tyrant Guard that surrendered on Crows World with it to save on bolter rounds.

Edited by Marius Perdo
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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I have been fiddling but until FW release official Chapter Tactics and new codex aligned rules, which I assume will be Preferred Enemy (Space Marines) and maybe a little more, I found other ideas forming based on what I have knocking about.

 

It was a toss up to do White Scars, Raven Guard, Black Templars, or Imperial Fists/Crimson Fists.

 

With all the Fists stuff (of which there are silly amounts) I got for my Doom Fists (GW/FW resin/brass etch/FW transfers), as well as a lot of converted sternguard I have never shown, and having 60 odd metal scouts (and 20 odd plastic), as well as the 25th anniversary captain and my old RT book looking at me I am going to do a very retro infantry based army from somewhere between 991.M41 to 999.M41. Been doing my research the past few days, and nearly finished reading Rynn's World again.

 

Tomorrow I will be sorting my minis out into separate bundles for each army (the 30 odd assault going to Raven Guard, 30 odd bikes to White Scars etc).

 

However a quick fiddle with a list (about 2k) has been done and I am going to do:

 

Pedro (for some reason I have 5)

A captain 25th model or librarian (either Loth or the new model), possibly both for variety

Techmarines x2 (love the auspex and bolster)

Sternguard 10 x2 (I have an unhealthy love of heavy flamers)

Dreadnought (the old twin-linked heavy flamer one I did ages ago)

Tactical 10 x2

Scout 10 x2 (one snipers, other bolters and a storm)

Scout bikers x5

Devastator 10 x2 (4 heavy bolters to take advantage of bolter drill and missile launcher x4 for tank hunters and to be old school)

Thunderfire

Some rhinos and pods here and there.

 

Lots of helmetless ones this time, mostly MK VI/VII or hybrid thereof, and I'll be studding a lot of legs etc.

 

Note I will get back to my Minotaurs, as I really like them and they will have four special characters available. Problem is Kraatos isn't out yet and FW can be erratic with rules updates.

 

As an aside I got discharged from the eye clinic yesterday and my eyesight is pretty much fully restored. Wasn't treatable but the bloody things have taken 18 months to sort themselves. I might be able to manage edge highlighting again :smile.:

Edited by Marius Perdo
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  • 2 weeks later...

The local club is doing a small tourney starting in a few weeks. 1500 points but...

The Force Requisition is far from ready, and QM keeps crashing with iOS7 with the amendments I am doing. I have checked the XML output and all looks Okay so it isn't me, but I would say that. Also the way items work, and with the new standard wargear tables, I am finding it frustrating you cannot swap standard equipment for wargear directly. Well I try and it crashes. Oh, well.

The point is army lists builders are quite convenient for building armies, which then give you a target to build. So I went back to scribbling and doing it the old way :smile.:

This first miniature is an object lesson in read the list/codex carefully before running off to build things. As I am taking Pedro, and given Honour Guard are a bargain, I thought I'd build some out of spare metal minis (like Pedro, and Masters of the Chapter). Having the 25th anniversary model (well, several) meant I have the Chapter Banner in Finecast.

I wanted to do the Chapter Champion with a Relic Blade so he could use his fine A stat combined with charge, and the Chapter Banner, to be fun to use with Honour or Death. So I got out the razor saw and vice and made/threw this together:

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Silly me, he can't have a relic blade. Oh well. As for the hammer he'd be dead before he struck so I am not wasting points or time on that. Guess this'll be an Honour Guard then (who now can't use his pistol in assault), although I'll probably swap the head for the metal one from the Fists Upgrade Pack, the one with the laurel wreath. Obviously he still needs loads doing, like adding grenades, holstered pistol (the one from the commander box), slung boltgun (the ornate one from the command box), and lots of brass etch and purity seals.

The masochism of cutting up metal figures was such fun I decided to do this next one after having looked at the list closely.

gallery_27755_5863_210615.jpg

Yes, he is the LoTD multi-melta with his shoulder sawn off and repositioned to fit the plastic plasma cannon. I'll replace the pack nozzles with skulls, and put little skulls all over the plastic as it is so easy gluing plastic to plastic.

Basically to take advantage of LoTD rules to make the PC even nastier. I am going to do the sergeant with a combi-grav (which oddly he can take even if the squad can't take a grav gun) and the special weapon guy with a meltagun. As they can't Overwatch (Slow & Purposeful) and Ignore Cover anyway I didn't see any point getting them flamers. These guys will never survive a battle (but you cannot kill that which does not live anyway), but they will play merry hell (see what I did there) with vehicles rear armour (especially those reliant on Jink and other toys, such as pesky eldar and tau) and heavy infantry. This means the first time I use them their Deep Strike will go horrendously wrong.

From a narrative point of view the Crimson Fists are in such a dire state they need all the aid they can get, even that which is unlooked for (I am in trouble now).

I have done some sternguard, again from metal because it hurts and Dorn's lot like that, which I'll post tomorrow.

Edit: As an aside I realise how mad it is doing Fists, although I still will. As Minotaurs are siege specialists Chapter Tactics (Imperial Fists) works great for them, and Asterion gives Preferred Enemy (Space Marines) in the same way Pedro gives Preferred Enemy (Orks). When I get back to the Minotaurs I will thus be giving them Assault and Devastator Centurions (no grav cannons though as doesn't work with Siege Masters), and when Kraatos is out a devastator squad with him in, and thus 5 heavy bolters, with Bolter Drill, will be fun :smile.:

Edited by Marius Perdo
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  • 1 month later...

Well, I have actually been playing. A bit more on that later but first:

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Basically Imperial Fists. I was going to do Crimsons but I haven't used Sternguard or Pedro, and I won't. Then Sentinels came out and what I have been using matched. Currently just churning out boltgunners.

Basic "rule" is MK VII, but non-kneepads (Mk VI) considered normal. Then on some up to 2 bits of some other marks. Usually MK VI, some MK IV, V, VIII chests etc. Being organic about it and not getting hung up on it.

I'll be doing a few left handers, and re-loaders. The idea is to show a sort of time lapse of firing a full clip in bolter drill across the squad. Been watching Zulu whilst I do this.

Been messing with my Minotaurs too, given their new Chapter Tactics. That will change the composition but for the moment focusing on these with the idea to do them as Sentinels. Got some ideas for Garadon.

Actually playing them has got me a lot more invested. Unfortunately BF4 s out in 19 minutes...oh dear.

Edited by Marius Perdo
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@Lorenzen: Can't resist BF. Been plating since 1942. Not literally of course. I may be old but not that old :smile.: As for heads the sort of generic baldies will be for squads and once with interesting hair will be personalities (sergeants, command squad etc). I'll have helms at their waists. Probably just red but I may magnetise to swap in red with white stripes for veteran sergeants. I'll do Garadon as a Sternhelm, and maybe a termie sergeant, which is white on black (my take on that is because he is first sergeant).

 

@Battle-Brother Ludovic: Oddly nough no. The intended recipe at the moment to follow. Also I want gritty and damaged from being on the Crusade of Thunder. I am sorting out a decal sheet with the crusade badge and The Banner of Staganda to fit exactly over the plastic banner.

 

Yellow Recipe


Undercoat sprayed Chaos Black

Battledamage base Scorched Brown (Rhinox Brown)

Varnish seal

Seal shoulder rims/chest eagle with latex mask

Hairspray, several thin coats

Basecoat Iyanden Darksun (Averland Sunset)

Thin layers Golden Yellow (Yriel Yellow)

Highlight Sunburst Yellow (Flash Gitz Yellow)
 

Red Recipe


Base coat Scab Red (Khorne Red)

Highlight Red Gore (Wazdakka Red)

Battle Damage with Hairspray Technique


If a wash is required I'll make an oil wash from Burnt Umber using artists white spirits. I will definitely use that for vehicles.

 

Where you see an very old, old, and new paint hue I may actually mix them to end up with a fairly largish batch of each for each stage. This will use up some old paints and provide something unique. I'll be airbrushing so I'll be padding them out by using acrylic thinners anyway.

 

@Dorns_fist: Thanks mate. However they are going to be Imperial Fists 3rd Company, the Sentinels of Terra. I will do some Crimson Fists in future though, based around Pedro and scoring Sternguard (especially if I ever play a multi-detachment game).


As an aside my visual inspiration for this project at the painting stage is augustmanifeto's Imperial Fists 5th Company found here.

 

Anyway, time to do a few more bolt gunners. I am making sure I build at least a couple a day.
 

Edited by Marius Perdo
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  • 5 months later...

Back.

 

Eyes went again. As sorted as they will be now i.e. don't expect anything to write home about. 

 

Started working again too. So little time.

 

Saw Lorenzen's thread.

 

I bought Kraatos.

 

With the FW Character Update and Chapter Tactics I have planned out up to 3k of Minotaurs. I really enjoyed playing the Imperial Fists and will do them later.

 

For now though it is all going to be about charging about in enemy deployment zones and attrition (mine mostly).

 

I have nearly finished a second tactical squad (in MK VII). The Mk VIII one is done (with quite a few changes to before like running and aiming left handed bolt gunners).

 

Working on a MK VIII assault squad in pod, and a MK VII in pod too.

 

I have all the characters from FW, and a storm eagle roc and all the stuff I need.

 

The missus is away this weekend, it is a bank holiday, and I will mostly be building so expect lots of boring shots of unpainted Minotaurs on Monday. I will be getting 1850 together before I airbrush them all at once. They won't be all done this weekend as that force is 81 marines and various vehicles.

 

Intended recipe above next to the test guy who is in the MK VII squad now (sans his gun strap).

 

Regardless I'll be back Monday with whatever I achieve.

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Half time report:

gallery_27755_8709_6557.jpg

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Still various things to do on all, like mould lines, removing purity seals at ankles, detaching glued ones from bases and adding pins for painting on corks, some brass etching, larges studs/pods at ankles of Mk VIII etc. Not much point until all 40 are done.

I will do a third squad of each type in future but as they will be Mk III making left handers and dynamic assault marines is likely to be time consuming.

I tend to build bases for the minis when near completion, those few shown are just guides. As for transports it is going to be "and drop pods for all" for this lot. Bits of mangled bits of marine armour/helms will feature on bases (heavily eroded to prevent too much spot colour contrast) from various Chapters (Genesis Chapter, Imperial Paladins, Doom Warriors, Inceptors, Lamenters, Executioners, Astral Claws, Night Reapers, Angels Revenant, Grey Knights, Ultramarines).

If I get a Mk VII and Mk VIII tactical and assault squad done by the end of tomorrow I will be both happy and surprised. I am unlikely to be either.

Edited by Marius Perdo
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Full time report: Fail.

Well, I forgot I was helping a mate with his necrons today. I had part built a few more Mk VIII assault but I didn't like one (using the chest on the bottom left above) so tore his arms off. It just didn't look Minotaury to me, and wasn't fitting in with the others. That chest will be reused for some other chapter.

The others are still very WIP.

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However my mate suggested rather than trying to build 1850 points and then paint them all at once, that I build about a thousand and then play his necrons, in a sort of Orpheus style.

Makes sense, so I have a more reasonable target of 1000 points. Mostly assault marines in pods to use Trample & Crush ASAFP, with Enkomi leading. If I get a marine or two done an evening (on average) I should be ready to play by the time 6.5 arrives and possibly invalidates all sorts (hopefully not).

Obviously unhappy and not surprised.

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Bits sellers always seem to be out of them.

 

There's your answer ;)

 

Marius: Good to see you back, brother! I agree that aiming for 1'000 points instead of 1'850 points is indeed a better idea. I look forward to seeing whatever you have in store for us next :)

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Thanks lads.

 

As for the Mk VIII shoulders I had 6 command boxes (well, 2 from Severin Loths), bought some from Bitz sellers (unreliable) and thus ended up making a silicone mould (not great).

 

Regards the assault marines...again some just aren't working for me. Especially the one in the middle above that is merely blu-taced.

 

It took a while to establish why but I sort of worked this out:

 

1) I don't like them aiming pistols as they hit with their close combat weapons in assault i.e. a pistol just gives +1A and is not the profile used to damage, it is all about the chainswords so they will be the focus and when they are I like them.

2) I don't like graceful poses on marines (they look over balanced) or weapons out wide to the sides, I like them compact and looking like they could bull rush you into paste with Trample & Crush (also will be easier to position the actual models in assault).

3) I like them looking like they are chopping from across their body or chopping down i.e. about to swing not having swung.

 

Having sorted out in my head why I was rejecting stuff I am far happier, and thus I am doing rough mirrors of the chainsword wielders above.

 

NB I have found the vehicle accessory sprue gunners arms a joy for left handed bolt gunners and varied arm posing generally.

 

Edit: I forgot to say the 1000 goal is:

 

Mk III assault x9 (including veteran sergeant with power axe), with Enkomi, in drop pod (locator beacon)

 

Mk VII assault x10 flamers x2 in drop pod

 

Mk VIII assault x10 2 flamers in drop pod

 

Mk VIII tacticals x5 (full squad built above already)

 

Mk VII tacticals x5 (full squad built above already)

 

Mk III tacticals x5 (to become third full 10 man squad in 1000+)

 

Mk IV tactical x5 (will eventually be used as devastator boltgunners to go with Kraatos and his plasma cannon/heavy bolters in 1000+)

Edited by Marius Perdo
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