The Nine Legions - Started Dreadclaws

[Dragonlover]

Ok, so, I've pledged to paint 2 Heldrakes and a 5-man Havoc Squad for the Call of Chaos. This is however, just the beginning. I plan to build a 2000 point army for each Legion, using the Chaos Marine Codex.

 

I'm a fair modeller, lazy and slightly naff painter, and primarily a gamer. None of these armies are for display, but for use. Taking all this into account, there are unlikely to be exquisitely modelled Marines with subtle choices of pose and ornamentation as a norm. Instead, I plan to convey each armies character through bits choice, paint job and conversions of the larger models such as vehicles.

 

First up are the Alpha Legion. Macragge Blue followed by a Druchii Violet wash is the plan, with none of those ridiculous green highlights. The Marines will all be the Anvil Industry Black Ops Exo Lords, with the odd bit of GW Marine scattered through if I need to.

 

However, I have to apologise for the lack of pictures in this initial post, as my wife's phone refuses point blank to cooperate, so I've gotta hunt my camera down when I get home. I'm more than happy to expound on my future plans for the 9 Legions, but wanted to keep this post short and sweet.

 

Dragonlover

 

P.S: Hall of Heroes thread here if you just wanted to see finished stuff.

[Studio Silvernale]

Those minis are badass! I'll be watching this project for sure.

[Dragonlover]

I have basecoated my Heldrakes. One of them needs a bunch of rebuilding work done to it as well, but here! Feast your oculars upon progress!

 

Heldrake 1:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10422.jpg

 

Heldrake 2:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10423.jpg

 

I'm gonna fix up Heldrake 2, then do the wash and paint the trims. After I've got the Heldrakes finished, I'll work on my Havocs.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

I have no idea what the double posting rules are, but screw it. I've done the wash coat on both Heldrakes.

 

Heldrake 1

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10424.jpg

 

Heldrake 2

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10425.jpg

 

It's tricky to tell, since I don't have the best lighting, but they're definitely darker.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Warning: the lighting is still terrible. Remind me why we do the painting events during the rainy season?

 

So, Heldrake the First is progressing. I've done all the topside trim, and slightly less than half of the underside, in what can only be described as some of the most painstaking painting I've ever done. Oh, and a tip: if you ever get one of these things, paint it on the sprue. Or at least, paint the wings on the sprue/before you assemble them. It would have made things much easier.

 

Topside:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10428.jpg

 

Underside:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10430.jpg

 

So, that's where I'm currently at. I'm trying to work out what colour to do the fleshy bits, and I don't really want to do the armour on the underside of the torso silver, but I'm not sure what else I could do with it, so any suggestions gratefully received.

 

Dragonlover

[The_Chaplain]

Awww, I saw alpha legion helldrake and I thought it was gonna be 3 headed for a second.  Still looks good though!

[Excessus]

Ooooh, drakes are sooo annoying to paint because of all those edges... :(

 

 

Keep up the good work, Hydra Dominatus!

[Dragonlover]

Awww, I saw alpha legion helldrake and I thought it was gonna be 3 headed for a second. Still looks good though!

Oh man, I wish I'd thought of that before building the damn things... building them totally unconverted was a bit odd for me.

Ooooh, drakes are sooo annoying to paint because of all those edges...

Keep up the good work, Hydra Dominatus!

I'm actually not finding them too much of an issue. Keeping my patience in check is the main issue, I'm a somewhat... impatient painter. Slapping the wash on is more my style. Hence why I'm doing all the trim in one go, switching from this to something I can be more slapdash with and back again will screw with my head.

Dragonlover

[Excessus]

Yeah, patience is a virtue...and I'm not that much of a virtuous person.. :P

[Dragonlover]

Ok, so, the weather outside is truly terrible, and my brother in law swiped his camera back anyway, so no pictures for this update. If you wanted a picture, go back up to the shot of the underside of the Heldrake, and imagine that all the trim is silver. That's the furthest I've got, I'm currently trying to work out what to to with the torso armour, and I'm wondering about a dark green.

 

I'd like to use this post to get down in writing some more concrete plans for all 9 armies in terms of modelling and so on. So, without further ado...

 

Alpha Legion

 

As previously stated, the army is going to be made using the Black Ops Exo-Lords from Anvil Industry. The only GW parts in this army will be some Legion Plasma Guns, Cultists, Rhinos and whatever ends up going on my Huron counts-as. My current vision for the model is to give him a Guardian Spear-like weapon with an archaeotech looking flamer where the bolter would normally go, and put some kind of weighty pommel on the other end, but I have no idea what weapon to use as the basis for it. Possibly something from the Grey Knight box?

 

For the Rhinos, I've decided I want to make a stealthier transport. A Batman Begins Tumbler the same size as a Rhino would be ideal, but since that isn't going to happen, I'm going to convert them from Land Speeder Vengeances. In theory, anyway. I'm getting one around Christmas and it'll be one of the things I pick up once my vow is completed.

 

Black Legion

 

This is one of the two armies I don't currently have a list written for, just some modelling ideas. I want Possessed, but I also want the Marines to look like they've been possessed in the past, so I'm probably going to be converting Chosen from the Dark Vengeance box. This may well be the army where I use my Daemon Prince I'm converting from a Trygon as the HQ, since I have no idea where else I'll put it and it looks awesome. Or at least, it will when it's finished. I'll most likely be using Subtle Discord's glorious trim kits on the vehicles for this army, because holy crap they're awesome.

 

Death Guard

 

Here's the other army I have no list for. I'm a real stickler for consistency, and the fact that the only way to get a Lord with FNP currently is to take Typhus irritates me, especially since if I put him in a unit of Terminators they *won't* have FNP but he will. I'm not even sure modelling and painting wise what I'm doing with these guys, other than if the Deathshroud models don't make it in, I'm doing something terribly wrong.

 

Emperor's Children

 

Sound and speed is where I'm going with this army, so it's Noise Marines in Rhinos, Bikers and Raptors with the Mark of Slaanesh, and some hapless Cultists on the back line manning an Aegis Line. Oh, and some Obliterators, who were my one concession to gameplay issues. I'll probably have them modelled as walking speaker stacks or something.

 

The stock Emperor's Children and Kakophoni sonic weapons irritate me, because I've read Fulgrim, and these weird sonic guns are not what gets picked up. All my guys will be converted to be carrying badass daemon guitars with the odd other instrument thrown in. As for the colour scheme, I really want to do every panel of armour totally different colours and patterns. How well I'll pull it off, I have no idea. I'll be using Raptor parts for the speakers as well as sculpting stretched mouths and so on. For the bikes, I plan on using the Legion Outriders, as they're much sleeker.

 

Iron Warriors

 

I've min-maxed the hell out of this list to get 6 Heavy Support slots in: 2 Defilers, 2 Vindicators and 2 Forgefiends. The Heavy Support is where the majority of the conversion work is going, I've inherited a bunch of Iron Warriors from friends who were clearing stuff out, so it'll be the odd weapon swap and paint touch up on the rank and file, especially since a lot of them were built with the GW upgrade pack. Oh, and I'll probably scatter some MKIII Iron Armour through as well.

 

For the Defilers, the legs and chassis will be built as normal. I will then attach a platform to the chassis with battlements on three sides, with an Iron Warrior manning a Reaper Autocannon turret at the front. At the rear, I will have a pair of Havoc Lauchers arranged in a step configuration, again from the Dark Works. For the Battlecannon, I'm going to attach a tail in pretty much the same fashion as the old Brass Scorpion conversions. The Vindicators are already built, they'll need a repaint and they'll be fine. For the Forgefiends, I'm going to attach the 2 Hades Autocannons and an Ectoplasma Cannon to the top of the model in a similar configuration to the Las/Plas Razorback turret, then put the Maulerfiend arms where the guns would normally go.

 

Night Lords

 

I've written this list using the Blood Angel codex, because Land Raiders dropping from the skies is pretty bloody terrifying. In terms of modelling, anything I do will be simply standing on the shoulders of giants such as darkVen, Brother Heinrich, noctus cornix et al, unless I have a glorious flash of inspiration for how to make my stuff unique. Of course, because of this, I'm a touch trepidatious about getting to the Night Lords, but it's not gonna be for a while yet.

 

Thousand Sons

 

I run into a slightly different modelling issue here: Differentiating my models from those of my wife, who is making Heresy-era Thousand Sons with the Grey Knight codex. That said, she's heading down a path filled with Terminators, so if I stick to power armoured guys I should be alright. This list is pretty straightforward: Thousand Sons in Rhinos, Ahriman, a Sorcerer on Disk with the Burning Brand, three Dreadnoughts and three Maulerfiends. I may well make the Maulerfiends from the Tomb Kings Warsphinx, I need to checks the models against each other.

 

Word Bearers

 

So, I have two lists for these guys. One of them is a Deathwing list, because I desperately want to make an all Terminator army at some point, and the other is a Chaos list. The Chaos List has Possessed, Chosen, Terminators and 120 Cultists. Whichever one I go for, I'll be painting the scriptures of Lorgar onto the armour of the Marines. If I go for the cultist horde, I foresee Flagellants in my future.

 

World Eaters

 

I actually already have these guys built and painted. They were my first army back in 3rd Edition, and other than a host of repairs and the fact I need to finish off a Forgefiend for them, they're done.

 

------

 

So, that's the plan. Obviously, no plan survives contact with the enemy, and some of these armies won't be happening for years yet. If anybody has anything at all to suggest for any of the armies, don't hesitate to say.

 

As a reward for reading that wall of text, here's a pic of the Daemon Prince mentioned above.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0011.jpg

 

Those scales will eventually cover the whole front of the model.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

So, I'm back from a weeks holiday, in which I managed to paint a bunch of Heldrake trim, as well as play a metric ass-ton of Dynasty Warriors 8. I now want to make a Marine with power tonfas. I have a pic of the second Heldrake thus far, and my Havocs. No more work has been done to the first Heldrake, I figured I'd get it to the point where all the trim was done on both before continuing.

 

Heldrake 2:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10509.jpg

 

Havocs:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10511.jpg

 

The Havocs reminded me of why I hate working with superglue, I enjoy the fact that poly cement has a slower drying time, as you can correct positioning mistakes much easier. That said, the kits were a joy to work with, other than the fact that I think I mismatched some arms, which is why one guy is casually one-handing his autocannon while pointing at things, as I couldn't get the handle arm I had left to match up.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

The first Heldrake is complete!

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10518.jpg

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10517.jpg

 

I'm happy to provide other angles upon request, but I figured people would appreciate something other than a topside/underside shot, plus I'm about to go to bed.

 

I think I'm gonna work on my Havocs next, I laid down the undercoat and basecoat yesterday, but I need to touch up the basecoat, so once I've done that I'll get some more pictures up for Havoc update 2.

 

Dragonlover

[Forté]

Must be Thanksgiving and Christmas with two turkeys ;)

 

Nice start to 2k.

[Dragonlover]

Cheers forte. We've christened them 'cheesebats' at the shop.

 

I've gotta say, I'm pretty proud of this Heldrake, it's probably my best painted model to date.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Here's the Havoc squad with the basecoat and wash on them:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10530.jpg

 

I'm not sure where to go next, I was gonna do the trim metal to match the Heldrake, but I don't think it'll look right, especially as the backs of the legs have exposed cabling, I don't want to overdo the silver.

 

Dragonlover

[Brother Ambroz]

What kit did you use for those havocs? They look great.

[Dragonlover]

They're the Anvil Industries Black Ops Suppression Team. I'm using them for two reasons: I couldn't find the autocannon pack on Forgeworld, and I really like the pouches, helps with that self-sufficient vibe Alpha Legion should have.

 

I've managed to do the cable on all of them, and got some paint on the autocannons. I'm planning on hitting the green with a coat of Biel-Tan Green as well.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10534.jpg

 

I'm thinking of doing a similar green on the bottom section of the shoulders and the leg trim, what do you reckon?

 

Dragonlover

[Brother Ambroz]

Wow great price too for 4 heavy weapon troops. Keep it up man.

 

Edit: Are they similar in size to the rest of your guys?

[Dragonlover]

Yeah, if Marines weren't so bow legged they'd be the same height as these guys. I'm glad you asked about them, by the way, because I had to go to the site and thus discover they have a sale on. I've got 4 ten-man squads incoming to do the rest of the army with, plus finish this squad off with the bolter dudes. Saved myself 18 quid on a purchase that was gonna be happening anyway.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Ok, so here's the squad as it currently stands. I'm thinking pouches and lenses next, then pretty up the backpacks a touch and done.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10536.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Excessus]

Can't wait to see these done! Keep truckin'! :)

[Dragonlover]

Aaand done!

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10545.jpg

 

I've got a game on Sunday against a Salamanders player. The point of the game is to kill off his commander, so we're playing the Black Crusade mission from Battle Missions with the extra rule that our Warlords can only lose their last wound to each other. It's gonna be like Istvaan all over again.

 

*Rubs hands with glee*

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

So, the game on Sunday was more like 'Revenge for Isstvan: Anvil Edition', so we decided screw it, Captain Mufasa is being promoted to Chapter Master. I also came up with a name for my Alpha Legion commander: Procel Vassago, Scourge of the Abrax Reaches.

 

This post, however, is because me and my wife just exchanged Christmas presents. Behold, my pile of resin:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10548.jpg

 

On the left, a set of MKIII and a set of MKII, on the right 10 Legion Plasma Guns and 5 Volkite Culverins. I plan on using the Culverins to make Obliterator weapon teams at some point.

 

I also bought myself 4 squads of Anvil Industry guys, in order to make three CSM squads, 5 bolter dudes for the Havocs and then Vassago and at least one weapon team. These are shown below, I'll happily do a 'separate parts shot' if people want me to.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10549.jpg

 

As to my current project, work continues on Heldrake 2. Gotta paint the claws, flesh and tubey-pipe bits.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Sorry for the triple post, but screw it. My Call of Chaos is complete!

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/SDC10551.jpg

 

The green bits on the wings are so I and my opponent can tell them apart on the table.

 

Thankyou for all the kind words, likes and so on during the Call. Next up for the Project Log, 4 squads of Alpha Legionnaires using Anvil Industry parts. I'll be building them this week, I'll get pics up as soon as I can.

 

Dragonlover

[Brother Ambroz]

Drake looks good and it looks like you've got a lot of work ahead with all the Christmas presents!