Ace does a Thing - ETL 2016 - Vow 1 Completed!

[Forté]

They look good there Ace.

[Adra'Melek]

Ace, I meant Deathwing, sorry.

[Reyner]

Nice Deathwing man. The agrax worked well for the white armour, my DIY chapter will get that next time I decided to raise them from the dead.

[Lysimachus]

Lovely stuff there, Ace! Really like the heads on the TDA, very knightly! Are they trimmed Chaos warrior helms?

[Ace Debonair]

They look good there Ace.

Cheers! Wait till I dig out my old models for comparison, so everyone can see the difference.

I don't know if I'm chuffed at how far I've come along or embarrassed at how bad I used to be.

Ace, I meant Deathwing, sorry.

Eh, both start with 'death', both roughly bone-coloured, they're nearly the same thing.

Also since the Death Guard are the canon version of the Infernal Legion, it's all good in my view.

Nice Deathwing man. The agrax worked well for the white armour, my DIY chapter will get that next time I decided to raise them from the dead.

Agrax Earthshade is fantastic stuff and has my complete approval. I'd swear it's made from pixie dust and elf blood, because that stuff is pure magic.

Also, not sure if you spotted it but my marine on page 1 could almost pass for an Iron Warden.

EDIT:

Lysimachus:

Yep, them's chaos warrior helmets. It's my easy-mode-cheat-hats method so I can avoid painting eye lenses!

[Adra'Melek]

Have you tried Nuln Oil (black wash). I tried it when I was playing with World Eaters (pre-heresy). Pretty nice.

[Lysimachus]

Yep, them's chaos warrior helmets. It's my easy-mode-cheat-hats method so I can avoid painting eye lenses!

Lol, good thinking, they do look more menacing in some ways left in shadow.

Fluff sounds good too, although I don't remember seeing these guys over in the Liber...? Think you need to think about where your true loyalties lie, laddie!

[Ace Debonair]

Thing is, The whole Iron Circle thing wouldn't stand a chance in the Liber.

Everyone'd be all like 'there's no mention of this event in the canon' or 'it wouldn't need several Chapters' or 'why wouldn't they just [iNSERT SOLUTION] or other stuff that I don't want to argue about.

I'd defend this Chapter far, far too heavily, so I'm going to keep it separate for now.

[Conn Eremon]

Any who would make foolish, unsupportable responses like that are people whose input isn't worth listening to, and I, for one, would gladly and vehemently take your side.

[Ace Debonair]

Well, that was kind of an exaggeration.

The Liber and everyone in it are double awesome, and practically my internet family.

But even more mundane DIYs have trouble being written up flawlessly, and when you look at my track record... well, let's just say I'd rather avoid the headaches that would ensue.

I'd only wind up either upset over something myself, or upsetting someone else. I'll save my more... malleable DIYs like the Stonebound, Rift Lords and Infinity Knights for the Liber.

I've been painting a chaos dude, since I found an old tub of Codex Grey that still works. That music you can faintly hear is 'Ode to Joy', being played quite loudly from my location as I go crazy with the edge highlights.

[Conn Eremon]

You and me are different, then. The very first IA I posted was the one I have the most connection to, and am most concerned with "getting right." I still haven't reached the DIYs that I am the most malleable on, and I think I've got half a dozen or so up so for. But s'cool, s'cool.

[Brother Argent]

Well perhaps when we revisit it these guys can be your loyalist part in the Campaign thingy we were starting to work on.  It would suit, guys used to defending against chaos being dropped in to do exactly that.  That and we can include a few pictures of models of the various forces too which would be kinda neat.  Just as soon as I get some Interdictors painted.  That and things have had another set back of sorts here too (my wife is pregnant with our first child) so... You got plenty of time to work on them...

[Ace Debonair]

You and me are different, then. The very first IA I posted was the one I have the most connection to, and am most concerned with "getting right." I still haven't reached the DIYs that I am the most malleable on, and I think I've got half a dozen or so up so for. But s'cool, s'cool.

Yeah, I made up all of my other DIYs just for the Liber so I wouldn't have to watch the Iron Circle and it's members get mauled.

I'll throw up some more information about the Circle and one of the other Chapters therein next time.

Well perhaps when we revisit it these guys can be your loyalist part in the Campaign thingy we were starting to work on. It would suit, guys used to defending against chaos being dropped in to do exactly that. That and we can include a few pictures of models of the various forces too which would be kinda neat. Just as soon as I get some Interdictors painted. That and things have had another set back of sorts here too (my wife is pregnant with our first child) so... You got plenty of time to work on them...

Hey, congrats!

My tip is to hibernate now, to make up for all the sleepless nights coming your way.

To be fair, my other Chapters are a good bit more fleshed out than the White Hawks, but I won't rule out using the Hawks for your story, as and when the time comes.

[Phalanx Warder]

Congrats on taking the plunge into posting pictures! In my first year here my skills improved 10 fold from the pointers I have received from the veterans of the hobby on this lobby (hey I made a rhyme ). I like the use of the various kits you have used!

keep up the good work

[Ace Debonair]

Congrats on taking the plunge into posting pictures! In my first year here my skills improved 10 fold from the pointers I have received from the veterans of the hobby on this lobby (hey I made a rhyme ). I like the use of the various kits you have used!

keep up the good work

Not sure how I missed this - many thanks, brother!

I need to get some more bits so I can make another standard issue bolter-armed tactical marine (I ran out of spare legs! ), then I'll put up a comparison post showing my first ever painted marine from something like ten or eleven years back and a modern-day equivalent.

In other, more modelling-related news, I finished assembling and weathering that Chaos marine of mine from page 2.

Once the camera's recharged I'll snap some pictures and see what you all think of my super-clumsy highlighting.

[Reyner]

Aye he could be an Iron Warden with a bit more silver and slightly darker purple. Nice work, how's the Chaos marine coming along?

[Ace Debonair]

Uh, good, but the camera's not exactly helping me out today.

It's just gone midnight so I'll try again after some sleep.

[Ace Debonair]

I have done another thing!

Namely, I finally got pictures of my assembled Chaos Champion.

Highlighting edges does give the black extra depth, for definite. I tried it in dark blue and then purple, but neither colour looked quite right with the yellow and orange. Then I found an old pot of Codex Grey that still functions, and figured 'why not?'

The highlighting's pretty clumsy, I admit, but it looks good enough at any sort of distance.

Pretty happy with the desert-brown colour I used for the cape, even if I did swamp it with mud afterwards.

He's got that slightly awkward pose because the legs from Anvil are slightly thicker than the standard ones. Normally it's a non-issue, but with the chainmail tabard, his torso was being pushed apart by the thicker legs.

So, instead of holding his chainsword aloft triumphantly, he's got it sorta levelled forward as though signalling his squad to advance, in order to cover the big gap in his armour a bit better.

Before anyone says anything, I have no greenstuff or any equivalent, nor the skill to use it.

I also washed and weathered two of my completed ordinary bolter guys for the Easy-Mode-Cheat-Marines warband, so here they are with their leader.

Well hello there, random yellow blob on the leader's belt where no yellow blob should be. I thought I'd got all the mistakes like that.

Also the two bolter blokes need more weathering around their feet, now that I look again at them.

I did promise some more information as well, so here comes the exposition!

The area of space called the Glastheim Rift was once a relatively peaceful and prosperous section of Imperial space. In the wake of the Horus Heresy, however, the whole area was swamped with unending Warp Storms, and the worlds around the Rift assaulted by daemons. Since then, the area has also been a target for various Warbands either gambling on finding shelter in the storms or seeking to establish dominion on the worlds surrounding it. History records at least two systems were swamped entirely by the warp storms, and they occasionally interfere with others surrounding the area. Worse, orks occasionally raid the area, possibly drawn by the promise of a challenging fight.

Notably, the Rift Lords warband has been known to operate in the area, alongside several vassal warbands. The marines pictured above are from one such warband, but beyond their appearance, information on the warband is scarce. They seem fairly well disciplined and filled with bitter hatred of the Imperium, but such traits are commonplace amongst the corrupted servants of the Dark Gods.

The Iron Circle was the last of a series of countermeasures established by the High Lords of Terra. Guard and navy forces alone struggled to curb traitor advances into the Glastheim Rift, and so instead, after much debate and deliberation, at the 18th Founding a number of Chapters were assigned to the area with instruction to cordon the area off and ensure the eradication of any and all traitors and xenos that dared to venture close.

The Chapters of the Iron Circle hail from many different gene-lines and their personalities are as different and varied as their heraldry. However, they each share a bond of duty and brotherhood, and are each sworn to the defence of their brothers.

It is, thusly, not uncommon to see Chapters of the Iron Circle working in tandem with each other. Perimeter patrols of the Glastheim Rift are often orchestrated by combined forces drawn from multiple Chapters.

While the Inquisition have levelled accusation of Empire-Building and power-mongering at the Iron Circle before, each Chapter bears a stasis-locked documentation of a charter drafted (or at least signed) by the High Lords of Terra. These ornate documents date back to the 18th Founding, and cannot be gainsaid by the Inquisition. This gives the Iron Circle some leeway in their continued co-operation in protection of the Glastheim Rift.

Provided the Iron Circle's members do not overstep their bounds and begin building strongholds on more distant worlds, the Inquisition is generally content to merely observe the Iron Circle, although you can be sure they observe very closely indeed.

So, I've got two of the Chapters of the Iron Circle fleshed out, the White Hawks and my nephew's Chapter.

Next time, if I get his permission, I'll talk a bit about them, and maybe even have some examples to show everyone.

I'm keeping the total number of Chapters in the Iron Circle deliberately vague, in case one day anyone decides they'd like a Chapter of theirs to join the Circle.

I might need to put some more work in to start swaying people though!

My usual bits site hasn't restocked in a while now, so I might have to take the plunge and go actually buy a whole box from GW for the first time since last summer.

On the one hand that'd get me a bunch of cool tactical marines, which is nice, but on the other hand I bet I wind up spending more than I need to.

Those Sternguard boxes are already calling to me and I haven't even gone to their website.

[deathspectersgt7]

They look good plus you already are correcting .Yeah lets see some fluff

[PassionFruit Power]

looks gr8 such an improvement :)

[Reyner]

18th Founding eh? My Iron Wardens might join the Iron Circle (or would that be too much Iron?) Your Chaos Marines look good - all I can suggest is try get a bit less paint on your brush or (with practice) getting paint on the side of the brush makes highlighting a little bit easier. You could try try dry brush the edges then tone the highlights down with the black wash to blend them in a bit :)

[Ace Debonair]

Many thanks guys.

The highlights are a bit rough, I'll admit.

I'm minded to keep it pretty much as it is if only so I can compare it with stuff I do further down the road, although the helmets on those two bolter guys are just crying out for me to get some more practice on!

Oh, the two bolter guys also have what currently passes for finished bases in this household, if anyone was wondering what my basing standards were.

They're pretty low, to be honest. Coat of brown paint + tiny rocks = finished base. It's maybe not the most memorable base anyone's ever done, but I rather like the effect and it's easy to do.

[geektom]

Looking really good, man. Strong theme, and you are executing the basics well!

[Lysimachus]

Looking nice, Ace!

 

The bases might look more finished if you paint the trims too (I know some people like to leave them black, personally I think they look neater matching the ground colour). Also, if you have a brown-ish wash, adding a layer to the base can add definition to the rocks.

 

Highlights can definitely be a pig, but this looks like a good start. Like Reyner said, I find it's easiest to get a reasonable amount on the brush and then lightly slide the edge of the brush against the edge you want to highlight?

 

Fluff sounds good to me, where(ish) is the Glastheim Rift? I think the Iron Circle sounds fine, as long as it's not on the level of the Adeptus Praeses or Maelstrom Warders in numbers of Chapters involved. Same principle as those examples, which is why it makes sense that the HLoT might order it to happen, just on a (presumably) smaller scale?

 

New Tac squads are lovely, both in terms of sculpt quality and cool bits. Well worth checking out online shops for discounts, from what I've heard Darksphere and Element Games are pretty good, or there's always ebay!

[Madwolf Shadowmane]

The chaos guys are looking good.  The Iron Circle sounds intriguing.  Definitely want to hear more.