November's Imaginarium

[DarKHaZZ13]

Loving the old school bright BA.
That Rhino is top quality!
Keep it up!

[November]

@Deathspecter- Thanks for your continued support mate, very much appreciated!

 

@DarKHaZZ13 - Thank you for taking the time to have a look, and comment!

 

I've been continuing to work away at my Blood Angels in my free time, and have finally finished the first (of two planned) tactical squads. Huzzah. I'm happy with the painting in these models, and now i've set on a final scheme and recipe for my red i'll hopefully be able to crack on and get the second squad finished a wee bit quicker.

 

Firstly - plasma gun toting marine:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0588.jpg

 

Next up, his Plasma cannon wielding friend:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0590.jpg

 

Difficult to take decent pictures of the heavy weapon guy, he has quite a static pose, and to be honest it doesn't make for a great model in the end up. In due course i'll probably get round to replacing him with a bit of a better one.

 

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0592.jpg

 

The sergeant for the squad - I redid the face and tried to use Lord Sondar's techniques. As you can see this is clearly not as good as his! I think the problem is that I went and re-highlighted the face a little too bright. I also can't get my head round how to do eyes. I took a punt at them and he's a bit cross-eyed :(

 

Again, another one i'll try to redo in the future. I'd probably pull off the Hasslefree heads and replace them with the GW ones from the Sternguard kit.

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0586.jpg

 

The whole squad, completed and based:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0594.jpg

 

C&C on the finished group would be muchly appreciated.

 

For the next bit of the project, I think it'll either be an assault squad, or a character. I'm also working on some fluff for my men - I think the force will be set early in the crusade, just after the Emperor's rediscover of Baal and the Angel Sanguinius. I think my RT-inspired marines are just a little bit too bright and clean for a post-Istvaan force.

[daemonclaw]

damn british rail workers look badass in the 30th millenium

as soon as i saw this bright colour it bought this to mind

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/daemonclaw/Railway_workers_585_651373a_zpse9e0e930.jpg

on a serious note though they are some exceptionally well painted minis

nice job sir

[deathspectersgt7]

Great job on the squad how about a Assualt Squad.

[helterskelter]

Yes an assault squad would look the balls in your BA colours,!

[Captain Semper]

To me this is the correct shade for the BAs - back to the 2ed days... :)

 

This is a very impressive squad Nov, really well made. It's refreshing to see BAs in the Heresy context - they are seldom seen... The banner is outstanding!

 

Beautiful work.

[Lord Sondar]

I think you can be proud of yourself with the face.

 

Turned out well, my only constructive comment is to keep more contrast between the dark tones and the extreme highlights, the white should only be used really sparingly. Looking at the picture there are loads of mid-tones but not much of the shadows, I conseed that it could be down to the flash on the camera and apologise if that's why.

 

Painting eyes makes me sweat and get nose bleeds! I consider it a success if the model has two pupils and leave it at that. Any attempts to fix them just makes it worse.

 

I'm really enjoying the 2nd edition asthetic of the red you have going on and would like to echo Sempers comments about the banner, what's the trick for the rich yellow? Enjoying the powersword too. Looking forward to more.

[November]

@Daemonclaw - The blazing orange (or whatever it's called now) does make them look a bit brighter than if i'd highlighted with a light red, however they're not really orange IRL. The flash from my camera is having a funny effect in my most recent pictures. I agree tho - they are pretty bright for BA. Most people (including me normally) seem to really heavily weather their models and i'm quite happy that mine are a wee bit different.

@Deathspectre/Helterskelter - Cheers for your continued support, i'll see what I can do...

@Semper - Thanks, dude.

@Lord Sondar - No, you're quite right the highlights are definitely too bright, and not what I was trying to achieve. However, I agree that it's not bad and trying too redo the face/eyes etc is just asking for trouble. I'll keep plugging away and I agree, trying to get some more shade into the faces would probably help a lot.

From the comments I think the yellow has photgraphed well - it's how I usually do yellow from my IF project: Demonic Yellow (Army Painter) basecoat (I think the GW yellow basecoat would do just as well, I just like the high pigment from AP , very dilute wash with Seraphim Sepia, drybrushed once dry with Yriel Yellow, and highlighted with Flash Gitz yellow. I really like how the range of "Layers" was expanded, no more faffing with 1:1 Skull White/A colour mixes! Once the whole thing is dry I used the old Vallejo Yellow ink in a glaze. Again, I used that pretty much because the new GW glazes/yellow inks didn't exist when I started out on my Fists.

Anyway, back to our regular schedule of Baal-inspired programming...

After a pretty busy weekend on-call at work (i'm a hospital-based doctor) I managed to finish up a few models on my day off today. As I mentioned earlier i've been plugging away at the second tactical squad. I also started working on the first of two planned assault squads. Since i've set my force in early-mid heresy (i.e. pre-Signus for the BA) i'm trying to keep the armour marks reasonable for the timeline. I've stretched out to the Corvus suits, as I think it suits the RT-aesthetic i'm developing (as in, the original RTB001 set) and they look really nice in resin! Plus, much like my Blood Angels generally, I think you see them less frequently than the Iron/Maximus pattern suits.

So, here's the first marine:

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0601.jpg

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0603.jpg

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0602.jpg

I've swapped out the original Corvus packs with Maxmini "Angelwing" jump packs, and i've included a picture to show the detail - I must say I think these are excellent after-market kits, and really "pop" when you see them IRL. Plus, it'll keep my BA boys a bit unique when compared with other 30K armies. For the fluffy amongst us (including me as i'm sure you'd guessed), I see these as a local Baalite variation of the standard Great Crusade area supplies. I'd recommend the Maximini bitz to anyone collecting spesh marinez.

Hope to hear some feedback on this chap, and hopefully get some pictures of the completed first five Corvus-armoured tactical marines. The varnish is drying as we speak, and when I took the initial pictures it made them look a bit shiny and sticky weirdly!

C&C welcome

[deathspectersgt7]

OH YEAH !!!!!!!

[Olis]

It's been pointed out before - that old-school BA red is awesome. 

[November]

Afternoon all,

 

I've finished the first half of the second tactical squads - these boys are the Corvus armoured chaps I mentioned in the previous post. Now the matt varnish has taken, they're less shiny!

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0595.jpg

 

Very happy with these guys, my only complaint would be that these are the older mark 6 sculpts and as such are a little more limited in their posing. However, the "overwatch" look is quite good and they'll do for now I think.

 

In a flurry of hobby activity i've managed to complete a few more of the assault marines for the mark 6 squad. Rather than post the rank-and-file, to break things up a little i've done the sergeants and special weapons first. Radical.

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0606.jpg

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0607.jpg

 

Like all good hobbyists i'm a bit of a magpie, and in between projects work on a little something different to keep me motivated with painting. To try and at least keep this all Great Crusade themed i've started working on some allies for the Blood Angels.

 

The chap below is the first of hopefully a fair few Imperial Army troops. These chaps may also double duty as the start of a new IG army for 40K - but as this is the B&C lets pretend I didn't say that...

 

So, from my point of view I see the Imperial Army as being relatively well-equipped compared with there 40K incarnation. Historically the IA had a supply of Land Raiders, skimmers etc, and as such I think the infantry would have some decent kit as well. These chaps are in hazardous-environment gear, so they can at least notionally keep up with the Angels. I'll need to get the new codex to see what the actually FOC allows, but I fancy a few squads with chimera transports as an Armoured Fist detachment. And tanks. Lots of tanks.

 

Well, here's the test model for some of the Imperial Army troops:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0616.jpg

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0617-1.jpg

 

These chaps are a bit of a kitbash as you can see -  I like the idea of greatcoat guard but frankly it's a total headache trying to aquire Valhallans at a halfway sensible price from eBay. They're Wargames Factory greatcoat bodies, with arms and weapon from the SM scout sprues, and heads and backbacks from Pig Iron Minatures. PI are a great company, and have some wonderful bitz, plus they are goof from a customer service point of view. The webbing is a mix of SM tactical, SM scout and Cadian bitz. As you can see they required a little filling with green stuff as the scout arms don't fit perfectly without a little persuasion.

 

There isn't a great deal of IA stuff that I can find, so i'm not so sure on the colour scheme for these guys. I'll probably wait until the BA project is totally done anyway before I start. Provisionally I was thinking a darker red, with grey/black armour and brown webbing.

 

C&C on the models as ever please :)

 

 

[Captain Semper]

I think it's ETL time! ;)

[deathspectersgt7]

Best looking pre-heresy Blood Angels I have seen .

[GhostMalone]

:/ damn you beat me

[Adeptus-Alaska]

I really like these guys. they are very close to to RT and 2nd ed. 

[November]

@Semper - Part of the ship...

 

@Deathspectersgt7 - Very kind of you mate, just hoping I can keep up with your expectations!

 

@Jaspcat - Very different styles, would be awesome to see them on the same battlefield. As you know, i'm a big fan of your more ornate BA squads.

 

@Furioso-prime -  Thanks for the comment, i've been trying to capture some of the RT feel in these models, as I think it works well in the pre-hersy era.

 

I've been doing some more work on my marines, trying to keep up with the painting will keeping up with a fairly busy job - so i've been a bit less productive in the last few days. However, i'm currently assembling the first five marines of a Heresy-armoured assault squad. I initially hadn't really planned to put any of this mark in the army, however I was very lucky on an eBay bid and managed to get ten of these boys for cheaper than the 5-pack on FW! However, looking at the casts, there'll be a fair amount of filling/GS-ing to bring them up to speak. In addition to that, I think these are actually a mix of different cast-runs, as the resin is a variety of greys. Weird.

 

Aside from that, i've finished the sergeant for the Corvus-armoured squad:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0597.jpg

 

Reasonably happy with this - again, the face could probably use more shading. It's varnished now though so i'm a little wary of re-shading with a wash in case it goes wonky. The transfer on teh banner is a little shiny in the picture but it's fine IRL. Took this as an oppurtunity to practice hazard-stripes. They're not a very BA motif, bit I think it works well as a spot colour for this model. I think they help mark out his genuine RTB01 powerfist too...very old school Terran I think.

 

Now in an earlier post I mentioned i'd probably be building a few characters. This chap will proxy as a Praetor for me for the moment, and in time will form the basis of a veteran squad:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/a80f685d-8dc3-4ac2-9604-24b2fd799a61.jpg

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0612.jpg

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/IMG_0610.jpg

 

The gold looks a little yellow-er than i'd like in these pictures, and the edge highlights are washed out compared with the red/orange contrasts. It'll do for the time being and i've tried to make him ornate enough to stand-in as a captain, and equally repeatable enough that I can do five more without freaking out. This was a nice model to put together, and the Crusade-armour kits are fast becoming my favourite FW models. I managed to score enough sanguniary guard bitz from an eBay bitz-seller I frequent to complete a full 5 man squad with power swords and axes. The jump pack is "borrowed" from the Heresy-eBay win. I've ordered some more Maxmini "Iron Pattern" jump packs to spread out amongst the force. They have a nice studded look at that echos the Heresy pattern pretty well.

 

Rambling over - hope y'all be having a nice Easter and indulging in chocolate eggs. 

 

:)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deathspectersgt7]

So far so GOOD!!!!

[Aqui]

That shade takes me back to the '80's and early '90's I love the RT/2nd Ed Assault squad markings

[Machine God]

Great picture there!

 

Nice Wombles.

[November]

@Deathspectersgt7/Aquilanus/Scion of Ferrus - Thanks for your comments.

 

And just generally to any lurkers - thank you very much for your views, hope y'all are enjoying the models and project.

 

I hate posting without updating a model or two, so while I wait on the undercoat to dry on my Heresy-armoured test marine i've bashed into the first of the Tartaros pattern terminators. The models are nice, but alas don't come with any options for TH/SS. Now, normally I don't go with the meta/list building advice, however I proxied a squad of TH/SS in a land raider in my last game - wow. Ludirously good even considering their high points cost. Admittedly I was playing against orks and perhaps against low-AP using armies they'd be less effective, but they certainly do a job in CC. As such I managed to scrounge enough left-over TH/SS bitz from my Imperial Fist project to change them from their standard PF/SB loadout to the more effective TH/SS.

 

As for delivery, i'll be purchasing a Proteus when funds allow.

 

Here's my test model:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/Pre-Heresy%20Blood%20Angels/SAM_0220.jpg

 

Surprisingly for my log, he's actually a bit brighter IRL - his red is the same as the tactical marines really, the camera has unfortunately washed out the orange highlights a little. I like how the Tartaros marines have a helm that echos the chronological development of Maximus-armour. I'll prbably in due course get a Mark 4 set to be my veterans/command marines.

 

C&C as ever :)

 

 

 

 

[Armond]

That Praetor is top, love the diversity from the other troops.

[chaplain mortis]

Fantastic looking stuff mate, the red is sooooooo old skool!

The beakies are my favourite. And that termie would look nice with a load more like him ( painted for the ETL)

Love em and big thumbs up

[November]

@Armond - Thank you very much, appreciate the comments.

 

@Chaplain Mortis - Glad you like the red, as you say, I'm trying to capture a bit of the RT-era vibe. My further four termies are WIP at the moment, will hopefully be able to finish their construction tonight.

 

SO, while i've a few final glazes and varnishes to finish on my last batch of Corvus assault marines, i've completed the final basing for the test model of the Heresy-armoured marines. He's not as nice to work with as the more recent FW sculpts, but as I mentioned I got a really nice deal on these. I've made him a wee bit bigger in this pic for any useful C&C for the next 9 marines of this squad. 

 

Without further ado:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/IMG_0635.jpg

 

I must say, I didn't really enjoy painting this chap as much as the Corvus models. The extra piping and studs are nice details, but a bit of a pain - even with as simple an approach to silver as mine. Also, in retrospect, I actually perversely prefer the Maxmini jump packs to the initial FW ones. I think these are a first run and the casting quality isn't as crisp. They'll do a job as a second squad tho since i'd probably mainly only use one jump pack team in 1500pt games.

 

Now, as I mentioned, I normally do one aspect of the hobby at a time, however with the BA i've tried to maximise my productivity by building my force up (even if it's just a few marines) while I wait for washes/paint coats to dry...To protect my sanity i'm a bit of a magpie when it comes to the hobby, and i've been trying to keep any extra work i'm doing somehow related to this Great Crusade project. I was having a look in my bitz box (well more like a bitz cupoboard) and I found a box marked "SG"...

 

Now anyone of a certain vintage will fondly remember the Specialist Games era of products that GW put out, and some awesome games design by Priestly and Chambers that wasn't hidebound to the usual 40K mechanics. Now amongst my stuff I managed to scrounge what appears to be the starter set for Battlefleet Gothic, minus the Imperial fleet. Since i've dug through my bitz I can guess what I swapped them for, since i've also got the guts of the Despoiler-class, and a nearly built Avenger-class that was launched with the Armada supplement.

 

Why am I rambling on about BFG? Well I have a plan see - As you may be aware the chaos forces in BFG don't have "chaos" ships per se, they actually use the most ancient vessels of the Imperium that have defected at the close of the Heresy, and the newer pirates that they've spawned since. As such, I think it's actually pretty reasonable to use these (with a spot of conversion of course) to represent the ships of the line that the Astartes would have used early in the Great Crusade.

 

I envisage these fleets as being splinter of the larger "Expedition" fleets that we have read about in the HH book series, and I see my fleet as being similar in size and make-up as the fleet of Captain Thoros mentioned in Horus Rising. After a bit of scouting on various BFG forums and online resources i've managed to get a copy of most of the BFG PDFs that i'm missing and having rooted around i've got the bits to complete the following:

 

1 x Battlebarge (Despoiler-class hull)

1 x Battlebarge/Grand Cruiser (Avenger into Retaliator-class hull conversion)

1 x Strike Cruiser (Hades-class)

1 x Strike Cruiser (Styx-class)

1 x Strike Cruiser (Carnage-class)

4 x Gladius escorts (Converted Iconoclasts)

4 x Hunter escorts (Converted Infidels)

 

There's probably enough bits that at a push I could expand by 2-3 cruisers depending on loadouts, and a few random escort casts. All the above noted stuff will be converted with extra Epic turrets,communications masts, an extra "flying bridges". As such they'll be pretty unique and I think, once again this represents the wide variety of vessels that the 30K foces would operate. I plan on using the Astartes rules from BFG:Armada for these guys, however I can also use them as the classes they'll be converted up from. Neat 'huh.

 

My first conversion is of the Hades conversion:

 

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/BFG/SAM_0231.jpg?t=1397945976

 

 

As you can see, i've replaced the mid-section to represent the command area for the fighter/bomber squadrons, expanded the rear bridge, and added a few turrets from Epic to represent the extra dorsal cannons and lances.

 

I'd be interested to hear any feedback on this part of the project, or if anyone has done something similar. Some BFG "30K" would be pretty sweet I think!

 

:)

 

[November]

Apologes for the double post but I'm starting a week of nightshift tonight, so in a final flurry of activity i've managed to get some pictures of the final marines and the rhino for the second tactical squad. Now this means I actually have a legal army - huzzah! Although it probably won't be very effective. Alas the varnish is taking forever to dry on the final 5 assault marines, so a final picture of them will have to wait.

But here's where we've got to so far -

Praetor in Mark 3 armour with jump-pack

1 x Mark 2 tactical squad with Rhino

1 x Mark 6 tactical squad with Rhino

1 x Mark 6 assault squad with jump-packs

In the works we'll shortly have, a further Mark 5 assault squad, and some terminators. Hopefully i'll fit some time into finishing the BFG fleet, and try out for some more Imperial Army conversions now that the Astra Militarum codex has been released - just need to get it first to see how legal my planned load-outs will be.

A generous friend also donated me The Fall of Orpheus to read - I think we've found our next project after the BA...

Well, here's the oft-mentioned final five of the Corvus-armoured tactical squad:

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/IMG_0627.jpg

And some closer in ones:

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/IMG_0628.jpg

With their ride:

http://i1045.photobucket.com/albums/b451/Cotidie86/IMG_0629.jpg

Laters!

[deathspectersgt7]

Corvus Armoured Squd looks great .BFG cool.