Elzender's tales of the Heresy: the Fists are back in town!

[Elzender]

So, pics!

 

The left miniature has the torso I will be using for the veletaris, and the right one has the torso for the regular lasrifle sections.

 

My initial plan was to give the more Sci-fi looking helmet to the veletaris and the more medieval one to the regular auxilia, in a similar way to the FW models, that have more modern looking helmets for the veletaris, whereas the lasrifle sections have more of a welder mask/diver helmet style.

 

First combination: auxilia with medieval style pauldrons, and the veletaris with similar but more ornate ones:

 

 

Second combination: auxilia with rounded pauldrons, veletaris with ornate medieval ones:

 

 

Third combination: auxilia with medieval pauldrons, veletaris with rounded ones (to reinforce the sci-fi look):

 

 

However, I also wanted to try going the other way around, giving the regular auxilia a more sci-fi look, while the veletaris get a more decorated, antique style armour:

 

 

 

I would appreciate any opinion about which one do you think it is better. I am inclined towards either the first or the last combination, but I am open to suggestions.

 

As an extra image, a size comparison with a power-armoured marine and a terminator, showing the nice contrast between the miniatures:

 

[Pacific81]

They look fantastic - either option!

Have you considered the older fashion armour as a 'parade'set? Many armies around the world do this currently - equipment improvement makes them obsolete on the battlefield, but it's a mark of rank for veterans to wear them during parade.

Just a thought!

[Elzender]

They look fantastic - either option!

Have you considered the older fashion armour as a 'parade'set? Many armies around the world do this currently - equipment improvement makes them obsolete on the battlefield, but it's a mark of rank for veterans to wear them during parade.

Just a thought!

Thank you Pacific81!

Oh, I see what you mean, and it is certainly a good idea, but then again there is little time for parades in the middle of the Heresy, so I don't think they would make much use out of it

Edited April 6, 2019 by Elzender

[Elzender]

So, I think I will actually go with the third option and give the Veletaris the full scifi look, and keep the lasrifle sections more medieval-looking. And talking about the lasrifles,  I really like the old rifle look of the Auxilia weapons or the skitarii galvanic rifles. However, the stock lasrifles of the Anvil miniatures, despite having the same kind of inspiration, have a rather boxy body and the muzzle is very close to it, with basically no barrel exposed. Thus, I have tested a small modification:

 

 

I am not sure whether I should shorten the barrel a bit, or if it actually looks good at all. Sticking to the stock models would certainly save me a lot of work, as even if I end up making a mold of the modified rifle, casting it up, checking if the cast is ok and then cleaning it off will be quite a bit of work. Thus, I would appreciate any feedback to see if it is going to be worth the hassle .

 

On the meanwhile, I will try to assemble at least 5 lasrifle auxilia, to test the modularity of the kits and all the posing options I have available. Hopefully I will have time during the weekend to do so and post a couple more pictures.

[Pacific81]

Looks very good! I like the thinner aspect of the rifle - definitely gives a more old-fashioned 'musket' type look, if that was the kind of effect you were going for. 

 

Know what you mean though about the converting time - why not work up a squad and see how they turn out? If it takes a horrendous amount of time and isn't tenable for all of them, perhaps you could use to help designate as a Veteran squad or similar?

[Elzender]

Looks very good! I like the thinner aspect of the rifle - definitely gives a more old-fashioned 'musket' type look, if that was the kind of effect you were going for. 

 

Know what you mean though about the converting time - why not work up a squad and see how they turn out? If it takes a horrendous amount of time and isn't tenable for all of them, perhaps you could use to help designate as a Veteran squad or similar?

 

Thank you Pacific81! Yes, that it the idea behind the conversion, so glad you like it. I will certainly try to convert a couple more rifles at the very least, it is a relatively simple procedure, but the alignment of the barrel with the body is the part i fear the most. If I find a way of align it easily, then I will be doing it for sure. However, in case it becomes too tiring, I will have at my disposal in a few weeks a set of skitarii, and I would like to see whether their rifles might fit, although I feel they might be a tad too "chunky" for the size of these miniatures.

 

Anyways, here it is a tiny bit of progress, with three auxilia in different stages of WIP:

 

 

The leftmost one is basically done, the weapon arm is not glued to make it easier to paint, and I might add a couple of accessories like pouches and/or grenades. As for the right auxilia, it is at the same stage, but the rifle still needs to be modified. It is really interesting to see that the effect of the pauldrons and backpack so typical in space marines (they really change and define the silhouette of the marines) is also noticeable with these miniatures but in a much more subtle way, rounding off the whole aesthetic and giving it a much nicer look.

 

 

Another thing that I love about these miniatures is that you can really make them look like they are aiming (the head should probably still be a bit closer to properly use the weapon sights , but still better than most GW miniatures ). 

 

 

Regarding the reloading auxilia, despite wanting to keep this army as simple as possible modelling-wise, when I saw the weapon pointing up arm and that the rifles sprue had some spare power-packs, I had to give this idea a try. The loading arm will need some greenstuff in the elbow and the weapon one will need to get some gaps filled at the shoulder, but it should be a pretty simple job.

 

my initial idea for this army is to minimize the conversions, as I've found that having to crank out the greenstuff/procreate for almost every miniature, something that happens with my Fists, leads to the minis staying half done for months or even years (this thread is proof of that). I usually want to personalise almost every mini I build, as to avoid having them be too similar between them and with other armies (I don't like simply having a different coloured version of the same mini everybdy has, guess that's why I rarely buy special characters). However, this army is a great opportunity for several factors:

 

- Even during the Crusade, with over a million legionaries in the Galaxy belonging to just 18 legions, every single marine still was a force to be reckoned with and/or a hero, and thus I like adding little personal details to most of them, or at least give them some variations to avoid the cookie-cutter syndrome I mentioned above. However, in the Solar Auxilia this is generally not the case, so I won't feel so bad if I make them all look pretty similar.

 

- Looking through the AoD subforum, it seems that Solar Auxilia is a pretty minor faction player-wise, at least compared to the Legions and even Mechanicum. This should make having a unique army a bit easier. However, the limited (albeit fantastic) FW range of SA models and the way they are modelled makes it kinda difficult to convert in order to avoid repeated miniatures once you get more than one unit of each, which is likely to happen with the lasrifle sections at the very least. Thus, most SA player end up having exactly the same infantry miniatures (I have the feeling this might be a factor as to why it is not a very popular faction).  Using the Anvil Industry minis I completely overcome this issue, as they are completely different while still having the void armour look. Plus, the miniatures being modular makes it much easier to introduce variation to the poses to avoid having two minis looking exactly the same.

 

- Moreover, the great range of Anvil Industry (both the Kickstarter range and the regiments one, which I might borrow from once I confirm they are completely compatible) gives me the opportunity to personalise my own auxilia to make a unique force without needing to go conversion-heavy.

 

- I also hope that building this force will give me the motivation to get to work on the Imperial Fists too, as they are a project hailing back from around 2012 and I still don't even have a FoC-legal army painted. Thus, I would really like to have at least 1000 IF points fully built and at least partially painted before I buy any more SA miniatures (currently I have about 30 infantry miniatures plus a couple characters) or any tanks for them.

 

 

...I guess this is a bad time to say that I have 2 GW knights, a Dreamforge Leviathan in conversion progress to a Cerastus castigator, and two helverins, all of them at different WIP stages (from sprue to half built) back at my home .

[Elzender]

A bit more progress, with the first five lasrifle auxilia mostly built. The kneeling one still needs greenstuff, and I have to check what equipment I have around to add some extra details to the minis without going over the top.

 

 

I am quite liking the elongated barrel, it is not a complex process but aligning everything and making properly centered holes with the drill take a bit of time. I might try to make a casting attempt to see if it is feasible, it would save me some time if it goes right.

[Pacific81]

Looking good! I see what you mean about getting the rifle straight - must be one of those things that takes time, but is immediately apparent if it's not right! (your opponent could stipulate -1 to hit because of the bent barrel etc)

 

Which one of the Titans are you working on first?

[Elzender]

Looking good! I see what you mean about getting the rifle straight - must be one of those things that takes time, but is immediately apparent if it's not right! (your opponent could stipulate -1 to hit because of the bent barrel etc)

 

Which one of the Titans are you working on first?

Oh, man, I really hope my adversaries do not inspect them too closely or I won't be hitting the broad side of a spartan assault tank :D.

 

About the knights, I am afraid I was not clear enough, it was just a comment to highlight my hobby butterlfy syndrome and how I tend to leave things unfinished

[Elzender]

And once again, I drag this topic back from the depths!

 

The new Horus Heresy edition has finally given me the push to get my Imperial Fists back on track, partly thanks to an event organised by my local GW store to promote it. As a result, I finally finished building one of my contemptors and gave it a decent paintjob:

I also built and primed a 10-man beakie squad (squad pictures coming soon), and used one of them as the paint scheme test.

It will surely get improved upon as I go through the squad, but I'm satisfied enough for a standard squad.

In true Elzender's fashion, however, I decided that the scale discrepancy between the new releases and the older sculpts was unacceptable. Therefore, I have taken the most foolish decision to upscale all power armour infantry (terminators will likely be left as is) by adding a 1mm spacer on the legs and the torso. Here is a picture of my first attempts, using the new Fafnir Rann and a chaos space marine as scale:

I am in the process of finishing the first 5 upscaled  MkIII for a lascannon heavy support squad, and started the job on my MkIII breacher squad. I am a bit weary about doing the same for my lone finished MkIV squad, as the process would necessarily damage the paintjob to an extent which might require full repainting. Last but not least, a slightly converted Fafnir Rann to reduce a bit the bling and to give him somewhat sensibly-sized axes:

Edited August 10, 2022 by Elzender

[Elzender]

As a small update, I managed to finish upscaling the 5 MkIII marines for my heavy support squad before leaving for holidays. I took a quick snap of them, and aside from getting one of them a backpack and adding a few gubbins and equipment, they are pretty much ready for priming.

Additionally, I took another picture to see how the upscaled minis look next to some of theHH plastic kits available: a  MkIV marine, a MkVI marine, and a cataphractii. I think the upscaling came out quite nice in the end, and the different bases also help to hide or justify small discrepancies.

 

Some of you might notice that one of the heavy weapons marines in this last picture is missing his trusty lascannon. The reason is that I actually magnetised all of the squad to be able to switch the loadout to missile launchers, taken from the Betrayal at Calth box. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of it before leaving, but I will showcase it in a future post.

[Doghouse]

Great work, especially loving the lascannon guys. 

[Pacific81]

Welcome back! Some great conversion work on those heavy weapon guys. I like the yellow too has a very nice finish!