Rhino #1

I finished this Rhino over the weekend, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  I'm really looking forward to getting Astral Claws transfers...

The Drop Pod that never was

So I finished painting a drop pod for a dreadnought, and here it is, enjoy the pictures then enjoy the story afterwards.



I've been struggling to come up with a solid list, the list I had previously used 4 drop pods. I am now using the Space Marine siege list in Imperial Armour 10 and it cannot take drop pods so I will not be using this. However, Matt, the Astral Claw player liked the interior and the hazard striping enough that he offered to take it off my hands, so expect to see an update sometime in the future with a drop pod painted silver and blue with some familiar hazard striping.

Corien Sumatris

Apart from writing his name on his banner and adding transfers I finished Corien Sumatris today!  Here he is in all his painted glory.  I've also included a picture of what I have painted and what's in progress below.  A big thank you to my girlfriend Karin for helping me basecoat the rhino and next  tactical squad.

Executioners

Greg will be taking the roll of successionist with Executioners.  Myself and Jake will keep everyone updated on his progress as well.  Here is the start of his army.

Tyrant Rising

Here is my completed Tactical Squad for your viewing enjoyment.  They still need some transfers which I need to order from Forgeworld and I'd like to do one more highlight on the gold.  Next up is Corien Sumatris.  I'll start painting him today.

Gonna smash down your walls

Here are some pictures of the nearly completed Ironclad, I have a few details left to go as well as some clean up, but that will not take long.






























I am thrilled on how the Dragonforge base turned out and also am very happy on the way the scheme looks. Next on the plate is to build a drop pod.

Elam Courbray Part II

Took some time today to assemble Courbray.  Here is the progress:

As I was working on the model, I decided that I had to do something different with the left arm than I originally planned.  The left arm that came with the Chaplain model is very nice, but the shoulder pad is a bit bigger than the right shoulder pad, which was taken from the Emperor's Champion model.  Dry-fitting the parts to the body, I decided that it made the model look lop-sided.  So, I ended up digging out a box of Tactical Marines, and took a Sergeant's left bolt pistol arm, and a studded shoulder pad.  I am happy with the results.  I think I will be shaving a bit off the green stuff once it sets a bit more.  Until next time.....

Elam Courbray

Here is a breakdown of the bits I've decided to use to make my Elam Courbray model.  I consider this a pretty straightforward conversion, any 40k player who's been around for more than 5 minutes will recognize the bits I'm using.

 I like to convert models, to give my armies their own feel, but I never go too crazy.  My hand isn't steady enough to sculpt greenstuff, well sculpt it effectively at least.  When this model is done, I think it will be unique, yet a fairly simple design.

The basis for the Sword Excellus is going to be the power sword from the Emperor's Champion model.  I've loved this sword design for years.  It gives the idea it is meant to be used two-handed, which I think properly reflects Excellus' ability to be used for multiple power weapon attacks or one attack at double strength, rending.

 The bolt pistol and shoulder pad is from the chaplain with jump pack, you'll see more of him in a moment.

 The jetpack is a Mk 2 pack from Forgeworld.  The body of the marine this was stolen from will be used in one of my Assault squads or Vanguard squads.

                                      A decapitated Grey Knight Terminator head....

And here is the body.  I love the pose, but will have to remove the head and the Crozius. 

And here are all the parts together.  In a few days I hopefully will be able to post a picture of the assembled model.  Painting, well with me, that will take awhile, but it will be done.

They're coming for you

First 5 Assault Marines assembled, you may notice a lack of left shoulder pads, this is because I am in discussion with someone about possibly commissioning them to sculpt and cast custom shoulder pads. I dont know if it will happen, but it would be cool if it did!

The bases you see are from a company called Dragonforge, they make a variety of resin bases and they are all cool. I was talking about getting some and Kayle told me he had some, so here they are. I think tonight I will start getting together a vehicle, or start painting thee guys, even sans-shoulder pad.

Test Minis

So here are the 5 miniatures that I painted












I know they are not the best pics, the one picked for my scheme is the one on the far right, the one 2 to the left was a close second. This mini was painted by putting down a basecoat of Dwarf Bronze, then painting everything else with a basecoat. After that I coat the entire mini in Badab Black wash, after that is dry I will go back and reclaim some of the original color and then hit the colors with one highlight to make the colors pop.

Now that I have a paint scheme I have to decide on a base scheme, I am thinking urban rubble, there is a company called Dragonforge that makes resin bases and they have some really nice urban rubble.

Till next time!

Fire Hawks

Andy here. My goal on this journey is to complete a Fire Hawks Army. Why Fire Hawks, you ask? It is well known by those who game with me, I pick army themes I like, and then figure out the rules later. Sometimes this produces results that are less than optimal for the gaming table (my all-scout Crimson Fist army is a tale for another day). So, after I got my hands on Imperial Armour 9 earlier this year, I read the section for the Fire Hawks, and knew I had my Badab Army picked. Not so much because of what happened to them during the Badab War, but what will happen to the Chapter in their future. Since then, I've been acquiring models bit by bit; now it's time to assemble and then paint.

The models will consist of a few things, Tactical Squads will be the out of production Legion of the Damned models, but painted as Fire Hawks at the time of the Badab War. I will do some modifications there to reduce the skull motif and emphasize the flame motif, but will leave some to not just make those classic models into any old vanilla marines.

My Assault and Vanguard Squads are going to be a mix of regular Assault Marines, Forge World Mark 2 Assault Marines, and Forge World Mark 5 Assault Marines.

My elites at this point will probably be an Assault Terminator Squad and a Sternguard Squad. Turns out from a conversation this last weekend with Galin, that he and I shared a similar idea for using the current generation Legion of the Damned models for a Sternguard squad in an army (besides it would be unfluffy to use LotD at the time of Badab and there isn't another way for me to take a heavy flamer with a marine in power armor).

I'm undecided on my Heavy Support, but should make a decision soon. I am going back and forth between Devastators and Vindicators. More on that later.

This will all be lead by Elam Courbray, the Fire Hawks character from IA9. FW doesn't provide a model, so he will be made from parts from the Chaplin with jetpack, the Emperor's Champion, FW jetpack, and a Grey Knight head. Really hope to share pictures of his progression.

Courbray's rules allow his command squad to have jetpacks. I still have a few decisions to make about them.

Where does this all start? Basically I have all the models I discussed above, with the exception of the Heavy Support choices. Now the work needs to begin. I hope to keep a steady pace between now and April, too often I jump into something, get bored, then only come back to it right before the deadline. Already have a weekend set in early November to work with Kayle and the Gammonseses. That should help keep me on track.

Some minis

Here is a picture of some marines from my first tactical squad, they are nearly done.  Just have to finish some blue highlighting and then some gold highlighting.

The beginnings

Hey everyone, this is Jake, I am in the process of building a 3000 point Minotaurs army, I will be using the Space Marine Codex, with some IA vehicles (perhaps) and the two Minotaur special characters in IA 10. I am really looking forward to a structured Apocalypse scenario game that wont be decided by strength D alone.

Right now I am sitting here at lunch putting together an Ironclad for my Minotaurs army.


Tonight I will paint up the last of the test models for the scheme and then the decision on which one should happen soon. I am debating on whether to use transfers on all the marine shoulder pads, or if I should be very ambitious and try and sculpt the symbol on a couple and cast them.

I am so excited to see everyone's progress, if people are able, when you get done with something, take a pic and post it up here so we can all see.

Roll Call

I'm Kayle and I'll be building an Astral Claws army.  Currently I'll be building it out of Codex: Space Marines with some of the Imperial Armour characters, namely Corien Sumatris, and later possibly expanding to the Tyrant's Legion list from Imperial Armour 9.