New Project... Imperial Fists

So here we are again, it has been a long time, maybe a year, and a lot has happened. I have not had a lot of time to get on here or to work on anything. A running theme for me seems to be starting a project and not finishing it, as witnessed with the Dark Vengeance Chaos army I started, it is still sitting in a box, collecting dust, I have not worked on it since I posted about it here. With that in mind I started a new project. I currently run 3 armies in 40k and 1 in fantasy, I don't play any other miniatures games, but I guess I am willing to learn. I seldom even play 40k these days, I have found I do not enjoy competitive play, or rules lawyers, I don't care to research what my friends are running and build my army accordingly, I like to build an army, bring it to the field and let the chips fall where they may, I have always had great success with this strategy, and gotten much more enjoyment out of the game. I don't play in tournaments because if this.

Any way, the three armies I run are The Black Templars, the Grayknights and the Imperial Guard. I used to have a sizable Ork army as well, but times got tough and I ended up selling them. No Regrets... Not may anyway... So, my Templar and Knight forces are where I want them points wise, I can run a pretty good game with a sizable force, and I have enough options with both to make the game interesting. My Guard army is another matter... I used to think I had a pretty good army, but with the newest version of the guard codex, I need at least 3 times as much stuff as I have, and to be honest, that is just to much time and money at this point. I do have a simple answer though, Space Marine allies.

I thought about what I could do to bulk up my Guard force on a budget and there really wasn't a lot I could do, other than proxy existing stuff for guard stuff or add to the force. I had a bunch of marine stuff laying around that I was planning to add to my Templar army, but decided instead to start a new smaller force to back up my guard, some thing different than what I already knew. I talked it over with Shiloh Phoenix, one of the other bloggers from the wings of truth, and decided on the Imperial Fists as my choice for my new force. Shiloh told me they were coming out with a new codex and that he was going to run them, and I thought I could make a few squads of marines and if I like how they run I could build a full battle force later.

The plan for my allies force is this, pending the new codex of course.

1 Stern Guard Veteran squad as an HQ
2 tactical squads
1 Landraider
1 Rhino
1 Dreadnaught
1 Landspeeder
1 Terminator squad

So far I have the Landraider, 1 tactical squad, the speeder, and most of a dreadnaught. I have the sternguard on order using store credit with Big Robot Games. I still need to come up with the second tac squad, the rhino and the terminators. I only have the Landraider and first tactical squad painted. My plan is to build and paint each element of the force as a separate project,so tac squad 1 and their transport is the first, it is  done, and I can say I finally finished something. Of Course Fate had other plans and I had to strip and am in the process of repainting the Captain of the first squad.

I had a bit of trouble, as veteran painters will tell you, yellow is a hard color to paint. I started as I always do, with a basecoat of flat black. I quickly learned that this was a big mistake, and stripped everything down and started over with a basecoat of light gray. This worked out a lot better, and I think the over all effect is good.

Keep your eye out for more updates on this as I get the other elements of the force finished.

Long time no see.

It has been a very long while since I or any of my partners in crime posted anything, to be honest, I think the real world has just gotten the best of us all. I work a place called Big Robot Games where we run a lot of Hobby games, including Warmachine/Hordes and a plethora of Games Workshop titles, I am in charge of the GW stuff. I recently picked up one of the new Dark Heresy sets which when done will be a shop copy. I have to say I have mixed feelings about the sculpts, they look great, but are honestly somewhat complex to assemble, if they didn't come with an instruction guide I don't know that I could have managed it.

I divided the minis up between myself and Shiloh Phoenix, who already has a sizable Dark Angels army and who truth be told is a much better painter than I am. I  took the Chaos army, I have a special place for Chaos, it was my very first 40k army back in the day, and I was glad to see some of the new things, such as the Hellbrute, as well as the return of the cultist. Anyway, long story short I am excited to get these painted and on the table. It also inspired me to go through the bits boxes and see what I had that I could use to expand my forces, since Shiloh already has a larger force. I came up with several squads of Necromunda minis that I will use as cultists and a few older Chaos Marines, possessed marines, and a few Daemons, including a great unclean one.

In any case, here are a few of the minis I have done so far, as well as a banner I made for the extra forces.

Chaos Cult leader 1

 The banner I came up with

 
Chaos Sorcerer.

 

.  Chaos Cult leader 2

  I thought it was well overdue for a post.   I am planning on building up a portfolio to have as a point of reference.  I would like to start painting for commission.   I don't have a business model or a pricing schedule set yet, mostly because i don't know how much to charge.   I am still in the practice for free stage i think mostly.   

First off we have the Lord Commissar.  I replaced the power sword with a power fist that i found.  Strength 3 needs as much help as it can get!

Next up is the hell hound.  I haven't named it yet, but i got the first layer of paint done.   The dozer blade and the front sponson weapon is magnetized so that they can be brought or left at home.

This was the first mini that i painted for someone else.  It is a reaper mini that a guy at work had me repair.  After i repaired it i thought it should be painted.  

Another reaper mini.  This is a warg that i am using as a war dog warcaster attachment for my khadorians.

Here is my eVladmir.   The new warcaster that i am trying.  He is pretty ridiculous as well as the size of his shoulder armor.

Close up of the detail of Vlad's sword.   The Dark Prince indeed.  

400 pt escalation league battle report... a sad day for my Black Templars

++++Transmission begins++++

Imperial Datafax: desg1769833

Priority level: Military Intelligence - utmost urgency

Transmitted: Black Templars Forward Command post, Hive ruin Gamma 12, Reigelis Sector, Segmentum Obscura.

Date: 3453012.M41

Transmitter: Astropath Prime Spartax

Receiver: Brother Commander Maglus Vagh, by way of Astropath -Terminus Azlan

Author: Brother Captain Lucius, Forward Command

Subject: The Loss of Vindictus Company Squads Vorenus, Pullo and Chaplain Longinus at the hands of the sinister forces of the Tau.

Data Follows:

Brother Commander, it is my sad duty to inform you that on Imperial date 3453012.M41 elements of Vindictus Company operating a rescue mission of the passengers and crew of the downed Aquila transport "His Furious Vengance" in the Hive ruin designated Gamma 12 encountered a hostile Xenos force known as the Tau ShasKor'la Cadre. After exacting great casualties, Chaplain Longinus and his two squads were defeated.

Brother Sergeant Titus of Pullo Squad was the last man standing and made a valiant attempt to destroy the enemy force commander in hand to hand combat, and though he struck a mighty blow in the name of the Emperor, unfortunately insidious Xenos technology proved to great for the Valiant hero, and he was overcome by the greater number of enemy forces. I would like to recommend him for the crux terminus posthumously, and request possible interment in a holy Dreadnought.

At this moment, a force lead by Brother Chaplain Jerelous, and comprising of The Emperors Champion, a Swordbrethern Terminator Assault squad and 2 initiate squads from the remainder of Vindictus Company are departing for Hive Ruin Gamma 12 to exact glorious vengeance upon the vile forces of the Tau. I will send you an updated battle report upon their return.

Respectfully yours

Brother Captain Lucius

Thought for the day: Vengeance flies on Wings of Truth.

++++Transmission Ends ++++

 

So up until this point, I have not lost with my Templars, it has been win or draw. I was pretty let down when I was utterly decimated by a smaller force of Tau.  Granted, I was only running two 8 man initiate squads and a chaplain, but I expected more from them than that. I know what my tactic should have been, instead of rushing head long into battle I should have taken and held two of the three objectives on the field and made the jumping crisis suits come to me. What I faced was two squads of Fire Warriors, and a command squad comprising of a crisis suited commander, his body guard and 2 gun drones. Ah well, it's been so long since I even played, I guess I had it coming. My 800 point force will avenge their fallen sword brothers.

25th Anniversary limited edition Space Marine.

Greetings, it has been a while hasn't it? I have moved to Florida and back since I last posted, and Daniel has started School on top of working full time, sadly life some times gets in the way.

A few days a good friend of mine, Chris, owner of Big Robot Games asked me if I would like to paint the Fine Cast 25th Anniversary limited edition Space Marine from Games Workshop so he could display it in the store. At that point I had only heard of the Fine Cast line, but had never seen any of the miniatures, except for a Gandalf the White that Daniel bought for his wife. I was amazed at the detail in this miniature, and at once started questioning my ability to do it justice. However, in true Imperial Spirit I buckled down and took one for the Emperor. It won't win a Golden Demon award, but I am pretty happy with how it came out.

Brother Matthew displays the box per-opening.

 Some of the amazing Fine Cast detail, there was quite a bit of flash that needed to be cleaned off, but it came off with out any trouble.

 Starting assembly.

Long time no post

Hello All!

It has been WAY too long since I have posted. My wife and I have bought our first house in the beginning of august. Needless to say, I have been drowning in house since then. In other news, a good friend of Vornskyr's has opened a store about 20 minutes from me, so now I have two great LGSs to go to and support.

I admit that most of my modeling time has been consumed by the 5^th god of chaos - home ownership. Amidst the drownage, I have squeaked in as much modeling as I could. I have made very slow progress on my Eldar, and in fact, because of the move, I may have lost some ground. The dark angels did get some love, especially the Deathwing.

I do have to rant a bit here. I was thinking about the Dark Angels. I then compared them to regular space marines. The space marine codex gives some very cool options that the dark angels do not get. The one thing that makes the Dark Angels unique compared to other space marines, is their ability to take terminators and bikers as troops – the Deathwing and Ravenwing. Outside of that, and their related special rules, I cannot really think of any specialties that make the Dark Angels a better selection than any of the other power armored brethren. Please correct me if I am in error about this, as I plan to sell off much of my “core” dark angels stuff. Without further ado, here is what I got completed so far.

Ye old assault wraithlord. I was on a priming high, and in my zeal, I primed him before I realized that I still had some modeling to do on him still. He is lacking his twin flamers, and skirt. There are some gaps on him that still need to be filled with GS as well. Alas, i do not have new pics of him.

The butcher of Khador. Surprisingly enough, is the first model I have actually completely finished. He is based, painted, and rearing to get more blood on his dripping axe, Lola. And after 10 months of being in this hobby, my first ever finished model:

A squad of tactical marines from the mysterious Consecrators. A branch chapter of the Dark Angels.

Kommander Sorscha. The soon to be leader of the Khadorian 5th Border Legion. Who's father was killed by Orsus Zoktavir, the Butcher of Khardov.

The Kovnik and officer of my Winterguard infantry. They still have more work, but are close to being done.

Alexia Ciannor. The heroine of the witchfire trilogy, the saga that gave the Iron Kingdoms their start. Here she is in her Warmachine sculpt with her undead. I traded her off for some skorne and Deathwing, but i do have the Iron Kingdoms sculpt coming in the mail.

The zombies i painted and dipped. I only added a basic base coat, and then i dipped them in minwax that we have had sitting around. It gave everything a nice dark brown shade.

That is all I have time for at this point, but there will be more to come. I have been seeking a brush on primer to use for modeling, but i tried the local hobby shops and art stores to no avail. I found a can of Kills primer in the storage shed of the house, so i am going to be testing out. Will let you guys know.