Imperial Fist Legion Tactical Squad

I finished my second unit of Imperial Fists. Progress has been slow with this project, though not for a lack of painting. The Mark III armour is very challenging in general and the yellow makes it worse. I am quite happy with the results however. Dallas asked if I was going to weather them up. I initially balked at this as it took so long to paint the yellow. I changed my mind after considering the state of the loyalist legions during the Horus Heresy. Considered from the Imperial Fist point of view, they are in seriously deep s#!t. 3 Legions nearly destroyed, 3 legions apparently building a new Imperium in Ultramar (terrible book by the way) and the Space Wolves and White Scars off doing God knows what. The Imperial Fists are pretty much it and I can see them being tasked to help put out every little flare up in Segmentium Solar, in addition to trying to re-enforce Terra for the inevitable apocalyptic invasion by Horus. Sending their armour off to the cleaners is probably on hold for now. So after some research on Youtube I came up with a weathering strategy that I think worked well. I used weathering powders for the lower legs and feet. Yellow armour is very unforgiving with weathering powder. Too little isn't visible on the model, but too much and it looks like they're wearing thigh high leathers. I think I found the right balance.

This was originally supposed to be a small army, but a never ending stream of packages from Canada Post have made it anything but. Still not equal to the traitor forces accumulated by Greg, but with Dallas' Blood Angels and some Shattered Legions' we should be able to have a Battle of Terra game in the new year (probably not the new year.) Next up is a 20 man Tactical Squad.

Some Random Painting Projects

It's been a while since I have posted, so I figured it was time to put up something.  Over the last few weeks I have been working away on a number of completely different painting projects in a couple of completely different styles.  Just trying to learn and improve on some of my painting skills.   Hope you like.


Kingdom Death Dung Beetle Knight


This was a piece I have wanted to paint for a long while but wasn't quiet sure how to go about it.  I wanted it to have an iridescent look like some insects have, but wasn't sure how to do it.  I decided to give the Forge World transparent airbrush paints a shot and am pretty happy with the results.

I painted the whole model silver, then clear coated it and did a pin wash with black oil paint to get all the crevasses black, then wiped up the model with white spirits so that there was no black outside the recesses and clear coated it again.  I then airbrushed on some clear green over the silver and then yellow at the highest points.  I then hit the wings with some purples and greens to give a shimmer to them. 

The "fur" type areas and everything else were done with my normal painting methods as this piece was just to play with that clear metallic look, which I think came out pretty well, especially in person.


Arena Rex Beast Master

This model is another great Arena Rex figure that has so much character.  Not really much new tried here other than some blending to get the transition on the hyena right.  I had a lot of fun with this one though.  Same NMM as on the other Arena Rex gladiator I did previously.

His tartan was fun to do, but not super clean, the lines are not all completely even.  Freehand is something I will have to work on sometime soon as well.

Ultramarine Space Marine

This figure was done to play more with glazes.  He was painted with a black base colour and then zenithal highlighted with grey and white with an airbrush.  Then the blue on him is a single shade of blue glazed over in thin coats, then glazed over again with an off-white mixed in for the highlights.

While I have glazed before, I wanted to do a test piece with the simplest colour to do (blue) to play around with what results I could get.

Since I was spending some time on him, I also decided to do NMM for the shoulder pad and chest, but used normal metallic paint for his shoulder pad trim and the teeth on his sword.

I then weathered him up with chipping and scratches and then attached him to the base.

Looking at him now, I may need to go back and transition the caution stripes to fit the rest of the transitions, but you don't really notice that in person it's only the camera that catches it.

Death Guard Knight

Last up is a piece I have wanted to do for a long time and just never have gotten around to. It was another chance to work even more on my weathering and rust effects, this time adding the cool new AK Oilbrushers product to the mix.

I wasn't really sure how to go about painting or converting this model as ideally I wanted it usable in both my 30k and 40k Death Guard armies.  I decided in the end that since Knights would generally be by house and not legion that I could get away with a lot, so went with a look similar to my 30k force which is old and weathered, since I am going for a look of the guys that followed Garro and had to weather the bombardment of Istavan IV.

I started by painting the whole model black, but leaving all the armour plates off.  I then painted the armour plates in various shades or brown, red, and oranges with the airbrush.  I kept the paint thick and the air pressure super low so that it splattered on in random patches, and kept layering in colours.  Once that was done I put on AK chipping and scratch solutions in various areas, and then painted on the bone and green colours.  Once that was all done the magic begins.  I spray the paint with water and then start brushing it, and it just starts pealing off randomly, revealing the under colour.



Once all the chipping was done, it was time to break our the AK Oilbrushers (pre-thinned oil paints in mascara type bottles) and use them to apply dots of colour to the chips.  I then used white spirits to pull that down into smooth rust and dirt streaks.

The entire mechanical skeletal parts were done black, then shaded up with 3 silver colours, and then treated to the same Oilbrusher treatment.  I put browns, oranges, and even yellows in to get the blends looking like rust.  I may go back and add even more.



Last up was "blueing" the barrels which I did mainly with the Forge World transparent airbrush paints I got for the Dung Beetle Knight from earlier.  I started with doing 1/2 the barrel copper (Vallejo) and then did purple over most of that, then blue over part of the purple, and then black over the very end.  I think it came out ok and looks close to realistic.

Onto other projects now...

So there you have it, 4 recent painting projects with 4 fairly different styles.  I am now moving onto a few new projects including even more different looks.  Currently on the painting table are some heavily converted Death Guard vehicles (with even more spikes, tentacles, pus, and skulls, because I know how Greg loves all that stuff on GW models), some alternate Sisters of Battle figures, another Arena Rex figure or two, and some modern stuff from Spectre. 

OH, and a pile of terrain that I need to paint up as demo pieces now that I am producing that again as well!

Poll Results and New Poll

Our last poll asked, "GW has released plastic 30K models in the new "Betrayal at Calth" game. Will you buy it?"


35 of you responded; here are the results:

Yes, I'll pick up one. (9 votes, 25%)
Yes, more than one! (4 votes, 11%)
No, not interested in 30K (22 votes, 62%) So a little more than one in three respondents intended to get their Calth on. The next poll is in keeping with the GW theme: Did you buy Games Workshop's new Limited Edition Imperial Marine last weekend?  Register your vote up in the corner! /

40K Beer League Quarter Final Game

Over the course of the last eight months I have really enjoyed participating in the 40K Beer League. Coinciding with the start of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, May 1 was also the official start of the Winnipeg Warhammer 40,000 Beer League Playoffs. Of the 18 players in the League, the top 8 made it to the Playoffs. I managed to place 2nd in the overall standings. As such, I was matched against Lance and his White Star Marines. Lance is a long time 40K veteran. In fact, I remember playing with him at  Founding Conscript Curt`s store, Mediaeval Works, back in the heady Rogue Trader days of the summer of 1988!

Yesterday, Lance dropped by mi casa, and we threw down in what turned out to be an epic fight!


The Opposing Forces:

Asurmen's Academy vs. The White Star Chapter; Eldar vs. Imperial Space Marines.


Asurmen`s Academy: The Return of Ancient Days
HQ: Autarch (1#, 75 pts)
1 Autarch (Death Spinner)

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 175 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent (TL Scatter Lasers)

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 160 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent

Troops: Dire Avengers (6#, 160 pts)
5 Dire Avengers, riding in a Wave Serpent

Elite: Fire Dragons (6#, 190 pts)
5 Fire Dragons, riding in a Wave Serpent (underslung Shuriken Cannon)

Heavy Support: Night Spinner (1#, 115 pts)

Heavy Support: Warp Hunter (IA) (1#, 125 pts)

Total Roster Cost: 1000 points

Going into this, I knew that Lance would be fielding some sort of Legiones Astartes force. I went with my second list, the one with more tanks. I figured that was a couple more hulls that he had to burn through before he got at the Aspect Warriors riding inside. The two artillery tanks might really mess with his forces, given some luck.

 
The White Star Chapter
 
HQ: Librarian (1#, 100 pts)
1 Librarian (Avenger, Gate of Infinity)

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 210 pts)
10 Tactical Marines (Meltagun, Multi-Melta), riding in a Rhino APC

Troops: Tactical Squad (11#, 215 pts)
10 Tactical Marines (Meltagun, Missile Launcher), with a Razorback IFV (TL-Heavy Bolters)

Elite: Terminator Squad (10#, 470 pts)
10 Terminators (Assault Cannon, Cyclone Missile Launcher, Chainfist)

Total Roster Cost: 995 points 

Lance showed up with his Terminator heavy force. Yikes!  Both my lists had  only a single squad of 5 Fire Dragons. Further, I could not count on Lance tightly bunching up his Termies for a D-Cannon shot.


The Game:

We played the Crusade scenario (rolling 3 objectives), with Hammer and Anvil deployment.

I won the roll for choice, and chose to go second. Lance deployed all his forces along the western table edge. In the junk yard, right next to an objective, went a combat squad, including a Missile Launcher.  Looking north, the Terminators, led by the Librarian, deployed in a loose formation. The Rhino, with a full Tactical Squad embarked, came next,. The Razorback, with a combat squad, set up on the Marine left, northern, flank.



The photo below looks west. The two other objectives were located mid-table, on either side of the road and forest. The Eldar deployed only part of their force. Two Wave Serpents, each with a Dire Avenger Squad, deployed in the southeast table corner. The Fire Dragons set up next to them, behind the water treatment plant. To the north, the Night Spinner was deployed behind the storage shed, using the forest to block LOS. I figured Lance would concentrate at least some of the Marine fire on the Dragons, keeping the Avengers alive to score later.



Another squad of Avengers, with the Autarch, were held in reserve, along with the Warp Hunter. I was hoping to 1) move the reserved Avengers up the northern table edge, and 2) keep the Warp Hunter alive long enough to fire at least one D-Cannon barrage.

At the top of the first turn, the Marines made a general advance to the east. Their missiles bounced off the Eldar tanks. The Wave Serpents moved slightly west, and a Night Spinner web entangled the Marines in the junk yard.



The Razorback moved north, flat out, to hunt the Night Spinner. A squad of Marines disembarked into the forest. The Terminators moved up in support and nailed the Fire Dragons` Serpent with missiles. First Blood!



The Warp Hunter and Avengers came on from reserves from the east. The Night Spinner moved south, away from the Razorback and its embarked Meltagun. A Serpent moved to place itself between the Marines and the Warp Hunter. The Fire Dragons moved up on foot next to the water treatment plant. The Night Spinner dropped a barrage onto the Terminators, killing the Assualt Cannon Terminator and slowing down the squad; they counted as in both Difficult and Dangerous Terrain the next time they moved. The Warp Hunter managed to kill six Marines and damage the Rhino with an Aether Rift, a torrented template D-Cannon shot; Lance admitted later that he had forgotten about the Eldar reserves.



The reduced Marine squad moved further into the forest, to try and get out of line of sight. The Razorback`s infantry disembarked around the storage shed, to try and gain Linebreaker. Marine fire broke the Fire Dragons, who ran off the table. A lucky missile immobilized the Warp Hunter,



It was way too early, but I moved up and disembarked all the surviving Eldar infantry, to try and reduce the Tactical Marines, both in the forest and by the storage hut. The Marines in the forest were whittled down to a single man, and a couple of Marines were left standing by the shed. The Night Spinner dropped another web onto the Terminators, to keep slowing them down.



The Terminators concentrated their fire on the Avengers to the south. Surprisingly, a couple of them survived. The Autarch moved off on his own to hunt the Razorback, managing to take off a couple of hull points. The remainder of the Eldar infantry embarked back into their tanks and moved west.



Night fell, but the ranges were so close, and the Marine armour already so resilient, that darkness had no effect on the outcome of the battle.

The Night Spinner kept hammering at the Terminators. Two Avengers disembarked by the  junk yard to contest an objective, and some Dire Avengers disembarked by another objective to the north of the forest, contesting it.

The game would have ended in a  1-1 draw, but the rules of the Beer League playoffs dictated that a clear winner be decided. So, we kept going.

The Razorback gunned down the Dire Avengers near the centre. The Terminators, slowed by the Night Spinner's Chains of Vaul,  managed to get a couple of men into contact with a Wave Serpent in the assault phase, immobilizing it. The two Marines to the northeast assaulted the Autarch, losing one in the process. The last Dire Avenger Wave Serpent moved flat out south, towards the uncontested objective located by the road. A lucky barrage shot landed onto the Terminator with the Cyclone Missile Launcher, killing him.



The Terminators were too burdened by the Night Spinner`s webs to advance effectively. Marine fire immobilized the Wave Serpent in the centre of the table. The Autarch was wounded in close combat, but passed his morale and remained locked in combat. The third Dire Avenger Squad disembarked from their immobilized tank, to finally take control of an objective. Eldar fire killed the last Marine in the forest.



Below is a photo of the final game position, looking north. To the southwest, the Marine and the Eldar contest an objective; thosee two Eldar Aspect Warriors also scored Linebreaker. In the centre, the yellow helmeted Avengers control an objective. To the northeast, the Autarch and a Marine are locked in combat, just outside of the Eldar deployment zone.



Eldar VP's: 4
Space Marine VP's: 1

Result: Eldar Win



The Marines were a tough nut to crack. The Terminators survived the game with the majority of their number still alive. In retrospect, the Night Spinner kept this squad from moving as freely as it might have, reducing their ability to control the centre of the table.

Thanks again to Lance for a nail-biter of a game, maybe the best one we`ve had together in a couple of decades of play!

Rick Taylor Painting Seminar and the Crimson Fists Project

Rick Taylor Seminar

A couple of weekends ago I attended a seminar on painting faces by Edmonton's Rick Taylor, sponsored by the Manitoba Model Soldier Society. Rick is a true artist. He has done his own sculpts, and his painting is very informed by classical painting techniques of the old masters. He has won gold medals at The Chicago Show and the World Model Soldier Exposition.

Rick primes his figures with sandable black automotive primer. He airbrushes in highlights in grey. Then, he hand brushes on an acrylic undercoat, or ground, over which he will layer oil paints or enamels.

For painting Caucasian faces, he uses mixes of the following oil colours:

• Daniel Smiths: Quinacridone Burnt Orange
• Daniel Smiths:  Quinacridone Scarlet
• Titanium White
• Sennelier: Peach Black
• Rembrandt's Naples Yellow Light
• Various blues (to alter skin tones)

After the acrylic layer, hebrushes on Winsor & Newton Liquin medium on the surface area to be worked on, mostly pulled off again with a clean brush. This gives a really thin layer of the medium, over which the oil paint can be worked (instead of being absorbed into the acrylic layer). The oil colours are used very sparingly, dotted or lined onto the figure, then pushed or patted around with a clean filbert brush. The result is a very subtle transition between high contrast ares of highlight and shadow. For example, he uses a mix of ~75% scarlett and 25% peach black to shade the temples of a face...




Here are some examples of figures that he has completed. This is a 90mm scale figure:





The freehand detail work is off the hook.



Even the sword scabbard is highly detailed. I find that mixing oils with Liquin also allows one to make very thin lines. You need great brushes - Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky sable brushes are the detailer's tools of choice.



This is a 40mm scale conversion of a figure from Kabuki Models. Rick gave the figure a new head, hands, shoulders and added details. Rick also turned the sword hilt in brass on a lathe.





Note the freehand portraits on the cloak:



Each portrait is an individual work of art.



Note the subtle weathering of the armour.





The detail of the face, armour, and sword are visible. Rick sparingly uses Peach Black to paint in 5 o'clock shadow.Note the controlled use of pure white highlights on things like the edges of the armour plates. The sword has a solar system painted on it.



Dark Eldar Reaver Jetbike from GW, painted in a wood grain pattern.



Eldar Farseer from GW.



The Farseer's cloak was painted freehand in greyscale, then tinted red-orange with a thin oil glaze.



The Crimson Fists Project

In preparation for the seminar, I finished the assembly of the commander for my too-long-dormant Crimson Fists Crusade Company. The concept is to use the Deathwing rules to re-create the Crimson Fists First (Terminator) Company.

The Chapter Master is a conversion of GW's Lysander, Master of the Imperial Fists (in metal, thank you very much). The arms are from a couple of different plastic kits, the shoulder pads are from Forge World, and the cast resin base is from Dragon Forge.




I airbrushed in highlights using Testors ModelMaster Acryl acrylic Flat White. I undercoated the face with ModelMaster Acryl Skin Tone Shadow Tint, then started in on the face at the seminar, using Rick's paints.



I really like the Quinacridone Burnt Orange; a slightly warmer tone than my usual Schminke's Burnt Sienna. I used almost pure Quinacridone Scarlet to shade the nose and cheeks. Also, Peach Black seems to work better as beard shadow than Winsor & Newton's Indigo that I normally use.

I have been working at home on a couple more squads of Terminators. There's a few conversions in there, mostly using plastic and resin arms/shoulders on metal bodies, with Dragon Forge bases.



Below is the first squad's Apothecary.



For 1000 points, I can field the following:

Kordova, Master of the Crusade Company (1#, 130 pts)
1 counts-as Belial, Master of the Deathwing , 130 pts (Infantry (Character); Terminator Armour; Storm Bolter; Sword of Silence; Fearless; Independent Character; Rites of Battle; Warlord)

Squad Ahat (5#, 275 pts)
4 counts-as Upgraded Deathwing Terminator Squad , 275 pts (Narthecium; Infantry; Narthecium/ Reductor; Terminator Armour; Power Fist x4; Storm Bolter x3; Assault Cannon; Apothecary; Deathwing Assault; Fearless)
1 Sergeant (Infantry (Character); Terminator Armour; Power Sword; Storm Bolter)

Squad Shtayim (5#, 235 pts)
4 counts-as Deathwing Terminator Squad , 235 pts (Infantry; Terminator Armour; Lightning Claws (pair) x2; Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x2; Cyclone Missile Launcher; Deathwing Assault; Fearless)
1 Sergeant (Infantry (Character); Terminator Armour; Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield)

Squad Shalosh (5#, 235 pts)
4 counts-as Deathwing Terminator Squad , 235 pts (Infantry; Terminator Armour; Lightning Claws (pair) x2; Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield x2; Cyclone Missile Launcher; Deathwing Assault; Fearless)
1 Sergeant (Infantry (Character); Terminator Armour; Thunder Hammer & Storm Shield)

Golem (1#, 125 pts)
1 counts-as Mortis Dreadnought (IA) , 125 pts (Searchlight; Smoke Launchers; Twin Linked Autocannon (x2); Interceptor; Skyfire)

Some decent mid- and long-range firepower, good anti-aircraft capability, and a mix of different close combat loadouts that provide both low-AP resiliency (Storm Shields) and the ability to strike at Initiative 4 (Lightning Claws).

The Proteus Diet - 40k Battle Report

Land Raider Proteus makes a tabletop debut

To mark the visit of Conscript Sean M from parts out east we squeezed some extra gaming with a pair of 40k 6th Edition games.  My most recent experience playing 40k was typically horrible, but what the heck?  For a change of pace I rolled out with my Tau - a collection of figures I painted over 10 years ago.  Dallas brought out his Howling Griffons retro "beakie" Marines, and Dave V brought his Eldar.

Table just before deployment - the artifact is in the middle, by the crossroads

During our previous game, Dave V mentioned that the Tau were pretty vicious to deal with in the current edition of the rules.  I haven't played a game using the Tau for like....I'm not even sure - maybe eight years? If a 40k expert like Dave V is concerned about the Tau, then there absolutely must be something there, so I figured it would be fun to wheel them out for the current edition. He was right...

Fire Warriors prepare to take out pretty much anything with their high power weapons

We played 1000 point games on a 6' x 4' table.  Up first I played Dallas' Marines.  The scenario involved capturing an old relic from the centre of the table.  My force included six Crisis suits, two Broadside suits, a small unit of four drones, and two squads of twelve Fire Warriors.  Dallas had two squads in Rhinos, a squad of Terminators, and his brand spanking new Land Raider Proteus (click here for a post showing some excellent WIP shots on this outstanding project by Dallas).

Broadside suit goes hunting

The Proteus advances, not expecting what comes next...

The game involved a lot (a lot) of casualties for the Marines.  The Tau are...broken.  The firepower of their basic troopers is sufficient to knock out Rhinos.  They put out a volume of high-AP fire that decimates armoured troops like Marines or Terminators.  The Crisis suits can move, fire, then move again.  The Broadside suits' rail guns have strength of 10, and AP1, and that really wreck vehicles.

More Fire Warriors in a wadi on the flank

Gun drones irritate the opponents - note the flaming Rhinos...

Tau Commander with Crisis suits

Dallas' outstanding Land Raider model suffered from an acute case of the "first-game-for-a-new-model-curse".  My Broadsides fired on it on our first turn, and we rolled vegas.  The Land Raider was reduced to a crater without firing a shot...ouch....about the only consolation to offer Dallas on that one is to assure him that at least the "curse game" is over with.

This crater was the Land Raider Proteus the top of the second turn...

Marine vehicles burn while the cheesebag Crisis suits hop around and cause trouble...

On the plus side for Dallas, despite a stack of casualties, it was a tie game.  The victory conditions revolved entirely around seizing the artifact, which Dallas' Marines did on the second turn, and held until the game ended, even as the smoking boots piled up around them. A very "Marine" ending.  The Tau got points for "first blood", for killing the enemy warlord, and for "line breaking".  The Marines got three points for holding the artifact.  Three points each.

The Crisis Suits had a successful "deep strike"

The Terminators looked great, but struggled to take down the pesky Tau...

After Dallas and I played, Sean took my Tau army out for a spin against Dave's Eldar.  Although they lasted only a little longer than my Elysians did, Sean's rolling wasn't much better than it had been during the Spearhead game earlier in the week. Dave V took some photos, so I'm sure he will post a report on that game.

The Marines hold to the bitter end - successfully!

Fire Warriors - so close, but so far away from the artifact

It was great to see Sean M once again.   And it was interesting to play 40k and not get completely killed before the game even starts.  But the Tau are out of control in this new edition of the rules.  Of course they "suck" at close combat, but close combat is not much of an issue when you have guns that mow down everything in sight.  And as for the Land Raider Proteus, I know it will be back...