Iron Within, Iron Without - 30K Iron Warriors Test Models

Well, it's safe to say that around these parts, between the Betrayal at Calth boxed set frenzy and general Forgeworld crack addictions, the Horus Heresy is raging on. So it is therefore perfectly sensible for me, despite having armies of 40K Black Templars, Rogue Trader Howling Griffons, and Heresy-era Blood Drinkers/Angels, (plus Deathwing and Plague Marines too) to start another Space Marine army.

Step forward the Iron Warriors! The fourth Space Marine Legion to be raised in the First Founding; cold, calculating weaponsmiths; siege and heavy weapon specialists; and legendary all-around hard nuts, the Iron Warriors have a lot going for them as a Traitor Legion choice for Heresy-era gaming.  Not to mention that, as long as you like hazard stripes, the paint scheme is absurdly simple, fast-painting and awesome looking!

So I've taken the plunge into "the narrative of hope and change" as Conscript Greg would say, and have started collecting and painting a IV Legion force for our Heresy games. First up were some test models - a MKIII Space Marine from Forgeworld (seen here) and a MKIV armour from the Calth boxset (farther below).

I am a huge fan of the MKIII armour. It has a brutalist aesthetic that to me, just captures the Horus Heresy so well. The model was primed black and painted GW Leadbelcher, with gold bits picked out in Balthasar Gold. Hazard striping was done with Averland Sunset highlighted with Yriel Yellow. The whole model was washed with Nuln Oil, and the gold bits washed again with Agrax Earthshade, then highlighted with Leadbelcher and Balthasar. Some chipping with black over the yellow and light powders finished it off.

Although I have to admit that the MKIV suit isn't my favourite-ever Space Marine armour, the models from the Calth box are awesome nonetheless. This one assembled very quickly and accurately and looks great.

I painted him using the same technique as the MKIII.

His right shoulder pad is also left blank for application of some IV Legion insignia later.

I have two Calth boxes and five MKIII suits for a command squad, so that should pretty much do me for Marines. I reckon 30-40 Tactical Squad Marines and 10 Iron Havocs with lascannons, and perhaps a 10-man Tac Support squad or even Assault Squad made with Forgeworld accessory goodies. Ten Cataphractii Terminators of course, done up as Siege Tyrants with added missile racks, likely from some third party vendor. There's two Contemptor Dreadnoughts in those boxes too, along with an Iron Warriors body on the way. I have some Praetors about that could go Iron, as well as a MKII Command set with banner and leader-type coming. Vehicle support will be sparse but powerful to start with anyway, as I've ordered up a Legion Medusa (hopefully a better kit than the Armageddon pattern vehicle) and the irresistible Typhon heavy siege tank for some serious line-breaking.

"Iron within, iron without!" :-)

Team Yankee Test Model - M1 Abrams

M1 Abrams in 15mm from Battlefront

I finished off a test model for my "Team Yankee" US forces.  This is a plastic M1 Abrams from Battlefront's US boxed set "Bannon's Boys".  I haven't painted modern stuff in a while, and I've never painted US stuff in this setting at all, so I wanted to practice a bit.  In particular I wanted to see if I could manage the US camouflage of the period in question, which I think is known as "MERDC".

Bit of a blurry view from the rear aspect

This is where the real hobby guys will crack out their airbrush, but I generally avoid those things, and gave it my best shot with my boring old regular paint brushes. Battlefront is great for tutorials and tips, and this was no exception with a nice little section at the back of the "Team Yankee" rule book offering helpful step-by-step guides on painting US and Soviet kit.

I tried to "pop" the lenses a bit, just to add some life to the otherwise slightly bland (if menacing) overall appearance

The results? Well, a solid "meh".  It's funny how rusty I felt painting this up, and I'm not sure I quite matched the brown correctly.  At first I tried a brown craft paint ("Chocolate Brown", from the Americana range), but the pigment in that is too thin and the green base coat was bleeding through.  So I switched over to GW's (stupidly named) "XV88".  That paint has a nice, strong pigment and covered very well.

And an airbrush would surely give a nicer results, but I don't feel like confronting the hassle of an airbrush for this project. The tank started to look better after I weathered it up a bit. It will do well enough for a fight on the table.

"Gunner - target, Soviet T-72...."

I kind of regret opting for the attempted MERDC now - maybe I should have gone with a straight green tank, representing a reinforcing National Guard unit, or perhaps just a replacement from the divisional depot which had been waiting for new camouflage.  But now that I've done the one tank, I think I'm kind of stuck with it for now...there are six M1s in the "Bannon's Boys" box, and from I can tell in the "Team Yankee" rules, that seems like plenty.   I think I can manage five more of these...then on to the Cobra helicopters!
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UPDATE - January 19, 2016 - many thanks to Tacobat for (politely) pointing out that I had messed with the turret MGs, mounting two .50 cal MGs on the turret, when in fact the MG over the loader's hatch is an M240 MG, not the .50 cal.  What can I say? I looked like the .50 cal on the instructions...

Corrected MGs on the turret

Anyway, fortunately I hadn't thrown the plastic sprues away, so last night I was able to replace the errant .50 cal with the proper MG.  And now I will do it for the other five tanks I built *cough*.

M240 over the loader's hatch

While I was "at the store", I recalled how Tacobat had also noted, in a series of helpful turorials, that little dabbed lines of contrast colour can offer a helpful "chipped" look on some edges of a big slab of armour like the M1 Abrams, so I tried a little bit of that too.  The effect is subtle - probably doesn't show in the photos much - but I like it and I'm glad I remembered that. 

Ready to roll...for real this time...

Thanks to Tacobat - and be sure to check out his blog, "Modern Warfare" - the painting skill on display will blow your mind. 

Painted 1/50 Scale BTR-80s from Imprint

Chemical Commies on maneuvers with their new APC

My 28mm scale Commies have some new wheels tonight after I finished off one of the new BTR-80 models I have recently purchased from Imprint Models. I only finished one of the vehicle bodies, but finished one of each turret - the BTR-80 and BTR-80A variant - to give a look for each one.

From a wargaming perspective, the BTRs are not as sexy as the BMPs, but these blue collar APCs will stylishly and safely deliver my Commie Forces to battle against insurgents, separatists, NATO forces, Zombies, Big Pharma, militants, reality show contestants, and whatever else we can find at the Fawcett Avenue table - possibly all in the same game (Dallas' Zombie games are very diverse). The 30mm cannon on the BTR-80As will provide some nice extra punch.

These were painted primarily with GW paints, many from the new range, which I am gradually getting used to.  I have seen so many different camouflage patterns for modern Russian/late Soviet vehicles that I just went ahead an made one up. The infantry in the pictures are 28mm Soviets in NBC gear from Eureka.  The numeral decals are from a sheet of Battlefront tactical numbers I found lying around.

Up first is the straight-up BTR-80 version:

The BTR-80 has a 14.5mm MG in the turret

Now here are some pictures with the very cool BTR-80A variant turret.  With the funky mounting for the 30mm cannon, and the concentration of smoke launchers, all with the spooky light at the top, I find this turret looks very near-future/sci-fi.

The 30mm cannon can engage everything from enemy troops to enemy helicopters

These Imprint models are top notch - I recommend them highly!  I have two more vehicle bodies to do, and then I will be able to mount a platoon for battle.  The T-90s will have to wait for a bit - I need to figure out a way to secure the turrets - preferably without gluing them, although it may come to that - to be sure they can survive on the gaming table.

Test Model - 15mm Panzer III

A German Panzer IIIL, awainting assignment to the Eastern Front

While I continue to get slaughtered in Curt's Painting Challenge, to try and salvage some pride I have been doing some historical odds and ends from the painting pile in between strings of Napoleonic infantry.  It hasn't helped me too much points wise (I think I am languishing it seventh or eighth or something like that) but getting the entries in regularly at least lets me pretend I'm in the game.

One such project was this 15mm Panzer III from Battlefront. I think this particular mark was the "L", a late version, with a long-barrelled 50mm gun and extra layers of armour bolted on to the front of the turret (which I think is properly known as the "mantlet" or something like that) and the front of the hull (the "glacis"?).  These tanks fought in the North African desert and on the Eastern Front. 

I should probably add some tactical numbers to the turret - will do that after I finish the other two tanks

I have three-tank platoon of these sitting in my "pending" box already primed - hence their usefulness in the painting challenge.  I have a collection of 15mm WW2 for North Africa, and likely that is the source of these primed but-unpainted models.  I have an itch to get into some Kursk stuff in 15mm, so I thought I would experiment and see if I could paint one of these for 1943 on the steppe, in particularly trying to get that strange-but-cool yellow colour the Germans used on their tanks to look right.

I find that yellow ("Dunkelgelb", I think) very tricky to pull off, but I love how it looks when it's done well (by other people, pretty much).  For my attempt at it, I used black primer (of course), then GW Snakebite Leather as a base colour, and GW Desert Yellow as the main colour. 

I've heard a lot of feedback from folks saying the Battlefront Spray Paints are the way to go.  I'm not big spraying anything other than primer, but that's probably just me being stubborn.  At some point I might invest in one of those sprays - especially if I decide to dive in an do a real project on this...at the end of the day, though, I just enjoy the painting.  The sprays kind of take that away...

In this shot you get a good view of the extra armour bolted ont the front of the turret and hull 

With this test model out of the way, I will probably finish off the other two tanks, and will throw some tactical numbers on the turrets. My project list for the early winter of 2012 is already packed with fun stuff, so it will be a while before I come back to 15mm WW2 after that, but hopefully I will start a 15mm Kursk New-Insane-Project in time for the summer - maybe Prairiecon?