Primaris Intercessor painting continues...

I really ought to get back to that DKK diorama, but momentum and all that... 

Ready for inking.

With two back-to-back games of 40k fielding my Ultramarines vs. Neverness, I've been (slowly) working on getting more of my army painted up. As such, in between those two games I started work on another trio of Smurf intercessors. 

It still surprises me at how flat these look without washes, and to think I didn't use them for well over a decade...

Were they the standard blue, they'd have painted up quickly but as always I've taken the long way around and camouflaged them. Speaking of, I reversed the order in which I applied the Macragge blue and Mechanicus grey. Once complete I doubt any difference in appearance will be noticeable and I sure as hell am not going back to repaint them! 

Apparently these two were underperforming and will thus remain just basic intercessors.

Another issue with these three intercessors is that they were originally allotted for my Silver Drakes army. So I tweaked that army list (500pts) and promoted 5 of my 7 painted grunts up to veteran intercessors, who will be lead by the (recently acquired) bolt pistol and power sword wielding Primaris Lt. who has since been demoted to Vet. Sgt. and downgraded to a 32mm base. 

I was concerned about matching the level of filth on the repainted pauldrons as compared to the old ones, but I think I got it. 

The other sides match pretty good as well. 

The other two painted Drakes remained standard intercessors and as such had their right pauldrons repainted and redecaled with tactical arrows (which is a change to the army's overall markings). 

Turning back to the Ultramarines, once the above Smurfs are finished next my paints and brush will come to my Primaris Ancient. This was another recent purchase (bought the demoted Lt.) both of whom saw their first taste in battle little more than 24 hours after arriving in the mail

The Lt. was unceremoniously cut down with little return effect. Whereas the Ancient, not so much. Historically in my experience, 40k standard bearers seem to share that same particular fate on a regular basis, making them a rare sight on the table top. However this guy stubbornly (and somewhat futilely) fought to the last, refusing to let any see his red(?) flag fall! 

YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIV-oh wait...

As such he's next in line to be painted, in recognition of his glorious demise pictured above. 

Incandescent Coyotes Apothecary

 o/

I knocked out a quick mini last week in between assembling the parts for my DKK diorama. If you haven't already heard, white contrast paint is in fact the shit when it comes to painting white minis. As such this is the first, fully painted Apothecary that I've fielded since...4th? or maybe 5th ed 40K?  Granted, for a good while there they were also kinda worthless on the tabletop giving little incentive to fight with the white paint. 

Even in natural light he looks washed out. For example: the base he's standing on is actually painted bleached bone. 

Not sure if having all of the various bottles be transparent makes any actual sense, but it does add a bit of visual interest I suppose. 

The business end of an Apothecary. 

This is one of the firstborn minis gifted to me by Kushial way back when, and he's painted to match my Incandescent Coyotes chapter. If there's one complaint with this guy, it's that the sand wash that make my Coyotes look like they're weathered all to hell, didn't work out so well with the white paint job. Oh well, whatever, this guy is the only white marine in the army.  

Better...

...much better!

Speaking of, I also went back and repainted the bases of my previously painted combat squad. They look much better now I think as the dust that cakes their armor and equipment now more closely matches the bases that they're standing on. This minor alteration to the squad and the painting of the Apothecary above however are the extent of any forward progress on this army aside from having more squads from my collection being assigned to this army, but more on that at a later date...

*****

This past weekend I actually managed to get a game in with Neverness! Unfortunately for me, my phone was almost dead when I got to the FLGS, so I took few photos. However you're in luck as he took extensive photos and will be posting a battle report later this week, so stay tuned!

A preview pic showing my camo-Smurfs actually doing a decent job of blending in with local terrain!

The End of the Road (pt. 1)

Chill out, I'm not talking about the end of this old blog. 

it may not be as flashy as Zzzz's Inquisitorial hot rods, but it makes for a good IG staff car.

Once painted, this will likely get a post unto itself.

The road goes on forev-oh wait....

For something a little different for myself, I've decided to do a simple little 40k diorama. Mounted on a 170mm x 92mm textured resin base, and featuring one of the Wargames Exclusive 40k cars (the purchase of which I'm blaming on Zzzzzz). I'll also be using two of the DKK minis from the Kill Team starter set. 

The officer. 

The DKK minis presented something of a problem, that being their backpacks. Normally IG backpacks have always been in the 'I want' category, but with the KT set, the omission of said packs leaves a gaping hole in the backs of the guardsmen. As these two will have recently exited the car, it's a bit stupid to think that they first donned their packs before doing so. Thus a little conversion work was needed.

And his beleaguered driver.

First, using the edge of a sharp knife, I shaved off the pack straps so as to look like the strap instead goes around his neck and under the collar. Rarely having any success with my mortal enemy (green stuff), I instead trimmed down a thin piece of plasti-card (almost feels like plastic paper), and glued it into place. Once dry I then used the blade's edge to file down the card's edge into a smooth transition to the rest of his body. 

The Commissariat said they'd shoot me if I was late.

Hopefully they were joking...

Conversions complete I then needed to set the mood. Conveniently, the KT sprues have a myriad of options for the arms/weapons of each models, most of which are interchangeable with the others. So it was relatively easy to create the sense of consternation and confusion felt by these two Guardsmen. 

Well its no wonder that this poor fucker got lost,

both of his maps are blank!

The officer, no doubt worried about getting admonished or worse yet executed for arriving late to wherever it is that he was going, is checking his time piece. Whether his pistol is out to 'encourage' his driver to correct his navigational error, or more practically a precaution due to being lost somewhere near the front line is a mystery. His driver meanwhile, frantically scanning both full sized and pocket maps, is pretty much self-explanatory. 

the 25mm bases will go away once the two guardsmen are painted.

Overhead view of the tentative positions.

Now that I have all of the needed parts assembled.

Painting may commence!

Two more Ultramarines assault intercessors are complete!

 o/

FOR THE EMPEROR!!

Sure they're a week late and (as is always the case with 40k) quite a few dollars short, but at least I did manage to finish these two up before going off in some other direction. Like my prior post featuring Lt. Horridus, this is just a photo dump of these two marines. My apologies for the indoor photos, but I ran out of daylight and rain is forecast for the next few days leaving me no other option. 

In addition to their red pauldron edging, the 3rd company's number is displayed on their left hip armor plates.

The skull on the left hand marine's holster is likely in recognition of a particularly impressive kill-shot.

In addition to the left side pauldron, chapter icons are also displayed on the right hip armor plates (just incase you were indeed confused by the camo and didn't know who these guys were...). 

Here they are cutting a striking pose with their squad sergeant.

Ultramarines Primaris Lieutenant Horridus is complete!

The title says it all really. I got a bit excited painting this mini and as such Lt. Horridus kind of left his two subordinate assault intercessors in the dust. They're still in the paint queue though and I hope to finish them sometime in the next week or so. Anyways enough rambling, here he is:

Once again I loathe whomever it was that decided on the helmet stripes to visually identify a Lieutenant. 

I'm still fond of the urban camo, though as always it's effectiveness is suspect at best. 

Originally he was going to be a Captain, armed with the relic version of the master crafted auto bolt rifle. Oh well, this still looks better than the bolt rifles used by the other lieutenants. 

Again, note non-standard Astartes Chainsword, suck it primaris purists! I started scribbling in the margins of the Codex Astartes just as soon as I started applying camo! 

I'm quite certain that those scribbles on his pauldron banner say something heroic.

Smurfs in progress...

 o/

Hey Siph? Do I have the correct hair color for Lt. Horridus?

Just a quick update to let you all know that I'm celebrating Orktober by painting Ultramarines. Because...heresy and all that...or something. Lt. Horridus is now ready for decals I think. 

He is so named as Siph kindly ordered and shipped Neverness and myself each an event only Primaris Lt. last year for the UK price. That cost, with shipping was still $20 CHEAPER than if we were to order them ourselves from GW USA directly (yes we gratefully reimbursed Siph for his troubles). 

He is armed with a master-crafted auto-bolt rifle and an Astartes chainsword. Yes I know the latter is non-standard, however I've paid a Lt's power sword's price for it. Thus I doubt any opponent will mind. 

Originally, I envisioned Lt. Horridus leading my Silver Drakes. However their small army already has a Lieutenant at the helm so when I started my camo Smurfs some ways back, this guy was duly transferred to lead the force.

All three in this WIP batch. The two in back will tip their squad's scale towards the mostly painted side. 

My small Primaris horde is slowly being divvied up between the Drakes' blue and silver and the Smurf's urban camo. Both clock in at about 500-750 points, though that will eventually change when minis a from all individual units start getting painted. Currently my Hellblasters and a 2nd assault intercessor squad are bereft of paint, whilst the bofors turret is both still on the sprue and in it's box. 

GHARRR!!!!

Why am I painting Ghar again?

Best I can offer you is this: who the hell knows...

Sorry, these indoor pics kinda suck, but I ran out of daylight...

There ya go, the view that most of their foes see: the backsides of these little buggers as they flee for their lives!

I tried eBaying off my previous little Ghar rebel army for close to 6 months to no avail, and eventually gave 'em to my buddy Bob who already had a small Ghar force of some sort (I think). When I got rid of 'em, I included the rule book as well. It's not like I ever played the game, nor is anybody else here locally either. In all honesty, I really don't like any models other than just the basic outcasts (no, not even the Black Guard barring just the one that I have). 

Lovely little cannon once assembled. Assembling it so that the gun itself sits level however...

Anyways, I had kept my original, lone Outcast and had called it a day on Beyond the Gates of Antares...or at least until I stumbled across a NIB, sealed outcast box for $20 on eBay. So here we are again...even less of a force than before. No rules. Neither any hope of, nor intent to actually play the game. Yet I'm painting Ghar rather than my new Orks, the still on the sprue DKK and Ork Terrain, or any of the other myriad new toys that I bought in my last spending spree. Nope, I'm painting Ghar (well, and Battletech minis who have earned their paint jobs in glorious combat). 

Yeah there they go too! It seems that these two are no braver than their compatriots...

These are fairly close though not entirely consistent with my original outcast mini. However they're rebels, so they're not really supposed to be I'd imagine. The lugger guns and disruptor cannon walker on these few are rusted all to hell, having been scavenged from long discarded battlefield detritus. Not all of them will have rusty weaponry though, as I'd imagine that there are at least a few who managed to maintain a white knuckled grip on their guns when fleeing from combat. 
I would imagine that following a battle, once the Ghar forces moved on Fartok's Blackguard would drop in an operative or two to seek out equipment to salvage and outcast survivors to either recruit or else form into insurgent cells such as this one (not that a lone squad of outcasts will strike fear into the hearts of...well anyone). 

The squad so far.

With these five minis now painted, I have just 4 more to go. Hopefully they will scratch the itch sufficiently enough to not encourage any further needless expansion into this seemingly dead game system. That said, there is a somewhat deranged thought that's been rattling around my head here recently to buy several squads of these outcasts, call them Hrud, and use 'em as counts as Imperial Ghard, because you know. I play 40k anymore as often as I do Antares...