14th Grand Company

So after finishing my Leman Russ before the deadline for ToEMPs and not wanting to start the next project before the next challenge was issued I decided to dig back out my diy Titan I started about 6 months ago.

Although the plan I’m working off of showed building each toe segment and main foot section separately then gluing them together, I wanted a bit more stability and made the central toe connected straight back to the rear toe via a long I-beam. I then added the other two toes and the pads to the end of each toe. The picture below shows the foot on the left as right side up and the right one upside down.

I then created little caps for each toe end using a matching rectangle to the toe pad, attached to two right-angle brackets.

Once these were attached I wanted to think a head and create support into the foot to connect to the lower leg. I did this with some more the my trusty I-beams glued to the plate the will eventually be the middle of the foot and glued reinforcement beams around it. This created a very sturdy point I can work off of when building the lower leg.

Since taking these pictures I created an end plate for each toe and bulked up one of the feet so it’s not just a single, thin plate.

I’ve already set this aside again to work on the next TOEMP challenge but the titan will eventually stand!

So after being inspired by DezartFox’s  World Eater Rhinos I started painting my heavy sentinels with a streaky red pattern. I quickly decided to modify the color scheme a bit to fit better with the rest of my army and started painting a fade to yellow to match my commander’s cape.

After painting the red/yellow with the large dry brush, I repainted the metal parts black before adding silver and soon the brass. As the first deadline for the ToEMP hasn’t yet passed, 73rd hasn’t released the details on the second challenge yet, so I am not sure if these sentinels will yet fulfill the requirements. If not, well I still have plenty of other models to get done.

Even with the 90+ temperatures in my apartment this week I was able to get some painting done and am still on schedule to finish 1000 points by the end of the month. Part of what made this possible is the suggestion from Dweomer in my last post to get paint retarder to keep my paints from drying out so quickly in the hot weather. I was having to add water between every model or two just to keep it usable, now with the addition of this paint retarder I was able to paint a color on a whole platoon without having to add more water. It didn’t work as well on the metallic paint for some reason, perhaps I didn’t add enough retarder to the mixture.

Use Paint Retarder to keep paint from drying out quickly in hot weather

The second platoon is nearly done with the base-coat layer, which is arguably the longest part of the process. Once the base coat is finished the models are washed, highlighted, based and then clear coated.

Most of the base coat finished on platoon two

My plan in to have the last of the base coat done by Tuesday to start the washes and have this platoon done by the end of the week. Next up is the company command and the two remaining heavy weapon teams. If I still have time before the 27th I will paint the sentinels to and an extra touch to the army.

I ordered these sentinels a couples of weeks ago from FRP Games and DogStarGames through Amazon (thanks work for that gift card!). Although I normally like to buy things from my LFGS, they don’t take Amazon points. I would recommend both of these stores if you do buy online, they both shipped within a day and were in my mail box a few days later.

Anyway, onto the pictures!

Traitor Guard Heavy Sentinels with Plasma Cannons

Two heavy sentinels armed with my favorite, non-Apocalypse weapon: plasma cannon goodness! I actually got these models because I like how the heavy sentinel looks and the fact it can mount up a plasma cannon is extra bonus points. It did take me a while to figure out how to glue the legs together. The legs are fully positional which is great to pose the model (and you can see some of the variation possible in my models here) but it makes it hard to glue it together. I found the best way was to glue the feet to the base as far to each side as possible, glue the upper leg to the hips and glue the two halves of the mid leg together (obviously connecting the upper and lower leg pieces). This allowed the model to still have some variation of movement possible to finish the pose, but made it easy to drop some glue at the ankle and each end of the mid-leg and let it dry.

Traitor Guard Scout Sentinels with Autocannons

I also  built two scout sentinels. They are currently mounting autocannons but these (as well as the plasma) are simply sticky-tacked in place so I can paint it and possibly magnetize it to enable any of the weapon options. The crew are also not glued in place and since I opted to not include the roll cage they are easy to slip in and out. Some spiky bits give a Chaos flare along with the head from the vehicle command sprue. The scout sentinels still need the rock layer glued down before priming but are ready to join the mighty ranks of the 14th Grand Company.

I do need some suggestions on a paint scheme for my vehicles. I was thinking of something similar to the Modian tank in the IG codex, but have also seen some great looking models painted red/black. The problem is that both of these color schemes clash a bit with the orange of my main troops. Any thoughts?

I have nearly finished my Warsmith on a Juggernaut of Khorne (initial post here). I love the sculpt of the model, in fact that is the reason I got it (actually my wonderful wife gave it to me last Christmas!). I did very little modification to the model itself to pull it into the 4ok universe, but by the very nature of Chaos, it can easy pass off as archaic MkI, a bit twisted by the warp.

Iron Warriors Warsmith on Juggernaut

Iron Warriors Warsmith on Juggernaut

I did the base coat just I did any of my normal Iron Warriors: Mithril Silver and Shining Gold, Devlan Mud and Badab Black wash. The metals were then re-dry brushed before washing with Baal Red and Ogryn Flesh.

Iron Warriors Warsmith on Juggernaut

Still left to do is the power weapon, shoulder plate XIV, pouches, and the base.

My local GW is having a painting competition for a terrain piece. I had a Manufactorum kit laying around (originally bought for bits for the titan) so I decided to build this up. I wanted it to be modular in a way so I only built one wall including a single corner. This will allow me to take four of these and create a square building or mix and match walls. I attempted to follow the color scheme shown on the box so it matches the store’s sets but I’m not sure what the exact colors used are.   The sandbags are made with basic air-hardening clay (same thing I used for my mortar team).

Click on link for a larger picture

Manufactorum Front Wall

Once I finish the last few details and build my light box (yes another new project!) I will get more pictures up of the top and back.

Note to myself to remember what colors I used for any other piece I paint:

• walls: Chardon Granite
• doors/window frames: Ork Shade Green
• pillars/pipe: Adeptus Battlegrey
• brass: Dwarf Bronze
• piping: Tin Bitz
• sandbags: Dheneb Stone with Gyphonne Sepia wash
• rust: Calthan Brown, Macharius Solar Orange

So I realized I didn’t have the obligatory post of my workspace. I was reminded of this yesterday when my wife and I decided to redo the office/guest bedroom and I was kindly asked to remove my extra large desk and replace it with a much smaller version. The end result makes the room as a whole nicer looking and more function overall but I do fell a bit squeezed. The current projects on the desktop are my Manufactorum wall, Warsmith, and traitor platoon. Due to the smaller workspace I had to put the rest of the guard squads in the closet.

My New Cute Little Desk (NCLD)

The pull-out drawer for the keyboard has drawer organizers taped to it and filled of my most used supplies (namely paint and brushes).

Desk Drawer Full of Paints

The closet is where most of the supplies, materials, old projects, and boxes of new projects are kept.

The Closet of Goodness

Here are a bunch of group shots of my traitor guard horde as it currently stands. As you can see I have the one platoon command nearly done and the two platoon squads started (well only one coat of orange so far…). At this point I have a company command squad, two platoons each with two squads and two heavy weapons squads. I have two squads of lascannons, one missle launcher squad and a mortar squad. This comes out to around 750 points which is a nice starting point and a solid core of any size game I am able to play in the future as this army continues to grow.

on to the pictures!

overhead view of my traitor guard horde

The missle launcher squad and the mortors still need to be primed, I had built them while waiting for the other models to dry. After seeing this post on From the Warp I may try priming with brown and save some time painting multiple layers of orange, flesh and light brown while maintaining the dark shadows where the brush doesn’t fit.

the company command backed by the mob of traitors

Yes, that is indeed a inquisitor model leading my traitor army. Ironic as it is, the model is great and with some slight modification looks like a merciless leader of traitors under the whip of the Iron Warriors.

Lascannon Squad #1

Because of their larger bases, the heavy weapon teams screamed for more customization and imagination. I had a great time building these squads and tried to build a story into each one. In this squad, its hard to see in this picture, but the guy on the far left got too excited and cut the power cable for his now upset teammate.

Lascannons, missiles, orange, oh my!

Here is a group shot of the other lascannon squad hiding in the ruins of a building (I know the cover doesn’t count, but it sure looks cool), the missile launchers (with a very upset spotter) and the platoon I started painting.

Mortars hiding in the back

Here is my mortar squad hiding in the back and behind a pile of sand bags. I have a long way to go to get all these guys painted but I’m hoping I can work on my bulk painting skills and bust out a platoon in a week (heres to dreaming!)

I’ve had this model since Christmas and have been trying to figure out how to turn the WFB Khorne Lord on Juggernaut into a mighty Warsmith of the Iron Warriors. The model as sculpted is a terrific looking model but the challenge was to make it look like it could fit into the 41st millennium. In the end I replaced the arms with CSM arms, added a CSM head and backpack and re-sculpted the cloak to fit the backpack. The power weapon is a combination of a CSM banner pole and a giant axe from the WFB Chaos Knights.

The pictures are a bit hard to make out the detail due to the black primer but I am excited to start painting. Work on this will be interleaved with painting my hoard of Traitor Guard but I will continue to post pictures of the progress.

Warsmith on a Juggernaut of Khorne

Warsmith from the side

Warsmith from the rear

So I finally found the camera and took some pictures of the platoon command squad I’ve been painting as a test unit. I wanted to see how well an orange color scheme would look before painting 50+ models as well as the added bonus that Bell of Lost Souls is hosting a hobby challenge for command squads. I will need to take some better pictures when the squad is finished but I wanted to post some pictures as they now stand.

click on the pictures for a larger image.

Traitor Guard Platoon Command

Traitor Guard Platoon Command (rear)

The squad is currently armed with two grenade launchers, vox and a platoon banner. The commander carries a power sword and bolt pistol. As I build the army and start playing with it I may change up the squad a bit. I don’t think the banners are worth it but they are great visuals that this is a army dedicated to Chaos.