14th Grand Company

Well I was hoping to have finished both this squad as well as the mortar squad for the 4th ToEMP challenge, but alas, I got distracted yet again. The 4th challenge was 60 points of what ever we felt like, as long as we gave a reason why we chose what we did. I picked this squad (and wanted to finish the mortar squad) because they are the “last” troops I need to paint for my traitor guard.  And when I say last, we all know that means: “all I currently have at this time, until I get inspired to buy more plastic crack…”

Any way onto the pictures:

I want my traitor guard to be colorful, but not over the top with mutations and such (the Iron Warriors really don’t like that type of thing).

For the fourth challenge I earn:

• Foot sloggers x6: 6 points
• Meeting deadline: 2 points

Total Points: 8

Total to date: 69

Hmm I didn’t really push my self to much for this challenge did I?

One of my many distracts for this last week will probably be part of the next challenge and I give a sneak peak here:

Platoon two has been finished right on schedule. This marks the fastest I’ve ever painted this many models for 40k (Fantasy seems a bit easier to paint large groups). I also am not completely done with the platoon as a whole, as I have two heavy weapon squads that still need to be painted, but I figured I needed to at least get the core of the troop choice finished.  As I had mentioned before, I am trying to enter this army in my local GW’s monthly painting competition. This months requirement is for a legal 1k point army. Finishing this platoon gives me my two troop choices so now all that is left to make it legal is paint the company command squad and see if I can squeeze out 1,000 points. If not, well I have 4 sentinels and 6 heavy weapon teams to paint. If all else fails I have my three Basilisk I could pull out to complete the army, but as they don’t completely fit the theme I’ve built it would fell a little cheap.

Here is the full platoon squeezing into my light box.

The platoon command Squad. I haven’t thought up any fluff like I did for the other platoon. Once my painting flurry is over I’ll have to think about some stories fitting for the Iron Army.

Platoon Squad One

Platoon Squad Two

Another thing I tried with this batch of pictures is add a water mark in the lower corner. I’ve been noticing a great deal of bloggers re-posting pictures but failing to give credit. It was a simple thing to add and if anyone is interested I may put a tutorial together on how to do it.

Next up is my company command squad which I hope to finish this week.

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 have finished painting the 82nd Platoon of the Iron Army of the 14th Grand Company. Some of you BoLS viewers may recognize the command squad as it was entered in their hobby challenge. Thanks for those who did vote for me, really I just entered the challenge to give an example of what is possible with the great plastic kits GW produces and to get any feedback from the community their.

Part of the Command Squad Hobby Challenge was to come up with a few lines of fluff for the squad. Getting a bit of inspiration from the Flagellant model heads I submitted:

This is the 82nd platoon command of the Iron Army of the 14th Grand Company led by Tiresias the Lost. Tisesias was a small boy when the 14th conquered his world and as the Warsmith strode upon the field of victory, Tisesias was brave (or foolish) enough to not look down. The Warsmith had him immediately blinded and promoted to the lead the 82nd platoon. He is accompanied by Niles the Unspoken, who is required to be gagged or else will continue to scream blasphemies until he passes out.

These are the two troop squads with a basic setup of a vox, flamer and Sargentwith a power weapon. I like the imaginary of the Sargentwhipping his subordinates into action with his flail.  I know there are some major gaps on the Catachan models between the torso and the arms but since I’m going for the full look of the army, I’m not too worried about some of the “floating arms.” Maybe in the future I’ll go back and putty the joint and repaint it, but at this point I’d rather spend my energy painting the other platoon, company command and the many other things I need to add to this army.

Two lascannon squads as my anti-tank support, and don’t fret, the heavy weapon teams in platoon two are missiles and mortars, I just decided to paint the lascannon teams first. The heavy weapon teams are not completely done, I still need to finish the base and a few minor highlights but I had the camera out and want to get the pictures up.

My light box is not large enough to fit the full platoon so I am going to have to wait until I bring them in the FLGS to get some in-action pictures.

Next up is to build the four sentinels that came in the mail a few weeks back then paint platoon two. Repainted my Khorne Berserkers may jump in line though, as there is another 1500 pt tournament at the GW store and they were the only squad that wasn’t painted well.

~Update: So I just realized that instead of posting the second lascannon squad I posted the first one twice!

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!)

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.

Finished up another troop squad of Chaos Space Marines for my Iron Warriors. This squad is wielding two melta-guns and led by a crazy, plasma gun and power fist loaded champion.

Iron Warrior Troop Squad Three

Although this makes the champion a bit on the expensive side, he is invaluable when it comes to taking out armored dudes, armored tanks, or monstered fools.

Iron Warrior Squad Three Close Up on Champion

Unlike my other troop squad, these guys are fully finished. The icon needs no extra painting and the XIVs are all done.

~created this post a few weeks back but forgot to publish it!

So this squad has been done for a while now, but like some of my other projects, it hasn’t had much love on the picture side.

Iron Warrior Chaos Space Marines Troop Squad Two

The banner, a few heads and the mace arm all come from the Chaos Knights kit for fantasy, but work well from my marines. This squad is plasma heavy with a plasma pistol and power fist bearing champion and two plasma gun luggin’ fools. Although these guys do a great deal of damage throughout my games, they usually don’t survive. Inevitably I roll a one when trying to blow up the tank to win the game, and fail my armour save. Oh well, they look cool and pack a punch!

Iron Warrior Troop Squad Two (side View)

Although this squad is “done” I still need to figure out what to paint on the banner and add in the XIVs to the shoulder pads. I often field this squad in a Rhino as one of the attacking squads for any capture objectives missions. This allows me to move the tank 12″ up and still fire both plasma guns into the target while maintaining the protection of the tank.