Thursday, November 14, 2013

Heresy Era Iron Hands - A mess of infantry painted

One of the things about heresy army lists are the big ol' units of marines - it's pretty common to see them in groups of twenty, which meant I had a whole mess of 'em to do for the Iron Hands. I decided on one unit of Tac marines armed with bolters and one unit with bolt pistols and chainswords (the poor man's assault marines). They lack jump packs, but are almost half the points cost!


I'm waiting on the new Iron Hands Legionaries sets to arrive so I can finish off the Vox, Vexilla and Sergeant for the unit (hence the two half-built models and the blank base), but other than that, they're pretty much ready to rock!


I had some issues with the FW order that was destined to become the second squad, so in addition to the sergeant, vox and vexilla, I also needed to wait for the replacement bits to finish off a few 'regular' marines as well. Still, 31 done is a nice feeling!


My buddy Dave was kind enough to let me have one of the leftover thunder hammer bits he'd ordered from MaxMini for his Salamanders, which I think has a much better heresy feel to it for the Praetor than the previous modern era hammer I had on there before. I also added a servo skull to act as his cyber-familiar (grants an additional +1 to his invulnerable save) and some cog-tooth inserts for the shoulder pads. Helps drive home the Iron Hands look pretty well, I think!

14 comments:

  1. The bases look great (as of course do the models). Very nice conversion work too - have you ordered from Maximini yourself? Just found some good bits on there, but I've had bad experiences ordering from Russia and Eastern Europe before.

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  2. Good looking troops! I just unloaded 20 MkIII armored marines on ebay a few weeks ago. I may eventually regret it if yours keep looking this good!

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  3. @Colonel Scipio: Thanks man! Aye, I've done an order or two from MaxMini over the years and they've always been smooth and trouble-free. Definitely recommend 'em!

    @The Inner Geek: Cheers bud! I'm rather enjoying the MkIII models, though I'm wishing now I'd chosen a more colorful legion! Heh.

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  4. Grand looking lot you have there mate. Impressive how your quality of work doesn't diminish throughout the 31. (I'd be so fed up painting the same colours again and again after about the 3rd marine.)

    Praetor's hammer looks much better. Awesome model made better for the project with all the small add-ons you've done.

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  5. Wow. Just wow. Speed and quality. Please for the love of god, never take up the air brush. We'll all be left so far behind...

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  6. @Dai: Thanks! I'll admit doing 30-some-odd of 'em at once was definitely taxing. The heresy audiobooks definitely helped keep my mind off the tedium! :)

    @Zab: Speed, yes. Quality? Well, I'm the first to admit I just go to 'tabletop level' at best. Heh. I've considered the airbrush method in the past, but the cost barrier and meticulous cleaning requirements keep me away. Pretty sure that I'd neglect to clean it properly and suddenly have a $400 doorstop. At least if I neglect my brushes, a new one is maybe ten bucks!

    Cheers, guys!

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  7. It's great to see all those bodies en mass :p Quite a sight from the other side of the table I expect!

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  8. Really diggin your Iron Hands. You are making me feel guilty for slacking on mine!

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  9. Love the white on the bolters, it ties them in well with the armor. Well done!

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  10. It is fantastic to see the legion come together! The simple paint scheme is very striking and menising. The thunder hammer is so much better it is astounding. The scale is much better and it looks more natural too. Excellent work is shaping up to be a fantastic army!

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  11. @Musings of a Smurf: Indeed! Well past the halfway point on the army so far, it's a good feeling!

    @ScottShoemaker: Thanks mate! Looking forward to seeing more of your IH stuff!

    @Jugger: I appreciate it! Definitely helps the weapons jump out, that's for sure!

    @Godwyn Fishig: Cheers, mate! The new hammer head really makes the model, really happy with how it turned out. Looking forward to painting him!

    Thanks, everyone!

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  12. Oh man that term Lord conversion is the tits!. Great use of brass etch not he shoulder pads and the hammer+ Sevo arm fit perfectly.

    Great work!

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  13. @The Eye of Error: Thanks man! It definitely needed a bit more to really make it Iron-Hand-y. Glad you like it!

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  14. As always blown away by your speed and committment.

    I love the Praetor models as stock - but think your mods here are just brilliant and well fitting the theme.

    Agree wholeheartedly the new Hammer Head is more fitting.

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