Imperial Knight Paladin - Complete!

I'm a big fan of the larger war machines available to the Imperium, Leviathans, Hellebores, and the various Titans - Over the course of my hobby carreer I've owned a number of super heavy vehicles and titans, though for the most part they rarely take to the field. It's hard to justify a 600+ point model in a 1500pt-2000pt game. I think this stems from cutting my teeth on the 6mm systems back in the day, and at the time there were a number war machines that have yet to make their appearance either in the new Epic system or from Forge World. One group in particular I really enjoyed, the Imperial Knights - one-man versions of the mighty Titans, though much smaller and more lightly armed. Back in the Epicast/Armorcast days, there was a prototype knight though I never had the opportunity to purchase one.

I ran across a resin knight analoge on ebay that I had to have as soon as I laid eyes on it. The package arrived and I quickly sorted and washed all the pieces. It came with a number of arm weapon options, though for now I'm just building it out as a Knight Paladin, armed with a closr combat weapon and a battle cannon. I also decided that for storage and weapon swap options I'd magetize the Knight.

I added a little extra cabling here and there, and used a leftover banner for the 'loincloth'. I decided that the Knight would be predominantly red to go along with the rest of the Adeptus Mechanicus. However I also wanted to hearken back to the fluff in adding some quartered 'heraldry' to the model as well.

 

I still need to go in and finish the banners and scrollwork, as well as add some waterslide transfers, but I'm not 100% sure what I want to add.

All in all a very fun model to build and paint. Eventually I'd like to build two more and do a Knight Household, with another Paladin and a Lord of some variety (either a Knight Errant or Lancer). The spare arms that came in the package means I can create a Knight Errant already, though making a Lancer will require a bit of scratch building.

Yo ho, yo ho, a Corsair's life for me...

It's been too cold to primer anything recently, so I broke out the bits and started fiddling around with some Eldar. The fluff for Craftworld Alaitoc suggests they work closely with the various Eldar corsair fleets, and I thought rather than building another squad of Guardians, I'd try my hand at making a squad of Corsairs as a proxy unit instead. I had a number of leftover Shuriken Pistols, so I settled on making them into a squad of proxy Storm Guardians.

I utilized the capes and arms from the Dark Elf Black Ark Corsairs, as I wanted them to look fairly pirate-y without going full blown Dark Eldar. Getting the capes to fit took a bit of cutting and trimming, but they ended up working fairly well.

The unit is armed with Shuriken Pistols and Close Combat weapons, and two of the Corsairs are carrying fusion guns. The banner will have no effect in-game, I just thought it would be a nice-looking addition to the unit. Building them as Storm Guardians also means I'll have two weapons platforms, which I'll build out with a different weapons to provide flexibility for the vanilla Guardian squad when it comes to army list design.

TOEMP #6 - Back to Basics. ...Well, Elites.

Back during challenge #4 for the Tale of Even More Painters, I'd finished building a squad of Storm Troopers utilizing bits from the Marine Scout and Storm models, various Cadian bits, some Forge World heads and the odd length of guitar string. Following my brief foray into the Eldar, I figured that I'd swing back over to the guard for a unit and painted them up:

I enjoyed using the Scouts from the Land Speeder Storm kit - they afforded some interesting poses, I particularly liked building the trooper who's vaulting over a section of wall. I'm not 100% happy with the hellguns however, in retrospect I think I should have utilized the shotguns that come with the scouts as the basis for the weapon as they would have turned out a bit beefier. To make up for it, I added chainswords to various models to remind me that they do in fact carry both a pistol and a CCW.

Part of the current challenge is to utilize a technique that you don't ordinarily try. Since I need the guard to look as uniform as possible, I figured I'd try something new on a Dire Avengers squad instead. First off I primered the models white, which is something that I haven't done in the better part of 20 years! I decided that I'd also go with an ink wash base which is rather atypical as well - I don't use a lot of washes, mostly just on metallics.

It should be interesting to see how they turn out, nonetheless!

TOEMP #5 - Complete! ...Also, Clowns!

It's been a rather productive week painting-wise, and I managed to polish off my entries for the Tale of Even More Painters challenge - On the troops side a unit of Pathfinders, and a Warwalker for the heavy support choice.

I wanted to incorporate some of the tips and tricks that I've picked up from the other participants in the challenge, and I tried out a couple on the Pathfinders. I felt that the bases for the Eldar definitely needed a bit more 'zest' than what I've been doing for most of the 7th, and as such I've added a bit of turf to the bases, and I think I'm going to experiment with some static grass, once I get a chance to swing by the FLGS. I also tried my hand at a more intricate camo pattern on the cloaks, taking a cue from several exellent examples. I'm not 100% pleased with the final result, but it turned out okay for a first try - I know a little bit more than I did before!

The Warwalker's mottled camo turned out somewhat muted following the sealant, but I kind of like it. I realize now that I missed a number of gemstones on the weapons, so I've gone back and rectified that situation. Definitely a fun model to assemble - I'm looking forward to building two more to round out the squadron.

I'd picked up a unit of Harlequins back when the new set was released, and had painted up three for use in a 40K:RP campaign I ran a while back. Since I had enjoyed painting the other Eldar models so much, I dusted off the remainder of the squad and set to painting them. Three painting sessions and 36 colors later I basically had to say enough was enough!

I have to admit for as arduous a process as these were, it was rather enjoyable nonetheless. I found myself actively trying to find the most clashing colors I could, and worked to ensure no model had exactly the same mix of colors. The three 'Characters' all have more distinct schemes; The Death Jester is of course primarily bone and black but I added some green and purple panels on his sleeves to give him a splash of color. The Troupe Master has a horribly clashing checkerboard pattern on his jacket, and is the only model to have all of the various colors on him. On the Shadowseer I decided to go a bit different from the 'feel' of the other models - the bodysuit is a solid deep blue with small star patterns (sort of), and I spent some time working on blending the hood and sashes in a red-orange-yellow scheme that turned out more or less as intended. I was trying to capture a more 'otherworldly' look to go along with his obscurement powers.

I picked up an Eldar battleforce on ebay which arrived today, which gives me a little bit more to build and paint. With that in mind, I made a painting chart for the budding army, which also helped me decide exactly what the final army was going to contain. Only this, and no further!

...Well, maybe a little bit further - I would like to pick up a FW Nightwing Fighter. Alas, that way lies madness!

TOEMP #5 - Veering wildly off course...

I've come down with a moderate case of Army Painter's Fatigue, as is the case for me from time to time. While the Tale Of Even More Painters competition has helped me to make great strides in completing the guard, it also means that I've spent the last several months doing nothing but painting a sea of grey and red, and I felt I needed a little change of pace. Of course, I can't leave well enough alone and a 'little change of pace' turned into 'hey, I should start a new Eldar army'.

Darnit.

The current challenge is to paint up a Heavy Support and/or Troops choice - instead of slogging through another squad of guardsmen I thought I'd root around in the Closet of Doom and see what I could come up with. I returned from the depths bearing the handful of Eldar models I'd purchased to accompany a Radical Ordo Xenos Inquisitor and his retinue (another half-realized project). There were several models in boxes and blisters: a Farseer, a squad of Rangers, and a Warwalker, and on a shelf I found a Wraithlord that I'd originally painted up in Iyanden colors on a lark years ago. Some superglue, a hit of primer later and I dove in. Though at the time I had no batteries for my camera and I wasn't able to get in progress shots until the following day.

I decided I rather liked the look of Alaitoc, the blue and yellow on the vehicles was what originally caught my eye. I'm going to try my hand at the stippled-blue look, and the War Walker got to be the initial test model. I think I need to add one more slightly lighter blue stipple layer yet. At the moment there's quite a lot of work still to go, but I'm more or less pleased with the overall effect, and the Blue/Yellow/Bone seems like a nice change of pace, palatte-wise.

I also started work on the Rangers squad, again just up to the base colors stage. I'm planning on adding a camo pattern to the cloaks, but I'm undecided whether to go with the lighter khaki scheme as shown in the codex, or with a green or grey scheme instead. I'm leaning towards the green though, as I intent to add a fair bit of grass to the bases for this army.

So far they've been fun to paint if just for being something new and different. One of the things that I'm looking forward to is the fact that many of the Eldar units, particularly the Aspect Warriors, all have separate and distinct color schemes - You're never really painting more than 15-20 models in the same colors. Not quite like the guard where it's 100+ models all in the same fatigues...

I'm not giving up or setting aside the guard by any means - I just needed a little change of pace to keep my enthusasm up. I'll be returning to paint up the Stormtroopers and King Russ tanks in short order!

Utilizing a painting chart to track progress.

Following Admiral Drax's lead (the guy is a constant source of great ideas), I sat down and worked out a painting chart to help me visualize where the army stands today, what's been painted/what's being painted, and what's left to build. I started to build out the chart following the original Mordian 7th's FOC, but it became unwieldy so I reverted back to the standard HQ/Elites/Troops/Fast Attack/Heavy Support breakdown (though I kept the various platoon numbers intact).

Unfortunately it appears that I'm not as far along with the army as I'd originally thought - though to be fair I have completed the lion's share of the infantry at this point (barring a unit of beastmen and a couple rough rider squads) which I find to be the hardest units for me to do. There's a lot of work remaining in the Heavy Support category, but those shouldn't take too much time once I finish the builds and get them primered.

I included the Leviathan on the chart, which will bring the army up to just a touch over 8,000 points. I've been gathering bits to make the beast, and I'm slowly gearing up to take on the construction. My initial plan was to build the superstructure out of wood, but I've subsequently changed my mind and decided on using insulating foam and plasticard for weight considerations.

I plan to keep this chart updated as I make progress on the army - a big thanks to Drax for this idea, I really think it'll help me stay on task (something that I can always use help doing)!

TOEMP #4 Complete!

I managed to finish up the Valkyrie for the Tale of Even More Painters challenge #4 -Since most aerial assets used by the Imperial Guard are generally 'on loan' from the Imperial Navy, I decided to go with the sandstone color scheme I used on the Thunderbolt.

I went with a grey color scheme on the underside similar to the Thunderbolt as well. I plan to add some waterslide aquilas and various decorations, but I couldn't find the Micro-sol and I need to wait until I get more before I start that process.

I have an Apocalypse game coming up in a couple weeks, so I spent some time building several units that I need to make the points requirement, first up is another flyer - a Vulture gunship armed with twin punisher cannons. The model was just too cool to pass up!

Next up is a squad of Stormtroopers - made from a mix of Scouts (half 'vanilla' scouts and the other half are from the Land Speeder Storm kit), Catachan lasrifles and FW Cadian upgrade bits. I'm not 100% happy with the way the Hellguns turned out though, I'll likely sell these guys off once I get them painted and do a rebuild using the shotguns from the Scout sprues as a basis for the weapon, adding the scopes, cabling and lasgun muzzles. These turned out a bit more like Hellcarbines, I think.

Last up, and what will likely take the most work to finish in time for the game - the six remaining King Russ variant tanks. I decided to go with one squadron of 3 Vanquishers (led my a Knight Commander Pask proxy), and one other squadron including a 'vanilla' Leman Russ, a Punisher, and an Eradicator. I'm still figuring out how/whether I will add side sponsons to the tanks - they're designed to utilize the Predator sponsons, and I'm trying to figure out how to best use those in conjunction with the various weapon options included in the new Leman Russ Demolisher kit.

When all is said and done the addition of these models will bump the army up to just shy of 7,000 points. I think that should probably be enough Guard for most purposes!