Orks - Deff Korps uv Krieg, the planning stages

I've been taken by the idea of doing a number of small allied forces to supplement my Guard regiment, and thought a small force of Ork mercenaries could be amusing. The last several times I've done Orks they've ended up being Bad Moons, so I wanted to go in a different direction this time - mercenary Orks are traditionally Blood Axes who commonly ape the more regimented guard in their dress and mannerisms, and I've long had my eye on the rather excellent alternate pseudo-germanic/WWI orc range from Kromlech. Thus begins the saga of Da Deff Korps uv Krieg!

While the various packages are winging their way to me, I figured I'd document the process from beginning to end. First up was the army list - as an allied force I decided that I'd restrict myself solely to the limitations of the Allies FOC. That meant 1 HQ, 2 Troops, and 1 each of Elites, Fast Attack and Heavy Support. ...And that's it. Small, and simple. There's no way this will become an 8000 point debacle of an army. Hey, why are you laughing? Heh.

The HQ choice was simple. Gotta have a Warboss! I love the character in this sculpt, though I'll likely swap out his shotgun with something a bit more suitably imposing as befitting a big boss!

Two Troops choices to fill, but I wanted to keep things simple (and didn't relish painting a huge tidal wave of green), so a pair of Trukkboyz mobs would fit the bill nicely. Kromlech sells a nice 10-man squad, so I picked up a pair of them. I'll likely buy a few extra torsos and whatnot to round the squads off to 12 at some point in the future.

To cart the two squads around I'm intending on picking up a couple of these from Forge World, as they have a nice pseudo-Germanic vibe to 'em.

For the Elites choice, it's hard to go wrong with a unit of Meganobz, and the Kromlech equivalents are absolutely beautiful! I'm really looking forward to getting my hands on these. They'll be getting a relatively basic battlewagon to cart them around, using one I happen to have found lurking in the CoD.

For a fast attack choice, I was torn between going with a unit of Stormboyz (who are generally blood axes) or adding a flyer of some sort, and after the fun I had building and painting the previous Dakkajet I settled on doing a Blitza-bommer this time around. The intent is to build it in such a way as to be reminiscent of a Junkers CL.I, which is thematically appropriate I think!

 

Heavy Support will be a unit of 3 Big Gunz. Now there are certainly more powerful unit choices in the codex but I really think they suit the theme I'm going for, and for 70 points or so for the three of 'em, they're dirt cheap! Besides, I LOVE these gretchin artillery crew figs, they're simply hysterical. I'm still scheming on colors for the army - I plan on them being relatively subdued color-wise much like their guard namesake, but I'm torn between german greys or leathery browns for their stormcoats. We'll see how the mood takes me when I have the models in hand, I suppose!

Gearing up for the Heresy Weekender in Memphis this coming weekend, it's going to be a blast - expect tons of pics to follow!

Tzeentch Renegades - Color! Glorious color!

I have to say that I was getting reaaaaaally bored painting Iron Hands. I quite like their fluff, and they dovetail nicely with my love for the Ad-Mech, but the color scheme is a bit of a drag. That said, I think I may have overcorrected a bit:

Hah! I've had a small allied chaos force lurking on the shelves for over a year now, figured it was time to give them a little attention. First up is a squad of chaos marines dedicated to my favorite of the Big Four, Tzeentch. Squad of nine of course, which denies me a heavy weapon but between the sacred number and the Icon of Flame, Tzeentch will certainly grant them his favor!

 

While I was at it I worked on the sorcerer, though I'm not at all happy with the state of his face at the moment. That's going to be getting a re-do post haste.

Finally, a quick (and frankly terrible) shot of the painted army so far. Still in the wings are a unit of Thousand Sons (of course), some screamer riders, a FW Helltalon, and some allied Tzeentch daemons. I'll likely give the two marine squads Rhinos, but I think that'll be the extent of it - This will not(!) turn into another 3000+ point army, darn it! ...It's the Heresy Thousand Sons army I'm scheming on that will!

I'm planning to do a couple little 500-1000 point allied forces s for the guard this year, including finishing up the last few Eldar that I'd kept from the previous project, some "Deff Korps uv Kriek" orks and perhaps an Inquisitor's warband or two. Not to mention the aforementioned heresy era Thousand Sons! With the rumors of new guard on the horizon as well, looks like 2014 is going to be a fun year for hobbying!

Heresy Era Iron Hands - Veterans Painted, and something unexpected...

I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year! It's been rather busy on the Real Life(tm) front, back to long hours at work for quarter end and year end fun. Woo. That doesn't mean there's been no hobby time, though - for as of the post, everything that was purchased and planned for the Iron Hands has now been painted! The last unit that was waiting in the wings was the Veteran squad:

They're designed to take advantage of the Tank Hunters upgrade, and are armed with a trio of melta weapons and a thunder hammer to help pick off those pesky vehicles. As befitting their veteran state, they all use the Iron Hands legionaries models which are chock full of cog tooth icons and bionics!

With those out of the way, I really wanted to just paint something for fun, and my eye fell on a trio of minis I'd purchased from Victoria Lamb miniatures which have been waiting to spring forth and shout... Well, you know. Heh. I need to go back in and clean up the faces a bit it seems. Amazing how taking pics shows up all the little screw-ups, eh?

Next up are some really colorful minis to counteract the months of black and iron we've been slogging through!

Heresy Era Iron Hands - Caestus painted

Nearly at the finishing line now - the last of the transports was completed over the weekend in the form of a Caestus Assault Ram!

It's a big ol' brick of resin, and it balances precariously on the flight stand. I truly have a fear of it tipping over and mashing flat any miniatures it may fall upon! While it did take a fair bit of hot water bending to get the front assault booms straight and assembled, it was overall a snap to build. It really has a heavy, meanacing look to it - rather suitable for an assault craft!

  

I used some Iron Hands brass etchings on the tops of the booms and on the sides, but otherwise went fairly minimalist with the paint scheme as befitting the Legion. I did manage to miss one of the aquilas (right on the freakin' middle of the cockpit) which was annoying - generally speaking during the heresy only the Custodes and the Emperor's Children bore the aquila. Ah well, just left it back to de-emphasize it. I do think that I need to add a little cogtooth pattern on it somewhere, perhaps on the wings?

To facilitate storage and transport, the wings are attached via a combination of magnets and pins - the magnets by themselves didn't prove strong enough, and the pins help hold everything straight and level.

With that, there's just one unit of Veterans left to be painted prior to the Heresy Event Weekend in mid-January! ...But there's likely a few more units to be added to the army once I get on the other side of that.

Hope you all have a great New Year, and we'll see you again in 2014!

Heresy Era Iron Hands - Army Pic Ahoy!

A very [insert your preferred festive greeting] to you all! Hope that as the year draws to a close, all of you lovely readers out there are warm, safe and happy!

I've had a few days off from work (or as near to a day off as I can actually get) and in between doing some last minute shopping and whatnot I pulled out all of the Iron Hands that have been painted so far, and took some time to update the painting chart.

I didn't realize quite how much infantry there was until I laid it all out! Big units seem to be the order of the day in 30k, with the weapons available, casualties come fast and furious. I avoided the lighter transport vehicles for that very reason, the two tactical squads are carried to battle in Land Raiders instead! The Sicarans are designed to take care of the massed enemy infantry, and should be able to knock out any skimmers and light vehicles. A pair of Contemptors (one Mortis with the Kheres cannons and one 'vanilla' with Lascannon and Powerfist) were thematically appropriate, as the Iron Hands are known to utilize them heavily. 

The Iron Father and the Terminators are slated to get a Caestus to transport them around, but for now will be relying on the 2-in-6 chance of the warlord trait providing them Deep Strike. Most terminators in the heresy-era ruleset do not get the Deep Strike special rule as standard, which came as a surprise. The army also includes a 20-man unit of quasi assault marines (one of the tac squad options is to replace their bolter with a close combat weapon for free), who are joined by an Apothecary to help keep 'em in the game with FnP. Ferrus will usually join that unit as well, as he's too bulky to ride in the Caestus with the terminators.

Surprisingly close to the finish line with the army! One ten-man squad of vets, the Caestus, and a pair of counts-as tarantula turrets that are still inbound and it'll be complete! ...Until I get a unit of Immortals.

...And maybe a Spartan. Hah!

Heresy Era Iron Hands - Ferrus Manus painted!

On holiday break(ish) at the moment which means I have a fair bit of hobby time. After building the bug hunt corridors, I was itching to paint some more Iron Hands but didn't fancy diving into another huge unit. Ferrus Manus it is, then!

  

I went with the same color palette as the rest of the Iron Hands, though he got a fair bit more gold trim as befitting his status. He comes on a big diorama base, and I enjoyed the opportunity to paint a couple dead Emperor's Children!

I am quite pleased with how his face turned out. As befitting his eventual fate, Ferrus' head was magnetized, which allowed me to paint it separately from the rest of the model. I think his metallic hands/forearms turned out fairly well also - several layers of boltgun metal, silver, and thinned blue washes did the trick!

  

The model comes out of the diorama base and is mounted on a 40mm base for gaming, and he definitely is a beast compared with a basic marine. Overall I thoroughly enjoyed painting this model, it was hands down the most beautiful sculpt I've ever laid hands on. I was terrified by the prospect of mucking it up, but while it's not a competition paint scheme, I think I did manage to do it justice.

Next up, some overall army shots of the boys in black!

Terrain - Bug Hunt Corridors built!

Holy moly was that ever a lot of wood and glue! Spent the last week's hobby time finishing up the build of the Bug Hunt Corridors, which was surprisingly much more fun than I had anticipated. As the sections came together, I just added them to a rambling complex on the hobby table, eventually covering the better part of a 6'x4' area!

Really looking forward to using this set in a game soon, either in a game of Zone Mortalis or in one of our various sci-fi RPG games - seems like it'll be perfect for Rogue Trader or Shadowrun!

For storage, I picked up a good sized plastic tub and spent an hour arranging and rearranging until I managed to find a configuration that would actually hold everything and still be able to get the lid on. At that point I realized that I'd never remember this exact configuration after unpacking it, which was a definite concern!

In order to help things sit flat in the tub, I'd cut a piece of cardboard to more or less fit the bottom, and then did a careful unpack, taking the time to write in the configuration. Job sorted and everything loaded back up in a flash!

Before I packed it up however, representatives from the  Benevolent Cult of the Four Armed Emperor prowled the halls for a bit and they seemed pleased with the new accommodations...

Definitely a nice change of pace to do some building rather than painting for a while, but now I'm itching to get back to the Iron Hands. Just three weeks to go before the event in Memphis!