First 5 Grey Knights

 

 

Finally finished the first 5 of my Grey Knights. I like the scheme so far so I'm gonna stick with it.

 

 

First picture of all five. Zoomed out to see the tabletop view.

Front view of the Justicar...

 Side of Justicar

Close up of the force weapon. I followed a similar pattern with all of the other force weapons.

 

 

First 5 down. 15 more to go...more updates to follow

It's been forever since I last posted but seeing as I will have more time on my hands I have decided to get back into 40k. I figured the best way to do that is to get some new models and try some new painting techniques to push my abilities. I picked up these Grey Knights a while back but had yet to but any paint on to them until recently. As far as the scheme goes, I'm not a huge fan of the silvery blue knights so I went for a 'darker' scheme focusing on flat grays and reds. Also seeing as its a new army I had to decide on what to do about basing. I really dislike the typical basing process and I have never really created basing that I was satisfied with so I went for something a little out of the box....lava.

So the Vindicare was my first attempt with both the lava base and my new scheme. Overall I think the lava is decent, it stands out from the mostly gray models which is what I intended. Now moving on to the Knights...

So here is the scheme...with the first Knight wielding the thunder hammer. I went for a different method for the thunder hammer than my typical 'power' weapons. The idea was again, to make the feature stand out from the rest of the model.

Finally, the psycannon knight....So there it is the first three models of this new force. I still have 17 more Knights to be painted as well as my HQ. Eventually I will get around to painting some rhinos for these guys so they can roll into battle. I'm looking to finish painting the models I have before I begin to expand my list with more units. That's it for now...more updates hopefully to follow.

Interesting FTW Articles

Hey all. I came across an excellent article from From the Warp, and thought I'd share.

Maximizing Your Rhino. I plan to use this soon. First, something I never thought of regarding vehicle murals/iconography: You can create a sketch, then rub pencil on the back of the sheet, trace the front and ball point pen, and voila you have an outline. He also covers building extra armor out of plasticard. There are also links to press molds and magnet guides. Worth a look if you play space marines, and maybe give you xenos players some ideas too.

While at it, I saw a short one titled 7 Quick Paint Tips: Great if you are a beginner, and worth looking at if you aren't.

Also, the Independent Characters just added a new section their podcast covering tactics and strategies. In the first segment, they began to define terms they will be using. I found their definition of logistics quite interesting.  They defined it as a sum of the following:

*Points allotted
*Force Org allotment
*(and here's where I had an ohh moment) Ability to transport to tournaments
*Ability to paint in the required timeframe
*Ability to purchase/ship new models in time for the game
*What can you afford to buy?

I hadn't thought about the metagame aspect affecting one's strategy but in reality it always does. I center my list on 3 Tac squads for a number of reasons (2 are required, and I like having a third scoring unit). Additionally, I happen to have three tac squads because of the cheap starter sets. I don't include drop pods (at the moment) because I can't afford them. Likewise, I don't have all my guys kitted out with awesome plasmaguns and meltaguns because I can't afford them.

Just something I've been thinking about.

April Update + Fall of Damnos Thoughts

Alright all, it's about time I posted an update. Hobby wise, I have finished another 5 marines in the past two weeks. I also did a bunch of drilling and magnet work on the land speeder, but nothing too exciting. I got it all primed up and then realized I hadn't put any icons on it. So now I'm designing the squad/chapter markings and green stuffing some fast attack symbols. I also picked up a U bit (along with a cyclone missile launcher) at a garage sale, and I'm looking to make some sort of press mold with it. My friend also picked up an airbrush, and I think that's going to make it much easier to paint this bad boy.

Since I've been traveling a lot for work, I've had time to read. I finished The Fall of Damnos. It's a decent 40k book. I was interested the entire time, but it did not have the "can't put down" effect of the Horus Heresy novels. I was looking for insight into the Ultramarines as an army (vs. the Ultramarines series focusing on Ventris) but was disappointed in that sector. While it provided information into Sicarius, his leadership, strategy, and tactics, it was almost fully limited to his command squad:

SPOILERS








*The initial attack consisted of three strike groups: 1 contained Tigurius and a small force to take out enemy artillery and air defense (er, space defense); 1 contained Sicarius and a larger force to liberate the final besieged city and confront the local Necron lord; the last contained a large number of Deathwind Drop Pods to defend the governor's bunker/tower. This is a good example of the space marine death from above aspect, and shows how much confidence is invested in a strike force of 3 squads.

*Sicarius is fully invested in the "Cut of the head and the body will die" strategy and consistently throws his force into danger to enact it. Whether this is arrogant or a necessity is never revealed, but he does seem a little too die hard

*There is a growing schism between the 1st and 2nd companies, based on political views centered on Calgar's successor.

END OF SPOILERS




Non-spoiler things I learned:

*Drednoughts are the wisest guys alive. Seriously, the Venerable Dred knows exactly what to say ALWAYS.

*Some Space Marines several hundred years old are trying to figure out basic life lessons I learned 3 years ago. Just an observation. I guess everyone has problems.

*While Space Marines may "know no fear" they can be whiny and emotional. And need to man up sometimes.

The Necron fiction was actually really good too - maybe even better than the Ultramarine sections. Overall, I found it an easy read, but did not get out of it what I wanted. I was also dissapointed by the mini-spoilers in the middle of the book, on the Strike Force layout inserts. It wasn't too bad (no giant THIS GUY WILL DIE!!! spoilers), but they could have just put it in 40 pages later, or at least made it spoiler free. Still, it was interesting. If you are looking for a shorter 40k novel centered on Space Marine or looking for some Necron backstory, pick it up.

I've been finding more time to 40k it up, and my next goal (in between working on my land speeder icons) is to find a wire picture of a rhino and other 40k vehicles from side, top down, front and other views to design some art/iconography onto.

Until next time!

Magnets, Land Speeders, and Blue Paint

So, over the past 30 days I have made a little bit of progress (pictures will follow, as soon as I get my camera working).

I finished magnetizing my land speeder, and have it primed up. In total, it took 11 magnets, though it is possible to do it with much less if you utilize other metal bits. Although there are already plenty of tutorials on how to do it, I might throw one up if someone is interested. At the very least, I will post pictures for reference.

I have also been painting up a third tactical squad, about a quarter of the way done. This required some green stuff sculpting for shoulder pads, which took little effort this time around. That said, I have to sculpt a new mold for fast attack shoulder pads.

Things will pick up once I put paint to the land speeder. I plan to do the lower, upper, seats, and extra bits separately. And after that, I will do the typhoon and tornado bits..

I've also been doing a lot of reading - Fulgrim (Horus Heresy, book 5) and The Fall of Damnos (I've also read Free Fall based on the FFG board game Android; very good). Fulgrim was gripping but I was not impressed by the title character. Looking forward to Descent of Angels though. The Fall of Damnos is alright. I won't say it has me on the edge of my seat but it is an easy read. It focuses on the Ultramarines vs. the Necrons. I was hoping for some in sight into how the Ultramarines fight as a force (The Ultramarines series really just focuses on Ventris) but so far it has just fleshed out the Necrons (is there such thing as a reverse pun?).

I think I'll add a full review when I finish.

Until then.

Gathering Bits

Finally found some time to do some 40k and blogging. Over the past month, I've returned to my simple green project. While it has not been as amazing as everyone says, I have had amazing luck cleaning off an old land speeder and those Tac squad I managed to ruin during priming. They have been reprimed and sit ready to be painted.

I have also begun to magnetizing my second Land Speeder, but I need to get a pin vice or dremel to continue. It's been pretty enlightening and fun though.

After seeing the price difference from now to when I bought models 2 years ago, I was pretty dismayed. I've been debating on buying a bunch of bikes and assault squad boxes now rather than waiting for the next price hike.

I've also been looking at getting a bunch of special and heavy weapon bits to add for my tac squads. Not sure what the best place to buy from is. I think I'll get a bunch of plasma now, before the edition change. I saw GW has a 5pack for about $8 on their website, but I guess if I can find plastic I'd prefer it.

The collector side of me has fully gripped me now, and I want to get the weapons to outfit/magnetize all my units with all their options. Is it feasible? I'm not sure, but I'm at least going to strive for special weapons, heavy weapons, Landspeeder Heavy flamers,  and Razorback Weapons. I'm also looking for any and all UM bits I can find.

The trick isn't finding them though; it's keeping the price reasonable. I keep coming up with whether I should buy the bits or just a new kit.

Hopefully when I get back from UT I will be able to put up pics of my landspeeder progress, and a simple green results post.

Soooo....

So I know I havent posted yet, I know, epic fail on me. I did want to comment on the Horus Heresy series and how awesome it has been thus far! I highly recommend. I know Esh has been reading it, Im on the sixth book and so far cant put it down - Dark Angels baby! So for those looking for a great read, in the gore filled 40k universe, pick it up!

Posts to come on my Lord of the Rings paint scheme with my dwarfs!