Cardiff Challenge

So. I made my way West to Cardiff for a weekend with the Dark Pact on Thursday morning. Apologies for not getting my "mini project" updates up, between work and painting in the evenings, I just didn't get a chance to write up anything, or film it for YouTube. In any event, I didn't achieve everything I set out to do, but I did achieve a lot.

Firstly, I managed to finish the Vindicator and Dreadnought. Well, I say finished. They still need their washes and varnishes and all that other good stuff, but I didn't have the materials to do those processes anyway, so at the moment they are being used in their less fancy guise. Though they are functionally done. I'll get the washes and things done this month. 

Secondly, the Ravenwing are almost complete. What this means is that the bikes are done, but that the riders still quite aren't. For the most part this just means a quick edge highlight in grey, and finally gluing the together with polycement. 

The upshot is that everything on the table "looks" painted. No unsightly plastic or metal for us this weekend! Craig, fellow Dark Pact member Craig painted an entire 2000 points Grey Knights army in two months, and the results are exceptional. 

Jim's already nicely painted Tyranids received further reinforcements, and these were also painted as I showed on a previous post. So it was nice to see beautiful tables, with well painted figures upon them. I think it makes all the difference. 

As I said at the start, I didn't achieve as much as I wanted to, but I certainly got more done than I thought I might. Battle Reports to follow. 

C-17

As the title of this post suggests, I am only seventeen days away from my next epic gaming weekend with the Dark Pact in Cardiff. We will be making use of Firestorm Games' excellent new venue, and enjoying their excellent tables and terrain.

I set myself the task of getting as many Dark Angels reinforcements as I could for that weekend done as it looms, and there is some progress to report. Firstly, I have had to assemble a lot. I suppose since I paint primarily metal historical miniatures, I always find that assembly is a massive chore, but with some thought it can pay enormous dividends. As my the first element of my reinforcements I assembled a squad of six Ravenwing bikers and an attack bike. One of these bikes is already done, and the rest are merrily on their way. 

Bikes awaiting paint.

Work in progress bikers.

I started with the riders first, as you can see above, I have opted to balance the black with a preponderance of bone, and worked some more colour in by including some company markings, since many of these marines would have been in other companies prior to being assigned to the Ravenwing. This squad is going to have a flamer and a meltagun in order to give it some anti-armour and anti-personal capabilities. The attack bike is going to be equipped with a multi-melta to vaporise enemy armour assets. 

I also decided to work on a Vindicator and a Dreadnought. Neither of these figures are Dark Angel specific, but using the Ravenwing vehicle accessory sprues, I have managed to tart them up a little. I also broke out the airbrush to get these done in super quick time. The effect is that the highlighting is much softer than I normally get from using my brush. 

I am far from proficient in the use of my airbrush, but I got the effect I wanted. I am keen to gloss varnish both the miniatures, and then apply some enamel wash to tone the green down, as well as make the rivets and recesses pop once they are painted, I've seen this done a lot on YouTube, and I quite fancy giving it a go. The Vindicator, above, is a very old kit I had lying around. The side panels are metal, as are many of the details, so it is a very heavy kit. I am not enamoured of it, but it will do, and I had it lying around anyway. I added a few Dark Angel bits to make it look like a part of the army. When it is done I'll post some close up shots of those details. 

The Dreadnought above is from the old Black Reach boxed set. It came with a Multi-Melta, which I also have, but I found an assault cannon in my bits box and decided that I liked that more. So I drilled out the barrels and added some iconography and scrolls. I also hacked off the original shin guard pieces, and replaced them with Dark Angel specific ones from the Ravenwing sprue. I also mounted another sarcophagus plate over the moulded on one, since this one is a Dark Angel one, and it bulked the miniature out a little more. I'd quite like to add a Venerable Dreadnought one day, painted in bone, using the Forgeworld figure, but that can wait. 

So there is some movement on the desk. I'm hoping to get these done over the next seventeen days by working on them at night after work. I'm trying to get an hour in a night, which is often not possible. However, I do have next weekend off, so I am hoping to put a dent in the project then. Once Cardiff is behind me I'll be returning to the Poland project. That is all for now. 

+ LOYALTY & HONOUR + 

A Look Forward

As frequent readers will have noticed, there has been a veritable Drang nach Osten on the blog of late as I work on my Polish Chain of Command campaign. However, as is usually the case, this isn't the only thing on the boil. There are various Frenchmen from 1809 on the desk, Celts from the fringe of the Roman Empire, and genetically engineered super soldiers from the 41st millennium. As much as it might not seem that I have any hard and fast plans, and usually I don't, every now and then a priority raises its head. 

Polish uniforms are almost done. A battalion of Frenchmen lurk out of camera shot. 

The end of February will see the 5th Company of the Dark Angels descend once more upon Cardiff, for a Dark Pact gaming weekend, to do battle with an ever growing horde of gribbly, nasty things from the fringes of the galaxy. Jim's Tyranids, which have ever been a thorn in my side, continue to grow. Recon pictors have returned the following images of a new biomorph that must soon die at the hands of the Emperor's Angels:

Excellently painted miniatures from the brush of Jim. Worthy, and well painted, enemies.

With this in mind, I am going to try and push for an expansion of my Dark Angels force to meet the growing Xenos threat. The Company Standard Bearer is almost complete, and his completion will mean that I will have a full command squad to join Interrogator-Chaplain Seraphicus. Additionally, I am going to try and get some more Ravenwing painted up in time. Their simple black colour scheme should speed the painting process somewhat. I also have a Vindicator that would come in handy against the tides of smaller creatures. So the current priority, as I continue to paint up my Polish soldiers, will be the Dark Angels.

The first of my Ravenwing reinforcements.

As of today I have 37 days to get this arms race under way. Therefore I am going to set myself a challenge, how much can I get done in those 37 days, starting this evening. In real terms I haven't got the full complement of days available, I am visiting Paris for four days over the next weekend, and then there are my Reserve weekends. If I exclude these days from the calculation, I in fact only have 27 days before hostilities commence. 

Naturally I will document my efforts on this blog, and possibly on YouTube as well. No promises are made, but I do think it will be interesting to see what I can achieve in a month. Wish me luck.

+ LOYALTY & HONOUR +

Dark Pact: Demetrios Poliorketes

Another faithful Brother has joined the ranks of my Ultramarines to fight Horus' traitors.

Demetrios Poliorketes

"The Besieger", a grizzled trench-fighter and siege engineer. Having lost an eye and both legs holding a landing site against all odds, Poliorketes now rivals his brothers in the Iron Hands Legion in the degree of his bionic augmentation.

Close up of his bionics.

More bionics.

And again.

This now rounds out my initial squad of ten tactical marines, Squad Nikator. I have some fluff about the squad and it's famous "Demetrioi". I'll have to post that some time.

 

+ For the Emperor +

Where have you been?

I haven't posted in ages, and that makes me sad. Sad, because this blog is the manifestation of all my hobby progress, and no posts equals no progress. It seems that real life has largely gotten in the way. Since July things have been hectic, at work we were opening a new store, massive overtime, then I went to Australia for three weeks, no painting. Then I got home, spent three days doing a stock take, and then I was off to Denmark for a fortnight. When I got home some time in late October, I needed a rest. Recently things have settled down (after moving a store yet again), but now the Christmas rush sets in.

Luckily, I have snatched some moments to work on my 30k Ultramarines, but I could do with a hobby day. Time to get some stuff done for the Dark Pact, which frankly has stalled on all fronts due to changes in people's lives.

Hopefully my next update will be less despairing and more productive.

Mk V "Heresy" Armour Video

I decided to do a post on the Mk V Armour I got from Forgeworld this week, and realised that a video was simply more effective, so I tried my hand at making a video. You can see the results below, I hope readers find it helpful.

Time to start cleaning these chaps up so that I can make a start on my next five marines.

+ The Emperor Protects +

The makings of a 30k Ultramarines Tactical Squad

So the first deadline for the Dark Pact is upon me, and here is my first offering:

Sergeant Demetrios of Orpheus leads half a Tactical Squad at the height of Horus' Heresy. Survivors of Calth, these Ultramarines fight to avenge the noble dead. My first five marines for the Dark Pact challenge are all in Mk. IV Maximus armour, which I think is phenomenal, elegant and clean in design.

Left to right: Marius Regulus and Demetrios the Mortifactor.

Left to right: Demetrios the Mortifactor and Sergeant Demetrios of Orpheus.

Left to right: Anacreon the Laconian and Decius Aurorus.

Focus on the shoulder pads.

Marius Regulus

Demetrios the Mortifactor.

Decius Aurorus

So there, all done. Sergeant Demeter has a stripe over his face rather than a full red helmet as I thought it just looked cooler, and also because I forgot he needed a red helmet and this was a good compromise late into the paint job. I also decided against using the command upgrade as I think that the sergeant's transverse crest helmet ruins the clean elegance of the Mk. IV armour, as well as looking a bit daft. I do however want a nuncio-vox chap and might use the crested helmets in other squads. 

My next month's project will be to paint up five more tactical marines, this time in Mk. V Heresy armour, which I have ordered and has arrived. 

+ The Emperor Protects +

Planning 30k Ultramarines

My 30k Ultramarines project is well under way with the first tactical marine complete, the colour scheme nailed down, and the other four on their way. I have been thinking of ways to play with them, so that it isn't just an army of generic looking troops and I have decided to go for a very varied look. As I see it, every marine is a fighting unit and as such, during their long service will modify his kit and accumulate non standard pieces of equipment. Anyone who has ever served in the military will be familiar with that post-basic training desire to ditch all the poorly designed and seventeenth-hand equipment that marks one squarely as a crowbag. So I am going to make my marines a little different, whilst hoping to tie it all in. Here is my first marine again just as a reminder:

I have also thought long and hard about the "moment" I am trying to capture with this project. Having read, and thoroughly enjoyed "Mark of Calth" I think I will go for a post-Calth legion. So, red helmeted Sergeants will be the norm. However, to further extend the devastating effects of Calth on the legion I am going to try and make use of the Games Workshop Ultramarines successor shoulder pads. The idea being that after the devastation of the legion on Calth, as a mark of honour to the fallen, marines start embellishing their armour and equipment with items honouring the fallen. 

I saw a similar idea on a forum somewhere, though I cannot seem to find it now, in which a fellow did a Sons of Orpheus chapter within the legion as was. My idea is similar, though I imagine after being broken and battered many units would have had to be amalgamated into new squads. These marines then take their personal history with them to whichever newly reformed company they are assigned to, still honouring their fallen captains or commanders.

Some have wondered at my obsession with cast shoulder pads, and my dislike of transfers. First of all, I do not like decals, they just look flat, and never seem to look good for me. I have used them in the past with some Dark Angels, but I simply prefer moulded shoulder pads that allow me to do highlights that look good. Furthermore, as I have been reading the Heresy novels, one thing that is very striking is the rather Spartan existence of the Space Marines. There are several parts in which the authors emphasise the fact that the characters repair their own armour and that their armour and weapons are amongst the only only things they actually own. This idea of a personal piece of equipment speaks to my earlier assertion that the marines will modify their kit, but additionally, I like the idea of them mounting a former company marking onto the bare shoulder pad.

These are the shoulder pads I will be working with, which I found on Lexicanum:

Left to right: Aurora Chapter, Silver Skulls, Genesis Chapter, Howling Griffons and Praetors of Orpheus

All of the above are made by Games Workshop, apart from the Howling Griffon shoulder pad which is available from Chapterhouse Studios.

So without further ado, here are work in progress shots of my second marine, just to give readers a sense of what I am going for:

No doubt you will notice that the metal Aurora Chapter shoulder pad is significantly bulkier than the resin Ultramarine shoulder pad. I think that in future I will switch them around with the bulkier shoulder pad on the left shoulder facing the enemy when firing. Reinforced armour? Also, I will use colours on the custom shoulder pads which I feel like using, not necessarily those in the picture above. I really want to combine the personal heraldry with the idea that those symbols refer to companies in the legion.

The first deadline for our five marines is the 14th of July, so I need to go get some painting done now. I hope that my idea will become clearer as I paint up my figures and fill in their back story. 

First Complete 30k Horus Heresy Ultramarine

I had a rare day off work on Friday, the first in several weeks in fact. So needless to say, with 13 hour days being the norm for almost a month it was nice to relax and get some painting done with the sun still up. 

Over the last few weeks I have been working on my first set of five Ultramarines for the Dark Pact Horus Heresy challenge that I and several friends have undertaken. Five Marines by July 10th. With the cost of Forgeworld being what it is I am keen to put as much effort into every figure as is reasonably possible. Below is my first completed Ultramarine in Mk IV armour. 

I opted for a slightly darker take on the Ultramarine look as I am not a fan of super bright power armoured smurfs. Additionally the gold has a worn look that I quite like. Overall the chap is quite subdued in terms of colour and not too bling. Again, not too happy with the lighting of the photograph, I think better lamps are in order. I might post a step-by-step painting guide if I find the time. 

Until next time. Carry on citizen. 

 

A Wee New Project

A friend of mine from my university days got in touch recently about a "Tale of Four Heretics" project he and a bunch of other guys I know from university were starting. The basic idea was to do a Space Marine army of the Heresy (all Forgeworldy and stuff) with each chap choosing a legion. 

I was honoured to be let into this secret cabal as an observer, and after one comment the words "Join Us" were uttered after which I was voluntold to participate as the Ultramarines. I couldn't say no, could I? So now I have until July 10th 2013 to paint five figures, an easy deadline. So now from being a "Tale of Four Heretics", it is now "The Dark Pact".

However, being as these are Ultramarines, which I've never painted and the Forgeworld figures cost a veritable fortune, I want to do a good job. So I found a black undercoated Tactical Marine, and did a colour test for my blues. Here are the results:

The blue looks about right. I found some pictures of Heresy era Ultramarines on the Internet, which are below:

The next phase will be deciding whether to go gold or yellow. Yellow is an horrific colour to paint well, but a gold that is too bright will make my super soldiers look just a little too bling. Again, a colour test is in order, but this will all be about finding the right balance. Gold seems appropriate given the time period with Ultramar riding high, but I want to get those cool helmet with the face piece and I don't imagine they would look too good being gaudy and golden. 

Lots to think about as I read "Know No Fear" by Dan Abnett, whose "Gaunt's Ghosts" novels I really enjoyed. Enjoying it so far, and hopefully I'll find some inspiration. This will be especially the case as regards the basing I choose, as I might splash out on resin bases and do something quite thematic.