[Jangalak]

Hey all,

I have been 'blogging' with my buddy for a couple of years as we build and paint our armies but I want to get a bit more feedback as I go and see if I can slowly build up to getting a best army nomination (which we were going for at the last 40k Doubles Tournament).

This project log will see me take the army from a four hundred points to a thousand hopefully over the next year, I am not going to be too ambitious as having played against IG for a couple of years I know what kind of units work well for me so I can take my time painting and borrow from my mates horde when we wanna play tournie sized games.

I started my IG army last November and now have a Vendetta, a Chimera and a demolisher/executioner.

I will post some pics later today of what i have so far, any comments would be gratefully received, I spent some time on doing an Aquila head and wings on the Vendetta so I will do a quick tutorial on that as there were a few people asking how to do it and it took me ages to figure it out.

Here is how the Vendetta came together...

I cant seem to write next to the images but the Vendetta project goes like this (i did the head and wings in same way):

1. Draw the design in pencil

2. Trace the design onto something you can then use as a stencil to spray over (I used my sons 'messy mat' which I thought had seen better days and was due a change)

3. Get bollocked by my wife for using son's messy mat

4. Spray the wings white (I wanted to spray the model as much as possible as you get a nice clean, flat surface - I could free hand the design but i wanted to try this and see if you got a better look from it)

5. Tape the stencil onto the model

6. Spray it grey! ( I used Tamiya German Grey - after much research this was the 'look' i was going for - an army fighting in urban areas so dirty grey was my goal)

7. Remove the stencils and check out your handywork!

You will see that I also did some bits on the tail plane - I sprayed these white and then put masking tape over before spraying grey again.

8)I then went over the edges of the fuselage where there was white and added some grey weathering

9) there will be some white 'blocks' around the stencil outline where the tape was, just a bit of brush painting with grey to do here


10) A bit more weathering, and picking out the areas that would be worn by use and its nearly done.

I will post some close up photos of the finished article later...

 

[Jangalak]

Thanks for comments piemaster, i have had a go at your photobucket suggestion and seems to have done the trick but for some reason not all the images are coming through the same size...must be the warp.
cheers

 

[Jangalak]

thanks reverend, i am almost tempted just to get a stormraven just so i can do some more big stencils, but am gonna have to stick to the IG programme if i am gonna be ready for the next one.
I loved the stormraven in the top ten best armies - the weathering was superb. Am gonna work my way through that Imperial Armour book to see what the trick there is.

 

[Jangalak]

@ reverend - nah, never picked up the book on the day, was too involved in the games to do anything sensible like thatg. Got it on order so should be arriving next week. I will do a quick review once i have had a shifty at it.

@ aquatic - thanks for the feedback, i was teamed up with my buddy for the Doubles Tourney at GW in Notts last weekend and we were trying for best army nominee, we were top twenty but didnt make the cut for top ten. I spoke to Nick Bayton to get some advice and he said he loved the look but it needed some more colour, so thanks I will definately be trying something else out to add a little more light.

 

[Jangalak]

Ok some 'finished' photos of the vendetta...

 

[Jangalak]

My demolisher was done in the same colours as the Vendetta and i went for bold white to provide the contrast and a focus.

Fuel drum and fuel cans on the back is from a Tamiya desert WW2 set i found reduced in a hobby store.

For the sandbags I first tried to use some pre-made Tamiya ones, they were ok but didnt sit right so i did a little research and decided to get some Milliput modelling clay and try making my own - it has been a great success i think. Its cheap stuff and really nice to work with. Simply mix (like green stuff) and roll into a long cylinder, then flatten the whole cylinder out and chop it up into sand bag sized sections. Pick up each section and pinch the ends of the bag as if they are sewn up there. Then lay them down, i tried to think how they would lie and tried to make it as realistic as possible. I put a few bullet holes, and bits of damage on the bags to give em character. Paint job was a mix of graveyard earth and charadon granite with a devlan mud wash. I did a little highlighting with deneb stone also. Top fun and easy really.

If i were to do any more it would be to add a bit more colour and maybe some kind of aquila design. The white was dabbed on with sponge after i had laid down some masking tape lines.

Here you go, your thoughts/critique are really appreciated...

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[Jangalak]

Ok so here is the last thing i managed for the tournament, a chimera with a gun nest in the back. Sandbags were done in the same way, i grabbed some belts of ammo from IG heavy bolters (which i dont think i will use in my lists), grabbed the stubber off the turret, and scattered ammo, grenades weapons about the place. Last off was the guardsman insid scanning his surroundings for enemy. In the turret is the FW commander - lovely model to paint, dead easy to get the face looking good due to its quality.

This image is some playing around to get inspiration...

And the final thing...

 

[Jangalak]

@ Ezekiel - thanks and yeah - i will swap my images next time the sun comes out round these parts! I was just too impatient today to get the log started!

@ Khorne's Fist - Love the wing tip idea, i will look into that and glad to see you are supporting the right footie team!

 

[Jangalak]

@ hocky - thanks mate, will swap for some better photos next time I can get a daylight shot
@ forkmaster - cheers, the wings were a labour of love but bloody plead with em. Gotta thank Nick Bayton at GW for inspiration
@ likewise dude we will have to get the wolves and IG in a fight one day.
@ Dagmire thanks
@ sanctity - I wish I hadn't admitted the photos were taken in bad light now! They do kinda look misty cheers!

 

[Jangalak]

So I think I need to make some infantry to go with these tanks and it's about time I did some minis for a change. I am gonna do some basic guardsmen and some vets.
I need some help on differentiating guardsmen and vets - i am thinking of using FW cadian vets with the cool backpacks and breather unit heads. Any other models you can get for this? Any other suggestions?

My second mini project is gonna be a psyker battle squad. I am gonna play test them a little before doing the build but I have an idea for something a bit different. I am thinking of making a 'counts as' unit of psykers in a chimera. I was inspired kinda by the Ravenor stories where the psyker is confined within a life support floating chair type thing and I thought about doing a whole squad in some kind of floating vehicle. I like Dan Abnetts chair but I think it could suck as a model as it probably needs to be black and o just can't see it looking that good. My idea is for a floating disc elliptical in shape and with a central berth for the overseer and with eight more berths around him for the heads and shoulders of the psykers. They would all have wires coming out of their heads leading to a central point.

I would play it as a chimera unless it was blown up and then treat it as a 9 wound model using the psyker battle squad stats.

I would make each of the berths as small as possible, maybe even just modelling a brain or the head and shoulders. This would leave room for me to do some designs on the surface of the disc. I was thinking of something like the 'leafy runic' patterns you see on eldar vehicles sometimes but I need to think of a way to make it look imperial not eldar. I could cover it in script and some aquilas I guess but that wouldn't feel quite ao creative and fun.

I imagining the disc a bit the top of a tau gun turret, if FW made one a bit bigger I would try buying and converting.

What do you think?

 

[Jangalak]

@ xeno thanks for that link - the thread is awesome, really creative. I have been trawling FW, the spin off websites and GW for some options but am drawing blank again.

I think I will also need to consider the competetive side of my conversion as I dont want to disadantage myself too much. I am still liking the disc idea, and also mulling over a heavily converted chimera

more to follow...

@ Irish - i like the idea, however the Elysian minis are a fair bit smaller than cadians so there would be a bit of a clash there - i guess Elysians dont eat their weetabix in the morning! I do like their look though so may go down that route. I am also impressed by the cadian variants they have so may go with rebreathers, or maybe the hardened vets.

More to follow...

 

[Jangalak]

@ Rev - yeah good call on the PBS they do look good on paper and the more i research it seems like that translates to gaming too. I can only imagine that you dont see many because GW dont make the mini's for em. I love the weaken resolve power, that looks like it would help me out against heavy assault armies which is always tough for an IG gunline. And when you cant use it why not drop a S9 pieplate! With the vehicle hull add on the range is probably about 40" - not bad as a second string!

I like the FW painted vets also, that is a nice scheme, but at the same time looks a bit unfinished, i like the green - any idea what colour it is?. I may look around a bit for a new colour scheme for my troops folowing Nick Baytons comment about it all being a bit grey, that said I am going for an urban warfare look and i kinda see my troops in grey and dirt so will probably stick with that. Us squichy hummies have gotta hide a bit, we cant all stroll round in our brightly coloured power armour letting the bullets bounce off - i leave that to my Ultramarines!

I ordered some FW stuff today, hostile environment upgrades, hardened vets, meltas and plasmas, new chimera and of course the stunning IA Painting Masterclass - full review next week sometime!

@ Irish, good luck with the Elysians, i thought of that but hadnt got the balls incase the heads looked too small in the CST bodies. Let us have a look when you get them.

I have done a bit more thinking about the PBS today and I think I am gonna go with a chimera conversion, then make the PBS as a separate infantry unit. Any ideas for models to convert? I have heard Deamonhunter acolytes could work but cant seem to find the models.

 

[Jangalak]

@ horus - its wierd, i got into Ultramarines when i started as a kid years ago and now it just doesnt seem unusual for the marines to stroll into combat wearing bright blue armour - crazy bullet magnets!

@ aquatic - thanks, the vendetta base was hurriedly put together the day before the tourney so am glad it looks ok. If you look in the GW terrain section you will see the low walls they provide. These are made of some kind of modelling clay and I had a spare one which i snapped in two and set back together on the base. You prob cant see in the photo but i left room for 4 minis to fit on the base - we had 6 snipers in our tourney list and when we laid out the army i put the snipers crouching around the walls as if the had just been dropped by an infiltrating Vendetta. Good fun but am gonna have to do better than that to get in the damn best army nominees next time as the standard was so high!

 

[Jangalak]

ok bit of research later and i think i have decent ideas for some of a PBS:

Tech Servitor
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/TECH-SERVITOR.html

Renegade Psykers
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Chaos/CHAOS_RENEGADES/RENEGADE-ROGUE-PSYKERS.html

Battle Wizards
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod20018&rootCatGameStyle=

Primaris Psyker
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod2010017&rootCatGameStyle=

GW Sanctioned Psykers
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?prodId=prod1070051

FW Death Korp Qtrmaster & Servitors
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/DEATH-KORPS-OF-KRIEG-QUARTERMASTER-AND-RETINUE.html

Inquisitor
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Daemonhunters_/INQUISITOR-SOLOMON-LOK.html

With a bit of conversion i reckon that would be all of the PBS, am not lovin the GW Sanctioned Psykers, they are all a bit too similar with that pose. I think the FW Krieg Qtrmaster could be the overseer and the servitors could be converted into the Psykers. There are acolytes/henchmen, empire flagellants, necromunda, witchunter, daemonhunters, but they all seem a bit old skool in terms of the quality of the models - that said i have seen some awesome conversions of these, just not my thing. I was thinking of doing a bit of a Gandalf or Saruman conversion at one point - always wanted to paint those models so may come back to that.

 

[Jangalak]

Fagin, Oliver, the Artful Dodger - this is a war not a musical! You'll be having me use Bill Sykes as my HQ riding in on Bulldog!!!
Haha, that would look so freaky, I don't think I could actually use them in a game!

 

[Jangalak]

Yeah thanks Rev those two boys are on my shopping list. There are quite a few weird FW minis that can convert to psykers I think. It will be an expensive squad but should look cool. FW is gonna make a fortune from me at this rate. The IA Masterclass book is on it's way and that isn't gonna help either!
Gotta go, am off to recruit some more urchins for my Fagin Army!

 

[Jangalak]

@ Djinn, thanks for the comments. Like the idea on the sandbags, i will try and work that in. Oil streaks sound interesting shiny eh? I have heard that there are some awesome techniques in the IA book and IG are perfect for trying some of those out so more of that. The flamers do look a bit more burned in person, my dodgy photography to blame there, and also a bit of laziness on my part as I just dont like those kind of flamers with the 'watering can' ends!

@rev, yeah will be going weathering powder mad, but probably need to do more for colour. Hocky and I have this idea for more colour in the next tourney, inspired by the assault on Magnir's Crag scene they have built. More to follow over the next year hopefully. I think I will also need to do another colour in my scheme, and maybe carry across the Aquila wings / head onto the vehicles also.

Took some more photos in better light today, so may edit my first post with some better shots for posteritys sake. My FW order should be coming this week, will be back on the painting front soon.

 

[Jangalak]

Ok so i have had a few weeks to look over the Imperial Armour Model Masterclass, here is a quick review/summary:

Overall, this is a book by expert painters to help you get to that level. It is a detailed description of the tools and techniques that the top painters use, and is focused almost exclusively on vehicles as you would expect.

They cover five tanks, Medusa, Stormsword, Macharius, Vanquisher, Malcador. A cool trench scene, six flyers (Marauder x2, Thunderbolt, Valkyrie, Tau Tiger Shark and Tau Barracuda). There is also a couple of scenery sections - Siege of Vraks & Airbase).

Tools - this section is really useful and by the end of it i wondered how i had ever managed without an airbrush. There are a number tools related tricks you learn in the book e.g. using burnt umber oil paint flicked onto a vehicle with a brush and then thinner is sprayed atop to diffuse the paint and give a rust spot effect.

They use all the basics plus weathering powders, oil paint, white spirits, sponges, model filler, wire, vinyl masking to name a few.

The book is full of high quality images, detailed explanations of how to do stuff - weathering, battle damage, kit bashing ideas etc

The effects they get are awesome and you really feel like you can do it if you have the right kit at the end of it. I would totally recommend it as the stuff they have done does inspire and I have had some creative ideas coming out of it.

For painting tanks though I am now convinced that i have to get an airbrush to really up my game, and they come in at £200 a go from what i can see.

My IG work is infantry based right now, i have just base coated my hardened vets and will get some images up when i return from holiday in a few weeks...

 

[Jangalak]

Well its been a while since my last post, its a long story...but one day in April I awoke from a strange dream in which the great Mork told me to start the WAAAGH! Next thing I knew I was surrounded by boyz, battlewagons and baying meganobz.

Well its doubles tournament time again so I'll be packing up my Knarlock Green, and Ork Hide Shade for a while and gettingthe codex grey out - back to the Emporer's Feth.

Since I last posted i have collected a decent sized psyker battle squad (FW), couple of vet squads (FW), company command squad (FW) and another Chimera.

The Chimera is nearly done, images to follow and a psyker battle squad, vet squad and commander and company command squad are on the production line.

More to follow when i figure out how to load photos again...

 

[Jangalak]

Ok so after much delieberation I went with a selection of FW minis as my psyker battle squad, as follows:

Tech Servitor
Solomon Lok
Krieg Quartermaster (as the Overseer)
Kreig quartermaster retinue as four other psykers - the guy with the piled clothes, the cherub, the guy with the scrolls and the dude with the creepy robotic arms
Renegade psykers (both with chaos symbols removed)

After lots of searching these seemed like the creepiest models I could find in teh GW/FW range, and they are also fantastically detailed and I cant wait to start painting them. Any thoughts welcomed, particularly on colour scheme as i want them to look diff to my urban grey army, but still keep the creepy feel that they all have. I will paint the Krieg overseer in those Krieg colours - he is a great model, i chose him as he is drawing his pistol as if about to shoot a psyker that has gone over the edge...

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