Ah yes! A Part Two. I actually got some progress on the 40k Gallipoli project. On Monday I recieved my Victoria Miniatures order. First up was the Tallarn, which I assembled a couple days ago.
But alongside the noble Desert Raiders, was three and a half squads of “Van Diemens World Devil’s”, Victoria Miniatures love letter to their homeland. Australian as all get out, with all the fixings. Slouch hats, big knifes, and big bush packs for carrying all that gear. As is, they make excellent jungle troops, a perfect alternative to Catachan Jungle Fighters if one wanted a less Vietnam and more Kokoda Track feel.
But, as I stated in the outline for this project, these men would become Roane Deepers. If you are reading this first and haven’t read the outline, the Roane Deepers are from Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts series, a side-regiment known for lax discipline and a carefree attitude, but hard as nails on the defense and dogged on the attack. Mr. Abnett has described the Roane as influenced from the ANZAC’s of WW1 and WW2, and it was from here that I took a different route then some others. Many had done the Roane as a Western Front WW1 army, complete with Brodie Helmets. This is brilliant, and I’m standing on the shoulders of giants. But I decided on an altogether different angle…the debacle that was the Gallipoli Landings.
What that meant was no Brodies for starters, as I wanted Aussie “Slouch” Hats(Kiwis, don’t be offended. I’m looking for Lemon Squeezers and I asked Victoria Miniatures if they had any plans to do any!), and stripped down equipment. I would use GW Lasguns to give them a 40k feel, and paint their tucked in fatigues as blue undershirts, which are so common in depictions of Gallipoli.
But first, to assemble them. Lets see how that looked.
Before paint! The GW lasguns look out of place here; I like to think the paint helped with that.
First things first, I forgot to mention it the other day. Man, has Victoria Miniatures resin improved over the years. This stuff was absolute gold to work with. Any flash cleaned off really easily. There were a few mold lines/slips, but I missed a lot of those sadly until I saw them during painting. It is what it is, and minor enough to be forgiven here.
Unlike the Desert Scorpions, I had better luck giving these Roane Deepers their lasguns. It took a little finesse, but I got them looking mostly like they belong.
The first guy I assembled was actually the hardest; The Standard Bearer. I saw him as an older fellow, a recruit like the rest of them but with years of hard-bitten experience in the “Deeps” of Roane.
Next up was this guy! Great pose, but doesn’t give you much of a look at his face. This Lasgun looks alright though.
That being said, he looks a lot better from this side.
This guy is my favourite of the bunch; It’s a strong pose, and the Roane Deeper is smoking an Iho stick, giving him a real “devil may care” feel.
I was going to omit the backpack, but they really add a good look to the models. Not everything had to be exactly like Anzac Cove!
A simple pose. This Guardsmen advances with his lasgun fixed upon the enemy.
“You call that a Knoife? Now THIS is a Knoife.” One of my Clubhouse friends dubbed him Sergeant C. Dundee, almost immediately. This guy is actually going to be a Platoon Commander, but the name might stick….they have a tendency to do so unfortunately.
Absolutely festooned with pouches and gear, this Officer is ready to lead a charge up the gullies and bluffs of Space Gallipoli.
Now, I was on a bit of a roll, so I decided to toss some paint on them. Why these guys and not the Tallarn? Simple! I had English Uniform spray, and didn’t have a Tan spray. The Tallarn will wait till I have paint. In the meantime, the Roane will play!
I’m not the best painter, and I take a few shortcuts, the main one being that I prime the models the colour that they will have the most of. In this case, the brown fatigues.
The shirts I decided would be a light blue, which is excellent for contrast here. They certainly will pop on the battlefield!
Lets see how I cracked on!
First up was this guy! I kept the colours simple, as I have loads of these guys to do. I’m pretty happy with the colours!
A pretty glaring moldline there! Oops. But other then that, this is a good view of his pack and canteen. The Slouch hats were a delight to paint!
My favourite pose looks even better painted! I love the simple glow of his narcotic!
All the Roane carry their belongings with them, and carry a knife as well. The packs really set them off, and I’m glad I included them.
Definitely the most boring pose of the lot, but he looks functional.
The basing is simple, to evoke the sand of the landing beaches.
With the Guardsmen out of the way, lets take a peek at the Officer and Standard Bearer! There were a joy to paint, and I really enjoyed the challenge. I kept them simple; A Guardsmen is a Guardsmen, no matter how fancy.
First, the Platoon Commander!
“Charge!” The Officer urges his men to charge, knife in hand for the bloody close quarters business.
There was actually a pretty bad casting bubble in this torso, but my slapdash painting covered that up a bit. Honestly, its hard to notice when you play.
The big “Knoife” really adds to this character. He’s no gentleman, that’s for sure!
Now the hardest one…the Banner. Oh boy.
I won’t say he was easy, but he was far easier then I thought. Deciding the colours and pattern was the hard part, really.
I was going to make this a game of guessing, but I copied the colours of the Australian Defence Force Ensign. I left out the military crest, but kept the pattern and added a number, in this case, a 9. I feel that it makes for a simple, yet evocative banner.
There is some minor clean up work that I can do on the banner, but nothing too strenuous, and definitely good enough for tabletop use. The “9” was chosen as it was not affiliated with a current Roane Regiment.
The Regimental Standard may draw enemy fire, but it’s place at the front of the advance will get the men going!
An old man even before enlisting, this Standard Bearer brings steely nerves from years working in the deeps. A True Roane “Deeper”.
It was a fun days work! I have some more memory testing tomorrow, so this was a fun project before some not so fun mental gymnastics. These Roane weren’t overly hard to paint, and I can see a squad on them being done pretty quickly.
I have the other 30 left to build, and I need to order 30 more to make a competent list. But at least it has begun, and it is no longer just a project in my head.
I’ve done a lot of research into Gallipoli for this project, and enough so that I might collect a historical army for the period. I might not wargame it(that doesn’t seem like a particularly funpart of the war to fight with dice!), but I feel the itch to get some Gripping Beast metals.
Anyways, that is all I have for today. I hope you like it! Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and have a great day!
Another day, another Regiment of the Imperial Guard. The Tallarn Desert Raiders are a classic Games Workshop regiment, from the distant year of 1994. They are almost as old as I am! They had a really distinct look, equal parts Bedouin tribesmen and British LRDG/SAS.
As a fan of the North Africa campaign of WW2, these guys always called out to me. And over time, GW had began to portray them as distinct Arab in theme, always nice to see in a sea of more European themed regiments, and something that also appealed to me.
Unfortunately their model line is also a product of 1994, being quite dated in appearance. It was a bit of a turn off when I was younger and could have bought them, and while that style appeals to me now, it is far too late to really acquire a full army of them.
Enter Victoria Miniatures. Based out of Adelaide in Australia(although now shipping from the USA), they make a line of “Regiments of the Galaxy’s Finest”, which are clear homages to the GW regiments of old. I’ve purchased from them in the past, as far back as when it was just a small bits shop run from Victoria Lambs own website. I’ve seen them go from Lead to Resin, and from Australia to the USA. My Roane Light Horse are from them, and while I didn’t go with a full army of them in the end, I do have quite a few Victorian Guard from them as well!
Last year, they brought out the Desert Scorpions, an amazing looking regiment with a distinct Tallarn influence. I was lacking funds when they came out, so I missed out on them at release.
Well, that’s a Desert themed Guardsmen if I’ve ever seen one!
And with some great looking sculpts, especially the heads!
When I decided to do my Gallipoli themed Guard Army, I also at the same time purchased 30 Desert Scorpions and 3 Missile Launcher teams to go with them. This had the benefit of leaving 6 men spare, as the missile launcher teams went into the squads. This lets me make Platoon Commanders and a Command Squad as well!
So I set up my station, and got to work.
Wash the resin, rinse it off, to get all the mold release off! This took time; 30 men took me all day!
I spent the better part of a day working at them. I did make the controversial move of using GW weapons; this was intentional, to tie the Desert Scorpions into the Warhammer 40k universe and to give my opponents a clear view of which weapon is which.
After about 6 hours I had some models to show off! I’ll admit, the GW weapons work better on some poses then others, and the Plasma and Melta guns are gigantic, and while they would be equally gigantic on GW bodies, they look even more so here. While I think a good paintjob will tie them in a bit better, I will admit they could look better. And they are very securely glued in, they are not coming out now!
Let’s start with the Sergeants!
Lots of pointing and Bolters facing upwards, but they still look pretty good!
The Sergeants turned out really well. I really liked the Bolters they came with, so I kept those. The heads are integral to the bodies, so I took care to pick bodies that would match the pose. My favourite is the Sergeant shielding his eyes from the sun.
Next up is the Vox-Caster operators.
Ready to receive orders!
These Guardsmen turned out pretty well! The GW Vox Units and Lasguns are large, but I like how cumbersome they look. The Kantreal Pattern Lasgun really sells them as Imperial Guardsmen, in my opinion at least!
Now for the most controversial models.
Wow! Those look heavy!
These Tallarn Guardsmen carry the squad special weapon. These weapons were scrounged from my bits box, and I do not know the original kit they are from. I did compare them to my Cadians armed with the same weapons, and they look just as big there!
The arms did not want to cooperate with the Plasma guns, and many glued fingers awaited me. The Meltagun oddly fit really well once I removed the stock from the arm, and lined up with the hand well.
Still, more then one person has expressed confusion as to why I picked them. Honestly, it is so my opponent won’t get confused, and and I do actually like the look of these iconic weapons too!
Next up we have the humble Lasman. Let’s see how they look!
Oh yeah, now those are some Raiders!
These Guardsmen were not particularly hard to put together, outside of some fiddling with the arms to get them to fit. Some fit better then others; while they all look pretty decent from the front, some definitely have some issues viewed from above or the side.
But, as I have said to some critics, I quite like the look of the Kantreal lasgun. I think a solid paint job will make them look right at home!
Now there are an awful lot of them, so I picked out the best to show you.
Ready to ambush any pesky Xeno or Heretic they might see!
The masked heads give them some definite protection from the sandstorms that could blow in at any moment.
Now for the real stars of the show! The Missile Launchers are really neat looking, and have a stripped down and portable look about them.
Portable and versatile, one cannot underestimate the humble Missile Launcher!
These Heavy Weapons will allow my squads to hurt targets much larger then themselves, as well as giving them a long range frag rocket for softer targets.
These I didn’t mess with too much; they looked really good as is!
The business end!
From this angle one can see the unique look to the Missile Launcher. It looks light and easy to carry, excellent for a Guardsmen on the go!
The detail on these models are incredible!
All in all, a good days work. Tomorrow I will get the Officers and Command Squad sorted! I did buy a banner pack so I can make a really nice Regimental Standard for these Tallarn to wave. I might start on the Roane Deepers tomorrow as well, but we’ll have to see!
I do intend to run 6 squads of Tallarn Desert Raiders for my list, so I will be ordering quite a few more from Victoria Miniatures on payday. I sold some spare Airsoft gear(which, with my health problems I might have trouble playing…) to help fund that.
The blog upgrade is looming as well. It is a decent chunk of change!
Anyways, I will be continuing progress on the Gallipoli project soon! Look for that in the coming days! Happy Wargaming wherever you are, and مع السلامة!
Kiwis and Aussies land at Anzac Cove, entering into a brutal, unremitting hell that lasted 8 months.
I’ve been on a Warhammer 40k kick recently, despite all the new drama surrounding the hobby. Having a chance to read the Sabbat War anthology book had given me the inspiration and motivation to work on my Imperial Guard(Astra Militarum, to you new players) forces again, and to play some more rousing games of 9th Edition Crusade. A friend of mine suggested we take two Guard armies against one another, fluffing the 25 Power Level starting games as ‘Military Exercises’ and then opening it up to everyone else once we hit 50 Power Level. An intriguing idea, with one very important caveat; It had to be a custom or lesser known regiment, using the custom regiment rules.
But what regiment could I do? I have a significant amount of Cadian troops that could easily be a custom regiment, but that wouldn’t be as exciting or new. All my other regiments are either big names or used to be, with loads of established lore. It had been many years since I had thought of doing something fresh. I had just sold some Airsoft equipment, and therefore had the funds to acquire something new. But what regiment?
The idea came, oddly enough, by listening to the song “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” one day. It wasn’t a song I hadn’t heard before, nor was it any special day for it. But my love of Australian and New Zealand military history made me think.
Dan Abnett’s Gaunt’s Ghosts series introduced a regiment, the Roane Deepers, that he went on to say on his blogs were inspired by Anzac troops of both the Great War and the Second World War. They are often thrown into meatgrinder campaigns, used as cannon fodder by uncaring Guard commanders, doing the thankless and inglorious work while other regiments get the credit.
This is often depicted by other hobbyists doing the regiment as Western Front style trench warfare, with the ubiquitous British Brodie helmet and trench coats. And there is certainly nothing wrong with that approach. But the ‘thankless, inglorious work’ reminded me of a different WW1 campaign.
The ill-fated and tragic Gallipoli landings.
There were three main inspirations for this army beyond the battle itself. Firstly, the beautiful and haunting soundtrack from Battlefield 1 for their Gallipoli missions. Secondly, many documentaries covering the campaign in detail. And thirdly, and most of all, the amazing Chunuk Bair diorama and artwork that Weta Workshop, Peter Jackson, and hundreds of painters around New Zealand did a few years back. 5000 figures in all!
The amazing Weta Workshop painting of Chunuk Bair by Gus Hunter. A major inspiration behind the project.
The vast 5000 figure collaborative diorama of Chunuk Bair, an amazing achievement for NZ hobbyists and a great and haunting piece of art.
So why do this in 40k, as opposed to 28mm Historical gaming? The simple answer is that I will be able to educate people about the battle more readily with a more popular system, and to both get some creative license on how to approach the subject matter…and that the original subject matter might make for incredibly depressing and boring gameplay. That, and if I’m completely honest, to have an excuse to paint some very different figures!
I was doing an order anyway from Victoria Miniatures, an Adelaide based company that does a great range of 28mm scale Sci Fi soldiers. Many of these are nods to older, out of print Games Workshop regiments, and that is what I intended to order, using the companies Desert Scorpion models to do a Tallarn list that I’ve been wanting to try.
But one regiment that she does has no real GW analogue(although they are often done as alternate Catachans), the Van Diemens World Devils. These models are clearly Australians, with the name a subtle nod, and the Slouch Hats a far less subtle one. I had in fact used the heads from that range for a Roane Lighthorse Rough Rider unit many years ago.
The squad in question. That’s a serious Knife!
The uniforms are depicted in Jungle colours. But the tucked in shirt, suspenders, and cut of the uniform in general struck me as awfully easy to work into a Gallipoli style uniform. I’m thinking of painting the shirts light blue, and the trousers in English Uniform to get a close approximation of Anzac uniforms of the late Gallipoli campaign. The biggest glaring gap in my project is the lack of ‘Lemon Squeezer’ campaign hats worn by some of the Kiwis at Gallipoli. I hope to source a few of those before I do the next wave of miniatures! Otherwise, the slouch hat without the side folded up will suffice, as not every Kiwi wore the Lemon Squeezer in 1915, and it was only post Gallipoli that it was adopted across the board by the New Zealanders.
A very simple uniform, and with some colour palette swaps, easy to get into theme.
A example of the uniforms common to the Gallipoli campaign in 1915. Shouldn’t be too hard to replicate!
So to start, I’ve ordered three 10 man squads and one 5 man squad(to make a command section and a Company Commander out of) to start, and unlike so many of my projects I will start with this and finish them before buying more, unless it looks likely that I won’t be able to get more later.
This will be a thematic army, and the backstory of these poor Roane Deepers is that they will be attacking a key strategic Renegade position, located on the coast of a landmass I have yet to name. Protected by a powerful Void Shield network, Imperial Command must take it by seaborne landing craft, and to establish the beachhead the Roane Deepers have drawn the short straw. The terrain is unsuitable for armour, and the rocky coastline also prevents the use of most Imperial equipment that would make the attack any easier.
Therefore, the Guard has chosen an attrition approach, feeding in Roane Regiments piecemeal until they can either take their objective and disable the void shield network, or they decide such a position is untenable, and stop. Unfortunately for the Deepers, they have yet to decide to stop. Frontal attacks with little chance of victory are the norm.
Since this is in the end both a tribute to the Anzacs as well as a shoutout to a lesser known Imperial Guard regiment, it’ll be a careful balance of what is fun, what is realistic and thematic, and of staying a fictional homage to a real event. It’ll be tricky, but I’m hoping people will see the genuine interest I have in the subject, and that I’m not trying to either glorify or diminish the real event.
There will be more about the Roane Deepers when I get the models in the mail! For now, I will plan the project further, and get ready.
For both the fictional Roane Deepers and the very real Anzacs, Taking Hell will be a project I can see myself sinking a lot of time, effort, and money into. No half measures.
That is all I have for today, and I will have more in the near future! I hope you enjoyed this! Happy Wargaming wherever you are, and have a great day!
Steady! Steady! The Blog isn’t in danger comrades!
Good evening all!
It has been a while since my last post, but not to worry, I’ve just been busy with medical appointments. I’m not a particularly healthy person! I literally forgot where I was and what I was doing in the middle of the town I live in, which was very scary.
But blogging has been a great outlet for creative energy, and is helping to keep my memory intact and my brain working.
But that is not the only reason I am posting today!
My tank-line holds the ridge against the foul Death Guard.
Games Workshop has updated their IP policy recently, just in time for a recent resurgence of hobby activity on my end for Warhammer 40k. Honestly, not much of it affects my blog, and I’m far too small a fish to fry. But in an abundance of caution, I will be using entirely my own models for photos, and no longer using the copyrighted images that I sometimes did before. As well, any small fictional snippets will be from my own writing from now on. Hooray for fanfiction!
I’m still 3D printing conversion parts for my models; I have a printer and I’m going to use it. Luckily I haven’t printed 1 to 1 copies of anything so I shouldn’t suffer the banhammer on that end either.
Taking back the swamp, with what’s left of the 78th Siege Regiments troops.
Aside from Games Workshop, I also have run into the problem of storage space on WordPress. To be frank, I need to upgrade to a tier I never expected to hit, and it might be a financial challenge. But it will be worth it, and I will do so in the coming weeks. I have no intention of adding advertisements to my blog, and that will not change. This is for fun, not profit. It also keeps the GW lawyers away; It means I can post Fan-Fiction and Fan-Art without any problems.
I have a couple massive projects I’m working on, and as a teaser one is ANZAC themed Gallipoli style Imperial Guard!
Thanks for bearing with me, and if you’ve read this far, thank you.
Happy Wargaming wherever you are! And I hope to provide you quality content for years to come!
Cadians may be the standard, but almost every planet pays a tithe of men. Feudal Worlds are no exception!
It is a good time to be an Imperial Guard player, at least from a modelling perspective. While Games Workshops offerings may be limited compared to yesteryear, there has never been such a proliferation of 3rd party parts and kits to build exactly the kind of Imperial Guard Regiment you want. Wargames Atlantic, Victoria Miniatures, Anvil Industries. All are options(not necessarily cheaper though!) for adding a bit of the custom touch to ‘Your Dudes’.
3D printing is possibly the best option available, and with pre-supported models and bitz now commonplace it isn’t even a difficult task. It is also considerably cheaper; one can print the parts at home, saving on shipping and giving you immediate gratification to boot. I personally haven’t delved too deeply into printed Regiments as much as I could have, due to my love of the metal Regiments Games Workshop used to put out, especially the Praetorians and Vostroyans. However, The Makers Cult, a Patreon and Cgtrader store, offer one of my favourite options. While they make a ‘not Krieg’ regiment that looks amazing, it is their Feudal Guard that got my attention.
A picture from the 3rd Edition 40k rulebook. The only mainline 40k product to show us a Feudal World to my knowledge!
The Imperium of Man is a diverse empire, and within its borders lie worlds of every conceivable type. One of these is the Feudal World, a type of planet that usually but not always is locked technologically in the Middle Ages. These planets often offer some sort of resource that doesn’t require more advanced technology to harvest, and the Imperium is loathe to waste resources bringing them up to space-faring status when it doesn’t actually make the job any easier.
Often, these planets are easier to rule in their backwater state then many other planets, and their feudal hierarchy perfectly meshes with the Imperium as a whole. The Emperor is seen as a distant but powerful monarch, with the feudal lords owing their fealty to him. Sometimes a King or other titled ruler will act as the go-between of the people and the Imperial Governor, but this is not always the case. In any event, due to these planets generally having a smaller population, their tithe is mostly resource based and not manpower.
However, it is not unheard of for the Imperial Guard to raise regiments from such worlds. These recruits are in for a rude shock upon learning just how vast and unforgiving the galaxy is, and often require a bit of extra training and time to get into fighting trim. Such a Regiment might look like medieval soldiers given primitive and easy to use Lasguns or Laslocks to go with their plate armour and tabards. This is a really striking and distinctive look, and one many a hobbyist has tried to tackle. Historical kits, Warhammer Fantasy models (particularly Bretonnians) and such are kit-bashed with the good ole Cadian kit. The results can vary from amazing to mediocre, but the famous Dave Taylor Genswick 33rd are probably the best example of it being done extremely well.
The Makers Cult Feudal Guard range has both heavily armoured, plate mail encased soldiers, and more recently men with a more peasant appearance. It was these latter troops I was very keen on. I learned quickly that my original idea to use spare Cadian lasgun arms wasn’t going to work, as the models just don’t quite match up. However, the laser rifles provided with the kit grew on me, and I like to think of them as primitive and easy to use Lasguns provided to the regiment.
Just what I always imagined Feudal Guard to look like!
The ‘Kettle Helms’ were what tipped me over the edge into printing a set of these soldiers. The Militia kit looks like just the kind of levy that might be conscripted from a Feudal World, with the more heavily armoured men perhaps being from a different class or caste, and therefore in a command position. The parts were all pre-supported, and I was keen to get cracking on so I loaded up a build plate or three and got my two printers going.
Here are the bodies in Chitubox. As you can see, these are multi-part models. With three build plates to produce 9 Guardsmen with full equipment it certainly took some time to print!
Being multi-part, it was a time consuming project. But around evening I had all the parts ready to go. The quality was excellent, with lots of deep relief and crisply defined detail. The paint will go on tommorow, but we can take a peek at the models before I paint them!
The first 4. These were fiddly to put together, and my fingers have a nice coating of superglue.
4 more! The sculpts really look quite good, and while being more semi-truescale compared to the Cadian line of models, this is actually an improvement. Primaris Marines will dwarf these guys, as they should!
Lets take a closer look. The lasguns are very arquebus in appearance, with a top-loading energy cell. Perhaps the function of these lasguns is supposed to be similar to ease training? That’s the excuse I’m using!
The backpack sits on a square nub on the torso, and lacks any straps. Perhaps the armour underneath the tunic holds it on? Either way, it is a nice looking backpack.
While being multipart, the parts line up quite well with only a few gaps. I must say I really enjoy the sculpts on these guys.
I have saved the Plasma gunner for last. This model was particularly fun to work on, with a really dramatic pose full of energy. The cable broke off when I was removing the supports during cleanup, but it was an easy fix.
This unlucky peasant seems to have drawn Plasma duty. The brutal and simple design of the plasma gun gives it a unique look and fits the bill of being a simpler and easier pattern given to Feudal Guardsmen.
The plasma gun has a bespoke backpack just for this weapon, and it looks great. Getting the model to stand on one foot was a ‘fun’ challenge.
Something the fully plate-armoured soldiers lack is visible faces, something these helmets allow. They have some great character, and add a lot to these models.
Now this was a project I really shouldn’t have started. I have loads of projects on the go, but being stuck at home combined with my hobby ADHD means I couldn’t resist. I needed to use the resin in the vat of my printer as well, so while these models didn’t use much resin at least it helped keep it ‘ready’ for other prints. I have had resin go unusable on me before, so I try to print at the very minimum of once a week.
These are cheap models to print, and now that I know the workflow I might print up a lot of them! I needed another regiment like I needed a hole in the head, but sometimes you just can’t resist the pull of a cool idea.
For now, I’ll print them 9 at a time and paint them as I go. That way I don’t have to stare down a pile of unpainted models, which can be discouraging. You’ll notice I said 9, not 10. That is because the Sergeants are going to be kitbashed from the rest of the Feudal Guard range and I have yet to purchase all the needed sets to do so. But lets take a peek at the plan for them!
I originally purchased this set to make my Feudal Guard, but had a rethink when I saw the Militia kit. I’m thinking of using the tabarded models at the bottom…
…Combined with the Sergeant upgrade kit. The Kettle Helms with feathers are what I am after. No capes!
I’m keen to see how these models paint up, and I will share progress of that when I do so!
Now, it would be remiss to say that Games Workshop hasn’t also finally thrown Guard players a bone or two officially. They have announced a new Cadian upgrade frame with plenty of heads, special weapons, and more importantly for me, a bolter for the Sergeant. Like many other Guard players I started with Cadian models and such a frame fills me with a little bit of glee as I think about overhauling my older models.
Finally some women!
That bolter…’chefs kiss’
And that is without talking about the new Tanith models! I’m super excited for these new Ghost models, even though I own a full set of the old Metal Gaunts Ghosts.
Men of Tanith, do you want to empty your wallets?
All in all, a fun day of 40k flavoured printing! My Feudal Guard need a name and backstory, and I’ll be back with painted models and lore to boot! But until then, Happy Wargaming wherever you are, and Forwards! For the Emperor!
“Still, a chap ought to look smart in front of the men, don’t you think?”
Hello! It has been a while since I focused on my Praetorians, and a long time ago, I alluded to doing a Glazers Creek refight. Unfortunately, plans fell through at the time. I have made new plans for Glazers Creek, however, and for that I’ll need 25 Power Level of Imperial Guardsmen. And, what better regiment then the Praetorian XXIV!
Glazers Creek, if you don’t already know, is a fantastic scenario for Warhammer 40k featuring an Imperial Guard last stand against the vile Ork menace. Players must survive waves of Greenskins, and if even one Guard model remains at the end, the Imperial player wins! It was originally fought in 2nd Edition Warhammer 40k, but saw a new scenario update in 2018, and is a tremendous amount of narrative fun. Of course, this last stand is inspired by the epic 1964 Film Zulu, and the original scenario wore this inspiration on its sleeve.
“Men of Harlech, stop your dreaming, can’t you see their spearpoints gleaming…”
To tease you a little, allow me to elaborate on the refight. It will either be the classic Orks, or altered to feature the Tyranid menace. Unlike GW’s rendition of the fight, I will be splitting the command with another Guard player. This is to represent a Bromhead and Chard scenario, just like Zulu! Both Imperial players will have side objectives, and while surviving is the key, they will have differing goals, and that may cause tension, especially as you can’t tell the other player what that goal is!
Now to do this battle the justice it deserves, I need to get my Praetorian Guard painted. I have made another post detailing the history behind that regiment, and I won’t go for length here, but suffice to say they wear spiffy redcoats and gleaming pith helmets! They are, really, just head-swapped Mordian Iron Guard, but they have gained a life of their own on the internet. I have acquired, slowly and expensively, over the last few years almost a company’s worth of them.
I did a few test models, but this is the real deal now. I was inspired by the blog https://thelostandthedamned.wordpress.com and Subedai’s amazing Praetorian paint scheme. While I could not hope to match the crispness and amazing brush work, I did steal wholesale the paint scheme. Lets have a look at my first completed unit, a Command Squad led by Major Cushing!
This Praetorian is meant to be used on a weapons team, but I like to imagine he has some sort of fancy mini-vox. I love how vibrant I managed to get the red!The white pouches add some real contrast to the paint scheme. I’m particularly chuffed about it.Meltaguns. Never leave home without at least one! This model is a one-off, as I can’t see myself spending another $50 Canadian dollars on another one!I did a bit of muzzle burn on the barrel. It’s a simple effect but I think it works.Who needs vox-casters when you have good ole Bugles? The crispness of the yellow lace was fun to paint, and simple too! All it took was a base of Averland Sunset followed by a wash.
Now the other two models are particularly interesting. The banner is an old school, printed banner glued on with white glue, bearing the insignia of the Praetorian XXVI. This was included in the old Praetorian army box, but mine is simply printed out on paper and glued on.
Holding aloft the banner of the Regiment, this lad is ready to fight off those who would bring it low.I put some kinks into the banner, to give it the effect of wind blowing on it.
Now the officer, this was an interesting case. I never liked, as controversial as this is, the official Praetorian officer model. It seemed too wild, lacking in trim and regimental flavour. On the other hand, I had an old Cadian officer model that didn’t fit that regiment, what with his ‘sneering imperialist’ expression. I simple plonked a pith helmet from Victoria Miniatures onto his head, and presto, a fine Praetorian officer was born! I removed the Cadian Gate from his one pauldron, and painted his flak armour a crisp white.
It is amazing what a simple Pith Helmet can add to a model!Again, I made sure to keep the red nice and crisp. While he lacks epaulettes I made sure to include yellow details on his scarf.No Cadian gate here!With a face like this, he was born to be a Praetorian. That imperial disdain is perfect.
That is all I got done today, but my full list for the refight includes three Infantry Squads. I can knock out ten men a day, like I did my Vostroyans for the Miniwargaming trip. But why stop there? I have 70+ of the lads to do, and that is just seven painting sessions! Having a blog will keep me on track here, as I will want to post them. It is quite good motivation!
Well, I hope you enjoyed your first real taste of Praetorian goodness, because I plan on getting these guys done really quickly! I will be back with more later this week. Until then, Happy War-gaming wherever you may be, and remember to fix bayonets!
I really, really wanted to have some Valentine tanks painted for today. But as I didn’t have tan primer, some 40k and Legion models will have to suffice! I’ve gotten back into the painting game a bit, despite my shaky hands. I really want to put even a little dent into my ever-growing backlog.
I started with something special. A while back, I made a post about painting a Praetorian Guard Warhammer 40k army. While I let that project slip from my schedule, I decided to paint another test mini. My problem with the first was time; it simply took far too long per Guardsman to be viable. for me at least!
Swish, but you took 2 hours to paint!
This is my older test mini, done when I had hands that weren’t fighting me constantly. Its rather good, and the grey is unique among Praetorian Guard armies I have seen. But it simply takes too long to do, and might even be impossible given my tremors situation.
His replacement! In classic colours, I must admit I like it a teensy bit better.I even managed to do the helmet strap!The two models side by side.And from the back. The yellow lace is so classic that it’ll stay no matter which paint scheme I stick with!Not a bad bit of painting.
The new Guardsmen is painted in Classic Praetorian Guard colours, navy paints and simple tunics. He was much faster to paint, and importantly, still doable! I might end up going with a compromise. Grey facings and turnbacks but yellow lace and simple tunics. Let me know your thoughts!
Next up was a Terminator with a Banner. This was a daunting model to paint, and I must admit I messed up royally in parts, which is even worse given the rarity of the model! I don’t think its beyond salvageable however, and it still looks a decent tabletop standard mini.
The actual terminator went fairly well, it was the banner that caused me the worst issues. White paint that refused to cooperate no matter how much I thinned it, and shaky hands to make the detail nearly impossible!As a Terminator of the Black Templars, he is a member of the Sword Brethren. This meant a red cross, and theoretically, a white helmet. I kept the red cross but omitted on purpose the helmet, given that white had been such an issue on the banner that turned out for the best!An all over drybrush of Eshin Grey and Dawnstone was the basis of the armour, thoroughly soaked in Nuln Oil afterwards to darken it back up. The Fist I particularly like, and this Templar may have fought with the Crimson Fists in the past. Sons of Dorn stick together! Ugh….the Banner. It would be alright if it wasn’t so chunky. Still, it looks OKAY enough for gaming. I just wish my white paint and shaky hands had not gotten in the way. Decals saved me from any major free-hand work. What is the V mean for this banner? Its a roman numeral for sure but I’m not sure for what yet!
Next up, something totally different. Watching a few Star Wars Legion Battle Reports really got my creative juices flowing, and with an unbuilt Iden Versio lying on my ‘to finish’ pile, I got right to work. Just like my previous Imperial Special Forces, I use the same recipe from my Black Templars and drybrush the highlights then dull down with washes.
Major difference here was red piping on the uniform and helmet. I need decals to properly make the helmet ‘pop’ but at least Iden clearly reads as something different then my blue striped ISF. I picked the helmet on purpose, as I want my Imperial Special Forces and Empire army in general to have helmets wherever possible. Its uniform regulations, what are we, rebel scum?
I went with the E11 Blaster. She can take a sniper rifle or repeating blaster, but I’ll let cards do the work here. Additionally, this leaves her hand free to do commander things!Honestly, I find ISF and Inferno Squad easy to make look good. This was simply dry brushing and red striping to get done quickly. I have another box on its way to me, and I’ll be able to fill up my Special Forces slots with them, a nasty, and easy to paint, army!The detail is crisp, and somebody more inclined then me can probably make them pop really well. That being said, the dry brush was effective.Iden’s little droid was simple and easy, but has good effects on the table and I’m keen to put ‘Dio’ to work.
Finally, a 3D printed model. I really want my Empire army to evoke the ‘Battle of Mimban’ as depicted in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and I got from Skullforge Studios (I’ll include a link down below) their ‘Grunge Trooper’ set. These are Imperial Army troopers in wet weather gear, and are known by many names, ‘Mudtroopers’ and ‘Swamp Troopers’.
They actually aren’t Stormtroopers (Stormtroopers make an appearance during the Mimban battle and trench scenes, and are notable for being considered elite during when Solo is set.) Being part of the Imperial Army, they were eventually fully integrated into the Stormtrooper Corp much later, closer to the Original Trilogy timeline. But for now, they form the bulk of the Empire’s forces on Mimban, and are sent to die in massive human wave tactics. In old Legends canon they never got amalgamated, and continued in service until the end of the ‘Palpatine’ Empire. Imperial Army troopers do not currently have rules. My idea is to run them either as custom, hand-made units similar in strength to Rebel Troopers but with worse morale, or as simply Stormtroopers without Precise.
A simple uniform, and I was able to further make use of my random can of German Field Grey to get the basic colours on. I went extremely overboard with the mud details; I love filthy models! This model I believe is supposed to represent Han Solo as he was in the Imperial Army.Corporal Han Solo is having a bad day. His cloak is completely covered in crud.These miniatures should prove easy to paint, and Cpl.Han Solo here took no time whatsoever to get done.The only flying he gets to do on Mimban is from explosions.
All in all, a good busy few days. I’m expecting to go back to work soon as Lockdown nears its end in Ontario. I’m looking forward to being back out there but I’ll miss the sheer amount of hobby time I got to do!
My plans right now are to get my Legion army finished, as it really isn’t that many models left, then get my 40k Praetorians ready for a ‘Glazers Creek’ refight I have planned in the summer. On top of my Flames of War and Team Yankee. Oh, and my Very British Civil War and Bolt Action/Konflikt stuff. Oh boy, I have a lot of stuff to get done!
I hope you all are staying safe out there, and Happy Wargaming wherever you may be in the world. Have a great Valentines Day, and cheap Chocolate Day afterwards!
Once upon a time, this was a primarily 40k-centric blog. Over the years I have adapted and switched to new games as they have come and caught my fancy, but it isn’t like I have stopped collecting or playing in the mean time.
The Chaplain would like to have a word with you…at 120 MPH.
However, my tastes over time have changed, and looking back at my old, reliable Russ fleet, and having played games with more realistic stylings recently, they didn’t hold up well. I now own a 3D printer, but printing whole alternate tanks was still a difficult task…a print-bed is still a limiting factor. I wasn’t really looking all that hard, when I caught wind of II GARGOYLES STVDIO, a patreon who had done in the past a T-34 styled upgrade kit.
Nice and Soviet. I particularly liked the Cannon! Their Chimera alternative sides kit is also looking great, with excellent(if difficult to print for newbies) suspension detail.Their Maxim-styled Bolter replacements will find use in both 40k and Historical settings. I’m planning a Double-Decker Bus for VBCW with broadsides of these things.
However, this kit was meant for the newer styled GW Russ, which I only have one of. My fleet mostly consists of older, early 2000’s and 90’s Russ hulls, and that meant the back extension would not fit, as the engine bay on the older models is offset instead of centreline.
Curse you! In actual truth this makes a lot of sense; Who even owns these older tanks…except me obviously.
However, all the stowage will fit just fine, as well as equipment and other paraphernalia. What particularly interested me was the main gun; a replacement for the notoriously large calibre Leman Russ Battle Cannon goes a long way in making the Russ ‘work’ better from a realism angle. I really liked the T-34/76 style it has going on, and took one of my older kits apart.
Much better!The tank almost looks MORE menacing with a more sensible gun; While the Russ will never be a ‘realistic’ tank, this goes a long way to making it more reasonable. The profile looks more like a predator of a tank, instead of a cartoon caricature. Loading shells will still be a problem in the cramped turret, but at least now it is physically possible to carry a few rounds…The cobbled together look of the tank lends it-self to my lore; Being that these are Sabbat Worlds Crusade era tanks, this could very well be a local Urdeshi variant of the parent design.
However, because the upgrade kit was designed for a newer kit, some modification was needed. This was actually doable as opposed to the rear hull extension. Since I am pointing people toward the Patreon, I figured I’d show you quickly how I did it.
Before gluing(or regluing as the case is here), you will need to trim away some of the bottom turret plate.Using the front protruding part as a guide, trim away the parts where the cannon hangs too low. You won’t be able to adjust elevation, but given that this is a gaming model that might not be a problem for you!Then simply slide the new, sensible cannon down into where the Battle Cannon used to be. You can see here the cuts I have made, to allow the new cannon to sit well. Use a good superglue with a good bond to make sure you don’t lose your new cannon during play, as nothing but the glue will now be holding it!
This is the first step on my Russ overhaul, and I won’t be stopping here. I am also going to ‘try’ and undo the side-pieces on my Chimera APCs, but I did too good a job the first time and I don’t think they are coming off! Luckily, a friend of mine got me a Chimera a year ago I have yet to build, so I will be putting the new suspension unit on that kit soonish!
I highly recommend checking out the Patreon for II GARGOYLES STVDIO at https://www.patreon.com/2gargoyles, as they have a lot of really cool stuff! They have this month a Dino-Riding Rough Rider unit, and in their backlog you can grab regular, horse mounted Rough Riders and various other bits and bobs, like the Tank Upgrade I got here!
Including this Dshk styled Heavy Stubber! I have asked them to make a simplified version for my shaky hands, but you can make the current one available totally posable!
I will have some more, non-40k content for those who enjoy that later this week! Covid-19 has well and truly entered a new stage, and I am skipping my local clubhouse visits until the situation in Canada gets a little better. More time for hobbying and blogging, and anyone who finds this content interesting is in for a treat!
Until then, Happy War-Gaming where-ever you are, and stay safe and positive as best you can in these trying times!
My new Primaris Lieutenant draws a bead with his pistol, safe in the knowledge his sword is not going anywhere…
In my last Templar post, I had begun the arduous task of painstakingly attaching chains to the wrists and weapons of the Indomitus box contents. While it was a slow start, it was addicting; the new models have many places where the chains like to fit and hang naturally.
I had a decision to make, in both a time, money, and logic sense. Where would I draw the line on what weapon would get chained or not? On my previous models, I had done ranged weapons as well as their various melee weapons, but such a thing seemed a bit much going forward. As well, as a gamer on a budget (that printer, and the money sunk into maintaining it and keeping it running, are initially quite high) I had little in the way of chain left. For visual consistency, I wanted the whole box to have chain cut from the same source, therefore I was a bit more miserly then I would be normally.
In the end, I decided to only do the melee weapons; this is a melee focused box, and I made a decision that if a Black Templar had to drop a weapon, it would be the ranged one. After all, while you can pistol whip someone quite hard when your a 9ft tall demigod, you can do so even better with a sword. And the sword features heavily in the lore of the Black Templars, and I imagine, viewed with some reverence.
Mind made up, I started with the Bladeguard Veterans.
They received custom Black Templar Chapter insignia on their shoulder pauldrons, but the main event is the chains on their wrists. The crosspiece can easily accept glue underneath, and the chain ‘likes’ to get stuck there, allowing you to easily and naturally wrap the chain around the arm.
Maybe it was the practice I had with the previous models, but the chains went on quite smoothly! A good tip here is to let it hang naturally once you have found a point to anchor the chain; gravity will help you make it look good. Using gel superglue, dabbed on very slowly, I then went along the chain-links, setting each link in turn. I took care to not let the glue ‘dribble’ into places that had details I wanted to retain. The chains are to improve the look, not obscure it!
I then did the Primaris Lieutenant (Castellan, if we are being Black Templars, here), shown above. His was an interesting case; his sword was sheathed! I contemplated breaking the rule, but figured it would be visually interesting having the chain loosely draped across the front of his body, as he shoots his Volkite (Think martian heat ray, for those of you not familiar with the weapon).
I thought it through from the models point of view; he holsters his weapon as the Tyranids close in, then draws his sword, carefully wrapping the chain around his wrist as he does so, a picture of calm on a chaotic battlefield. Finally, the relentless xenos crash into the shield wall, and he is prepared.His weapon is not leaving his hand, not until he draws his last breath…
Next up was the Primaris Captain (Marshall, if we are being Black Templars, and we are, at least here!), who luckily is wielding his sword normally. This was a fun little thing to do, little to no effort expended, even if it took a bit of time.
A brutal, broad-blade, for a butcher masquerading as a Knight.
Having made decent progress, I then turned my attention to the Ancient. The Bladeguard Ancient has no weapon to speak of, besides the skeletal hand Games Workshop thought would count. What would I chain in this case? I had to think quite a while on this, and eventually decided to run the chain through the standard he bears. After all, he has something more important then a weapon that could fall; He bears a reliquary, and should it fall, the line of Marines very well could follow.
This was a harder task, and took some serious time to think of the logistics of how such a job would be accomplished. In the end, I let my gut and gravity decide.
While I was at it, I glued a Chain-sword from the MK-III kit to his belt on his back. Every Templar should bear a melee weapon, and no, the sacred hand does not count!
Of course, I then turned my attention to the Assault Intercessors. Finally, Primaris melee troop choices! As a Black Templar player, my heart sung with joy when I saw these models, and was quite happy to bring them into my crusade properly.
Luckily, my task was mostly an easy one. The crosspiece on the chain-sword made my life incredibly easy, and I simply put on some music, and went about the task at hand. The only challenging model was the ‘not sergeant’ from the second, five man sprue. Since he was not a sergeant, I equipped him instead with a drawn pistol but holstered sword. I took the same approach as the Primaris Lieutenant, and had it drape naturally across the body to wear the sword sat on his hip.
Proper Templars; No silly Bolt Rifles here (Although, those have their place, and I will elaborate in a later post…)Ready to rip and tear, until the job is done. And in the 41(2nd?)st Millennium, it is never done.
Of course, this leaves the Eradicators and the Chaplain. The Eradicators, while a stupidly good unit, are going without chains; They are ranged warriors not out of choice, but out of a job that needs doing. Temporarily putting honour aside to focus on killing; the Black Templars don’t have to like it, but at the end of the day, we are here to kill Xenos, Heretics, and Mutants. A melee weapon is preferable…not needed.
On the other hand, the Chaplain is not done simply because he deserves more. With such a badass pose (finally, a Primaris Chaplain without a stupid, Dark Angels style, robe!), he deserves only the greatest of what I can do. With Grimaldus being added to my Crusade roster, the Indomitus Chaplain represents a ‘line’ Chaplain of the most zealous, loyal Chapter around. And that cannot be a rushed, or half done job. He must be an exemplar for all his Primaris brethren of what it means to one of Sigismund’s Crusaders.
And with that massive, evil tease, I shall leave you. Hopefully, I have something before long to show you. But for now, Ave Imperator, and Happy War-gaming, wherever in the world you might be!
Yours truly, in the centre, surrounded by boxes. Tyler makes an appearance!
Like many others on the blogosphere, and as I have previously said in a previous post, I got myself Indomitus on release. I was lucky! If your just reading this post, a quick recap: a good local store was able to secure enough copies for our surprisingly large rural community, and no one who pre-ordered went without, and until the 28th of July you can get one made to order. Go buy that if you missed it, if you want one that is!
Now half the world has done an unboxing of the contents, so that is not what I’m going to talk about. Instead, I will mention my plans for the contents of the Space Marine portion, of which I kept. The rest went to a friend for a reasonable cost. But I would be amiss if I did not share how much I love the Crusade system. It is a glorious, buggy mess, and is fun beyond anything Narrative 8th offered. It is far from perfect! First thing though, some pictures, for those only here for the “articles”.
The Vostroyan 78th take a severe beating at the hands of the Necron menace, but manage to win the day through bravery…not really. It was Lascannons. All the Lascannons.
The Leman Russ Annihilator was the MVP of the match. I paid a significant outlay in Requisition Points to make it an Ace. It has now got an Elite Crew, and Enhanced Targeting, allowing it to re-roll ones, and hit on threes. A devastating combination. However my opponent also gained a large amount of Experience killing the rest of my army, and thus it all evened out.
Living in a low Covid-19 affected area lets us take our chances, and get some games in. But we still TRY to have some caution…
It is horribly convoluted, and and I’m going to link a video by a Youtuber I follow who explains it far better. (If you are reading this by chance, Zorpazorp, thank you so very much!) It is a great tool for getting people not usually into Narrative into that side of the hobby, and as already converted many in my local area. They are even making less game only decisions, and ones based more on ‘feelings’ that their units might carry out. As well, units gaining perks and flaws based on events in-game is something hard to make work, but so far, it has been pretty good! My Tank Ace certainly feels like an Ace, and now plays even more like one. A Pask in the making? Maybe! It also doesn’t overly punish failure or over reward success, and also allows for an in-built command point buff to armies with a lesser Crusade total, something I greatly appreciate as someone who loses a lot….
Figures it takes an Australian to explain upside-down rules!
My personal two Crusade armies will be my Templars, which are a work in progress, and my Vostroyans, fully complete and ready to go. That way, I can take pretty pictures with one, while the bare plastic is never seen on camera!
Back in December 2019, I traded my old Citadel castle set for a full Black Templars army. At the same time, I helped a friend do some work, and instead of pay, I asked for some of his Black Templars. Long story short, I got a lot of the crusading Space Marines.
A blast from the past of December 2019, three centuries ago.
This has been added to, with the addition of Dark Imperium models and a whole wack of Primaris Marines and the Space Marine Heroes Terminator models. This helped bring the force more into contention with other, stronger, lists I’d face.
Loud, proud, and deadly. A Redemptor carrying a Hero of the Black Templars is a force indeed…especially if he looks the part!
A much simpler addition; just a few chains to properly move the model into the Chapter.
I was however faced with the small, niggling issue…I hate painting power armor. I’ve always been fairly awful at it; the large flat or curved areas with smooth detail confounds me. To show that I have both made at least some attempt to paint some models, and that I kinda suck at painting black, here is my work in progress ‘Sergeant Jovan’, now a Castellan in the Black Templars. Using the Lieutenant Stat-line with a Master-Crafted ‘Power Sword’, and Bolt pistol, he should be fine; He’s representing a new Primaris recruit who has proven himself sufficiently zealous and angry enough to earn his place among his Firstborn brothers!
He’s not taking a break; He’s simply catching his breath before tearing another Ork apart with his bare hands. The tilting shield is the only new part added to the original model; I also added damage to it, to bring it inline with the rest of the kit. The Crusade badge will be applied to the whole army, eventually.A torn gash on his face, earned in close combat. The orange is supposed to be fresh, hot rounds still burning in his ceramite. I admit, its not worked as I hoped, and will probably go back to a lighter grey, representing chipped armor.I don’t paint eyes; I suffer from badly shaking hands from nerves, and that is beyond me at my current skill level. However, this is my favourite face I’ve painted; I think it looks suitably gritty! There is a lot of room for improvement…
The problem in completing the army was two-fold; I was having trouble playing such a radically different army then my usual gun-line, and the weaker, older marines, outside a few very strong units, both lore friendly and not, meant I had trouble competing. On top of that, since the Black Templar upgrade kit was rather dated, I couldn’t make some of the new units look sufficiently ‘Templar’ enough to justify the amount of time I’d spend working on them, and that killed a huge amount of my interest. As a primarily fluff gamer, the looks mattered a great deal….
However, Indomitus looked promising right from the get-go; the models had all the gothic, baroque styling I missed from previous iterations of Marines, and the new 9th edition rules favor melee a lot more then 8th did. I managed to split the box with a friend, and got myself a full box minus the Xenos scum. If I had left them alone, and just used decals, they would have made damn fine Templars right away, but such a thing was such a waste of potential. Granted, they don’t need a lot of work, a chained weapon here, a reliquary and Maltese cross there, and I would be set. As well, as we are starting with Combat Patrol level games of Crusade, getting a force painted up is a breeze. A few models is far easier to pull off and motivate yourself to paint then a full, 2000 point behemoth of a list.
I started with the Judiciar, whose helmet I hated, and the Bladeguard Ancient, who I love in almost all respects, minus his skeletal hand being a weapon.
I wear a mask in real life, I don’t need a model with one! He’s got a Chaplains helmet since he is a member of the Reclusiam. He’s a Chaplain in training, or a different branch, depending on what you read. But he can have the vow of silence and still don the scary skull helmet; if Reivers can, so can they! I chained up his executioners sword…you really don’t want to drop the weapon that defines you, and Templars don’t like to so much they attach the damn things to themselves!
A quick 45 minute print on my 3D printer, and I have a suitable helmet! I picked this one since it bears a resemblance to Grimaldus in his depiction in the Helsreach animation on Youtube! The lines usually disappear under my primer, no worries there!
The Ancient was an easy model, all I did was give him an appropriate Templar cross on his shoulder. This was a custom file I had made for me by a member of our Clubhouse, and is not publicly available. However, Pop Goes the Monkey does a very good version, even if shipping is a bit rough depending on where you live(not his fault, blame external factors!)
Not bad looking from a distance! It adds a 3D element that decals simply can’t match. You can objectively prefer one or the other, but I prefer the 3D design from a painting angle.
Again, the lines will be far less apparent once painted. I could paint them off the shoulder, but I will be painting my Bladeguard Veterans and Ancients as Sword Brethren, and a red cross on a black shoulder is a piece of cake. On my normal guys, they will be primed and put on after painting is done.
These two models needed very little conversion, and most of the others won’t either. The models look sufficiently Templar out of the box as is, and don’t need heavy work to look the part. However, that is not the case for my Outriders, or for those not aware, the new Primaris Bikers.
While I always liked Templars, I like them for both their lore and “black tide” approach of waves of angry zealous Marines charging across open ground, butchering all who stand in their way. But bikes, while a part of Templar lore, aren’t a huge part of it. Dark Angels do ‘Knightly’ bikes better, and that look is distinctive and very awesome. But, as I am not a traitor in waiting, I chose not to make them Dark Angels, and instead make them something totally different! Something…more….Eastern.
Oh no. I shouldn’t have listened to this.
Yeah, my bikes will be White Scars. I decided this early, upon release of the pictures of the bikes, and before everyone and their second cousin twice removed on their mothers side figured out they are death on wheels in the rules. I will not complain, but I want to make clear this is not a meta decision, instead a badass decision.
While I have yet to assemble mine, that is because I await the delivery of White Scars upgrade packs, and the printing time of additional Mongolian themed flavours of weapons, insignia, and overall awesomeness. I will keep you good folks informed! While I cannot take both Chapters together, not without losing Doctrines and other awesome flavour, I will be building up an all mounted detachment for Crusade and beyond of angry, space, Mongolians. For the Khan!
After extensive reading of their lore, I love them for entirely different reasons then their Templar cousins. Both are melee Chapters, both have a big emphasis on honour. But where that honor comes from in both cases vary wildly, and neither Chapter particularly likes the other….
Anyways, that is all I have for today. 40k was a big part of this blog in the past, and while it won’t be the only focus by far, it will be a more common sight again, among other, more niche topics. The hatred and brutality of the far future is back!
Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed the read! I will have more pictures in the coming days. In the mean time, Happy War-gaming wherever you are, and may the Emperor keep your dice rolls high!
