Armoured Regiment: Vulture Gunship Scenic Bases

Last night i got the Vulture Bases completed. I tried hard make the atmosphere dark and gritty, as is befitting for the Krieg! So i kept the colours dark and bleak, with the exception of the Kriegsmen themselves, as i wanted a little attention drawn to them.

Here are the Vultures on the bases - not a great picture but they don't fit into the light box!!

So with another two units complete, its on to the final four! I picked up two of them yesterday from Games Workshop in Carmarthen, and will probably get them built tonight in front of the TV (provided i dont start playing Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, which i also bought yesterday!)! Yes, its the humble Chimera!

I'll need another two of them after these guys for the Armoured Fist Squads, as well as two Autocannon turrets from Forgeworld. When i place that order I'll also be getting a Taros as well! Reason being that for Blog Wars in June your list needs to include one Special Character. I wont give away anything else just yet, but my Special Character rolls around in a Taros!

Finally this came the other day:

Its the character model for my Custodians that i mentioned a few posts ago. The cast is excellent, and I'm really looking forward to painting this guy! He'll have to wait until I've done the Armoured Regiment though, as its so close to completion! More busy modeling days ahead i think!

The GunGrave

Armoured Regiment: Vulture Gunships Complete

Here are the 2 Vulture Gunships with Twin linked Punisher Cannons that i recently ordered. I've painted them to match this:

This is the Vendetta Gunship that i use for my Vostroyan Army. i figured that the Vostroyans wouldn't have access to their own flyer's, and would rely on Imperial Navy air support instead. The same goes for the Death Korps Armoured Regiment, and I've done the colour schemes to match the Vendetta, as they'll be from the same wing.

Vulture 1

Vulture 2

'Nuff said.

This is what i really wanted to show off - the scenic bases! I gave them my usual enthusiastic treatment and came up with 2 ideas; Trench and Barbed Wire!

This is the barbed wire base. I selected an unwilling Kriegsman from the display cabinet and chopped him up especially for this! I've drilled a few bullet holes in his helmet and chest as well, further evidence of his unfortunate demise! They'll be more obvious once he's painted.

Here is the Trench base (my favorite). Originally i wanted to do both sides of the trench, but I didn't have the space once the flying stand was in place, so I settled for half. The addition of the Kriegsman more than made up for it though! This guy is a Centaur crewman but fits in quite nicely on this base! I cant decide whether he's lost, or just waiting nervously to go over the top! You decide.

I'll get them both painted up tomorrow!

The GunGrave

Krieg Armoured Regiment: Heavy Bolter Teams Complete

I had a mamoth painting day yesterday, and got all 4 of the Krieg Heavy Bolter Teams completed. These really are cracking minis, the level of detail far surpassing anything that GW have produced in plastic so far (and it better do for the price that i paid for it!)

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Team 4

You can see in this picture where i've added some Citidel Water Effects to the base. I dont use this stuff much beacuse i only have very limited quantities of it. As this base was a bit bland i decided to use a bit (not that it made it THAT more interesting though!)

So each of my Armoured Fist squads will benifit from a Heavy Bolter. All i need to buy now is 4 Chimera's and the Armoured Regiment list is done! Speaking of lists, i'll probably put the Armoured Regiment list up on the blog sometime in the next post or two.

Now moving on to something that im quite excitied about:

Im really looking forward to this event, and i think its a great idea! Most of you probably know about it, but its a tournament organised by a blogger, for bloggers. Not exclusivly of course, but thats the idea! Alex over at From the Fang came up with this event so if your interested i suggest you go and check it out before all the places go! I've been fourtunate enough to bag me a spot, and i'm looking forward to putting a few faces to names as well! The only question now is.....which army to take! I guess you'll have to attend to find out!

The GunGrave

Legio Custodes: 2 More Custodians Complete: Death Korps Heavy Bolter Teams

So those WIP Custodians that your saw in the last post are now done! I am pleased with them, but there are a couple of 'buts....' though - See for yourselves!

Custodian Number 2

Custodian Number 3

I am really pleased with them, mainly because I've managed to streamline the process quite a bit while still achieving a great look. With these two models I've tried to make a sharper contrast between the areas of shade and the 'reflective' bits of the armour. I was hoping that this would create a better NNM effect. BUT despite this, i still think that I'm a bit off, and have yet to achieve NNM.

They're also a bit more orange than the original test mini! Not that much, but you can notice it. I'll be using the same base coat for all the future Custodians, simply because I've mixed a whole pot of this base coat and don't want to waste it!!!

Finally i think the definition of the detail is a little off. I used Gryphonne Sepia selectively around areas of detail, which at the time, looked fine. Looking back at the test mini i think i may have used Devlan Mud for this stage, making the detail stand out a bit more. As I've run out of Devlan Mud I'll have to go back and correct this at a later date.

So another learning curve for the quest to achieve NNM, but i will persevere and i will (eventually) succeed!! There plenty more models to experiment on, as i''ve got a few more of these Scibors Custodian models to paint, including a Sergant figure. Also, as of 5 minuites ago, i'll also have this AWESOME model to paint for the Custodians as well! Its from Scibors again, and will probably be my HQ choice for the Custodian army:

(picture used without permission, but im sure they won't mind!)

I think you'll agree that its a great looking mini, so i'm very much looking forward to painting this guy! I may make some ajustments to the sword (or replace it with some sort of Uber Guardian Spear!) but i'll see once it gets here.

So with the completion of the two Custodians i was able to make a start on that Forgeworld order that came the other day! I decided to crack on with the Heavy Bolter Teams first, which are now built and based.

I took some time to make the bases interesting, as is my standing policy for all large bases! These will be painted over the weekend hopefully, and then its onto the Vulture Gunships with Twin Linked Punisher Cannons! Now theres a model that i never get bored of building!

On a lighter note, this came through the door the other day, which made me pause for a moment:

For a fleeting second i thought the future had caught up with me, my love for the Guard placing me amoung their ranks! Fourtunately theres another 40,000 years or so to go yet before i have to worry about that!

The GunGrave

Legio Custodes: Work in Progress; Death Korps Squad Completed

So  I've been a busy little bee since the last post, with another Death Korps Squad completed for the Armoured Regiment, and the two Custodians that i built the other day are nearly painted!

First the Death Korps. Now all the infantry for the Armoured Regiment are completed (well, repainted anyways!) I just need to mount them in Chimeras now! So here the 4th squad, much like the others really.....!

As for the Custodians. Well it was a bit of a drama painting these guys! Firstly i undercoated them in the wrong yellow, then i went to look for my notes on painting them only to find that I've thrown them out! It much have happened when i was redecorating. So i decided to mix up a pot of what i thought was the recipe for the basecoat. I put to much orange in that and sprayed to models with it anyways, only to be left with spray-tan marines! ARGH! I managed to get the basecoat mix right in the end, just before i ran out of paint to do  it! Then i began painting properly!

Believe it or not, i did most of this with an airbrush, which really cut down the painting time. So now all the armour, robes and gems are done. Its just the Guardian Spears that need painting now. The casts i did for the Spear Tips were a bit iffy this time, but I'll see how they turn out once painted. Should get that done tomorrow, right in time for that Forgeworld delivery! Then its the final push for the completion of the Armoured Regiment!

The GunGrave

On the Table: Legio Custodes

So its been a while since i worked on this project, so today i thought it was time to revisit it!

I've assembled another 2 Custodians today. You'll also notice the scenic bases that i got from Scibors as well; Ancient Ruins is what i think they're called!

I painted one of the bases up as well, as the first Custodian is currently baseless! When i selected these bases i was thinking about the war in the Webway that the Custodians were fighting during the Heresy. The Horus Heresy artbooks are packed full of great images illustrating this, and theres a few in there of ancient Eldar cities. This was the basis of my choice, and its been painted accordingly.

I've used very mute, wrathbone-like colours here, and just washed it in Gryphonne Sepia to make it look a little aged. I didnt want to go mad on the base and then distract from the model itself, so i kept it simple. Here it is with the first Custodian on it:

As i was working i was trying to decide what i was trying to achieve with these models (display, gaming, etc) Initially i wrote a list based on the vanilla Marine codex, which was fine, but now theres a Grey Knights codex coming I'm thinking about using that! It does, of course, all depend on whats in it! The thinking was that the Legio Custodes are the Emperors finest, the best-of the best-of the best, and them some! Only they can be entrusted with the protection of the Emperor. With all this in mind, a Vanilla Marine list doesn't really do them justice does it? Also i didn't want to be building and converting squad upon squad of these guys to try and make a list that works. A codex based on an Elite strike force would suit the Custodes much better i think - and cut down on lengthy modeling and painting time by needing fewer models!

Then i started thinking about the thing that got me into a Custodes army in the first place - a Legio Custodes Thunderhawk! Yeah, that'll be pretty impressive! I'm not sure why i thought of this, even before id thought about the Custodians themselves, but it really got the ball rolling on this project. With this in mind i decided that i wanted my whole force to be transported in the Thunderhawk, and it has a transport capacity of 30 models. This gives me a nice guide for the number of models I'm going to do. 30's still a lot but I'll use it as an absolute limit. Its going to be the ultimate reward for getting all the infantry done for this army! It'll only come out for Apoc games of course, but the image of a golden Thunderhawk packed with shiny Custodians swooping onto the field is great! But that's a long way off yet.....

The GunGrave

Krieg Armoured Regiment: Company Command Tank and Second Squadron

So these tanks are the first products of the new forge! All the tanks of the Krieg Armoured Regiment are now complete (again!) So here they are:

Company Command Tank

Leman Russ Annihilator: Squadron Command Tank 2

Leman Russ

Leman Russ

Here all seven tanks, ready to crush!

The numerical transfers for these models were a pain to get on! I've had this one sheet of Death Korps transfers pretty much since they were first released (a good few years ago!) I think they may have degraded over time, as the numbers seemed to want to come off individually, and not in the three digit blocks that they were originally intended for. As a result the numbers are a bit wonky!!

So I'm now waiting for my second to last model order to see this list complete! Winging its way from Forgeworld now are 2 Vulture Gunships with Punisher cannons and 4 Death Korps heavy bolter teams for the Armoured Fist Squads. Then its 4 Chimeras and I'm done! In the meantime i'll be painting up another Krieg Squad.

I've got another 2 weeks of sick leave to go yet, so i hope to have this latest order knocked out pretty sharpish!

The GunGrave

The New Forge is now Operational!

So I'm guessing that most readers couldn't give a hoot about my new refurbished man-room! But i love it so much I'm going to share it with you before i get back to modeling! So here it is in its glory!

I spent a bomb on a load of new furniture for this room, mainly because i have a knackered back and needed a desk that i didn't have to stoop over. So the height adjustable desks Ive got in here now will do nicely!! So onto the other essential ingredients for a successful and productive Forge:

Storage, Storage, Storage! I used to have masses of boxes just lying around the place, and it was a pain! I found this shelf unit in the Ikea kiddies section, unit and 6 draws for about £31! Not bad for a massive space saving, de-cluttering piece of genius!

Jumbo Cutting Mat!I was only allowed these desks on the condition that i looked after them, or Mrs GunGrave would have my nuts hanging on the wall! So me and my Nuts decided that the desktop needed some practical protection, and this A1 size cutting mat fitted the bill, and only £20 off eBay! Gleaming!

Light Box. Now i have the space, my light box can have a permanent home, free from the predations of my marauding cats!

Display Cabinets. I already had 2 of these, but another one never hurts! These ones are £40 from Ikea, and probably the cheapest you'll find out there! Plus they give me bags of room to park my Valkyries!!

Stirring Artwork. Motivational scenes of death and carnage!

Plus a bit of Star Wars for moderation! (Cheers Bro, awesome Christmas present!)

Cognator Banks and Data Stacks. Internet access is a must in my Forge, especially for reference.

Just in case the Internet doesn't have what I'm looking for, an old fashion reference book or White Dwarf might help!

So there it is! I'm hoping production will re-start tomorrow! I've got about two and a half weeks before i go back to work (back trouble unfortunately) so I'm using the time to get a bit of Forgeworld in! 2 Vulture Gunships with Punisher Cannons (what else!) and 4 Death Korps Heavy Bolter Teams, all for my up-and-coming Death Korps Armoured Regiment!

The GunGrave