MK III Iron Warrior Destroyers

G'day folks, Macca here with some more Iron Warriors! This time out we have some gentle kitbashing: MK III Destroyers. I am pleased with them for the most part, the black Torso, helm and top of their packs, complemented by the yellow in the corner of their pauldrons is a catchy scheme. I can't seem to take a photo today without glare, and my good camera doesn't have the correct lens at the moment to properly capture the scheme. As a result, everything sorta blends towards a silver tone.

Bah. Pish Posh.

Anyway, here's the unit:

If the Moriat is the Alpha, then these guys are the Omega. No jokes from the Alpha Legion please, you closet loyalists.

Just for fun, I added my Moriat to the photos, complete with his volkites.

There are a few things I might have done better. They would have been nicer had I done my original plan and gone with the Death Guard torsos and possibly Iron Hands helms. Markings wise, I could have gone with the Destroyer symbol, that rip-off nuclear/bio-hazard one. But, in the end, I am pleased, you can tell these guys are different to regular marines, so all is well.

Now, to get back to the important things in my life, such as guarding the Bee.

Crap. It's getting away! Aw, we did bad!

~Macca

Kyr Vhalen, the Siege Breaker and the Moriat

 So, here we are, a while without posting actually minis up, (about a month and a half by my reckoning), but we're back with a bang. Today, I have 3 HQ's to show off.

Kyr Vhalen

The master of the 77th Grand Battalion, Warsmith Kyr Vhalen is just the sorta guy I like, brutal, quick to reprisal, and a survivor. Even as the dust settled and the Alpha Legion conquered Paramar, his Apothecaries dragged him from the rubble of his shattered bunker, but he was kicking, screaming, spitting blood and curses at the XXth Legion. You just know that one day he will be back for more.

 A fun detail to do was creating the ruins of his face. If you look at the guy in HH Book III, he looks like Hicks at the end of James Cameron's Aliens. His face is half melted off, and an empty eye socket stares out from the sneering leader. The actual head is a plastic Space Marine 40k one, which I cut and drilled. I used a Sons of Horus commander and cut and drilled his head off, as I felt I couldn't get the detail I wanted. I then proceeded to combine a few bits together to create his MK IV servo harness. In the end, I got a tidy, if simple commander.

The Siegemaster.

This guy can act as one of 4 or 5 different HQ options (see if you can name them), but for now, he is the siege master, ready to load the thudd guns of his battalion. Having the heavier armour, his servo harness is big and bulky, unlike the warsmith.

The Moriat.

MK III power armour is sexy as hell. I just love it. So, I built an ENTIRE unit of destroyers in it (pics soon), and then I made this guy to lead them. The colour palette for this features a lot of black, because most Legion Moriats and Destroyers wore black. I kept the legs and arms silver, but the torso, helm and part of the back were painted in black. I used yellow on the shoulders as I saw a scheme I really liked at the start of the Iron Warrior pics showing a lot of yellow in the destroyer markings. His shoulder marking is an Alpha, as he is a Moriat, the Alpha, or pack leader of the destroyers. Just works in my mind.

Kyr Vhalen leads his command squad into battle.

So there it is, 3 commanders, 3 different approaches. I have painted them for my table top gaming, so unlike my Primarchs, the colours are a bit more basic, and the glare of my lighting doesn't help the photos too much, but I hope you enjoy them anyway. As always, I kept the Hazard Stripes to a minimum, in only one place on the armour.

If you haven't seen it yet, check out Keepy's list from earlier today, he would love any feedback about how he is a cheesy jerk. Thanks for looking,

~Macca

2000pts Sons of Horus Army List

Gday all,

Keepy here after a bit of a hiatus from all things blog. I have a few things in the works regarding the Istvaan III build and a few other projects, so today's post is a good break from those and exercise my poor under nourished brain a bit.

I have found my love for the Sons of Horus again, and have shelved the Mechanicum for a while. Just a bit tired of playing them I think, and need a change to keep my interest up.

This is a bit of a play test to see what units I paint first, but also to see what I can get for 2k worth of points. This list is supposed to be a bit fluffy, but with a kick to it:

2000pts Sons of Horus

HQ

150pts Praetor w/ Iron Halo, Paragon Blade
195pts Legion Command Squad (x5) w/ Combat Shields, 4x Power Weapons, Power Fist
200pts Proteus Land Raider (Dedicated Transport)

Elites

150pts Apothecarion Detachment w/ 3x Apothecaries, Augury Scanners

Troops

290pts Legion Tactical Squad (x20) w/ Legion Vexilla, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Powerfist, Meltabombs
290pts Legion Tactical Squad (x20) w/ Legion Vexilla, Sgt w/ Artificer Armour, Powerfist, Meltabombs

Fast Attack

400pts Legion Seeker Squad (x8) w/ Combi Bolters, Dreadclaw

Heavy

190pts Sicaran Venator Tank Destroyer
135pts Legion Sicaran Battle Tank


Modus Operandi: Apothecaries split up with the two Tactical Squads and the Legion Command squad, they are equipped with augury scanners so they also give these units the Interceptor special rule if my opponent plonks down a pod or somthing in range... And of course gives them all FNP. The Command Squad mounts up in the Land Raider and will sit inbetween the two Tactical Squads acting as a counter-charge unit as well as giving off a 6" Fearless bubble from the Hull of the Land Raider thanks to the Legion Standard. Tacticals also have Legion Vexillas as a backup in case out of Fearless range. This combined blob is the core of the army and provides a massive footprint on the table to dominate / hold ground with.

The Sicaran and Venator will both work the flanks picking targets / transports to pop for the Seekers, as well as acting as a defensive / cut off unit for fast movers. Seekers drop down in the Dreadclaw T1 and smoke a high value / threat target (for example, a Jetbike squad) with a mixture of Combi Plas/Melta. If they survive longer than two turns then they can load up in the Dreadclaw again and hit something else a bit more squishy with their special ammo.

There are plenty of hobby things I would love to do with this list, the main one being a Land Raider with a massive Sons of Horus banner on it, like this image from Visions of Heresy:

I am pretty sure this has already been done, but it is something I can see tearing around the battlefield insipiring troops to crack on and fight through!

The Sons of Horus command squad is the other project, with instead of being modeled with big combat shields, placing the small  buckler style shields you see in the generic legion command and on 40k terminator Sergeants. And of course, plenty of SoH iconography and parts.

While writing up this list I thought of several alternatives you could do that would also be great hobby projects. If you ditch the Land Raider and give the Preator and Command Squad all Jetbikes, it comes in 10pts more expensive. You lose FNP due to no Jetbiking Apothecary, but you get speed, toughness and alot of heavy weapons fire with some chop to it as well, not to mention a Jink save. Seekers can also be replaced with a 9 man Tactical Support squad with Meltas / Plasmas for the same cost as the 8 man Seeker sqaud, you gain consitant plasma / melta fire but at the cost of BS4 and no Death Mark special rule for Prefered Enemy against a target. If you wanted to free up some points you could also cut 5 legionares from each Tactical Squad, making them a bit less unweildy and freeing up 100pts to play with.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Good? As bad as a Macca rant? I would love to get your thoughts on this and discuss!

Keepy

How To Clean Miniatures With Files

G'day, Macca here, and today I'm here to talk to you about something near and dear to my heart, filing. No, not the paper work kind, I'm talking hand tools, files. Over the years, files have dropped out of popularity, which I find strange, as they can do some high-precision work. I attribute this to poor understanding of how they work, as many people think they leave rough finishes. Well, I'm here today to tell you you're wrong! Yes, this bland, boring, dry article will attempt to show the hobbyist how the file works (it's more complicated then you think) and hopefully you will get better results on your work with some of my advice.

There are lots of kinds, Bastard, Flat, Second Cut, Warding etc., but for all intents and purposes, the general hobbyist only needs needle files. Needle files can come in many shapes, such as round, half round, flat, square, three-square, but what you really need to understand is the way they work, and the two types of teeth.

Teeth:

To start with, the teeth on a file looks something like this up close. (view pic below).

The teeth will only cut one way, and if you try and use them in reverse, they risk curling over and blunting. Pretty straight forward eh?

The Type of Cut:

There are two types of cut, single and double. A single is like this pic below;

The double cut is the exact same again, however, the teeth criss-cross. The main difference for you to understand is that single cut takes off less material, but looks prettier, whilst double cut files tear away much faster.

The Cut Angle:

The file will have all the teeth arranged into rows, or a direction of cut. This is the angle of the teeth, and it is important to understand which direction you can cut in and why.

The two best directions to use are straight up with the file (left side image) and in the opposite direction to the teeth (right side image). If you go in any other direction, you will actually cut gouges OR not cut at all.

Single and Double Cut Files:

 In this image you can see that the teeth all are cut in the same direction, making this a 'single cut' file.

However, you can see here that this file has two sets of teeth. I have marked the cross over point in chalk where the teeth transition.

The results of directional filing:

As you can see here, a straight push on this chalk leaves a smooth flat finish. This is the simplest method to use, and the result speaks for itself.

However, if you move in the direction of the teeth, you end up scoring gouged lines across the surface of whatever you are filing. Believe me, resin WILL do this, as will plastic. I have seen many a miniature ruined by gouging.

This image is where I have filed AGAINST the direction of the teeth. Again, the finish is very smooth, and the damage from the gouging is removed. This is my preferred method of filing.

The below example is why we tend to avoid double cut files. The teeth leave a series of small marks that waver and zig zag across the surface. This is best only used for very rough work.

Although the files used here are fulls sized files (from when I did my apprenticeship, back in the dark ages), they are honestly just scaled up versions of what we use. This is a single cut needle next to a single cut straight file, and as you can see, they are almost identical.

So, next time you want to get a nice straight line on a tank, or you're filing the side of a marine torso so you can get the arm to sit flat against the joint, remember these tips,

~Macca

Fulgrim "The Phoenician" Primarch of the Emperor's Children.

Hey guys Wadey here!

So now we have gotten all of the cheering and drinking out of the way it is time to move on to more important things like 30k! To kick off my 2015 blog  posts I figured I'd share a model that for mine was a pleasure to work with and that I had a great time painting... Fulgrim.

I personally think this is one of the nicest of the so far released Primarchs, not just because I am loyal III Legion but because the sculpt whilst being beautiful also perfectly captures The Phoenician during his fight with his brother and best friend Ferrus Manus.

This was the most challenging model I have painted to date and as I said in my very first post, I don't regard myself as anything special in the painting world, but I am really happy with how this model turned out. All the gold trim was done using a Balthazar Gold base then Gehenna Gold over the top. I used, a black oil wash over the detailed parts of the model. You can tell by the below photo that Fulgrims gloves are shiney, this is because I used a gloss clear coat after he was matte coated. I wanted his gloves to have high shine latex type of look because... well was a daemon possessed pleasure fiend by this stage and what says "HERE'S GRAMMY!!!" more than high shine latex!

I am really happy with how the cape turned out. Some of it was extremely fiddly but I think the end result makes up for that. The base colour for the cape is Wazdakka red and then i highlighted it with Evil Suns Scarlett. It was a little bit of pain in ass to fit but after much swearing and google imaging I sorted it out.

For the base I chose to have Fulgrim fighting predominantly among his fallen sons save for one dead Iron hand, though I didn't have a choice really there as the model is sculpted as one. I've magnetized the base so it stays together when Fulgrim is inside it. There is nothing special done to the base. All the principles used were basic. Base, wash, dry brush a few times, battle damage and done! I painted the marines the same way as I paint all my marines. Here is a link for those who want to see http://agalaxyinflames.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/iii-legion-emperor-children-part-1.html

 This model truly was a pleasure to paint but has been even more fun to play with! He is just a beast in combat and is now a starting feature in all my EC lists. The last game I used him in it took Perturabo, Angron, Consul, 10 Tactical marines and 3 turns to kill him.. just a beast!

Well there you have it folks. The Phoenician himself! He was a joy to paint and I hope you Like what I have done. As per normal please feel free to shoot me any hints or tips, it's how we as painters grow and improve our skills.

Thanks for dropping in!

Wadey

Iron Warriors Command Squad, 77th Grand Battalion

 Macca here, today I have my 77th Grand Battalion Command Squad. These guys were a blast to build and paint. The theory behind them, is that these are all assholes who are just waiting for the opportunity to stab their commander in the back and take command for themselves. Presenting, the Dirty not-quite-half Dozen.

The design here was simple, unique individuals, so uniquely armed, as well as keeping the hazard stripes to a minimum. As I mentioned on the Tormentor project, these are Iron Warriors, not Hazard Warriors, so I kept the hazards to their weapons, the banner, or to the chest armour if I couldn't place them on a weapon. This means overall that the warriors remain mostly silver and bronze-gold. The bases are simple sands, as they are fighting on Paramar, and if I tooled them up with metal decking and mechanicum-themed bases, it would be silver and urban overload. Yuck.

There's "Lumberjack."

"Ash, from Housewares"

"Wolverine"

"Hellboy"

"Eric Banner"

Of course, the banner is a work of love and simplicity. I didn't want to clutter it, so I kept it simple. This is one of those annoying cases where the model looks terrible in the photo, so my apologies.

Banner on top of the Tormentor? Sure, why not?

So, first post of the New Year, thanks for dropping in,

Macca