Pics Forthcoming

Almost done with the drybrushing coats on Tac squad #2, and my GUO and plaguebearers are ready to be primed. Hopefully I'll have some finished products within the next week.

Finished painting Tactical squad #1

I think this is the first fully painted squad I have ever completed... Although I don't think I like the solid black bases... I might go back over them with an dark, earthy color.

Infantry Beware!

Finished my Vet. Vanguard squad! They are going to be big flashing targets, but they just look damned cool so I don't really care. For this conversion, I hacked apart a blister of Terminator lightning claws and used green stuff to smooth out areas of the gauntlets that has gotten a little too much sawblade. The sergeant was tricky... his arms were positioned really awkwardly for lightning claws since his original pose was holding a 2-handed power sword. Bits to the rescue!

Since infantry will fall to these guys like frogs to a lawnmower, I'm thinking my next project will be a second Vet. Vanguard squad packing thunder hammers and storm shields to chase after tanks ;-)

Coming Soon

I'm back to working on my army after a several month hiatus... pics will be posted in the next few days about my works in progress. Mmmmm lightning claw awesomeness...

A much needed update

Finals week is upon us poor, hapless college students! Oh noes!!1!!one!1!

So needless to say, the last few weeks I have been too busy to do very much at all, although I did find time to assemble a Dreadnought, having needed a break from painting. For some reason I looked at the model for the dreadnought and thought to myself: "this model is ripe for conversion!"

... until I assembled the thing realizing there isn't a whole lot to do to a dreadnought asides from tack on extra bits and maybe magnetize the weapon loadouts (thanks Reuben!)

As for my squad of marines, they are a ways from being finished, but at least the color scheme has fallen into place quite nicely, and I love how the sergeant looks with the toga...er... tabard ;-)

I also have an idea about using non-GW heads to modify scouts to make them look more imposing. The link to the heads I want to use is http://www.pig-iron-productions.com/hd15-system-trooper-head-sprues-p-47.html

Hopefully I'll have a more substantial update next week when I don't have to worry about impending doom...

First engagement, and a fresh coat of paint

Painting has been going a lot faster than I expected- 1 or 2 drybrushing coats per day has my first tactical squad's basic coloring done in 3 days. I settled on a bone/red/black color scheme and making the army a successor chapter of the Blood Angels. I'm not 100% sold on how it looks, so I wanted to post a few pics and get feedback before I finish painting my first squad.

Had the chance to play a few small games last Wednesday with Rob, it was great fun, and I'm surprised that they went pretty smoothly considering I'm almost a decade (and 2 editions) behind. This was highly educational for me, as I really didn't know ANYTHING about the strengths and weaknesses of various weapons and units.

The first game I realized why Rob's unit of wraithguard have 12" range after he summarily vaporized an entire squad of space marines in a single volley! Needless to say I rushed into melee and hoped for the best after that. I'm very happy with how my captain did with the dual lightning claws... I converted him for the coolness factor before I knew what exactly they did in combat :-P

All in all, a great start to the escalation league, with Rob beating me out on victory points by a narrow margin- next time I'll bring more power fists ;-)

Humble Beginnings

Finished constructing the last of my initial investment. 495 point force ready for fielding in next Wednesday's Escalation League at Astral Games. I will chronicle my steps towards making this a noteworthy 2500 point, fully painted army.

Details on the specific chapter will be forthcoming, as I haven't decided much beyond a basic colorscheme (bone and dark blue). I think the likeliest would be a Second Founding chapter of the Dark Angels, or just a generic Space Marine chapter.

So far as the general tactics I'm wanting to use, I am planning on fielding very strong close-combat units (vanguard veterans w/ jump packs and dual lightning claws) backed up by a wall of bolter fire, with Dreadnoughts suppressing their vehicle units.