Goal Met - Renegade Progress

Hot on the heels of my last post about achievement milestones in this build, I decided to work towards my first minor goal: the completion of my renegade Engineer squad!  And complete it I did!

Equipped with two melta guns, a demo charge, and an enforcer with a power sword, these will be my armor hunters and general badasses.  

The renegades that I chose to model for Urläg's warband are part of Van Hassan's home guard forces.  Particularly I'm representing an artillery company which includes heavy combat engineers (lots of shovels, pickaxes, stowage, tools). The demolition charge seen in the above picture is a fitting addition to this theme, as it's a pair of fuel canisters wired with explosives.

The renegade list (which is a free PDF from Forge World!) lists this particular unit as Disciples of Xaphan (or something similar), an Elite choice.  They'll serve the role as engineers both in the way I've modeled them, their wargear options, but additionally with the Infiltrators special rule that comes with this troop selection. I can imagine these grizzled bastards picking through the rubble of a war zone to lay in ambush for the foolish Ultramarines.  

I'll definitely try to make Kyle's scouts worry about finding these guys a priority!

Blood for the Blood God! 

A Day of To-Dos!

Greetings, fellow Warhammer 40,000 enthusiasts!  Today, I was motivated by +Dave Weston over at his blog to create a 2014-2015 To-Do list for my current army and other projects.  I would hope all of you try to do the same thing, as its great to keep track of what you need to get done, and celebrates certain milestones as you accomplish them.  They can be as large or small as you want, which means you can celebrate as often as you like!  And when I say celebrate, I also mean beer.

The real point is to stay focused and motivated, while not overstretching myself to unrealistic goals.  My goals will span all aspects of the Games Workshop hobby.  Mostly involving my Chaos Space Marines, but may dabble into the Mordheim or Fantasy realms.  So, that being said, here's my 2014-2015 To-Do list in no particular order!

Minor Goals:

• Build 10-man Renegade Guard squads at a time (various equipment), multiple squads.  Some consisting of Heavy Weapons Teams.
• Build a 10-man squad of veteran "engineers" for the Renegade Guard.
• Build a command section fitting of the Renegades.
• Make interesting objective markers that carry the army's theme.
• Finalize a proper army list for Urlag's Warhost.
• Build (or finish building) the current Mordheim warband.
• Find more local players in New Orleans area.

Major Goals:

• Paint any squad to completion.
• Paint any vehicle to completion.
• Build / convert a custom Bloodthirster model.
• Paint Bloodthirster model.
• Play a proper game with +Kyle Haydon to further our narrative campaign.
• Involve outside player's games to further the campaign setting (at their request).
• Enter a  painting competition.
• Acquire heavy armor for the Renegade Guard (type TBD).
• Add LED lighting to Cities of Death terrain.

There it is!  I may add more in the coming week or two, I'm sure I'll add stuff I think about.

Any suggestions? Do I need to be more specific?  As usual, give me feedback.  And if its your first time here, check out the rest of the posts!

Traitors Emerge

First five renegades are done! Using the Death Korps of Krieg list, as it fits the theme nicely (and +1 WS fits the Khorne theme!).  I figure I want to represent an engineer company, specifically an artillery section.

This is half of an engineer squad. Shotguns, CC weapons, heavy flamer, and a demo charge (wired jerry cans!).  They'll be the lunatics that charge at whatever they see, and either roast it with the heavy flamer, or throw demolition charges at armor.  I'm thankful

I saved all those little shovels and pickaxes that came with my Imperial Guard kits from years ago.

I've since reposed the torso and arms.  It looks a bit more natural now!

Rest of the FW torsos will be built as a standard "guardsmen" platoon with lasguns and a bunch of attached heavy weapons.. Likely mortars and a heavy bolter or two.

Some of the completed traitor Engineers! Masters of siege-breaking!

The real debate is whether or not I want to include armored vehicles in the allies Astra Militarum (Krieg) list. If I did, it would likely be self propelled Armageddon pattern Basilisks.  

Thoughts?

Urläg gets a do-over.

Would love input.  Rebuilt Urläg Blackfang. The old model I had (standard FW Justaerin Terminator with extended axe) looked too vanilla.  This looks a bit more lordly,  though I might replace the head.

The sorcerer also got a do-over.  Like his pose better.  I wanted to do some G-Stuff warp effects off of the staff, unsure if it'll over clutter the model.

Thoughts?

A much more impressive pose and some much needed height.

Comparison shot of height.  The slight lean to the rear is exaggerated here, its offset by the weapons and cloak.

Tzeentch-aligned renegade sorcerer, pledged to Urlag's cause!

They worked on their suntan a bit.

Propaganda! The Emperor Needs You!

I've pilfered the internet and saved a LOT of neat posters people have designed / modified over the years.  Adding little touches like these to my terrain will breathe more life into the pieces, much like the stenciling of caution words and LEDs add that little bit of realism.  It needs to appear to be "lived-in" and I feel these little additions fulfill that role!

Naturally, the terrain is most of the old ruined Cities of Death buildings, a toppled Basilica, the Skyshield landing pad, statues, rubble, and so forth - this suits perfectly for my chaos force, as I'll have many Imperial posters, but also a good portion of desecrated ones! 

Here's just a fraction of what I've found.  Even one in what looks like French!  It deals with the Sisters of Battle / Inquisition, and I assume they speak some form of "Gothic" French anyway :P

The top middle one is by far my favorite.

Warhammer, or any wargame for that matter, is a great hobby that I thoroughly enjoy.  However, the part that involves building tiny cities / terrain / dioramas is by far my real passion.  It's just the little kid in me that still enjoys setting up model train sets! 

Have any material to add, suggestions or comments?  Post below!

Imperial Stencil Model 9872396325.b

Added lettering! Man, it was more complicated than I thought: had to make a matrix to align each letter.  It's off by a few millimeters but... That's the imperium for you!  My biggest concern was having the paint bleed through the stencil, which would have infuriated me to no end.

Just need to do a little more touch up work on the exterior panels and a couple details on the interior (like the non-LED lights).   Have anything to add? Tell me below!

Thanks for those that have input on what to have the warning say!  "DANGER" or "CAUTION" would have looked weird.  I like how the two words are stacked.

Showing off the Imperium's ballin' 3cm granite countertops.

 

Edit: it appears the servitors in charge of landing zone maintenance need to replace one of the light bulbs!  One of the wires just slipped from the LED hookup, easy fix.

The Hollosun Incident and Landspeeder Storm WIP

The Hollosun Incident

Part One: Povaris III

There was a palpable silence on the barren world labeled in Imperial astrogation charts as Povaris III, broken only by an intermittent wind that swept willfully across everything. It held more of a presence on that forsaken world than the small scout contingent that now prowled through the dry, crumbling ruins around what was once Povaris' only major settlement. They too were chillingly quiet. It was as if the whole world had died without a cry ever being voiced to the uncaring heavens, and now only silence would reign.

This unnatural quiet on what had once been a reasonably populated world was having an effect on the reconnaissance team as well. The initiates, young members of the Ultramarines Chapter of Adeptus Astartes, proceeded with their orders without question: Yet furtive glances and a fresh disquiet often swept through their ranks. The cautious veteran prowling through their midst oozed both calm and certainty, however, even as he too swept the desolate ruins with slight unease.

Sergeant Torias Telion, acting commander of the small scouting force, was not disturbed by the wind. Nor the uncanny silence of a dead world: He had tread more than his fair share in a long life of war. What disturbed the veteran was that such a world as Povaris III, which boasted a reasonable defense force and acted as a communications hub for this subsector, had gone silent without a word.

That was troubling.

What was even more troubling was the string of butchered worlds his forces were following through the Hollosun subsector, with carnal piles and spitted heads gathered around important Imperial assets. Coupled with the idle scrawls of blasphemy and foul runes it was clear that some brutal warband of Chaos was behind such attacks. The only identifying mark was found on an impaled Priest outside the Basilica of the Emperor Venerated, on Calburrun, dangling inside his ruined ribcage. The name 'Urlag' in Old Gothic.

Turning from his inward thoughts, the Sergeant took stock of his men and their current positions. Two groups of scouts, suitably armed with rifles and camouflaged cloaks, prowled along either side of him. The rugged campaign had already begun to flake and chip their royal blue armor. A few had abandoned their helmets aboard the drop ship, opting for better fields of view. Somewhere ahead beyond the ruins lurked their heaviest asset: A Landspeeder Storm, crewed by a pair of his best scouts and carrying Sergeant Vanus' close support team.

A pair of audible 'clicks' from their inter-unit vox system brought the scout group to a halt. The forward team had found their objective, a large subspace communications array. Povaris III's most coveted asset. For a moment all eyes turned to Telion, awaiting instructions, eager to find their enemies and break the silence.

The Sergeant returned a single click over his vox unit in acknowledgement, then motioned his own teams forward.

____________________________________________

Good day folks! 

In addition to the bit of fluff up there introducing my Ultramarines reconnaissance force, today I have a few pics of my WIP Landspeeder Storm. Its been quite a labor of love for me as I've added extra stowage, gear, and equipment to the vehicle so that it better fits its role as a miniature mobile command center for Telion's forces. At present the gunner and two passengers are blutack'ed into place for ease of painting. It needs a few more touches and sanding - but overall I'm quite pleased with how its coming along!

Oh, and drilling out some bolter barrels. I can't forget that!

I'll be following this post up in the next day or two with the other half of Povaris III and the final build for my Landspeeder Storm. In the meantime I will also be working on Telion, his two sniper teams, and Sergeant Vanus' squad. They all need paint too! All before our first battle in the middle of this month!

I've got my work cut out for me.

-Kyle Haydon