ByronM - Warhammer 40k Armigers and Trench Crusade

 Today I have a fully 3d printed submission for your enjoyment, all happening in Grim Dark Universes.  

First up we have my first group of Warhammer 40k Armigers, in for form of a cadre of 3 Armiger Helverins. I have wanted to do a new Warhammer army for a long time, specifically an Imperial Knight army as they have such a low model count, however the models are all the typical insane GW pricing.  However, I recently found some great 3d files for Armigers, so I could print my own rather than dealing the GW.  So, Away we go!!!  Expect more to follow.

I could not decide on a colour scheme for these, but found some colours a while ago from Scale75 that I fell in love with the shades and bought them with no real idea what I would ever use them for.  I randomly saw them when trying to figure out colours for these and decided now is the time, so from darkest to lightest I used Scale75 Anthracite Gray, Abyssal Blue, Caspian Blue (the main colour showing) and Bearing Blue.  All were airbrushed on after painting the chassis and seran(cling) wrapping the chassis to protect the paint job while allowing me to airbrush the carapace.

Once painted, I really wasn't sure what to do to base them, and then again stumbled across a set of wrecked concrete foundation pillars from Epic Basing and thought they would look good on the bases so printed up a bunch of them and away I went.  I think they add a bunch to the base and are something different.

Next up is the first part of a new project from a new game, Trench Crusade.  The art and lore of the game is brilliant and very Grim Dark (go figure since a lot of the crew is made up of ex-GW employees), but I am not really sure about the rules, seems a bit too simplistic.  However, a bunch of friends want to play, and since I subject them to random weirdness that may not be their cup-o-tea but they humour me, I figured I should humour them as well.  If anyone wants to checkout the rules, they are available here for free: Trench Crusade.

This post has the first 2 models that I 3D printed and started painting, only to find out that I am not likely to actually use them in my list, but oh well, they look cool!  I selected the Iron Sultanate as I felt like doing some Persian models and these are all based on Persian lore with the Jannisaries coming in a later entry.  These two though are the Assassin and the Bronze Bull.

The Bronze Bull is absolutely massive being based on a 50mm round and standing over 100mm tall and 150mm wide.  Being such a big chunky boy I am counting the Bronze Bull as my Gluttony model because at this size I am sure he eats a literal ton!

Since the world of Trench Crusade is an extremely grim dark war torn setting, I wanted to keep with a very dark look as well.  So the whole force is going to be painted in mainly bronzes and reds that are muted / muddied down for lower contrasts.

Here is an image to show just how big all of these models are, as the marine is a standard 40k marine on a 25mm base, the bull on a 50mm and the Armiger on a 100mm base.

From ByronM: 15mm Striking Scorpions and Wizard's Tower

 

For today's post I have a few items, but first up are some more 15mm Warhammer 40k items.  These are some of the left over models from last years Eldar project.  These are 11 3d printed resin Striking Scorpions and a Wave Serpent for transport.

 

While normally only 10 models are in a squad I painted up both versions of the squad exarch (leader) so that I have options in game.  One version has twin swords and shuriken pistols and the other has a huge two handed chain sword.  I also have the Wave Serpent ready to transport them into battle at a moments notice. 

 

 

I tried to go with the original green and yellow paint scheme but I tried several times to get the swords and guns to look good in yellow and I eventually had to give up and go with black and silver for them.  I did leave some markings and the hair in yellow, although it just would not pop bright yellow no matter what I did, so not thrilled with them, but too frustrated to do any more.

Next up is a 3d printed tower that I printed at 10mm scale to use as terrain for my 10mm Kings of War project.  I tried to give it some character by painting the stones in various shades, and think it worked out well.  It should look good on a hill top in a game soon. As for size it is about 4" tall and has a base about 2" square.

ByronM - Pointy Ear Pansy Space Elves - Warhammer 40k in 15mm

Normally I like getting an entry in the first day of the annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, but this year I have been laid up sick for almost 2 weeks and haven't been able to focus enough to paint at all, so here is is over a week after the start of the event, my first entry.

Recently a group of friends here have started playing Warhammer 40k (old 5th edition since the newer versions SUCK BALLS) in 15mm true scale, and of course I had to join in!  Being true scale means that everything is sized to the lore, rather than to what GW had sized things.  This means Imperial Guard stand about 18mm tall (or real 15mm scale), while things like Eldar and Space Marines stand 22-24mm tall (20mm scale) since in the lore Eldar are 7' tall but have huge poncy helmets and Space Marines are 8" tall.  This scaling makes everything look so much better on the table as it makes more sense and looks better.  Also being 15mm fixes (or minimizes) so many of the issues in 40k being 28mm scale, like having lots of HUGE tanks on a table, ranges being ridiculously short and more.  It's still 40k at its core, so it's still not perfect, but it is better!

That said, the armies we play with are therefore mostly 20mm scale even though we call it 40k in 15mm.  The Falcon and Wave Serpent here are almost 5" x 4" so pretty damn big for what we would call 15mm scale.

Most of the models here though are actually 6mm STL files from Lord Chronos on Cults and are meant for use in Epic Armageddon.  As you can tell from these prints though, the guy is a genius sculptor and there is more than enough detail on the models to stand up when scaled up 260% to be about 20mm scale! 

The few models I could not find for my force were the Warlocks and Farseer models!  This would be a problem for most people but I have a friend that is a great sculptor and an even more helpful person which I asked for some help. He had me buy some files that had eldar helmets and weapons in 28mm per-sculpted and then bodged them up and modelled them onto some bodies and cloaks for me in like 2 days!!!  Thanks a ton, amazing work!!!  Before you ask though, no the warlock files are not for sale they were for personal use, and his name is not listed here as he wants nothing to do with GW and their insane legal team! 

These are the first batch in what will hopefully be a 2000 point Eldar army within the next few weeks.  I have been jonesing to paint these for over a month, but wanted to leave them for the painting challenge to start... so here they now are!  Much more to come...

I am sticking with traditional aspect colour schemes for these, but since the Eldar are space elves and therefore a bit light in the loafers, I needed a kinda pansy colour for the transports, so I came up with a kinda pale blue green that I think is almost the colour of corroded copper.  I think it works well, but had no idea how to actually highlight anything on it, luckily it looks OK as is I think.  I just need some magnets to come in so I can attach them to the flight stands and have them off the ground as they should be.

This entry should also count towards my "Squirrel Challenge" and as the first planet on the challenge map Vulcan where I have to paint something either logical or with pointy ears.  Eldar seemed to fit the bill, so I used them. 

The vehicles should each count for 15 points (30 total) and then the 10 Dire Avengers and 7 Farseer/Warlocks each count for 4 points (68 total) and 20 points for completing the Vulcan planet challenge for a grand total of 118 points!  Not a bad start!

40k Terrain, Ruined Imperial Buildings (Steve)

 

I forget exactly where and when I bought these 6 pieces of  40k terrain, but  until this shadow paint challenge these were assembled, base-coated and sitting in my pile of unpainted shame for over 25 years.   Since I am going to soon paint up some recently purchased Mierce Miniatures Atalantes Mesokolossos and Kolossos, I thought I should first practice up my 'stone' painting techniques.  

I started with a couple layers of sponge stippling grey, dry brushing lighter shades of greys, and some brown/beige in the deeper parts.  I found the GW black templar contrast paints worked well for painting in the shooting pock mark damage, and for the lines between floor tiles and some of the stones I actually used some 25+ year old Citadel Color brown ink wash.  Turns out that in my old boxes of 40k stuff I recently unpacked after decades in storage, I still have a couple pots of Citadel Color inks and paints that are still viable.

So this 40k terrain is out of the pile of shame and ready for play, and painted with colors bottled and sold over a quarter century apart.