All posts filed under: 40k

Mentor Legion Chaplain

Published by Joe B

Another HQ from the limited edition of Dark Vengeance, this is  Oldss Knirror, Mentor Legion Chaplain. When the limited edition was announced, this was the reason I jumped on it. While I haven’t been a fan of the other Chaplains, the billowing smoke from this guy gave it another level of sinisterness! Before getting started, I planed out what areas would be the green and red for the Mentor Legion, and what would be the black and white of the Chaplain. Leaving the robes white helped breakup all the other colors.   Very little was done to the model other than removal of most of the Dark Angel markings and the addition of the Mentors shoulder marking (another press mold). To do the Mentor Legion icon the whole shoulder pad details were removed and the press mold used to create the eagle head. I then took thin plastic strips to recreate the border. The edges were cleaned up with green stuff and the purity seal on the corner actually covers where I chipped a bit too …

Mentor Legion Librarian

Mentor Legion Librarian

Published by Joe B

And now for some HQ! I present Echst Ralelerin, Mentor Legion Librarian. The model itself is from the Dark Vengeance box with an arm swap with the weapon from the chaos terminator lord. The rest of the work involved careful removal of all the Dark Angel insignia. I really love the glaring look as he focuses at his enemies. I thought the model had a great sense of focus and power except for the pose of the original sword, it was too posed for my tastes so a more relaxed arm stretched about behind gave more focus on his spell casting hand. The maced head staff helps give more dimension to the model as well by creating an up and out line. You can also see from the picture above that I made some custom purity seals to both incorporate the new arm as well as cover the hand swap. I also made the Mentors icon a bit more interesting by covering the eye socket as well. The staff was made from a combination of pieces, …

Mentor Legion 2nd Company Squad 2

Second Company Squad Two of the Mentor Legions

Published by Joe B

Here is my second fully finished Space Marine Tactical Squad for my Mentor Legion army. The squad is built up from my collection of grey plastic from the Assault on Black Reach, Dark Vengeance, and Tactical Squad. By combining the different kits you can make them unique and change-up the static poses from the starter kit. This squad is led by Brother-Sergeant Iani Tulrosi which is from the assault on black reach set with an arm swap to give him the power axe. This helps create a unique look from the start set and more natural than the straight up sword. I also added a thin piece of plastic to his collar to create a Mark VIII look. As with squad three, many of the squad member are from the starter sets and required hand painted legion markings. You can see below on Brother Cith Cheven’s amour the final outcome of using the transfers as a starting point. I then added yellow stripes and marking to identify them as the Second Company. Here again is …

Mentor Legion Tactical Squad Three of the Second Company

Published by Joe B

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted but I haven’t given up on my marines. Here is Squad 3 of the 2nd Company Mentor Legion Tactical Squad led by Brother Sergeant Strel Jokin. The models are a mix of the Assault on Black Reach and the Tactical Squad box. To mark them out as second company the knee pads and shoulder pads I added yellow markings including personal markings and individualization. Half of this squad was done over a year ago as a test/something new to do (here). Other than finishing the remaining five squad members, I also added battle damage to the original to make them all a bit worn. The damage was mostly done with a small sponge and dark grey to creating the chipping effect. Since many of the additional troops were from the starter sets, I had to add the Mentor Legion markings by hand. I did cheat a bit though since I bought a Raptors transfer sheet from forge world (more on that in the future). After applying the decals …

Green Marines of a Different Kind – WIP Mentor Legion

Published by Joe B

Although I have been much busier as of late with grad school and health goals for the year, I am still making slow and steady progress on the Mentor Legionaries. As you can see i the pictures below, I have a good chuck of the army built and primed. The first up to receive paint were 15 tactical marines (I had the first 5 already done), and the librarian and the chaplain from the Dark Vengeance box. At this point I have the base colors, wash, and the white are now done. First up is the chaplain, I really like this model from the limited edition set and with only a few minor modifications will make a great chaplain for any other chapter. The white base was started with Zandri Dust, followed with a wash of Earthshade. The white was built back up with the dust and finally pure white.   Next up is the librarian. A simple arm swap with one from the Chaos terminator lord, removal of a few of the dark angle markings, and a …

Traitor Russ Demolisher Tank 3

Traitor Leman Russ Demolisher Squadron Finished

Published by Joe B

As I hinted in my last post, I have been working on clearing out my back log of unfinished projects. This may get a bit off with my new army, but I plan to continue working in many of these between tactical squads. I had the first Leman Russ Demolisher a long while back and the other two started, but have now completed all three. The lead tank is armed with side plasma cannons to really add some umph to an already scary tank. The second tank is a simple conversion by shortening a normal battle cannon and adding parts from a hunter-killer missile.     The third Leman Russ Demolisher is one I ‘rescued’ from my brother’s old army but was badly damaged. I fixed the broken off sponsons with banners. This is actually the only one with a ‘real’ demolisher cannon being the old metal monster.     The banner was made from tissues soaked in glue/water. It was then pressed on the model and tweaked a bit to add some movement. All …

Traitor Guard Tech Priest, Dark Mechanicus

Dark Mechanicus Tech Priest Joins the Traitor Legion

Published by Joe B

I’ve had this model sitting around for a while but had never quite finished it. So after finishing my Warpsmith I grabbed this Dark Mechanicus Tech Priest one off the shelve of never ending projects and put paint to brush. In contrast to the rest of the Traitor Guard orange, I used the iconic Mars Red robes but used green power weapon to match the Chosen and Warp Smith. Conversions were kept minimal on this model since I actually bought the model for how it looks, rather than its game play ability. With just the simple addition of the Chaos star mounted to the back pack, the rest was just paint – which goes to show how crazy the normal Mechanicus is. I tried to continue my experimentation of source lighting with the mystical green glow from the back packs power source.  Although it could have come off a bit Christmasy, I tried toned down the red with the tan highlights. The yellow cabling also helps to break up the green and red looks. The metal was a …

Warpsmith Pre-Painting Front

Warpsmith Review – and first finecast

Published by Joe B

Of all the new Chaos releases, the Warpsmith caught my eye as the most exciting to paint. I was a bit hesitant though, as this would be my first Finecast. I had heard of many issues with the new medium and wasn’t sure what I would find in the box. Man am I glad I took the leap though, the details on this model are outstanding! While I had a few bent parts that were easy to fix with the hot water bath, there was nearly no air bubble issues. About the only issue I had was cleaning all the mold lines which did seem to crop up all over the place. The model came in 12 pieces on two sprues with the largest piece being the leg/torso combo. This piece could make an impressive lord with a bit of work to clean up the back-pack area. The rest of the pieces involve the 5 longer tentacles, the head, back sections, each arm/shoulder, and the ax hand. As you can see the ax was a …

Traitor Guard Veteran

Traitor Guard Veteran Squad

Published by Joe B

These have been done for a while but it has taken a bit to put the pictures and this post together. In my crazy attempt to build a full foot guard army I built up a squad of Traitor Guard Veteran Squad to provide some anti-infantry support as well as additional color to the army.   I started with three snipers to increase chances of taking out special troopers. A heavy bolter gives a multi-shot, medium strength to the unit, and I topped it with Harker with a second heavy bolter. I liked the way Santa Cruz Warhammer  took before and after pictures of each model so I’m copying the idea here. First up is the Sargent, count as Harker. The torso is from the warriors of Chaos, the Heavy Bolter is from the CSM kit, with the remaining bits are from various guard kits. I wanted the dress robes on the legs to match up to something on the bear-chested torso so I added a over-the-shoulder sash/robe. Next up is the first sniper. I wanted to give the squad …

Chaos Conscripts WIP

Traitor Conscripts: The zombie slaves start to assemble

Published by Joe B

In between painting sessions, I’ve slowly been building up the legion of conscripts for Traitor Guard. Using a mix of Zombies, Flagellents,  Cadian troopers, and various bitz I’ve picked up along the way, the unit has started to come together. Current tally is 20/50 built. Why so many conscripts? Well it seems 6th edition has turned into a troopers game and there is no cheaper trooper than a pack of conscripts with “Send in the Next Wave!” For 270 points I can field 50 models, take them off at any point, and bring them back on the next turn! Combining the various kits has been a challenge of patience and creativity. The various bodies don’t line up with the different arms, and the heads are made for completely different sockets. This has led to green stuff magic to hide defects and tie pieces together as you can see in some of the individual shots below. I particularly like the second from the right above, he is my zombified Rambo. But you can see the small amounts of green stuff to tie …

Chaos Bastion WIP

Bastion Progress: Nearly There

Published by Joe B

I have made a bit more progress on the Chaos Bastion of the few weeks. I started to regret painting the brackets supporting the horizontal trims metal as they seemed to take forever, but I like how it turned out in the end. The gun emplacements are still separated but are already painted the metallic. Still left to do is the weathering and chaos stars similar to the Russes. The stars will be interesting as they will most likely cover multiple sides so it may be a bit of a change to balance the number and size of them. The defensive walls are also in progress and I actually used the spray gun to paint the red/orange on some. I will post them up soon with notes on the air brush.   [amazonify]B002G21PC2[/amazonify]