All posts tagged: heavy support

Completed Deff Dread for Dreadtober 2017

Published by Joe B

Despite this being one of the busiest months I’ve had in a long while, I have managed to finish the Deff Dread for Dreadtober 2017. Adding another stomping wonder of Ork technology to my Death Skulls army. I won’t get too much into the RL issues keeping me from painting and posting. But I have struggled to keep up with Dreadtober this year and appreciate Todd for hosting it. For me, painting is a way to relieve stress so I am happy I have been able to get some of that done this month and finish the Deff Dread for my Death Skulls. Ork Deff Dread My other Deff Dread was pure close combat with four arms of bashing goodness. I gave this one a bit more ranges punch with a pair of missiles launchers. There is a certain irony that Orks are the easiest to convert due to their ramshackle nature. But I also feel the least amount of need to do so and the walkers. They already have so much character and fun …

Iron Warriors Baneblade

Published by Joe B

Editor’s Note: I painted the Baneblade a few years back but didn’t have great pictures for it, so while I am busy packing and moving, its a great time to finally get him a new post. Now a days every 40k army needs a super heavy to bring to the table. An Ork Stompa, a Knight Titan, or in this case, an Iron Warriors Baneblade super heavy tank. IÂ built this tank nearly 4 years ago shortly after it came out, at the time it was the largest, and most amazing kit Games Workshop produced and part of the launch of Apocalypse. At the time I didn’t have any loyalist army so I clearly needed to build an Iron Warriors Baneblade for the 14th Grand Company. In keeping with my other Iron Warrior tanks, the Chaos icons are kept to a minimum and the tank is mostly the typical iron and gold trim. I did spend a good deal of time scraping away the Imperial Iconography that decorates the standard build, but a good chisel blade …

Iron Warriors Land Raider

Published by Joe B

For today’s showcase, I present my Iron Warriors Land Raider. A classic for any powered armored army, the Land Raider is beast of a tank considering its age in comparison to many of the other amazing Games Workshop kits. I finished this model over six years ago now but wanted to post updated pictures since I have improved my photography skills over the years. Considering the number of engagements this guy has gone through, he is in remarkable shape with only a couple of the spikey bits breaking off. Its also fun to look back on some of our older models and see where we have improved, but also where we may have lost some things. For example, the weathering on the tracks is a mess compared to some of my recent models, but the hazard stripes on the lascannons are in a place I would be timid about placing now. This was also the time that I actually painted in the inside of the tanks – for what ever reason. To achieve this I …

Traitor Guard Leman Russ Demolisher Squad

Published by Joe B

Who doesn’t like a tank with a big gun? And what is better than one tank with a big gun? A whole squadron of Leman Russ Demolisher tanks with big guns! One of the reasons I wanted to build up an Imperial Guard (Astra Militarium?) army was because I have always been a bit of a tread-head, so adding some hard hitting Demolishers was a no brainer. I built all three of these tanks from the older Leman Russ kit with only one being the old, out of production, metal Demolisher cannon. The other two were built from other bits and pressed to service. To keep them uniform, all three have track guards which help signify their higher armor value and my army badge on the front. The metal Leman Russ Demolisher was my brothers from his old Catachan army from somewhere in middle school. The traitorsÂ seized it and stripped it of its honor. Leman Russ Demolisher It originally had the sponsons, but they had broken off over the years. So to hide the damage, …

Little Stompies: Killa Kans

Published by Joe B

Adding some numbers to my growing ork machines are a rag-tag squad of Killa Kans from theÂ Sanctus Reach box set. Say hello to Hickory, Dickory, and Doc! (names via my very supportive wife) These are in line with my Deffdread: lots of rusty armor, sections of ‘lucky’ blue and the odd section of stolen icons here and there. I put together a painting guideÂ with my second squad of Killa Kans if you want to see how I did the colors. First up is Hickory with this big shoota and buzz saw. Probably the worst choice of weapons in the box and someday will need to switch it to a missile launch or something. I built all three models without their base so I could paint it separate. After finishing the Killa Kans, I found aÂ base that matched best with each model. Hickory got a base with a large step that matched well with his gait. The bases are from Secret Weapon Miniatures‘Â Iron Deck series. The Killa Kans have such great, cobbled together look, they were …

Ork Deffdread

Published by Joe B

Adding some beef to my ork hoard is a nice, choppy, Deffdread with lots of buzzing, hacking, and drilling. I love the comical look of all those arms full of wacky weapons and hacked on plates. I’m keeping with the theme of the DeathÂ SkullsÂ being scrapers that slap blue on everything and hammer it together. Throughout the model I have Evil Sunz red, and Goff black and whites. Painting Rusty Metal The rest of the model is a nice rusty metal which was done in a number of layers: Black primer with a quick white over spray Brown spray Dry brush of Lead Belcher Orange with rust pigment stippled Dry brush with silver The crazy, cobbled together look of the Deffdread made it so much fun to paint and highlight specific panels with the blues and reds. The base is another Secret Weapon Miniature from their Junk Yard line. They have aÂ fantastic range of bases, and I have decided to move towards pre-made bases for the simplicity and time. I get so little hobby time nowadays …

A Little Chaos to the mix: Iron Warriors Helbrute

Published by Joe B

So to break up the aliens a bit, I got a bit excited that the Helbrute kit finally came out for Chaos. I had been holding on to the Dark Vengeance model – which I think is a fantastic model (especially for a starter kit!) but I was waiting for a multi-part kit to customize it. For me the stubby Multi-Melta looked a bit off, so that’s what I fixed! To contrast the silver and yellows of my Iron Warriors, I figured purple would do just nicelyÂ so I went with purple-blue skin and red-purple red accents. The skin is worked up from Xereus Purple to Calgar blue (with some Lothern blue on the tubing). I used washes of Khorne Red, Leviathan Purple, and Earthshade to add the bruising and shadows. The red was built up over a few shades of red and purple wash used on the daemon face and tentacles. Hard coat was later added to the claws to make them blood-glossy. From the top you can see the nice contrast between purple flesh, …

Tyranid Zoanthrope

Published by Joe B

Because what is cooler than a floating brain with iity-bitty claws? How about add a row of menacing teeth in a snear?Â And with that, I present the Tyranid Zoanthrope from Hive Fleet Behemoth! This is the ‘old’ Finecast model that was at least an upgrade for the extremely top heavy metal version, but that little point between the tail and the ground spike is a point that keeps breaking. To prevent this I have added a small pin so we will see how that holds up. The biggest question for the colors on this guy was what to paint the brain. I decided to keep it blue but reverse the highlights from the carapace so the depths were the white and dark blue on the ridges. This helps give a glowing, alien look to it and contrasts to the hard plates. I love the skin stretched over the brain. If GW ever asks my opinion for the greatest sculpt, this may be among my top 10, though the new plastic version is pretty cool …

The Hive Mind Devours All – Tyranid Carnifex

Published by Joe B

So I few years back I enticed my brother-in-law to join me in the 40k world and he was drawn in by the Tyranids. While he has built up a small army of the bugs he hasn’t quite got around to painting them all yet. Over the Christmas break we spent time base coating his whole army red and had planned on doing the black/blue base as well but just ran out of time (future post coming on Kill Teams!). To help motivate him and get the painting juices going I volunteered to paint his Carnifex – ok it may have been a bit selfish on my part too! He had chosen Hive Fleet Behemoth and painted a few ‘guants for me to pull colors from. The whole model had already been sprayed red so I based in the Necron Abyss for the blue areas, black for the weapons and claws, and elf flesh for all the soft bits. A black wash later had the model tabletop ready. I love the look of …

Mentor Legion Space Marine Centurions

Published by Joe B

OK so when I first saw these guys in the White Dwarf, I pretty much hated how the Space Marine Centurion models looked. They wereÂ awkward and too busy, but after visiting my local GW and saw the manager’s assembled unit I was able to gain a whole new appreciation for the models. Is is silly for a marine in armour to wear amour? yes, but mechanics have a realm of feasibility. The exception to this for me is the under-hung guns on the assault version, I get that they are taking the same look from the Ironclad, but they look way too fragile down there. Any way, I picked up a kit and built out a devastator unit for my Mentors. I present Squad 3 of the 9th Company lead by Brother-SergeantÂ Koninmund. I did a bit of small adjustments to the model, most noticeable was switching out a few heads. I also cut apart the most static of the leg poses to give more of a walking motion (more on that below). I’m …

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 Leman Russ

Published by Joe B

So with the long, holiday weekend I spent a bit of time finishing up the two Traitor Russ Battle Tanks. These are of course for the Traitor Guard aspect of the 14th Grand Company. Here is the finished Traitor Leman Russ #2. The main body is the faded orange/red streaks but added a couple of large Chaos stars that the Forge World models tend to have. I think it helps break up the large spaces well and add new interest. At first I was going to paint the lenses green to match my Iron Warriors but through it clashed a bit too much and decided on the blue instead. The cool blue offsets all the warm oranges and is more fitting with the cool silver. I also thought the cargo boxes looked a bit funny being empty so I painted up some bitz to add some details. This one has an extra gas can (for those torch wielding fanatics), an extra lasgun and a rusty shovel. You can also see the close up of the …