Iron Warriors 49th Grand Company "The Iron Hounds"

[Warsmith Aznable]

A Chaos Storm Raven: because you knew that I would be the one to do it...

 

I'm not finished with the assembly, but I've got 90% of it done. I'm finishing the dorsal turret right now, and that seems to be a hot issue right now, alongside stretching projects. I didn't stretch this, though I've seen an idea I might use on another one in the future. This one I decided was going to be a Land Raider proxy, so I forward mounted two lascannons and fiddled up a low profile turret for another pair. The idea is that, using the Chaos Land Raider entry, having two forward mounted and two that swivel accurately proxies two pairs of sponson mounted twinlinked lascannons because a CLR can only use both pairs facing forward or backward, and anything off to one side only gets targeted by one of the sponsons. So there is no advantage in those terms brought on by the modeling.

 

Anyway, here are the pictures, because WIP blogs are boring without them:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/turretwip-003.jpg

 

I hadn't thought about a way to hold the lascannons on by the time I got to mounting them. Other people have used Razorback mounts and things like that, and I thought briefly about digging some mounts out of a Defiler kit, but instead decided to just cut off the superfluous material from the supplied structure. A little plasticard on top with some spare hatches for "texture", and I've got a base low profile turret:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/turretwip-002.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/turretwip-001.jpg

 

This isn't much, just my take on the "turret problem" of the Storm Raven. I will have pictures of the full assembly probably next weekend. I need to mount some chains and skulls and spikes and blasphemous icons on it before I show off any more of the model...

[Dreachon]

That looks actually quite good, a nice sleek design for the turret.

[Warsmith Aznable]

If I were really hardcore I would cover it with GS and smooth out the rough spots where the plasticard meets the base component. But I am not that hardcore, and I hate working with GS.

 

I'm also waffling on whether or not I should glue the cannons at a level elevation or leave them to move freely. I don't like the idea of them drooping down all the time like the lascannons on my Predator turret. I also keep thinking that there needs to be something else added to this besides the hatches, but I'm not sure what, or if there really does need to be something else added.

 

I have also been distracted by the need to design some custom Obliterator models, because I hate the GW model. I think I have modelers ADD...

[Warsmith Aznable]

I'm on spring break, which is why I've been doing naught else but lurking B&C and posting these random WIP projects. I've also got a little bit of the spring fever/manic obsession going on...

 

Today I was staring at the leftover weapons from the Storm Raven kit, my bits box, and some old plastic Terminators a friend gave me. It all came together as an idea for my Obliterator conversion. I'd done a previous proof-of-concept, but it really hadn't excited me like this idea did. So I couldn't sit still until I had proven this idea.

 

So, my DIY warband fluff is anti-mutant, and also linked heavily to the Dark Mechanicus. My Obliterators have always been planned as a maniple of corrupted Cybernetica robots from Legio Nefandus (another DIY project of mine). Here is the initial WIP result:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/oblit-robot-wip-001.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/oblit-robot-wip-002.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/oblit-robot-wip-003.jpg

 

I'm not yet sure exactly how I'm going to cap the ends, but I think I'm going to use some smaller square strips to add texture to the big square tubing the weapons are attached to.

 

I've got a handful of large weapons I'm not doing anything with, so I figure that each of my Oblit/Robots will have a different combination, representing the variety of choice they have as a unit.

 

I've also got a plan to make corrupted Tech Priests out of Necron Warriors and GS as wound markers.

 

Now that I've satisfied my impulse to test the concept out, I'm going to shelve these until I'm done with my LPC oath, my Rubric Marines, and my Chaos Storm Raven (in that order).

[Warsmith Aznable]

LPC progress report: 8 Berserkers finished, 2 Terminators finished, remaining 3 Terminators +/- 80% finished.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/almostthere-lpc-wip.jpg

 

I like to cut things close...

[Warsmith Aznable]

The whole gang of 8 Khorne Berserkers and 5 Chaos Terminators together:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/lpcvowcomplete.jpg

 

The second "body guard" Terminator:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/bodyguardtermie-front.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/bodyguardtermie-double.jpg

 

The Reaper Autocannon Terminator (for Kill Zone games, mostly):

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/reaper-termie-double.jpg

 

And probably my favorite out of this bunch, a guy I like to call "Brother Versatile":

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/pftermie-combiflamer-right.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/pftermie-combiflamer-left.jpg

 

Shown above with his Combi-Flamer, shown below with his other magnet&post weapon options:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/pftermie-combimelta.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/pftermie-twinlinkedbolter.jpg

 

I think I could probably do some "post production touch-up" here and there. I discovered how much I like the blood and gore effects when I did the "Avatar of Khalder" figure earlier, so I added it to the weapons of the Terminators, and also went back and did the Berserkers, too. It makes them look meaner, maybe more evil. They are, after all, Chaos Marines. I was going for a sooty/blackened look on the combi-flamer. I am mostly happy with it, but I wish I knew how to use weather powders.

 

Next up: finishing my counts-as Rubric Marines. And probably more mucking about with Rhino 10/2.

[firestorm40k]

Great work on the 'Zerkers and Termies Max :)

[Terminatorinhell]

Good work indeed the grimy red is fantastic.

[Warsmith Aznable]

Thanks!

 

Good work indeed the grimy red is fantastic.

 

It's a thinned out coat of Blazing Orange heavily glazed with Badab Black. It looks more orange IRL than it does in the pictures, I guess. Because I am not a skilled painter, I tend to rely on heavy washing. The two color scheme and my lack of a steady/patient brush hand means there a little gaps and overlaps where the two colors meet, and I tend to drench those areas to hide it. Some of the areas are more glazed than others because errant brush tips dabbed drops of wash on them, causing me to re-coat the entire area to make it smooth :lol: I've got a bottle of Reaper paint that I'm doing my next Rhino with, and it's a lot lighter base than the Citadel stuff. I don't know if I will switch over to using it on minis or not, I want to see what it looks like washed.

 

I tried using a lot less wash on the "Avatar of Khalder" figure. I'm thinking of trying thinning the washes out. It's not a big deal with a Chaos Marine force, because they are grubby from all that killing, maiming, and burning they do, but when I get around to doing my Loyalist force I'm going to want a cleaner look. Hopefully I'll have much better brushwork by then. Or have chosen a paint scheme that's not so fiddly...

[Warsmith Aznable]

So I'm planning a Havoc squad for a Heavy Support choice, and I thought I would do the Autocannon squad I hear so much about. I don't have the money to shell out for individual metals, and I don't like metals anyway, so I thought I'd fiddle my own up. I've taken bits from the Defiler kit and some plastic tubing and worked up a quick concept, and I thought I would present it here for critique before I committed myself to a whole group of them:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/ac-havoc-test-front.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/ac-havoc-test-side.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/ac-havoc-test-rear.jpg

 

I apologize for the glaring pictures; I had to adjust the brightness and contrast through the roof to get any detail out of the black primered model.

[hushrong]

A lot of neat stuff in here -Max-.

 

I may have to try my hand at making a SoB using DE bitz. My Sons of Malice need snacks and something to crush while posing on their bases but the metals don't cut it.

 

As for your havoc, I like where you are going with yours but that barrel comes off as too long. However, it does remind me of an anti-tank rifle which is both cool and it is fitting for a havoc so that is something to think about.

[Warsmith Aznable]

A lot of neat stuff in here -Max-.

 

Thank you!

 

As for your havoc, I like where you are going with yours but that barrel comes off as too long. However, it does remind me of an anti-tank rifle which is both cool and it is fitting for a havoc so that is something to think about.

 

The length of the barrel was my primary concern. I've done some mock-ups in Photoshop of a shortened version:

 

EDIT: concept photos removed

 

I can't decide if the shortened barrels make the receiver look too big and blocky, which is why I went with the long ones first. I'll have to think about it and hopefully get some more input before I cut it up again.

[GooseDaMoose]

You could try and do as hushrong says and make it into an anti-vehicle rifle, that'd look awesome! Like if he's kneeling or laying down and steadying it on something, looking down the sights at the target, with a ridiculously oversized, large-caliber sniper rifle!

[Warsmith Aznable]

Well, this is what I did:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/ac-havoc-wip-paint-001.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/ac-havoc-wip-paint-002.jpg

 

I still haven't painted the base, but because I get antsy waiting for the glue and paint to dry on those I decided to go ahead and post it. It's a WIP thread after all.

 

I need to look into painting minis before they are completely assembled. This was one difficult figure to get to all the areas, and I'm not sure I did. The frustration that came out of that led this to not be one of my better paint jobs, but I guess it's passable. The ammo drum on the side represents the current pinnacle of my ability with plasticard...

 

EDIT: I got into it and went ahead and made a second one:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/5thsquad-wip-001.jpg

 

I'm thinking this is going to be "5th Squad, Battle Singers": 4 Havocs with Autocannons, 1 Champion with Power Weapon, 1 Havoc with Icon, 4 Havocs with Bolters ("ablative wounds"), and a dedicated Rhino transport.

[Lord Antares]

I'm a fan of the autocannon you decided on, the other one did look a bit ungainly.

 

the blood on the blades of those terminators is dead good too, and you didn't overdo it :D

[NemFX]

I'd bulk up the obliterator guy's midsection more, try to make his legs a little longer if i could also, but thats just me. im liking the look of these guys, but the paint is just a little too crisp for chaos.. they need a little battle damage :cuss

[Warsmith Aznable]

The legs could stand to be a bit bigger, I'll grant you that. I'm using older Terminator models, and they're a little smaller than more recent ones, I think. Battle damage? I'm afraid to do battle damage. I tend go overboard with things like that, and then I end up with something barely recognizable. I'm settling for the blood to show they've been in a scrap, and I was even afraid to do that, thinking I might have spent all that time painting the models and then end up with them just slathered in Gore Red... :D

 

If anybody is interested, I made a tutorial of the autocannon. It can be found in the Tutorials and How-tos section here in the PCA subforum. I'm calling it the Wælheim pattern Autocannon to fit with my DIY fluff.

[Warsmith Aznable]

The Chaos Storm Raven is decorated and primed. I broke one of the little reinforcement bars for the canopy, so now I'm undecided how I'm going to finish it. I didn't put as much "Chaos bling" on this vehicle as I normally do, because I figured too much stuff hanging off the fuselage would push the suspension of disbelief when considering aerodynamics and atmospheric entry and all that. The row of spikes on the dorsal section is maybe too much, let alone the usual chains and stuff. But I digress; it's pictures that people read WIP threads for:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/chaos-stormraven-wip-001.jpg

 

Again, if anybody missed the first post about this, it's a counts-as Land Raider intended to be the custom ride for my Chaos Lord and his Comitatus of Terminators. In ultra-friendlies I might use it as an actual skimmer, but otherwise it's just a regular old Chaos Land Raider.

 

EDIT: I'm considering making a base for it that's an outline of a Land Raider, or a close approximation, with some kind of terrain markers indicating where the assault ramp and hatches would be for measuring purposes.

[Lord Antares]

A lord, a Chaos storm pigeon? :o

 

I'm looking forward to seeing how you paint it, are you going to go for the quartered scheme?

[Warsmith Aznable]

I'm looking forward to seeing how you paint it, are you going to go for the quartered scheme?

 

I haven't decided how I'm going to paint it yet. I've been doing silver with orange and black accents for the tanks, but I don't think that will work for the Storm Raven. I doubt I'll know exactly what I'm going to do until I actually start doing it. It will be a while before I get around to it, so no hurry to decide.

 

I have to have a few different things going on at once, because I get bored doing one thing and then get excited about another idea. So I juggle projects, going back and forth as the inspiration takes me. Sometimes, like the other day, I will be working on several things at the same time. Currently I'm working on my third Autocannon Havoc, the banner bearers for the 2cnd and 3rd squads, sorting my pile of marine helmets, the Storm Raven and now my Plague Marines. Someday I'm going to go back and finish the paint on my Rubric Marines...

 

But anyway, about "the Bog Men": Every Marine throughout the Galaxy tries to avoid unnecessary trips to the Apothecary. The Marines of the Iron Hounds have reason to dread the company infirmary more than most. At the foot of the great rock that the Jarl's fortress perches upon, there crouches the domain of the fallen apothecary Viktor Rose, nightmare labyrinth of operating rooms and endless hallways of gibbering patients. The enemies of the Jarl, captured, tortured, and finally drowned in the bog below, are fished out by the coldly sadistic apothecary for his twisted experiments. Unfortunate neophytes of the Iron Hounds whose bodies reject the geneseed or Marines who neglect their purification rituals and begin to mutate also feel the caress of Brother Viktor's scalpel. The Jarl keeps the wretched creature for his mastery of skill, and also his usefulness as a threat, both in garrison and on the battlefield. The fallen apothecary brings some of his experiments along with him in his Rhino, using these reanimated bodies of dead Marines to guard the rear area of the company or sacrificing them to stand on objectives while the rest of the company moves forward.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/bogmen-wip-001.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/bogmen-wip-002.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/bogmen-wip-003.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/bogmen-wip-004.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/bogmen-wip-005.jpg

 

I had a lot of fun making these guys. I took the suggestion to add battle damage and experimented with it on these guys, because I figure that the walking dead can take having their modeler go a bit overboard more than a regular, living Marine can. I used pieces from the WHFB Vampire Counts Zombie Regiment, kitbashed with a regular Space Marine box. I had no idea how many pieces came with the WHFB set, so I now have a LOT of left over zombies I'm not sure what to do with...

 

But anyway, I like them. Still kicking around ideas for paint. My original thought was to do each one in a different Loyalist color scheme and then ruin it with rust and slime. Now I'm kicking around the idea that Victor cleans them up a bit, maybe painting them white or the same mint green of his own armor (but still with rust and slime). Or maybe paint them like they've been stripped of paint and rusted, covering them with dirt and slime from the bog. I just can't decide...

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the two special weapons guys are being magnetized so that they can switch out their wargear between Bolters, Flamers and Plasma Guns.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I seem to be on a modeling spree, and it feels good after the LPC...

 

Today I put together my Chaos Sorcerer, a character I've named Forn Grimnir. He is the enigmatic intelligence guiding mad old Bolverk from behind the scenes, a mysterious and manipulative figure of uknown origin. He's got a Jump Pack and a Force Scythe, a magnetized left hand for either a Bolt Pistol or a Plasma Pistol, and just for the heck of it a blowing horn hanging from his belt. He's got a bionic eye and a head full of malice, as well:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/forngrimnir-wip-002.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/forngrimnir-wip-001.jpg

 

He is accompanied on the battle field by the 9th Squad "Storm Crows". Because I need something for them to do and also a place to hide the Sorcerer.

 

I put together my other two Banner Bearers this evening. 1st, 2cnd, and 3rd squads are regular Chaos Space Marines, and they get these dudes in ceremonial armor carrying big :D banners, and each one is going to have squad specific heraldry on it. Because I like that sort of thing.

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/standardbearers123squads.jpg

 

And finally, some simple objective markers:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/objectivemarkers.jpg

 

Nothing fancy, but I have all these pieces from the Zombie Regiment that I need to figure out what to do with. Forn Grimnir's Force Scythe is taken from that box, as well. I've probably bought enough WHFB bits to play a small points game if they weren't stuck all over my 40k models...

[Dosjetka]

Some seriously nice conversions here :tu: I love the feel of your army. Great stuff :)

 

Ludovic

Edit: Nothing more constructive from me right now as I only had time to skim through!

[GooseDaMoose]

Agreed, really cool stuff! ;)

 

As always, I am looking forward to more man

[Warsmith Aznable]

It's been over a month since I've updated anything here. Been busy with the end of the semester and whatnot, blah blah blah, I'm back.

 

As usual I've got several things going at once, but I decided to do a one-off to get me back into the swing of painting. This isn't for the Iron Hounds warband, but rather it's my character model for the Dark Heresy campaign I'm currently in. I really liked my last character model but he was an Ork so I couldn't share him here, but this time I'm playing a Sororitas so it's all good. Her name is Sister Antigone L'Haineux, and she likes scrapbooking, ponies, and burning heretics:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/antigone.jpg

 

I like the scheme, I'm pleased with my application, but something just didn't work this time. Maybe Gore Red isn't good for a main color. Maybe the clear coat I used went bad. Maybe I thinned the gold paint too much. I don't know, but the finished product looks OK except for the colors wound up too flat somehow. I don't know what happened. Usually the photograph isn't as vibrant as seeing it in person, but this photograph pretty much sums up what I'm looking at on my hobby table (or at least that of the rear angle shown on the right, because the two images were adjusted differently in PS before I merged them). Maybe there was lingering moisture in the air that screwed up the clear coating? It drizzled earlier, but not much so I didn't think about it. It wasn't too cold, I don't think, and I've clear coated outside at night before without it turning out so dull. The truth is the Gore Red was looking kind of dull when I applied it, but that wouldn't explain why ALL the colors came out too flat.

 

At any rate, it's done and I only needed the one so I can ponder what happened later. It will be a while before I get around to doing any more Sisters, and they'll probably be in a different scheme than this one. So there she is, and here I am updating my WIP Blog again. :)

[Warsmith Aznable]

I was walking around my FLGS the other day with a 15mm country house for another game I play, but I decided that I should paint that army before buying houses for them to live in. Then I picked up an IG Sentinel box and walked around with it while I thought. I've got an idea for my last Defiler and it needs the Sentinel's armored cockpit. Then I thought that I could just bits order the cockpit and wanted to do something sort of random instead. So I wandered over to the glass case where all the new Finecast stuff is kept and decided that I needed an Abaddon model. Why not?

 

I have steered clear of the Finecast threads here and pretty much everywhere else I've seen them. I wanted to make up my own mind about it by putting one together and painting it myself. My initial impression of the model was good, and I liked that they continue to place them in see through containers so you can look at them before you buy them. Initially I liked the detail of the model, which was fairly crisp. But then you turn it over and the problems of resin all start coming back. I think that resin molds must hang upside down, because all the bubbles are on the undersides of resin models. There was one place where they were pretty big, the guy's left elbow, and here and there in entirely way too many places there were little gaps on the edges of small details such as the small spikes on his gauntlets, the back edge of one of his pauldrons, the inside edge of the bottom of one of his feet, a couple of the rounds of ammunition for his wrist mounted bolter. A lot of little things in a lot of little places. Dabbing glue onto them, as per the suggestion I read on the GW website, didn't really work. Maybe it's just me, I don't know.

 

Taking the model out of the sprue and taking the flash and all that off was easy, however. All of it except the big blocks where the feet attacked to the sprue came off with the fingers. The polyresin of Finecast is soft and light, and thinner longer pieces like his sword tend to be bendy. But this new Finecast stuff is not brittle like some of the other resin I've worked with, which is a bonus. Another thing on the plus side (versus the old metals) is that cutting off Abaddon's ridiculous topknot took just a quick twist and then cleaned up with the exacto just as quickly. Another thing I did differently was to cut the spikes off the trophy racks, because I don't like trophy racks either.

 

I was wondering, "should I paint this guy as Abaddon, or do something different with him?" Then that little voice in my head said, "dude, paint him black and white. That would be cool." And I asked it, "sure, but how will it fit into my DIY fluff then?" and the voice replied, "who cares? You'll figure it out eventually, and it will look totally boss!"

 

So here we are, I have a hairless, tropy-less Abaddon model I painted black and white just because:

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/abaddon-front.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/abaddon-oblique.jpg

 

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j91/montismo/abaddon-rear.jpg

 

The bubbles I can complain about, but the primer I can't. Apparently it was a little too humid when I primed the model, so there is a bit of texture to the paint job. Moving on, normally I just paint the model, douse it with Badab Black, rub some blood here and there and call it done. This time I was trying the "layered shade" thing. I painted it white, washed it, and then painted the white back on but left the gaps to show the washed white underneath around some edges. Then I decided to go ahead and try some highlighting in a similar vein on the gold, silver, and red. And then, of course, massive amounts of BLOOD dripping everywhere, because whoever this guy ends up being he's a maniac.

 

I used some of the momentum I had built up today from finishing this model to work on my counts-as Rubric Marines. I have been playing the squad lately, so I figure they should have more than just the base color. I knocked out some silver trim and almost got all that finished before I got bored and decided to quit for the day. So no pictures since they're not done. But I'm going to finish the Rubric Marines before I move on the Plague Marines. One cult troop at a time...