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BA Army Expansion + Chapter Fortress


Angelus Mortifer

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...a bit of the background first.

 

So, ever since the PDF 'dex came out and I got back into my BAs after a 2 year break completely from the game, I very quickly thought how cool would it be to have a BA themed display board to put my newly growing army on. My imagination naturally ran riot but the actual product was hampered by the tools and resources available. I really didn't want to do a complete scratch build, and I only had the CoD scenery to utilise at the time. My initial sketches were ok but they just didn't fit the grandios image I wanted to convey for the Astartes Artisans. So, thoughts were kept on the back burner whilst work continued on rebuilding and repainting my 2nd Company.

 

Then PS was released, with its Bastions, Aquila Shrines and Skyshields and I thought, this is definitely more like it. So naturally I went back to the drawing board to see what I could come up with. The new designs were certainly a lot better than the earlier ideas I had but they still lacked a certain something as a focal point/centre piece. I stalled on starting this project until December last year when the Fortress of Retribution was released, and that is what finally got the ball rolling for me.

 

Over the last 2.5 years the display board idea has morphed into a combined display/terrain piece, and I have a few ideas for a PS specific scenario for this once it's completed. It's also gone from a foot print of 1.5' square to now occupying a space a little over 24x36" and approximately 8 CoD stories high. Even today I had another idea to change some such facet of what I was trying to produce, and no doubt over time the same will happen quite often until the damn thing is finished.

 

Anyway, this is my first WIP thread and over time I'll add more pics as the thing grows, but for now we start with the centre of the Chapter Fortress starting on the 1st floor (above ground level). Some of these have appeared in Demolius' terrain thread so apologies for the duplicates.

 

Comments, questions and criticism are gladly welcomed, and expect me to still be adding pictures and comments in a year's time :tu:

 

Angel Tower - front elevation. (In Honoram Pro Sanguinius)

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/Angel-FrontFacade.jpg

 

Angel Tower - front base.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/Angel-FrontLower.jpg

 

Angel Tower - left elevation. (In Fides Pro Imperator)

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/Angel-LeftFacade.jpg

 

Angel Tower - right elevation. (In Mortis Pro IX Legio)

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/Angel-RightFacade.jpg

 

The two side elevations both have doors to allow access to and from the tower section (which would count as dis/embarking).

 

Angel Tower - roof 1+2

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/Angel-TowerRoof1.jpg

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/Angel-TowerRoof2.jpg

 

I have yet to do the rear section as this needs to be modified so that there is access from the tower to the main building facade that will sit right behind it. I have to get the whole of the ground floor and this floor built first before being able to do that, so it won't be left open.

 

And this is the next bit that I'm working on, which also gives a sense of scale. The Chapter Fortress entrances....

 

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/Angel-Scale.jpg

By the way how do you do the red marble effect? Is that sponged on?

 

It's all done on a Chaos Black basecoat and you're right, I do "sponge" it on. I water down some Blood Red and use a spare foam slot from my model case and randomly dab the paint onto the surface, leaving some of the background black alone. Once dry, I do another coat and then lightly drybrush Fortress Grey then Codex Grey once the second one has dried. It's a fairly easy process for an effect that looks a lot more complex... I'm all for that :P

It's a fairly easy process for an effect that looks a lot more complex... I'm all for that :P

 

Hell yes me too! Now all I need is a piece and excuse to try this out on. Also apologies for making you explain that twice, I literally just read the objective markers... topic and saw you had already said how to do it there =/

Also apologies for making you explain that twice, I literally just read the objective markers... topic and saw you had already said how to do it there =/

 

No worries :P Figured I may as well try and do a specific WIP thread for this as added motivation further down the line (I know I'll need it!).

 

Thanks for the positive feedback lads.

 

@Master Exorcist - I had a long discussion with one of my club mates as to whether I could get away with a DA themed terrain piece and make it BA funnily enough. Sadly my green-stuffing skills are lame so I couldn't really do much with the Angel, so I thought I'd try and "modify it with paint" ;) I think it works pretty well, and once I get more sections of it done I don't think there will be much questioning as to which chapter this edifice belongs to...

The only thing I don't like is that the base of the tower looks a little "Khorny" because of all the skulls.

 

:P I was wondering how long it would be before someone mentioned something like that. It is a slight problem I suppose but it also all boils down to perception maybe. If it were a Khorne tower of some kind then I'm sure the skulls would be real and I would have painted them in bone. You have to blame the High Lords of Terra for authorising a ridiculous number of skulls to adorn a large chunk of Imperial buildings, and I realise the choice of colour may not help either. I didn't think a BA Chapter Fortress would be red though, at least not red like BA armour, and I'm trying to get a balance between something functional and militaristic but also with the "ostentation" of the master artificers.

 

I know it won't appeal to everyone :P Maybe the first battle should be vs a Khorne Beserker force to decide on ownership...?!

incredibly nice, can you explain how you done the red marble walls?

 

Have a look further up the thread towards the beginning ;)

 

I have posted pics of the army before, but here's a quick selection...

 

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/Blood%20Angels/AS2nd1.jpg

 

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/Blood%20Angels/Vindi2BV.jpg

 

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/Blood%20Angels/Dread1Kelan.jpg

the fortress door you mentioned is that the cathedral like windows thing aside the tower? it looks neat ;)

 

Yes. The part is actually from the Shrine of Aquila kit and I've finally finished the two entrances and the supporting wall...

 

The supporting wall will basically sit right behind the Angel Tower base. I cut the square out of the wall so that the base could kind of semi-slot into the gap, and it will be flush enough so as not to be able to see it when completely glued and assembled.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/EntranceSupportWall.jpg

 

Right hand entrance way, made from the Aquila wall with the stained glass inner frame removed.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/ChapterEntrance1.jpg

 

Right and left entrances.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/ChapterEntrance2.jpg

 

Complete entrance wall section. These aren't glued together yet but hopefully it gives an idea of how it will look once in position behind the Angel Tower. There will be a further wall section at either far end of the doorway sections that will come out perpendicular to the doorways themselves, and I need to get these done first before gluing and assembling. Once I've got that complete I can then post pics of it all combined with the tower. Essentially, you won't really see the supporting wall as the tower will obscure it, but either side of the tower you will have the two doorways.

http://i741.photobucket.com/albums/xx54/SebJones_photos/BA%20Chapter%20Fortress/ChapterEntrance3.jpg

 

 

 

(...apologies for my crappy camera as the pic quality isn't great. Once the project is complete I'll be using a proper camera to give some much better shots.)

Good update, it's shaping up nicely. And about the skulls issue, I've been painting a JP Chaplain recently, and realized, that on the entire model there is a grand total of 23 skulls! So i guess that skulls isn't reserved for the minions of chaos :P
This looks awesome mate. Kudos on the Assault Sarge, he's a personal fav of mine from way back when. Might have to dig him out now. Looking forward to seeing this progress, that marble effect is very good, and the robed angel is also very nice.

@Ziggy + Dem - Yeah, there's really nothing you can do about the skulls unless you have the patience to invest time in a lot of filing and sanding (which I don't), or green-stuffing (which I can't), so I have to make do with what I can do. Given how long it will take to get this done, even if I had the talent I probably still wouldn't do much extra otherwise I'd be 90 by the time it was done (and we'd be on 24th Ed 40k!!).

 

Thanks to for all the positive comments so far chaps - hopefully I'll have the next pics up by the middle of the week or so...

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