The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Brother Christopher]

@Kisada

After my green stuff sculpting attempts which I deemed to be failures, I made an almost total transition to green stuff moulds. So these are casts (if that's the right word). Moulds for both the cross and the emblem were taken from Sword Brethren models. I've made some green stuff cast tabards for terminators, there are pics of those on page 2 of this thread.

[Brother Christopher]

Again, my hobby plans failed badly due to real life stuff (to a very, very small degree) and... Metal Gear Solid (there's no auto saves and smashin' people's faces wit chainswords and there's a lot of sneaky business but it's fun nonetheless). But I forced myself yesterday to finish the metal parts and (let's say) they're done.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1130966_zpsysfrkdic.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1130965_zps3cjbufyp.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1130963_zpsahtyqsel.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1130961_zps7h0ksjwf.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1130957_zps3zjnu3xd.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1130964_zpsbaa8y8ub.jpg

 

It took me some time but now I'm pretty sure I've made up my mind in relation to the recessed areas on the sides. I'm planning to paint a crusade badge on one and an eagle on the other. Initially, I wanted to place the free-had below, which some of you may remember, on one side and paint a Templar cross on the other, but now I want to cover the deep mould line on the mudguard with the IF marine (the part that you can see in the photo above which is now ruined with liquid green stuff).

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1100288_zpsrsxzg2ab.jpg

[Brother Christopher]

All righty, the pace of progress is visible in the layer of dust on the tank. But here it is! I did some colours. My first attempt at painting a large surface using a different colour thank black. And here it is.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1140067_zpswfzl9ezy.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1140068_zpsa9zvmypc.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1140069_zps6igjxjfn.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1140070_zps4cdjzirm.jpg

 

I declare the yellow parts painted. I must say I'm not as happy with the result as I would like, but I'm not redoing it. I messed up some bits with the unnecessary wash. And my antique Golden Yellow is a dreadful paint, really. Again, that has to be the price of being lazy and cheap and not investing in a white primer. I'm sure the paint would work better on a light undercoat. Black, it seems, is eternal. But that's a good thing, the tank, at it's core, is Black Templar.

 

The next stage is free hand. with that done, I'll get to doing the blacks.

[Kisada]

Are we building the same army!? lol

 

I also have an Ironclad in my work queue along with a Sicaran on order

AND

I am also planning on painting some of my units (anything that can be used in both 40k and 30k) as Pre-second founding Imperial Fists crusading Templars. 

 

Thanks for this.  Really helps me get a visual on the black and yellow.  Looking forward to seeing more.  Crusade on brother ... even if its only one step at a time (seems we also work at the same pace haha)

[Brother Christopher]

I suppose that these units are just pure awesome, both in terms of looks and rules. And after all, I'm pretty glad I got this sicaran, albeit I had a real hard time with preparing it for painting. The re-cast (or I should say mis-cast) was a huge, huge pain.

 

Over the years, I hoarded a significant pile of marines and vehicles, truly worthy of a medium sized crusade. I'd just like to have them painted, but with real life and other hobbies constantly interfering, my current optimistic estimate is that I'll paint and assemble everything in about 5 years. But this is also quite Templar, isn't it? We seem to enjoy crusading eternally

[Kisada]

Hahaha ... I'm right there with ya brother.  I've been preparing to crusade since I first got the Armageddon Codex and have yet to roll a die.  I have 2 sons now (5 and 4 years old) who love looking at the few models I have painted and displayed and also have picked out armies for themselves from the White Dwarfs I've let them look through (I scanned them for suitable levels of grimdarkness so my wife wouldn't freak out).

 

Unfortunately they've both picked filthy Xenos so I'll have to purge them one day.  I'm hoping to have my crusade along with starter armies for whatever they choose ready for them by the age they're ready to play ... 5+ years?

[Brother Christopher]

While I cannot trace my interest in BT as far as Codex: Armageddon, I'm a collector for almost six years now. I did my share of gaming back in 5th edition when it was 'easy' to make a reasonable list. I had little experience with 40K, which I always perceived as something extremely expensive, so I found it much easier to enjoy the game. An EC with AAC granting re-rolls, a LRC packed with terminators, 2 crusader squads, 3 land speeders and some additional armour and charging the enemy face-on, with much success.

 

Now I have a much, much broader selection of available units, but I just can't seem to build a reasonable list. After I choose the units which seem a 'must have', I have very little points for other units, mainly support without which I can't see the list working, so I start curbing down on the 'must have' selections and the whole thing falls apart. Add this to the responsibilities and nearly non-existent organisation and you have the reason why I don't play too much.

 

Taking about falling apart and bad organisation: I ruined my hobby in a time of 40K transformations (like introduction of flyers and all the larger changes in the 6th edition) and financial problems. I thought that I can make the units I couldn't afford using plasticard in a reasonable time... and that absolutely bulldozed everything. I'm still dealing with the aftermath of that overzealousness which materialised in the countless, scattered, unfinished problems.

 

Maybe your kids will mature and pick a more righteous army. Either way, I'll race you. With the Emperor's guidance, we shall conclude the crusade-prep stage some day in the grim future.

 

I also hope that it shows that I'm doing my best to have a slow but steady flow of updates. I found an hour-or-so and did the free-hands I planned. My current idea, which pervades for some time now, of Neurode Crusade's heraldry centres around 'local' or 'personal' touches. Below, if you're interested, there is a legend/key of sorts. Here's what is -- symbolically -- painted on the Sicaran's side, my family crest ("Doliwa") and my town's (Nowa Ruda) coat of arms.

 

And the tank:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1140071_zpsiep3pway.jpg

 

The black field contains a Templar cross outline, believe me.

 

The other side, a generic Imperial eagle:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/sicaran/P1140072_zps2hsxjb2o.jpg

 

Thanks for visiting!

[Brother Christopher]

The last time I had a chance to do something hobby-relates was 1mm layer of dust ago. Depressed with this and eager to make some progress in November, I did a very predictable thing and abandoned progress with the Sicaran to start a completely new project. Tired with painting vehicles, I got round to doing some infantry. Some time ago I purchased some second-hand marines, who were in a pretty bad shape. I managed to strip most paint (still, the white primer proved to be as stubborn as a black Templar and no bath in break fluid nor brushing seemed to remove it) but the minis still were in a pretty bad condition. To mast this, I decided to templarify what I have. I've picked reclaimed 4 marines and another 2 which are casts my friend gave me. The gear I'm going with is 4 bolters and 2 grav cannonons, as I realised that the last time I made some shooting Templars were my first AoBR troops plus 5 or 6 others, later on, four years ago.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150252_zpswk2b2cj5.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150251_zpsuyrobylu.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150250_zpswcfojlhe.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150249_zpsvc9liatb.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150248_zpsea0ravt4.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150247_zpsho9m5emi.jpg

 

Most of the green stuff is press-moulded, the only bits I've "sculpted" (unfortunately, my sculpting skills did not develop without practice and I'm still useless with it) are the chest cloths. Also, the marines who are to be wielding grav cannons are clones, so I tried to do something about the legs, to give the illusion that they're different.

 

Actually, from a normal perspective, these guys look quite cool. I'm getting more and more psyched about painting them, but there's still a long way to go with the grav cannons and relevant backpacks.

 

Also, I'm trying to be consistent now, and I'm starting anything new. Just the two painting projects, Sicaran and 6 Crusaders, are pending. I'm... not... starting.... anything.... new... must... resist... the... urge.

[Marshal Mattias]

Your press moulding technique is clever and seems to work quite well - I may have to experiment as I'm running low on bits!

[Brother Christopher]

I have displayed a surprising consistency this week and spent daily some time on the hobby. The results aren't spectacular, but they are nonetheless. I'll be priming my 6 marines tomorrow and hopefully have them painted in two weeks or so. Things would go much faster if it weren't for cheap (i.e. second hand) or free miniatures, which are good because of the said traits, but the low costs have to be supplemented by an investment of time. As such, I spent hours trying to put together the two guys with... huge vacuum cleaners? My friend has something that I don't - an imagination, and he was not bothered with such details as choosing parts that actually git together. As a result, I had to figure out a way to attach the (preposterously) large guns to my small marines. This was... time consuming and frustrating, but I kind of managed to do it after some cutting, press-moulding, gluing and gap-filling. The final result "has to do". I don't expect to field 4 grav devastators anyway, so I'll just have these to reach my "ideal" (4 marines armed with each type of available heavy weapons) and use the standard grav cannons and amps from my devastator box. The clear advantage here is that I now have two "UNIQUE" vacuum marines who hold their... guns in a very, very uncomfortable manner.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150255_zpsn1wz86lq.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150257_zpslsbnyurd.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150258_zpsgoiv7yiv.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150259_zpsiactlhqy.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150260_zpskqxqiwr5.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150261_zpsk1kko1le.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150262_zpsxbsi4ajl.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150263_zpszdpapfas.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150264_zpsqkimwpql.jpg

 

Can't wait to get back to painting!

[Brother Christopher]

With so many of you sharing so much great photos of completed models and works in progress, I decided to share my (feeble) advancements. Since my last update (wow, I can't believe that was in November!) I had much to go about, including the year-end mayhem at work and moving house.

 

I'm still working on my 6 Crusaders. The good news, I this needs stressing as the pictures below don't really show that, is that I feel that they are almost finished. I'm left with painting blacks, highlighting and cleaning up. The bad news, as always, I'm getting distracted a lot by other responsibilities and tempted by side projects. Still, my resolution (which has nothing to do with January) is to keep focused on painting small things already in progress. Hopefully, I'll have these Crusaders ready by month-end and be able to start another batch of bolter/special and heavy weapons marines to fill the gaps in my ranks, as so far I have a healthy proportion of 10 shooty vs 30+ stabby Templars.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150847_zpskwxbwihy.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150848_zpsrrrt36t0.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150851_zps3eortlk2.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150852_zpssc7fcymf.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150854_zpsdljwv38x.jpg

[Marshal Mattias]

... a healthy proportion of 10 shooty vs 30+ stabby Templars.

 

 

 

That's the way I like it ;)

[AndrewChristlieb]

Looking good brother! I feel you on those real life distractions. We bought a house in December and between getting that ready to move into and work I've not had much time for anything else. Hopefully once we're moved in (end of month!) I'll be able to get on top of my pile. :)

[Brother Christopher]

 

... a healthy proportion of 10 shooty vs 30+ stabby Templars.

 

 

 

That's the way I like it

 

 

Haha, me too! When I started crusading and used to actually play the game and not hoard plastic soldiers, when our "outdated" Codex had a reasonable AAC vow and when melee was easier, I assembled by troops with a selection of close combat weapons. The only shooting marines were my first Assault on Black Reach guys and maybe 3 other bolter marines, who were used as BP&CCW guys anyway, as an addition to the bolter they all had a chainsword/powersowrd. Ahh, the "good old days".

 

However now, as my army grew out of reasonable proportion and beyond my control, I decided to add not only some regular bolter marines, but 2 marines equiped with each special weapon and 4-man "devastator" squads with 4 of each available heavy weapons. I spent/wasted much time thinking about it, as I feel that this plan is "a waste" of 20-30 good marines (i.e. marines who could use something more "personal"). Nonetheless, despite our close combat doctrine, I think that some heavy weapons look amazing ;) And despite our subforum doctrine, I suppose that special/heavy weapons are quite useful.

 

@ AndrewChristlieb

Best of luck with that: your moving and managing your troops! Restarting progress on a Crusade may be tough, especially if one has other business to go around. I just hope that you won't lose any crusaders in the Warp ;)

I had a little "hear attack" moment when after moving I couldn't find my (much hated) Sicaran. After all the work I've put into mending and later painting it, the thought that I've lost it while moving which appeared in my mind for a brief moment when I opened the box in which it was supposed to be but wasn't was rather unpleasant. Luckily, I soon discovered that I put it in a different box, with my WIP/scratchbuild stuff.

 

As part of my yesterday's procrastination I managed to highlight the edges on one of the marines. After a considerable break and with a new brush (I always find it difficult to readjust to a new brush, despite that in theory new is better. It seems that the machine spirit in the old, worn out brushes develop a certain bond with their users) I wanted to give it a try with some free-hand, hence the useless templar cross on the chest. I mean, I'm rather pleased with the result - I say useless, because it's not going to be visible behind the bolter.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150855_zps3cedvbdj.jpg

[Psykic_scribe]

 

I say useless, because it's not going to be visible behind the bolter.

 

But you know it's there and it's in great shape.  That's what ZEAL does. 

[Brother Christopher]

So, a bitter-sweet update. The bad is that I'm obsessing with time and despite my efforts to speed things up, it still takes me more than an hour to highlight arms and a backpack and to paint 2 crosses on the shoulder pads. With such a pace, painting this army will take me more than a lifetime. It seems that And to top it up, I'm not satisfied with the quality of the final result. This concludes the rant. The good thing is that I've finished two Marines, my first two shooting Crusaders painted in something like 3-4 years. This is very refreshing, and above all the BT upgrade sprue bolters are pretty cool!

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150857_zps7vzn1yyl.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150858_zpslgtekxyi.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150859_zpsdnf12hgl.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150860_zpsqbhg7hl7.jpg

 

I've still got 4 more marines out of this "batch" of minis - two more bolters and two grav cannons. A shame that we can't field 2 heavy weapons per squad, as these 6 guys would make a cool gang to drive around in a razorback.

[Marshal Mattias]

Dude, your finished quality is great - I wish mine came out that well! You get good shading and layers, but then your edge highlights are super sharp and I'm jealous, plus your details like script/emblems are great too - particularly that shoulderpad!

 

I feel you on the time issue - I spent a long time putting off tackling my infantry too. If it helps, here's how I'm breaking my habit:

 

I just grab 3 or 4 at a time and focus on them alone. In the last week or two, I've painted up around 12? I'm deliberately not thinking about the fact that there are about another 50! I spent years doing none because I was focused on how many there were to do - better I just do a few at a time and a few months from now I might actually get through them all. Just keep trucking along at your own pace, and try this trick; write a 500 point list, and start off just painting the infantry to get you there. You'll be so chuffed when you reach that fully-painted force, even just at 500, it'll help inspire you to keep going to the next level! Bite size chunks, resist the temptation to try and do big 10-20 man batches, and don't look at your backlog (like seriously put it away in a box and just keep out the figs you're working on right now).

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the kind words. Also, I don't want to turn out to be the guy who always says, "oh, duh, I did badly", and waits for someone to say otherwise. I know that the quality of my painting is a table-top plus and I'm very pleased with how the models look from distance. I'm just a rather ambitions and competitive person and I know that there's always room for improvement. However, good quality of blacks (on par with GW's showcase) is and will always be beyond my reach, as I doubt that I'll have the time to spare to master my brushes to such a level of mastery. Nonetheless, I tend to forget about this and I sometimes get carried away and be a bit overzealous.

 

Speaking of zeal, I put it to good use today and rushed my painting. I 'finished' my two first Black Templar Grav Cannon Initiates. Yeah, these are some clumsy looking guns, but they deliver a solid punch. I off course must mention my obsession about time - I managed to reduce it significantly without much detriment to quality - I skipped the "cleaning up" phase of highlighting, which didn't bring the expected results yesterday and fuelled my frustration.

 

I'll post the pictures later, as apparently my photo hosting site is now off due to maintenance.

 

I just grab 3 or 4 at a time and focus on them alone. In the last week or two, I've painted up around 12? I'm deliberately not thinking about the fact that there are about another 50! I spent years doing none because I was focused on how many there were to do - better I just do a few at a time and a few months from now I might actually get through them all. Just keep trucking along at your own pace, and try this trick; write a 500 point list, and start off just painting the infantry to get you there. You'll be so chuffed when you reach that fully-painted force, even just at 500, it'll help inspire you to keep going to the next level! Bite size chunks, resist the temptation to try and do big 10-20 man batches, and don't look at your backlog (like seriously put it away in a box and just keep out the figs you're working on right now).
 

 

What you wrote is partially what I'm trying to do. I'm limiting the batches to "around five" and try not to think about how many marines there are still to be painted and that the uneven quality of painting across my army (which reflects the passing of time and the development of my abilities). Currently, I'm implementing a plan to increase the number of shooting marines and have 2 pieces of each heavy and special weapon.

 

However, having said that I actually might try to follow your advice. First, I'll do the next batch of heavy/special weapons and then I really should write a list of 500 points which would include miniatures that I want to paint and do that. It might be a great motivation to paint the yet unassembled drop pods as dedicated transports and maybe the Thunderfire cannon. Thank you very much for the idea. The thought of a force, even a small one, painted using my current set of abilities, techniques and shortcuts is definitely something to look forward to. It should also look nice alongside the already painted portion of the Crusade. And one can only move forward from such a point.

[Brother Christopher]

Here's the photo update, the Grav Cannon Templars and a 'group shot' of my current painting efforts. Due to the amount of writing I have to do (deadline on Tuesday), I realistically hope to paint the remaining two brothers till next Friday.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150863_zpstijx6wsi.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150865_zpsvtubjdw8.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150867_zpscudezjc1.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1150868_zpsdqmdoysd.jpg

[Marshal_Roujakis]

Man... I hate the fact that you are so good at this... :p

 

I've tried the duplicating/resculpting thing but it never worked for me... I just ended up buying more stuff from GW or from 3rd party sellers to convert into Templar bits... the occasional sculpting still happens but majority of it is for cloaks, tabards or purity seals...

[Marshal Reinhard]

I would kill to be able to do as nice shoulder pads as you

[Psykic_scribe]

Excellent paintwork.  Holding my breath until Friday ......

[Marshal Mattias]

How on earth...? Those GCs came out awesome, I can't believe how well it worked with such large pieces. Guess I'll be going back through your thread to steal all your techniques! *evil laughter*

[Brother Captain Ed]

Love the super neat technique.  They look great.  

 

The most criticism I can come up with is that the white look chalky in a couple places.  And even that is reaching since white is such a  to paint.

[Brother Christopher]

I haven't been here a couple of days, sorry for the late reply. And many thanks to all of you for the amazing feedback. It is greatly appreciated!

 

How on earth...? Those GCs came out awesome, I can't believe how well it worked with such large pieces. Guess I'll be going back through your thread to steal all your techniques! *evil laughter*

 

I'm not sure I know what you mean about the GCs. What worked well?

 

Love the super neat technique.  They look great.  

 

The most criticism I can come up with is that the white look chalky in a couple places.  And even that is reaching since white is such a  to paint.

 

I recently got really crossed with painting whites and I decided to invest in the new GW white, ceremite is it? Until basically now I've been using the old "skull white" paint, as I still have almost an entire bottle of it. But I won't use it any more, I'll probably (and regrettably) let it dry or maybe use it as an addition to make other colours lighter. The shift in the quality of paint is... shocking. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the new white covers the black undercoat way better, as well as it appears to be slightly less chalky.

 

***

 

I've got a nerd-weekend planned, so there's going to be progress! This, however, does not come lightly. I'm struggling to stay on-track: apparently this is this very special time of the month that spawns ideas (something like a nerd-period). As a result I'm tempted to try some scratchbuilding: either one of the flyers I'm working on, thunderfire cannons or a completely new project, i.e. home-made Centurions, 'designs' of which I've been scribbling for some time now.

 

The trouble is that I know can finish some painting over the weekend, whereas there's no chance that I'll be able to finish any of the scratchbuilds. The idea of doing my own centurions is also extremely exciting, but I'm trying to do some reasoning here: considering my pace, I'll "never" finish them and, moreover, I'll probably never need to (or "will be able to", for that matter) field 6 of centurions in-game; I already have the 3 which come in the original GW kit.

 

Same goes with TFCs - I have an almost painted original, metal TFC and the Techmarine. I'm not sure that I need another two, that I started working some time ago. Well, I need them to "feel good", but at present I'm trying to introduce some order and work out a method of reasonable progress with my stacked, unassembled and unpainted troops and vehicles. I starting to think in "gaming categories": about units that could actually see the table top.

 

Speaking of fielding units, I'm beginning to implement a give-or-take 1200-1500 point list of things I'd like to have painted up to my current standards. As it turns out, this is increadibly difficult - I'm not able to cram all the cool things I'd like and retain the templar flavour, that is enough CC. I'm completely at a loss here, as I don't see a way of delivering CC units to where they should be which makes me feel comfortable (I'm not that sure about sinking points into a LRC).

 

Any advice? Should I do some painting, or maybe get back to my flyers/TFCs?

 

And here's a PS:

 

I've mentioned in this post about my nerd ideas. I were considering to buy some more things, because of... well of my addiction. Apart from an addition to plastic crack, there's no reason that I can find. I were deliberating these two options, both are roughly the same price: 1) three more centurions (yeah, I BADLY want to have two squads of those, despite their in-game price and the "rough" models) or 2) two more drop pods, to have a total of five and better benefit from the alpha strike potential.

 

It turned out that there was a third option that I didn't know of: I bought 8 used bikes for the price of a new drop pod. Well, I just couldn't let the "bargain" pass. And I hear bikes are all the rage in these new editions. So... yeah, mounted assault... I just need to get some lances for my knights!