The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Lippy]

Awesome! Both Technopriests are looking rad.

 

and i may steal your detail on the TFC's screen :) yoink 

[Marshal Mattias]

I'm pretty jealous of your tech-contingent... I only have one old metal tech marine, still with an ancient oaint job... Yours are looking ace and certainly inspiring me to get my Doc-Oc on!

[Tekman]

I'm pretty jealous of your tech-contingent... I only have one old metal tech marine, still with an ancient oaint job... Yours are looking ace and certainly inspiring me to get my Doc-Oc on!

Seconding this, will need to drudge eBay to find one of these for science purposes.

[Brother Christopher]

Awesome! Both Technopriests are looking rad.

 

and i may steal your detail on the TFC's screen yoink 

 

Thanks for the comment You're welcome to do so.

 

I don't mean to brag or anything, but over the years I managed to collect most of the techmarine models, obviously with the exception of the two coolest ones.

 

http://i365.photobucket.com/albums/oo92/Nauk/tech2.jpg

 

 

So, this brings my total of techmarines to 2 with full servo harnesses, 2 with a single servo arm, 1 converted MotF. I also intend to make one on a bike. Unfortunately, the models are pointless because they don't seem to viable for gaming purposes, if this would even be an issue, as I don't feel like approaching the game at its current state. Maybe the next edition (or the one after it) will make the game more inviting, as I'd like to field a LRC packed with angry Templar-engineers.

 

But for now, I consider the tech-chapter book closed. I'll move onto completing my other half-painted models. Next up: some crusaders and a Sicaran battle tank.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Tech marines are not viable? That's my go to HQ choice :D.

[Brother Christopher]

Well, I mean - I haven't played the game for a year, but there are probably better HQ choices in the Codex (not to mention the psychic scum). Now I kind of regret having written that: what I meant was probably more along these lines: if I played, I would struggle to fit 1 techmarine (not to mention more) into a list. I can't imagine a techmarine (regardless how cool he is) to be my only HQ, and I need a swordsman of some kind - an EC or a Marshall.

[AndrewChristlieb]

Well to be fair I play armor heavy so I love having a tech to keep my LRC's running. If not as a HQ choice, I at least take a TFC. 5 point upgrade for a 'uge' gun... Heck yeah :D

 

Edit: maybe 10 points, still cheap

Edited September 30, 2016 by AndrewChristlieb

[Brother Christopher]

When I'll finaly get around to actually play the game, I'll surely take a TFC. Firstly, for the sole sake of awesomeness of the model. Secondly, for 100 points (if memory serves me correct), its a steal: a powerful gun which can wreak havoc and a a 'free' techmarine, who can boost defences? Count me in. Moreover, due to a TFC not being a vehicle, I recon it's way more durable a fire support platform than predators and land speeders, despite its limited mobility. I must admit, that one of the few regrets I have with the 'golden age' of my Warhammer interest (aka gaming) is that back then, when we had our separate book, Codex: Black Templars did not allow us to take these. I would had loved to provide some fire support to my AAC-boosted crusaders and LRC full of AAC-boosted Terminators.

 

That said, my army from 5th ed lacked fire support. Literally, all my infantry was equipped with close combat weapons, the only exception being a flamer, meltagun, bolt pistols and the, sometimes, Terminators' guns: stormbolters and two assault cannons per squad. The only proper shooting came from two predator tanks and three speeders and a single LRC, as my vindicator somehow was unreliable in delivering any damage (but it somehow was considered by opponents as a large threat than a LRC with 7 assault terminators and an Emperor's Champion, so it was worth the points). Now, despite that I don't play the game, it's time to introduce more shooting units to my army, proof of which you can find below: 3 random crusaders armed with heavy and special weapons:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1040324_zpsay1dttan.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1040340_zpstgpro2et.jpg

[Brother Christopher]

In November, 2015 I set off on a quest to paint 12 Crusaders. They were to act as shooting additions to my otherwise close combat army. They were also supposed to represent my current table-top standard and be models '100% complete', i.e. with bases and what not. I'm mentioning this because it took me almost a year to complete 12 regular marines. This is by no means a good result, but the satisfaction I'm feeling now is tangible and I'm excited to be finally able to share these guys with you.

 

These marines are also basically the only finished models in my army. I do have a lot of painted marines in my bag, but only 5 other Crusaders may be considered as 'finished' (i.e. painted to my current standard and having their bases done). I plan to get back to the semi-finished models and, well, finish them. Maybe that'll motivate me to work more and harder, as actually completing individual models, as well as squads may show me that reaching the end, a completely painted crusade is possible.

 

So expect to see next some Sword Brethren - Sternguards (from a couple of pages of this thread ago) and Vanguards (mostly metal Sword Brethren which I painted years ago to a surprisingly high standard).

 

Group shot:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1040367_zpst056a8qs.jpg

 

Custom heavy flamer:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/heavy%20flamer1_zpsevfzm9hf.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1040385_zpscoquff28.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/heavy%20flamer2_zpsrddop3ci.jpg

 

Special weapons:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1040390_zpsv8vb7jd4.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1040392_zpsyz8aqggp.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/crusaders/P1040399_zps1f2q3mno.jpg

[TheOneTrueZon]

 This is by no means a good result, but the satisfaction I'm feeling now is tangible and I'm excited to be finally able to share these guys with you

 

Slow and steady wins the race. I commend your efforts, these could be pulled directly off the pages of our good book, "The Book of the 4th" as I call it. Classic in all the best ways!

[Brother Christopher]

@up

Thank you very much, as I take it as a compliment! In all honesty, I'd like to try some other techniques (such as a rough drybrush, which seems to bring nice and quick tabletop quality results) but, as it turns out, I actually have quite a number of painted miniatures, which were intended to be painted just like the 4th Edition BT Codex instructed, using 'highlights'. And at this point, let's say that I want a consistent method/quality of painting across my army.

 

Not that I'm very dissatisfied with my results -- I even grew to like the thicker lines I learnt to paint reasonably neatly and in a reasonable time which make the detail stand out and give the miniatures some character from a tabletop perspective, though, admittedly, this method loses a lot under close inspection -- but doing proper highlights is quite a tedious unrewarding activity.

 

Lately, after going through my (half-)painted miniatures, I decided to finish some models which I started 5 years ago. Among the first kits I bought where metal Sword Brethren. On average, it seems, I painted one sword brother per year. Firstly, I did not want to touch the models because I wanted my skills to improve. Later, I painted some models, but never got myself around to finishing them, bases included.

 

I updated parts of the models which needed updating (cloaks, metal highlights, armour highlights etc.), but regrettably I skipped redoing their faces (seeing the pictures, a thing I now regret - I'll need to get back and do something with two of those guys).

 

Nonetheless, here are pictures of 95% done Sword Brethren - they need a layer of transparent varnish and some greenery on the bases (I'm waiting for a shipment of turfs). I suppose that these classic models hadn't appeared on this board for some time now, so I hope you enjoy seeing mine!

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1040405-2_zps6broavnw.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1040406-2_zpsyzdqzk42.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1040407-2_zpsczaucljk.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1040408-2_zpsaonaftse.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1040409-2_zpsnxbujthc.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1040411-2_zps5tbafkwc.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Neurode%20Crusade/P1040410-2_zps2uniwzcg.jpg

[Lippy]

Man, these guys look great.

You do yourself an injustice by being hypercritical, each one looks awesome. 

[Brother Christopher]

This time no photos (though some will appear soon!), but as I treat this thread as a hobby diary/motivation tool (knowing someone visits and reads the posts really help me a lot in my otherwise solitary experience of the hobby) I just want to share my temporary excitement.

 

Having finished the squad of Sword Brethren above, I pondered what to do next. Initially, there were 3 options: finish a Sicaran Tank, finish 2 Storm Talons, start something new (e.g. an Imperial Knight). But, after some deliberation I remembered about my scratch building projects. So I found a dusty box that I haven't opened for, what seems, a year and took out my Storm Raven/Eagle (link to a separate thread is available in my signature). I managed to deal with a troublesome part (a section of the rear fuselage), worked on the rear v-tol 'thrusters' and revised the general design (for yet another time).

 

Thinking about (re)designs of the flyer resulted in a number of related ideas, so I am now quite sure that the next scratch building thing will be an alteration to my scratch-built vindicator (unfortunately the links are dead, so I'm posting a reupload of one shot of the tank to remind you/give an idea of what I'm talking). I want really badly to make this tank an "all-in-one" package, with the option of removing the demolisher cannon and adding a razorback turret/predator turret (no sponsons, though)/whirlwind launcher.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/vindicator/P1000945_zpsc6nm7plu.jpg

 

Getting back to my habit of assembling models from scratch is a bad thing, as it will stop my painting progress a lot. But, with the hope of seeing the Raven project done after approximately 3 years (and in its redesigned form too!) is something I feel is right at this moment.

 

(And, I'll probably get around to finishing the Sicaran and Talons in the near future as well).

[Psykic_scribe]

I too took a dislike to the rear fuselage of my Storm Talon, and it took a lot of time with sprue and plastic card to fix it to my satifaction. I am all for armoured fliers but if only GW designed less of a few flying bricks.

 

I like your proposal for a Vindicator - suggest more extra armour in the new version?  FYI, I have some spare BT Land Raider doors if you need them (FOC) for this next Vindi - just PM me if interested.

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll maybe add some armour in the central part (side doors), however, the model already has 'extra armour', so to speak. It doesn't show in the picture, but it is significantly larger than the original GW kit (due to my absent-mindedness, I failed to verify the printed schematics and compare their size with GW's rhino before it was too late). As the size of the tank has bothered me ever since I discovered the 'design flaw', now I'm thinking about treating the tank as a backup vehicle, just in case I would happen to play a game and needed a third tank to a formation (I have two predators and vindicators).

 

I have also taken the courtesy and browsed your gallery. You have a great looking collection of Templars. I particularly liked you stalker/hunter conversion, which looks pretty effective, especially painted (links for any potential 'others' to see).

[Brother Christopher]

I'm taking a break from painting (again) and devoting all my Warhammer-attention to my scratch build Stormraven. I'm leaving these photos as a teaser of what's to come. I'd really like to finish the model till February, 2017 (which marks exactly 3 years of the project's duration).

 

The tail stabiliser is finally attached:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1040635_zpsfczuvinc.jpg

 

And I've made these rear VTOL engines:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1040634_zpstbuadtnm.jpg

 

I'm working on the rear part of the fuselage now. This part is extremely tricky, due to my previous design failures alterations.

Edited October 25, 2016 by Brother Cristopher

[Link2edition]

A word of encouragement brother, do not fret about the pace at which you paint your models. I have found that for hoard armies (Like imperial guard) I can sit down and paint a whole squad at once but Templar are individuals and deserve more attention. I have started painting all of my marines one at a time for this reason.

[TheOneTrueZon]

Can't wait to see it finished! What kind of improvments / changes are you making in relation to the original model? Are you doing a complete scratch build or are you using parts of the SR kit?

[Brother Christopher]

@Link2edition

Thanks for the encouragement! I do believe that this is the case with Marines, and especially Templars, as I feel it. I have an impression that Codex: Black Templars implied that Crusaders (not to mention Sword Brethren) are individuals in the full meaning of the word - not bound by the restrictions imposed by the Codex Astartes and each Templar kind of expresses his individuality more (e.g. by marking his armour with personal prayer, as well as crusader seals and badges). And I know that to an extent this is also true of Codex-adherent marines, I... I don't know: vanilla marines seem to me more like soldiers, whereas there is something more knightly about Templars, which makes them more of individuals (it's rather late now and I feel that my train of thought is moving around in circles, but I hope that what I'm trying to say makes at least some sense).

 

 

@TheOneTrueZon

This is a 98% plasticard scratch build, the other 20% is green stuff. Oh, the story here is long. Initially, this was supposed to be a Storm Raven (similar to GW's model, as I found schematics for a paper model online and didn't feel like paying the price of the original kit). Later on, when I actually got a SR, I decided to unleash my 'creativity' and try some alternate designing combined with exchangeable options allowing me to make FW's raven-based flyers (Eagle and Raptor).

 

When it comes to changes, the final concept isn't defined yet. I can't believe how much backtracking I did over the years and how much of my work has ultimately proven to be useless, as it won't make it to the final model (e.g. I made the entire top air intake found on GW's Raven, which ruins the looks of the flyer and, hence, won't be there in the final design. The pain of basically throwing away hours of work is real, though.)

 

Right now, I know that I'm opting for a mix of a Storm Eagle with a lot inspiration taken from a Thunderhawk (like the elevated element on the top ending with the tail stabiliser, obviously without TH's giant gun of destruction; or 'perpendicular'/'straight' positioning of the wings, instead of the 'slanting' angle of regular Ravens/Eagles). The recent ideas include: placing the rear VTOL thrusters on the fuselage instead of the wings and placing the lascannons (normally turret-mounted) in a fixed position, at the rear of the flyer (kind of like on a Thunderhawk). This solution is sup-optimal from a gaming perspective, but I fugured that I shouldn't care about it and make a model that I like and whose looks I find to be 'best'. Unfortunately, I'm not sure about adding turrets of any sort on top of my craft - they rather spoil the 'line' of it all.

 

Below are photos of the most of the things attached to the model, that is, the model showing its fullest shape when I suspended the project a year ago:

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1130725_zpswx3yytqa.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1130724_zpscvhi2qzs.jpg

[Brother Christopher]

There's more! It took me too much time to figure all of this out, but I finally managed to come up with a satisfactory solution regarding the rear part of the fuselage. The main 'structure' is done, but boy, was it tough to add those additional side panels to what was already assembled. Now I only need to fill in any gaps and add some detail: a source of light above the rear hatch (to blind the enemies, before some angry templars charge at them), the thingy to transport a dreadnought, and the rear door.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1040644_zps6xsi789r.jpg

[Brother Christopher]

Hello brothers! I'm reporting in to share my guilt-ridden joy. I just got a set of Space Hulk Terminators of an online auction. This happened a bit by accidents because I thought that there will be more bidders.

 

That's the good news, as I find the models rather cool. The bad news is that recently I were determined not to buy any more new stuff, and especially Terminator because I already have about 35-40, which is extremely redundant, unfluffy and useless for gaming purposes. Well, it seems that there are two things I can do now: either sell some old Termis or make some conversions with weapon options not allowed by the Codex, like units equipped with a greatsword, axe, Narthecium and what not. This also leaves me with the matter of the witch: whether paint it in IF colours or dewitchify it.

 

Also, what bothers me is that my army shapes up to be a 'Marshal's household' with more than 1/3 of models are (to be) Sword Brethren. And I had no intention of doing so. Maybe I'll have to rethink the background of my force. I'm thinking now about doing some Terminator Initiates: I've always found the white pads on Terminators look fresh and to an extent better than the black and red variant. This is against all established Warhammer lore, but (apart from looking different) it might be justifiable and it would solve my initiate-to-veteran ratio. For instance,

 

Any thoughts on what to do with the excess TDAs?

[Ciler]

I would do a terminator command squad all right. The DAs have one, and it can't be excluded that we'd get one at some stage, plus it'd look awesome and the bits for it are readily available.

 

As for gaming purpose, I guess it depends of your player circle, but where I play noone cares - when you put cool converted models on the table - if they have axes instead of hammers, and there's never an issue playing them "count as".

[tvih]

A familiar problem, to be sure. My armies are ridiculously elite-heavy. But the SH terminator models are definitely well worth having!

[Brother Christopher]

I still sure hope that GW will allow more Space Marines chapters to use Terminator command squads. And situations like this make me feel really nostalgic - I'd really like to see Terminators represented properly on the battlefield: a set of rules to match the lore.

 

Tvih, I've seen that you have fresh first-hand experience with SH models. Actually, recently seeing your Terminators painted in a non-red colour, almost-black colour affected my decision. I'm just worried a bit about the amount of Blood Angel ornaments and other trimming, but they shouldn't be hard to remove or obscure... I hope.

 

On a different note, there's progress with my Strom Raven. I'm still working on the rear fuselage - adding finishing touches and redoing the rough parts.

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1040650_zpsu7jdhlit.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1040652_zpsjxsazlwz.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1040653_zpssxpkq7ko.jpg

 

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k260/krj_38/Storm%20Eagle%20and%20Fire%20Raptor/P1040658_zpscppl53al.jpg

[Brother Christopher]

With regret, I'm reporting in to say that I have failed. Admittedly, the failure will hopefully evolve into a success, but knowing how my projects end up, the success won't come soon and I'll end up with another started project.

 

Alas, with all the talking about Land Raiders in the recent thread, I started another scratch building project. For a long, long time I wanted to get another Land Raider (or two) and been considering building one (or two) from plasticard. I love the model and the idea of a heavy and resilient transport tank, but I can't justify paying more money to get a proper model, especially that its rules/point cost are not so good and that I want to add some reinforced armour and/or ornaments. I have been fighting this notion off for about a year now, but unfortunately this is the hour of my failure.

 

This does not mean that I'm abandoning the deadline for completing the Stormraven, it simply means I desperately want to see if it's possible to quickly and cheaply build a Land Raider. Because right now, I believe that this shouldn't take too much time. Surely, a Land Raider, being a block on tracks, is simpler and less fiddly to put together than a SM Flyer... Surely. Hopefully.