The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Ciler]

If you are following the 8th Edition Index, the EC is a Character and only "out of the box" - no wargear options, and thus no Iron Halo.

The EC has a 4++ save, so a iron halo wouldn't be completely out of place.

 

On a related topic, our venerable chaplain firepaddle's take on the EC is a good example of how a minor bit swap can give some added personality to a model : http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/196588-stabbin-and-such-his-champion-73017/page-20?do=findComment&comment=4838548

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

I am inclined to both agree and disagree with your feelings toward the movements made by GW in recent months, but rather than run on a rhetoric of fluff, hate, or lock-step with the new direction, I will attempt to IRL be supportive.

 

I also have a small stockpile of miniatures that I built up with the expectation of now squat marines being the basis of the game, and it is disheartening to see the direction that our hobby has taken. I'm not a fan of the newer models mostly from that perspective. Another reason I have decided against Primarus is because I'm not about to drop serious money on a box set that I would only use half of the models for, as I have NO interest in Death Guard. 

 

I know that they have the cool rules and look good on paper, but I've fought worse odds in the past and I remember that it's all in the dice. I win some, I lose more, but I kept at it. 15 years, so much time at the work bench, and more money than I should rightly have spent have gone into this force. I'm stubborn enough to drive on regardless of what GW tries to ram down my throat. I have, and had, goals for my force to be well rounded, able to fit any combat role I encounter, and even squat marines can still do this. I'm not saying that I will never run Primarus, but I am saying "not now". I still have stuff to build, I still have a direction I want my force building to go, and I will not let GW dictate to me which way to turn next.

 

We took a hit here with 8th Edition and Primarus, but it's not about what hit we took. It's about how we respond and hit back. I intend to do that by driving on in the direction I already had planned.

 

If all else fails, I'll take a small fluff perspective and just say: "​KEEP CALM AND CRUSADE ETERNALLY!"

[Brother Talarian]

Man, I'm going back over your work for two reasons:

 

1. I remembered your stormraven looking bad ass, more bad ass than the original model and now I realized you did in fact convert it. What did you do to get a longer fusalage? Hull? Looks more like a thunder hawk, awesome.

 

2. I saw your crusadrers once again. They look great. I'm not quite there yet but I'm practicing and getting better ;).

 

3. Would you mind going over what you do for your tabards? I'm having trouble painting mine and yours look smooth and great.

 

Cheers

[Brother Christopher]

@Sword Brother Ryan, thanks again for the support. After the support from our brethren here, as well as a personal penitential crusade, I found the Emperor's Light and am as on track as ever. Unfortunately, I cannot prove this with pictures of progress, as the said crusade (i.e. real-life workload) prevents me from tending to my troops. However, with the resurfaced post of Castellan, I am sure they are well taken care of.

 

@Brother Talarian, thank you for the kind words!

 

1. It depends on how you define a conversion. The models is almost entirely scratch-built using HIPS sheets (as far as I'm aware, they are the same thing as plasticard sheets, but for a fracture of the price). If you're interested, the WIP pictures should be accessible through the direct link. I 'designed' the fuselage extension, as well as the tail wing myself, drawing inspiration from the Thunderhawk and Storm Eagle kits.

 

2. You need to post more pictures of your stuff!

 

3. I want to make a reservation, that over the years I've worked out my own solutions to painting stuff, which allowed me to bypass my deficiencies in skills, available paints, and which result in a streamlined process, but are not 'proper' or 'professional'. As such, I do not want to - you know - share 'wrong techniques'. With this out of the way, here's what I use for the tabards: Ushabti Bone, Ceramite White, Agrax Earthshade.

 

- I apply one rough leyer of white over a black undercoat.

- I apply several leyers of bone as a basecoat.

- I soak the entire tabard with Agrax Earthshade.

- This time with precision, I add more Agrax Earthshade to the folds to get a nice, deep, brownish colour*.

- I apply bone colour to the most neutral parts of the tabard, leaving Agrax Earthshade untouched.

- I mix bone with white to get gradually lighter bone colours, which I drybrush onto the more protruding parts of the tabard (like 'tops' of folds).

- I add a final white highlight to the most prominent parts.

 

I struggled to get the 'right' results with tabards for a long time, but I find this method quite quick and effective for my purposes. I hope that you'll find something useful in this method for yourself!

 

* To remove the gloss, I seal the miniature with Army Painter's anti-matte varnish.

 

On a different note, I am considering wasting some money on something hobby-related. I quite like the looks of the Redemptor Dreadnought, but it has Primaris written on the box, which is a drawback Still, my Crusade makes use of super-sized, custom vehicles, so I could accept the Dread to be a product of Manufactorum Neurode, just like my Vindicator or Land Raider Spartan or Stormraven...

 

Apart from the good/decent looks (especially with the front armour raised), for ~200 points the Redemptor seems an in-game bargain. Also, there is nothing distinctly Primaris about it.

 

I also have my eyes fixed on some Imperial Fists Legion Templar Brethren, which I might get for a decent price. Do you have any experience with these? Considering its resin, I am a bit worried about the sturdiness of the swords.

[Ciler]

I wouldn't worry too much about the fact that the dread is "oversized". One benefit - if you want - of the release of the primaris marines is that most people are genuinely confused about what is what.

 

Remember how T'au and Dark eldars used to have these weapon choices and noone really knew which one was which ? I'd say the same is starting to happen for marines to a lesser extent. So go nuts, just make sure in your weapon selection to only take adequate looking bits (the gatling thing will do a decent autocanon but would hardly count as a lascanon) and you should be OK

[Brother Christopher]

I am starting to work on an army list, 1300-1500 points for starters. I would like to include a LRC or Stormraven, Helbrecht and EC in the list, but I fear that this would be too much of a point sink. The EC is a must, but do you think that I can fit one of the larger vehicles into the list, without compromising its efficiency? I kind of know that the question is rather abstract, but for instance in the previous two editions I would definitely not include a LRC in a 1500 list, considering how easily it could had been destroyed.

[Marshal_Roujakis]

1500 pts. lists are now the equivalent of a 2000 pts. list in a normal game, you wouldn't have enough space to put much of anything if you're going for the more heavier support roles like Stormravens or Land Raiders... it would be terrifying to face one, and yet easy enough to counter all that firepower simply by locking it in combat for a few turns... it's up to your meta in that case and how proficient you are at playing games... it might become a challenge to you, or you might challenge your opponent if he's suddenly facing a multi-wound behemoth of a tank with so many guns... Stormraven would be a safer bet though, that thing doesn't even need to hover to dislodge its contents... 

[Brother Christopher]

This is what I'm thinking/worrying about, too. For the cost of a LRC I could get two Rhinos/Razorbacks to transport my troops and another half-decent support unit.

 

What about Helbrecht? The re-rolls and strength bonus is nice, especially combined with the EC's abilities and wargear. But to really capitalise on taking the High Marshall, I should pick a considerable number of bodies to benefit from his aura.

[Ciler]

This is a tough order. LRC and Raven are (broadly) 300 pts each, Helbrecht is 170 and the EC 75 (so 250 pts together), you're already at 850 pts so over half of your list.

 

If you're not too fussed about command points, you could go for a patrol detachment, throw in 2 10-man crusader squads (one in the raven, one in the LRC), a dreadnought (assault canon + fist, in the raven) and a 5-man terminator squad. But that'll all be fairly bare-boned.

 

Sadly, if you have to chose either the LRC or Raven, currently the Raven is just better on almost all aspects (as it can deep strike the dread and doesn't get bogged down in close combat).

 

Helbrecht is great, that +1 str will really make a difference against MEQ. The EC is great too, but make sure you position him so that he'll only fight characters. Sadly he loses alot of his punch against units. Also note that the EC doesn't really need to be near Helbrecht, he's already S6 by himself and 7 against characters, and already rerolls everything (again, against characters).

Edited August 3, 2017 by Ciler

[Brother Christopher]

Ooookay, here it goes. 1300 points list. Feedback more than welcome, as I have a nasty feeling that what I've cooked up is useless, i.e. there isn't too much synergy.

 

Batallion, +3 CP

 

HQ

Emperor's Champion

Helbrecht

 

Troops

> 'Crusader Squad' 1A

15x sniper Neophytes (yeah, I kind of know... but having the option to -- well -- sniper characters seems nice)

 

> 'Crusader Squad' 1B

5x Initiates, bolters, missile launcher, plasma gun (to keep an eye on the sniper Neophytes)

 

> Crusade Squad 2

5x Initiates, 3x Neophytes, power fist, power sword, melta gun (ride in Rhino 1 with EC)

 

Elites

> 'Company Veterans'

5x Sword Brethren, pistols and chainswords, 1 pair of lightning claws, 1 power sword (ride in Rhino 2)

 

> 'Company Veterans'

2x Sword Brethren, pistols and chainswords (filler + meat shield to soak up wounds of characters)

 

> Apothecary

 

> Tactical Terminators

5x Terminators, power fists, storm bolters (deep striking)

 

Heavy support

> Predator annihilator, TL lascannons + lascannon sponsons.

 

Transports

> Rhino, storm bolter

> Rhino, storm bolter

Edited August 3, 2017 by Brother Cristopher

[Marshal Wolfhart]

You mention squads riding in rhinos but you didn't list them. I'd prefer to beef up my troops over picking that many elites (either sword brethren or termis), also sniper scouts are... unefficient to put it nicely. Their chance of actually taking out a character are slim, if the target is squishy, the enemy tends to bring multiples. Rather give them bolters (or shottis for a drive by :P)

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the feedback.

 

Added the Rhinos.

 

Troops are good for securing objectives, right? I picked the Sword Brethren for the second attack an more punch - more attacks of a single models should make it easier to use Helbrecht's buff. Then again, I might remove them and maybe get a squad of bikes/speeders for the extra mobility.

 

I probably will produce another list and start a thread in the army list section.

[Brother Christopher]

Here it goes, Neurode 1300 list v. 2.0. I am open to any comments and suggestions!

[Brother Christopher]

After a long break from the hobby, the Internet and civilisation (a commission followed by a holiday), I returned to the grim darkness of the 21st century.

 

Over a month ago, I set out on a quest to deal with my Emperor's Champion and now I'm mostly done. Apart from redoing the base, which I'll get to when I'll have more models that need basing (call me lazy, but bringing out all the 'gear' to finish off a small area of a single base seems like too much of a bother challenge), and touching up a couple of areas that the photos revealed that need the said touching up, the paint job is (re)done.

 

Here's a reminder of where I've started with my classical, 5th edition 'original' model:

 

http://i.imgur.com/HQar3L3.jpg

 

And here's the 'after' photos:

 

http://i.imgur.com/Prw5h6y.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/ZKzpLxU.jpg

 

While probably more could've been done, I'm quite content with the end result. The added paint does not show too much and the only area I highly underperformed with is the shoulder pad with the Maltese cross. I refined the edge highlights and added some more; I added some depth to the metallic and cloth parts; and added colours to the hilt and gems embedded in the armour.

 

Next up, I want to retouch two regular Crusaders to see how much time it takes. After that, I'll probably join the Knightfall challenge, if I haven't missed the deadline already.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Emperor's Champion.

[Brother Christopher]

Hello! I just want to share my latest find/purchase with you. I thought I am familiar with most of the Space Marines models released over the years, but a recent visit to a Polish auction site proved me wrong. I found a peculiar, old model which I bought very cheaply. In addition to the model, I also got an OOP jump pack to go with my OOP jump pack sergeant (who currently has a larger pack, from the newer line of models), as well as some bolters to try to add Hurricane Bolters to my scratch built Raven (considering their new rules and point price, it is a sin not to use them in a game).

 

 

The Marine was labelled as Captain with Power Fist, but I felt that there's something special to him. Do you know what the models is? If not, I can share a piece of trivia

 

A short Google search revealed that the model is a Games Day 1999 exclusive.

 

Obviously, the model is far from mint condition. It also is not complete, with the backpack and botler missing. But nevertheless, I'm quite happy that I managed to pick the grandpa up for a song. It is a 'useless' model - just another power fist marine (in yet another edition where it is hard to justify taking a power fist, when compared to hammers), and one that is smaller than today's regular Marines (not to mention Primaris!), but I kind of feel nice having him in my collection. He'll blend in nicely with the other 'OOP' metal captains, techmarines and sergeants from his era that I got over the years (with more 'serious' models, not so well, though). Now I just need to get my hands on Castellan Draco and the old Emperor's Champion.

Edited September 5, 2017 by Brother Cristopher

[Sword Brother Adelard]

It is a model with a fine BT Vintage, Matt Hudson's original army had one as their Marshal:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/256391-white-dwarf-question/

[Brother Christopher]

Yeah, you're right. I've sure seen these pictures (they bring a memory of more innocent times), but I apparently missed the Captain. Thanks for pointing this out - now I'm even more confident that the purchase was a good idea.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

Something I've noticed since coming back and seeing plastic character models is how much I like the weight behind the old metal ones. I keep any eye out for nicer old models like this one for my Castellans.

[Brother Christopher]

True that, about the weight ;) Metal models were great. I mean, they felt like something special and were durable (unlike resin, in both cases).

 

The only drawback is that paint on metal is prone to chipping, something that always annoyed me as I put the most effort into painting those 'special' metal marines to my highest standard, only to discover that after just one careless move bare metal shows.

 

That's also why I take a kind of a pride in having a large portion of old kits in metal: a TFC, Sternguard and Vanguard Veterans, all BT special characters (and I suppose I bought one of the last metal Grimalduses, as they disappeared from the official GW website a week after I luckily got mine), heck - even some UM units, like neophyte Telion, Honour Guard or Tyrranic Veterans.

 

Despite being more "paint-friendly", I find resin models to be rather meh and miss the old ones. Especially that resin is now equally or even more expensive than metal was.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I did varnish mine to a limited extent. They do come out a little shiny, but it's not a bad trade-off.

[Brother Christopher]

You can always use an anti-matte varnish to get rid of some gloss. I have a can of Army Painter Quick Shade left over from my board game minis and might try to apply some to my next metal models for the added protection. Thanks for the idea.

[Brother Christopher]

In order to find some additional motivation, I've put together an army list that I can have completely painted in a reasonable time. I want to take the liberty and share the list with you (Here's a link to the list.) and ask for feedback. Also, I want to share some recent thoughts that had driven me to put together such an 'unusual' list (unusual by my standards).

 

After many attempts to feel otherwise, I remain rather displeased with the Codex: Space Marines and especially the rules for the Black Templars. (I won't spew my negativity here... I'll maybe just say that I feel cheated as customer as the 'product' I chose has been dramatically altered. Luckily, I'm not a (power) gamer so I don't really care and am happy with my collection of miniatures.)

 

I've spent too much time trying to write a 1500-points close combat list I feel comfortable with. After reading a number of posts related to the status of the Black Templars, I finally 'gave up', followed the 'spirit' of the Codex we're in, and took a more shooting-centred approach. This resulted in a list with virtually no close combat potential apart from that arising in my and my army's zeal. On the upside, the list I put together comprises of models that are mostly table-ready and that I enjoyed greatly (like the TFC or Contemptor). The big thing is that due to my feelings about the treatment we got, I won't be using the Black Templars chapter tactics as it doesn't contribute in any way to my army (well... that is apart from not being able to take Crusader Squads). This I see as a personal failure... but honestly, it doesn't seem fair that we get no 'real' bonus (i.e. a special, additional rule), so this is my way of offsetting this disappointment by following the often voiced argument that "this is my army."

 

I still haven't decided on the CT. I'll probably go with what the Ultramarines (after all, I feel that the book we happen to be in should actually be called Codex: Ultramarines ) to get the relic halo to deny some witches, Salamanders for some easy re-rolls or Raven Guard, which I read is pretty good.

 

Now the list only requires some additional tweaks and I need to make sure I have all the models done. This means assembling some models who will wield combi-weapons, updating some of my vehicles to my current painting standard, as well as designing and building hurricane bolters for my scratch-built Stormraven. Exciting stuff! I've already started preparing a 5-man team of "squad leaders" (count-as Sergeants/Sword Brothers) - Initiates with magnetised weapons (as an insurance against future rule changes), mostly based on the Sternguard Veterans kit. With the 4th edition fluff still in mind, I'm not a fan of the idea of Crusader Squads led by single Sword Brothers. That is why in my fluff/view, most of my squads are Crusader Squads with their typical ad hoc organisation and 'regular' white pauldrons with a black trim and cross. However, bearing in mind tabletop realities and my need for introducing some variety to the usual paint scheme, I'll probably be painting helmets of these "Initiates" white (or bone), to make them stand out more. I don't see this as a violation of the 4th edition fluff, but a token of our plastic brother's individuality: after all, unlike more Codex-adherent chapters, a different colour of a helmet is rather an expression of a knight's personality (or an 'informal' distinction for combat efficiency), rather than an official marking of a higher rank.

 

When I'm done with these tasks, I'll expand the list to 2000 points and make sure to add some dedicated close combat units, and surely some 'count-as' Crusader Squads (using Company Veterans rules).

[Brother Christopher]

Every singe time I finish painting a batch of Crusaders I feel a mixture of contentment and resentment. It's good to have something done, however, the time it takes me to paint a Marine is probably equivalent to that needed to train an actual Space Marine (this is a fact, as recent study shows). Also, as always, there's room for improvement. But I currently remain adamant about my current 'painting philosophy': I want all my troops to be painted up to my current 'tabletop quality' and intend to get back to them in X years' time to clean up and adjust things. Otherwise, I'll probably never be able to paint my Crusade.

 

After all, to me painting even a single, regular, useless Initiate is a special event, an experience, almost celebration-worthy. Sure, in game these guys mean close to nothing, but to me they are unique warriors, each with his own place in my force an some kind of personal touch (some script here, a crusader badge there, plus the hand-painted crosses - all these things really add up, as you know from experience).

 

So here are the new additions to the Neurode Crusade:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Marines above are a part of a 10-man squad of Initiates with swappable ranged weapons. I took the effort to do this as an insurance against GW's rules/points changes which may or may not happen.

 

There's more 'progress.' I updated some of my older, already-painted Crusaders to my 'current standard.' The upgrade consists in adding more shading to colours, adding highlighting to metallic parts, as well as makign the back highlights a bit finer. The result is not as good as what I'm comfortably able to produce today with a new miniature, but I can't imaging to strip paint from these guys and start from scratch. After all, they fought many a battle in 5th Edition and it I thing that discarding their legacy is not worth a slight improvement in the overall quality of painting. (Also, redoing all my ~50 painted infantry models from scratch would take me even further back with the Crusade Project than I am now.)

 

[Brother Talarian]

As always, great work Brother. 

 

I really like the amount of highlights you add, makes the model pop. Can't image how much time it takes, I'm getting better as highlighting but it's still taking a while. Cool that you don't use nuln oil to wash it either.

 

Quick question regarding your mold/tabard...

a) do you keep a separate piece to make molds? Or do you mold from the model?

b) Do you only place a light layer of GS in the mold and then glue the tabard on to the model?

 

Currently I made several molds of tabards and have been gluing them on to the model after it's been built. I have yet to find the right amount to fill as sometime sthey come out a bit thick.

 

Cheers,

 

Keep crusading brother, looks great!