The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you for the input, guys! The prospect of feeling regret for selling the bikes at some point in the future is my major concern; and that's something the hobby has taught me to dread and avoid. After all, my entire 40K experience is centred on patience. With your feedback and some free time, I decided to go zealot mode (or at least that's something I'd like to think I did) and instead of contemplating and planning and deliberating even more, I decided to take action. With this regard, action is probably the only right choice, since the decision whether to keep the bikes or not cannot be based on thought (I think): 40K has taught me one more thing - I should base my opinion on a model only after I see it hand-painted before me. This was the case with Centurions and Stormtalons, which I found to be rather disappointing in the pictures I've seen online, but turned out to be decent or even good models, after I painted them. That is why, I came to a conclusion that I postpone any decisions until I actually paint some bikes. And until that happens, the game may change a couple of times and they may be more viable. For now, I managed to strip paint of most of the bikes. I really hate doing this, but I suppose it's worth the time and effort - I managed to get the 17 bikes (including 2 metal chaplains and 2 assault bikes) for 70-80% of the retail price of 'regular' bikes.

 

I would also like to wish you all the best in the new year! May the Emperor bless and inspire you to progress with all your hobby projects, may your brushes never falter, motivation never wane and dice never fail, thus allowing you to cleanse the table tops from the xeno, the heretic and the mutant!

 

Happy 2019!

Edited December 31, 2018 by Brother Cristopher

[Brother Christopher]

While I still haven't managed to get through with repainting my first crusaders, I decided to start another project (something that I hope to be more exciting) and pledge a squad of five assault marines/vanguard veterans/jump pack sword brethren (you name it!) for the One More Day for Rogal Dorn event.

 

 

These models were one of the best hobby bargains I got. I traded a kilo of World of Warcraft cards (I don't know how many cards were in that box) -- something I got cheap in the first place and never got to use them -- for these five models, as well as some heavy weapons, bikes and cash. This, however, was probably around four years ago. The time now has come to paint these awesome models; though, it's a shame they're pewter. Sure, metal models have their own charm and I had been collecting them eagerly to have a part of the 40K heritage in my army, but are a pain to paint and are prone to chipping. I suppose, this comes as a trade off for some unique sculpts. On the other hand, the new multi-part plastic kits are fun to work with, but you just won't get that much character out of them... Probably :P What I mean, there are limits to their customisability and they kind of feel generic. As I'm typing this, I really don't know if I'm making any sense. The bottom line is probably this - I don't enjoy working on metal miniatures, but I really love the way they look!

[Marshal Wolfhart]

In a pinch you can still throw those lumps of metal at the finicky plastic thingy that is your enemy's most beloved model :D

That's what i tell my opponent, when they get cheeky about my old metal characters. And considering finecast as an alternative: metal all day every day.

[Brother Christopher]

I don't have much experience with Finecast or resin models. But from the limited that I have, I absolutely hate it. I have a Finecast techmarine and servitors, two Froge World contemptor dreadnoughts and what seems like a bootleg Sicaran that I got mislead into buying at an online auction. Resin seems fiddly, brittle and in consequence, IMHO, pointless. It's an inferior version of plastic, more prone to warping or breaking and more difficult to process.

 

Metal models would be awesome (well, they still probably are!) if paint didn't chip of them so easily. That's the only complaint I have. On the plus side, metal morels have their legacy, are sturdy, easy to fix. Sure, they require more effort when putting together (I feel pins as supports in joints are a must since the weight of pewter awesomeness is sometimes more than superglue can handle) and require definitely more effort if you want to convert them, but your characters and veterans feel right and different on the battle field.

 

Also, while this will be very subjective, I really like the sculpts of the 4-6th edition pewter Marines. They were very characterful and unique. A squad of 'monopose' veterans here and there added variety and uniqueness to the rest of the line and stood out. Presently, I'm quite torn since I can't diagnose whether my opinion is 'valid' or skwewed by nostalgia, but I suppose that the new plastic models have less character and seem rather generic. Starting with Space Marine plastic characters (with maybe the exception of the chaplain), through Primaris captains/lieutenants, to finally the rebooted Calgar and bodyaguards, all models come off to me as rather samey.

 

But that's a bit off topic! On topic, there is progress on the assault veteran marines; two are already almost painted (excluding jump packs)! But I think that I'll post pictures after the whole squad is done and won't bother you with updates of semi-finished models.

[Brother Christopher]

Extremely busy time! But I'm somewhat managing to keep my motivation relatively high and am slowly working on the metal vanguard veterans I pledged to paint for the One More Day for Rogal Dorn event. So far, I painted three crusaders and highlighted blacks on another. Three marines (yes, I know that the jump packs aren't done yet, but I still count them as 'finished') in 3 weeks is a surprisingly decent result by my standards.

 

 

I have also managed to clean my bikers and multi-part terminators - I removed most of the paint and prepped them for further assembly. Doing this was a truly heroic act on my part, since I sincerely despise stripping paint off miniatures. However, this is something I can endure since it's compensated for the very good prices I got the models.

[Dosjetka]

Love those models and you're doing them justice. Looking forward to seeing the finished result. :tu:

[Marshal Mattias]

It's always worth the wait for your updates.   I agree; these are delightful sculpts, all the better in Black.

[Marshal Vespasian]

I love the guy with the two handed sword.

 

Really glad to see those old metal models getting some use again

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you, brothers for the kind words! Your feedback serves as invaluable motivation to drive my work forward.

 

I am happy to report that I made progress on these metal vanguard veterans. The models are almost done - only the jump packs need some paint. Despite that the brave crusaders are almost done, I decided to update this thread on the eve of their completion with a load of pictures of yet unfinished models. You may wonder why I decide to waste bandwidth. The reason for this is that I realised I 'messed up' and wasted too much time working on shoulder pads... that obviously will be covered up with the air intakes on the jump packs . I could call myself retarded and direct myself to receive punishment, however, in the end I decide to call myself zealous or devoted and immortalise my effort in these photos. A note on the photos themselves, I messed up - they're overexposed, but at this time of night I don't feel like retaking them. Let's call them serviceable ;)

 

Firstly, the entire squad:

 

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

 

And now different angles of individual veterans

http://i.imgur.com/8N3yDFk.jpg

 

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

 

http://i.imgur.com/pE4qSEK.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/RyqlnJ8.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/jiF7Kh1.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/WV89YAo.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/8uj1GF9.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/Er7zYmH.jpg

 

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

 

http://i.imgur.com/QoLp9l8.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/th8DZja.jpg

 

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

 

http://i.imgur.com/vXYXX6k.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/tO6YGnW.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/JOVd2FW.jpg

 

 

And some extreme close-ups of the shoulder pads

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

 

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

 

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

 

http://i.imgur.com/I1t7z07.jpg

 

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

 

http://i.imgur.com/PIcFq9E.jpg

 

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

 

 

You may have noticed that I decided to go with a "regular" scheme for the shoulder pads: black crosses on white fields with a black trim (if applicable). The reason for this is the modified ranks and company structure used by my crusade: these guys are basically "veteran initiates" - Marines who through their service proved that they excel in combat and exceed the prowess of other brothers, but have not yet deserved to be awarded the rank of Sword Brethren. In order to honour their skills and devotion, they are granted access to certain relics of the armoury; some of these veteran initiates are even awarded Terminator Honours and can display the Crux Terminatus on their pads.

 

On a more mundane level, I decided to go with white + black (instead of black + red) for the sake of the Crusade as a whole; while the idea of a Marshal's Household army is very appealing, in the end this wasn't something I wanted to have. The default paint scheme is the iconic white + black and I wanted to have the majority of my Marines wearing that livery. If I were to 'properly' paint my collection of miniatures, I'd have what I deem as an unhealthy ratio of sword brethren to initiates; out of the ca. 200 Marines in Power Armour, nearly a half of them should be Sword Brothers (that is based on 'veteran' models with ornate armour). Instead, I want my 'proper' sword brethren to stick our more and be the elite force they're supposed to be.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work.

[Brother Christopher]

A small update (nothing much to add to what I've typed in the previous post; just the jump packs): Finished Vanguard Veterans / Assault Marines / Sword Brethren:

 

 

 

[Marshal Vespasian]

I said it before and I will say it again:

 

I love Your vanguard sword bros.

By the way: what is that Photography background?

[Brother Christopher]

Many thanks, Marshal! As for the background, it might be silly, but it's an image of Rivendell I got as a freebie at a convention. I have never gotten myself to do a proper photo setup (a light box and a proper background) but I thought the artwork is cool. That, and I like a Lord of the Rings a lot (coincidentally, my crusade was initially called the Dol Amroth Crusade; now Dol Amroth is just a battle company).

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Many thanks, Marshal! As for the background, it might be silly, but it's an image of Rivendell I got as a freebie at a convention.

For Elrond's sake, he better convince Lord Regent Guilliman the Elves will be loyal and competent allies, and then offer to pledge his kingdom to the Lord Regent's service. If he fails to do so, then the Templars will be justified in identifying him and his race as Eldar/Aeldari- just another xeno taint to be purged from one of mankind's worlds.

[Marshal Reinhard]

 

For Elrond's sake, he better convince Lord Regent Guilliman the Elves will be loyal and competent allies, and then offer to pledge his kingdom to the Lord Regent's service. If he fails to do so, then the Templars will be justified in identifying him and his race as Eldar/Aeldari- just another xeno taint to be purged from one of mankind's worlds.

 

The Emperor may forgive them for being xenos (or is it abhumans?). Only He can know.

 

We, however will not!

 

Suffer not the unclean to live!

[Marshal Vespasian]

Well I was going to say that the background fits well with our knightly aesthetic.

 

On second thought I am stickig with that after all the knights of dorn need something to attack.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

the knights of dorn need something to attack.

Spoken like a true Son of Dorn and Disciple of Sigismund.

[Brother Christopher]

Quite an eventful day, hobby-wise. I got back to some pre-assembled models from my last assembling spree and decided to finalise assembly of my Power Armoured Marines in the near future. Despite that most the decisions I made last time were good, I figured they can be improved. I shifted around unit compositions and changed the number of special weapons; e.g. I wanted to add another 5 bolt pistol and chainsword marines, but decided to arm them with a variety of weapons, including combis and swords (initially, I planned to magnetise all my combis, but now I'll have 2 of each "proper" combis - melta, plasma and flamer, and another 2 each magnetised, this time including grav).

 

I've also made up my mind about some other things, e.g. decided to add dedicated "Chapter Champion" and "Company Champion" models to my force. But, most importantly, I hought that with my bits box becoming more and more empty, I should "go wild", go the extra mile and add that more character to my Marines. I must say, that I'm quite pleased with some of my ideas and results. For example, I kitbashed a Marine (who will be a count-as Intercessor) who holds a bolt pistol with two arms (which was extremely difficult to pull of, but after 30-40 minutes I managed to arrive at a satisfactory result), a Company Champion resting his sword against his backpack or a sergeant-class Initiate with a combi plasma who holds an auspex in his right hand (exciting, isn't it :P but you know that there's no such bit in GW's model line).

 

Why am I writing about this? And where are pictures? Well, I think I'll post photos after they're properly done - right now, I need to do some green stuff work, filling in huge gaps left by fixing SM arms in ways they definitely were not design to fit. However, if you're interested in seeing he work I'm so excited about, I'll post some images or at least a group photo.

 

Speaking of kitbashing, I've learnt that GW is is releasing some now Primaris kits soon (I stopped following their news and am still waiting for them to deliver on their promises of a fun and balanced edition and continued support for "regular" Marines) and that there're going to be some (admittedly cool) Primaris snipers. That's kind of good news since I've been toying around with the idea of adding some snipers to my crusade for a long time. Now I have a proper excuse and will probably add three (or five) to my army. They're going to be based on DA Veterans in robes, that should do the trick. Now, I need to come up with a reasonable idea for their sniper rifles.

 

By the way, I thought Mr Elrond to be a very nice guy. Though, his ears are bit pointy... My crusade's recon forces will investigate.

[Marshal Vespasian]

Exciting news. I am very much looking forward to your conversions. Always keen to see what you guys can come up with.

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for leaving a comment! Not to keep you waiting for an indefinite time (I don't know when I'll feel like doing anything with green stuff - I really hate working with it since it always takes way more time than I anticipated and think it should), here's an overview of the models I've assembled:

 

 

 

As you can see, they're based of... basically a mess and a collection of various bits and models in a general state of disarray. I got all of these guys second-hand, that's why the whole spectrum of colours, remains of paint, ruined bits and (slight) awkwardness.

 

For example, the combi-plasma-auspex-chainsword guy was glued SOLID in place, with his torso leaning clumsily backwards. With available tools and strength, I were unable to reposition the head and torso/legs without destroying the entire figurine (like I destroyed many before).

 

For the Comapny Champion, I were able to salvage the breast plate (with difficulty!), but with significant damage which I had to repair. In result, the slot for the head/helmet is somewhat off and when I pick a suitable head/helmet, I know I'll need to put an extra effort to make it work.

 

The combi-flamer guys look like bootleg recasts or badly ruined finecast. I got them with a batch of bits and initially were intending to use them as decoration for my Thunderhawk (either passengers in the transport compartment or on a diorama I plan to create on its base), but now they've become proper members of the crusade. I removed the UM symbols, added a custom BT shoulder pad to one, repositioned the head on the other and transformed their regular bolters for the combis.

 

For the Chapter Champion (dual sword guy), I based him on a mutilated Masters of the Chapter model - he had no head (now, he has an EC's helmet) or arms. For the Champion's Blade (or whatever it's called), I used the tip of the halberd of Caliban (I had to Google how the thing's called).

 

Overall, admittedly they look like mess now, but I suppose that they'll be more than fine after I paint them.

 

I hit a bit of a rough patch, so that's kind of good to have the hobby to distract me from other stuff. A shame that I can't enjoy it as much as I'd like due to the concern about the future of regular Space Marines. The silver lining is that stopped hoarding models and actually work on what I got earlier. It's now over 1.5 years since I bought a model... I should make a potato badge for this achievement...

[Marshal Vespasian]

I love pistol & melta guy, maybe I will shamelessly steal that idea for one of my planned melta initiates.

Also the sword on shoulder + shield pose is very nice.

They are very colourful now but I think that they have quite interesting poses so all in all I am excited to see them in colour.

[Ciler]

Second series of models, the one on the right, is that an EC head ?

[Brother Christopher]

@ Marshal Vespasian: Go ahead! I'm glad you like it. I'm not 100% convinced due to the length of the strap, but as I've already messed the model with glue and drilling (the gun is supported with a pin to make sure it doen't come off in the future) I decided to leave it as is.

 

 

@Ciler: Yes, it is. Some years ago, I bought a Crusader Squad and Rhino from a guy, and he added an EC and BT: Codex for free. Unfortunately, the model was resin and didn't take a bath in the pain remover well, so I salvaged what I could. Actually, I'm planning tu creatively use what's left of the model as a base for another custom marine; don't know what to arm him with, though. I suppose he'll get a Storm Shield.

Edited March 7, 2019 by Brother Cristopher

[Ciler]

If the head is in good condition, I would have saved it for a Sigismund model myself.

[Marshal Vespasian]

Brother Christopher: I think I'd use chain for a strap and hang it in a way to show off some chest insignia. But yeah, I will use that idea (at some point).