The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Medjugorje]

They look good - i saw a few already. But its not a easy task.

I already saw a few of them. They could be great but its not an easy task

[Brother Christopher]

There’s a lot going on with my approach to the hobby lately. I’ll start with excuses first – I haven’t done anything tangible yet since, even despite implementing social distancing and what-not, it seems that I’ve a lot on my hands now and can’t find the time to sit down and assemble and paint stuff.

 

However, I’ve found myself lately thinking about the hobby more and more. And for a change, these are good thoughts… which are probably rooted in earlier nastay reflections. As you may know, I haven’t been a fan of what GW does with the setting and haven’t been a fan of Primaris Marines. The mess that’s, in my opinion, has been done is still pretty bad but, in a way, it made me stop caring.

That’s why I decided to do something special. I’ll have my cake and eat it too. I’m adding Primaris to my Crusade without adding Primaris. I just couldn’t stand the height and bulk difference and am not a fan of certain unit design choices. At the same time, I don’t want to miss out on list-building and gaming opportunities.

 

By saying this, I mean that I’ll be repurposing some of my models to use as proxies. Whether I’ll be playing the game in the future and whether my opponents are okay with this seems somewhat irrelevant – I’ve found a lot of satisfaction and motivation in coming up with ideas how to recommission my units. Disclaimer: I’m pretty sure that I won’t be using these in a tournament scenario. But for friendly games, I don’t see anything wrong with using proxies as long as it’s clear what they are and I’m intending to ensure that this is the case. Especially since I already have a couple of scratch-built vehicles which aren’t your standard units, right?

 

In a nutshell, for Intercessors and other bolter variants, I’ll put my bolter marines (who are still on smaller bases) on 32 mm bases to 1. account for the height difference and 2. to use the proper base size. Down the pipe, there is way more detail to this, such as paint schemes and special bolter variants, all of which I find to be a pretty exciting way of adding colour to the paint scheme and doing (cool) conversions

 

For Aggressors, I’ll repurpose some terminators with assault cannons with rocket launchers (5) and heavy flamers (3) – nothing fancy here; after all, they aren’t that different. I can claim that the AC uses a different type of ammunitions.

I’ll also be making two squads of Eliminators. Traditionally they aren’t very Templary, but I’d like to believe that neither are the many changes to our Chapter. More importantly, I’ve a couple of ideas about my Crusade that are heretical. And most importantly, I’ve toyed with the idea of doing sniper (or shotgun) marines for a long time, even before Primaris were a thing.

 

I’m still thinking about adding Inceptors – a jump pack terminator conversion; however, even though I am okay with many heretical changes and compromises, the idea of super-heavily-armoured space marines using jump packs seems ridiculous. So, I’m torn here – whether get a unit that seems to be great with its mobility and damage output, or to retain some semblance of integrity and stay away from ideas that I find ridiculous. What are you thoughts on Inceptors?
I’ll be also recommissioning my scratch build vehicles to get some transports for my not-Primaris Infantry: 3 not-Rhinos and 2 Repulsors will be added.

 

I also catalogued my arsenal of magnetised weapons to help be organise the rest of forces, including characters. Following your feedback, I’ll be adding two Jump Pack HQs (without capes).

Edited April 1, 2020 by Brother Cristopher

[ThirtySixNights]

Great progress regardless! Don't let the current situation get you down! The Emperor Protects.

[Hymnblade]

Incursors are only mid-tier from a competitive standpoint, so I wouldn't stress over making some unless you specifically want to.

 

Conversions to represent Primaris units sound lovely. If you need any more ideas than you already have on the tanks, this Repulsor conversion makes the Land Raider chassis more recognizable (and it's not a big conversion, you basically just leave the turret off and shuffle the guns), while this Executioner conversion reminds me of an upscaled Predator.

[Majkhel]

Incursors are only mid-tier from a competitive standpoint, so I wouldn't stress over making some unless you specifically want to.

 

Conversions to represent Primaris units sound lovely. If you need any more ideas than you already have on the tanks, this Repulsor conversion makes the Land Raider chassis more recognizable (and it's not a big conversion, you basically just leave the turret off and shuffle the guns), while this Executioner conversion reminds me of an upscaled Predator.

The question was about 'Inceptors' though

In case of Inceptors - I would agree, but they are a fun to have, plus with 3 wounds each, they are pretty durable.

 

Terminators with jump packs.... Not sure if you really want to go this route. If you really, REALLY want to see this (and I'm warning you, you can't 'unsee' this!), check 'Sidar Uiman' on https://wh40khomebrew.fandom.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000_Homebrew_Wiki

However this hobby does give the most rewards to those bravest of modellers

 

 

Incursors on the other hand are really nice - basically Scouts on steroids (again, speaking from a Blood Angel perspective). Not as shooty or choppy for the same points as dedicated Scout units, but more durable. Just mind that they have a ton of abilities and rules to remember

Edited April 4, 2020 by Majkhel

[Brother Christopher]

Great progress regardless! Don't let the current situation get you down! The Emperor Protects.

 

Thanks for leaving a comment!

 

Incursors are only mid-tier from a competitive standpoint, so I wouldn't stress over making some unless you specifically want to.

 

Conversions to represent Primaris units sound lovely. If you need any more ideas than you already have on the tanks, this Repulsor conversion makes the Land Raider chassis more recognizable (and it's not a big conversion, you basically just leave the turret off and shuffle the guns), while this Executioner conversion reminds me of an upscaled Predator.

 

What Majkhel said, I meant Inceptors. But this is just yet another proof that GW muddled the names of these Primaris units ;) thanks for that!

 

Also, many thanks for the links - I really like these conversions. To be frank, they kinda make me want to buy an actual Repulsor kit - after some adjustments they look really great and have a lot of neat details

 

 

Incursors are only mid-tier from a competitive standpoint, so I wouldn't stress over making some unless you specifically want to.

 

Conversions to represent Primaris units sound lovely. If you need any more ideas than you already have on the tanks, this Repulsor conversion makes the Land Raider chassis more recognizable (and it's not a big conversion, you basically just leave the turret off and shuffle the guns), while this Executioner conversion reminds me of an upscaled Predator.

The question was about 'Inceptors' though

In case of Inceptors - I would agree, but they are a fun to have, plus with 3 wounds each, they are pretty durable.

 

Terminators with jump packs.... Not sure if you really want to go this route. If you really, REALLY want to see this (and I'm warning you, you can't 'unsee' this!), check 'Sidar Uiman' on https://wh40khomebrew.fandom.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000_Homebrew_Wiki

However this hobby does give the most rewards to those bravest of modellers

 

 

Incursors on the other hand are really nice - basically Scouts on steroids (again, speaking from a Blood Angel perspective). Not as shooty or choppy for the same points as dedicated Scout units, but more durable. Just mind that they have a ton of abilities and rules to remember

 

 

Well, I find jump pack Terminators as ridiculous as Inceptors ;) And that's the only thing that's actually holding me back from pull the trigger on this project.

 

I've also been deliberating doing a squad of jetbikes to represent Inceptors - a project that would definitely be more interesting and which feels pretty cool (and reasonable). It would probably be prudent to wait a bit, for the next wave of releases and see how good actual Primaris bikes are, but you know how things are with new ideas ;) You really want to get started with them.

 

[Hymnblade]

Whoops, I meant Inceptors too, haha. Incursors are pretty nice for BT.

[Medjugorje]

Although they dont look very Templar-like, I would say they doing so on the battlefield.

[Brother Christopher]

I'll keep to what Hymnblade said and leave Inceptors for now. There are other, less problematic projects to start (and hopefully finish!). I can't really get around to the notion of heavily-armoured marines zooming around with twin heavy bolters and shooting stuff - good as their rules may be, I'll try not to bother with them for now.

 

I did some mock-ups/prototypes of my botler variants for my non-Primaris Marines.

 

 

The first gun will be for my Eliminators. I think I'll adjust the magazine for the sniper variant - I'll probably make it wider and shorter to represent it holding larger and more specialised rounds. I've used a regular bolter, a part of a grav pistol (pretty useless thing!), a wooden skewer and a plasticard tube.

 

The other gun is going to be whatever it needs to be - a bolt rifle of sorts, kitbashed from a regular bolter and a bolt pistol - the front of the bolt pistol is used as the extension for the gun, while the back of the bolt pistol is used as the scope. #nowaste ;)

 

I'm usually critical of my work, but for once, I think these two pieces are pretty neat - they just need some refinement. Or do they? Do you have any suggestions what to change or add?

Edited April 5, 2020 by Brother Cristopher

[Majkhel]

Those do look pretty good  
I'm curious to see how you tackle the magazine widening for the sniper rifle. Also a stock perhaps? Although it is generally hard to place any kind of stock on a shoulder next to a marine shoulder pad :P Like with the plasma stocks, that I myself usually just cut off as soon as any kind of 2-handed shooting pose is involved.

 

The other bolter is a pretty neat conversion too. I love the use of the bolt pistol rear as a kind-of-holo sight. If you'd like to continue from this pattern
- Bolt rifle can look like this

- Auto bolt rilfe could use a box type magazine

- Stalker bolt rifle can have a silencer/slightly elongated barrel + more traditional scope to indicate a sharp-shooter/sniper type of gun

[Marshal Mattias]

Very cool; I second the point regarding ypur holo-scope on the bottom rifle - it's very creative and looks awesome.

 

The extended barrel on your sniper variant is also great, but my only criticism would be that grav-weaponry is very distinctive by design. I think a little disguising of the grav-specific ridges/cut-outs could go a long way; maybe a snip, or filling it out with green stuff?

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for the input! Your posts pushed me to do some additional work - I actually wanted to save some time and effort and leave the original bolter magazines ;) And thanks Marshal Mattias, I did some adjustments to the rifles and removed the probably most distinctive part of the grav pistols and replaced them with plain cylindrical bits.

 

 

Now the rifles are basically ready. They're rather messy, but I remain hopeful that a good undercoat and a couple of layers of paint will be enough to hide the rough parts.

 

Also, thank you Majkhel for the idea of adding stocks - I'd like to add them since Scout and Eliminator sniper rifles have them, but I won't make the decision before I assemble the marines. As you've yourself noted, these can be tricky.

 

The plan now is to choose some bodies and model my take on Eliminators. Next, I'll work on the bolt rifle (variants) attachments for some of my infantry.

[Brother Christopher]

Brothers, I really want to keep you updated on my progress. No pictures, but they'll follow... soon. As soon as I finish what I'm working on. I'm working on 5 miniatures: I want to assemble 4 sniper Marines whom I'll either use as count-as Eliminators or count-as Intercessors (they'll be reinforced by a rearmed brother that I've already painted) with... stalker bolt rifles (I guess, I haven't really learnt the names of all the new Primaris bolter variants - back in the day there were bolters, storm botlers and hurricane boltes :P all with the same profile, just different number of shots). The fifth model will be a sergeant with a bolter variant and a thunder hammer based on a ruined resin Emperor's Champion body.

 

Because of my current employment situation, I'm making some progress, but it's painfully slow. It turns out that I'm either a bit rusty with my manual/hobby skills, or making custom poses from existing bits is extremely difficult. Suffice it it say, over around 6-8 hours of work I managed to put together 3 models. I kind of feel happy with the results, and kind of feel like Ben from Parks and Recreation. Mind you, as soon as I'm done assembling the 5 models I plan to do for this batch, I'll be posting pictures. I'm done with most of the most tedious tasks, but there's still some green stuff work ahead of me, which scares me immensely since I'm bad with green stuff and my putty is quite old and not as pliable as I remember it used to be.

 

Still, I haven't felt so good about the hobby in... months, if not years. After I finish these five modes, I will have finished assembling all of my power armour infantry, which I feel is a big deal (according to my last calculation, this brings me to a total of 207 power-armoured models).

[Urkh]

Can't wait to see them! I looked through the latter half of this thread recently and your manually made bits and whatnot skills are beyond what I could hope to achieve, so I'm sure that even at a "mediocre" level, your mini's are going to look great! 

[Brother Christopher]

And I can't wait to share them! Thanks for leaving a comment, Urkh!

 

I've managed to soldier through this ardours task and the green stuff is (roughly) in place. As always, I'm unhappy with the wrist joints - the grooved parts are too thick and too long, but I can't do anything more. The way they are, i.e. filled in with green stuff, is probably better than hollow spaces left after getting the pieces in place. The finished work is probably even worse than usual because my green stuff is apparently old and stale. It is difficult to mix and becomes quite stiff very quickly.

 

Do you have any tips on how to revive old green stuff? I've been putting it in hot water - this made it possible for me to mix it properly and get a couple of second of pliability, but it's definitely not as good as it used to.

 

I'll post pictures tomorrow - I don't want to handle the minis before the stiff green stuff properly cures.

[Brother Christopher]

I've been working, I've been talking, now I'm posting! Below are shots of the mostly assembled batch of my non-Primaris Intercessors/Eliminators. Some shoulder pads and backpacks are still missing, but the gist is there. I'm exhausted (4 days of work for these guys!) and a bit frustrated since one idea panned out to be pretty ridiculous and I failed to do a couple of things I were planning - who would have thought that Space Marine arms are pretty inflexible Still, the final assembly result is pretty satisfying.

 

Group shot:

 

Thunder hammer sergeant / sword brother:

 

 

Based on a ruined resin Emperor's Champion (stripping paint has gone awry and some parts of the model got pretty soft - I've mishandled the model at that crucial stage and parts of the legs and tabard got ruined), I had to do something about the tabard and damaged legs. The thunder hammer's shaft is ridiculously long, but hey - I guess it looks pretty cool. To make the model WYSIWYG, there's a bolter strapped under his backpack. I've also added a pup-up computer using parts of an auspex - it turned out pretty cool, I'm quite happy with the little hinges I hope they'll pop once painted. The right arm is reinforced by this power-cord thingy stripped of a terminator power fist arm.

 

 

 

 

Master of Ordnance:

 

 

I'm super happy that I found the excuse for this guy. I wanted to do a fancy devastator with a heavy weapon to serve as Master of Ordnance, a titular head of a branch of my Crusade responsible for heavy weapons and heavy support, but haven't come around to do this. Now, I'm pretty happy with killing two birds with one stone: I have a pretty unique model to serve the role as MoO, as well as a count-as sniper. The helmet is a custom helmet from a Space Marine multi-part box... custom, means ruined in result of... stripping paint. It turns out that when you buy used models for cheap, collateral damage is a part of the transaction As you can see, I've removed the grille on the face mask / vox (?). The hand used to hold the helmet is just a regular hand from a tactical marine kit - the one which holds bolters. I've just reattached the thumb to make it a right hand. The straight thumb is a bit ridiculous, but I can live with that.

 

 

Sniper spotter dude:

 

 

I have some regrets about this one. The bent wrist is gynormous, but I couldn't figure a way out to make it less so. I'll just paint a part of it black rather than silver, to extend the forearm and visually reduce the size of the joint. For the legs, I wanted to achieve a similar effect to the robe on the Primaris Witch model. It most definitely didn't turn out the way I hoped, but I have to leave it there. Maybe after I paint it, it'll look better. Still, I'm glad that I didn't go this route with the remaining models based on DA Vets. On the upside, I'm pretty happy with how the combat blade on his back turned out - the addition a plasticard strap looks pretty cool. The scope is quite okay, too. Oh, and please note the iron sights - I got lucky and managed to cut them the way they are - so that the sights allow to actually see the bead.

 

 

 

 

Sniper Mr dynamic pose dude:

 

 

For this one, I've reposed a DA Vet body and added some pouches and grenades. I'm not a huge fan of the rope, there's one angle from which the mini looks pretty bad, but overall it's okay. Note the custom scope and the little extendable stock... don't think about it Note that it's there!

 

 

 

 

And Mr currently headless sniper Marine:

 

 

There's nothing special about this one, unfortunately. This is because I actually like this pose from the DA Vets kit. He'll get a hooded head (I've got one already painted on a different model) and he already has a couple of pouches and... basically a fanny pack - I had a spare SM belt piece and figured that it'll look pretty cool

 

 

Now, I need to do something not to think about the overwhelming depression which is about to strike me down once I actually realise how much time I've pumped into these five models I hope that they'll be cool once painted and that you'll see the potential in them.

 

I'm also running out of the most basic parts - this shows that my Crusade is almost mustered, that it truly is in the final stages of assembly. That's why I also wanted to go a bit "wild" and make some unique models with fun bits and pieces (like the helmet pressed to the side, the wrist-mounted computer or a two-handed thunder hammer). After all, I won't have too many opportunities to do this in the future! (Good riddance! I'll have more time for painting stuff - after all, fiddling with one power-armoured arm for two hours, trying to adjust it so that it can hold a bolter in a particular way, only to give up may be a bit frustrating - luckily, I've nothing else to do).

 

Also, I'm the more impressed with the work of other people who make truly custom models and who share their work here!

 

I can't wait to hear your feedback!

Edited April 21, 2020 by Brother Cristopher

[Majkhel]

Firstly - good job! Really. They are characterful and unique with some great ideas and interesting bits used :)

The sergeant and MoO are the best imo. No such thing as too big War Hammer (see what I did there? :P )

Also totally don't mind the time spent on those. Pretty recently I've been bulidng a squad of ten guys for almost 2 weeks. Started good, then inspiration just evaporated. It happens ;)

 

The spotter is good. If you can't stand the wrist, you can try cutting above the albow and rotating the arm there. You will not need the bent wrist at all.
The iron sights are a lovely touch! Nicely done.

 

The dynamic one - ugghh, how did he managed that spin in the waist? :D Still, rule of cool!

 

I agree that the runner is a great sculpt all by himself. I also got one of those and made a LIbrarian of him.

 

Cheers! :)

[Medjugorje]

great work

[Brother Christopher]

Firstly - good job! Really. They are characterful and unique with some great ideas and interesting bits used

 

Thanks! I appreciate that!

 

The sergeant and MoO are the best imo. No such thing as too big War Hammer (see what I did there? )

 

Yeah, I guess I see what you did there :D

 

Also totally don't mind the time spent on those. Pretty recently I've been bulidng a squad of ten guys for almost 2 weeks. Started good, then inspiration just evaporated. It happens

 

I know the feeling, I know it all too well. It's nice to be reminded that there are other hobbyists wasting devoting time on adjusting plastic men. Especially now, since we're in isolation, it's too easy to get too preoccupied with your own thoughts.

 

The spotter is good. If you can't stand the wrist, you can try cutting above the albow and rotating the arm there. You will not need the bent wrist at all.

The iron sights are a lovely touch! Nicely done.

 

That's actually a great idea, why haven't I thought of that? I might try that as a backup plan, if I'm not happy with how it looks.

 

The dynamic one - ugghh, how did he managed that spin in the waist? Still, rule of cool!

 

The rule of cool is important in the hobby. Then again, if with some paint on and with the backpack I deem that he looks ridiculous, I'll repose him a bit, to reduce the twist in the waist. Still, from certain angles, the mini looks great. Very "cool", like so many artworks of snipers in silly, dynamic poses, for example crouching in a way which offers very little actual support. I'll just have to avoid taking photos of him from the not-so-good (or ridiculous) angles.

 

I agree that the runner is a great sculpt all by himself. I also got one of those and made a LIbrarian of him.

 

It is, isn't it? I'll need to revisit your thread, brother!

 

Cheers!

I'm now having trouble with making my mind up about which varnish to use. I've decided to start and finish-finish some models (by this I mean do the bases, with sand, rocks and vegetation and all), adjust some edges and add a protective layer of varnish to handle the miniatures more comfortably. I bought Vallejo Satin Varnish and it works pretty great: it somehow makes the black deeper; however, I'm not sure about the sheen it leaves. It's subtle, on some models it's basically the same as the paint, while other models look more matte. I actually might try to add a very thin layer of Army Painter's spray matte varnish and see if it helps. But I have to say that I'm not a fan of spray varnishes - they're pretty fiddly and "stressful" to use.

 

How do you varnish your models - satin, glossy or matte? Do you use GW's varnishes and can maybe compare them to Vallejo's? Did you try Vallejo's matte varnish? Is it matte-matte, (i.e. very dull) or does it leave some sheen on the colours?

[ThirtySixNights]

I'm having the same dilemma.

 

I tried the GW Munitorium varnish and the Vallejo Matte varnish.

 

The GW varnish dulled the entire model and left a greyish hue across all of it.

 

The Vallejo varnish worked okay but it really dulled the blacks, and left a greyish hue to them.

 

I believe I didn't shake up the GW one well enough so I will probably give that another go in the hopes it works well, or I may just forgo it altogether. Especially if there's any chance it'll cloud the models.

[Brother Christopher]

When it comes to spray varnishes, I've had success with Army Painter Anti-Shine Matte Varnish - it worked really well - it dulled the colours, obviously, but black remained pretty black, other colours didn't change much (apart from them being more matte, obviously) and - quite interestingly - metallics also retained some of their metallic/shiny properties, even when I applied the spray too handsomely. Over numerous uses, I've only once had problems with slight frosting/clouding, which I managed to remove by quickly brushing it off with a wet brush.

 

If weather conditions are an issue (I've read that spray varnishes are very moody and need the right conditions or otherwise they ruin your work) and you don't need to work on vehicles, I can't recommend brush on varnishes enough. Apart from me being uncertain regarding the level of sheen it leaves, the Vallejo's varnish I've started to use is great - can be used any day, is easy to apply, to my eye doesn't affect the colours and stays exactly where I need it to stay.

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I've never had any issues with Lahmian Medium as a brush on matt varnish.

[Ray_K]

Just my amateur two cents. I use thinned vallejo varnishes in an airbrush. Seems to work fine for me so far.

[Brother Christopher]

An update on my hobby-related progress. It turns out that perseverance in this hobby is a pretty complex psychological phenomenon. I should introspect more on the matter - there has to be a good reason for me jumping from project to project and never actually accomplishing anything But well - I'm in this for fun, so I figure that I should do what I fancy doing at a given moment.

 

Over the years I've learnt to limit distractions and prioritise better. However now, that I thought I'm smarter than that my nemesis caught me off-guard and ruined all my plans. Just like it ruined the state of my crusade in the first place all those years ago.

 

Long-timers in this forum may remember that I'm a bit of a masochist scratch-builder. Now that things were on-track with my army, I felt a surge of longing for some plasticard-related stuff. This moment of weakness resulted in me picking up my wallpaper cutter, metal ruler and glue and work on the project that started it all - my scratch build Thunderhawk Gunship. A project that I'm hoping to finish one day, but at this pace... 5 years is a realistic time frame. The good "news" is that I've set my mind on finishing it one day, whenever that day comes. To be frank, I thought about abandoning the project several  times over the years, but I can't. For one, there's the fond memories of a younger and more determined me picking up scratchbulding for the first time - a chapter that led my army to grow uncontrollably for some time without getting anything painted or finished, but a chapter that yielded enormous satisfaction when I've actually completed something.

 

I have nothing to report photo-wise yet, I'm working on some minor details and trying to fix the mistakes of the past (it's difficult to pick up on your progress after such a long break; I've also made things difficult for myself by assembling the cargo bay at the front - now I have to triple-check to make sure that all the external panels and details fit properly, which is a time-consuming process). If you're interested, you'll find photos of my progress here, here and here.

 

EDIT:

PS: Any and all words of encouragement are welcome - please tell me that a Thunderhawk is an iconic Space Marine vehicle ;) I'm pretty serious here: I really need to hear/read it :P. Over the years, so many more usable Space Marine super-heavy vehicles showed up that (especially with their current price and rules) Thunderhawks seem silly. Mastodons, Fellblades and the like are pretty cool, but a Thunderhawk is a cooler centrepiece... Right? ;)

Edited May 7, 2020 by Brother Cristopher

[Majkhel]

Oooh, that is an exquisite work!  So much detail!

And of course the Thunderhawk along with the Land Raider are the most iconic vehicles of the Adeptus Astartes :)

 

What breadth of the plasticard are you using for the main hull?