The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you, Brother Kraskor! It means a lot coming from you! It really is my aim with these conversions, to make the units unique and Templary by adding bling.

 

Speaking of making units Templary, I upgraded and customised my only official Primaris model in my army to date, the Redemptor Dreadnought. I somehow didn't have the heart to add more custom details to it so I limited the upgrades to some official BT ornaments (some of my last ones in my bits box), purity seals, chains on the should armour, a TDA heraldry shield and DA censer). More ornaments will be added when I get around to painting the model - I suppose I'll go with a lot of free hand scribbles and a chequered pattern here and there.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm particularly happy with how this piece of cloth found its place and turned out; its a green stuff cast of the part of the BT backpack from our upgrade kit and I suppose it looks pretty sweet here! It's "pinned" to the should armour with a cross and a heraldry shield (cast from the Company Champion's torso ornament).

 

 

According to my headcanon/fluff, there are no Primaris marines (an alternate universe/timeline in which GW didn't make the changes they made or the Crusade takes place before the events which took place between 7th and 8th editions of 40k). The Crusade operates on a desolate forgeworld with an archmagos who is bordering on heresy (there are also allegations that the Neurode Crusade are renegades!) and who allows for the manufacture of non-sanctioned vehicles as well as alterations to existing wargear. (Thus providing an explanation my scratchbuilds and custom vehicles!) So this here Dreadnought is a custom design; however, it has not yet earned the venerable status. What I want to say is that this guy is just a regular dreadnought whose 'rank' is equal or lower to standard Dreads and Ironclads.That's why I want to keep the ornaments to a 'minimum' - to show that the old, proper patterns of Dreadnoughts (or rather their 'users') have earned the right to have more stuff on them, to reflect their longer service.

[Brother Kraskor]

It's a good level of bling! Especially as, like you say, he's not Venerable. 

 

Bordering on renegade is a cool place for Templar fluff too, they really don't give a damn about the Imperium's citizenry provided there's purging.

[Majkhel]

 

Bordering on renegade is a cool place for Templar fluff too, they really don't give a damn about the Imperium's citizenry provided there's purging.

He, that reminded me of a part in the War of the Beast, where a BT Terminator took part in an attack on an Ork Moon:

- wrenched open a door to a cell

- took a look inside at a group of humans from a low-g world (or born in the void, so they were thin and tall),

- declared: abhumans

- pressed the trigger on the Storm Bolter

:D

[Brother Kraskor]

Hot take: BT are actually more effective than Black Legion against the Imperium. 

[Doghouse]

I wouldn't worry too much about the Primaris to be honest. 40k is a far bigger sandbox to play in than most actually realise and thanks to the introduction of Blackstone alternative realities are now a thing as seen in the novel Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work.

I think your alternate take on things is nice approach and you should expand on it, it's something I have often considered myself. Embrace it and run with it, your army is looking great. :tu:

[Brother Christopher]

Apologies for my hiatus. Again, I've been busy with work as well as organising my wedding, but I hope to recommence work on my models. Since the last photo update, I managed to do some work on another group of Terminators. I'd say I'm around 70% into painting 5 more models - I did drybrushing/highlighting (which needs cleaning up), cloth (tabards, capes) and metallics.

 

I also bought a new kit of Vanguard Veterans (for the shields and claws) and played two games. In both encounters, the Black Templars were victorious. A game against an all Primaris army, including a Witch and 9 Plasma Inceptors (a unit I'm most envious of, especially since they're hard to proxy!), with my all-Firstborn force was particularly satisfying (it was also extremely fun to charge with my Devastators who ended up in the opponent's deployment zone in round 3). Most importantly, I had fun in both matches - opponents were a great sport - and after having 4 games behind me I finally slowly start feeling more comfortable with the game's mechanics and army's rules.

 

 

Thanks for the amazing feedback! It's pretty cool that the Black Templars are such a great chapter, both in terms of their non-compliance and the often excessive violence. I tend to forget how cruel they are portrayed to be, at least from our today's perspective. However, their world is something completely different with threats and terrors beyond our understanding and if some innocents/civilians get in the way of achieving victory important to the bigger picture, so be it!

 

Doghouse, thanks for pointing the alternative realities thing to me! I haven't been following fluff changes and 40K publications for a long time and I didn't know about that. I'll keep that in mind and take a closer look into it, provided that I can get my hands on the novel you mentioned.

Edited May 5, 2021 by Brother Cristopher

[Brother Christopher]

So, apparently I'm still not very good at rushing things. In order to help myself and boost my morale, I decided to share my progress on the new Terminators - taking a photo of a thing makes it that much more complete and, in a way, real I don't like posting half-finished models, but on the other hand I'm sure that sharing a result of the hours of work on these models will help me with my motivation.

 

Here's a group shot:

 

And here are some close-ups of the Castellan model (who will eventually be armed with a Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield):

 

The highlights and major metallics are mostly done.

 

And some free hand scribbles to show that he's a member of the Marshal's household, his armour adorned with vows and wards

 

 

Extreme close-ups are always ruthless, exposing all the defects of my painting and showing how much there'd be if I wanted to improve my painting, but I keep on convincing myself that I should get as many models painted as possible, considering the >100 models backlog. I want to be able to use my (painted) models in games and want them to look cool on the tabletop and that's my current focus. Sometimes I also consider cutting more corners and resorting to a simpler, less personalised approach to my line infantry, but I always eventually get caught up in treating each Marine the way he deserves ;) After all, each and every Templar should be a warrior with years of experience in horrific conflicts, who also treats his armour and attire with a degree of reverence.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Brother Cristopher

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I appreciate your efforts in painting, detailing, and weathering the models.

[Majkhel]

Totally agreeing on the hero-approach to marines. We Space Marine players often owning hundreds of marines' minis tend to forget how rare marines are in the lore. A thing Dan Abnett was kind to remind in his recent interview . It's often the case, that we we power through our backlogs to get the army game-ready. But then it's that meticulous detailed approach that catches our breath and makes us stop in our tracks. 
I for one am taking great pleasure now adding individual touches to my most recent marines. It sure takes a heck lot of time, but is also very rewarding. 

In this sprit, I really like the script running around the edges of the Castellan's plate. Fear not the close-ups - they show the method and technique we use. It's as much educational for us as it is for you. 
Excellent chequers too.
Please continue

EDIT: about the book I mentioned - 'War of the Beast' is actually a a series of books that starts with 'I am Slaughter' if I recall correctly.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Majkhel

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks for dropping a comment and for more fluff- and business-related insight; I've been almost exclusively focused on the hobby aspects of 40K and as such haven't been keeping an eye out on GW's social media, nor new releases.
 
Speaking of the hobby-aspect, I finished a squad of five Terminators. I decided to leave them as they are - I found myself improving and retouching the models for far too long, so let's say that I 'rushed' things, declared that they are painted and I intend to move on to painting other models.
 

 
Castellan in Terminator Armour with Thunder Hammer and Storm Shield

 

 

 
Sword Brother Terminator Armour with Power Mace and Storm Shield






Sword Brother with Pair of Lightning








I also redid the cape on the other Power Mace and Storm Shield Terminator; it's still not great, but its current state is an improvement for sure.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Brother Cristopher

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Terminators.

[Majkhel]

Great squad, full of character and presence. 
I think it's always a good decision to call a job done at times you described. We can always improve, but then again improving is not always our main motivation or goal ;)

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks Bjorn!

 

Thanks Majkhel, your feedback is a great motivation ;) It's apparent that you've given much thought to the hobby and have things sorted out, while my painting and modelling is more erratic and ad hoc and sometimes infantile, especially in the sense that I feel that I'd really want to work through my backlog as quick as possible to have a fully-operational army. However, party thanks yo your insight, I'm starting to feel way more comfortable with the way things are going for me and I see room for improvement (or a way to get back to my pre-covid painting groove).

[Brother Christopher]

It has been too long without updates here. I want to keep this thread afloat, partially to keep myself motivated and partially to let those of you who follow my progress know that I'm still resolute. Considering how old this thread is, I sometimes feel like an old (and grumpy) rock - things change, the tides and currents of new editions and Space Marine releases come and go, and I'm still here, working on my backlog consisting of small marines, terminators, bikes, Land Riders and Rhinos.

 

Over the last two weeks, I were steadily working on another batch of Terminators. I am also implementing changes to my workflow, or should I rather say, I am rediscovering my old workflow that was okay for regular, PA infantry. All of this in an effort to keep myself sane and speed my painting up, without compromising the general aesthetic of my miniatures and squads too much.

 

Right now, I have around a week to finish something (whatever that might be) - after that, I'm getting married and will be taking a break from everything, including the hobby, for the better part of June. I hope that I'll be able to share some progress over the weekend.

[Brother Carpenter]

Congratualtions with the upcoming marriage.

Enjoy the day, take many pictures!

 

On the Redemptor Dread, I was reading my just recievend 9th sm codex and, correct me if I'm wrong, but asl far as I could tell the Redemptor dread does not have the primaris keyword. So technically there could also be a firstborn interred in the sarcafogus!

 

See its not a primaris unit, it was accidentally part of the primaris release wave.

 

The termnies have really turned out nice!

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you, Brother! I intend to enjoy the day and, in addition to the hired photographers, I'm planning to have my own camera at hand.

 

Regarding the Redemptor Dread, that's something I've missed - you're sharp-eyed, sir! So my Crusade may remain purely Firstborn, at least for now (till GW updates their keywords and what not).

 

Luckily, over the weekend I managed to finish something. Not much, but here are two new additions to my Terminator line-up.

 

Neurode Crusade's Chief Apothecary

 

 

 

 

 

I spent way more time than I'd like on this one, but I must say - I really enjoyed doing all the little freehand details. A pity that Vanilla SM (Black Templars included) cannot field Apothecaries in TDA. Well, I suppose I might use him as a count-as Primaris Apothecary in friendly games - after all, the base size is right.

 

And a Sword Brother with Two Lightning Claws

 

 

 

 

This is a model that has a long history. To be honest, I were debating whether to get rid of him altogether. I repositioned his legs and sculpted the tabard many, many years ago, back when I weren't so picky and were more enthusiastic about my sculpting skills. Months or years later, I figured that I don't have the skillset to do any serious sculpting (even when it comes to such apparently easy bits as tabards and capes) and I moved entirely to green stuff press moulds for my custom bits. However, I remember that I used to be very proud of the model. On top of that, I spent some time reposing his legs and what not (this model is based on an AoBR Terminator) and didn't feel like scratching all of that work (and history!). That's why I decided to remove the absolutely awful cape and replace it with... a slightly less awful cape, that I made this year. Yeah - I made a lot of progress when it comes to hobby-related stuff, but my sculpting skills haven't improved!

 

I suppose that the model looks okayish - it's nothing near the quality of the original sculpts, but he's an important part of my 40K journey that's why he made it.

 

And here's a group shot of the remaining Termies in the batch I'm working on at the moment:

 

[Urkh]

I see I'm going to have to put some effort into making the guys I'm currently working on in order to make sure I can get my minis looking as good as yours are turning out. Not to make this a contest, more of a (devout?) push to not be lazy. Great minis brother! Edited May 31, 2021 by Urkh

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Terminator Apothecary.

[Brother Christopher]

Brothers, I am back! I haven't managed to do any meaningful hobby work this week (i.e. finish a miniature), yet, but I've painted - I am still working on the three Terminators from the last picture from post #1341.

 

I also read through the rumours about the future of the Black Templars and these rumours made me feel as torn as probably never before. On the one hand, I'm looking forward to the new releases and models. I am particularly interested in the new lore and hope for some adequate and fluffy rules. On the other hand, should all the rumours be true and the Black Templars are scheduled to basically get an entire line refresh (probably meaning Primarisation of all units), I'll probably feel mildly betrayed since this will be yet another step to make my collection somewhat obsolete: after all, who wants to use a 10-year-old piece of any tech if there are newer and better (and better looking) alternatives out there?

 

I just need to take a couple of deep breaths and be patient to see what GW and the future hold for us; after all, the rumoured Sword Brethren/Crusader Squad kits may just be Primairs upgrade kits. I suppose that there isn't much precedent in terms of chapter-specific Primaris units yet (consider the SW, BA and DA). I'm particularly curious about the rumoured "Crusader Squad" - it'd be awesome if they'd introduce new Neophyte models; an all-Primaris Crusader Squad doesn't make much sense, unless it'd be limited to a mix of shooty and choppy models in a single unit. I'm curious whether GW will mix scout-armour infantry with Primaris infantry in a singe squad, though.

 

Yeah, so I'll extinguish my moderate excitement and worries for now and go on to painting my squat marines - it's too late to sell them anyway

 

@Urkh, you flatter me! Let it be a devout push, I hope that you were successful in your recent hobby efforts!

Edited June 25, 2021 by Brother Cristopher

[Brother Carpenter]

No worries, you can always play a game of oldhammer.

A friend of mine refuses to play any system newer than 6th/7th ed of 40K.

 

I'm also mildly exited about the runmours, becouse I also like my firstborn (and have a humongous pile of grey shame to build).

What I would find very fluffy is the possibility to make a crusader squad with primaris, firstborn and scouts all mixed up in one unit.

That woudl really rock and fluff.

Edited June 25, 2021 by Brother Carpenter

[Brother Christopher]

I'm also mildly exited about the runmours, becouse I also like my firstborn (and have a humongous pile of grey shame to build).

What I would find very fluffy is the possibility to make a crusader squad with primaris, firstborn and scouts all mixed up in one unit.

That woudl really rock and fluff.

 

I get you! I've fallen into the same trap. I mean, I know that most of my current problems are my own fault - I shouldn't have stocked up on models as much as I did, but the Space Marine line appeared to be a universal constant and at that time collecting the required number of miniatures to build the planned number of squads seemed like a good idea.

 

If I didn't have so many unpainted models, I'd probably be more excited about Primaris in the first place. Right now, much of my stubbornness results from me being wary and not wanting to make the same mistake of buying even more models. What I am probably trying to say is this - at this point in my life, when it comes to new models, money isn't the issue. I have some problems with GW's policy, but that aside, each new model means another 2-3 hours of work to the time I still need to paint what I have. Even though I deliberated on it on numerous times, selling my some of the models isn't really something I want to do since I already put time and effort into 80% of what I have and I bought them for a reason, so getting rid of them would result in unwanted gaps in my roster. That's why the only reasonable thing to do when it comes to the time needed to completely paint my Crusade is not buy more stuff, which sometimes is difficult - some of the models are really cool ;) (LIKE THE NEW HERESY BOX WITH A SPARTAN and slightly upscaled Firstborn Marines).

 

The squad you envisioned isn't rock, it's metal! That'd be a hardcore formation :D It should probably be called "I don't care 'bout Your Codex Squad" or something like that, very Templar and very in-your-face. It most likely won't happen, though.

[Brother Christopher]

I have progress to report! I fully painted 2 Terminators (mace + shield and pair of lightning claws), almost painted 1 Terminator (flail - I plan to add a Black Templar shield later) and repainted/updated 1 Terminator, making a total of (almost) four freshly-painted, finished models to my Crusade.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cape on this one kind of suck, but well - I'll have to live with it.

 

 

And the repainted/updated Battle Brother - I added and/or refined highlights, reworked the tabard I sculpted years ago and swapped his regular storm shield for the slightly more fancy pattern.

 

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The models are beautifully painted and detailed.

[Brother Christopher]

The models are beautifully painted and detailed.

Thanks, that's awfully nice of you to say! Feedback such as yours makes me feel like I'm maybe overly critical of my output - I am always slightly unhappy with how my models stand the test of a close-up photo; still, at least I've grown to admit that from a distance they look pretty dope!

 

I think that I'll be taking a (short) break from painting Terminators and will go with some of my undercoated power armour models.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

 

The models are beautifully painted and detailed.

Thanks, that's awfully nice of you to say! Feedback such as yours makes me feel like I'm maybe overly critical of my output - I am always slightly unhappy with how my models stand the test of a close-up photo; still, at least I've grown to admit that from a distance they look pretty dope!

If your work is compared to that of highly paid professionals who receive commissions for painting other people's models, then yes, they look crude. If it's compared to other members of this board, your work is head and shoulders above 80% of their best efforts. You might as well be content, and avoid following Fulgrim down the road to hell that is perfectionism.