The Neurode Crusade - Updates and Fixes to HQs and Elites

[Sir Clausel]

I get the feeling of hollowness. For me it comes and goes. When it comes i just need to take a break. It can be because of hobby burnout or real life bring one down. But for every break i have taken motivation still finds its way back. Sometimes its a new release i must have, or i get reminded of something in the hobby. Be it fanart or someone elses conversion. Or i simply get an idea for a conversion my self. Motivation comes and goes. 

Right now im taking a little break because there is a lot of stuff happening in real life and im waiting for 10th. 

But my mind still thinks about what conversions i can make with the new stuff coming. 

[Brother Christopher]

A healthy long-term involvement in the hobby isn't easy, right? ;) It's like a sine wave of enjoyment of the hobby, actual involvement with it and motivation. But I can see that you know what I mean and share some of my experiences. I also think that it's a good idea to wait for 10th and see how it shapes the landscape of new 40k. As always, I can't wait to see more of your stuff.

[Brother Christopher]

I removed the non-BT iconography and did most of the work on the Termies. I just need to add some shoulder pads and tilt shields. This takes way too long, but I'm almost there.

 

 

The arms are magnetised to 'future proof' my army, if that makes any sense considering the size of the models.

 

This, I think, is a BA Captain:

 

I removed most of the tears and replaced them with skulls, for a more generic feel. I decided to leave the tear/drop on the tilt shield, though.

 

Here's the base for my standard bearer with some clunky DIY conversion - lantern with candles and rubbish chains:

 

 

Considering how much time it took me to do this... yeah, that's a bit depressing :D It's also the valuable lesson that I mentioned before: no more conversion work of this sort. It takes longer than I dare to admit and the quality is sub-par. Having said that, I the model 'holds water' as a whole:

 

 

Now, here's my Castelan or Marshal in a relic armour. I really like this one, I think this might be a resin HH Abbadon? I got him cheap with some other sculpts and decided to use him as a HQ - works pretty well with a pair of lightning claws:

 

And my precious "main Terminator Marshal," based on a regular old TDA body:

 

 

 

As you can see, I added a cape, a tabard and some green stuff cast ornaments. Some of the details, like the 'pins' on the front and back, are clunky by today's standards but... yeah, I hope that you'll appreciate my intentions and my vision for the miniature ;) I also tried to make a custom knee pad but I'm not particularly happy with it.

 

 

The model was supposed to be in a defensive, commanding pose to account for the indented primary wargear, i.e. a relic storm shield and a power sword. The sword is beyon fixing - the blade is a bit bent but I really loved the sculpt and decided to keep it. I tried to fix it in hot water but I managed to achieve only this much - the blade is really, really fine and I don't want to risk damaging it more.

 

 

 

 

To be honest, I can't wait to start working on this one!

 

[Urkh]

Looking like some real beasts!

[Brother Christopher]

I finally managed to find some time and motivation to paint the TDA Marshal. The 'body' is complete and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. I'm not a huge fan of the modified knee pad - it's not great but it is what it is.

 

The model is quite busy, maybe a bit too busy, but this kind of is what I wanted. After all, this dude is supposed to represent the leader of my Crusade (or a fighting company) - I suppose that he deserves to wear a lot of bling and have an ornate armour.

 

 

 

 

 

And I started working on the arms, too:

 

 

 

[Brother Carpenter]

The cape is very nice with the opposite crosses. Kudos on that 

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks mate!

 

Aaand, thanks for bumping the thread so I don't have to double-post. Coincidentally, I've finally got around to finishing the Marshal.

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Between a major refurbishment at my childhood home, work and other real life nuisances (and... the new Boltgun game), it took me way to long to get the arms done.

 

All in all, I'm quite pleased with the result. He is what he is (i.e. a conversion) and, I think that the paint job is good enough. However, having worked back-to-back on some newer Terminator sculpts (the BA Captain or DA Dark Vengeance Sergeant) gives me mixed feelings: the modern(ish) machine-made sculpts are so much better than the assembly of salvaged bits (including a fancy but bent sword) and green stuff that I started to feel genuine regret that I'm "stuck" with my backlog of old stuff.

 

While I generally prefer the aesthetic of older sculpts, especially some of the metal ones, I greatly appreciate the quality of the newer kits. They are plainly simpler and more satisfying to paint. The trade-off probably is the added effort to put the new miniatures together (in general, I feel, the new kits are split into more bits).

[Brother Christopher]

So, here's a post just to let you know that I still haven't sold my army off ;)

 

The last couple of weeks were hectic, but in a good way. Unfortunately, with so many things going on I couldn't find it in me to restart work on painting my new Termies or do anything else. With the new edition on the way, and with the new indexes, I'm feeling quite anxious that much of my work and planning will go to waste, particularly with regard to my magnetised veterans. That's definitely not a nice feeling.

 

Also, with more and more new releases, I feel that my conversion work is becoming more and more inadequate. I got this feeling that my numerous ideas over the years result in a rather disjointed army, one which includes model's that I'm not happy with. In an attempt to remedy some of these quibbles, I forced myself today and tried to fix some of my Terminators' capes. I'm kind of curious how that'll turn out.

 

Hopefully, I'll get back to painting more models soon. I'd like to finish the 3-4 Terminators that I started and perhaps do some of the Thunderhawk next.

 

Regrettably, I probably won't finish my Vanguard Vets before they get replaced. But that's probably my fault - it takes me more time to paint a model than to train an actual space marine ;)

[Brother Christopher]

A bit of a proof of life from your grumpy Polish frater. June was extremely busy (this business kinda spills over to July, as well) and I couldn't find it in me to paint. Especially since a major source of my motivation, i.e., the hope for a successful 'Indexhammer' stage after the launch of 10th edition quite quickly evaporated.

 

Over the last week, I managed to squeeze in some hobby time into my schedule which resulted in finishing two bastardised Terminator; one Dark Angels Sergeant and one, I believe, Blood Angels Captain (with a helmet and storm shield instead of a bare head and storm bolter). Overall, these very fun models to paint. On a bit of a depressing note, I found them to be way better than my DIY conversions, both as a painting experience and quality-wise.

 

I still have a couple of conversions planned but I won't be starting anything new, probably ever. If I should get some modern GW models (say, some Primaris or whatever future may hold) I deeply doubt that I'll be wasting time for converting them. More and more, I am convinced that traditional conversions should be a thing of the past. They were cool and good 10 years ago but now, I just can't justify how much time and effort it takes to get something of clearly inferior quality (but with a personal touch!).

 

Having said that, my next efforts will be redirected to some HEAVY CONVERTING/SCRATCH BUILDING. I want to finish my Land Raider/Repulsor thingy, maybe for the Call to Arms event!

 

 

[Urkh]

The minis look great, but I still really enjoy seeing all the craftwork you do on you bashes. Having minis that you know no one else has because it came from YOUR creativity is always something to be proud of, and makes your army actually yours, instead of just another black templar. That said, if you feel the end doesn't justify the means, that's all that matters at the end of the day. Your paint schemes are still fantastic!

[Brother Christopher]

Yeah, with some regret I came to the definitive conclusion that it's not worth it. Unfortunately, I really need to take a realistic look at my army and it's a big enough time investment to finish what I've already started without the extra work.

 

I mean, I can't shake the feeling of losing something - after all, conversions (more and less successful ones!) have always been an important part of my hobby. But with the dubious future rule support for some of my models, I find it harder and harder to keep motivated to 'take the extra step.' It's also a bit disheartening how much better the new, modern cape on the BA Captain looks in comparison to my efforts with green stuff.

 

The underlying problem is that I continue to live the dreams of my more innocent, younger self. However, that version of me had more time on his hands and didn't realise that a relatively highly-customised army of around 300 models is... a challenge ;) Right now, I'm focused on finishing the dreams and plans made in the past: some more character conversions, painting and finishing my scratch builds and finishing the more 'vanilla' troops is my top priority.

 

The infantry conversions I'm still going to do are: a count-as-Justicar, heavy flamer guys, standard bearers, shield and sword marines and hybrid scout 'sergeants' (wearing a mix of power armour and scout armour). There are also some vehicles.

 

Also, I need to stress that this sense of 'closure' is very reassuring and, in a way, motivating. At least I have a clear goal to pursue. The little chip in that plan is that GW never fails to disappoint in one way or the other. Taking away options that I worked so hard had a large impact on my morale (e.g., as you may recall, I loath magnetising models and my Vanguards are, well, less useful now) but that's nothing a bit of time and zeal can't fix.

[Marshal Reinhard]

Honestly with options disappearing just say eff it and put on blinders and stay the course. Odds are they'll be back before you know it.

[Brother Christopher]

You're right about that. But it stings, regardless. The phasing out of Old Marines is a given but, somehow, the changes to Sternguards and Vanguards bummed me out. And this happened even though I technically don't care (which serves as evidence that I must care and am in denial about not caring).

 

It's just that subjectively, 40k is a like a marathon. With my pace of work, I devote a bit too much time to plan things out. And then I spend more time implementing these plans, say, by magnetising weapons. This is done mostly in an attempt to 'future proof' the army: Lighting Claws aren't hot this edition, no problem! I can swap them for Power Fists. There's an update, I hear you say, and LCs are a must? Let me just pop these back on!

 

But for the time being, with the indexes, I find LCs very problematic: they disappeared from some units altogether. And now, I'm just left with time wasted on something that I didn't feel like doing in the first place (magnetising LCs). I'd be okay with Vanguards having their legacy blades (or whatever) from the beginning: I could model my guys however I liked without the hassle of magnetising weapons or worrying about loadouts. But now, egoistically speaking, I'm annoyed with this change simply because I planned and did something for a reason and GW invalidated that reason.

 

But that's just another valuable lesson: I intend to take the Internet advice of not caring and buying/building the models you like one step further. This also should save me the hassle of trying to squeeze all of those guns, pods and rockets onto my Land Raider Repulsor. I'll model it with a big 'tank' gun, a large gatling gun, a pintle mounted twin- or quad-bolter and a small turret with an (icarus) autocannon instead of the pleb stubber and call it a day ;)

 

Please note that my rambling above is now more academic in nature: I won't let GW ruin my enjoyment of the hobby more than they've already done. It's not that I'm angry or annoyed ;)

 

A couple of posts ago, I also mentioned that I did some green stuff adjustments to some of the DYI capes on my Terminators. Here's what I meant:

 

 

Here are some archive photos of the models 'before' my recent adjustments:
 

Spoiler

 

 

The changes are major but, I think, they're a slight improvement. I feel more comfortable with these but I'll also reserve judgement for after I'll slap some paint on them.

[Urkh]

Well hey, I'll say one thing about terminator capes. I've recently discovered that the extra cape you get in the primaris crusader squad box works really well on firstborn terminators if you put them all the way on the top of the armor, instead of coming off the armpits like in the photos above. 

[Brother Christopher]

A token update: my mostly finished banner for my TDA Ancient. It has taken me way more time than I planned... The Standar Bearer is also at quite an advance stage so the entire miniatures should follow.

 

[Urkh]

Absolutely gorgeous!

[Brother Carpenter]

15 hours ago, Brother Christopher said:

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Brother Carpenter

[Brother Christopher]

@Urkh and @Brother Carpenter Thanks, you guys are great! I think that you're a bit too generous, but it's all the more motivating to continue with my army!

 

Edit: What I wanted to say is that this surge of positivity from people online was a surprisingly needed positive counterbalance to the continued damage GW does to my collection. You made my day ;)

Edited July 31, 2023 by Brother Christopher

[Brother Christopher]

Here's my 2nd TDA HQ/Marshal, Jurgen. I think that the photos don't do him justice. This is something of a rare occurrence, but I'm very pleased with how he turned out. I should probably retake the photos in daylight, but I felt quite impatient and wanted to share with you. After all, it took me some time to finish him.

 

The arms are magnetised, all in an attempt to future-proof my models. A futile effort ;)

 

 

 

 

 

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

Just scrolled through your latest work, and, as always, it's awe inspiring. Keep at it Brother!

[Brother Christopher]

I appreciate that! Thanks for your time. And I shall keep at it, no matter what GW throws my way :D

 

Here are some better photos of the TDA Commander model and the now-finished Standard Bearer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close-ups on some details that I probably should show at such magnification:

 

 

 

 

And some hand-made details: chains and a lantern with candles thingy:

 

And the entire TDA Command Squad:

 

In retrospect, I'm not a huge fan of the Apothecary (wrong choice of bits and relatively awkward pose) and my kitbash Marshal (the one with the sword and shield) could use some improvement and wasn't worth the time investment, but I've already mentioned it before.

 

All in all, I think that they'll a pretty cool bunch. Looking at some of my first models painted and tehse guys here, boy, oh boy - it was a loong, loooong way!

[Brother Christopher]

I'm back to the land of plasticard and wasting time! The Land Raider Repulsor project is restarted.

 

Unfortunately, the restart is/was bumpy. I realised that I didn't have enough plasticard tube for the entire length of the barrel. In a display of being overzealous, I thought that I can work around this by putting together different diameters of tube, extended with some 0.25 mm rolled-on plasticard sheets. The result... isn't great. The barrel isn't as straight as it should be (well, this means properly straight) but the damage is already done. In subsequence fits of naivety, I spent more and more time to fix the thing (instead of doing the smart thing and ordering new tubes). Now I feel that I've spent too much time on the barrel to just toss it away.

 

I think I managed to fix most of the mess but the barrel is still a bit off-axis. But... I think I can live with that. It's straighter than some of my resin autocannons ;) My hope is that when mounted onto the turret, the defect won't be that apparent. Right? ... Right?

 

To view:

 

Side view:

[Brother Christopher]

More progress with the LR Executioner conversion.

 

So, over the last two weeks, I've been toiling away and managed to achieve something. There were difficulties resulting from poor planning and my inability to put together things that are at odd angles but I'm sure I'll sort them out in post-processing ;)

 

 

 

 

 

 

And my substitute for the twin-stubber mounted at the rear. Thanks to GW for ruining the Stalker Tank for me - their declaration that they will discontinue the tank came at a perfect time allowing me to use mine for bits. I look forward to hearing your feedback about the gun. I've always felt that stubbers have no place on SM vehicles, particularly large ones; hence, I figured that a stubby version of an autocannon will do. I also think that, especially for a dedicated AA gun, my turret is better suited for the task, having more firing angles and what-not. 

 

 

So far most of the progress is still quite rough; however, I intend to fix it with putty later on.

 

Sadly, I also must confess that I'm very close to abandoning my plan for a dual kit. I intended this to be a Repulsor and Land Raider (I wanted to have removable and swappable top and side panels to remove the MTB turret and add sponsons). However, given the sorry state of my army in the framework of the current rules and potential future proxies, I don't feel like adding more hours into a futile project. I mean, I already have 3 Land Raiders plus this. I can let it go... I think.

[Sir Clausel]

It looks incredible ! Cant wait to see more of this! 

Maybe just make it a dual repulsor/executioner kit instead? Since you already have 3 landraiders? 

[Brother Christopher]

Haha, I can't wait to get more done and share with you!

 

On 8/26/2023 at 7:46 AM, Sir Clausel said:

Maybe just make it a dual repulsor/executioner kit instead? Since you already have 3 landraiders? 

 

I think your feedback pushed to go with just that. But I'm thinking about going with an automated turret (like from the old Tarantula Sentry Guns) for the regular Repulsor. I suppose my mid-sized turret is a bit too large for a single Lascannon (Lastalon?) or Assault Cannon main gun.