The Neurode Crusade

[Hawklynn]

I am so jealous of your painting skills.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The new guys look good.

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you very much for the responses; especially Hawklynn, I am humbled by comment!

 

Quick question: What weapon should my second standard bearer have? I want to attach the (holstered/sheathed) weapon to his belt, but can't decide between a bolter, bolt pistol or chainsword - this standard bearer is to be my to-go, cheap "Ancient," so I don't want any other choices which I have to pay for. For that, I'll have a third bearer with a magnetised wrist and a plethora of available options.

 

A bolt pistol seems like a dumb option since a bolter is better. [pointless option]

 

A bolter is okay, but I could claim that the one with the power fist covers this piece of wargear (since an Ancient with two weapons is apparently not legal, according to the Codex). [reasonable option]

 

A chainsword feels just right for a Templar, but I don't want my bearer to be locked in combat, do I? [the most Templar option]

 

... but I have an OOP plastic chainsword with a completely visible hilt (i.e. without a hand/an arm) in my bits box just waiting for the right model and this could be it!

Edited December 20, 2017 by Brother Cristopher

[SWORD BROTHER RYAN]

I'd personally arm the cheap one with the bolter. It will have all the range it needs, and if your bearer gets locked in combat, I think you have a few more pressing matters to think about than lamenting not giving him the chainsword...

 

BUT... if you DO have one of those ancient (pun intended) chainswords without a molded hand, it does seem a shame to not use it, and it WOULD look cool as (insert favorite cuss word here) on him.

 

I guess it boils down to does it look cool or does it fire to keep enemies as far away as it can? How you play should determine your answer, and I'll LOVE to see which way yo decide to go!

[Hawklynn]

I agree with Sword Brother Ryan, the bolter would be the best option for a low point cost Ancient.

 

I have one of those OOP chainswords as well (and a power axe too!) with no hand. I am planning on giving it a specific SB that I have but have no idea how to either place it on the model or base. 

[Brother Christopher]

So bolter it is, based on feedback from the forum and outside of it. Thanks!

 

I'll probably give the chainswords to combi-weapon Initiates.

 

Regarding modelling, it's a difficult task indeed. A model with a chainsword strapped to his belt looks a bit awkward, but not too outlandish when compared for example to the official sheathed powersword from the Sternguard Veterans set. So this probably is the way to go, if you want to add one to a marine. Alternatively, one could glue it horizontally, under the backpack, like Cypher's old model used to carry his sword.

 

I'll try to take a picture comparing a Marine with a sheathed sword with one equipped with a (blue-tacked) chainsword.

[Brother Christopher]

As 2018 draws ever nearer, I wanted to clear my painting backlog in order not to start the new year with any commenced projects*. This time it took me "only" three months to get these painted, so I'm picking up the pace! Although the time frame is nowhere near as a good as when I started the hobby (back then I was able to complete entire squads per month), I feel that this is a new record when I consider my pace over these last two or three years. I'm hoping to keep this, lol, GREAT MOMENTUM and increase it in 2018!

 

Without much further ado, here are the photos of the latests additions to the Neurode Crusade. Black Templars Veterans:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a bit clumsy photo of the entire squad of Crusaders/Veterans:

 

 

I'll take better photos next year after I'll base them (sorry for the overexposure!)

 

Also, the models are magnetised in the wrists. I want some of my units to be future-proof and be able to adapt to GW's changes. I have to adjust some of the magnets since I missed the centre point of the wrist/hand which resulted in some clumsy poses (especially the chainsword!).

 

 

* Well, "started projects" should be understood very narrowly as "models primed for painting and/or models that I begun painting as a part of a current batch that is located on my 'paint-in-progress' shelf. I adopted a system in which I prime one or two squads and work on them before starting anything new. Parallel to painting these squads, I assemble, convert and reclaim other models.

Edited December 29, 2017 by Brother Cristopher

[Aegir_Einarsson]

Nicly done as always. I Beger thought about magnetising wrists.

I always magnetise whole arm... . This is something I'll surely try:)

[Marshal Wolfhart]

Magnetizing wrists is a wonderful idea, like Aegir i was in the process of magnetizing whole arms. Most of all i like the variation of colours on the weapons, like the purple grips and red housings. Not to stay i'd copy that, but... we'll see when i get to painting my swordbrethren, considering my pace atm...

[Aegir_Einarsson]

If you would be So kind And post some pictures of wrist, And the rest of the arm separate. That I could see magenta And how they're fitted

[Brother Talarian]

As per usual outstanding work, brother. I can't offer much CC until I've attained a higher level of painting myself. However I will ask my routine questions.

 

How did you find magnetizing the wrists? I have countless weapons I'd like to swap out and try so am considering it myself.

As for the left handed thunderhammer... did you happen to have one? I only have those from the VV set and they're all right handed. Curious if you modeled the hand yourself or if you had a left handed one.

 

Keep on killing it brother.

[Brother Christopher]

Sorry for the late reply - I took a short break from civilisation.

 

As always, thank you for the kind words! I'm trying to add more and more colours to my Templars because I'm a bit tired of painting all my units using the 'standard' livery. At the same time, I don't really want to paint any of my Marines as belonging to another Chapters, that is why I'm squeezing in little details like the above. I just hope that I won't come to regret that later on, but for now I'm having a lot of fun with paints that are not black, white, tan or red.

 

No for the magnetised weapons, I'm surprised that I got so much great feedback! I decided to magnetise the wrists for two reasons. First, I didn't have enough shoulder pads to magnetise entire arms, though I think I'd prefer this method. Second, the special weapons in the new sprues (Tactical, Sternguard, Vanguard, Devastator) with the modelled hand seemed perfect for this method. This way, I'll end up with 15 marines with a selection of special and melee weapons to adjust to requirements of my lists (and GW's rule changes) on top of some marines with pre-assembled loadouts.

 

I recommend choosing "sergeant arms" for the swaps, i.e. those that are straight/bent at the elbow, but which are not intended for holding a gun in two hands (like standard tactical marines) - these are more fiddly because some weapons are difficult to squeeze in. I have 10 bolter marines who can swap their botlers for flamers, plasma, grav or melta guns and out of the 10 only 2 can hold a swappable flamer and neither can hold a Sternguard combi weapon with the drum magazine. There simply is not enough room between the magnetised wrists and the other hand to squeeze in a specific gun.

 

I used a 2 mm hobby drill to drill sockets for the magnets (2 mm x 1 mm round neodymium magnets). It is important to try and keep the both holes (in the wrist and hand) aligned to get the most of the the magnets' connective strength. I'm quite happy with how the method turned out. The only thing I'd change is probably try and get stronger magnets, but the ones I got are okay - they are more than enough to keep the weapons in place and when the connection is direct, they even allow to lift the entire model by the weapon.

 

The Thunder Hammer comes from the Devastator Squad kit, which has nice sergeant options (claw, fist, axe, hammer, sword, combis).

 

And here for some pictures. The magnets are mostly painted black and blend with their 'housing.'

 

 

 

Edited January 1, 2018 by Brother Cristopher

[Dosjetka]

Clean paint jobs and all-round nice work. :tu:

[Marshal Reinhard]

Very clean, very well balanced. deffo makes me question my own colourchoices for my swordbrethren

[Honda]

 

 

 

I always suspected that William Dafoe was a Templar. That you for confirming that for me.

[Brother Christopher]

I cannot make up my mind what to do next. Reason tells me to paint some characters (Chaplain, Standard Bearer), as well as heavy weapons (or, more enjoyably, more 'sword brethren' I assembled). But my heart... I hear the call of halting any progress the Mechanicus and kind of want to give plasticard conversions/builds another go. I've kicked off last year with building a Land Raider from scratch and finishing my Stormraven. Doing a similar thing would give a nice flow to my work cycle, but it is also time-consuming.

 

What do you think?

 

1. Focus on painting 'fun stuff' - characters and melee Marines (a batch of 5 marines).

2. Focus on painting 'useful stuff' - lascannon and combi weapon marines (a batch of 5 marines).

3. Focus on painting/updating vehicles (3 rhino chassis tanks of any variant).

4. Focus on wasting time and hobby satisfaction - work on an upgrade kit for GW's Stormraven*.

5. Finish 2 Stormtalons**

 

There is really one big upside to choosing the Raven; I imagine that converting it will take 70% of the time of finishing the model; the remaining 30% will be painting. And if I had two of my Ravens done, I'd have the extra motivation to do point 5 as a follow-up and finish my two escort crafts, which lie 90% painted (if I recall correctly, they needed highlighting only!) in a box for three or four years.

 

 

* Unlike the consensus, I quite like the model, even the awkward detail on top, including the turret and nonsensical air-intake. Well, since I prefer Forge World's designs, maybe not 'like', but have nothing against and thing that it's pretty cool in a goofy, 40K manner. My largest gripe is the stubby fuselage, so my plan is to extend it by a-number-of-centimetres (don't know how much, to be honest), while retaining the remainder of original parts and design solutions.

 

** Looking at these make me feel even more angry about GW. Not only did they release a better-looking variant that I could've got instead, but they also made the Talons basically useless in this edition, since they lose to Hawks' superior firepower and lower price in most combat scenarios. Overall, the time GW released Stormravens and Stormtalons was really bad for the modelling aspect of the hobby - these are some of the more awkward designs which, unfortunately, entered cannon.

[Marshal_Roujakis]

The Talons aren't that bad if you do a little bit of conversion work... I did my own take on them which is reminiscent of the VTOLs from Crysis just by adding wing extensions on the engine blocks to make them look more like they are meant to fly... I might do a similar thing when I get to work on the Stormhawks, although I don't really know where to get a good pair of Space Marine looking wings for that design... might be need a few more Drop Pod fins for those...

 

The only thing I didn't really like about the Stormraven was the goofy turret with the Servitor manning it... all the guns on a Stormraven are BS4, Servitors are BS3 so it wouldn't make sense that those guns would be manned by Servitors, I'd expect them to still be manned by a Space Marine, so a quick swap from those goofy canopy turrets to Razorback turrets which fit perfectly well, made the Ravens much better imho...

 

As for what's for the next project, it's all up to you... majority of the time I find myself getting tired of painting Space Marines or black after a 10 man squad or a vehicle, so I tend to switch it up a bit... after a squad of Templars, switch to either a different hobby such as Gundams, or a different army such as Daemons or Inquisition... it gives me more variety of stuff to paint, a wider color pallet and keeps the hobbies interesting and gives me more ideas to do as a next project or to update my style and techniques... so it all boils down on what you think you should do next...

 

here's an idea... instead of using black as main color for your next vehicle, pick a color scheme which isn't mainly black, but you also have to make the vehicle look like it belongs to the Black Templars... with just the paint scheme and design... this should make it interesting...

[Sword Brother Adelard]

On the Storm Raven, could you lose the Lascannon Turret (if you didn't take the hurricane bolters) and use Predator sponsors in the side doors?

 

I have attempted to order the ChapterHouse upgrade kit, planning to ask PayPal to reimburse me before the time limit if it doesn't arrive. Which considering I'm 5 months I have had no contact from them, I probably will need to do. I would really only consider buying a Storm Raven if I could extend it.

 

Also, on Roujakis' idea, check out this guy's alternative Templar vehicle colour scheme: https://armiesonparade.com/2016/09/30/black-templars-by-peter-king/

[Brother Christopher]

The turret itself is okay. It's very grimmdark silly, in a good way. "Let's put a lobotomised guys with most limbs missing in a silly little cockpit so that he can shoot stuff. Oh, and don't bother with >>aerodynamics<<! Zeal will propel our craft through air and cloud. Air will not defeat the onslaught of the Emperaz Finest!"

 

The only thing that sort of/really bothers me (I'm torn here!!) is the length of the main fuselage; the fact that the rear ramp starts right behind the side hatches, making the transport compartment cramped. On top of that, there are the wings which are pretty much 'behind' the fuselage, making the entire thing rather awkward. And I believe that extending the fuselage by a little bit, even 2-4 cm, should improve the overall looks. But again, I'm not sure - I struggle to visualise this properly. Based on images online, most people who bothered with extending the hull did so by a large margin, often what seems like twice the original length; this solution, while bringing the thing closer to a Storm Eagle, creates a problem with the top of the fuselage and transition to the tail.

 

It's a shame we didn't get as cool a flyer as the IG's Valkyrie!

 

Regarding painting, I also tend to introduce more variety to my colour scheme - that helps me deal with the monotony. The alternate Templar scheme that you posted is cool, but I won't go that way - too much whites; I can't bother to get a white primer :P In all seriousness, I don't feel comfortable painting white, but I'll probably add more tan or yellow (in honour of the Imperial Fists) areas to my vehicles.

 

Adelard, I'm sorry to hear about the conversion kit. I hope that you'll get your money back!

 

Roujakis, regarding Stormtalons: I can accept the tiny wings; actually, as far as the fuselage and engines go, the entire small craft package is okay. The greatest problem is the front gun with the attached landing gear - that thing is... ah, a mistake. Yeah, it's cool that it can shoot backwards, but at what cost? The said part looks like an oversized tumour on the Talon's beak/nose.

 

For the wings, have you considered making them out of plasticard? It shouldn't be a bother, and you can get any shape and size you want.

[TheOneTrueZon]

I have attempted to order the ChapterHouse upgrade kit, planning to ask PayPal to reimburse me before the time limit if it doesn't arrive. Which considering I'm 5 months I have had no contact from them, I probably will need to do. I would really only consider buying a Storm Raven if I could extend it.

 

Word on the street is that CH has gone silent and is presumably out of business permanently. I'd get that PayPal refund going before the 6 month term limit expires. 

[Sword Brother Adelard]

I kinda have, they recommended that you try and contact the seller before starting, which I did to no avail. So now I can progress.

 

It's a shame really, it was a really useful kit, one which perhaps someone should redo? (Cough, Rogue! cough)

 

I've decided to paint my new iron clad with a primarily white colour scheme as a tester. I have always been fascinated by White Black Templars ever since I noticed the white marine with plasma cannon on the 3rd edition artwork.

[Hawklynn]

 

Regarding painting, I also tend to introduce more variety to my colour scheme - that helps me deal with the monotony. The alternate Templar scheme that you posted is cool, but I won't go that way - too much whites; I can't bother to get a white primer In all seriousness, I don't feel comfortable painting white, but I'll probably add more tan or yellow (in honour of the Imperial Fists) areas to my vehicles.

 

 

Vallejo Model Color has a set of eight (8) paints that does from black to white. I have had great success learning how to paint white with this set. Ninety percent (90%) of the time it only takes a single thin coat per color. I have yet to have to apply the white paint in more than two layers.

[Brother Christopher]

After many hours wasted on browskign the iInternet, I've made up my mind regarding the future of Neurode Crusade's air assets as well as my next project. Regarding the flyers, I'm sticking to GW's original designs. I think that it's better to push onward with the Black Templar army project in a holistic understanding rather than getting bogged down with conversions and scratch builds; I'll have plenty of time for that once I'm done with my backlog.

 

Over the upcoming weeks (months?), I'll be working on 6 Marines, (unnecessary, but cool) additions to the Crusade. Firstly, the OOP Chaplain from a couple of pages back. Secondly, the artwork-inspired Standard Bearer:

 

 

I've made up my mid, and chosen ultimately a 'regular' helmet for the added fidelity to the original. I also reworked the bolter arm a bit.

 

Finally, there are 4 specialist crusaders (count-as sergeants or squad leaders):

 

 

 

 

The strap is a spare bit from a combi-weapon; I thought it would look cool and I still somehow do. It goes with the flow of the miniature nicely.

 

 

 

I'll probably be priming them tomorrow and can't wait to get them done. Also, as you see, the models are already assembled - I want to give this approach a try. Before that, I usually primed and painted semi-assembled marines, with backpacks and arms off; now, I want to see how will the fact that they're fully built affect my painting. Hopefully, I'll save some time by not getting too occupied with hidden details. Also, I won't be ruining my work with glue which melts or otherwise damages painted bits, an issue I remember that I had from time to time. In the worst case scenario, I won't be able to reach some areas which will drive me crazy and force me to disassemble these, a difficult task, since they're some of my most sturdy Marines, with additional rods set into the arms/wrists, to prevent them from snapping.

[Hawklynn]

Good looking models. I paint the same way as you, body and legs minus arms and BP, and it is tedious. However, I personally find it far less tedious than trying to reach impossible spots on one of my models. Heck, I am having that issue right now with one of my standard bearers, okay, both of them. I found using a hobby vise or something else to hold the model in awkward positions really helps with the process.

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks! These are mostly built from leftover parts. I'm happy with these (and some other which will follow) since I used a mix of parts that I also braved to convert/alter.

 

I know that I'll struggle with inaccessible areas, but I have a (new year's) resolution to not bother with such trifles and paint as much as quickly as possible to finish the army before I hit 30 and proper-real-and-family-life overwhelms me. While I'd love to have all my models painted to 100% of my skills, I think that's something I presently can't afford. Sure, I can spend 3 hours on each Marine and do my best (which, truthfully, often does not satisfy me as I still need to improve), but why should I? I could see this happening if I started a Primaris army and had 35 models in total, not the 300 I've hoarded.

 

The answer to the above question could be: to have awesome miniatures. But again, I can't see this happening (by awesome I mean pro-painted). All I can pull off with my current skills and resources (I don't want to spend a fortune on paints and brushes) is my current table-top standard. Also, with a backlog of over 200 models (including vehicles) and my current life and professional situation, I really feel bad about spending too much time on a single, 'regular' Marine. So I hope that I'll be able to persuade myself to let go of the inaccessible (and often invisible, bar from a very specific angle) spots and enjoy a larger collection of painted Marines rather than a more refined one.

 

As you can infer, I'm still internally torn with this. But most of me feels and knows that presently this is the right approach. More, rather than better. Especially if that 'better' is questionable - too often I recalled upon looking at a finely painted miniature that I messed something up, but couldn't determine what exactly it was. What I want to say is, I tend to exaggerate problems while painting (and waste time) only to discover that the problems aren't 'real'.