The Neurode Crusade

[Bjorn Firewalker]

You're a skilled painter. That model is so detailed. Will he be the Emperor's Champion, a Marshal, or other leader?

[Brother Christopher]

Thank you Bjorn! The model, WIP mind you, is going to be whatever necessary. At this point, I rarely assemble and paint models with a single purpose. I rarely play and it often is the case that between my games, GW changes editions and codexes. I got my models "invalidated" in the past and I don't want to get through that again. For ETL, I declared that he is a Company Champion, but he may be any other high-ranking officer (Marshal, Castellan) or even a Sword Brother (Company Veteran or Vanguard Veteran, to use the current terminology).

[Marshal Vespasian]

I am psyched to see your freehand Brother! Templars do lend themselves very well to rather simple heraldry though, it has a simple yet brutal elegance to it

[Brother Christopher]

The Company Champion is painted.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 8, 2019 by Brother Cristopher

[Marshal Vespasian]

He looks very nice. The slightly relaxed pose fits quite well

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Company Champion.

[Brother Christopher]

As always, thank you brothers for the comments!

I must say, this week was quite odd... in a good way. I had tonnes of work to do, yet I found time to work on my Marines and have ended up with progress which, by my standards, is lightning fast. I’ve painted five additional Crusaders u to roughly 70%, with metallic parts, helmet lenses, shoulder pad crosses and non-black highlights left to do.

 

My relation with 40K is still pretty much love-hate, with the entire spectrum of possibilities, from "I don't need this" and "I need to sell my army" to "I can’t wait to see the collection finished" and "I should play a game of 40K for once", experienced over a three-day span, but apparently that’s me. Everyone’s got some mental issues, right?

I can’t wait to share the newly painted additions with you.

[Marshal Vespasian]

Especially the whole topic of playing or not playing is a weird topic.

Most of the time I am content with just painting the models and being done with it. But from time to time I get the feeling that not having them played once in a while is a waste of a whole lot of work and money. So from time to time they get put on the table.

 

And being burned out on painting is the most normal thing that happens to everyone I think.

[Brother Christopher]

You hit the nail on the head with your observation. It's great to know that there are people out there who are like-minded. When it comes to playing the game, there's also another "issue" with using your painted miniatures on the battlefield, which is even more emphasised in 8th edition - models tend to die rather quickly. And it's always a pain to remove a "regular footman", a humble bolt pistol and chainsword crusader that you spent 2 hour painting just like that, alongside his other 6 brethren. But that's just the nature of miniature wargaming, I suppose.

 

I can also proudly report that I managed to paint the 5 Crusaders I've mentioned in the previous post. This means that I managed to combine business (and a surprisingly lot of work) with the hobby and paint 5 miniatures in just over a week. That is lightning fast by my standards!

 

 

 

The guy holding the bolt pistol in two hands will be a part of a Tyrannic War Veteran squad. Since I have the original Ultramarine models, I don't mind incorporating the iconography on the right shoulder pad to my Crusade. After all, my armies did actually fight a lot of Tyranids back in the day. The shoulder pad is a green stuff green stuff cast of the original pad. I lost much detail in the process, but as part of the full five-man team, the symbol should be clearly recognisable for what it's supposed to be.

[Marshal Vespasian]

Really good looking and five in a week is a good pace. Its hard to do more. Especially of work, sports and a private life get added to the equation.

 

I might be playing more in the future avtually as I will join a local wargaming Club. They paint together once a week and some of the guys are doing Workshops on different topics from time to time, so that is right up my wheelhouse.

 

I really love your posing. The corvus pattern helmeted brother looks really Menacing and natural, as if Stalking a target.

Also I really Enjoy the tyrannic war Veteran and the guy with the Bolter strapped tup his chest that is hanging down loosely.

Edited July 15, 2019 by Marshal Vespasian

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Crusaders.

[Brother Christopher]

I really love your posing. The corvus pattern helmeted brother looks really Menacing and natural, as if Stalking a target.

Also I really Enjoy the tyrannic war Veteran and the guy with the Bolter strapped tup his chest that is hanging down loosely.

 

Thanks a lot! It seems that I got a bit more creative with some of the last models to assemble. Also, I had to deal with the damage I inflicted on the various plastic bits and pieces that I tried to recover from often mutilated second-hand models. But hey, they were cheap! And on top of that, they'll get a new lease of life in my crusade.

 

For instance, the lightning claw guy was initially supposed to be a regular bolt pistol and chainsword marine with an oddly posed head - he looked like he was a bit mental and running head-on to butt the enemies of the Emperor with his forehead; however, I decided that ruining the collar (the head was an integral part of the collar because the previous owner flooded the entire socket with super glue) is well worth replacing the head with another, which also happened to be less radical.

 

I haven't done much with painting my army; however, I needed to organise some of my units and update the army composition I have in mind. To do so, I took an updated army photo.

 

 

I must say that I'm not happy with the photo from a technical point of view. I messed up badly; however, I will learn from my mistakes and take more time to deliver a better shot next time, hopefully of the entire painted army. Oh, and I won't set the marines on that table - apparently it's too light and creates too much contrast with the black paint. The last photo, which I had taken on the darker floor, was way better.

 

[Brother Christopher]

I've been quite busy recently, plus the heat isn't helping either, but I mustered my strength, went the extra length and finished the vow for this year's ETL.

 

 

[vossyvo]

Beautiful work.

I like the freehand on the dual sword marines shoulder, and the small crusade symbols on the combi plasma's leg. 

[Brother Christopher]

Thanks a lot for the comment! No offence, Vossyvo, but you seem like a new face here... How long have I been gone from the forum? It seems like a lifetime... I need to get myself up-to-date with the things that were going on and on the work the community's done and read something more about the new Codex and new rules.

 

The funny thing that I've discovered is that the miniature I've just painted, the "Chapter Champion" / "Dual Sword Guy" got invalidated, since now only the Ultramarines (aka the proper marines) can take him, right? Funny how editions, rules and units change... Yeah, funny. Ha. Ha.

 

It's a good thing I've never bothered to build a Honour Guard squad with mixed weapons. It's just a shame, really, that I bought so many bikes that I'm now stuck with and not sure whether to paint them or sell them. So many changes...

 

Next thing I'll be painting is a Black Templars Librarian

 

EDIT: Typo.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Brother Cristopher

[Marshal Wolfhart]

I dread the day that ol' firepower gets to read this. The paddling will be of immense proportions :P

[Marshal_Roujakis]

Thanks a lot for the comment! No offence, Vossyvo, but you seem like a new face here... How long have I been gone from the forum? It seems like a lifetime... I need to get myself up-to-date with the things that were going on and on the work the community's done and read something more about the new Codex and new rules.

 

The funny thing that I've discovered is that the miniature I've just painted, the "Chapter Champion" / "Dual Sword Guy" got invalidated, since now only the Ultramarines (aka the proper marines) can take him, right? Funny how editions, rules and units change... Yeah, funny. Ha. Ha.

 

It's a good thing I've never bothered to build a Honour Guard squad with mixed weapons. It's just a shame, really, that I bought so many bikes that I'm now stuck with and not sure whether to paint them or sell them.

 

Next thing I'll be painting a Black Templars Librarian

I gave up on building Templars for playing, they are now just ornamental decorations for my shelf... the edition and the rules keep on evolving, and while that's nice for everyone, it's not so nice for people who has armies and models that gets invalidated overnight because a certain company needs to make the profit margins for the year...

[Brother Christopher]

Haha, that's true. But you know, rules are rules - why handicap oneself by not adding a witch? It's a way of future-proofing my army. Oh, wait. It has already been affected by so many changes that I don't have to resort to such heresies as suggested above. But not out of fear of paddling, nay. Out of respect for the Black Templars' heritage!

 

Though, I gotta admit that my declaration was slightly subversive and provocative. I 'forgot to mention the treatment the Librarians will undergo. And no, no butchering models as corpses on bases or objective markers I simply have a Mephiston and a Space Hulk Terminator Librarian in my collection; the former, with removing his collar psychic hood and adding some height, will be a master of apothecarion; the later, after removing some of the iconography and psychic hood, will probably be a Marshal with a power axe (why not?) or a chaplain, despite that I already have 6 of those.

 

@Marshal Roujakis, you're totally right. And this is fairly sad; luckily, most people are that grumpy about that and are able to enjoy the "new stuff". I'll rather stew in my misery and a sense of being mistreated by the company I've invested so much of my time and energy (and money, too) in.

 

Apart from the bikes, which are at least Space Marines classics, my biggest regret are the two Stormtalons I got. If I needed flyers, I'd rather have waited for the Stormhawks to be released a couple of years later - models which I actually like and which are one of the few things that make me want to lift my embargo on GW's products.

 

On the subject of Stormtalons, for the love of the Emperor, I don't understand why Stormtalons are still more expensive than Stormhawks pointwise. I mean, the +1 to hit ground targets is nice, but the extra guns and toughness on Stormhawks seems to outweight the added bonus by a large margin.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Brother Cristopher

[Marshal Vespasian]

You can always go back and play something else.

I played my templars as imperial fists in a heresy game vs eldar yesterday. It was a ton of fun and the marines actually felt pretty powerful. Especially in terms of survival.

 

Dunno about 8th I am interested in where it goes and in trying the new rules, because they Sound like fun, but I think heresy is my new jam.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Marshal Vespasian

[Brother Christopher]

This is what I tried the couple of times I played. I don't need to win games, nor to have an "optimised list", but the BT chapter tactics were so awful in the previous edition of the 8th edition Codex: Space Marines that I felt like I'd purposefully handicap myself by using them. And this is an awful feeling that I can't cope with internally; something like with the Stormtalon vs. Stormhawk issue.

 

Luckily, the games I played were with great, friendly opponents who didn't mind playing against whatever chapter I chose, but painted black.

 

The new rules from the 8th edition Codex: Space Marines v. 2 look extremely fun and fluffy... and confusing. From the snippets I've read in the various threads, everything seems initially overwhelming, with the new rules (some of which are stacking), stratagems and what-not. But I'm sure everything will become clear when I actually skim through the book.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Again, you impress me with how beautifully you painted your Templars.

[Majkhel]

Hey, great to hear your hobby plans :) So good in fact, I'm going to keep a blind eye on the shameful (and definitely heretical) actions you're about to perform on the Blood Angels librarius' members :P

 

New Doctrines and options available for the Codex: Space Marines look really powerful. And hey, drop pods again can do something useful for a change :)

[Marshal Vespasian]

I dont think C:SM is that complex.

You have the pases which always give ap - 1 on your attacks:

 

Heavy / rapid fire and assault / pistols and melee

 

You get +1 attack on the turn you charged, atsknf and Bolter discipline.

 

Thats army wide.

 

Then chaplains can use specific buffs

 

Everything else is stratagems (some that are really good) and from the Supplements Addition to stratagems and warlord traits as well as buffs to specific phases. There is more synergy there to leverage, which I think is really good. But the core isnt that hard. That being said I havent actually played the blood thing and I really ought to

[Brother Christopher]

It's been over a month since I've last posted; I figured that some of you might be wondering what happened to me, this grumpy fool. Did he look upon the far superior Intercessors and Inceptors and decided to quit - sell, or perhaps burn his miniatures in a tantrum? ;) Nah, I'm still here: lurking, reading the new posts on the forum and following your work and games and hopes for new rules for the Black Templars. Hobby-wise, in the meantime, despite my earlier plans and declarations, I've started doing something that I'm most reluctant to do... Those cursed bikes!! As a reminder, bikes are one of my biggest 40K regrets - I bought them when bikes mattered, never got to use them, though (I'm still not entirely on-board with the concept). And we're years into 8th edition, with Primaris Inceptors raining supreme in the Fast Attack slots, and I'm stuck here with models that I'm not so fond of, yet... they are classic "classic Marines" (especially the now tiny and a bit silly pewter Chaplain on bike!) models and I'm not so keen on selling them. Actually, despite my general disenchantment with 40K, I find selling anything difficult - after all, at some point in the past I cared to include the thing in my collection. With the bikes, there's also the added liability that I spent time restoring them to a usable state - as with many models in my collection, I got them at an earlier stage of my life where I preferred to get stuff cheap and spend more time on getting them up to a usable standard. So, the bikes are a recurrent problem issue; I'm pondering whether to sell them on average 2-3 times per year. Therefore, the only way to solve this issue is 1. to actually sell the models, which requires to "waste" time on taking pictures and hoping to get the money back from the potential buyer, or 2. to get cracking and paint some Crusader bikers. As a stubborn Templar, I chose option 2 and I've been toiling over the cursed bikers for the majority of my free time this week. I will post some photos after I'm done; so far, I've managed to remove paint from the models in a satisfactory way, disassemble the models, remove excess glue to some success, find the right bits and pieces to build complete bikers and now I'm in the process of reassembling the models. Also, in order to save time and get the entire army painted more quickly, I suppose that I'll assemble the bikes with their raiders on; I just hope I won't regret this decision when it comes to painting ;)

[Marshal Vespasian]

Great to hear from you brother Christopher, I always enjoy your work.

 

Luckily the new codex had been quite good to classic marines and especially with Bolter discipline being a thing, bikers are in a pretty good Spot. They are reasonably cheap and can put out a good amount of anti infantry firepower from a pretty though frame. Depending on how you Model Thema they can go All in on the anti infantry harassment or they can get some anti tank punch. A Chaplain on a bike riding with them should make them pretty strong with the "shoot better at the closes tarfet litany". So at least rules wise, not wasted at all. And yeah inceptors are pretty good, but ugly.

 

 

Not being entirely on Board with their aesthetic I get. You could try to model them like knights with lances and stuff like that. But seing as you already started painting them, that Ship might have sailed already.