Andhill's Iron Warriors--> The Last Stand vs. Orks.

[Andhil]

So, I've been thinking about starting a 3rd army for a while now. My Guard and Black Templar armies both exceed 4K pts, and I had enough of painting black. (My IG has a grey/black scheme)

I love my shooting, and the bigger the guns, the better, so I decided I'd go for a shooty army that has a more in-your-face style than the Guard. Chaos popped out, and the Iron Warriors have cool fluff and an awesome color scheme, so here we are!

I started out by buying a Terminator Lord. (I love my Termies, and expect a lot of them to appear here over time.) I wanted to do something different, so slapped a Heavy Flamer on him. Instant Burning Brand.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032296.jpg

My next addition was more unexpected, and not planned at all. I've been wanting to convert a Valkyrie to look more like an A10-Thunderbolt, and the Punisher cannon on the Vengeance battery is a perfect match, so I bought the kit, and decided to build the damn things with the cannons, for terrain if nothing else. The Cannons stood idle for 2 days, and slowly an idea formed. I decided to add some spikes and trophies and stuff, to make it more chaos-y. And I've already got one painted, so why not show it off to the world?

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032295.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032293.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032294.jpg

Is it me or do Hazard stripes make everything cooler?

C&C is always welcome!

[Warsmith Aznable]

Very nice. Have you used the Vengeanve batteries yet? I'm on the fence about getting a box.

 

And no, it's not just you, hazard stripes make everything better.

[Andhil]

I've tested them twice. They have to shoot at the nearest visible enemy, so you don't get much target priority out of them, but it's still great. Until you vaporize 7 of your own guys. That happened in my first game.

So really, if you're lucky when it comes to the scatter dice, invest in the Battle cannons, if not, might want to try the Punishers, but they suffer too much from the Bs2 imo. But in general: They're a cheap way of bringing AV14 to the table, and adding Battle Cannons dramatically increases their threat range, and thus their priority rating. Which means that's less High Str, Low Ap fire directed at my Troops. Perfect for a cheap Fortification. (and it looks cool. That helps too!)

So, what I intend to do with the IW isn't being competitive, I don't do competitive, but I do want fluffy-ish lists. So I'm going for 3x Vindicator (awesome and effective) a lot of CSM and waaaaaay too much Termies for it to be viable. I'm thinking 15-20 Termies at 3K pts, which we usually play. I want to go completely insane with these guys. If I have to win a game, I'll get my IG, so again, fun comes first, crazy's a close second!

[Andhil]

Today I continued work on the second Vengeance Battery, but got distracted along the way and made this:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032297.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032298.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032299.jpg

I know, Oblit Princes have been done to death, but it's still a really cool concept. And I'm also aware of my noobish-ness with Green Stuff, but hey, you got to practice on something right?

Which brings me to the following: Is it a good idea to apply a coat of varnish over the GS before spraying the basecoat? I've heard some people claim it's necessary, so I thought I'd ask.

Again, C&C welcome.

[Andhil]

It's been a while I know, but I did make progress. I finished my complete IW army, which is a sad, collection at the moment. Nontheless, here we are.

Daemon Prince:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032305.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032306.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032308.jpg

The 2nd Vengeance Cannon:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032302.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032303.jpg

And a Group shot, to finish up.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032309.jpg

I hope to get some Marines and Termies soon, add some bodies to the collection.

[Andhil]

Alright! I finally got my hands on some Termies and CSM. Finally some boots on the ground!

Termies before:

CSM before:

http://s696.photobucket.com/user/Elcundil/media/Iron%20Warriors/S1032319.jpg.html?sort=3&o=3

http://s696.photobucket.com/user/Elcundil/media/Iron%20Warriors/S1032321.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

http://s696.photobucket.com/user/Elcundil/media/Iron%20Warriors/S1032322.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

Here's some detail shots of my Aspiring Champion:

http://s696.photobucket.com/user/Elcundil/media/Iron%20Warriors/S1032318.jpg.html?sort=3&o=4

http://s696.photobucket.com/user/Elcundil/media/Iron%20Warriors/S1032320.jpg.html?sort=3&o=2

I entered these guys into the Call of Chaos, and I ought to have more than enough time to finish them.

Just to explain some things about the models themselves,

-I mixed in some Loyalist bits to get some diversity, and because 5 out of those 15 are actually Command Squad marines. (I needed the banner for the Termies!)

-I gave the 15 man CSM squad the Gargoyle-headed bolters to represent the Icon of Flame's effects, the banner itself will also feature (simple) flames to show this. (I sadly didn't have enough to make 13 of these bolters, so 2 marines have basic bolters with bayonets. These will later be swapped out with another squad, who will all have bayonets, and replaced by two more Gargoyle-bolter marines.)

-The Champion, I felt, needed a cool looking, and ridiculously customized bolter to show his skill. That's why I went all out with a scope, foregrip, bayonet and the gargoyle. I'm looking forward to that one!

-The Termie Champion has a nice looking Combi-bolter, with a power-sword bayonet, and a Power Lance, fabricated from the Bolter's original bayonet, and stuck on the Chaos Termie Sorceror's Staff to create a really nasty, cool spear. The Champ also looted a GK helmet from somewhere.....

-I had great fun in creating a second, more chaosy Maul. If you've seen the 'Termie before' pic, It's owned by the guy on the far right. It's basically a TH handle, with a fantasy Black Orc's 2-handed Mace tip stuck on. I further embellished it with a Chaos hook bit from a vehicle sprue.

Hope you guys like it, and feel free to comment, or ask about the models/conversions.

EDIT: While I do now know how to put the actual pictures in the posts, I decided against putting those of the un-basecoated models in here, mainly to keep pic-heaviness down a bit. Nobody likes sprue-grey models.

[Andhil]

Update time! I worked on the Terminators a bit, so, I'll put up some background of the squad itself, so everything makes sense.

The squad (20 men, on the table they split up 10-5-5) calls themselves the "Iron Kings". The name originates from their history in the Great Crusade. These 20 men were garrisoned on a world together with their current Warsmith (who wasn't a Warsmith at the time). During the long boring watches, the men jokingly called themselves the "Kings of the world", but after an Ork Invasion, which they repelled by using a ridiculous amount of Vengeance Batteries, they proclaimed themselves "The Saviours, Commanders and Kings" of the planet, and elevated their comrade to the station of Warsmith. This event coincided with the Istvaan massacre. Later they escorted the Warsmith to the Eternal Fortresss, where his expertise was well valued during the construction.

Their sigil is the Crowned Skull.

Standard of the Iron Kings:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032325.jpg

Termie WIP update:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032323.jpg

[Andhil]

Update II:

 

More work got done on the Termies. The Champion and Banner carrier are done. So here we are!

 

Champion:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032328.jpg

 

Banner Carrier:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032327.jpg

 

Termie WIP:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032326.jpg

 

C&C welcome!

[Andhil]

CoC pt1 is Complete, I finished the Terminators.

 

Group shot:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032333.jpg

Champ:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032334.jpg

Banner:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032335.jpg

Reaper AC:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032337.jpg

Chainfist:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032339.jpg

Mace:

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032340.jpg

As always, C&C welcome.

 

On to the CSM squad!

[Xenith]

Hi, any chance to put the links to your work into yourposts so the images come up in the actual thread, meaning we only have to load 1 page instead of as many as you have pictures?

 

That said, solid Iron warriors, I think you should paint the tusks on the helmets a different colour, and unsure about the Tiara on the standard, but some nice work.

[Andhil]

Well, thanks for the reply.

If I had any idea how to make the pictures "appear" into the post instead of the links, I would. I'll ask around, so I can in the future.

The tusks was a hard part honestly. The facts are that this is the second CSM army in the house, as my little brother has a Khorne-aligned army, called the Brotherhood of Steel, who happen to be painted in a silver-gold-red scheme, which resembles the IW alot, and those tusks and horns are all painted in a horn/ivory color, so I wanted to do something different, hence simple runefang silver, I'm still not certain I'll keep them painted like that, but I'll see about that later.

And the Tiara.....Is supposed to be a crown....but it fits their background. I've already got Templars who stick to the ancient "poor Knights of God" theme, and I wanted something completely different, so I've got insanly rich, decadent and ostentatious Iron Warriors, who also suffer from "Royal" delusions.

Anyway, thanks again for posting, not many people do around here, so I really appreciate it.

EDIT: As a small update on my CoC progress, well, I've come to a virtual standstill as my brush died, so I've got to get a new one, but I'll try and upload a progress picture of the CSM squad during the week.

[Xenith]

Ah, just noticed I'm only one of two respondents! It may be due to the images not being on this page, people generally dont like clicking through.

 

Photobucket has a cog icon on the image thumbnails, click that, then 'get links'.

Click the link with the title and it should automatically copy to your clipboard.

 

Come to this thread and ctrl+v, and you'll get an [ img ] thing come up. When you finish editing, the full image will appear in your post!

 

Like so:

 

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032333.jpg

 

The html code I used for that image is:

 

img=http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron Warriors/S1032333.jpg

 

but in [these parantheses]

 

As for horns, I painted mine black, they may also look good in red, possibly yellow! At the moment, in the silver colour, they kind of look like you forgot to paint them, which I know isnt true.

[Brother Ambroz]

Hey man these guys do look nice, I especially like the freehand banner (great job there). I'd like to make a suggestion though, you should really invest in some washes to go with your guys. Get some badab black for silver and a sepia for the gold, I think it would really make these guys stand out more.

[Fair Winds]

I'd like to echo Tanith's comments. Some washes would help achieve a dirtyish sort of effect for your Iron Warriors (if that's what you're going for). Alternatively, you could dry to drybrush some of the silver so it's not so shiny. These pictures might not actually do your guys justice though. I've found when I use a flash it tends to accentuate colors that are not as prominent in person.

 

I love your freehand work as well, that's something I've never been able to master. If I may though, you might want to consider adding some additional points to your crown. 

 

The oblit prince is great too. Did you end up putting varnish on the GS before base coating it? I've never heard of that being done. I've never varnished my GS before basecoating, and my stuff's turned out fine.

[Andhil]

@Xenith: Thanks alot for the info, I'll get to it immediately.

Well, the silver does stand out a bit more in the pictures, I actually start with a layer of boltgun metal Leadbelcher, and then apply a sort of lazy-counter highlight by painting the center parts of the armour in Runefang steel. It's pretty cool in person, but practically invisible in the pictures, excepting maybe on large surfaces.

Washes sounds good, but they'll have to wait, I'm a little short on cash, so it's basic paints (texture paints excluded) only for the time being. I do want a sort of dirty-look, but I keep it confined to the lower body, as the ide is that they're fighting through basically a wasteland filled with really heavy, thick mud which doesn't splash alot, but the weight of the Marines and the Terminators would sink a bit deeper into the stuff, and the DP has to land in it, which should create a mess. Being Belgian, and it being 2013, nearly 2014, I've been inspired by alot of WWI stuff.

@Fair Wind: Yes, I did put some varnish on the GS, just to make sure, I assumed it couldn't hurt either way.
I might look into adding more points to the crown on the banner. I'll draw up some sketches and see what works. I always start plain banner freehand by drawing a sketch on paper, just to get an idea of what goes where, and the space I can use.

Also, if you like this banner, wait till you see the Icon of Flame I've got on those CSM's.

EDIT: Tommorow I'll finally upload those CSM pics I've been talking about, but I still need to get those brushes.

[Warsmith Aznable]

You could do Devlan Mud over the whole figure to get the lines in, and then Badab Black from the middle down in a light coat, and then a very heavy Badab Black on the lower parts. That might get the "dirty from trudging through the mud" thing going for you while still getting washover the whole figure.

 

Washes are definitely worth the money.

[Xenith]

Mate, the thread's a thousand times better now we can see your stuff!

 

I'll agree with the above comments about washes, depending on the look youre going for.

 

A nuln wash will dull down the iron armour, and make it more matte.

Earthshade will bronze it and make it look a little rusy, or muddy on the lower parts.

earthshade or sepia painted into recesses on the gold will really bring out the detail there.

 

An alterantive to covering your models feet in texture paint is:

 

Paint texture paint on base as normal (the mud one, right?), missing the feet.

wash it with earthshade (feel free to missi this step)

lightly drybrush with a lighter colour brown (dryad bark maybe?) get some of this on the feet to blend the model and base together.

even lighter drybrush of a bone colour. you should have virtually no paint on the brush at this stage.

 

 

How are you doing your yellow? I can never get it that bright!

[Andhil]

I start with a black base coat (spray can) then I paint the parts I want yellow with Ceramite white, generally 2 coats, as long as there's no black visible, and then multiple coats of yellow. I then add the black stripes, and correct any mistakes with white again, before going over that with yellow. I am still using one of those old yellow paints. I think it's Golden Yellow, not sure.

Here's a picture of the various steps.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032344.jpg

Anyway, here's the first 5 guys of the squad, only the Champion is finished though.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032342.jpg

I do the bases per squad, so once all the guys are finished, I'll base them.

I've also decided to get some washes next time I'm able (nearest LGS is an hour's drive away.) and try some stuff out. Thank you all for the advice, guys.

Oh, I've also edited the Termie's banner.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032343-1.jpg

And, as per usual, feel free to comment.

[Brother Ambroz]

It does look very nice and the mud effect on the termie is great. Nice progress, still think you need some washes to make these guys more 3D instead of 2D but I understand monetary issues, been there too. I like the Vengeance Cannons as background for your pictures too. :P

[Andhil]

Thanks, I do try to keep it simple, I'm not painting for competitions, so I won't win any awards, but they'll look awesome on the table.

Background is an important part of the picture. Getting their comrades in the back adds some coolness, plus it allows me to show of stuff I've done again.

[Xenith]

Yea, you're making me want to get my Vengeance Cannons made and painted.

 

Have you used them in a game yet?

[Andhil]

I've only used the Cannons twice, in rather small games, and they did ok. I only killed 7 of my own CSM once, besides that they're dirt cheap for an AV14 building. They're supposed to draw some fire so my Vindicators and CSM get to run rampart. And if they choose to ignore them….well, let's just say that you can ignore 2 Battle Cannons unpunished.

And even if you choose to not use them, they still make for some awesome terrain.

[Andhil]

I've taken my sweet time on these guys, but who cares, they're done!

So this concludes my Call of Chaos challenge. Enjoy the pictures.

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032347.jpg
http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032348.jpg

http://i696.photobucket.com/albums/vv325/Elcundil/Iron%20Warriors/S1032349.jpg

Also, I've taken the liberty of including a 'tiny' teaser in the background, so you know what's coming these next few weeks!

EDIT: I'l happily take a picture of a seperate model, should someone want to see more detail.

[Xenith]

The last photo is epic, the banner on the battlements, the battery looming in the background, excellent!

[Andhil]

Thanks, Xenith! I do try to add some more epicness to every picture I take of my models. I've seen more than enough basic white backgrounds around here.

Offcourse it still allows me to show off my previous models again.

I think I'll re-take that picture once the Bunker and Trench get painted. Hopefully the weather isn't too bad tomorrow so I can basecoat them.