WarriorFish's ETL Victory Vow - Semper's Heroes

[WarriorFish]

Aha! I bet you thought I'd forgotten all about it, but a WarriorFish always pays his debts keeps his promises! I've finally slogged through work for the year, praise the Emperor, so I can dedicate some time to catching up on important hobby business.

For those that weren't around for the ETL or have forgotten; in honour of our glorious first showing some of us pledged "victory vows" to celebrate our hard work and camaraderie. My vow is a Veteran squad with a model dedicated to each of us that vowed for the ETL.

The squad is to be a more shooting orientated unit so will have a heavy weapon and sniper rifle along with one or maybe two plasma guns. The list of honoured members is as follows:

Semper - sergeant

Fasha
Leinmann
Obscura
Sviar
Uber
Nico

Argun - heavy weapon

If I've missed anyone let me know, I had to go from memory. If you want a special weapon or have a particular request let me know otherwise I'll assign at random - no guarantees though as I only have so many bits/talent

I know you've missed them so here's some more shoddy pictures to show my start:

Group

I'm going to have Argun not holding the gun so I can swap it out easily

Close 1

The FW head was too similar to Semper's avatar to be ignored so it was an obvious choice. He's been through the wars with his face wound and bionic arm but any less heroic and he wouldn't be able to lead such a fine squad of men

Close 2

I think it was Kier who used the new Chimera kit helmet for a sniper, it looks really good. I've got the FW respirator plasma gunner for one of the special weapons so I'm undecided on this one, or if it should be another sniper?

That's it for today, the sun has been hiding too much and I need to do some more Christmas shopping (if only it would stop raining too...). I'm mostly trying out bits and poses so they've very much a WIP currently, I've not even removed all the mould lines yet.

I might break out the GS again to model up more beret heads, let me know if you have any ideas

[Beachymike123]

great start there Warriorfish. looking forward to the finished product but going to enjoy seeing your progress with them. mine probably won't be until the new year as my work is getting busier at the moment, being a chef over the holiday period has taken a toll on my free time.

really looking forward to this. subscribed

[WarriorFish]

Thanks leinmann, if only we didn't have to work for a living! :P The sun is shining nicely today so I'm hoping to get a lot of work done, though I need to dig out some of my boxes though because I don't seem to have all the bits I should. With a bit of luck I might have most of them assembled today :)

[WarriorFish]

I've made some good progress, a fair amount of time was spent chopping and modding bits but it turned out well. Five of the troopers are done along with most of the heavy weaponry:

I'm still playing a bit with the positioning of the tripod so I can fit each weapon and ammo box. I think I'll have some form of smooth/flat surface on the base so they can sit ok but I need to find my plasticard first. I was going to have an expired chaos marine on the base but with the space required for the guns there's not enough room

The heavy weapons just need the handles and loading bits positioned and I've just noticed I forgot to drill Semper's bolter... I need to sort the resin too but I want to wait until I know what bits I'll be using before cleaning and gluing them. I've raided new vehicle boxes for should pads to give to them so they can proudly bear the regiment's number and the coveted crimson of elite status, one of the many benefits of being a treadhead

Here's a behind shot so you can see all the gubbins a bit better. I want them to look like they're well equipped to demonstrate their experienced nature and extra supplies they have access to. You can see the modded bionic arm a bit better here, I swapped it with a Catachan blade as I didn't want a power weapon for a squad designed to shoot at longer range plus it has become sort of a signature weapon for my regiment.

Here's Argun and his loader - both well equipped to deal with the foe! I was going to have the dead traitor have his throat cut or stabbed through the eye courtesy of the loader, maybe I can find room for just the head?

I've been busy digging through my bits box and I'm going to try and give the lasgun models carbines to give them a bit more difference from line troopers but despite my best efforts I can't seem to find some of my Guard boxes. I should have another command squad box of each type somewhere too.

I'll see if I can get some more done before Christmas, but I still need to sort a few more presents out and wrap everything...

[Argun]

These guys are looking great WarriorFish!

 

If I may suggest something, why not try making the ammo feeds for the weapons like on the autocannon? I've done something like that (took a little bit of cutting on both the hvy bolter's ammo feed, and the lascannon itself) but it makes oh so much room on the bases!

 

Don't think I've neglected your model either man! How do you like the idea of a Guardsman standing over the corpse of an Angry Marine, with a shovel through said marine's neck?

[Sviar]

I'm looking forward to follow your project Great start,I like the poses and I like that you have a personal trade mark that signifies your army namely the big blade/fang.

You have insipred me to create an unique trade mark for my own army, other than the the paint scheme(I have not seen any similar yet).

[Captain Semper]

What Sviar said! :) Great start indeed!

[WarriorFish]

Thanks guys, it's like being back in the ETL again Interesting times may be ahead with the changes in the game and the now more believable rumour of the Baneblade being in the next Guard codex... I'm putting my super heavies in the ETL III reserve pile Argun: make that a dead traitor and you've got yourself a deal

That's a good idea for the ammo boxes, I should have a few HB ones from my Marines to try out. I might look into the Sentinel power packs for the Lascannon, I think they're a bit smaller and are made to sit on the side of something so that could work out well.

I wanted to get some stuff from GW like the fancy new blood paint I'm hearing good things about for the blades but they were closed I ventured into another city in the terrible weather we've been having for nothing, and there was me thinking GW liked selling stuff!

Speaking of the blades a little bit of background can go a long way I find, especially when all my armies are heavily interconnected. I'm pleased if I've inspired you to do something similar Sviar! The other main thing is the crimson of the Inquisitor's heraldry, the more experienced and loyal the more they get until you get the entirely crimson carapace of his personal bodyguard.

I'll be back at my desk over the weekend once the festivities and obligations are done, hopefully I can find those last missing sprues and get all the assembling done so I can get some paint on them

[WarriorFish]

Just a brief update, progress has been very slow as I seem to have injured one of my thumbs somehow and it's making working with small bits difficult. Once more the Emperor tests my resolve! I've been working on cleaning pieces up ready for assembling instead and I'm going to have attempt number three at finding my missing sprues...

Hope everyone had a good Christmas and has a great New Year! For the Emperor!

[WarriorFish]

I've found all the sprues including some extra Scout ones for blades and an unopened FW Respirator upgrade pack I had completely forgotten I owned! I've even found some more Chaos bits for the corpse. The sun shines on the faithful because the Emperor looks after His own :D

[WarriorFish]

I've managed to stay ahead life and get more modelling in. Unfortunately glue issues have put a stop to work, and I was only out getting a couple of the new technical paints a couple of days ago too. I'm not sure when I'll be able to get some new glue, I'll have to ask around to see if anyone has some spare I can "borrow" until then.

So not much to report (unless you want to see cleaned bits?) but I do have a couple of new models. The grenadier is complete but the other two are still in the posing/arms stage.

I've managed to raid a lot of bits and bobs, the Scout sprues are reliably providing extras. I've quite a few gubbins ready that I'll attach once the rest of the models are complete but I'm out of Catachan bits that can be easily used so fiddling with arms etc to get things looking right is taking time.

One of the paints I got was the blood one, I've got an idea of how I'll do the corpse but it's going to require some experimentation so I might return to Argun's HWT and hope that some ideas can brew for the remaining soldiers.

[hendrik]

i like the dude on the right! somehow he looks very british to me!

[WarriorFish]

I was thinking the same thing when he was finished! Like any civilised man he'd much rather be sitting down for afternoon tea and a biccy but those bloody xenos are at it again!

Maybe I should model a pack of digestive biscuits coming out of his backpack? Even better I could steal another of Kier's ideas and give him a mug too? Speaking of which, I do have a mug that accompanies my modelling and painting... and pretty much everything else:

I'm sure I could eventually paint it on a little plastic mug, given enough hours?

[Argun]

Hmm... maybe switch grenade for teacup?

Puts him in a pose of "What the bloody heck is going on there mates? Blimey, those dirty xenos are at it again! Here, hold me tea, I've got some target practice to take care of!"

[hendrik]

how about painting it on his shoulderpad, sort of as a personal thing he has added to his equipment. heck, you can call him captain britain!

[Sviar]

Thats a nice beret you made from Green stuff

but I'm out of Catachan bits

What do you need? I might have it.

I've managed to raid a lot of bits and bobs

I'm so tired it that it took me awhile to realize you were not taking about boobs

[WarriorFish]

Speaking of characters called "Britain" (albeit a rarer translation issue) my dream has always been to have a certain person commanding a Baneblade...

I should probably stop before I dig this hole any deeper, my time/talent only goes so far and I think I can hear the kangaroos jumping..! :lol:

I've got enough bits for this squad I reckon but thanks for the offer, once the three above are done there's only one more trooper to be built :)

[Kierdale]

Very characterful models! Excellent work.

And I love the pose the sniper has. The angle of his wrist...it all looks comes together so nicely. What arms did you use?

[WarriorFish]

Thanks Kier, there's been some chopping and changing but it's mostly a well stocked bits box that's helping them stand out. The sniper weapon and arms are from the Catachan CCS box, pretty much stock. It's a great kit full of nice pieces and why the Catachans deserve updated models across the board!

[WarriorFish]

Good news and bad - the good news is I have a glue to tide me over. The bad news is I must lay down my Lasgun for the moment as I've a deadline for a battle I need to meet first, so I must dedicate my modelling time to that instead.

 

Maybe I'll get lucky and the weather will have the game called off earning me an extra day over the weekend, and I'm sure I can find some wiggle room to fit in some Guard pieces in between. Time has just zipped by and I've been so busy it crept up on me! :(

 

My desk is starting to fill with incomplete projects too. I will dedicate myself to clearing the decks before our new codex arrives!

[walter h]

May the Emperor Bless, you in your mission.

[WarriorFish]

Thanks walter, I think He may have done just that - the battle has been delayed so though I still need to get models done for it I shouldn't have any problems finishing the squad this week :D All I need to do is decide how much time and effort I want to put in to getting the HWT traitor corpse done. I've a few ideas I'll need to test before I start gluing anything but I've got the Blood for the Blood God technical paint for it. If anyone has some experiences with it or has good links to someone who has a good tutorial/introduction please let me know

[walter h]

Have you thought of taking a wounded cadian and slicing bisecting it  face down into the base. I think it was in the cadian command sprues. You could deface the imperial marking on the canteen. The traiter was ground into the dirt beneath the boots of the, Emperor. The  body before the tripod .Just a thought.

[Sviar]

If anyone has some experiences with it or has good links to someone who has a good tutorial/introduction please let me know

Here is GWs official guide:

[WarriorFish]

Wrong type of traitor walter, this will be a dead chaos marine I've got some bits so I just need to work out what I'm doing. I've given it some thought and while it would be nice to keep it a secret until I've done it I'll need some pointers along the way so I may as well put it on the table, so to speak.

My idea is to have a dead traitor somewhat submerged in dirty water. I've used the dirty water effect on my Dark Eldar bases (the nefarious army that steals my IG time...) and I like it, plus it also neatly allows me to have less of the model on the base so it doesn't take up too much room as well as avoiding the "model plonked on base" look. Dirty water is more appropriate, easier to do and means I don't have to worry about the "submerged" parts of the corpse

I want to have a blood spilling in the water effect a bit too, which is another reason why I'm looking for blood paint tutorials. I was thinking that I could have thin layers of the water effect with the blood on top and build up the water and blood spill together.

Thanks for the link Sviar, I'll check it out this evening