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Crusade to the Halo Stars - Zealots on Parade


nightwing1511

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So with ETL III wrapped up, I'm shelving work on my Crusade, and moving to the Fang for a time.

 

I thought it might be nice to show off my "completed" army, as it stands currently. Chances are, I'll come back to it at some point, I'd love to get some Thundefire cannons, maybe a gunship, and a ton of Neophytes (one per Initiate). But at this stage, I'm calling it finished.

 

The Black Tide rings in at 4,738 points, and that's as close to bare-bones as I could get.

 

 

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade_zpsa15f224c.png

 

 

 

HQ:

 

 

1) Emperor's Champion

2) Master of Sanctity (Chapter Master)

- Terminator Armour

- Burning Blade

- Storm Shield

3) Castellan (Captain)

- Artificer Armour

- Storm Shield

- Relic Blade

 

Command Squad

- Company Standard

- Company Champion

- Apothecary

- Storm Shields and Thunder Hammers

4) Marshal (Chapter Master)

- Relic Blade

- Shield Eternal

- Artificer Armour

Honour Guard

5) Castellan (Terminator Captain)

- Thunder Hammer

- Primarch's Wrath

 

6) High Marshal Helbrecht

 

16) Master of The Forge

- Combi-melta

- Power Axe

Servitors

- Heavy Bolter

 

17) Techmarine

- Plasma Pistol

 

18) Brother Cypher

 

 

 

 

Troops:

 

 

 

7) Crusader Squad

- Melta gun

- Power Maul

Sword Brother

- Thunder Hammer

- Power Fist

 

8) Crusader Squad

- Flamer

- Power Axe

Sword Brother

- Power Sword

 

9) Crusader Squad

- Flamer

- Power Axe

Sword Brother

 

10) Crusader Squad

- Melta Gun

- Power Axe

Sword Brother

- Paired Lightning Claws

 

11) Crusader Fire Support

- Plasma Gun

Neophytes

- Shotguns

 

12) Crimson Fists Tactical Squad

- Flamer

- Missile Launcher

Veteran Sergeant

- Paired Plasma Pistols

 

23) Drop Pod

- Deathwind Launcher

 

 

 

 

Elites:

 

 

 

 

13) Vanguard Assault Squad

- Jump Packs

- Power Swords

- Lightning Claw

- Power Axe

Sergeant

- Relic Blade

 

14) Vanguard Squad

- Power Sword

- Power Maul

- Power Axe

- Power Fists

Sergeant

- Storm Shield

- Power Sword

15) Sternguard Squad

- Storm Bolter

- Combi-Plasma

Sergeant

- Storm Bolter

- Power Sword

 

21) Razorback

- Twin-linked Heavy Bolters

 

2) Terminator Assault Squad

- Storm Shield and Thunder Hammer

 

5) Terminator Squad

- Heavy Flamer

- Chainfist

 

 

 

 

Fast Attack:

 

 

 

19) Bike Squad

- Plasma Gun

- Melta Gun

Veteran Sergeant

- Plasma Pistol

 

 

 

Heavy Support:

 

 

 

 

20) Venerable Dreadnought

- Twin-linked Lascannon

- Missile Launcher

 

22) Predator

- Twin-linked Lascannon Turret

- Heavy Bolter Sponsons

 

24) Venerable Dreadnought

- Assault Cannon

- Heavy Flamer

 

25) Land Raider Crusader

- Multi-melta

 

 

 

There's a Tactical Squad of Crimson Fists seconded to my Crusade Fleet.

What's the attitude towards our sister chapter?

 

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-08-081627471_zpse0e1452c.jpg

Since Chaplains are a bit useless now I'm running the models as different things.

 

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-08-10162829_zps1e7605f9.jpg

So these three are my Marshal's Honour Guard. I think they fit nicely. Hardened veterans, his closest advisors.

 

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-08-081706061_zpsde17e753.jpg

And here is my Master of Sanctity. I run him as a Chapter Master, for better war gear and stats. When I find a models that fits, he'll have a servitor carrying his Crozius.

Considering how much effort you have put into painting your crusade, I think you should consider basing them all. It really unifies the figures and takes an excellently painted army and raises it to an even higher level.

 

Brilliant looking army either way.

 

Cheers,

There are lots of ways to approach this.

 

As M2C shared, pre-made bases make it really easy, except in the case when you have a figure that doesn't fit on them or has an odd pose. Then you have to decide what you are going to do, usually modify the base to fit the figure. The upside to using pre-mades is that they are fairly prevalent and there's lots to choose from. For me, the downside is the additional cost. Some manufacturers are not cheap, especially when you are talking about an entire army.

 

I like to find cheap, easy to duplicate solutions, so I'll focus on those for the rest of my post.

 

1. Cat litter - Incredibly cheap for the amount of material you get. Usually it's enough to do multiple armies including dread bases, flying bases and terrain. It's what I use for the majority of my figures. Doing up your bases can be as simple as gluing the litter to the base, let it dry, paint a slightly thinned base color (so it will flow better), let that dry and then dry brush a lighter shade to bring out the texture and you get a very nice looking effect that unifies your army. It's also fast and can be done in bulk. Don't use your good paints for this bit, go get craft grade stuff, which is cheaper and will last you longer.

 

Note: If you live near a beach or ravine, check out those locations for sand and very small gravel. By adding these to your litter mix, you'll get a nice variety of textures that the dry brushing will bring out.

 

2. Air Dried Clay - So let's say you like the "litter" effect, but you want something a little more distinctive. Air Dried Clay is very cool stuff. A little more expensive than cat litter, it can usually be acquired at craft stores. I like this stuff a lot because it allows me to make my own equivalent "resin" bases. It's durable, you can drill it, sculpt it while wet and generally just go to town. If you look in my crusade thread, anything that isn't just sand/litter is air dried clay. It takes paint well. I love the stuff.

 

You can use it to sculpt walls, pavement, cobblestones...just about anything you can imagine. My favorite quick technique is to put the clay on the base in the general shape that I want, then take some aluminum foil and crinkle it up into a ball. Then take the aluminum ball and push the crumpled surface into the clay and you get a very interesting looking stone texture. Lots of fun.

 

3. Sheet plastic - This comes in lots of textures and if you want to do an urban or metal floor (e.g. space ship), this is a nice way to go. You have to do a little extra work to cut the plastic to fit the bases, or cut it in irregular sizes and just paint it up. I like asymmetrical basing and it's easier to do.

 

My Templars are based using a combination of ! & 2 so that I get a little variety in my basing.

 

Another additional step I would offer for consideration is adding static grass or some of those new tufted products to get a little grass on there. It's a simple little touch that adds a nice look to the finished product. Also, you don't have to do it to all the bases, just some, so that you preserve the randomness of your basing.

 

I'll just say one other thing about basing.

 

There are people that just base with sand and call it done. It's faster than what I described above and there's no arguing with that. I do not recommend that and here's why. We paint our toy soldiers with colors that don't really occur in nature. When you stick those colors next to "natural" colors like sand and gravel, they stick out. The colors just don't blend. However, if you paint your sand to "look" like sand, then the continuity of unnatural color is maintained and it will look more natural. It's weird why that is, but you can see the effect on the litter/sand before you paint it.

 

Also, one last thing. Paint the rims on your bases. It's a pain in the neck. It's still worth it. Pick a neutral color, darker in general is better, but not always, so think about what you want to do and it's Ok to test your ideas on some empty bases before you get to your figures.

 

If that still doesn't float your boat, then we can go into more complex basing, though those usually take more time. I'll let you decide.

 

Cheers,

I do my bases in urban coloring with black bands. A single layer of imperial primer around the band is enough to cover the plastic gloss, and it looks sharp with dark grey. As for the cost of resin bases, it does stack up. If you want a cheaper alternative, use wall patch to make a small mound and press it into cat litter or sand before it dries. Then press your models feet into the patch, and set it aside until it's dry. Once it's dry it's a matter of priming and dry brushing and gluing the model on.

Thanks for the tips guys :)

 

Next question:

 

Kitbashed, or purpose built?

 

I enjoy the individual nature of a Kit bashed Castellan:

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-08-10170405_zps7ff2478a.jpg

 

But I just love the cape effectsand fun stuff you get with GW models:

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-08-081629501_zps8623adff.jpg

Is the servo harness worth it?

 

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-08-10163057_zpsdf7d1e8e.jpg

 

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-08-10163046_zpsfa862b68.jpg

  • 1 month later...

Finished up a new Teeth of Terra for my marshal.

 

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-10-08220113_zpsa7393669.jpg

http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af284/jwhand90/HaloStarsCrusade/2014-10-08220133_zps65dc9f41.jpg

 

Because sometomes you just need a really big sword.

Because sometimes you just need a really big sword.

 

 

Actually, I think you need a big sword all the time. :)

 

He looks pretty boss. NIce treatment on your reds and the leather on the handle looks real.

 

Those FW shields always look ace.

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