Nielfheim Planetary Guard- The 2SSF and the 172AD-WIP

[Vel'Cona]

Very shiny.  I wish I made that kind of progress when I was going through my IG!  Like baz, I'm curious as to what's next?

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Well, My next Vow will be my two aircraft, a Valkyrie and a Vendetta, after that my Knight. I guess the infantry will have to be done on their own. I'm kinda skipping some of the detail work, like skulls and Aquillas, since those would tend to be shiny, and thus would be painted over to keep from dying. It's enough for my men to know that it's there , such is the strength of their faith.

Here's what planned:

Vow 4:

Vow 5:

[Vel'Cona]

Nice!  Any thoughts on your Knight's scheme?

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Well, he's a Freeblade, one of the last of a house (making room for more knights), so I'm thinking his scheme is likely to be similar to the brigade, while paying homage to his heritage. I just need to make up a knight house as I had originally intended for him to be wolfsworn. I'll get back to you on that.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

I may have my CAB ready to go tonight. I think i may need a new pot of fenrisian grey though so I can finish my infantry. 

 

Oh, another note on how I did my weathering, I started with a black prime, I water my main coat, and let it seep, and the black undercoat tends to darken down the topcoat. I don't do multiple coats of layer paint, since I'm going to be layring over those darker spots. Also, if the panel lines don't fill, that's ok, because you're just going to wash them anyway. 

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

First Half of ETL Vow 4 is done I Give you my Vendetta. Now at some point after ETL, I'll be adding nose art, in the form of a Arkansas Air National Guard Hog Snout, and a Repentia Pinup, Her Name is Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap. 

 

I'm going to add US style military isms on the Valkyrie's Rocket pods (BLAM! You, comes to mind for one, Dear Xenos, for the other) The Valkyrie's name is Danger Close Delivery, and will also have a Hog snout, and a SoB pinup.

 

without further delay:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy. I'll probably save the Valk for tomorrow.

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Aircraft are done!

 

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

This Saturday they will be tested in battle. I'm looking forward to it.

[WarriorFish]

Great work! Once your vowing is done you'll need to do a tutorial on your methodology :tu: Good luck on Saturday, let us know how it goes :D

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Will do. Basically lots of drybrushing, and washes, and more drybrushing. 

 

When weathering Airctraft, it helps to know a little bit about how it happens, Paint doesn't survive multiple trips through the Mach, and oils tend to build up in the seams, making it easy for dirt and crud to build up especially when you  fly low and slow (As close air support is prone to do). This is especially true in arid regions (which I have decided my planet has a lot of). When you have scorching, there's almost always discoloration around it, and it's usually brown, since the engines are producing tremendous amounts of heat there will be burn through, so make the bare metal in a sort of cone shape. 

 

On panel lines, I used a thick wash of agrax earthshade, heavy near the front, and getting lighter towards the rear. I then went over it with a drybrush of the base coat to soften the edges of the wash, and I hit it with the Ustabi bone drybrush in random spots to get that topcoat wear effect. I used XV-88 brown, as my dirt/rust effect, and the drybrushed along the panel lines, making it directional, heavier at the front and trailing off to a point.  Afterburners produce lots of soot, so on the tail plane I added a thin coat of watered down black, so it would appear dirty, and I applied a drybrush of thicker black around the edges and in defined streaks directly behind the engines.

 

I did a color drybrush around the Intakes, to show that they were painted, but again, those trips through the Mach take their toll. For that, I used typical safety colors, red and yellow, and I even added the safety spiral on the Compressor hub. 

 

I decided that ordinance will always be green, as that's how it is in the military, so missiles and rocket pods are green, with a very light bone drybrush to highlight them. The Valkyrie's Rocket pods have Commissariat Approved invective (BLAM! YOU HERETICS! and DEAR XENOS) scrawled on them.

 

I didn't do the Nose art for ETL as that would take a long time, and I'll not have any lopsided titties on my aircraft (I'm going to get a friend to help me make some transfers so the nose art looks good).

 

I find it hard to take pictures while working as I get so engrossed in what I'm doing that I forget. Feel free to ask any questions, you might have, so I can put together a proper tutorial. (Some things I just do, without realizing it, I've been building and painting Aircraft models since I was about 7 years old, so about 21 years). 

[WarriorFish]

A comprehensive detailing, excellent! I think the only way to top that would be a full tutorial with pictures :tu: Of which I would love to see, I think this is what I need to raise my weathering to the next level :)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

On the under side of the wing, just do a wash, and soften it with a base color drybrush, as dirt won't tend to accumulate there, since the air is moving too fast. The slower moving air over the top of the wing gives you greater chance of seeing deposits of junk, so you could sprinkle some fine dust in some areas. Between dust storms, oil seepage, and rain, you'll see some streaky muddy nasty crud near the panel lines. 

 

I'll take some more pictures to show where I did what, this afternoon. I'll be taking a little break on the ETL stuff, while I get my thoughts together on how to do the knight. I already have some ideas on that, on the left shin I'll be doing a Black Bar Sinister (Black for mourning, and the Bar Sinister for being orphaned from his house, a sign of Illegitimacy), and a White Saltire against a Blue Field (The St. Andrew's Cross specifically, Figured I'd get a not to my Ancestry in there) and the Saltire is associated with protection, so it seems right.

 

Until I have my thoughts completely together on the Knight, I'll be finishing off my Infantry, so they're ready to go for Saturday. 

[Vel'Cona]

Yeah, I really prefer my aircraft to be counter-shaded. It looks more realistic and adds a great effect on the tabletop when seen from ground-pounder model's eye view. Weathering wise, though I didn't realize that dirt/grime collected differently on the top and bottom of a wing. That's a neat detail catch!

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

That's the way I've always seen it happen, it has to do with the turbulence off the top of the wing. Paint will wear faster on the bottom of the wing though, since there is more frictional effects. As for the Grime accumulation on top of the wing, it's really going to depend on how much parasite drag you have (IG flyers have way too much) and how much boundary layer control the ship has (IG, not at all). It would also depend on how often it gets washed (If it's flying sorties all the time, maybe once a month).

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Here it is all 2000 points (minus the Lord Commissar, who still need some paint):

 

 

It's been rough, All this infantry, plus banging out my vehicles for ETL. My eyes are crossing and my back is aching from being stooped over the painting (read: kitchen) table.  This is the only army I have completely painted and based if that tells you anything (I have DA, SW, Tau, Necrons, and orks that aren;t even built yet).

 

Once I get the Lord Commissar done He'll get put up, and then all 2000 points of pure guard will be done. Then I can focus on the knight. Then maybe I'll start work on my massive SW army (10k points). 

[WarriorFish]

Impressive, can we have some close ups?

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Here goes, while doing this some glaring things came up, I did these guys to look good from a distance, I hope they look ok close up. I saw some things that probably need touching up, but that's a level of detail that I really wasn't going for. You might notice some slight color variations in a few of the models, and I was kind of going for that (Real world gear has a tendency to be slightly off (I had a set ABU's that were the same set, but the trousers were more grey and the blouse was more green, go figure. Didn't matter much after a week in the field though, they were kind of a uniform color of dirt after that). So bear all that in mind

 

Chalk 1:

 

 

Chalk 2:

 

 

 

Chalk 3:

 

 

Chalk 4:

 

 

Chalk 5:

 

 

Chalk 6:

 

 

Chalk 7:

 

 

 

Chalk 8:

 

 

 

A Troop:

 

 

1st Batt Motor Pool:

 

 

2/17 Out Front:

 

 

 

 

6/101:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy, I'll be working on the last bit, the Lord Commissar, and that should cover all 2k of pure Guard. Bear in mind, I am poop at painting faces, so I try not to have them if I can avoid it. If there is a bit of over paint in some areas, I have shooter's hands, they shake, and they don't do fine motor skills too well. This army was a joy to do, and I'm sure they will give me endless hours of fun. 

 

As an aside, I have a Tau army as well, and these fellas were always intended to be an ally to them. I have some fluff in mind for them, and Now that the painting is almost done (I still have the Commissar and Knight to do), I feel it's time to work on their story. So I do hope y'all won't mind terribly, helping me work out some of the details in that fluff.

[WarriorFish]

The bases really pop on them and you can always go back to pick out more details later if you want :) Guard background can be very flexible so don't worry about it :tu:

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Now for the Last piece. The Lord Commissar. 

 

Here he is in all of his splendor:

 

 

Our Lord Commissar distinguished himself as a fair man, and a superb battlefield commander, hence why he is the only one of of our commissars that takes to the field. We in the Black Devil's Brigade prize merit and utility above all else, None of the other commissars distinguished themselves over the Officers and NCO's currently leading the troops. 

 

Short term this Army is finished. Eventually I plan on getting a second Valkyrie, a Second Vendetta, a second IG command squad (for the Elysian Detachment), and a few more Kasrkin models to bring that squad up to ten, and I want to bring my other stormtrooper squads up to ten and field a second Stormtrooper command squad. I'll keep adding to this army, bit by bit, but the cap is 4 full squads of Stormtroopers, 2 Stormtrooper command squads, my 2 vet squads, 2 IG command squads, 2 Valkyries, 2 Vendettas, and 4 Taurox Primes.

 

That'll probably take me up to about 3000-3500 points, which is about where my tau are. My next foray into the Guard will be an armored division, where I will get all the tanks from. 

[WarriorFish]

Well done Ulrik, you should be pleased with such an achievement :)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Everything is painted for this army!

 

[WarriorFish]

You've performed great deeds Ulrik, welcome to the Guard Veteran company ;)

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

Thank you Commissar! It's been a journey to get where I am in the hobby today. I think I was always meant to be a Guard player. They're very tactical, and the way I have always tried to play my Space Wolves, I could never do well at any given points level, I couldn't bring a good balance of boys and toys. Guard can do that. You want 6 squads of troops, and 3 tanks at 1500? Done. You want 15 tanks in a list? What kind? We have such a variety of units and choices. Until I get my Armored Division going, I'll use my space wolves to fill the gaps in my armor. 

 

I'm currently writing their fluff, and I need to name their world. I have a location in mind, it's near the Damocles Gulf, on the border of tau space, and close to Ultramar.

 

The World:

 

This planet really defies the imperial classification, It's much like Terra was, with a variety of climate zones. It has Hellish sandy deserts, Verdant jungles full of dangerous creatures, vast oceans full of life, it has many mountain ranges, from new peaks that reach the stratosphere, to old worn down hills. Most of the ranges are rocky and arid, casting vast rain shadow deserts. The undeveloped wilds would classify it as a death world, as only the heartiest of people could survive there, and they do. But in the lush river valleys Civilization blooms, advanced to a level of a civilized world. The industrial sector, while not as vast as an industrial world is sizable enough to provide for the citizens. Overall the quality of life is good, Cities are small, and are centers of trade, administration, and entertainment only, very few people live in the cities. Military service is mandatory, and there are different levels of service, 4 years active duty is required of everyone, after which you can be released to the reserves, This allows the world to remain fortified, while still allowing for the freedoms allowed on Civilized worlds. The PDF is a fully combined arms force, with Airborne forces, Armored forces, and Infantry forces, as well as traditional Naval forces. The Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy also maintain a presence here, a small fleet in orbit to patrol the subsector. The Imperial Guard forces include the Elite Stormtroopers of the 2nd Special Service Force, a brigade sized formation of Light Infantry, and the 72nd Armored Division, Made up of 4 regiments of tanks and infantry.

 

The Black Devil's Brigade:

 

The 2nd Special Service Force, or the Black Devil's Brigade, as they are known, are fierce fighters, Highly trained men, each exceptionally skilled, they are not widely known. They are the Imperium's silent professionals, They have been used to break the stalemate of trench warfare of countless worlds, always moving in quickly and quietly, penetrating the enemy defenses, killing their sentries with deadly efficiency, never allowing their mission to descend into pandemonium. Friendly forces always awake to the sound of silence after the Brigade has accomplished their mission, they come and go like vengeful specters. Their hotshot lasguns are fitted with signature suppressors, that reduces the sound of the weapon, to merely the static crack of superheated air. 

 

These are not the only missions for which they are called to accomplish, given their planet's rugged terrain and vast untouched wilderness, they are exceptional trackers and hunters, and their favored prey are the vile forces of Chaos. Given their proximity to the Tau's Farsight Enclaves, they have had a fair amount of contact with them. The Brigade does not see the Tau as a threat to mankind, though they do not see the larger Tau Empire as being a friend either. The Brigade and Tau have worked together to drive back threats to the existence of life, Necron and Tyranid incursions, both agreeing that it was in the best interest of both peoples to work together against a common enemy. The relationship between the Farsight Enclaves and the Brigade is one of begrudging respect, the Tau see the Brigade as Gue'vesa, while the Brigade regards the Tau as a nuisance. 

 

Up to this point that's really what I have worked out. I love picking on Chaos, and they make such a good enemy. I want to be able to use this unit in campaigns along side of my Tau, but I didn't really want them to be full blown Gue'vesa either. I wanted them to be distinctly Imperial, and devoted to protecting Humanity, while being able to justify allying them together. 

 

What do you think? I'm going to add Eldar into the mix of raced they get along with (By that I mean don't have a raging Hate for). They see Xenos for what they are, Unknowns. They might be a threat, but might be useful, and they really only hate Chaos. 

[WarriorFish]

The Guard also has unrivalled scope thanks to how diverse the Imperium is :) Your background is coming along well, have you entered it into the Liber challenge?

[Ulrik_Ironfist]

No I haven't I'd like to though. Where can I find the thread to do so?

 

Given the nature of my world being mountainous and harsh, with lots of fjords, and given my affinity for things norse, I was thing of calling the planet Niflheim, Since I imagine the Valleys and fjords being shrouded in fog and mist. I have lots of space wolves, and my fluff for them has them settling on a harsh world, near the eastern fringe. So this would be perfect for all of them.