Clan Brannsar Rises: The Unmakers

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Wut?

Welp, this arrived today, so I guess it's time I got round to making this thread:

You're mad, IHF doesn't do models - what have you done with them?

I'll concede the first point, this is dumb even for me.

Since B@C's release I'd planned on getting in on the plastic heresy action, and with rumours of vanishing stock, I finally got the push I needed to actually go and buy it.

I'm not going to pretend that this is the start of a crazy-fast painting spree that will end in a full army after a couple of months - I'm bad at finishing projects, painting fast or painting large numbers of models at once - plus I love obsessively converting every model & painting totally unnecessary freehand details, none of which is conducive to successfully collecting an army.

Instead: baby steps - stupidly ambitious plans, but sub-divided in to teeny, tiny baby steps.

What's a 'Brannsar'?

Clan Brannsar is my homebrew Clan for the Iron Hands Legion (very WIP Liber Astartes thread: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/316214-clan-brannsar-of-the-xth-legion/ ) - Brannsar is Norwegian for 'burn' because I am absolutely awful at coming up with names for stuff.

There's a dark corner of my brain which whispers about plans to expand this into Shattered Legions Sallies, Raven Guard & Imperial Fists, plus Solar Auxilia, Mechanicum, Imperialis Militia, Titan Legio & Knights but that's crazy talk.

Show me an army list, I have to see an army list

The way I'll be constructing this army is slightly unusual - for me, fluff is everything so how I'll proceed is to plan multiple 'detachments' (each based around a small formation within the Clan) which can be combined to form a functional (albeit likely noncompetitive) army list representing a portion of the Clan's 4^th Order. If that's a little tricky, here's an example of a 'detachment':

• Zone mortalis / siege assault infantry Phalanx: here a Phalanx constitutes a third of a full company, so it might contain:

1x 10 Cataphractii Termies, 2x 10 Breachers, 3x Graviton Rapiers, 1x Contemptor (possibly in addition to enough Anvilus / Kharybdis Assault Claws to carry them all)

The first detachment I'll be working on is the titular Seeker-Killer Cohort Ultor - a mechanized anti-infantry division mainly equipped with MkIV plate due to its mobility & enhanced sensor suite, for which B@C will form the core.

The end goal for Ultor's organisation is as follows:

HQ:

Praevian Consul Centurion + 3 Vorax Battle Automata

 

Elites:

Techmarine

Troops:

10 Tacticals with Rhino

10 Tacticals with Rhino

10 Support marines with Rhino (these will probably double for a heavy support squad too)

 

Fast Attack:

10 Seekers with Rhino

 

Heavy Support:

3 Predator Executioners

Land Raider Phobos (MkIIb)

 

Victory is Vengeance

Anyhow, back to the baby steps - I'm gonna start off Ultor by first making a ViV Extermination warband based off the formation's constituents, so the first models to be attempted will be:

* Praevian Consul

* Techmarine

* 5 Tacticals

* 5 Seekers

* 2 Vorax

This might change a bit, but expect it to remain within the framework of Ultor's larger organisation as set out above.

...This is an opening post without any actual pictures of models, isn't it?

Guilty

I've got loads of stuff to set up before I really crack on with this, so I wouldn't hold your breath for any actual painting within the next month (apart from painting all the bare heads in B@C because I want to experiment with skin-tones / circuitry tattoos), but I'll probably be doing a load of converting, so expect plenty of grey.

Anyhow, thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy this new project of mine

Edited November 4, 2022 by Iron Hands Fanatic

[Memento Of Prospero]

Flesh is Weak!

[Soldier of Dorn]

What. The. Hell.

 

Seriously??? You're actually doing a WIP? Wowsers. I can barely believe it. Wow.

 

Yeah, I'm kinda at a loss right now. Can't wait to see this ViV warband! :tu:

[Olis]

Is there absolutely any possibility that you might still be painting when ETL number five drops on us all? Every paintbrush counts, brother. :)

[DimDim]

Wut?

You're mad, IHF doesn't do models - what have you done with him?

 

I'm not going to pretend that this is the start of a crazy-fast painting spree that will end in a full army after a couple of months - I'm bad at finishing projects.

*snip

 

Join the cluberino captain. 

Looking forward to this project moving forward.

[Luna707]

Oh hell yeah! The art you've done for the IH has been one of the biggest inspirations in designing my own Shattered Tenth! I'm very excited to see what you make

[MasteredFury]

IHF doing actual models?!?..... Aaannnndddd followed......

[Reyner]

Oh why do you do this to me? I have been resisting building an Iron Hands force for a while (my Immortals still hate me for abandoning them) then Book 6 comes along with all the awesome Autek Mor fluff and now you IHF?? 

 

Can't wait to see this though :D 

[Skalpynock]

IHF? Doing 3D work? By what divine power is this happening?

[Raktra]

Whoa, almost missed this whilst hiding in the BotL forum. Gotta subscribe to my original inspiration.

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Thanks everyone, it's great to have so much support in what is inevitably going to be an achingly slow, entirely sporadic enterprise - I think some of you are more enthusiastic about this project than I am, which is great / worrying

Is there absolutely any possibility that you might still be painting when ETL number five drops on us all? Every paintbrush counts, brother.

Sorry Olis, there's no way I can commit to anything really when it comes to this little project - I'm too inconsistent & time is too much of a concern

What. The. Hell.

Seriously??? You're actually doing a WIP? Wowsers. I can barely believe it. Wow.

Yeah, I'm kinda at a loss right now. Can't wait to see this ViV warband!

IHF doing actual models?!?..... Aaannnndddd followed......

Oh why do you do this to me? I have been resisting building an Iron Hands force for a while (my Immortals still hate me for abandoning them) then Book 6 comes along with all the awesome Autek Mor fluff and now you IHF??

Can't wait to see this though

IHF? Doing 3D work? By what divine power is this happening?

I still can't really believe it myself, but I snuck out some photographic evidence to show you all quite how little I've done :P

As I'm getting used to the fine work again (these are the first miniatures I've touched in something like 6 years), I've made a start on 'Iron-Handsifying' the Cataphractii by 'crenelating' some of the trim to emulate the classic cog-toothed pattern:

I need to do a little file-work to clean up the edges, but I think it's looking okay so far - I've also been experimenting with scoring the pteruges to suggest scale / chain - mail

I'll probably also be looking to recreate the suggestion of bionics under the TDA in a similar style to this by carving out some of the bare sections of armour & sticking in sections of guitar wire in the recesses

Thanks for looking

[SalvationOfReason]

That's a killer idea, and looks great!

[GhostMalone]

Dude yes YES YES YESSSS!!!!!!!!

 

Carry on as you will

[Dantioch]

This is going to be awesome, so excited to see you doing some modelling dude!

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

Thanks guys, good to hear I'm on the right track

I know updates like this are super mediocre, but hot damn I'd forgotten how cool even this amount of progress feels:

Here's the first seeker, with cog-toothed pauldrons - I'm using the shoulder-pads to help delineate the squads, so the seekers get these ones, & the support squad gets the MkII pads:

What I really need to do next is get my hands on some greenstuff, so I can add some crenelated trims to a couple of the MkIV Legionaries, and also so I can modify the torsos somewhat - I'm also planning on giving all the seekers chain-mail loincloths somehow, so I need to figure that out too

[Black Cohort]

Awesome work so far, good to see you working on models.

[Reyner]

Easiest way for chain loin cloths would be to get a hold of the Aspiring Champion chest plate from the CSM squad box - you could either chop it off or do a green stuff press mould out of it? 

[Calas Typhon]

There is a fairly decent guide for what I feel is alright looking chainmail here if that is what you are looking for. Just make sure to leave a flat green stuff tab on the top to attach between the torso and legs before pinning and gluing the model together to make things a hell of a lot easier

Edited March 24, 2016 by Cthonia

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

There is a fairly decent guide for what I feel is alright looking chainmail here if that is what you are looking for. Just make sure to leave a flat green stuff tab on the top to attach between the torso and legs before pinning and gluing the model together to make things a hell of a lot easier

 

Thanks Cthonia, that looks super useful

[Rayray]

The work you've done on the paldrons for the cog tooth look is so clean and precise! These guys are going to turn out amazing

[Iron Hands Fanatic]

I've finally put some paint to plastic - all that I'm really doing at the moment is experimenting with the bare heads, primarily because they're the one thing I don't have to be consistent with - I can improvise with each rather than sticking to a strict scheme

The main aim for this aspect of the force is to display as diverse a range of ethnicity as possible, to represent the fact that the X^th Legion took a tithe of recruits from most conquered planets to counteract Medusa's inability to support a large population - whilst native Medusans are generally represented as being pale-skinned, these recruits will be drawn from a huge range of different climates and environments, so I'll be representing every race within the army, as well as some skin-tones we aren't familiar with, to show adaptation to entirely alien environments

Just gonna apologise in advance for the quality of the images, I really need to sort out a decent photo setup for the future

So this is the seeker above in the initial stages of painting:

Now that was before I started applying the now canonised circuitry tattoos - they're not quite as precise as I'd like, but I need to invest in some finer brushes, and I think I might lightly score on the lines for future attempts to help guide straight lines over the contours of the face:

[GhostMalone]

Dude great start love the face so much colour.

 

And you thought you couldn't paint an army

[Memento Of Prospero]

You should try fine point sharpie style/artis pens for your circuit board tattoos, nice thin lines.

 

It looks glorious.

[Jarl Kjaran Coldheart]

I'm a huge fan of what you've done so far, the models just ooze character

[Charlo]

What a face!