Painting log: Black Spear Strike Force

[morsla]

I haven't been painting much recently, and decided to try using the Deathwatch painting challenge as motivation to get back into the habit again.

 

Over the last couple of weeks, I've been digging through leftover marine bits and pieces and converting some figures to assemble a Black Spear strike force: a Watch Master, a Dreadnought, and an Aquila Strike Team.

Here's what I've put together so far:

Watch Master Torvald Silverhand
Torvald served in the Deathwatch as a young Grey Hunter; honing his battlecraft in countless warzones. A century later, he returned to the Watch Fortress to swear a permanent oath of service: leaving the Space Wolves to serve in the Deathwatch command.

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/Morsla/Deathwatch/2016-09-03%2016.48.29_zpso714nvyw.jpg

Rune Priest Valtar Ghostwolf, Space Wolves
Torvald's mentor and pack-brother serves as the Librarian attached to Aquila Team Invictus. The priest wears the markings of Krom Dragongaze's Great Company in place of his former Chapter insignia.
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/Morsla/Deathwatch/2016-09-09%2010.04.42_zpswio1wx8t.jpg

Watch Sergeant Lazial Invictus, Ultramarines
A son of Ultramar, trained in the ancient Suzerain tradition. Invictus leads a close assault Kill Team, tasked with the difficult challenge of keeping the Deathwatch command elements alive...
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/Morsla/Deathwatch/2016-09-05%2021.11.07_zpsdbvekeei.jpg

Aquila Team Invictus - troops
This team is equipped for close assault: shotguns, storm shields, and a terminator with a thunder hammer. The team members are drawn from the Crimson Fists, Angels Ascendant, Silver Skulls, Iron Hands and Howling Griffons.
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/Morsla/Deathwatch/2016-09-05%2021.14.53_zpsmh5ghodb.jpg

Ancient Veran Pelegath
Pelegath once served as the Chaplain to Silverhand's Watch Company, leading a Strategium command squad tasked with engaging the most heavily protected enemy command elements. An engagement with the Farsight Enclaves left him beyond the skills of the company Apothecaries to save, and so he was interred in a Dreadnought chassis - ready to fight on as a permanent member of the watch.
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/Morsla/Deathwatch/2016-09-09%2011.41.24_zpsarmulgwl.jpg

I'm aiming for 1-2 figures each week, in order to hit the Nov 12 deadline. Here's the first painting WIP :)

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/Morsla/Deathwatch/dw-ultramarine-sergeant_zpssb8nnblk.jpg

I've been experimenting with different ways of painting black armour, and have settled on P3's Thamar Black, Coal Black and Underbelly Blue (lots of turquoise shades, essentially). I couldn't work out why I was having so much trouble getting sharp highlights, and then realised I was using a ten year old paintbrush... it's been much easier since finding a newer one to use ;)

Still needs some more shading and highlighting on the metals, particularly the gold. I'll probably add some weathering powders to the model, too - this is as far as I got last night, though.

[Prot]

If such a thing could be said of a marine... They're beautiful. I really don't know which is my favourite; you've done such an amazing job on all of them.

 

I love the background. I guess if I have to pick my favourite it's Invictus, as you've incorporated the Suzerain feel perfectly, and of course I personally come to Deathwatch after years of Ultramarines service! ;)

[Brother Callidan]

Love Silverhand. Invictus is looking nice dude can't wait to see more of your stuff

[Thunder_god]

Excellent conversions! I havent started my Wolfy watch captain yet, but it looks like the Krom miniature is an excellent start!

[Masked Thespian]

Gotta say that I love all of your models, from the conversions to the paint job on the Watch Sergeant.

 

How difficult was it to cut up the Watch Master model to convert yours?  I'm considering getting one to do so, but wouldn't mind some advice.

 

Also, just FYI:

 

Rune Priest Valtar Ghostwolf, Space Wolves

Torvald's mentor and pack-brother serves as the Librarian attached to Aquila Team Invictus.

 

The box at the bottom of page 16 of the codex states: "Whenever one of a watch fortress' command staff takes leadership of one of its Kill Teams, the name is changed accordingly - for example, when led by Epistolary Galius, Kill Team Tidaeus would become Kill Team Gallius for the duration of that mission."  So, Valtar wouldn't be "attached to" the Kill Team, he'd lead it, and it'd change its name to "Kill Team Ghostwolf" for that mission, assuming you went by the default naming convention I quoted above.

[Vel'Cona]

Watch Master is absolutely ace! Definitely excited to see the paint go down on these models!

[Theduke08]

Ill second that Vel'Cona!  Love that watch Master. 

[morsla]

Thanks guys!

 

@Masked Thespian - good catch, I'd missed that line. It did seem a bit strange for the Librarian not to pull rank... I've now built a librarian for each squad in a Watch Company, so I'll keep that in mind when I get onto painting the others.

 

The Watch Master is pretty easy to convert - Krom's left arm is easy to remove, and the Watch Master's is slightly trickier to cut off. The hardest part is keeping the cuts to the halberd as straight as possible, so the weapon lines up properly with the hand. It would have been much easier to just keep the original hand attached, but the wrist was angled to hold the weapon vertical and it looked a bit off in this pose.

 

The neck joints are also different on the two figures, so you'll need to cut down the Master's head to fit onto Krom's torso.

[morsla]

Painfully slow progress on these guys, but they're gradually getting there...

I ended up abandoning the one-model-at-a-time approach, which meant everything is now equally not quite finished. Details, weathering (powders) and basing stuff left to do on these. I'm happy with how they're coming together, though.

The turquoise-black is time consuming, but looks much better than anything I've tried before. I don't think I could do a whole army at this rate though, so I'm going with something different for Arcanacon in January... painting the rest of the Black Spear Strike Force after these guys are finished will need to be a job to tackle later on, when I don't have a 2-3 month old baby in the house

http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt200/Morsla/Deathwatch/IMG_2715%20copy_zpspv7htk85.jpg

[MithrilForge]

great work Morsla, (i see you use that avatar on wargamerau also, i knew who you were straight away )

Very characterful and well done, sorry to hear your not going to take em to Arc!, what about making them an allied contingent to what you are taking?...

love the red stripes on the shields

Cheers Mithril

[Vel'Cona]

Seriously gorgeous KT and Ancient there! I love how clean all the edge highlights are and the Howling Griffons shoulderpad is incredibly smooth. I've never had any luck with quartered schemes, at any size!

[morsla]

Thanks guys! I've been trying to get much cleaner highlights on these compared to other power-armoured figures I've painted in the past - the turquoise / light blue mix seems to be working well. Very happy with how the Howling Griffon shoulderpad turned out - it was looking a bit messy at first, but adding a few sharp highights and black lines has made it work much better.

 

I thought about making these into an allied contingent for Arc, and then got bitten by the Xenos bug - I've been waiting for Genestealers to get some new models and rules for a very long time. Arcanacon's also only 1350 points, which felt very cramped for a Watch Company... when I paint up the other units, I'll be aiming to play some slightly bigger games with the Deathwatch. For now, these are just a painting project to help me get back into the habit of regular painting again :)

[That Guy Matt]

They look great. Need more individual close-ups though.