ETL VI +++Age of Darkness Traitor Outpost (AoD-T)+++

[Vykes]

Bah, Brother Captain Dreagher has the right of it, we'll get 'em yet. No corrupted mindless madmen or sanctimonious, supercilious sons of Sanguinius will take our glory, no matter how outnumbered we are! With dedication, we can still break them, brothers!

I guess I'll marathon today and see if I can nail the rest before tomorrow's cut off time. Either way, it'll be close! Justaerin are about 1-2 hours from completion (just letting their pturges dry now) the knights are half done, transfer time soon, pert's base is done I just need to work up the details for him. Then I gotta get the contemptor's weapons together. Shouldn't be too bad.

And for the rest...

Siege breaker... he's got a bloody ton of equipment. Bleh, may strip that charger off and put it to his hip/back later on.

Contemptor needs some arms and some more chips, but it's comin' along pretty decent.

The Praetor is done!

Even magnetized the heavy bolter and made it a combi-melta

[Vykes]

I'll add something more prose-like, something fitting of the occasion... something something.... but after an all nighter, I shall say that the 65th has fulfilled its obligations. The fight is yours, comrades!

4163 points (and a little more) complete.

I'll post up some individual pictures when my phone's charged and the light is a little better... and after sleeping a bit. Because right now, composing anything is tough.

[Captain Semper]

Fantastic work man - this is truly something... Very, VERY impressed! Congratulations! :tu: :tu: :tu:

 

 

THIS IS THE CUT-OFF FOR THE 12th WEEKLY UPDATE - EVERY VOW OR COMPLETION REPORTED BEYOND THIS POINT WILL COUNT TOWARDS THE FINAL SCORE.

 

UPDATED TO THIS POINT!

[okonomiyakimarine]

The sheer numbers, the quality... this forum rocks! Some great stuff, you are amazing guys! Vykes' army hits it out of the park, yet regarding single minis Kizzdoug's Alpharius totally kills it imho.

 

Too bad I cannot contribute points in higher quality or just more stuff, but my vow is complete. I hope to do more next time. Ashamed I cannot at least do bases due to time constraints. As imperfect these guys are they can only be assigned to clean up duties – even as destroyers: chem-munition-lowlives straight out of Chemos.

 

 

 

 

[Captain Semper]

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_VI_Top_Banner_.jpg

ETL VI - WEEK 12 UPDATE

 
THIS IS THE LAST WEEKLY UPDATE BEFORE THE OFFICIAL CLOSING OF THE EVENT

[heshman]

Vow 3 is donezo. Bring it home boys.

[Vykes]

Wooot, good job Heshman, and okonomiyakimarine too! Seriously well done you two! Where's everyone else at?

Love the warp effects on that Cataphractii sorcerer Heshman, mate. It really does sell the whole look pretty convincingly, and it's a nice bit of extra colour too, so that's always good. Heh, Damocles are kinda fun, eh?

Eeeeh no worries Okonomiyakimarine! No need to be ashamed, ya finished! And ya finished with some pretty great looking IIIrd legion too. I've always loved the EC dreads, the look of their helms fit my love of the Phoenix Guard termies. And the palatine based commander with Anvillus (think it's Anvillus) power packs is pretty great for the IIIrd. I'd have never made that connection. Heh, the ETL was my 'go ahead' to create an insane army for my Sons of Horus. I've peddled the picture in a few places on the forum, but really, I'll toss it up here too.

I've have never gotten even a third of that it not for ETL's little push. Not sure how happy/unhappy I should be about that Thank ya all, it was your dedication and support that made that possible too.

Hmm, well, I guess I should give something even if it's not much. Bit of a usual prosy celebration thing as I call my ETL vows done.

Iron Crags, kilometer 227 Silian District

“Last Lament to Cindermare forces, sync to echelon formation. I don't like the look of this.” Lieutenant Kandross Fyre chimed to the vehicles in his formation, for it was his formation despite what the newly promoted Captain Charnaise would like to claim. Two acknowledging clicks sounded in his ear before the pair of Proteus that formed the tines of the trident broke off.

The ruins of an old industrial town passed by at a blur as the armoured formation sped up rather than slowed to slowly prowl through the skeletal remnants of civilization. Fyre's integrated feed constantly whirred and droned with the Last Lament's sensitive cogitators, feeding auspex data to his lid display. It was dismissed with an errant blink click, leaving the lieutenant to take in the relatively lush and unsullied craglands with his own priorities. Resting his gauntlet against the Land Raider's cupola, he twisted to look back, seeing the ancient rout that they'd taken through the mountains.

Their local militia battalions had said this was a location for some fighting not long ago with the wreck and ruin of their lightly armed columns and something resembling astartes armour found strewn through the crags. They called it 'the Ghost hills' now, damn their superstition. But he had to admit, with the thin veil of mist clinging to the mouldering ruins and mossy trunks of tall conifers, anything moving appeared spectral. Even as he dismissed the paranoid delusions of lesser men, the legionnaire's unaugmented vision picked out a subtle shift ahead against the rocky outcroppings.

“Cyprian, Denoss, there's movement up ahead, five hundred sixty metres.”

“Copy, commander.” Cyprian's sonorous tone rolled through the encrypted vox-net. “Slowing to advance speed.”

“Negative!” Fyre seethed and shot a look towards the battle tank twenty meters to his left. The Raider's engines stuttered once, but responded as it rocked forward again. Its dull green paint appearing a musty grey, picked out only by the mud splattered sixteenth-legion emblem on its flanks. “Maintain attack speed. If it's an enemy, we want to be on them quickly. We can't stop, not for a moment. We have to reach Point Tempest before nightfall. The Warmaster wills it.”

A short silence greeted him before Denoss replied in a low mechanical chortle, “The Warmaster may will it, but tell me something, lieutenant, you'd have rather been a Chogorian savage if given another life; right?”

There was no response, but the lieutenant's lip curled as he mentally willed the Last Lament to even greater speeds. The warrior's blood raced, stims already released even before the distant shape hove into clarity. 'Faster, faster.' dark alluring shapes promising a heady rush caressed the edge of his waking mind. He strained, and the machine spirit of the Last Lament almost seemed to knicker reflexively, sending microvibrations through its hull as if in sympathetic anticipation. The Cthonian's hearts pumped swifter now, a low expectant breath building in his core.

And then he saw it, a slab-sided shape, and two beady red sensors too close to be eyes. “Battle tank, four hundred ten meters, open fire!” His fingers gripping the cupola like he was grasping the reigns of his steed. The Proteus yowled as beams of brilliant sapphire stabbed out into the twisting miasma. Two lances smashed into a rocky outcropping, disintegrating the ancient rock and leaving wreathed tendrils of super heated steam. Two more crashed into the dusk-hued hull of the distant machine. It lit up a brilliant yellow, illuminating throngs of infantry gathering around its slagged skirting.

Wounded but not dead, the distant Predator's sponsons tracked towards Last Lament before the juddering crack of heavy bolter shells from Cyprian's Wraitholm stitched across its hull, illuminating it in a shower of incandescent sparks. A quartet of las beams stabbed through the gloom, and the distant beast's brilliant ruby eyes faded in mechanical death. Plumes of black sprang from vents and turret rings as dark-clad legionnaires reacted instantly to form neat radial lines of defense.

Fyre howled and shot a hand to the sky, “Magnificent shooting Cyprian! Unto ash-”

'On to glory!'

[Captain Semper]

Fantastic work guys - now this is the last weekend of the, I suggest you make the most of it! :)

 

UPDATED TO THIS POINT!

[TheStatusJoe]

I'll add something more prose-like, something fitting of the occasion... something something.... but after an all nighter, I shall say that the 65th has fulfilled its obligations. The fight is yours, comrades!

 

4163 points (and a little more) complete.  

 

 

 

 

I'll post up some individual pictures when my phone's charged and the light is a little better... and after sleeping a bit.  Because right now, composing anything is tough.  

 

Nicely done! Those are fantastic! Our conversation earlier this week has led me to make another pledge in the Loyalists as time dwindles. 

[Vykes]

Hah, thanks StatusJoe, mate!  Aye, that's a good'n and well done takin' it on! 

 

hmm, thinking of an out of competition vow as I maaaay have picked up a Prospero box set as it was 30% off with the kill team stuff today. 

[LameBeard]

@Vkyes - how do you DO it? I check the forum, you've made a vow. I check back, like, an hour later, and you've painted half an army - and to an amazing standard. You are a massive hero and even now you are thinking about an extra out-of-competion vow. I take my hat off to you.

Meanwhile, I have been really struggling, and I feel ashamed to admit it, because it's just one squad, and I had 3 whole months. And I was getting really scared in the run-up, because of my son. You see I'd told him of the pledge, then later told him of my worries about not completing. He said "don't worry dad, it's no big deal" and I gave him a big lecture about "honour", about what it means when you make a public commitment and people are relying on you. Even if it was only a measly 164 points.

So it means a lot to me to say VOW COMPLETE.

More pics here

The X on the shoulder pad above was a funny story. I ruined my only 2 iron hand transfers trying to get them on that shoulder pad, before settling on the X. I then realised I had been using airbrush cleaner instead of decal fix, which probably explains why I was struggling.

And one from the back so we can see the decals on the shoulder pads and the converted deathwatch torsos (which were totally not worth it, but at least 'squad Iota' will be unique).

[1ncarnadine]

Awesome work, LameBeard! Glad you got it finished. You'll get to remain an oath-keeper this year :)

 

Meanwhile, I'm having a small dilemma as I approach the finish line with my pledge. I have the armor panels and base to finish up, and I'm trying to decide on how I want to proceed with that House Malinax bone color. Here are the schemes I tested this morning before heading to work. 

The one on the right is sticking to FW/Mark Bedford's Malinax original recipe, and the left is identical except the Flat Earth step is a ~50/50 mix with Tamiya Dark Sea Grey. I did not do white highlights, though, and probably won't in the interest of keeping the scheme quick.

What do you guys think? The original scheme is closer to the artwork in the books and to most of Mark Bedford's Malinax Knights, but the other scheme looks more visually interesting (and Mark's Atrapos seems to veer towards these shades as well). Keeping mind that both will be knocked back a bit in brightness by a wash and oils, and that there will also be a semi-gloss or satin varnish by the end.

[Vykes]

-laughs- probably some degree of insanity on my part, Lamebeard, mate! Also, after you paint up 20-30 legionnaires and a few vehicles in short order, it's just a matter of lining 'em up and knocking em down and experimenting with getting better along the way. All for the warmaster, eh?

 

Also there's a key in there 'don't worry dad', I only get 'good morning, Mister C (or just as often, Cici... bloody initials), how are you enjoying your summer?'

 

Hey, you nailed that squad and got it totally complete (seriously, it rocks. Speaking or rocks, lovin' that basing. What's your secret? I'm thinking of some World Eater kill team with that more dusty look and I wasn't super happy with it on my word bearers). Picking mk.VI is classy. And hey, you got to get a moral lesson out of it all which is pretty excellent. I'm lucky if I can get out a moral lesson and anyone listens. So, I get to be chirpy instead. Eeek on the X bit, that is definitely not cool. I switched over gloss varnishes for decals and it hasn't been working half as well as when I was using a gloss medium. Who'da thought? Hey, it's lookin good for the 20^th, both the same and different. Seriously man, that's one great job there. No oathbreaker, 'tis the oathkeeper!

 

Leeeets See LetsYouDown. Hmm, I like the left colour, the less saturated one pops a bit more with the light tone and creates a lot more depth by varying the tone. While wash and oils will likely give the original more tone, I think that the left version with the dark sea grey just has a bit more dynamism in it so, I agree, more visually interesting. And I'm a massive fan/sucker for Mark's Atrapos, what can I say? :P

[heshman]

I'd also like to congratulate Vykes on insane speed and quality, all too often one aspect is sacrificed for the other.  I've participated in 3 ETLs and they've always been highly motivational for myself as well, but nothing like what you are putting out.  You are truly the AoD MVP.

 

On To Glory, indeed.

[Dreagher]

With a bit of a delay due to rl I declare my 4th vow finished.

Terrible picture, but I was in a bit of a hurry.

 

@lameBeard The face of your seargent looks awesome!

[Vykes]

Great work, Dreagher mate.  That definitely helps us out eh!  You got a full army picture some time for us?  Heh, kinda like to see that many of the bloody 12th in one place. 

 

Ah thanks Heshmen, I'm definitely in a kinda nirvana position so I figured I could and should do it.  Still, ETL and you awesome lot really helped push all of my projects forward, too (and our blind loyalist rivals!).  I mean it, thanks a ton, mates! 

 

Seriously, all of the AoD has performed incredibly.  We might be a footnote to our 40K competition, an anomoly, focused only on the Astartes and Chaos marines, but despite being almost out of the competition due to the drawbacks of our points and our participation, we're still killing 'em!  Everyone for the AoD should be proud, even our loyalist rivals.  We've got less participants, we've been in a release doldrums for a while, we've got some massive points disadvantages, and we're still doing better than groups with almost three times our numbers!  No fancy tools, no points breaking FW stuff, just work and dedication.  The Age of Darkness is a time of heroes, and you've prove that, no matter the legion no matter the offering, we've done well.  We can keep doing it, we still have time, so to our late comers, lets get 'em!  

 

On to glory, all legions as one, and for the Warmaster!

 

Have we had a Death Guard pledge yet?  I seem to recall almost every other legion represented, but I don't recall our brothers of the 14th.  I still have some time and bodies (I, uh, ran out of 16th legion decals for infantry... heh.  But still got 14th, 15th, and a few standard ones so 3rd and the like). 

[Captain Semper]

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_6_Poster_01_Announcement_V2.jpg

THREE DAYS TO GO!

[LameBeard]

... Speaking of rocks, lovin' that basing. What's your secret? I'm thinking of some World Eater kill team with that more dusty look and I wasn't super happy with it on my word bearers). Picking mk.VI is classy. And hey, you got to get a moral lesson out of it all which is pretty excellent... :P

The moral lesson was I should keep my big mouth shut :)

 

I was initially trying to copy Kizzdougs on the bases, I just love the way he makes rocks and battlefield debris really look like they are embedded. But I didn’t feel I was getting close so in the end let more cork show, roughed it up, and added sand just at the edges.

 

Black undercoat, then vallejo burnt umber - didn’t have much effect. Then Vallejo panzer red, which was nice but I wanted brighter. So then panzer red mixed with other Vallejo like yellow ochre and mudstone. By now an interesting colour but they weren’t screaming “Mars desert” like I wanted, so I bought myself the scale 75 kalahari orange and blasted with that. All these layers were through airbrush - I am really an amateur with the airbrush, might even give up on it, but the cork seemed really hard to cover, so the dark held in the recesses, no shading required. A dry brush of Kalahari orange with bleached bone for a final highlight. Then sponging Kalahari orange to the feet and legs to give a dusty impression.

 

You can start to see why I took this long. Probably next time I can skip the middle stages!

 

How do you do your bases? I’ve never seen anything like them. I love the colour transitions. And yes do the World Eaters and send me links if not in this thread. I have XIIth ready for paint too, but probably need to rebase to 32mm first ...

[LameBeard]

@lameBeard The face of your seargent looks awesome!

@Dreagher - thanks. You are another hero of this forum and have created a brilliant army in this 3 months. So jealous when I have only one XIIth model finished (last ETL!). I hit ‘like’ on the heavy support but have ran out! Shouldn’t have gone to Loyalist forum late last night!

 

I was relieved the face came out ok, my last model’s face was re-shaded and re-highlighted about 5 times before I gave up. You can see I chickened out of putting whites of the eyes in - I can never get them symmetrical! Next time I’m using the bionic eye heads.

 

I deliberately used the same head on the squad member because the Alpha Legion “present one face to the enemy”. :)

[Vykes]

-laughs- it's still a pretty blasted good moral lesson there!

Aye, Kizzdougs does some absolutely phenomenal work and I love his bases in particular, gotta try that out too (I still want to make a windswept red sand mechanicum style base work. Maybe with some legit Alpha legion sorts). I think you nailed the look, it's rough and harsh and looks perfectly rugged. Love it mate. As for the airbrush, neeeever. I could never do even a tenth of my stuff with just brushing anymore. Cork does kinda suck, so I typically have to... ugh, brush it with some decent primer and let it dry, then wash it with some oils as they tend to keep their pigment really well.

Most of the bases I do (at least for my sons of horus, my blood angels use something similar but a bit weirder) are surprisingly quick. I'd be happy to toss up a few WIP sorts when I work on... whatever it is I'll be working on as an out of competition vow of solidarity I just take the standard black GW base and sand it down a bit with some sand paper (or a dremmel sander in particular for time's sake), then I decide if I want it to look like open concrete or more shattered stone. For the latter, it's just some dense cork that's cut and glued down with a hot glue gun, then some dollops of Liquitex ceramic stucco is blobbed on and smoothed out a bit. Sprinkle it with some odd unfiltered sand, and that's the actual 'built' thing. Takes like 2 minutes total.

The colouring isn't much harder: Prime it black, then a quick central zenithal highlight of white from an airbrush or rattle can. After its dry, I like using cheap water soluable oils for weathering as they're an easy clean up and I do stuff like, well, sponge on umber and a little bit of ochre and then drip water down on it. It'll dissolve someof the oils making it pool and swirl a bit, darkening the white highlight to brown and grey. Then I just tap in a bit of brick red and concrete grey weathering powders as it dries. Let it dry, then use a brush to draw the non dried powder in one direction to make streaks. Then seal, rim it in black, and done. Actual work time is probably in the realm of 5 minutes a base max (and decreasing with production line work), drying time is about 12 hours. If you have bigger terrain stuff, a quick blast of some umber and black through an airbrush for burn markings is often enough to pick out interesting parts.

Post Scriptum; ye, Dreagher is a blasted hero among us too! no doubt and always awesome to see XIIth legion sorts! And yeah, you nailed the face Lamebeard, mate! I don't do eyes unless it's a primarch or larger. Too much room for error for my liking.

Oh and because uh... well 'yeah', you lot are still working on your stuff, so I should too as solidarity.

Out of Competition Vow #1:

-10 Legionnaire Veterans, power fist, otherwise bare bones (it's more I like the image). I was never going to use EC heads as I'm now out, but I saw some of the newer Sons of Horus art and said 'meh, why not'. Now it's a question of green or grey armour. Kinda leaning towards grey.

Still got more marines and a few termies, so if I can finish them up right quick, might be able to do one small vow a day.

[Leonite]

Great work, Dreagher mate.  That definitely helps us out eh!  You got a full army picture some time for us?  Heh, kinda like to see that many of the bloody 12th in one place. 

 

Ah thanks Heshmen, I'm definitely in a kinda nirvana position so I figured I could and should do it.  Still, ETL and you awesome lot really helped push all of my projects forward, too (and our blind loyalist rivals!).  I mean it, thanks a ton, mates! 

 

Seriously, all of the AoD has performed incredibly.  We might be a footnote to our 40K competition, an anomoly, focused only on the Astartes and Chaos marines, but despite being almost out of the competition due to the drawbacks of our points and our participation, we're still killing 'em!  Everyone for the AoD should be proud, even our loyalist rivals.  We've got less participants, we've been in a release doldrums for a while, we've got some massive points disadvantages, and we're still doing better than groups with almost three times our numbers!  No fancy tools, no points breaking FW stuff, just work and dedication.  The Age of Darkness is a time of heroes, and you've prove that, no matter the legion no matter the offering, we've done well.  We can keep doing it, we still have time, so to our late comers, lets get 'em!  

 

On to glory, all legions as one, and for the Warmaster!

 

Have we had a Death Guard pledge yet?  I seem to recall almost every other legion represented, but I don't recall our brothers of the 14th.  I still have some time and bodies (I, uh, ran out of 16th legion decals for infantry... heh.  But still got 14th, 15th, and a few standard ones so 3rd and the like). 

I might be in the Chaos Space Marines, but I used the parts!

 

Now my brothers of the past, march forward! Show the foolish loyalists that past or present, we aren't to be underestimated!

[Captain Semper]

Great progress guys - and a great endeavour for Vykes with his OOC vow... 

 

BUT: 

 

There are a lot of second and subsequent vows incomplete and I'm starting worry... The effects of incomplete second vows may be devastating... 

 

UPDATED TO THIS POINT!

[Captain Semper]

http://fortressofunforgiven.homestead.com/ETL_6_Poster_01_Announcement_V2.jpg

 

TWO DAYS TO GO!

[Vykes]

Right on Leonite, the forces of the Warmaster will be victorious one way or another!  

 

And aye, I'm right worried to some extent too, Semper Senpai!  So call it a general consul at the state of our reinforcements.  We've committed thousands, but where are our breakthrough forces? 

 

@Altis

@Archidamus

@Der H

@Fangbanger

@Grifftofer

@LetsYouDown

@Rayray

@Scribe

@Supe robot gangster #1

@The Observer

@Qkhitai

 

Where are we at while on the war footing?  We need those reinforcements or we might well be pounding on the wall, and the forces we've sent are significant but might well be washed out. 

 

My own extra forces are being briefed (and I'll need some opinions in short order). 

[Der_H]

Right on Leonite, the forces of the Warmaster will be victorious one way or another!  

 

And aye, I'm right worried to some extent too, Semper Senpai!  So call it a general consul at the state of our reinforcements.  We've committed thousands, but where are our breakthrough forces? 

 

@Altis

@Archidamus

@Der H

@Fangbanger

@Grifftofer

@LetsYouDown

@Rayray

@Scribe

@Supe robot gangster #1

@The Observer

@Qkhitai

 

Where are we at while on the war footing?  We need those reinforcements or we might well be pounding on the wall, and the forces we've sent are significant but might well be washed out. 

 

My own extra forces are being briefed (and I'll need some opinions in short order). 

 

The IIIrd are here to fullfil their vow....a hidden blade, striking with perfect timing....

 

Behold - in the nick of time - my finished my vow to complete 6 Scimitar Jetbikes as a Sky Hunter Squadron, with a sky Hunter Sgt with Phoenix power spear of total value 270 points! Its a shame I could do a second pledge, I wanted to pledge more; I have a dreadclaw and 2 ten man tacticals on my bench sprayed purple....next year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I even put details on the control panel - a rare treat for me!

 

In the works are a dread claw, 2 10 man tactial squads, 5 more phoenix terminators, a librarian (for the IIIrd you say?!) and some more HQs.....oh, and a Spartan! That's basically 2 years work right there....