Battle Group Hades

[OtherKharon]

Hello and welcome everyone to the log for my battle group Hades,

 

A formation of Armageddon's finest to stem the tide of greenskins, demons and everything else turning their hellish homeworld of a planet into... well... more hell?

 

This log will continue at times background, fluff, planning and conversion stages for the army itself and of course painting. Each of which you'll find in the appropiate section. This is meant as your staging ground and navigational post (once I get it to work) to dive into the worn torn world of Armageddon.

 

Conflict of the Armageddon sector

 

Hidden Content

• The planet itself
• A hive world's population
• Abridged history
• Cities, rivers... geography

 

 

Vox Chatter

Hidden Content

• GW's Steel Legion
• Historical Influence
• The hive world's regiments and the Steel Legion
• Organisation of a battle group

 

 

Mustering a battle group

Hidden Content

• Army List

Army list - 1500 points

• Sketches
• Influence
• Conversions
• Ideas for lists and units

 

Colours of the Conflict

Hidden Content

• Inspiration and preparations
• Some Cadians

Previously painted Cadians with severe skin issues

• Creating a camouflage pattern

Background and theory on camouflage

 

[sources]

• Codex Armageddon
• Codex Imperial Guard 5th ed
• Rulebook 5th ed
• http://www.eagleordinary.com/

[OtherKharon]

Greeting loyalists and traitors alike. Come and join me whether you are of the noble human stature, or simply a filthy xenos.

 

It is now soon two decades ago that I picked up my first metal Cadians and soon thereafter expanded the force with the newly released Steel Legionnaires. They forced in their natural metallic and plastic look until the Eye of Terror campaigns years later but really jumped into service during the 5th edition. When I had found a regular gaming group.

 

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/combatvseldarsmallerres_zpsmcmdxe9x.jpg

 

Army changed over that edition with a strong focus on vehicles. Expanding my motor pool significantly. With the lack of new miniatures for the Steel Legion I then branched out into other regiments. Resulting in the acquisition of several Cadians. But even though I really enjoyed the feeling of having a fully supported range miniature wise, I really could warm up to them. Too bulky and not that much fun to paint.

 

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/squadnearlyfinished01.jpg

 

With the exception of the Kasrkin.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/Grenadiers2.jpg

 

Which brings us to the present day. Now companies like Anvil Industry, Victoria, etc. are creating the variety of guardsmen I always wished for GW to do. And with the sheer volume of reading material after skipping 6th and 7th it is high time to give my Steel Legion the overhaul it deserves and get back into my favourite sci-fi universe.

[Maerlen]

Oooh, I'm watching this one!

[spafe]

Those paint jobs are bllomin fantastic! can't wait to see what else you come up with!

[WarriorFish]

Very nice work, particularly the Kasrkin scheme :tu:

[duz_]

Models look great! Can't wait to see more! :D

 

How do you plan to continue to expand your forces? The new Anvil and VM stuff is awesome.

I just finished backing the Anvil Burning Rose kickstarter :D

[OtherKharon]

@spafe: Thank you though after I have seen what the new washes and colours are able to pull off I do see that my highlights can be better as well as brush control. I aim to improve on those.

 

@WarriorFish: Thanks and yeah, I love that colour scheme. It was what I used on my very first unit on stormtroopers.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/ArmaIG2.jpg

 

Currently thinking how and if I can bring it back for my SL.

 

@Duz: From what I have read in the new codex there are some great new changes and some I am rather disappointed with. First it saddens me that the variety on the veterans is gone. They are basically now a shootier version of the standard guardsmen. I failed to spot the Rough Riders in the codex, but am seeing them in BattleScribe, thus I am assuming there is some rulesheet for them floating around.

 

As on how I expand I will first tinker a bit with an army list and second elaborate on that in another post when I'll dig into the background and flair of the SL.

 

And thank you for backing. I am currently low on cash otherwise I'd have supported the kickstarter as well. So thank you for enabling them to create those sweet miniatures. To be honest I think they are going to be more to my liking than what GW will come up with.

And Anvil is probably the main culprit for my return to the hobby in the first place. The options they offer for guard players are just amazing. Am so planning to get their void troopers as scions. Sadly I feel like their regiment parts are not quite fitting for the SL. At least the way I envision them.

 

Gonna upload my list in the appropiate section and try to link it in the first place.

 

And for what I have been up to:

After going through the stuff of eagleordinary and fooling around with it, I decided to work an old sketch of masteralighieri. I would love to represent miniture wise the different branches of an army. Even though I think the options rulewise are a bit limited in that regard.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/testtemplate77SL_zpsbgtn0mwt.jpg

 

Fun little thing to go crazy with.

And here after I redraw the lines with GIMP. I wish I could draw properly. This is still WIP while I have to take a closer look at camouflage.

 

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/SLsketcheslinetest_zpstxhzw7q1.png

[Nostromo]

nice to see that someone uses the very same approach for color scheme testing than me.

The color scheme looks solid - even with 4 basic colors used.

Something i would try... what do you think about using your armour-khaki for weapon casings as well?

[OtherKharon]

Nostromo... get out of my head!

That is exactly what I did with one of the multiple test miniatures I did a (long) while back.

Obviously today I wouldn't do the uniform the same way and avoid the camouflage on the bedroll. I think the 4 colour pattern of the sketch has already more potential. But am not quite done with my camouflage planning. I hope to be able to post it still this week.

Meanwhile enjoy some... quick experiments to familiarize myself with GIMP again.

(Both sketches aren't mine! I used use them to test some colours. Sadly I forgot who the actual artist(s) are.)

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/hydroponicsflecktarnblack.png http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/hydoponicsdeadspaceearthgovernment.png

[Nostromo]

*... eyes lock on the rolled up tarp on the back of the mini... eyes wander to your location...* okay, that fits.

NICE job on the Flecktarn!

 

And painting weapons casing and armor also looks good on your mini.

As far as my presence in your head is concerned... get used to it. i like it here and will stay a while

[OutlawSixActual]

Just to double check, have you made your vow for the ETL??

[OtherKharon]

@Nostromo: Guilty as charged. Back then I experimented allot with camouflages. But with a bit more research I realized that I approached it the wrong way. And looking back at it now, I basically practiced layering allot and only used a limited range of washes. That is why I think now that some highlights are quite lacking/ not as strong as they could be.

(As photobucket seems to be down I fixed the issue and have started to upload pictures here.)

Dammit! My friendly neighbourhood commissar told me that once you are hearing voices in your head, you are to go and see him.

@coldfyre: After finally being forced to actually read about the ETL, I'll have to say no. I finished taking inventory the last week. And came to realize two things. I have way too much stuff and that I have to make room for new shiny stuff.

• Too much stuff: I need to get rid of some parts of my Steel Legion. While I love the miniatures there is no need for me to have well over 100 of them. At the same time I'll take the opportunity to rid myself of some classic Cadians, Mordians, Catachans and even really old Necromunda guardsmen. Additionally with the death of WHFB I want to get rid of most, if not all of my fantasy stuff. Don't have the time anymore for two systems, so I made the decision to stay with the one I like best.
• 
  
• Once I have made room and freed some more funds that way it is time for new fancy stuff. In the time I was gone from the hobby there have been some great releases. Anvil Industy, Victoria Miniatures, Wargame Exclusive, Blood and Skulls,... and the list goes on. There are now allot of companies that produce high quality pieces which I'd like to include into my army to reinforce the look I am aiming for.
• 
  

I doubt I'll be in any shape to make a sensible pledge within the next two months (besides I haven't checked how many paints have survived their long neglicence in the shelf).

I really do like an event such as ETL, but I'll participate when I am in a reasonable shape to do a proper pledge.

[Nostromo]

So far i see a conflict between camo and highlighting/shading.

With camo patterns like the one you are using, shades and highlights tend to disappear in the pattern.

In addition, camo works too well in minis... meaning that the pattern dissolves the shape and eats details, even if they are on adjacents parts of the miniature.

Your pattern and the execution looks really good - but it is no surprise that you are struggling with highlights.

 

But the simpler the pattern is, the more shading and highlighting "survives" the pattern.

Flecktarn and similar patterns are a nightmare here - that's why i decided against that pattern (though i really would have liked to use it!) and modified and simplified chocolate chips instead.

[OtherKharon]

Absolutely. I have come to realize that as well. The only way I can imagine one could pull off highlights was, if the colours of a camouflage were true to each other. For example by using several different shades of grey, or brown. That way there might be an option to actually find one highlight colour and apply it in thin layers.

Some time ago I aquired the DKoK quartermaster, because it is simply a gorgeous miniature and wanted to have him as a company commander, now I am pondering whether or not to get either some DKoK grenadiers/ pioneers so he doesn't feel so lonely amonst the legionnaires.

Point being: Gorgeous miniatures with allot of detail. I think ultimately I will be saddened to see all that detail go to waste.

Hence I think I will follow your approach. Stay away from WW2+ era type of camouflage patterns and go back to something simpler. Something like 60/70% base colour and 40/30% secondary camo colour. A third colour tops.

And then apply them in bigger patches, not unlike this guy. Who looks kinda crap as the direction of the camo pattern is off and the three different colours don't come properly through.

[Nostromo]

yes - this would be one possible approach that would work with shades.

Similarly simple would be a pattern with only one (maybe a second) color for the large areas that will be shaded and then a dissolving pattern that consits only of two colors without additional shades.

Like the chocolate chip pattern.

I hope it will work in my scheme - i am still working on that. Maybe you have already seen it in my threads.

(click to enlarge)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your models look good.

[OtherKharon]

Thank you Bjorn.

 

And yes I have Nostromo. Was the first thing I checked when looking at your work and think it'll work for you. And based on your suggestions and some research I present:

 

 

 

Camouflage

 

Brief history

 

F

rom mediaeval times onward, the colours, soldiers tended to drape themselves in, where mostly predetermined by the coat of arms of their liege lord. That changed over the centuries when more colours became technical available and there was the need to distinguish certain units on the battlefield. Once modern firearms began to dominate the battlefields of Europe from the 30 years’ war onwards, they brought with them the huge amount of gunpower smoke which made it difficult to tell friend from foe.

So up until the start of the 20^th century the colourful uniform was very often a source of pride for a nation. Their colours symbolizing their values and military tradition. Long after more realistic heads argued that the invention of the smokeless gunpowder called for better concealment in the field.

Without the swaths of smoke lingering on the battlefield it was easier to tell who your comrades in arms where and suddenly bright colours made you stand out more against your surroundings, when combat ranges increased dramatically.

While examples of camouflage can be found earlier, like Prussian Jaeger under Frederick the Great, it took until the end of the 19^th century until nations changed their stance on troop concealment.

Some Nations began to dress their colonial and expeditionary troops in single colours to better blend with their surroundings. And then the experiences of the first world war gave birth to the first dress camouflage patterns.

Today national armies can be distinguished by their versions of personal camouflage which not only varies between different countries, but different branches of service aswell.

 

Creating a camouflage pattern

 

N

ow in creating a camouflage pattern I looked on what was more commonly available to me and that were sources in German. I went on from the 1918 Buntfarbenanstrich to interwar patterns. The Buntfarbenanstrich featured three different colours in neatly painted fields, separated by stark black lines.

One of the more famous interwar camouflage patterns was the German Splittertarn (next to the Italian one which was adopted pre-war). Here extra stripes are to further blur the colour, applied into a singular direction. It was meant to provide adequate concealment throughout the year (except winter). With the primary colour being a less bright grey-beige instead of the previously used ockre. The pattern were small shard-like patches of dark green and brown, both applied with in the same shard like fashion (hence “Splitter”).

With the introduction of the Sumpftarn in 1943 the shards were further interlocked and their edges blurred by applying the colour in a dotted pattern.

So, compared to the first attempts of multicoloured camouflage in 1918 the colours were toned down, with an increasing effort to blur their lines. A main colour was then complimented by a pattern of supporting colours. Interestingly enough, the main colour was something like beige or khaki for many armies. With brown and green serving as colours for the actual pattern.

While Splittertarn was in use throughout WW2 and for decades afterwards there was at the same time another pattern in development that has survived unto this very day. The Flecktarn.

Its desired effect is that the wearer outline blurs in with his/her surroundings. Making it difficult to identify them as a hostile.

While snow and desert patterns often contain three colours, woodland patterns receive around five different colours.

 

A Steel Legion pattern

 

A

lright after this, way too long, excursion into history let us get back to Armageddon [++ Because it is such a nice place++ inquisitorial edit].

And I must admit, that back in 2000 GW made some excellent choices on how to paint the Legion. The ockre of the coat is very fitting, given that most of the planet looks from above like a desert, and the camo on the tanks fits very well with the ash waste theme. Damn it. I am not allowed to complain here.

Alright but is it good for what I want or what I envision?

How you envision a guard regiment is a very personal thing, I assume. One sees the Mordian Iron Guard as a bunch of US Marines in dress uniform. Others (me) read the background and think “Hey, that is like every Prussian stereotype ever”. And then goes on to Anvil industry and dreams of Mordian stormtroopers or veterans in carapace armor. What? No longer possible? Damn you! Damn you all to… Hades?!

How I reach my conclusion for the Steel Legion will be elaborated in another (equally way too long) post. But suffice it to say that Armageddon has like… ALL the world wars. Every trope, stereotype, propaganda myth you once heard and cranks it up to eleven.

So, while it is viable to do a fully Flecktarn camo for a legionnaire I think it doesn’t fit the Legion well. Plus the fact that details will become obscured by a highly complex pattern.

I did one anyway:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/gallery/sizes/235450-city-fight-flecktarn-test/large/

 

The guard is after all a gothic future version of our military history. Or used to be. So I’ll look at the camo from the first to the second world war. Still having the majority of the uniform in one colour but sporting at the same time distinct pattern.

The next questions are shape and colours. Shape is dictated by the environment a regiment is fighting in and colours by its clime.

Let us look at the environment.

Hades at the start of the 3^rd war was a crater. The Orks had just lobbed an asteroid atop its and then still tried to capture it, turning it into the world’s Stalingrad, Verdun, Somme, Przemyśl, Monte Cassino… before lunch... on a hangover.

So vast parts of the hive are rubble. Then whatever survived the impact and the outlying surviving facilities. The rest is still ash waste. Now you can sadly google that for real life examples and that gives me as a main colour a dirty, dark grey (maybe add ockre to it). Then to represent the ash we will have a grey as first pattern layer. And to represent the dead earth and grass we add red brown and ocker patterns.

The red brown will have the additional benefit to tie in the blue pants as a somewhat complimentary colour.

But now we have demons. How Armageddon looks… I have no idea. We know that they had a party in the equatorial jungle (that somehow manages to be horizontal to a polar region and the fire wastes ++Marvel at the Emperor’s flawless creation!++ inquisitorial edit). Could the rift enable demons to change the landscape after about a hundred years? Or do some Khorne demons just look at the world and decide it looks sufficiently hellish enough already?

Can we safely assume that by now Armageddon’s regiments will most likely be facing Orks again and Cultists? As the demonic invasion might have died down after such a long time or does the warp rift fuel demons with constant engery so that they are able to maintain their presence and/or changes to the world?

Allot of questions and actually I have no answer for that. The fluff doesn't tell us much in that regard.

That is why I will stick with the colours. As for the pattern; We are fighting within the ruins of a once proud hive and its surrounding area. Plus the occasional warp anomaly.

Taking inspiration from both the Splittertarn and the British “Berlin camouflage” , and in regards that they’ll have to fight in ash wastes and possibly warp twisted areas, I have come up with the following patterns.

 

First I tested a Flecktarn in GIMP cause it takes like a minute to create these.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/camotest_zps4sot0egd.png

 

This uses all the colours I think suit the city fight and ash waste nature of hive hades. And definitey would work, but for me there is too much going on. Making it difficult to work out highlights.

 

So I toned down the covered areas. And went for a lightning shaped splintercamo that transforms into a flecktarn style with only two camo colours to keep things simple.

 

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/hadescamouflage_zpsmdz1hg4j.png

 

It is fine, but personally am not a fan of those long stripe patterns. Attempted them once and did not work out well.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/DSCF1201_zpsmicgjf2a.jpg

 

So I changed the pattern, seperated the colours and introduced the strong black seperation lines of the WW1 era camouflage styles.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/hadescamouflage3_zpscicm2r28.png

 

I like it but then I found a desert pattern and remembered what Nostromo mentioned and slightly changed it to the following. It might look a tad too modern for an army that drives around in tanks without suspension... but whatever.

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/hadescamouflage2_zpsjs8dxht8.png

 

I hope you have enjoyed this and are able to find some bit in it that motivates you to go out and create your very own camouflage pattern.
 

[Nostromo]

You know that you are in desperate need of therapy?

Maybe my therapist accepts another maniac...

 

That is actually much thought you put in your patterns development - and it sounds very consistent.

I would make the "shaded spots" from the chocolate-chip pattern a tad larger, but that might look quite good.

 

Time to try it with a gimp-mockup on a infanterist sketch.

Really impressive - and that's more of a pattern develpment tutorial or article than an entry in a army development thread.

[duz_]

Speaking from experience I would avoid "sharp" camouflage patterns

They're a really pain to do at such as small scale (not to say they can't be done).

On vehicles it is a bit easier though, still tedious however. 

I would go for stripes and / or blobs

 

However I'm looking forward to seeing more painted minis! :) 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The camouflage patterns look great on your models!

[OtherKharon]

Thanks guys. ^^

 

Nostromo I am gonna need that number.

And you are right about the chips. It was simply, that I was too zoomed in while working on them in GIMP that I didn't realize until afterwards how small they actually are. Personally am torn between the last two patterns, but that is something I will have to see on the actual miniatures. For which I cut plastic sheets all week.

 

Here is where we are with the pattern in theory. (plus an evening to listen to Mordian Glory's babbling)

With chips:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/chiplegionnary_zpsikur9ujm.png

And without:

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/legionnarycamo_zpsxgvscxuz.png

 

Personally I am leaning more towards the chipless version. Seems more coherent.

 

That is a nice pattern on that cloak duz_, and yeah I have my demons with sharp camouflage. But in the end I think I will have to take on the challenge. It is much more fitting and I hope the Steel Legion miniatures with their large patches allow me to be successful with it.

 

Thanks Bjorn. More to come for sure.

 

 

 

And here is the last test mini I have for you for the time being. Next up I am gonna prime some legionnaries, sort through what colours I still have (and haven't dried up) and start actually painting. But there is also a background section and regiment lore in the works.

The idea behind the following trooper was what the legion would wear during the season of fire. Also a certain sci-fi show had some influence here. Enjoy.

http://bolterandchainsword.com/uploads/gallery/album_14620/gallery_107691_14620_131.jpg

[Nostromo]

At first, i tended towards the version with chips. From a visual point of view, i like how the chip color is picked up on other parts of the miniature. Though, if you consider the camo- aspect, the bright parts of the chips are supposed to represent the brightest color to be expected in the environment.

In THAT context, that color should be avoided for all larger surfaces like helmets and weapons.

With that and after a second glance, now i also favor the chipless versions. Does not really improve the look and is more of a distraction.

 

What i do not like is the blue on the pants. For my s ns of asthetics(whatever that's worth) it makes the whole miniature too colorfull. Maybe use bag-khaki instead of blue?

Some things that come to my mind:

Maybe you can replace the black for some of the leather objects with the khaki you use for the bags - though, inthat case, the pants should get another color. Maybe the brighter grey from the camo-pattern?

[OtherKharon]

I know that the helmet and weapon parts are not ... favorable to conceal a trooper. But that colour is supposed to be an actually brighter bone-white. Which I could then use on DKoK Grenadiers armour, Anvil Void troopers... anything with more armor for a stormtrooper-y feeling.

 

And I can't make it all too realistic, it is 40k after all, right?

 

I agree on the pants part. The khaki would definitely be an option. But going back to the first sketches I realized I made a mistake. I used Prussian Blue instead of the more greyed down version of it I used originally. Replaced it here, plus khaki pants version and brightened the helmets, guns and buttons.

 

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/legionarrycamov1_zpsy5vv0oke.png

 

http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa110/LordAdmiral_Lamorte/legionarrycamov1khaki_zps8o9groyg.png

 

I am not too sure about replacing some of the leather objects. I intend to paint those parts uniformly in black to represent the fact that they are leather,

[Nostromo]

It's getting better and better.

I think i like the darker bone-white more - that's just a matter of what color you use for highlights and which for the rest. Bone for edges and a toned down, darker bone for the actual casing?

Nothing wrong with bone white anyway - hey, my first army are dark angels!

If you think you need black to represent leather, so be it. Why not? But no pure black - remember to keep it in consistency with the general color scheme, so make it a brownish black (mostly relevant for highlights).

[OtherKharon]

Bone white armor is the best! And so are Dark Angels... erm... but once more I agree with you. The darker bone white will be better, especially as that leaves a brighter white for all the skull-gasmasks.

 

And about the leather, I once learned/read that you do not colour it pure black but in shades of either brown or blue (epecially when it comes to the highlights). In the larger images that I uploaded to the gallery it is easier to see that I actually used a very dark blue for the leather parts. The highlights are simply the same colour with more transparancy infront of a white background. And went for the blue route to have a complimentary colour to the reddish brown and the arm badge. And then lateron the Hades campaign badge, which, according to imperial armor vol. 1, is a red skull in a red circle on a white ground.

 

And while breaking shale apart for bases I finally managed to wrap my head around the situation on Armageddon itself. So far I have only considered the history of the planet prior to 8th edition. But not what a planet might look like after combating orcs and demons for over a hundred years.

 

... considering all the limited information we have on the current situation there.

 

I am getting my hands on both Chaos Space Marines and Chaos Daemons codices in hopes to gain more of an insight on the situation there.

 

And while I am doing that, could you help me in finding more information on astropaths, telepatical communication, iconography of (imperial) psykers and the Astra Telepathica? Also iconography of the two major gods turning the planet into their playground, Khorne and Tzeentch?