[IK] Family picture

[Feral_80]

So here is the current family picture. 

 

We are slowly growing up here. There is some iconographic inconsistency as originally I started these as a 7th-ed. bunch of unaligned Knights whose liveries were loosely based on some of the major Houses. However, I quickly started to mix up colours and decals to reflect my personal taste, with little regard for strict house heraldries. And, of course these started as a 3x IK formation of different Freeblades, just to add some variety, at a time where House affiliation meant nothing at all rule-wise.

 

The result is that I tend to play these as just any House I like to try, although I use the 3x quasi-Terryn and the 3x quasi-Mortan as two different, internally consistent detachments. I will use these House names only loosely to refer to their colours.

 

Anyway. Here we are.

 

 

 

The order I painted these, over a couiple of years, is: Terryn Questoris, Mortan Questoris, Raven/Mortan Lancer, Terryn Armigers, Mortan Dominus. I like to think I've slowly improved my technique over time, but I realize there is still a lot to do.

 

Now one by one, starting from the most recent.

 

 

 

 

Yes, it bears 'Taranis' as a name. I liked its sound, not a problem if that's a House. I was too lazy to hand paint another name  maybe it's his name, or maybe that of the pilot. Or,who knows.

He sports a variation of the Mortan livery which adds white as a fourth colour. I liked the effect and the possibility to combine different geometries with no fixed pattern. And pretty much random decals. I am quite happy with the way this guy turned up. Can't say he's been that effective in-game so far, but ah well. He also features a small surprise:

 

 

The faceplate is magnetized, so it can be removed easily. And I added leds inside, drilling throught the eye, so that it can ligth up. In person, the effect is slightly better I think. Anyway, the carapace is not glued so I can easily remove it and access the led stuff, all stored inside. It was easier than I thought.

 

 

 

This one's colours may look similar to those of Dominus, but in fact they are closer to Mortan. No white around, and the yellow has those tiny cracks that seem to be part of Mortan's style (hardly visibile from the pic). As you can tell from the decals, however, he's essentially a mess as well. But I still like him. He tends to be the Warlord, and as a Warden he usually performs pretty well.

 

 

 

 

Sadly, the Lancer has not seen the field yet. He's waiting for more balanced rules and, in the meanwhile, he tends to pose as a Gallant. He's more clearly Mechanicus-aligned than the others two of his trio, at least in his simil-Raven colours. I am not happy with the way the glowing effect turned out on the shield and lance, nor with the pose of his legs, but that's it. He's a salvaged kit, that's why he has some chipping and damage and he's missing some parts (like the hatch!). And that's also why I rushed him a bit.

 

 

 

 

This is the oldest of my Knights, and of course he has been painted in posterboy (quasi-)Terryn style. He's fully magnetized and has some spare parts, so he can easily become a Gallant or a Paladin. In this Errant configuration he's never been fielded: instead, I've used it as a proxy Praeceptor so far, and I quite enjoyed it. The reason he's good as a Praeceptor obviously depends on...

 

 

 

 

...these two little guys. They are also fully magnetized, so they will be able to become Warglaives if needed once I purchase the kit. I've done a better paintjob on these two than on their bigger brother: I'm quite proud of their chequered shoulder pads - just compare them with the rather flat paint on the Questoris knee.

And yes, somehow I've managed to lose the (already painted) front 'hood' armour plate of one of the two 

 

 

 

They've been great fun to paint and to play with so far!

 

Next up: repaint the Helverin cannon guards from blue to red. Get and paint two 'Mortan' Warglaives with red/black armour on the cleavers, and go full-magnet on them as well. This way I can easily switch weapons among the Armigers of the two detachments.

 

Beside criticism and suggestions, I'd like some thoughts in regard to their names! They have been given none yet 

[Wakkomaster]

Whoa.

 

Niice. I mean. Niiiiiiiiiiice. 

 

Imperial Knights lore is not my strong suit I'm afraid, but I like the idea of the "wild bunch of Freeblades", I think it's quite an original take.

 

As for the names, building on the "definitely not a House" starting point, I think you can go crazy with them - and get away unpunished 

 

I'd still (my personal taste mind you) go with some kind of coherence and keep the same pattern: say you like composite names (I think I spotted a "Darkshroud" somewhere), I'd keep the theme and go on with something like, I don't know, Fireblade, Strongarm or... you know, that kind of things.

Or if you really want to be original, try "Chair".

 

"I'm Chair. Son of Desk. Of House Lava-lamp." 

 

Anyway, if I didn't already say it, that's some awesome painting.

 

[brother_b]

amazing job. Great stuff.

 

I really love the whole project especially the weathering and the based. In fact how did you get such great undulating bases?

 

Bravo job well done.

[Feral_80]

Cheers guys, many thanks.

 

I'll consider sir Table and friends ^_^"

 

As for the bases: first I've glued debris, small rocks, etc. On the Lancer, the big rocks are painted pieces of corkwood. Then the soil is just a thick mix of sand, water, vinylic glue and tiny rocks. All painted after it's dry, ie at least 24h.

The Warden base is a resin wholepiece which I purchased separately.

[Stray]

These are amazing, really great work buddy!

 

Don't fret over the Taranis thing either. It is a Knight house but long before GW ever borrowed the name, Taranis was a Celtic god of thunder. You're a fellow Scot it seems, so if anyone gives you grief over it, just roll your eyes and mutter something about cultural appropriation under your breath 

 

Awesome work again, I especially love the Dominus sans face plate.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[Frostbit3]

Looks dope. Best color scheme on a valiant that I’ve seen. Love him.

[Feral_80]

Actually I am Italian, temporarily in Scotland :D but thanks for the input! Might actually look for more Celtic named at this point

[Stray]

Actually I am Italian, temporarily in Scotland but thanks for the input! Might actually look for more Celtic named at this point

 

Italian's are awesome, learn to say slainte and we'll adopt you ;)

[Charlo]

These are beautiful, I especially love the Valiant. Amazing job!

[Lord Ragnarok]

Lots of eye candy here. the Valiant is my favorite, but they all look good. 

[Vel'Cona]

You can really see the "progression" from one Knight to the next, and it's all in remarkably short order.  Very impressive work, all around, though I particularly like your attention to detail with all the heraldry and unique touches on each Knight :)

[Feral_80]

This update can be aptly named FULL TILT.

 

 

 

 

So far, after just one game, Pyrrhos can count among his victims a dozen Plague marines, a couple of tanks, a Chaos sorceror, and no less than Arhiman himself (although, his body has not been found after the battle).

 

 

His two companions, on the other hand, have achieved little results so far. But they are eager to prove their worth.

 

 

Regardless, this is by far the funniest Lance, and among the funniest detachments ever, among those I can field.

 

[Magos Takatus]

That's one gorgeous Knight. That is quite some attention to detail.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I like the Knight's dynamic pose. He looks like Saito Hajime delivering a Gatotsu ("Fang Thrust," Saito's signature attack in the 'Rurouni Kenshin' manga/anime).

[Vel'Cona]

Definitely an intimidating pose, and I love the battle-worn paintwork, too. :)

 

Was converting the closed-fist challenging?

[Feral_80]

Not hard, but time-consuming. I had to cut each finger in 3 parts, trim and drill them through in order to place wire inside to keep them in pose. Once dried, green stuff (which I suck at using) to fill the joints.

The legs required quite a lot of work and an internal wire/sprue frame to give them stability, but again not particularly hard.

[Vel'Cona]

The results, I feel, were worth the effort!  I just picture him shouting "FALCON PAWWWWNCH!!!" :lol:

[Feral_80]

It is actually hard not to shout something like that every time I move it

[Feral_80]

Our traditional festive Apocalypse (at 15k vs 15k pts) saw my recently finished twin converted Gallants take the field together. They did ok, and even survived to the last turn, but on such a big table melee is simply not the way to go. We pulled out a draw eventually, which was surprising after we lost over 4.5k points just in the first turn due to tremendous firepower from the other side.

 

Unfortunately all battlefield pics turned out to be terrible, but at least I have a couple of pre-game showcase shots.

 

 

 

 

 

Apocalypse are fun and all, but every time we do one I remember why it happens only once per year.

 

Bonus pic: photoshopped Gallant charge!

 

[Prot]

Sweet pics. Love the special effects. I had a similar Christmas battywith my Knights which did not go so well. But they are always fun games!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the models and the Photoshopped image.

[Vel'Cona]

Wait, is your Gallant about to haymaker that Leviathan Dreadnought?

[Feral_80]

Yes, and embarrassingly it took him 2 turns to destroy it...damn 4++.