Lord Gunthars WIP: Traitor Guard and Death Guard

[lord gunthar]

Saving first post for future use

[lord gunthar]

Welcome to my work in progress thread, where i'm planning on posting semi-regular updates on my projects.
 
I was planning on starting a forge world traitor guard army at some point, but I decided to speed up that idea once the whole range went last chance to buy. I've been working on death guard for the last 18 months so I'll also include a few updates on them as I finish that force off.

 

 

Got a whole bunch of cadian boxes, forge world renegades bits and chaos cultists. My goal for this force is to have a full painted 1750 pt list completed by the end of september 2019 for the NZGT.

 

My current list idea is:

 

Catachan Brigade 1746 pts +12 CP

 

Iron Hand Straken 75 pts

Company Commander, warlord, old grudges, kurovs aquila, powerfist 38

Company Commander, powerfist 38

Primaris Psyker, nightshroud and psychic barrier 46 pts

 

Infantry Squad 40 pts

Infantry Squad 40 pts

Infantry Squad 40 pts

Infantry Squad 40 pts

Infantry Squad 40 pts

Infantry Squad 40 pts

Infantry Squad 40 pts

Infantry Squad 40 pts

 

6 Bullgryns with mauls, 2 brute shields, 4 slabshields 252 pts

Ministorum Priest 35 pts

Platoon Commander 20 pts

 

Hellhound 101 pts

Hellhound 101 pts

Hellhound 101 pts

 

2 Basilisks 216 pts

2 Leman Russ Battle Tanks 304 points

3 Mortar Teams 33 pts

3 Mortar Teams 33 pts

3 Mortar Teams 33 pts

 

The list will likely change after chapter approved as the astra militarum will probably have a few points changes, i'm going to hold off on assembling the mortars for that reason, but the rest is easy enough to magnetise. I have all those models except for the hellhounds, I'll likely pick up 3 of the forge world ones as I like the shape of the fuel tank a little more. I'm playing them as catachans as my local tournaments have a limit on forge world rules. Fingers crossed that the blackstone fortress minis are indicative of a coming renegades/lost and the damned codex! I'll likely pick that box up after my bank account has recovered from the Christmas season.

 

The army will be undivided renegades with a slight leaning towards Khorne. Colour scheme will be grey fatigues, bone armour and red/black details. I'm going to cover the minis in battle damage, OSL and freehand as painting is my favourite part of the hobby, and I've set myself a long enough time allowance (10.5 months) so I'm confident I can get it done in time.

 

I've got a week or 2 off work due to a dislocated knee, so I'm hoping to make some decent progress in that time. Got the basilisks, which I got 2nd hand, soaking in simple green at the moment. I'll open up the forge world kits and clean them later, aiming to do the infantry first. I'm waiting on some more magnets so I can magnetise all the russes. I'll likely convert some to conquerors too, it'll be an interesting challenge to work out how to get something with a similar look to the OOP forge world turret while attempting to keep it modular with the other varients.

 

Anyway enough words, heres a leviathan I'm working on which will be one of the last additions to my death guard

 

 

And heres my first squad of renegades! I painted these up as testers a few months back. This will be the scheme for the infantry of the force, with the left pauldron having different symbols (freehand, skulls, chains, flesh etc) to designate squads, and the right pauldron having a red daemon face (similar to word bearers) which will be the symbol for the army. The tanks will be grey and bone with red freehand symbols.

 

 

I look forward to updating you!

 

 

[Pearson73]

I love that Leviathan, you've done a great job converting it to chaos.

 

The mortal traitors are looking good too, the freehand and glowing eyes in particular.

[Markus_]

The Leviathan is most impressive, great work. Militia looks lovely as well.

[Charlo]

I'm a sucker for a Death Guard Leviathan and yours is no exception!

 

Those renegades are awesome too!

[lord gunthar]

Quick update!

 

I've made a start on my huge pile of plastic and resin!

 

First off I build a squad of renegade ogryn berzerkers/ bullgryns. The one holding a DKoK soldier is a games day figure from 2008 I got off ebay and stripped, the rest are new. These minis are so detailed and i'm looking forward to painting them.

 

 

I also stripped and cleaned up the 2nd hand basilisks. The one the right was challenging to clean up as it was coated in multiple layers of some horrible paint. I'm not sure how even it is currently, but a coat of spray will make it obvious if its flat enough. Worse case it'll become a terrain piece. I'm waiting on some brass chaos details and artillery crews then I'll convert them up to make them look a bit more chaotic.

 

 

I've also made a start on some of the characters. Build 2 renegade psykers unconverted, and converted up the commander from the renegade command squad to be the leader (as yet unnamed) of the warband. His head is from khorne lord zhufor, powerfist is cadian command with the imperial details removed and spikes added, and the plasma pistol got swapped out.

 

 

Hopefully the last few conversion bits and magnets arrive soon, want to make a start on the tanks.

Edited November 14, 2018 by lord gunthar

[Herald of Ultramar]

Following along, although I'm sure I'll start seeing them on Wednesday nights anyway.

[Pearson73]

Really like the converted commander, with a force with so many options and such personality as R&H, it makes sense that the commanders of each force should look at least a little different to one another. With that reason in mind, I want to convert mine, but the stock model is so good.

[Jukkiz]

ooh, i´m sucker for fancy dreadnoughts. May i ask where the horned, single eyed helmet came or was converted from?

[lord gunthar]

@Jukkiz

The helmet is from the multi-part plague marines box, I filled the cavity where the head is in the torso with a bit of plasticard to allow the head to pop out a bit more. It's only slightly smaller than the head it came with.

 

@Pearson73

Yeah I like making my models unique too. I think i'll keep the second one as stock with just arm swaps. I'm also looking into getting an eagle, which I'd paint in tzeentch colours, to represent kurov's aquila as I think it'd look cool.

 

@Herald of Ultramar

I'm sure you will haha. Just need to get a fully assembled force and a set of datacards, and it'll be game on!

[Soulhunter1995]

Looking really good I must say Gunthar  I`ll definitely be keeping my eyes on your thread for sure 

[Greenz]

Great work Nurgling up that dread, it looks quite beastly!

And those renegades look terrific, excellent freehand on the shoulder pads :tu:

[lord gunthar]

@Soulhunter1995

Thanks mate, appreciate it

 

@Greenz

Cheers, my knuckles were quite sore afterwards. I'm not looking forward to doing it on another 100 infantry and 10+ tanks haha

 

I've got some good news and some bad news.

 

The bad news is that the place I ordered magnets for the leman russes from had an issue with the supplier, so they won't get to me for another month. Plenty of time to work on other things I guess.

 

Good news is I have a bit of an update for you. First up is 6 crewmen for the basilisks. I know they aren't required, but rule of cool and all. I put them on bases so I can move them onto other artillery vehicles If I want.

 

 

Next is some command squad soldiers. I wanted to have one set on unconverted, and then I butchered the arms off of all the guys in my 2nd squad so I could mix a few more of the unique torso/leg sculpts through the army.

 

 

Next is the 2nd company commander, iron hand straken, and gunnery sergeant harker. The company commander has the same weapon swaps as the other one, couldn't be bothered getting my hands on an alternate powerfist.

I added respirators to straken and harker as I want all the infantry to have them to keep a similar aesthetic across the army. Harkers is from the command squad and strakens is a victoria minatures head, I added tanks to their backs which are from victoria and the forge world kits.

 

 

And last is the 7 sergeants for the infantry squads.

 

 

Next I've got all the lasgun guys to assemble which might take a while. Think I'll magnetise one in each squad so I can add special weapons easily if I choose to. I'll mix one DV chaos cultist and one blackstone traitor guardsmen into each squad too to make the forge world torsos go further. I'll have around 30 left over that I can use on heavy weapon teams, vehicle crews etc

[Herald of Ultramar]

Next is the 2nd company commander, iron hand straken, and gunnery sergeant harker. The company commander has the same weapon swaps as the other one, couldn't be bothered getting my hands on an alternate powerfist.

 

Would the powerfist from the Tempestus Scions work for you? I've got one lying around spare.

[KrautScientist]

The Nurglite Dreadnought and traitor conversions are looking great, and I really like those painted test models! I shall be watching this thread with interest ;)

[lord gunthar]

@Herald of Ultramar

That'd be great thanks! I'll either be at the club this week or next depending on how my knee's feeling

 

@KrautScientist

Thanks mate, your stuff has been an inspiration of mine for a long time, I hope to be as good at conversions as you one day!

 

Another update! I'm going back to work tomorrow so they'll slow down from here.

 

I've got all of the resin troops built, still need to make a few dark vengeance and blackstone cultists/traitors to make the full 80 troops. These ones still need to have pouchs/pistols/grenades etc added, and i'll go through and add squad markings too.

 

Ideas for markings are:

• Red freehand (tester squad)
• Black freehand
• Skull on a spike
• Thigh bone chained on
• Multiple spikes?
• Flesh spiked to shoulder
• Chains by themselves?
• Parchments/scrolls spiked on
• Barbed wire
• Plasticard trim with rivets

I'll have a think about it this week, if anyone has ideas or votes for squad markings then let me know!

 

Onto the wall of images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the group shot (just these new ones)

 

 

Aiming for next update a week from now, I'll try get all the assembly and conversions done of the minis I have for the traitors (Except the russes), then finish painting the leviathan. Then the 100+ traitor guard paint train will leave the station!

Edited November 18, 2018 by lord gunthar

[Greenz]

That’s a lot bodies and a lot of freehanding! Good luck brother

[lord gunthar]

Progress has been very slow in December, but it should pick up a bit late Jan/early Feb one the summer break is over. I'm moving into a much larger flat in a few weeks, which means getting an airbrush to help with painting tanks is actually an option. I'm aiming to get the infantry done first, at least most of them.

 

Before I get stuck into painting the traitor guard, I have a few death guard units I want to finish off so I have more flexibility with lists I can run while I paint the renegades. I have the leviathan to finish, 5 bloat drones (I'll likely only paint 2 due to the rule of 3 making 6 drones invalid), another 20 poxwalkers and a couple more squads of plague marines. I have a bunch more stuff thats just not going to happen, even with the points discounts in CA18.

 

The next tournament I'm going to is in February, the list I'm planning on taking is

 

Daemon Prince, wings and talons, warlord, supp plate, arch contaminator, miama

Daemon Prince, wings and talons, blades,

Daemon Prince, wings and talons, vitality,

18 Poxwalkers

18 Poxwalkers

18 Poxwalkers

Bloat drone, plaguespitters

Bloat drone, plaguespitters

Plagueburst crawler, slugger and plaguespitters

Plagueburst crawler, slugger and plaguespitters

Leviathan dreadnought, 2 butcherry cannon arrays

 

Which is 1750 points, 1 battalion and 1 spearhead. I need to finish the leviathan, paint 1 bloat drone, paint 18 poxwalkers and maybe strip and redo one of the princes.

 

Traitor guard updates, I've just been working on converting the infantry, which is close to being done. I haven't done anythings more on tanks, the magnets haven't arrived yet but I'm hoping they will be when I get back. Only models I'm missing from my current list plan are the hellhounds and the new blackstone traitor guard, I'll pick them up in the next month or 2.

 

Here are my mortar teams I've been chipping away at.

 

 

 

Edited December 24, 2018 by lord gunthar

[Pearson73]

Mortar teams are looking solid with the built up bases.

[steamius]

Love it! Love the Traitor Guard army! 

[lord gunthar]

Long time no update! I took a break from 40k for about a month over the Christmas period so didn't get much done until mid January. After that I painted my leviathan dreadnought. Pretty happy with how it turned out.

 

 

I also painted a second foetid bloat drone (the one on the left is the new pne)

 

 

Both of these were for a tournament a week ago, 45 player 1750 point 6 round ITC tournament at the other end of the country. It was the first time I've travelled for an event. I managed to pick up the best painted prize and I came second overall, with a 4 wins 1 draw 1 loss record. It's the first time I've gotten best painted after 4 or 5 second places.

 

 

That felt like a good time to take a break from the death guard which has been my project since I got back into 40k with 8th edition. I'm going to be focusing on the traitor guard for a while now.

 

Speaking off, here's 3 hellhounds I've just built. I've almost gotten every model for the initial list built so hoping to finish that off and start painting in the next few weeks.

 

 

Next update will be with the first painted squad (since the testers anyway)

[teku]

I was missing this thread! looking forward to the progress!

[Joe]

This thread is really inspiring. Keep up the good work!

 

I really regret not picking up more Renegade Guard stuff before it went. :(

[lord gunthar]

@teku Me too mate! takes a long time to make significant progress on 100+ infantry and 15 tanks

 

@Isinfier Cheers, yeah it really is a shame they are no longer available. I'm hoping they do a full blown traitor release in the blackstone fortress style in the next few years.

 

Bit of a weekend update for you.

 

I've finally finished off the conversions and greenstuffing for the 80 infantrymen. Each of the 8 squads has a different symbol on the left pauldron, and a slightly different basing scheme. All of the army will have red chaos symbols on their shoulders and the basing scheme is a desert with a couple different types of grass on it. 

 

Photos below show the identifiers for each of the 8 squads, I didn't want to take pictures of all 80 but I will as I paint them. The first 2 are testers from mid last year.

 

 

Shoulder and basing as follows

 

Squad 1: Red chaos star, sand texture paint

Squad 2: Black chaos star, sand and crack texture paint

Squad 3: Skull on spike, rusted debris

Squad 4:  Bone chained with spikes, barbed wire

Squad 5: Large spike, skulls

Squad 6: Single point of chaos star, sand

Squad 7: Barbed wire, sand and larger rocks

Squad 8: Spiked on strip of flesh, cracked texture paint

 

I Still need to do more conversions and sculpting for the HQ's, assemble the remaining heavy weapons, Leman Russes, convert the basilisks etc etc etc (might have bitten off more than I can chew with this one haha)

 

 

I've greenstuffed the gaps in the hellhounds, the edges between the plastic tracks and the resin hulls weren't particularly well aligned. There were a few voids at the back from the resin gates that needed repairing too. I had to remove a few of the rivets to clean up the flash, so i replaced those with 1 mm plasticard rods.

 

I've just begun the process of undercoating the infantry. Even though there is still a lot of modelling left to do, i'm keen to start painting some models to keen the motivation up.

 

 

Looking forward to painting the berzerkers especially. They were the absolute heroes in the one game I've played with the army. I might scratch build another 3 in the same aesthetic once I've made significant process on the painting. 

 

Update in 2 weeks.

[lord gunthar]

I'm back! I've been taking a bit of a break from the hobby for a while, been playing mordheim and board games instead of 40k.

 

I've started painting my basilisks, and built half of my russes. I haven't found a way to post images from my phone though, I cant find where to get bb links in imgur and the B&C image hoster is limited to 2 mb. Any tips from veteran posters?