Vengeance is Ours - The Avalon Crusade

[CommodusXIII]

Might use it if primaris ever get chainsword lol

 

I have to chew through another Dark Imperium set first, but then I do have plans for this.  

 

 

Something to consider, candles are very, very easy to make from scratch.

 

I'd thought about that, and I did find some very good tutorials out there.  It came down to 1) needing to pad out my Anvil order with something, and 2) wanting to spend more time on painting than on building.  I can easily lose myself in scratchbuilding.

 

 

Tonight I finished the last five footsloggers from the Dark Imperium set.  These were the ones that were waiting on the tabards to arrive - I don't want to overdo it on the cloth, so only about 1-2 in 5 Marines will have them.  Some of the Primaris models have greebles hanging from their belts (like the Lieutenants) or are posed so that tabards can't fit.  Keeping tabards to only a few models in each squad will help keep anyone else from looking out of place.

 

 

 

 

This particular Intercessor has become my favorite of the lot.  The pose is excellent, and it has the right mix of my added Templar details.

 

I still have three Inceptors in the WIP box, which will be the next batch.  I've been holding off on them because... well, they look like they'll be frustrating.  The last bits for my Emperor's Champion have finally arrived, and soon I'll hopefully be collecting a second set of Dark Imperium Primaris to bulk up the Crusade.  That's plenty to keep me busy for the next month or so.

 

After that, things may get a bit more interesting.  I'm slowly falling in love with Aggressors, despite hating them initially, and I see quite a bit more infantry in the future.  I also have at least one more character to resurrect, along with possibly re-imagining the first model that I ever painted.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Black Templars Primaris Marines.

[Brother Lunkhead]

Wow...….. almost used up all my "Likes" on your post here. But, it was well worth it Very fine work on your Black Templars. Your Ancient and Banner are aces Dorn and Sigismund would be proud.

[CommodusXIII]

Thank you!

Tonight I can show off exactly one Inceptor.  I got a little ahead of myself and ran out of kneepad decals.  So, the rest of his combat squad is going to take a short break while I wait for shipping.

 

 

 

 

 

It turns out that the Inceptors aren't as much of a pain to paint as I'd expected.  On the other hand - the flying stands, and Imgur's new albumless update, are much more annoying than expected.

[Marshal Vespasian]

After being :cussed 3 ways to sunday by two squads of ultramarine intercessors yesterday: good choice.

 

The heraldic shield makes them Look better but I still feel like the weird cupola Part on their heads should be switched vs something else. That being said: great execution. Primaris do look stunning in Black ;)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Inceptor is well done.

[CommodusXIII]

Thanks!  It turns out that Ginfritter's ships from very close to my house, so the rest of the squad was finished far earlier than expected:

 

 

I really don't like these flight stands.  I don't trust the tiny contact point with the model, so I used a small dab of two-part epoxy rather than superglue.  Now, the stem itself will break before the joint does.

 

That wraps up the first Dark Imperium box.  I've spent the weekend painting a second batch of bases, and will hopefully begin work on another round of Dark Imperium Primaris early next week.

[Honda]

I really don't like these flight stands.  I don't trust the tiny contact point with the model, so I used a small dab of two-part epoxy rather than superglue.  Now, the stem itself will break before the joint does.

 

 

I was going to ask you how you felt about the bases. I love them as a concept, I'm just not sure they will survive vigorous play.

 

That has caused me to lean more towards looking at different solutions, e.g. pin through the foot to elevated terrain.

 

That being said, they do look awesome!

[bolvar]

Flight stands aside, your painting is very clean. Top-notch IMHO, I'd like something like that on my templars.

 

Guess I'll ask something along your style when I hire a painter. I've tried, but this is the only defeat I'll ever concede (it stills pains me), but I CAN'T PAINT. The day our lord The Emperor handled out hands for painting, I was lost in the warp it seems

[CommodusXIII]

Flight stands aside, your painting is very clean. Top-notch IMHO, I'd like something like that on my templars.

 

Guess I'll ask something along your style when I hire a painter. I've tried, but this is the only defeat I'll ever concede (it stills pains me), but I CAN'T PAINT. The day our lord The Emperor handled out hands for painting, I was lost in the warp it seems

 

That's the highest praise I can imagine!  Though, don't be discouraged - it took me a long time to get where I am today.  My Templars also aren't nearly as clean as they look.  I use liberal applications of washes, which hide most of the imperfections.  I have to continually remind myself that, however terrible I think they look while a WIP, in the end it all works out.

 

 

I've secured my second Dark Imperium set, but have taken a slight detour to work on a set of Easy To Build Primaris Intercessors.  The problem with the monopose Dark Imperium models is that, although the poses are fantastic, the duplication can be very obvious.  I'm working in these three additional models to replace three of the more iconic poses.

 

Not pictured is the new Sergeant, who is waiting for his tilt shield.  I actually bought out all of my usual bits vendors for the first set, so I've had to source alternatives that will hopefully arrive in the near future.

 

 

Demonstrating my lackluster freehanding skills, here is the auspex screen.  I was inspired by the motion tracker from Aliens.  It's far from perfect, but good enough for the tabletop.

[CommodusXIII]

Progress has been a bit slow - I ran out of tilt shields, and my initial rush to outfit the first batch of Battle Brothers drained my usual sources for bits.  That has since been remedied, and I should have enough to finish the current scope of this project.

 

 

The Easy-To-Build Primaris Intercessors turned out rather well.  I had a flash of inspiration during the priming step and ripped the arm from the sergeant, replacing it with a power fist from the Black Templars Accessories sprue with some greenstuff to mate it to the larger shoulder pad.

 

 

This model was the last Black Templar that I painted for my original army, and I never actually got around to using him.  By this point my interests were changing from "paint everything as fast as possible for next Saturday's game" to "these should actually look somewhat nice".  My hobby skills and paint supplies, however, were far from meeting this new goal.  I was rather unhappy with how this particular model turned out, so I'm very glad to have a second chance!

 

In digging this model out of the old tackle box, I realized that the "black cross with red border" isn't a new innovation to the Avalon Crusade.  I'd just forgotten that I'd tried it before.  To the keen eye, it's also an unflattering homage to the old Words of Blood anthology book cover:

 

 

Work is slowly progressing on the rest of their squad, and on the remainder of the Hellblasters.  I haven't yet tackled the remaining Inceptors - I'm now hoping that some 40 mm Necromunda bases will be released by the time that I get around to them, keeping with my combat squad theme, so I'll likely be stalling for as long as possible.

[CommodusXIII]

Progress has been rather slow this week due to waiting for a shipment of bits (likely a theme of this project) and an illness in the family.  Two more Hellblasters have been completed:

 

 

I love the dynamic poses of the monopose Dark Imperium models, but the problem is that... they're mostly monopose.  So, when I build an army around two sets the duplicates begin to appear obvious.  This is most apparent with the Hellblasters, as there are only three poses.  In a combined squad of 10, there will be two sets of four Astartes with the same pose.

 

Adding tabards and other bits can hide this to an extent.  I'm also beginning to mix the Hellblaster and Intercessor bits, where they fit together relatively well.  For example, the Initiate on the left is the standard Hellblaster Sergeant with the head of one of the Intercessor Sergeants.

 

Today I'll be chewing through a portion of the remaining Intercessors.  I'll do what I can with the Inceptors, but I messed up their flight stands and have to wait for a replacement set to appear on eBay.  I was considering tackling the Emperor's Champion next, but I think I'll get some more practice with a squad of Reivers first.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Hellblasters.

[CommodusXIII]

Another shipment of tilt shields has arrived, so I can finally knock out these seven Primaris that have been languishing on my WIP table:

 

 

That wraps up the squad of 10 Hellblasters and another combat squad of 5 Intecessors.  Three Intercessors remain, and then I'll finish the squad of Inceptors.

[bolvar]

Keep it up brother

[CommodusXIII]

With the release of Codex: Armageddon, the focal point of my army became the Emperor's Champion.  Eventually I would kitbash my own version, consisting of the body of a Death Company marine, a plastic bolt pistol arm, a metal Grey Knights Nemesis Force Sword (this was long before Codex: Daemonhunters), a G.I. Joe ninja star, and some other odds and ends.  I procured my GW materials from their mail order service for a grand total of $14.
 
Commodus the Ever Vigilant, namesake of my B&C account, served me well for many years.  Despite being dropped and repaired several times, he remains in my WIP cabinet as a memory of the old times.

As a refresher from my first post:

 

 

Rebuilding Commodus, now renamed Constans after a general Germanization of my original character names, was the driver behind this entire project.  In the course of tracking down all of the bits that I wanted, I ended up with enough to cobble together a Kill Team.  And from there, it was a downward spiral to planning an entire army.  So it goes.
 
If I was going to rebuild him, I'd might as well use the latest and greatest components.  Hence this became a Primaris project, also to make use of the Dark Imperium sprues that were gathering dust in my basement.  I was inspired by similar kitbashes [1] [2] and by this particular image of Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings:
 

 

I don't typically take WIP pictures.  However, today I blue-tacked everything together to see how the parts were fitting and took the opportunity.  Here's the current state of Constans the Ever Vigilant:
 

 

Here are the components:
 
The body is that of a Hellblaster, selected for this particular post.  I added a tabard from Spellcrow.  I'll be leaving off the rear tabard, as the greebles and general stance don't really allow for it.  It's difficult to make out, but I filed down the skull on the breastplate and replaced it with a Maltese cross trimmed from a Black Templar purity seal.  I also added a Marksman Honor from the Ultramarines Primaris Upgrades sprue - the original model had one (in the form of a modified krak grenade and some fishing line) handing from his belt, added after the picture above were taken.
 
The backpack and Iron Halo are from the Primaris Chaplain.  Although never represented on either of the official models, the early Emperor's Champion was notorious for consuming this unique wargear item.  In 3rd Edition they were limited to 0-1 per army (an early form of today's Relics) and were the most reliable source of a 4++ save.  Black Templar characters were forced to turn to storm shields for comparable saves - possibly driving the first implementation of Captain Smashfether.
 
True to the original model, the hand and pommel of the Black Sword is a modern Nemesis Force Sword.  The hilt and blade are from a metal Emperor's Champion, and the arm is from a Hellblaster.  I couldn't quite get a two-handed grip to align properly, so the left arm is in the process of reaching in to grasp the sword.  I used an Intercessor Sergeant arm and a Grey Knight hand.  True to the original model, purity seals hide some of the more janky seams.

 

I wanted to replicate the original shoulder pads, which are very old metal bits featuring the Maltese cross, a skull, laurels, and a banner.  I sourced the new pauldrons (with banners) from the Intercessor kit.  The rest of the elements will involve multiple layers of transfers.  The tilt shield is from the Black Templars Accessories sprue, and features the Black Templars version of the Crux Terminatus - in 3rd Edition, the Emperor's Champion included Terminator Honours in its list of wargear.  As with Reclusiarch Talbot, Constans no longer fights for his own honor and thus does not bear his personal heraldry into battle.

 

The head, as the focal point of any model, is particularly important.  The Death Company body used for the original model featured a skull with laurels, which was as close as I could come to the original artwork for the Emperor's Champion:

 

 

I couldn't quite find the same arrangement of symbols for the new Primaris version, but this was close enough.  It's the alternate head for Lieutenant Calsius, included in the 5th issue of Warhammer 40,000: Conquest.

 

There are quite a few models on my painting table ahead of Constans, but it's good to finally see him take shape!

[Marshal Vespasian]

Cool conversion!

 

I am very much liking all those primaris ecs taking shape all across the board.

I feel your pain in getting a two handed grip to look good. It's a sad truth that there aren't many models that do this well and its almost always a struggle to get it to fix. I am super jealous of the 30k BA legion praetor because of his great pose.

 

Gonna have to get in on that primaris Charakter Action.

[CommodusXIII]

More bits have arrived, and the last three Intercessors are now finished.

 

 

That wraps up the first 60 Initiates.  I'm actually looking forward to going back to the Inceptors now...

 

[The Pounder]

Good looking force you’re developing here.

 

The double handed guy with the sword is a really neat conversion.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your work honors the Primarch- and through him, the Emperor.

[CommodusXIII]

Well, I fielded the Avalon Crusade for the first time in a full-sized game at AdeptiCon.

 

 

The limit was 1,000 points, and I basically fielded what I had painted:  tne Chaplain, two Lieutenants, four squads of 5 Intercessors, one squad of six Hellblasters, three Inceptors, and the Ancient.

 

 

This was a 12 v. 12 game, and I set up on the far left flank and prepared to die for the Emperor...

 

 

...and was promptly ignored.  I took and held three objectives, dropped two Orbital Bombardments, and picked off a few Terminators with long-range bolt rifle shots.  The Inceptors deepstruck and captured a needed objective, before being wiped out as my only casualties.

 

Still, it was good to see my brethren on the table.

[Marshal Mattias]

Solid showing, brother! Duty is it's own reward; there is honour in that. Sometimes you have to take an objective and hold it, even if the assignment sees you far from the obvious glory - just look to our own Reclusiarch Grimaldus.

 

Next time you claim an objective and the cowards shy from battle, just remember to let them have a bit of this:

 

"I have dug my grave in this place amd I will either triumph or I will die." What kind of foe could turn from such a challenge? You will draw them to your blades like moths to the flame - and you will purge them as swiftly.

 

 

Anyway, if I was a foul Xenos or Heretic fool, I would be finding any excuse not to engage such an intimidating force as yours on the battlefield ;)

[CommodusXIII]

I'd sat down to finish the last half of my Inceptor squad, only to make a fine mess of the flight stands.  One of the clear coats that I'd used to hide the cutmarks and scuffs in the transparent plastic apparently clouds up when exposed to my painting lamp for too long.  And, of course, those stands were nigh impossible to find on eBay or through the usual bits resellers for a while.

 

Then, well, I simply got busy with other things.

 

Here I am, four months later and finally with something to show:

 

 

It's not much, but all of my Dark Imperium models are now done.  GW finally released 40 mm Necromunda bases, so I could keep the same method for separating Combat Squads out of the full unit.

 

With the Inceptors out of the way, I can focus on some more... interesting projects.  I have to get fully back into my groove before sitting down with Constans, so I'm going to wrap up a few other units sitting on the WIP pile first.

[CommodusXIII]

In true 3rd Edition fashion, the core of my original Black Templars army consisted of chainsword-weilding Initiates in Rhinos.  There aren't very many options for an all-Primaris army, so I've had to get a little creative.

 

 

The bodies are five stragglers left over from the Dark Imperium kits.  The rest of the squads will use Hellblaster and Intercessor multipart bits, which were similarly left over from other conversion projects.  It turns out that the chainsword arms from the most recent Assault Squad kit fit Primaris bodies perfectly, being of similar proportions with only a little less armor on the forearm.

 

The only comparable melee unit at the moment is the Reiver.  That works relatively well for me.  The Reiver statline is similar to the Intercessor.  The combat blade is functionally identical to a chainsword.  The -1 AP of the heavy bolt pistol is easily explained by using special ammunition, and it would make sense for melee-focused Initiates to be equipped with flashbangs (shock grenades).  This will do until a better option presents itself.

 

Getting to the enemy is the interesting part.  Fitting the "boarding party" theme of this army, deep-striking with grav-chutes can also be explained by teleporting into battle.  The Repulsor is closer to a Razorback in my mind and, while I might pick up one or two for the previous squads, they just don't seem right charging down the enemy's throat like the old Rhinos.  I'm also not a huge fan of the model itself, and of GW's current fascination with bolting weapons onto every available surface.  I guess I just miss the simplicity of the older design philosophy.

[CommodusXIII]

 

The second batch of 5 Reivers is now finished.  These consisted of four multipart Hellblasters leftover from my Emperor's Champion kitbash, and an extra Lieutenant from Dark Imperium.  I gave one a smoke grenade from a Shadowspear Infiltrator to add a little character.

 

These first batches were split across the two squads to give some variability in pose.  The following batches will be split from a box of Intercessors to fill out the rest.  While I enjoy the more realistic poses of the Primaris models, the static leg and torso combinations doesn't lend itself to large armies.  The duplication of poses is starting to become obvious, at least to me, so this shuffling of models between different kits is necessary to keep some individual character within squads.

 

I'll be taking a brief break from the Reivers to work on some more Sword Brethren.  I'm also slowly collecting bits for some reimagined Neophytes, though there are some serious issues that I still need to work out.