Mandragola's Crimson Fists

[Mandragola]

I need to update my Crimson Fists to take to the finals of the UKGT this year. They did kind of ok before but now, with the rules from CA, Vigilus and White Dwarf, I hope to do... kind of ok. But with a slightly different army featuring a load of veteran intercessors. Now all I need is a load of veteran intercessors!

 

The army will be led by Pedro Kantor. Actually he probably won't be allowed to be Warlord due to his dreadful warlord trait, but he'll certainly be lending moral support - telling the intercessors to hit things again and the hellblasters not to blow themselves up. I've assembled the figure for him, based on some guy called Marneus Something.

 

I've purged a bunch of old dead photobucket images and replaced them with my nearly finished Pedro Kantor.

 

 

His arms are taken from the deathwing terminators in the old 7th edition starter. I'd never built them, but I like the studded power fist. He's got an aggressor shoulder pad from the IF sprue and the eagle one from his own kit. Banner is from an old Termie. The fist on his belt comes from the IF sprue's power fist. These are kind of crap - obviously too small for Primaris marines - but the badge was just the right size to replace the U that started there.

 

I'm pleased I've been able to join the ammo feeds that he came with onto the Dorn's Arrow I made, which is just the bolter things off his power fists stuck together. More green stuff will be needed there to join it to his arm.

 

 

 

This guy here is one of my existing Sergeants, with on of Calgar's fists (minus the U symbol and bolter). I reckon he looks like he means business!

 

I've also stripped a load of layers of paint off these guys. They are from the starter set and had been used for various test schemes and things. Using these guys  can save me from having to buy and build another box of Intercessors, and actually the models are pretty decent. The Sergeant is getting a pointing power fist. Stripping these guys took ages - several baths in Dettol, which left them with a nasty slime on. A final bath in some watered-down brush restorer got that off. They are pretty much as good as new now.

 

 

 

Next step is to build everyone I think. I'll then spray them all and get started on the batch painting. I'm working on 30 guys. 5 are done (apart from the Sergeant's power fist), 4 are basecoated, 8 are stripped and that leaves 13 still to assemble.

 

I'm thinking about how to represent the fact that these guys are veteran intercessors. One option is to paint both hands red for everyone. Another might be to give them rather more battle damage, bionics and wounds than they'd usually start with - but that would require a lot of work! There's only one bionic arm and no legs that I know of for Primaris guys so far. I do have some random necrons I could go to work on, but I worry that they'd be too obviously necron legs. If anyone's got a good way of doing this I'd be interested.

Edited October 23, 2020 by Mandragola

[cretacianborn]

Kantor conversion looks ace! Looking forward to see more mate.

[PowerHungryMonkey]

Been a lot of Primaris Cantors recently but this one is the chunkiest. Very nice conversion and goos work incorporating both ammo feeds into the wrist-mount

[Mandragola]

Thanks guys. Glad you like my Kantor.

 

I've been thinking about how to make it clear that these guys are veterans. I think that a few bionic limbs spread through the squads should help. So I've been experimenting with adding necron arms and legs to them. I rather foolishly bought Forgebane a while back so I've got a few sprues of Necrons to experiment with. These are the early results.

 

Legs:

 

 

Arms:

 

 

I don't think it's there yet. I think I need to bulk up the joints and feet with green stuff to make them look more Imperial and less Necron. And the arms are maybe a bit too skinny. 

 

With these guys built I now have 25 of my 30 Intercessors assembled. I'm not sure I'm on track exactly, but progress is being made. 5 more to assemble - all of whom will have bionics of some kind.

 

[PowerHungryMonkey]

Personaly I think the bionics are bit weedy for Primaris marines. The Necron bitz work on normal 'mini' marines but the extra hight and bulk of the Primaris needs a bit more.

 

I've been using the FW Mechanicum Thallax Cohort legs and arms for my Iron Hands but I know that the Adeptus Titanicus Knight legs work well for scale. If you're happy to go 3rd party then take a look at Anvil Industries. They've got some noce chunky bionics that work well for both scale marines.

 

Hope that helps

[Mandragola]

Yeah you're right they are weedy - particularly the upper arms. I'm going to bulk them out. I probably should have made the arm joints at the Elbows like the hellblaster bionic arm.

[Mandragola]

Hmm, well it looks like my photobucket account is borked. Moving to flickr.

 

I've also done a tiny bit of work on my marines, making a couple of guys to work with the new codex rules. I'm a bit hampered in this because I don't yet have my codex supplement, meaning I don't actually know what my rules are. So I've no clear idea what I should be buying for my army. One thing I do expect is a Primaris Pedro at some point, which is mainly cool but a slight shame, as I quite like my own one. Ho hum.

 

So lately I've put together a couple of guys out of spare bits I had lying around. Random guy one is a Reiver lieutentant. I thought that I'd try to make a virtue of the fact that this is a character armed only with a knife. This is a guy who actively chooses to go into battle armed only with a knife. Scary, huh? Ok no, not really. Was a fun model to assemble though. Still needs a bit of filling with GS here and there, and that mould line on his leg was seriously obnoxious, so I've just removed it.

 

 

Next up, this guy. I found I had a couple of spare deathwatch heavy thunder hammers and I thought they might work for Primaris Sergeants. To be honest these things are so ridiculously massive that they look a bit big even for Primaris. It was quite a fun thing to make though.

 

 

I thought I'd upload some pictures of actual painted miniatures for a change. Here are a bunch of them.

 

The guy on the left is my captain, who's done great service for me. I've lost count of the number of knights he's dropped with his Fist of Vengeance, though the highlight probably remains killing two flyrants in a single combat phase - back when flyrants were still a thing. Annoyingly, right now the Fist of Vengeance doesn't exist, so he's a bit stuck. The other guy is just some lieutenant, though he had a brief moment in the sun lately using the Crimson Fist relic bolt rifle, now sadly also missing in action.

 

 

Here are a bunch of intercessors. I've got more of these, but I imagine you'd get bored before long.

 

 

 

 

And these are hellblasters, which aren't really all that different.

 

 

I couldn't decide whether I preferred blue or orange glow for my plasma. I did the blue guys first but found the blue didn't show up well enough against the blue armour, so switched to orange. Better contrast but not sure I've yet nailed it with etiher option.

 

 

This guy's maybe a bit more interesting. Or at least, he's bigger.

 

 

At the beginning of 8th I painted up three of these guys, with Aggressor heads to make them fit in with my Primaris. Then they spent a long time in a box. Suddenly in the new codex Centurions are looking quite effective again, so this guy and his two friends may at some point get to see a table again.

 

 

Ok well that's enough of that. I'd better get back to painting my rusty 17 for the LGT. I've been reminded that a few of these guys could really do with a coat of matt varnish, so that'll probably happen at some point.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Mandragola

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Your work honors Dorn's memory.

[Sagentus]

I Agree, Dorn would be proud!! great work all round 

[Freakshow668]

Wow. That Centurion... wow.

[Boldthreat]

That Centurion looks amazing! Ok... I need some in my life now.

[Mandragola]

Thanks all. Glad you like my stuff. It makes me want to get the blue paint out again.

[jeremy1391]

Fantastic fists!

[PowerHungryMonkey]

These guys are looking great with some paint on them. Keep it up

[Pork Chop Express]

All your fists look really awesome to me! I really like your leviathan though. It looks really good in Crimson Fists colors. Keep it up!

[Mandragola]

Ok so Pedro's nearly done.

 

 

Looking at this blown up photo I think I'll try to tidy up a few bits, but overall he's coming along quite nicely I think.

 

Two other views. Not sure I needed to bother with the first, as it's so similar to the one above.

 

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And the back looks like this:

 

 

I recently built a ton of Primaris guys for a "painting" event (in which I painted nothing). One thing I did was to convert one of the kneeling Eliminators from Shadowspire to stand up, so I didn't have two identical guys. This weekend I used the spare pair of legs to make a kneeling Incursor, which I think has worked quite nicely. Here the two of them are. Incursor needs a bit of GS, and also some squad-mates.

 

 

 Let's be having your C+C.

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Excellent  painting and conversions!

[Mandragola]

Thanks. I’ve been thinking about how to paint vanguard guys, with and without camo cloaks. I’m wondering whether to try and paint camo on the armour, as well as the cloaks.

 

I realise this is probably a pretty sacrilegious thing to suggest but it feels weird to have guys sneaking into position wearing navy blue gear. I might try painting an infiltrator up like Tom his to trial a paint scheme. I can always repaint him blue afterwards.

 

I’d keep the hands red of course.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Mandragola

[nusphigor]

Beautiful work brother!
How have you felt painting primaris?

Also, how is your painting recipee for that blue? i can see you mixed in other colours but im interested in your thoughts behind that 

[Mandragola]

Thanks. I’m a big fan of the Primaris models. I find them pretty easy to paint. They’ve got nicely defined armour plates and stuff.

 

I’ve built a Primaris Kantor, and plan to make other characters at this scale like a jump pack chaplain (possibly based on Shrike), because I think it marines just look better this size. Having seen a marine with Primaris proportions, which are much closer to the shape of an actual human being than previous marine models, I find that the old ones look kind of silly.

 

Centurions are a particular problem. They are fantastic in game but the models are absurd. Where are the guys arms supposed to be, and how does he fit three bolt guns or a rocket launcher in each armpit? Part of me would like to do really major conversions to make these make sense, but I’m not sure I can be bothered with the effort involved.

 

My blue recipe is to start with Kantor blue and blend up to Blue Horror, through I think Altdorf Guard and Teclis blues. I actually think I might have been a bit inconsistent on which of those I use, though Teclis is a nice colour for the main edge highlight I think.

 

I tried out basecoating an infiltrator in Zandri dust as the basis for a camp scheme last night. Once I’d given it a wash it came out quite a bit darker than I wanted, so I think it might be better to start with something like wraithbone. Wish I hadn’t just sprayed all my vanguard guys leadbelcher!

 

I spray my models leadbelcher, then paint the armour plates Kantor blue. They get a nuln oil wash more or less everywhere at that point, and then their second thin coat of Kantor. For character models like Kantor himself I mostly use lahmian medium instead of water while blending, but for normal infantry I just thin stuff a bit. I use a blue glaze after the final highlight, to cut in all but the most extreme points and tie the colours together.

[cretacianborn]

That Eliminator conversion is ingenious! Would you mind talking us through it?

[Mandragola]

That Eliminator conversion is ingenious! Would you mind talking us through it?

 

Happy to try! I actually did the Eliminator a little while ago so I’m not sure my recollection will be perfect. Sorry I don’t have any WIP pics.

 

Basically the eliminator is in two main parts – the front of the body and the cloak. I cut the body at the top of the belt, so I just had the chest piece. I stuck the chest bit onto the cloak.

 

I then did the same thing to a reiver, in a more or less suitable pose. I cut through the front piece of the body at the same point (before sticking the reiver’s back on). I also had to remove the “bum flap” from the reiver’s arse, so the cloak didn’t clash with it. That was useful because the eliminator’s kneeling legs don’t have a bum flap, so I used it to make the incursor. The reiver’s legs then stuck onto the eliminator’s body easily enough.

 

The eliminator’s cloak was hacked away where it is folded to go around the rear foot – which is now somewhere else. I repaired the hole with green stuff to make the cloak complete.

 

To make the incursor I first removed the magazine from the eliminator’s legs, to later be replaced by incursor knives. I stuck the reiver’s body onto the legs (with quite a bit of GS in the join), then  attached the reiver’s bum flap and I stuck on a load of accessories (knives, bolt pistol, grenades etc.) to hide the mess.

 

The incursor’s arms and head are built normally. The weird thing on his back needed a little work to fit onto a standard reiver’s backpack – basically just removing a tab that would match up with a hole on one of the backpacks that comes with the proper incursor kit.

 

The eliminator is left without a magazine, as it didn't survive its removal from the kneeling legs. I've got the full eliminator kit now and I think it's got a spare one on the ground, which I might use.

[Mandragola]

Non-update. I tried out painting some guys with camo armour and I'm really not happy with them. Drat! So I've started to paint up six eliminators, with standard blue armour. These are turning out to be surprisingly quick to paint, as so much of them is their cloaks. I'll try and copy some camo cloak designs from somewhere.

 

I'm getting an army ready for the GT finals, which are on 11 January. Here's the army I'm currently planning to take (a brigade that comes to 1749 points), and where I'm up to with each unit. Spoiler alert: I have a lot of work to do.

 

Pedro Kantor                     150 – Done!

                               

Primaris Lieutenant                         70 – Got a model, still on sprue. Might give him a spare eliminator rifle to represent the relic gun (either lament or duty's burden) he'll very often have.

                Master-crafted Stalker Bolt Rifle

                               

Chaplain with Jump Pack                               90 – I’ve got Shrike to base a conversion on, but haven't started. Also have a Primaris one but I think the jump pack guy is probably better.                        

                               

5 Intercessors                   85 – Done apart from Sergeant

                Chainsword       

                Bolt Rifles           

                               

5 Intercessors                   85 – Done apart from Sergeant

                Chainsword       

                Bolt Rifles           

                               

5 Intercessors                   85 – On sprue

                Chainsword       

                Stalker Bolt Rifles            

                               

5 Intercessors                   85 – On sprue

                Chainsword       

                Stalker Bolt Rifles            

                               

5 Incursors                          95 - Built

                               

                               

5 Incursors                          95 – 1 built

                               

                               

Invictor Tactical Warsuit                                136 - Built

                Twin Ironhail Autocannon           

                Fragstorm Grenade Launcher    

                Two Ironstorm Heavy Stubbers 

                Heavy Bolter     

                               

Invictor Tactical Warsuit                                136 – need to buy

                Twin Ironhail Autocannon           

                Fragstorm Grenade Launcher    

                Two Ironstorm Heavy Stubbers 

                Heavy Bolter     

                               

Invictor Tactical Warsuit                                131 – need to buy

                Incendium Cannon         

                Fragstorm Grenade Launcher    

                Two Ironstorm Heavy Stubbers 

                Heavy Bolter     

                               

3 Suppressors                   90 – Built and on painting desk – which is sort of a good thing.

                Accelerator Autocannon              

                Grav Chutes      

                               

3 Suppressors                   90 – Need to build, including conversions to avoid duplicates

                Accelerator Autocannon              

                Grav Chutes      

                               

3 Suppressors                   90 – Need to build, including conversions to avoid duplicates

                Accelerator Autocannon              

                Grav Chutes      

                               

3 Eliminators                      72 – Painting in progress

                Bolt Sniper Rifles             

                Camo Cloaks     

                               

3 Eliminators                      72 – Painting in progress

                Bolt Sniper Rifles             

                Camo Cloaks     

                               

Thunderfire Cannon                       92 – Just found one on ebay for a non-obscene price! So kind of a lot to do here…

                Techmarine Gunner       

                Plasma Cutter   

                Flamer 

 

So the good news is that one unit is ready! The not-so-good news is that I need to do 17 more units... and the one unit that is ready isn't based.

Edited November 29, 2019 by Mandragola

[Mandragola]

Some progress, though probably not enough. I'm going to be busy!

 

So my eliminators require camo cloaks. I've had various attempts at painting marines in camo, without getting results I'm all that happy with. These guys are my best effort so far, in that I'm not embarrassed by the result, but I wouldn't call them a triumph.

 

 

 

They aren't done yet - the blue needs a bit more highlighting and a glaze and then there are various purity scrolls and lenses to do. But I thought I'd show the cloaks because I'd value any advice on the pattern. Thoughts?

[Mandragola]

Progress on my GT army hasn't been as fast as I'd like. The good news is that I've got the next few days off work and my Girlfriend is away, so I can basically paint all day. I'll need to!

 

Here's what I've done:

 

3 Suppresors have their blue mostly done. Some point highlights and a glaze required.

 

 

I've made my other 6 suppressors and undercoated them. I've used intercessor bodies with the lower legs, backpacks and forearms from the suppressors so that I have no identical guys. I've made a few of them hold their autocannons in only one hand so they can fire pistols or point at stuff, as it would have been a bit boring to have all 9 just doing the same thing. Plus it shows I've actually done conversions - I hate when I do the work and nobody can tell!

 

 

 

While I'm showing unpainted stuff, here are 3 more eliminators. Luckily there are alternate poses for these in the kit, so I've got no duplicates here without any difficulty. I'm going to have to try and find an obvious way to mark these guys in their different squads though - which could be tricky as their shoulders are mostly covered by cloaks. Left knees, maybe.

 

 

Getting painted right now are these 10 infiltrators. I've changed my list design a bit so as to fit these guys in. I just think I need the deep strike denial. They're worse fighters than the incursors but daemon bombs and the like worry me. These guys are part way through their Altdorf Blue coat, with teclis and lothern still to go.

 

 

Here are my invictors. Two of these still need their guns magnetised, which is why they're missing. Otherwise nothing too interesting to see.

 

 

I had a bit of fun building these guys. They're my Chaplain and Lieutenant, with my version of Duty's Burden, the Crimson Fist relic gun. I've got quite a few Lieutenants now.

 

 

I've also got to get 20 intercessors, preferably all armed with stalker bolt rifles. I've got loads of painted intercessors but they've all got normal bolt rifles and they're not organised into the right squads, so that's a bit of an issue. I probably need to make myself four sergeants with stalkers and chainswords too.

 

I'm worried that the list is a bit spammy. I've got 3 invictors, 3x3 suppressors and 3x3 eliminators in the current plan. That's a bit boring. I could potentially improve this situation a bit by putting in something like a scout squad instead of some intercessors, to let me bring something like a TFC or stalker instead of one of the eliminator squads. I'd also consider swapping some suppressors for something like scout bikers. I have some scouts with shotguns at the moment and could probably replace those with sniper rifles, which would be easier than building new guys from scratch. Sniper scouts seem vastly better than shotgun ones for Fists, though bolter guys actually wouldn't be terrible. Unfortunately, since the bolter drill rules appeared, I don't think there's any case for bringing shotguns - especially for Fists.

 

Anyway that's quite a bit of progress, though there's loads more to do. Back to it!

Edited January 1, 2020 by Mandragola