Cornelivs Maximvs Allied Regiments

[GreenScorpion]

This weekend I finished building the third and last group of command and heavy weapon teams from the grognards box. The end result is similar to the other two batches, but with different weapons, poses or heads :)

I also finished painting another batch of infantry, which means everything bought until the end of 2019 is now painted :)
It also means that the only GW miniatures I have left to paint are a few chaos cultists to represent my pirate crew along with the traitor guardsmen from Blackstone Fortress.

[GreenScorpion]

Last week I finished building 2 squads of heavy weapon teams based on spare cadian weapons/arms and grognard parts.

I also finished painting some mantic plague zombies and larger monsters to serve as enemies for the forces under Cornelivs.

Next on the build queue are more HWT squads and on the paint queue I am going to start some mantic mutants next.

[GreenScorpion]

This week I finished 2 more HWT squads from spare cadian HWT and grognard bits.

 

 

I also finished building a sprue of Stargrave Troopers (5 soldiers).
The troopers are really nice miniatures, somewhat similar in proportions to historical miniatures, but with a clear sci-fi look. The numbers of the shoulder link for the arms help with identifying pairs, although I have noticed one or two of the numbers are not completely visible from the mould used for the production, although pairs are typically close enough on the sprue so that is not an issue unless you cut several arms in one go and mix them up.
The sculpts are nice and well detailed and should take paint well, even with my reduced ability to paint stuff

 

 

Finally, I managed to get a few more VTOL's from a nearby store to support to one I had converted before (https://i.imgur.com/ZTEy88b.jpg), so I removed the stickers, filled in some of the lower details and added some weapons.

 

 

 

Edited August 20, 2022 by GreenScorpion

[GreenScorpion]

Another week passes and more progress is available to show.
This week I worked on building some more conversions based on grognard parts, mostly using kneeling poses and special weapons, since I spent the last rifles from that particular box with the HWT, so now only pistols, swords and special weapons are missing to be spent.

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I also worked on painting some mutants from Mantic which will be used as enemies along with the zombies.

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[Slave to Darkness]

Looking good chief.   How many infantry have you got now?

[GreenScorpion]

13 hours ago, Slave to Darkness said:

Looking good chief.   How many infantry have you got now?

Thanks! Between allies and enemies, the total infantry built or converted is at 2483 soldiers, 979 of them are painted (around 38%).
For HWT I have 70 with 25 being painted. Cavalry is currently at 212 with 12 painted, while vehicles are at 80 with 34 painted and buildings are at 26 with 2 painted.

I have a few more batches of infantry to paint before I switch to something else (I started last weekend with painting some WW1 germans for my trench warfare regiment), not sure yet if I will go for more dwarf spider riders (cavalry) or go with some vehicles and buildings, as it depends mostly on the storage section I decide to work on after I finish with the current one.

Currently the major issue is the logistic around keeping the miniatures in adequate storage locations, given how many I already have. The cabinet with shelves that my family got me earlier this year is not full yet, but it won't be enough to hold all of the painted miniatures.

 

As a side note, I have been working on a small fortress in the evenings and so I should have something to share here soon, likely in one or two weeks, when I finish the building stage. (An old picture for reference on the rough size of the fortress https://i.imgur.com/2FlFaMV.jpg )

[Slave to Darkness]

You had me at Trench Germans!!!  I need pictures damnit! PICTURES!!!!!

 

and 2483 meatsacks... Jeez Ive just scraped by over 100 and Im sick of the sight of them lol

[GreenScorpion]

24 minutes ago, Slave to Darkness said:

You had me at Trench Germans!!!  I need pictures damnit! PICTURES!!!!!

 

and 2483 meatsacks... Jeez Ive just scraped by over 100 and Im sick of the sight of them lol

The Germans are currently only partially painted, primed black and with primary colour (red). The ones with the caps are currently looking like a well known plumber at the moment, but that should disappear once they have more colours added. If things go well, I should have the batch of 30 finished next weekend, so expect pictures by sunday or monday.
I might use the stargrave troopers body as a base for some slightly heavier Germans conversions, as the troopers are closer in proportions to historicals, but have a nice set of armour.

I know the infantry is getting extremely numerous and will only get more numerous as I build additional conversions to spend the bits, but the good thing is that the WW1 Germans represent 150 of those, so lots of soldiers with rifles and entrenchment tools around
I reckon I went a bit overboard with the 5 box deal from wargames atlantic on many infantry kits, but I have been refraining from purchasing more for the foreseeable future. Lets see how that goes.

[Slave to Darkness]

Ahh  your using the WGA Germans? Lovely kit, I cant praise them or the WW1 Frenchies enough.  

 

I think they were developing a HMG kit for the Germans, but the future releases page is down on their website for updating so I cant be sure on that.

[GreenScorpion]

1 hour ago, Slave to Darkness said:

Ahh  your using the WGA Germans? Lovely kit, I cant praise them or the WW1 Frenchies enough.  

 

I think they were developing a HMG kit for the Germans, but the future releases page is down on their website for updating so I cant be sure on that.

The WGA WW1 Germans are a really nice kit, some shovels, some rifles and more gas masks than you will ever need.
I am planning to build some trenches to go with the Germans, likely going to use used matches for the wooden planks as I will have many leftovers when I finish the fortress and wooden matches should make it easier to have something that looks like wood, especially if I use some nice varnish.
I still need to setup a large table for all the terrain I am building or planning to build, so that everything can be in place for a display of the miniatures (if nothing else), but space is currently an issue, which will require some real life construction work to fix (my family plans to make some improvements to the farm house, that should provide space for that sort of thing or at least release space by moving some things in storage to the new space).

WGA is working on so many different eras and factions that their previews have been more interesting to check than GW's on most occasions, but I feel like they are still struggling to get kits out in a consistent way from the design to production in terms of keeping a consistent schedule. Still, I like how they have been expanding their ranges with nice kits, despite some issues and if I had the €€ I would likely hire them to produce miniatures based on my books (one can dream ).

[Slave to Darkness]

Yeah matchstick trenches are stupid fun to make, I got some of those Greenstuff World trenches made out of the mousemat style stuff (on of the best hobby purchases I have made in years) but it feels weird using 'flat' scenery alongside actual scenery, so I have been making trench walls to put alongside them to make them look a bit better. 

 

I made the wood bits with matchsticks and coffee stirrers (people here are outta luck if they want to stir their drink, I take no prisoners when it comes to free hobby supplies) and used bits of scrap card covered in pva soaked tissue paper then flocked with discount brand teabags. Eventually Ill get round to sculpting a ton of sandbags to add more detail to them, but Im in no rush for that as I have to make meters of these things.  

 

Some WIP pictures here if your interested.

 

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by Slave to Darkness

[GreenScorpion]

Really nice WIP you have there on your trenches. I saw the flat trenches you bought on your thread and I think I had seen them before while browsing the greenstuff world site, but I have to agree that it looks a bit odd for 3d miniatures, despite the quality of the 2d drawings on the trenches.
My plan is to make the trenches in individual pieces so that I can have different layouts with the same amount of material and the end result will likely be something similar to what you are doing.

[Slave to Darkness]

I did want to make proper trenches but the flat I have is from a housing association and every week we have someone come round just to make sure I aint blown myself up or burned the flat down (I was previously in a hostel so the association is doing the 'are you getting enough help with your mental health, debts etc') and the person I see was concerned with all the cardboard and assorted styrene sheets I had laying about, ngl one half of my place was starting to look like Stalingrad, so to stop her moaning at me for 'hoarding' (she doesnt quite grasp the price of the hobby and how much Im saving by scrap building) I chucked out tons of stuff and bought the 2d trenches instead, and all the trench walls, hedges and razor wire strips will fit in the box my order was shipped in, housing association is happy and I have (or will have) a battlefield in a box, and I can see the far corner of my flat again. So win win I guess. 

 

Do share pictures of yours as soon as you have something to show, I may not be able to stick to my og plan but I can live through you instead, and I do love a good trench, I love trenches that much Im gonna pay for the xbox game pass just to play Verdun. 

 

 

Mmmmmm trenches. 

[GreenScorpion]

Today I come bringing some news on the painting and terrain crafting fronts.
I have managed to paint a batch of 30 WW1 germans I am using to represent a trench warfare regiment and while they would likely be easy to spot on no man's land, I really like the end result
I have also finished building a fortress that could be used by a garrison of several dozens of soldiers at a time.
The fortress was built using mostly used matches and some cardboard, with all materials used (except for the glue) being reused rather than purchased for the construction.
If anyone wonders how patient I am, each tower in the fortress contains several thousands of matches.

4

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[The Pounder]

Great work!

 

Don’t worry too much about your Trench Fighters not being overly camouflaged, the French army of 1914 still went to war in red trousers and blue tunics more akin to the Napoleonic era!

 I’m rather fond of a red and black colour scheme!

[Slave to Darkness]

Good to see more Trench Guard around these parts. 

[Chaplain Dak]

I can only say, give me more!

[GreenScorpion]

Thanks for the comments

12 hours ago, Jud Cottrell said:

Great work!

Don’t worry too much about your Trench Fighters not being overly camouflaged, the French army of 1914 still went to war in red trousers and blue tunics more akin to the Napoleonic era!

 I’m rather fond of a red and black colour scheme!

I had initially thought about something closer to what is typically used for the WW1 germans, but that was mostly grey and that would not feel like an interesting paint scheme for me (although the grey and blue works well for your DKoK), especially with my still developing painting skills. After some thought I decided to go with a brighter scheme, using the black for the gloves, boots, helmet and chest area, while using red for the arms and legs. The other 4 batches of 30 will follow a similar paint scheme as this one, but with different base colours, which I haven't yet defined.

 

In an unrelated topic, I seem to be getting more prone to accidents with the paint water in my table, as I have been knocking the water pot fairly regularly over the last few weekends, with yesterday being the worst day, since I knocked it over twice, spreading the water over my working area, with that being the reason the HWT instructions were drying out on a elevated place in some pictures.
Do you have any suggestions to avoid water containers from tipping over when you are painting? Anything that works well for you?

[Slave to Darkness]

Suck the paint out of your brushes!!!

Joke..

 

Have you tried using a bowel of water instead? Or put the water at the back of your painting area, then all you have to worry about is knocking over the odd mini now and again. 

 

[GreenScorpion]

Thank you for the suggestion, I ended up using a clay pot that apparently was lying around the farm and has a wider and heavier base that makes it more stable as the container for the small cylindrical box I use for the water. So far no more water has been spilled unintentionally, so hopefully I won't have any major accidents while painting in the future.

 

I have been working on building more HWT to spend my spare parts and finished the last squad based on one of my apocalypse boxes last weekend.
Currently I am working on building a few squads of special weapon and command squads based on the same apocalypse box. They are a mix of cadian, grognard and raumjager parts, with some greenstuff to add stuff when needed.

In what relates to the paint queue, I have a batch of grognards already primed and ready for some colours, hopefully next weekend. Not sure if I will be able to finish them this weekend or if they will require more time, we shall see.

I was wondering whether to focus on more infantry or on vehicles and buildings next for the paint queue and decided to go with the vehicles/buildings. From the current container I only have 4 more batches after the grognards are done (a batch of raumjagers, 15 cultists for Cornelivs pirate crew, 30 fauns and 14 centaurs), which should be finished before Christmas if all goes well, especially with some national holidays in the next 3 months to give me a few more painting days.

Overall I am happy with the progress I have been making this year, especially on the painting front, as I have managed to paint a lot of stuff, with everything purchased before 2020 being painted at the moment. 2020 was a year of significant growth of my collection, so it will take a while to tackle, but I am confident it will be handled soon

[GreenScorpion]

Due to being involved in some real life construction work on the farm, I didn't manage to finish the grognard batch yet (still missing final corrections and shades), but while staying on the farm I ended up working on some terrain based on some damaged hoses.

I used some 2 inches hoses to make some tunnels or large pipes (more under the spoiler):

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I also made some smaller pipes to be used on industrial or urban terrain using some damaged hoses which should be around half an inch in diameter (more pictures under the spoiler):

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Not bad for some quick experiments with what is essentially garbage

Next on my queue is to finish those grognards and work on the second batch of raumjagers, but since I still have some construction work to be done over the coming weekends and national holidays I might have to delay some of the painting work (I took a week off work until yesterday to help with the construction work but there is still a lot to do that requires my assistance so the hobby needs to wait). On the positive side, once the construction work is finished and the new tiles are in place, I should have some more space to store my hobby stuff, either on the farm or by moving stuff to the farm and releasing space around the house.

[GreenScorpion]

Today I finally managed to finish painting the grognards batch.
Below the spoiler you can find the pictures for the 24 soldiers that represent the last of 5 boxes of grognard infantry I got back in 2020.

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Although the pictures aren't great I think the lollipop magenta worked really well on the coats and almost look like I used shading afterwards on the coats themselves

Next on the paint queue are 24 raumjagers which I had already primed last weekend. Not sure when they will be finished, but hopefully in the coming weeks they should be ready.

[GreenScorpion]

I have managed to finish the batch of 24 raumjagers today. I decided to try using one of the meng paints I had got last year as a gift as part of my meng toon models (the paints are produced by AK interactive a Spanish company which stocks the meng models and has its own paint line) and the results are nice, with the transparent blue working well with a black primer, giving a nice shiny dark blue or purple colour depending on the available lighting, but although it looks nice, it is difficult to photograph well because it doesn't stand out enough from the black without proper lighting.

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I will be working on some chaos cultists to be a part of Cornelivs pirate crew over the coming weeks (they are already primed), but in a few weeks I should return to some vehicles and paint a few of my somewhat numerous tanks.

[GreenScorpion]

In the past few days I have been working on some vehicle conversions and terrain from recycled stuff.

First I worked on a small bunker made from a plastic container with some sandbags made from brown stuff. It is similar to other small bunkers I have shown before and has a gunner inside the sandbags coming out of a hatch and firing an heavy weapon.

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Second, I worked on a 4x4 vehicle which I decided to convert as a small recon/rescue vehicle which should be big enough to be used as an achiles ridgerunner or something similar if I feel inclined to do so. It has 2 soldiers on the inside (the vehicle can be disassembled to access the interior) that I have built/sculpted onto the seats as the driver and navigator, as well as two removable crew members on the back, one standing and firing an heavy weapon and another one seated on the back of the truck with a grenade and a shield.

My plan is to paint the soldiers on the inside with the vehicle disassembled and the crewmen on the back on their own, with the chassis of the vehicle remaining as it is. I have bought another vehicle in the same colours that I intend to convert differently, but I like the current look of this one.

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I have also bought some scale firefighter vehicles that I plan to keep unconverted, in order to use them as terrain decorations or potentially objective markers (a functional settlement requires some firefighters, especially when fire threatens to consume entire buildings).

[duz_]

Clever conversions as always