Cornelivs Maximvs Allied Regiments

[GreenScorpion]

I know I have been mostly unavailable lately, but it was for a good cause since I released my 4th book over the weekend

I have also been working on stuff that is mostly historical in origin on the painting side, so nothing of particular interest for the forum, but I have been making good progress with reducing the backlog of grey models and while I have slowed down a bit over the past few weekends, I am still way above my objective for average models per month.

[The Pounder]

Congrats on finishing your book!

 

Your organised approach to the hobby makes me feel chaotic!!

[GreenScorpion]

2 hours ago, Jud Cottrell said:

Congrats on finishing your book!

 

Your organised approach to the hobby makes me feel chaotic!!

Thanks
I have enough Chaos at work, so I try to have some structure in my approach to how I spend my evenings/weekends.
I like to have my routines and so my organised approach helps with that, by allowing me to spend some time in my hobbies on a regular basis.

[GreenScorpion]

One more weekend and I should go over 700 painted models in 2023 (currently at 695 so relatively close).

Still going through the historical models at the moment, with the latest batch having a colour scheme that would likely not be approved by commander during the ACW (light green and purple as main and secondary colours which make the soldiers look like a buzz lightyear based regiment).

On the building/converting side I should finish spending the last of the einherjar parts this week, before I start spending a few other boxes.
At the moment I am at 380 models converted based on the spare parts of those 5 boxes and I should reach 400 on Thursday, which is when I should be able to consider the last of those boxes empty

[GreenScorpion]

A short update from the front, I have been working on some of my conversion projects, including one that I had started some time ago (2021 apparently).

The heavy weapon had been tested with a seated crew member I had created at the time and that I have painted in the mean time, but I have created a new operator based on the seated legs from the grognards heavy weapons box since I think that was a better fit.

 

I have also experimented with some new putty for kids that the local supermarket is offering based on the value of purchases (a small package of putty for every 20€ of purchases or something similar) and while my family has not been spending on purpose to get the putty, I certainly got a few of them given everything has went up in price in the stores.
The putty is called Hey Clay and is extremely light and dries in the air like many modelling clay used by children.

Not exactly sure what it is so I decided to try it out on some sandbags for a new machine gun bunker.

 

 

It worked decently for the purpose, but I feel like I might have to flatten the putty a bit more before cutting as some bags ended up too cylindrical for my taste, but not bad for a first experiment. The putty doesn't stick to hands or most surfaces which makes sense for something for kids, but it does stick to other bits of putty.

 

I might continue to use the other bags of the putty for similar decorative items, certainly not something that has to handle any weight as it is very light and might not hold well if under strain. The sandbags above were all done from the same small bag which contains roughly 5g of product according to the package.

[GreenScorpion]

Over the past few days I have been working on another piece of terrain made using garbage, regular air drying clay and that hey clay thing I mentioned on the previous post.

 

 

 

I was able to flatten the sandbags a bit better this time, but the hey clay is still less practical than I would have thought, given it is meant for children. It tends to stick to a rounder format instead of the flat aspect I was looking for and is not so easy to use with the traditional scissor cut sandbags methods, but since I am not sure what better use I would have for it, I will continue to spend it in similar ways (wouldn't want the putty to go to waste).

 

This terrain piece is similar to 2 other pieces of terrain I had done earlier it is just that the cans used here are larger and taller. The principle is essentially a battlefield fortification where soldiers can take position and the line of sandbags is made to protect soldiers firing in a kneeling position.

[duz_]

The sand bags look great

 

Can't wait to see the final painted product 

[GreenScorpion]

Thanks @duz_
At the current rate I have been painting stuff, perhaps next year you should see the final painted version. I have been catching up with the time I spent in Ireland and absent due to regular travels, so hopefully I should reach there relatively fast (I should go over the number of models I painted last year when I finish my current batch, so around half the time for a similar amount when comparing 2022 with 2023).

[GreenScorpion]

I know it has been a few weeks but I have been pretty busy with painting and other stuff.
I managed to paint the wheeled Heavy Weapon that I had shown a few posts ago.

 

 

I have also painted the first group of my ACW cavalry for rough rider/death rider equivalents, including 2 cavalry commanders.
I know they are not based correctly for either type, but since I am not playing with them it should make little difference (my HWT are also still in the 60mm bases so those would be correct either  ).

 

The cavalry commanders (ACW generals):

 

The plan is to add a banner made of some cloth to the banner bearer spear, although I am still not sure about the format and design, although the format might be in line with the cavalry banner examples that come in the Perry Miniatures box. I will have to do something similar to my ACW infantry standard bearers, although the banner of the infantry will likely be closer in shape and size to the regular GW banners.

Next in my painting queue are some buildings from the 2 ACW boxes I got (they are farmhouses) which will be a part of my terrain for decorating the tables on planning to build once a few more construction work is done on the family farm.

 

The current painted models for 2023 has reached 811 models, but I am not sure if I will be able to keep the rhythm given the fact that temperatures have been around 40ºC in most days lately, so not ideal conditions for painting.

[GreenScorpion]

A small update today, some battlefield decorations and 2 civilian buildings (ACW farm house from Perry Miniatures).

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In case you are interested in some scale comparison, here is an earlier post with some photos where an Anvil model was used, which should be a good reference for a seated guard soldier:

 

[GreenScorpion]

I have been pretty busy with my zero bits challenge and I have recently started with some crew members for the ships which could be used for some sort of boarding action combat.

While working on the crew members I decided some of the bits would be excellent to represent a character from my books, an Inquisitor by the name of Bisaltes (more info inside the spoiler).

 

Spoiler

Inquisitor Bisaltes is a powerful man, a warrior who has survived many battles, defeated many enemies and lost many friends.

Over the years his ability to survive when others fall has earned him a strange reputation that causes a mix of fear and respect among all those who have to interact with Bisaltes.

Many battle hardened warriors have felt chills down their spines in the presence of the Inquisitor, as if the typical cold and emotionless expression of the Inquisitor was able to drain the heat from the room.

In one of his greatest battles Bisaltes lost his left arm and damaged his left eye, as a result of the explosion of a grenade, which led him to replace the damaged eye and the lost limb, something that added more to his grim demeanour, especially the bright prosthetic eye, spreading fear among all those who interact with him.

 

Since Bisaltes lost his left arm and sustained damage to his left eye, I have decided to use a head with a lens/prosthetic eye and also chose an arm that is robotic/metallic prosthetic.

You can see him below along with some crew members (he is the one with the hood):
 

 

More pictures under the spoiler:
 

Spoiler

 

[GreenScorpion]

A quick update from the front, today I reached an important milestone, I have finished painting the last batch of miniatures purchased in 2020, which is a massive thing since 2020 was the year I bought the most stuff (for various reasons like taking advantage of the time before customs between UK and the EU, budget and so on).
Looking forward to closing 2021 next

[GreenScorpion]

Lately I have been working on some experiments to finish some of the scratch built terrain that I had started building a couple of years ago.

 

Some of you might remember some cardboard barriers with a sprue corner as the support that I have shown around here before:

With some glue, sand and a bit of paint they currently look like this:

 

I am extremely happy with the result and although it is a relatively simple concept, I think it will work really well as part of a larger board filled with terrain (whenever I finally get to build the diorama style display boards that is).

I still have a few more bits of cardboard in this shape from some repurposed ice cream boxes, so I should be able to make a few more barriers using this method soon.

I might actually pledge building/painting a few of these as part of the hobby event, who knows.

 

From July 2021 to September 2023 to get this sorted, it could certainly be worse, but overall I think working remotely and getting the chance to stop moving around from city to city has helped me to get enough time to progress on this kind of things, lets just see if the momentum continues

[GreenScorpion]

A short update from the front, I have been working on some transports which would serve a function similar to taurox vehicles but are somewhat larger and made using spare bits and stuff that would likely not get recycled locally.

The turret is made in a way that allows it to rotate or to be replaced and I have enough space in case I want to put some magnets, but the connection is tight enough that it won't fall easily.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

[GreenScorpion]

I have not been updating this thread lately but I am still continuing to work on my backlog, both on the painting side and on the building/conversion side.

 

Today I finished painting a batch of 30 miniatures I converted from spare bits as part of my zero bits challenge.

To be honest they look better painted than what I was expecting, although they are certainly crude compared to what other people would be able to achieve with the same materials.

They are good enough as veterans and mutants from Cornelivs force so the deformities can pass as the mutations suffered throughout the generations on the lower levels of the mines from which the core force led by Cornelivs Maximvs originated. As can be easily spotted, these soldiers were built with a mix of parts from cadian and gsc sprues, which came from the Cult Insurrection box I bought back in 2018 when this all started.

The golden claws/limbs are intended to be seen as prosthetics, so the soldiers with more extensive modifications could be seen as some sort of close combat servitors.

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GreenScorpion]

This week I have been focusing on painting terrain that I have built throughout the previous years, mostly with recycled materials (aka garbage).

 

The first thing I worked on were some cardboard bridges that had already been shown somewhere in this thread (likely sometime in 2021):

Spoiler

 

After painting those bridges, I followed with 2 tunnel entrances which were also built with cardboard around the same time:

Spoiler

 

What I have been working in terms of painting today are 4 turret buildings including this one (which obviously is looking much better at the moment):

 

You can see the original state in this post:

https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/366624-cornelivs-maximvs-allied-regiments/?do=findComment&comment=5822067

 

Hopefully I should have the pictures taken tomorrow as paint has been drying slowly so I only do it the day after painting these buildings/terrain features.

 

[GreenScorpion]

A quick update from the front with some pictures of the painted turrets:

Spoiler

 

A lot more stuff to work on until the end of the year, lets see how far I can get

[GreenScorpion]

I have been busy over the last few days, working on painting a few more buildings and also one of the large tanks that I acquired to serve as a Super Heavy Tank (not meant to represent Baneblades or equivalents, but of a similar size to one of those).

 

First some small bunkers with gunners (one of them is a bit overcrowded):

Spoiler

 

Poor gunner is facing a bit of a zombie issue

 

Secondly, a couple of anti-air weapon emplacements (although not picture here, the ball at the top can rotate so the guns actually "work"):

Spoiler

 

Some people might recall seeing me post some pictures of sniper wooden huts built with matches, after over a year and half, they finally got some paint and some final details were added to these 2 mini dioramas (can you spot the barrels of the rifles?):

Spoiler

 

Although it might be difficult to see under the camo nets, the two wooden huts were actually painted with a camo scheme, a bit of a first for me. The hut with the red and green plants has a 3 colour camo scheme with dark green (the one seen on the base), a light green and red, while the other hut has only a 2 colour scheme with both greens.

 

Last but not the least, today I finished painting the first of the 4 large tanks:

Spoiler

 

This got me to an amazing total of 1472 models painted in 2023! Hopefully 2024 will bring me closer to painting all of my collection but I am very happy with how 2023 went in terms of painting and the hobby overall

[GreenScorpion]

Since today is the last day of the year (and for some people it is already the new year) I decided to look back at the progress throughout 2023.

2023 was great in terms of painting and I was able to finish a total of 1504 models throughout the year, which means I painted an average of 125 models per month.
My plan had been to have at least an average of 66 painted models per month, since I had painted an average of 65 models in 2022, so I think that objective was reached successfully and I actually went beyond expectations.
The plan for 2024 will be to continue moving through the backlog at a similar rhythm, so lets see how it goes

 

2023 wasn't only about painting and I was able to progress a lot in my self imposed zero bits challenge, which means I have made lots of conversions throughout the year, most of them infantry models (including characters), but also some vehicles and buildings of various sizes.

I didn't track the amount of models built or converted separately for 2023, since that is not where I wanted to go faster, but this is the current graph for the categories I track as of today:

 

As a reference, this was what the graphs looked like on the 2nd of January 2023 (battlefield decorations where not being tracked before, so no graph for that one):

 

To simplify my method, the green bar is painted and the yellow bar is the full amount of assembled models (converted from extra parts + built as bought), so the final objective would be to have the green and the yellow at the same level. Cavalry (rough rider equivalents) and battlefield decorations (mostly small parts for terrain and other stuff that is too small to be seen as an actual building on its own) are now at 100% completion (built and painted).

 

Lets see how 2024 will go

[GreenScorpion]

So far 2024 has been going relatively according to plan hobby wise and I have already painted 116 models this month, including 2 large tanks, which is great

This weekend I finished a batch of 24 infantry which represent members of command squads and are based on the grognards command and heavy support box from wargames atlantic.

Spoiler

 

In essence these 24 models are a group of officers, communication experts, medics, standard bearers and weapon specialists which could be use to create 3 or more command squads depending on how they are used.

 

The next batch will be made up of heavy weapon teams from the same box of grognards (with extra bodies and arms from other kits to make sure I could make 12 teams instead of 6), which will provide some necessary support to the command section and the 5 infantry "platoons" I already painted.

[GreenScorpion]

Today I finished another batch of miniatures, this time the heavy weapon teams from the grognards box that matches the command squads I painted the previous weekend.

A total of 12 heavy weapons which aren't exactly a match for GW HWT but that have some interesting options (although some of the parts from the kit could use more details).

Spoiler

 

Next on the paint queue is another batch of heavy weapon teams, which are based on the spare parts from the cadian kits and use grognard bodies and parts. After that batch I will work on a few infantry batches, mostly based on grognards and some of the stargrave kits.

[GreenScorpion]

Another update from the front with a batch of 12 HWT based on cadian weapons and a mix of bodies, arms and heads from wargames atlantic kits.

[GreenScorpion]

Haven't felt like posting my progress in a while, but I just finished painting something I converted back in November 2022, so I thought I could share something new

 

You might remember this post from a while ago:

 

You can read more about Verica at that post but essentially she is a badass who is bound to a wheelchair due to an incident that damaged her spine.

 

 

She is made from a bunch of different kits, including a stargrave female crew head, frostgrave female wizards arms, a bit from a mantic building kit for the base of the wheelchair seat, some buttons for the large wheels and a lot of sprue cut to size to make the sides of the wheelchair and the front wheels. The skull probe is from the cadian command squad if I am not mistaken and the torso and legs are miliput copies of grognard HWT bodies.

Verica is not meant to represent a particular unit in 40k since she is based on one of my sci-fi books but you can think of her as a paraplegic former Imperial Knight pilot and the leader of her Knight house (it is basically the closest description in 40k terms).

[GreenScorpion]

Decided to do a bit of a mid year evaluation of the current status of my collection.

As you can see below, Infantry is still the category where I have the highest numbers and obviously where the completion rate is lower (52% painted as of today), with Cavalry and Battlefield Decorations remaining at 100% completion since there were no additions this year to either category. Buildings and Vehicles have seen some small improvements and are not exactly far from 100%, while Heavy Weapons has increased in percentage for a while but then dropped when I did some additional HWT conversions.

 

In terms of recent completions, there have been a lot, but I leave here some examples of two scratch built buildings I painted during my vacations earlier this month.

 

[GreenScorpion]

As part of my self imposed zero bits challenge, I have been working on some terrain and some heavy artillery lately, using parts from some of the last boxes that still have bits left (which is getting relatively low right now).

 

Some people might remember seeing some trees I made literal years ago which I planned to decorate later, there is some progress on that front. I added a few zombie like corpses onto a base for the trees and made a few more corpses to be hang from the branches using a string that looks relatively close to an actual rope.

 

 

I glued the base corpses to a bit of cardboard, so I can paint them easily before placing them back on the tree and that is the same reason why the corpses meant to be hanging are not there yet, as I will paint them first and then hang them from the tree.

 

 

Using the same style of zombie corpses I have also made some terrain with some supports from some 3d printed bits as spikes.

 

 

Last but not the least, I have resumed work on a set of heavy artillery emplacements I also started building several years ago. I have added a servitor/cyborg crew with spider like limbs for carrying the large and heavy ordnance used by the artillery (the artillery shells are basically the height of a regular human in this scale). I made the shells with the remains of a hose that was attacked by rodents, so the fact that it is transparent right now is not indicative of the end result. Also I know the shells are not exactly the most beautiful shells in the world, but they will do ok after painted I think.

What is missing right now is protective rails on the sides and rear of the emplacement and also a small ladder that I am planning to add on the rear.

 

 

 

On a side note, I was looking into the new cadian kits the other day and I started to think I should have stocked on the previous ones before they were phased out, especially the command squad, as the bits were great for conversions, but it is what it is (I have spent all bits of the 3 command squads I got in different army boxes, including 2 Apocalypse boxes back in 2019).