Watch Fortress Velheim - Characters Finished (22/05/2022)

[Duke Danse Macabre]

This is my Plog for my Deathwatch and Inquisition army, Watch Fortress Velheim.

 

In this first post I will update it over time to include details about the force and background/lore as it’s a major driving force in my hobby to create a narrative and make my forces more unique through conversions, markings and the like.

 

The overall purpose of my Plog is to track my progress, force myself to finish things in a reasonable time frame and to get feedback from my hobby peers about how things look, what could be done better and how, mistakes I may of missed and all round cool ideas, trust me, nothing is too outlandish. (I’m still giving heavy consideration to a converted inquisition landraiders with church mystic and a mini fogger to spill mist from its assault ramp)

 

So as this project started out it was a overall army expansion  combined with updating for the New Deathwatch Codex having started them pre codex as a way of combining my marine forces, at the time using Blood Angels, Dark Angels, Space Wolves, Iron Hands, Black Templars and having to paint the same characters and troops again for every army I decided I would put all my time into my Deathwatch having finally finished painting my Metal Sisters army at the time, after painting roughly 100 models, mostly infantry due to the preference for drop pods (building them is soul destroying) and using them for a while as whatever chapter I wanted to run at the time the Deathwatch codex came out, I added a few of the new options (not going to lie, it was Frag cannon goodness), now years down the line like many of us I’m stuck in lockdown with allot of my old armies and bits so I thought I would paint up a few new units ready for some games and some things I never got around to like my leviathan, problems quickly came about though when I realised the large difference 8n styles meaning my old DW were in need of a serious update and rethink (no longer valid weapon options, centurions a edition too early), I did the entire army helmetless for character but loving the new mk8 power armour I now needed to update and adding a few extra flourishes here and there for decoration couldn’t hurt, that is until I realised my painting had improved in several key areas in which the army was at first painted and some colours are long oop so realising the scope of the issue and being thankful I use super glue rather than plastic for a reason a large rebuild is currently in progress, not to mention I got a little addicted to nam plates recently and it’s going to get expensive...

 

 

Location:

 

Sector: Ghoul Stars

 

Watch Fortress:

 

Planet System:

 

Command Structure:

 

 

 

Lore:

Edited May 22, 2022 by Duke Danse Macabre

[Grotsmasha]

having a little trouble adding images atm due to site restrictions against Google photos links, try8ng to find an alternative and sugestions are welcome.

The B&C has its own image hosting for board appropriate images. There's a link to the Gallery where you upload images under the main banner at the top of each page :tu:

[Duke Danse Macabre]

 

having a little trouble adding images atm due to site restrictions against Google photos links, try8ng to find an alternative and sugestions are welcome.

The B&C has its own image hosting for board appropriate images. There's a link to the Gallery where you upload images under the main banner at the top of each page

 

sadly it limits to 2mb per image and I can’t find where I can compress the image size on an iPad, most are coming in ar 2.3mb etc.

Edited May 28, 2021 by Duke Danse Macabre

[Grotsmasha]

Photoshop has a free app, or you can reduce the resolution when you take the pics :tu:

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Photoshop has a free app, or you can reduce the resolution when you take the pics

Managed to sort it through an app, didn’t have it in me last night after more than a hour, sites very tablet unfriendly as most options don’t work as intended or allow you to click if highlighting something for instant and having to rewrite whole posts multiple times which can’t be pasted from another doc as the text colour is wrong and I can’t change it to white here because of the above mentioned issues with the buttons not working properly on tablet, makes me miss my pc. Lol

Going to update the first post in a bit with a little background, for now though just adding the pictures of my current work tablet and my two vet squads in now outdated load out (this is why I never meta chase with my painting speed), trying to decide if I want to name the Razorbacks and what name would be suitable.

[Grotsmasha]

They all look aces, particularly the Razors :tu: Edited May 28, 2021 by Grotsmasha

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Razorback and its passengers.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

They all look aces, particularly the Razors

Cheers mate, they cost far too much though with the FW extras, just wanted them bulky and mean looking as we are kinda meant to be the SAS of marines.

that’s why I’m still trying to think of names that would suit the tanks, I’ve tried to name every marine but hard to source none repetitive names that fit each chapter.

 

One thing I want to do is weathering for dust but unsure of what would colour match zandri and worried about messing it up.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Currently working on some vanguard vet squads, trying to refit 10 with new weapon options and none metal should pads etc, taking allot long than I would like but it’s going to be worth it to have a little speed in the force, still not a massive fan of bikes.

These are the few cheap boys I’ve just finished, just basic power weapons, looking at some shields and heavy thunder hammers in the next squad and just finishing off my jp captain to lead them as well.

also considering playing around with muzzle flash effects maybe but I’m not sold on it, mainly because I’m terrible at osl or painting fire by hand...

What’s peoples thoughts on fire effects for ends of Bolters, just the odd few, is it over the top or does it work? I’m always on the fence over it.

Edited May 29, 2021 by Duke Danse Macabre

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

The going is slow but it’s still going for now at least, got a bit prep done, built a few weapons arms after dry fitting to make sure and pinned them to a bit of old sprew for painting, got allot of extra seals and fetishes/trinkets to do as well, I just find them allot easier before you try and stick them on. :p

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Bit of a big update, managed to get some good headway made on redoing my vanguard vets, 5 of 10 now have arms and the joins green stuffed and have been mostly repainted and touched up, just need to do the odd purity seal, armour text, glosses, gold, blood, splatter and basing, the other 5 need allot more and a few extra shoulder pads cleaned and painted up, once done I can then start asigning names and order their names plates.

In addition to this I’ve also touched up my redemptors and added the last few details, still trying to decide if I want to buy a some fire effects for the end of some weapons to look like they are firing, one redemptor is also missing the handle off it’s ammo box on the heavy onslaught which is my fault as I would of overlooked it when building so trying to source a replacement before my ocd kills me. Lol

I’ve tried to design the redemptor dreadnoughts as a pair of brothers/body guards to the Watch Master so I’ve named them the brothers Grimm, they are Black Templars after all, the first is leaning down to shield an injured brother with his arm whilst returning fire with the heavy onslaught, the other is just scaring off the local wildlife crashing through ruins, let me know what you think.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Great job on the Redemptor! The bloodstained power fist is a GREAT touch.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Great job on the Redemptor! The bloodstained power fist is a GREAT touch.

Cheers mate, I just like the idea of a dread grabbing a gribbly and plunging his fist into their chest and ripping out the body cavity, just so easy to go overboard with blood and it’s easy to snap in strands...

 

Think I may need to invest in some magnets and flat carry cases. :p

[Duke Danse Macabre]

A quick smaller update, been working on my HQ’s, did some work on my Watch Master, I finished him prior but had to redo some parts to elevate the painting level to the same as the rest of the army and redid his entire cloak, using washes heavily in the past instead of layers so looked really off and just dirty but not in a dirty through use kind of way.

The Watch Master was made from a spare Cypher model, Chaplin helmet and the watch master kit for the weapon and left forearm clavis which ive built into Cyphers pose (may still add a few purity seals) so he is still drawing his pistol, I like to play up the inquisition feel of the force and having a former Black Shield as the watch master I feel adds to this. (I’ve also been trying to work in some lost heresy troops like loyalist night lords when I can).

The other HQ is a captain I’ve been meaning to get around to, It’s a converted FW model, started life as Garrow then added a modified Minotaur Chaplin Encomi (I know that name is spelled wrong) helm with crest removed, FW Hector Rex spare shield and the forearms which are heavy gauntlets are from 8th edition FW fantasy Theodore Bruckner which has the sword inscription “Truth will prevail” which I think works really well for a BT captain and gives me the choice relic wise between the shield indomitus or Thief of Secrets sword.

In hindsight I’m not making another how to carry the shield relic but ideas often change before I finish painting lol.

that mentioned I’m now considering doing 3 new sargents for my vanguard vets with capes as my vanguard are the only units with sargents without capes... :p

Edited June 14, 2021 by Duke Danse Macabre

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive works.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Impressive works.

 

Thank you, trying to make my mind up about a couple hobby choices.

Trying to decide if fire effects like the image bellow are worth doing in small numbers and secondly do you think it’s worth trying to put the mk8 errant armour cameras onto all standard build marines like vets and intercessors or not? 

The latter would be a big job as I would have to try and press mold it so I could prove I’ve done it myself if I even went back to Warhammer world, I have a few really out there conversions and some really old metal models from the 80’s in my inquisition and I find staff ban things without fully understanding they are GW models or heavily converted/80%+ greenstuff. (This is also weighing in the back of my mind for fire effects as well but I would build them as slot ins so I could remove if they decide to be a jobs worth)

What do you think?

 

https://deadlyprintstudio.com/producto/gun-muzzle-flash-1/

[Duke Danse Macabre]

It’s a nice change to have time off after this last year to try and finish some of my “many” projects, a long time ago when the DW codex dropped I bought 3 corvus on pre order but ended up putting them in storage built and unprimed, due to this I put off painting a corvus because I didn’t want to buy a 4th but after a long while I had to bite the bullet and do it anyway.

One thing that always put me off doing a corvus was that I hate flight stands, they look so jarring they just suck you out of the immersion and narrative of the game so I would have to be pretty ambitious with the base in order to hide this and that’s allot of work, not to mention where would the rod go?

So after allot of consideration I decided to build a ruin with about 40 pins throughout to hold it together with the strain of the weight it would bear, green stuffed all the gaps and removed what mouldlines I could (over many afternoons I found out this was allot) and made new brick patterns where I had no choice with the idea of having the corvus zoom overhead doing a strafing run firing a missile banking slightly to the side so I have a reason to deploy the air breaks on the model to give it a sense of movement and maybe even try and figure out how to do a launching effect for the rear cluster launchers.

This in mind I’ve tried to deign a ruined snipers nest compleat with crushed sniper and a few trinkets that breath some life into it like spent ammo casings, etc.

I know it’s allot going on but the Corvus is an iconic craft and a centre piece model for a force, especially if running only one so I feel it should stand out.

So I’ve decided to run twin thin brass rods into and up the length of the wings to hide the vast majority of the support, it is thin and risky and sadly I suffered a set back when I tested it under its own weight, one side held fine but the other, I drilled too close to the surface and it just peeled out like a canal...

Trying to repair this mess with plastic card at the moment, I’ve patched it as best I can, next step is to see if once fully set if it can hold the weight.

Edited June 20, 2021 by Duke Danse Macabre

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive works.

[Duke Danse Macabre]

So Finally getting everything base took longer than I thought but it was doable, a couple little bits I’m still think about doing like adding rear cluster launchers firing but have to figure out how to make smoke effects myself that I’m happy with and will last time since gw’s new rule about 100% gw unless made yourself.

I know I have name plates but if they really want to split hairs I do currently have access to a 3D printer and I’m replicating a couple and taking pictures with me in the frame, seems overkill but taking a converted army to a GW event these days is like Frodo putting on the one ring, suddenly you better remember what part is from where...

Now hopefully without further rant I introduce what I hope will be my forces centre piece model, “Sword of Vengence”.

The missile is just slot in so I can leave it out, it’s more for fun and I think I can make better so I’m going to see wha5 I can come up with.

Balance wise it’s strong enough to stand without falling with no counter weight, that said I am still getting one as it is prone to height wobble when table shake.

I think the internal drama of a dead soldier in the rules has played out well and with the brass rods holding the corvus at an angle with that sides air breaks deployed I have the sense of movement I wanted, a strafing run from a deadly assault craft coming in low, wish they had interiors so I could open the doors. :p

I have done a little light airbrushing for the osl in the engines, Bette than I can do by hand by a country mile.

Please let me know what you think and if you think adding the rear fire effects may be overkill?

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive work on the diorama.

[Smoke Frog]

That is a beautiful flight stand! And the missile is pretty fun too 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

That is a beautiful flight stand! And the missile is pretty fun too

Cheers, been a project long in the planning I finally got around to, it’s worth it but god it was a bigger pain than I imagined.

would still love to paint one coming in with the front doors opening with marines spilling out, maybe jump marines leaping onto a building and I could just build a plastic card interior to black the back out so what little is visible makes sense, I have enough bits to fill the walls I a realistic way... this is the exact reason I never finish things. Lol

That said after reading your Plog I’ve decided I really need to get to work getting my lore together, bother is I have a small group of armies and I wanted to try and interlink them in their history to make it plausible.

Hopefully I will be done updating my DW in the next few months and I can get my custodians Finished before restarting my sisters army in plastic and then returning to my love BT and fit GK and knights in somewhere...

Got a little bit work done today, don’t normally update till further along but hoping watching progress makes me want to do more.

Finished the gold on these 5 and removed them from their bases, need to paint their squad markings and start to add seals and extras, got the base coat, drybrush and silver on the other 5, Going to be 2 squad of 5 when done.

Very messy atm but with silver needing a few coats I just tidy up once the main block colours are done before any washes.

My Heavy thunder hammer vanguard vets are coming along nicely, having decided to give the sargents capes it means after I finish and base these 10 vets I need to paint another 10, a big ask but then I will have 30 which will be fun to run now and again, especially if running a +2 charge Chaplin with paragon warlord trait so he can take the ravenguards bubble advance and charge ability, suddenly makes 30 vanguard very scary. Lol

[Smoke Frog]

Nice work on your upcoming squad; those thunder hammers will be a great addition especially if they can move extra fast with those jumpacks!

I really like how Captain Aldrich turned out! His helmet looks fantastic, and his sword, pose, and shield very Templar!

[Duke Danse Macabre]

Nice work on your upcoming squad; those thunder hammers will be a great addition especially if they can move extra fast with those jumpacks!

I really like how Captain Aldrich turned out! His helmet looks fantastic, and his sword, pose, and shield very Templar!

Thank you for the feedback mate.

Hes my favourite character, though I haven’t posted the lore yet as I’m still checking details to iron things out, the ruling family of the feudal world who reside in the capital fortress city Velheim was originally visited by a Black Templars crusading fleet years before the inquisition established a more permanent presence.

Due to this there is a Black Templars chapel within the city to aid with recruitment, as a son of the ruling family of the world he has had to set aside his family name and thus is the only member which goes by his first name only.

Im a big Templars fan so I’m having to hold myself back from going crusade nuts on my DW, trying to save it for redoing my Templars. Lol

Looking forward to using the vanguard, something about a 12 inch move, advancing d6+2 then charging 2d 6 plus 2 makes them very scary.

Makes their threat range 32 inches at max from deployment board edge if I don’t DS them.

sadly 30 vanguard and a couple characters do eat up over 1k points.

Edited July 21, 2021 by Duke Danse Macabre