A Tale of Dust and Iron - Xth/XVth Legios

[TheFirstKnight]

So, here's a WIP I knocked up in my lunch break. Happy so far. Now another 19 to build after I've re-applied the layers and highlights on the mini.

 

[TheFirstKnight]

Aaaaand the Sagyar Mazan Breacher Sergeant is complete! The armour was a little bit more white, but decided after doing the oils initially to paint his right leg (bar the red kneepad) black, just to break up the monotony but also make it stand out a wee bit more. Just need to decide on how to base him and he's finished. Now onto the other 19 I'm halfway through building.

 

[Pearson73]

Love it, the shield design will still look striking en masse, even when applied uniformly across the group. I'm really impressed with how you're integrating all the different colours without any looking out of place, I think the weathering helps draw them all together too.

[Sgt.Sangha]

I Might steal your idea of the spartan with the paint scheme and transfers for my ebon keshig

[TheFirstKnight]

I Might steal your idea of the spartan with the paint scheme and transfers for my ebon keshig

 

Oh you absolutely should do it!  I love seeing people paint up alternate schemes.

Love it, the shield design will still look striking en masse, even when applied uniformly across the group. I'm really impressed with how you're integrating all the different colours without any looking out of place, I think the weathering helps draw them all together too.

 

Very kind of you to say so! I'm really happy with it actually, which is something of a rarity as I'm usually the first to go back and criticise my own painting.

 

The other 19 are pretty much built so it's onto priming later and then get these suckers painted before the new box hits (because I apparently need a second Spartan lol).

[TheFirstKnight]

Sooooo there’s been a few updates since B&C went on a hiatus. I decided I wanted to add a few marines extra as an allied force to my Scars, mainly to break up the monotony of painting the same thing en masse. I decided it had to be traitors as I’ve always done Loyalists (with my Sagyar Mazan also being traitor Scars). Was chatting about it to my next friend and he asked which was I was leaning, and it was down to Emperor’s Children and Thousands Sons (I love the EC and TS are one of my other favourite legions). After some discussion, He sent me a message saying he had sent a ‘small’ care package in the post. I was absolutely flabbergasted when I opened two boxes and found the contents which you can see in the photos below. I’m a huge fan of Mk II armour, so I was blown away to see over 50 various marines in Crusade armour. Also in the box we’re Magnus, several TS specific units as well as TS torsos, helmets, transfers etc.

 

[TheFirstKnight]

Here's the first 6 marines from my compulsory Troops choice for the allies,...

 

 

[TheFirstKnight]

I've also painted up a tester Breacher to try and get a hold on my Thousand Sons scheme. I havn't thought too far ahead regarding the new background for the force, but there will be some shared history from sometime in the Great Crusade, hence the armour that has similar use of black in the colour scheme. Alongisde the Sagyar Mazan, my Thousand Sons will have a heavy presence of marines from the Order of the Jackal who are the marines who look after the Legion Dreadnoughts, the dead and have a fair few apothecaries within their number. The use of black goes nicely with this theme as well I thought! One thing I was deliberating on was whether to go candy red or classic crimson, but I'm not great at the metallic schemes and it;s easier to weather matt schemes (and to keep them in line with the Scars). 

I'm just finishing up now the first marine from a squad of Sekhmet Terminators, just trying to lock down the scheme properly. I decided Court of the Crimson King was a good Rite of War to start with to maximise units of a smaller size (Sekhmet being Troops in the RoW) so I can quickly get a force on the table. I'll post some pics up later on, and I'm about to start the other 4 marines from the squad, which will be followed by the TS Sorcerer in Cataphractii Armour

Any thoughts or C&C are always welcome!

 

 

[SkimaskMohawk]

I like the shared elements of the scheme, but I think the thousand son would benefit from the classic metallic/gloss red. It would set the two apart, especially on the breachers where you've really replicated the same black armour.

 

Ps: have you had trouble uploading pics from your phone, or are you using the gallery function?

[TheFirstKnight]

1 hour ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

I like the shared elements of the scheme, but I think the thousand son would benefit from the classic metallic/gloss red. It would set the two apart, especially on the breachers where you've really replicated the same black armour.

 

Ps: have you had trouble uploading pics from your phone, or are you using the gallery function?

The reason for doing the shared elements of black will be some form of campaign marking (in my head anyways) from during the Great Crusade (sort of akin to the black Imperial Fists from Extermination). I’ve tried to do the metallic scheme several times and I just don’t like the attempts I’ve done hence going for the classic crimson, sadly it’s not my forte despite how much I love the candy/metallic red look!
 

Tbf, the White Scars won’t be as major an element as I initially planned so really the focus will be more on the Thousand Sons.

 

re: the gallery thing, the pictures are quite large on my phone so it was only letting me upload a few pics max at a time.

Edited June 24, 2022 by TheFirstKnight
Spelling error

[Chaeron]

I love the contrast between the two, whilst they still maintain a degree of commonality to keep them linked visually. Great work!

[SkimaskMohawk]

1 hour ago, TheFirstKnight said:

The reason for doing the shared elements of black will be some form of campaign marking (in my head anyways) from during the Great Crusade (sort of akin to the black Imperial Fists from Extermination). I’ve tried to do the metallic scheme several times and I just don’t like the attempts I’ve done hence going for the classic crimson, sadly it’s not my forte despite how much I love the candy/metallic red look!
 

Tbf, the White Scars won’t be as major an element as I initially planned so really the focus will be more on the Thousand Sons.

 

re: the gallery thing, the pictures are quite large on my phone so it was only letting me upload a few pics max at a time.

Fair enough on the scheme thing, I know there's nothing more disappointing than having a scheme you love and not being able to do it justice.

 

Your gritty versions still look great!

 

I'll play around with the file sizes for the pics on my own, though it's all been well short of the 4.88 mb limit it says lol

[Dosjetka]

Great to see you back, @TheFirstKnight ! And with a hefty update no less. :)

Sounds like you have a very generous friend there; I'm very glad we have such people in the hobby and you're definitely a lucky hobbyist!

The White Scar Breachers look fantastic and suitably beaten-/roughed-up. I like them especially because Breachers isn't one of the "usual" White Scar units and you've made them look unmistakeably like White Scars, and it works.

I like the Thousand Son test model, the red especially (any chance you'd be willing to share the recipe, please?), but I'm personally not too keen on the black armour panels (though I understand why you added them). The black areas on the shield do work however. :)

All in all, great update, looking forward to seeing more soon!

[Pearson73]

Oh wow, that Thousand Son looks brilliant, I love how the schemes overlap and complement one another. 

A very thematic choice of partner for the Scars too.

[TheFirstKnight]

Thanks gang! Yeah I know the black might be a bit controversial (I spent a lot of time worrying about schemes blending into a Blood Angels or Word Bearers look), but I like it and the new book stated that black was often used as a secondary colour instead of white so thought I’d try something different. Tying it into my Scars seemed like a nice way to tie the forces together. I’ll do a few chaps with white as a secondary colour though, just to mix things up a wee bit.

 

So the first Sekhmet Terminator is complete, pretty happy with this :) I’ve mostly done the basecoats on the next 4, so I’ll be onto the oil washes shortly (also remembered to take the photos on a lower quality so I can actually attach more than 3 at a time lol).

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 25, 2022 by TheFirstKnight
Photos

[TheFirstKnight]

50 minutes ago, Dosjetka said:

Great to see you back, @TheFirstKnight ! And with a hefty update no less. :)

Sounds like you have a very generous friend there; I'm very glad we have such people in the hobby and you're definitely a lucky hobbyist!

The White Scar Breachers look fantastic and suitably beaten-/roughed-up. I like them especially because Breachers isn't one of the "usual" White Scar units and you've made them look unmistakeably like White Scars, and it works.

I like the Thousand Son test model, the red especially (any chance you'd be willing to share the recipe, please?), but I'm personally not too keen on the black armour panels (though I understand why you added them). The black areas on the shield do work however. :)

All in all, great update, looking forward to seeing more soon!

Thanks very much, good to be back! He’s an absolute blinder of a chap, didn’t think he’d just sort me out with nearly 60 mk II still in blisters/packs!

The red is actually just a Mephiston Red spray, with a Mephiston Red basecoat on top, and an Evil Sunz Scarlet highlight. I oil wash the entire mini, remove the excess and (as the oil stains the mini somewhat) I reapply a bit haphazardly the Mephiston Red layer and ESS highlight, with a last fine highlight of Squig Orange.

Edited June 25, 2022 by TheFirstKnight
Additional text

[TheFirstKnight]

Well, after a busy week, I've managed to finally complete the first Sekhmet Terminator Squad. Pretty happy with how it's all shaping up so far. I've started on the next 5 man squad,as well as a the TS Praetor in Cataphractii Armour, which will at least me run either a Pride of the Legion or Court of the Crimson King force to start with. After that, I'm probably going to do a couple of Contemptors as well as a Scorpion adorned Legion Champion. Coming up with some ideas, but I'm plumping for an order of my own making, the Order of the Scorpion. Will be very much Salamanders-lite; close combat quarters weapons such as flamers, meltas etc as well as Veterans/Despoilers/Assault Marines.

 

Anyhoo, here's some pics.

[TheFirstKnight]

[TheFirstKnight]

Here’s my Thousand Sons Consul-Siege Breaker of the Order of the Scorpion. An off-shoot of the Order of Ruin, who specialise in siege craft, the Order of the Scorpion formed after several instances of fighting amongst the Iron Warriors, World Eaters and Death Guard. As such, they are up close fighters who contain many close combat veterans, support squads of melta guns and flamers as well as a high number of Destroyers.

Happy with this chap, even if the red is somewhat veering towards the WB type of red (I like to think it’s partly due to their somewhat sinister reputation).

I forget how much I freaking love, and miss, resin mk II. So fun to paint too

[TheFirstKnight]

Aaaaand another HQ down! This time, the Praetor in Cataphractii Terminator Armour. The next 5 Sekhmet are now ready for their oil bath.

One thing i am appreciating is the scale difference between the resin Mk II armour and the terminator armour. I wish FW still sold it!

[Pearson73]

All looking very nice, I really dig those FW Thousand Sons sculpts.

[TheFirstKnight]

One thing I love with an army is their story; who are they, what motivates them, where are they leading to etc. I’ve had plenty of thoughts regarding my Thousand Sons and their White Scars allies. They aren’t necessarily traitors, nor a they loyalists either. But I need to get pen down on paper and write some cool fluff for them.

 

One thing an a story needs? Conflict. And I’ve been contemplating doing a second proper legion, and one thing my friends and I enjoy doing are opposed armies. To that end, I was thinking what to do as I utterly despise the Space Wolves and wouldn’t touch them with a barge pole. Then the obvious answer struck me, and if anyone was going to cross blades with those perfidious sorcerors, it was clearly going to be Mortarion’s XIVth legion. I’m a big fan of the Death Guard and I love weathering miniatures so it’s a golden opportunity.

 

I’ve got so many spare minis, I think the majority of my Mk II stuff is gonna go to the XIVth for a more infantry feel to the force. I’ve got the below plus some Grave Wardens on their way already. Still working on my Thousand Sons, halfway through the oil stage on the next 5 Sekhmet which will take me up to 10 of them and counting.

 

 

[TheFirstKnight]

Got halfway through the basecoating on the Deathshroud but it’s far too hot here in the UK to paint so decided to take all my mk II chaps out of their boxes and give them a good wash and a coat of varnish…could be a while here, only 55 to do haha. I’ve also got a box of Grave Wardens and some Heavy Weapons to soak.

[Chaeron]

More great work - I'm excited to see all those lovely resin models prepped and ready to be painted! I really like the on-going backstory too - will look forward to reading when that's fully written up. 

[TheFirstKnight]

8 minutes ago, Chaeron said:

More great work - I'm excited to see all those lovely resin models prepped and ready to be painted! I really like the on-going backstory too - will look forward to reading when that's fully written up. 

Thanks!! I’m away this weekend for my birthday with the dreaded in-laws haha so I’m gonna be taking a note pad with me to start writing some fluff for both armies :)