The Argent Forge: Brother Argent does Imperium

[Majkhel]

Ohhh man, so sorry to hear! 
A least you have in interesting story, but I can definitely feel your pain.

Crappy pictures are better than none, so don't give up!. As long as you manage to get proper lighting, stabilize the phone, with timer release you should at least get passable results. And failing that, you can always try describing the looks for us, right?

I'm sure you'll manage eventually, so don't give up and thanks for your hard work!

Edited September 19, 2022 by Majkhel

[Brother Argent]

I'm not dead yet...

My ability for fluff may be but people don't really come here for that do they?  So, without further adieu, and with a less potato cam pics:

ISSUE 5 Complete

I promise I will get fluff here and more words soon.  You can't really see the sword here but I am rather happy on how it turned out.  I used the dead(er) Necron from the Starter set Captain as I typically dont like to use such full dead enemies on bases but I figured given he will always be tied to the Imperium vs Necrons of the magazine it would work for him.

Also...

ISSUE 6 Complete

Photo a tad dark/shadowed but working at night time to get photos.  Again I had issues assembling these guys, especially the sarge.  I never had these issues with Conquest so wondering if this is just my lack of coordination or if for some reason these models are getting treated worse then usual.

Continuing on we have:

ISSUE 8 Before

So Issue 7 was a bye issue.  It was my intention to tackle the mental health mini challenge, as a long term depression sufferer as well as, I believe these days, a hint of PTSD from my firefighting/road crash rescue but for some reason I ended up bogged down and ended up absorbing my bye week into completing the Aggressors.

So next up is the Necron Overlord.  An easy to build model and a fairly simple one.  Please excuse the hair I just noticed on the photo and the wet glue on his base that makes the sand look like snow.  I think this guys is going to be enjoyable to paint before I get bogged down into the ten warriors.

I am debating doing a major update every ten issues, after the eleventh so its that batch of magazines done, or maybe every twenty so its roughly a quarter of the way through.

 

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me and I hope you all enjoy.

 

[Majkhel]

Well done mate! 
Gravis in general and Aggressors in particular always exhaust me with he number of edges they possess . Those are also ETB, right? I've never built them so can't comment on assembly. But they are one of the older Primaris kits, so perhaps that's that.

Necron Overlord is a sweet sculpt though, so you should enjoy him

[Brother Argent]

Issue 8 After

 

 

I give you Overlord Kanuhm-Hahtet, The Eternal, Conqueror of the Seven Gates and Third Son of the Phaeron.

 

My health has been off at the moment with my kids bringing every blessing of Grandfather Nurgle into our house.  I finished this guy over a week ago but my hobby mojo seemed to be one of the first casualties of my illnesses.  Still its been a month and they haven't taken the next payment so guessing I might be getting a bit of leeway with the deadlines on the next guys.

 

Still I will attempt to push on:

 

Issue 9/10 Before

 

Primed these guys together so the before pic can be together to I guess.  I imagine I will paint them in three batches so as not to get too bogged down.  Well, wish me luck and, hopefully, good health.

[Majkhel]

You're not the only that got under the obnoxious influence of the Grandpa N. lately  I myself got hit too (and also into the hobby mojo). But we do what we can and that is often more than enough

Good to see you still kicking! All the best for your kids!

[Brother Argent]

So... As many of you may have noticed I haven't been as committed as I had first hoped nor as active as I was at the start.  I am still working on these I promise.  I am not going to go into too much detail (yet) but I appreciate the support I have been getting from you people and I haven't given up or stopped yet.  As proof of life here is where I am at with the warriors:

 

 

They are finished as much as they will be for now.

 

Thank you again all for sticking with me.  Particularly you Majkhel, whose input I look forward too each update.  At some point when I start getting back to the narrative side of things I think you will end up with a character named in your honour.

 

Anyway I promise a major update soon, hopefully.  Until then, peace and goodwill brothers.

[Majkhel]

Cheers, Brother!  I know how much it means for me sometimes to hear a kind word, so I'm happy to be of service! And I'm sure none of us here would dare to judge your commitment.

 

Good work on the Necrons! Their color scheme is nice and works well for a group. I especially like the deep shade on their gauss weaponry underslung blades. 
I hope this latest bunch did not exhaust you too much. What's up next on your table?

 

[Brother Argent]

An Update... of sorts

 

Well hello all.

 

Its been a month.  Well, nearly a month.  And whilst I haven't been entirely inactive my hobby and, if I am honest, life mojo has taken a huge hit.  I know most on here don't know me personally but I have been around for a while and those on the site may have heard my mention in the past the issues I have with mental health.  I suffer from depression, as I imagine many in our community do.  With the constant increase here in Australia of mortage and the cost of living, combined with stresses in my work as well as home life and coupled up with increasingly difficult conditions in my volunteer firefighting has put me under greater  and greater stress until I recently reached breaking point. I, for the most part, shut down.  Thankfully this time I didn't fall as far as I have in the past, and have the scars to show it, but rather I simply withdrew from everything and have been struggling to push forwards.  Financial shenanigans also delayed my next Imperium issue and I was stuck in a pretty bleak place.

 

I am on the way back again, however.  This cycle has been a long ongoing saga for me.  Anti depressant medications do little but make me violently angry, not a good situation when I have five amazing children.  Thankfully I don't suffer as bad as some and am able to ride this roller coaster of mental illness far better then some.  So for now I am left to shepherd myself back onto the right path.  I need to, for my children and my wife, as well as the community I protect.

 

I only explain this so those few whom follow along here may understand my recent rapidly dwindling commitment to this thread and my most recent disappearance.  I know I am not alone on this journey, far from it. And to those out there whom suffer far worse from the Black Dog then I wish you whatever strength I can spare.  It is never a good thing to be at war with your own mind.

 

 

But I am never one to make a deal over these things so for those whom only come here for the models, which I understand entirely, I did complete my Phobos Librarian about two or so weeks ago.  I am not sure if I ever posted up the beginning shots here but:

 

I really enjoyed painting this model and love the pose and sculpt in general.  I decided to use a different blue then usual and opted for the same slightly blue green that I also used for my Dire Avengers in the past and it worked really well.  For the cloak I tried to capture the effect of it shifting to suit the environment.

Looking forward to the Eliminators later in the subscription.  And if Guilleman is still part of the deal he will likely end up a similar blue.  Finally I tried a gradient effect on the force sword but the photos dont really show it.  They make the gold look good though.

 

And that is it for now.  I believe I finally have my next delivery on route so stay tuned for that.  In the meantime I am attempting to finish some old models that have been hanging over my head for a while, with some of the poxwalkers from Dark Imperium as well as a couple of vehicles from Conquest.  They can be found over in the 12 months of Hobby thread.

 

Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things soon guys, with fluff and everything again.  Until then stay safe and lets get into the silly season.

[Firedrake Cordova]

He looks good, @Brother Argent .

 

Sorry to hear of your recent problems. 

[Khornestar]

I love your orange scheme. Orange really isn’t a color you see too often!

[Brother Argent]

Hey all.  I promise I am not yet dead.  I meant to get a new update on this at the start of the year but have been procrastinating too hard to actually get there 

 

Anyway, a question for you all before I get back into the serious updates...

 

For my orange I currently follow a process as follows:

 

Undercoat Wraithbone

Gryph Hound Orange Contrast over all

Touch up, block in and highlight with Troll Slayer Orange

Edge highlight with a 2:1 mix of Troll Slayer Orange and Yriel Yellow.

Final extreme edge on some points with Yriel.

 

Now I am finding (as I dont use a wet pallet per se, I know... I know...)  that my mix for highlights is, not only drying out and going clumpy in the Australian heat and thus killing my brush, wasting vast amounts of expensive paint and giving me thick highlights I am also, as you can see below, finding it difficult to get a consistent colour. 

 

So my question is this:

 

Is there a GW paint colour that matches that I could use instead of mixing my own?  I was thinking maybe Averland Sunset in the air range?  I know its designed for an Airbrush but it can work via brush too I believe.

 

This is the colour I am going for.  Note that the green of my pallet and the LED light it is under doesn't make it 100% accurate but At this early-ish stage with the army if I get something close enough it should hopefully not be an issue.

 

Otherwise stay tuned peoples, as I hope to reboot this properly soon.

 

[Firedrake Cordova]

Not the question you asked, but have you tried adding a drying retarder to your paint mixes? Something like Liquitex Slow-Dri fluid retarder (other artist supply companies - e.g. Winsor & Newton - also make them, but they tend to be gels).

 

As you mentioned a problem with colour consistency, you could buy some empty pots, and fill one or two with your mix (e.g. Vallejo sell 17ml empty bottles and 35ml mixing bottles)? You could even add a bit of flow improver or drying retarder to it at that stage.

 

On the question of matches, can you get to a hobby shop? If so, can you take a swatch of paint with you and compare it to the pots? (I know this may not be a viable approach, because Australia is a very big and sparsely-populated place)

 

Edited January 18, 2023 by Firedrake Cordova
Added mixing pots

[Brother Argent]

EPISODE III: The Return of the Argent...

 

Well, my Brothers and Sisters, it had been a long while.  Those whom follow the Twelve Months of Hobbyists know I have not died in some horrible way.  I am still going and am still sticking to my plans to keep the Imperium subscription plan going.  I have just been lax in posting any updates here.  I wanted to get back into the fluff side of things as much as anything but have found my creative mojo starting to suffer big time.  The fact that I am only a small ways in to the subscription and my desire to paint my other forces is growing is making things more difficult too.  Followed by the loss at the hands of my children of the majority (everything but one arm) of the Eradicator Sarge I was painting for my 500 points of Interdictors as well as struggling to find the time my desire to hobby has been suffering.  But I have been this way before and I am not letting it get me too far down again.  Sometimes one must force oneself to push forward.  So, with that, I intend on forcing a bit on progress here and with my hobby, so as too keep things in motion.  I doubt I will go back yet and sort the missing fluff from previous posts as looking back never leads to moving forward.  I will also hopefully finally start playing through the campaign to get some storyline updates going.

 

So, here we go (note I may miss some of the before parts here just to catch things back up):

 

Issue 12 BEFORE/AFTER

 

Before the events of the Iximia and the crusades against the necrontyr forces there-after the 3rd Company of the Interdictors had faced a terrible calamity.  Finding themselves in the path of a splinter of the Hive Fleet Titan of the Tyranid xenos the 3rd Company had been wiped out almost to a man.  Of the full strength battle company that entered the terrible conflict only twenty seven emerged and of those a full half were gravelly injured, some not surviving their injuries and one, the company ancient, being interred in a sacred dreadnought sarcophagus to continue his war in the chapters name.  The 3rd Companies standard was tattered and all but destroyed, although it never fell, and so it was laid to rest in the Interdictors fortress monastery on the moon of Selene.  As the Company was reforged and refilled from the reserve companies a new Company ancient was needed.  And so one was chosen from the few survivors of the decimation on Kyrane

 

 

Company Ancient Majkhel had been a member of the former Captain's inner circle and a decorated sergeant of many years service.  During the hellish fighting on Kyrane he had led a group of survivors holding a small hab block along with the remnants of his squad and other elements of the company.  As more and more and more of the xenos creatures swarmed the building he and his men were driven back.  When help finally came to evacuate them they found Majkhel badly wounded but still standing, the shattered remnants of his sword in hand and buried in a pile of xenos corpses.  The rest of his squad lost he had his back to the last doorway where the survivors he had sworn to protect were all still unharmed.  For his tenacious defence he was given the honour of bearing the new standard of the newly reforged 3rd Company.  It is a duty he has taken to with the same stoic nature and since that day the standard has never dipped in battle, let alone fallen.  

 

So, back with an update that isn't necessarily from Imperium but as Issue 12 was a bye issues from about the time I painted him I will say he is it.  The keen eyed will note he is named from a brother on here that has been a supporter of this thread since it started and has born the colours of me continuing this thread so I felt it only fair that the one whom has held the banner for me doing this little challenge have this guy bare his name.

 

 

 

[Majkhel]

I'm touched... Thank you, Brother Argent!
I do of course continue to support and applaud your works! 

 

Funny thing is that I have been meddling with the idea of painting an Ancient for my Blood Angels' 5th Company, but always felt too intimidated by the banner itself to try

Emboldened by your efforts, I will take an Oath of Moment to finally paint one this year!

But, but - lets note the fact that your lates picture looks pretty good! I can definitely appreciate the richness of your orange hue now.
What's next on the line?

Cordova is making an excellent point for pre-mixing a larger amount of shade of your choosing.
The "Air" series are definitely perfectly workable with the brush. They are simply more thinned, so more passes are needed for a good coverage. But then one usually thins thicker paints so it's a personal preference what you like to work with more.
Averland Sunset might be still too yellow - it's a deep yellow, but yellow still.

[Kurgan the Lurker]

On 1/18/2023 at 2:42 AM, Brother Argent said:

Hey all.  I promise I am not yet dead.  I meant to get a new update on this at the start of the year but have been procrastinating too hard to actually get there 

 

Anyway, a question for you all before I get back into the serious updates...

 

For my orange I currently follow a process as follows:

 

Undercoat Wraithbone

Gryph Hound Orange Contrast over all

Touch up, block in and highlight with Troll Slayer Orange

Edge highlight with a 2:1 mix of Troll Slayer Orange and Yriel Yellow.

Final extreme edge on some points with Yriel.

 

Now I am finding (as I dont use a wet pallet per se, I know... I know...)  that my mix for highlights is, not only drying out and going clumpy in the Australian heat and thus killing my brush, wasting vast amounts of expensive paint and giving me thick highlights I am also, as you can see below, finding it difficult to get a consistent colour. 

 

So my question is this:

 

Is there a GW paint colour that matches that I could use instead of mixing my own?  I was thinking maybe Averland Sunset in the air range?  I know its designed for an Airbrush but it can work via brush too I believe.

 

This is the colour I am going for.  Note that the green of my pallet and the LED light it is under doesn't make it 100% accurate but At this early-ish stage with the army if I get something close enough it should hopefully not be an issue.

 

Otherwise stay tuned peoples, as I hope to reboot this properly soon.

 

Oranges I use:

VMC 981 ORANGE BROWN

VMC 956 LIGHT ORANGE

VMC 910 ORANGE RED

VMC 851 DEEP ORANGE

VMC 911 LIGHT ORANGE

[Brother Argent]

Issue 13: BEFORE/AFTER

 

 

The Interdictors are a chapter of two dynamic extremes.  Fierce warriors, brutal and savage in close quarters and yet, while not on the battlefield, they are often spend their time in meditation or debating philosophies in the sanctuary of their fortress monastery.  Typically when the Chapter makes war they strike like a hammer and anvil.  True to their name the chapter interdicts itself into the heart of the enemy.  Drop pod's roar through atmosphere followed by wings of Thunderhawks and other strike craft, depositing their deadly cargo into vital strategic posts, choke points in the defence or directly at the enemy command structure.  These forces, typically consisting of close support squads such as Assault Intercessors, Aggressors, Assault Squads and in more extreme cases veterans or even those clad in Terminator Armour.  These squads carve a safe point in the war zone, often creating safe landing for more heavily armoured units and vehicle support.  It is a tactic that it not without risks and the chapter is no stranger to losses, but the blood of martyrs is the life blood of the Imperium and the Interdictors are more then willing to pay the price.

Squad Paletus were another Close Assault squad assigned to the Third Company for the defence of Iximia.  Led by Sergeant Socratus Paletus the squad were all veterans of the Indomitus Crusade.  A savage and brutal combatant, known for his disgust of weakness and his tenacity to push his own squad to great lengths, Socratus is, off the battlefield, regarded as one of the greatest philosophers his chapter has known for many years.  Indeed the Chapters Librarium has no less then five philisophical treatise penned by his hand or recorded from his dictations in the chapters great Auditorus Maxim, the great hall of debate on the Chatper's Homeworld.

 

One of the forces scattered in the original assault Squad Paletus landed outside Hive Gamonyr in the agricultural farmsteads, Palentus would gather what he could of his forces and fight a spear headed assault to rendezvous with Captain Pilus.  By the time he reached his Captain he had amassed a decent sized force of the Third along with elements of the PDF as well as other Imperial forces fighting on the planet.

 

Edited May 21, 2023 by Brother Argent
English be good and stuff..... (ie fixing spelling)

[Brother Argent]

Issue 14 BEFORE/AFTER

 

 

Iximia was first and foremost a manufacturing world.  Not to the scale of a true forge world its factories still exported useful and, sometimes, vital supplies to the Imperium and its war efforts.  Dotted across the planets surface were manufactorum complexes, filled with all manner or machinery and goods.  In other areas vast storage areas covered areas the size of small towns.  Without supplies an army, no matter how great, would eventually falter.

 

These supplies would eventually make their way into STC Armoured Munititorum Containers.  Armed with small arm weaponry and packed full of whatever the planet could produce they were typically shipped to Iximia's two major star ports.  One of these star ports lay at the planets northern pole, controlled mostly by the Mechanicus.  The other say close to the heart of Hive Gamonyr and would prove to be one of the key contested assets of the war.  The Imperium needing the facilities to safely land ships amoungst the radioactive storms and the Necrontyr realizing the importance of the facility and sending what they could to besiege it.

[Brother Argent]

Issue 15: BEFORE/AFTER

 

A scattered and perhaps less powerful Dynasty then many other the Almwat were perhaps more forgiving and accepting of the help or support offered or given by those considered outcasts amoungst the rest of Necrontyr society.  Those inflicted with the madness of the Destroyer Cults were not uncommon among the dynastic forces.  Their combat prowess, destructive abilities and hatred of all living things meant their other idiosyncrasies could perhaps be over looked in favour of the much needed support they provided.  Those suffering from the Flayer virus however were far less welcomed.  Fearful their already low numbers would be further reduced by the madness the Almwat forced tended to operate far removed from their flayer kin.  Even so the unasked for arrival of the Flayed Ones were not entirely unwelcome as they stalked through the shattered hive cities and manufactorum facilities of Iximia.  Their nightmare countenance and damage they caused to the planets already struggling defenders was perhaps almost as useful as their combat prowess.

 

" Clickity clack, clickity clack,

thats the noise in my head,

Clickity clack, Snippity swish

now the sarge is right dead.

 

Snippty swish, Snippty swish,

such a right and horrid sound

Snippity swish, drippity rip

Now gunners guts are on the ground.

 

Drippity rip, drippity rip,

You run but the sound keeps pace.

Drippity rip, hackity cut

Shadows come to steal your face..."

 

Last words of Trooper Hadim - Iximia PDF 122nd Regiment - Declared Heretic and given the Emperors Mercy following fall of Manufactorum Complex Sigma Beta 441

[Brother Argent]

Issue 16: BEFORE/AFTER

 

Like the Chapter itself the homeworld of the Interdictors was split into extremes.  The planet of Achaea was claimed to serve as the Chapter's homeworld following their defeat of the xenos race that had enslaved the human population there as well as several other nearby worlds.  The xenos had masqueraded as divine beings, descended from the Emperor of Mankind, and to the planets population the Interdictors fitted the role of ancient god killers know as Titans from the planets mythos.  While the Interdictors haven't ever really acknowledged this role they certainly haven't done anything to disuade the native population. The natives of the planet live in vast city states, each a nation unto itself, and often in a state of war with their neighboring cities.  Having a bazaar and eclectic mix of technology level their could perhaps best be classified as techno barbarians and Achaea itself a death world, for beyond the shielded walls of her city states the wilds of Achaea teem with all manner of horrific mutant creatures and monsters.  Some are said to be left over horrific experiments of the planets previous xenos overlords, whereas others are just thought to be natives to the rugged and mountainous lands.

 

 

Following the devestation of the Chapters first assault on the planet Captain Pilus and his forces quickly attempted to reconile themselves, seizing control of the space port in the hive and seeking what reinforcements they could.  Once such group to arrive and take control/consolidate with already committed forces was that of Sergreant Ajax.  His forces coming from the reserve elements sent to assist he led a core of his marines to reinforce the decimated Squad Theophylias.  A quiet and steadfast veteran of the Indomitus Crusade Ajax chose to keep the squads former name in honour of its previous leader, a marine he had served under in the past and had fought along side on countless occasions.  Any further changes could be addressed once the conflict on Iximia was resolved.

 

*******

 

I wont make any grand promises about being back and what I am going to achieve as that hasn't worked out so well the last few times.  I know to those whom follow the Twelve Months of Hobby these are all nothing new.  But I didn't want to admit this project was dead.  I have had a lot of ups and downs with the hobby and life in general of recent but I realised it was just procrastination in a lot of ways that has stopped me posting here.  This was always supposed to be a fun project and a way to keep myself honest and productive.  After a few weeks of no productivity (due to various reasons) I am hoping to get this project back on track.  I am running a bit behind with my progress but as it stands I have completed everything up to the second lot of Warriors and will hopefully bash through the posts on them over the next week to get this log back up to date.

 

Thank you to all whom have shown interest in this project and hopefully, going forward, I can share much more of the roller coaster ride my hobby life is.

Edited May 21, 2023 by Brother Argent

[Firedrake Cordova]

Nice work! You have been busy, haven't you?  

 

I do like the background that goes with them - as someone who likes the background elements, I very much approve  

 

[ZeroWolf]

Fantastic work 

[Torbenos]

They look fine, I am quite fond of the orange. Gives them a striking visual look that's quite distinct. I'd not worry too much about the project dying, I mean it seems to on some level have gotten you to paint! I mean you've gotten I think 18 space marines and 27 necrons painted up here. That's an amount anyone should be happy with!

[Prim]

This is a really good way to approach the subscription to the magazine and by the time it is done you should have some awesome looking armies to play with. 

Nice work so far.

[Majkhel]

Welcome back from one lost soul to another, brother! We're tenacious in our returns if nothing else
Good progress shown here and on the 12-Month-Hobby thread!

[Brother Argent]

Thanks mate.  I have been sorely meaning to get back here and continue on my updates, as well as possibly start a new thread to cover my adventures with Leviathan, but I am struggling to get the time to paint let along fluff things up.

 

I have, unfortunately, fallen behind on the Imperium deliveries, with my focus mostly being on said Leviathan.  Still, I am painting the Infernus marines as well as the Dread from that set as 3rd Company so they may even make an appearance here.  Or, once I catch up with Imperium I may just continue this as my general blog.  

 

I have recently discovered the "joys" of using transfers again and seem to be getting them to co-operate somewhat so when the magazine rolls back around to marines there will be some changes there.

 

Anyway thanks again for the support mate and I hope to get more back up here soon.