Creating an Iron Hands army for both 30K & 40K

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Last year I have decided to tackle my Space Marine pile of shame before I begin to paint the Age of Darkness box. Lets see what has been finished so far:

 

Before HH 2.0 has hit the shelves I wanted to assemble and paint a squad for my future Iron Hands force. Therefore I looked into my pile of shame and discovered a box of IH Tactical marines. After raiding the Catachan, SM & Chaos bitz boxes of mine I was lucky enough to collect ten flamers. Oh and I also used up all my remaining beakie helmets and avoided Aquila chest plates in order to get the Heresy vibe going:

https://ibb.co/album/zsg9zv

 

 

This Techmarine has been finished in June 2022:

https://ibb.co/album/nRvKDw

 

Here are five members of a Vanguard Assault squad painted in July 2022:

https://ibb.co/album/zXfr4K

 

The first space taxi has been finished in July 2022:

https://ibb.co/album/whPX3v

 

A Praetor joins the 30K IH force in August 2022:

https://ibb.co/album/bsHsFn

 

Spiritual guidance comes in form of the Chaplain (August 2022):

https://ibb.co/album/XZ3brG

 

Ten sniper scouts (August 2022):

https://ibb.co/album/n6bP3Q

 

Four Terminators with heavy weapons (August 2022):

https://ibb.co/album/bWH5xv

 

Finished my "New Mars" campaign map (August 2022). August was a pretty busy month:

https://ibb.co/album/Rjnz5Q

 

Techmarine, four Servitors and a single Vet. Sgt. (September 2022):

https://ibb.co/album/VjtFbv

 

A Fembot (Metallica) acting as a Mechanicum ally for 30K. Also repainted a vintage Dreadnought from the 90s (September 2022):

https://ibb.co/album/34py6Q

https://ibb.co/album/2758hr

 

Crusader Land Raider (October 2022):

https://ibb.co/album/pW07M4

 

HAMMER TIME in October 2022:

https://ibb.co/album/HT9HBW

 

Five Tacticals (November 2022):

https://ibb.co/album/f8shwv

 

Another Rhino and a Landspeeder (November 2002):

https://ibb.co/album/M9Q9cv

https://ibb.co/album/pn3HHw

 

Burnout and flu hit me hard at the end of 2022. Marching on in March 2023 with a 5-man Assault squad:

https://ibb.co/bdRBrsB

 

30K IH & Fembot photographed on Mars mat (April 2023):

https://ibb.co/album/7nN5kQ

 

Parade of 40K IH units which has been finished so far (April 2023):

https://ibb.co/album/mv19pY

 

Built terrain for New Mars mat (June 2023):

https://ibb.co/album/T4PFKd

 

 

 

 

[sitnam]

Awesome work! Personally I’m not a huge fan of over weathering, I kind of prefer my minis clean, but your work looks great. The first link though is awesome, I really like the oily sheen on those Iron Hands. How did you get that effect?

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

12 minutes ago, sitnam said:

Awesome work! Personally I’m not a huge fan of over weathering, I kind of prefer my minis clean, but your work looks great. The first link though is awesome, I really like the oily sheen on those Iron Hands. How did you get that effect?

Thanks for the praise! Well, the Iron Hands will battle it out on New Mars (dust storms are a frequent occurrence) against all kinds of Nurgle forces: Traitor Guard, CSM and Daemons. It´s a  single-player campaign, and the first scenario has been shot already (battle report with around 300 pics). I will post it on this forum before Starfield gets released. Anyway, the IH will need to get their bionic hands dirty and dusty in the process. Here is the recipe for the 30K IH Flamer squad:

 

Paint scheme (Armour):
1. Basecoat Chaos Black
2. Boltgun Metal (added a bit of water to the coat)
3. Druchii Violet (Shade; complete wash)
4. Boltgun Metal (Drybrush)
5. Biel-Tan Green (Shade; less intense wash)
6. Boltgun Metal (Drybrush)
7. Agrax Earthshade (Wash)
8. Stormhost Silver (Drybrush)
9. Nuln Oil (Careful Wash)
10. Stormhost Silver (Drybrush)
11. Mat Varnish (from spray can)

Paint scheme (Eye lenses & OSL):
1. Skull White
2. Regal Blue
3. Drakenhof Nightshade (Shade)
4. Enchanted Blue
5. Lothern Blue

Base:
1. Red Oxide Paste (let dry over night)
2. Agrax Earthshade (Wash)
3. Squig Orange (Drybrush)
4. Technical Stormshield (apply to all parts where pigments should stick later on)
5. Mix of following pigments (Brown Iron Oxide, Natural Iron Oxide, Dark Red Ochre, Dark Yellow Ochre & Rust). All pigments were applied roughly in equal parts to the mix with the exception of Natural Iron Oxide which was used less.
6. Wasteland Tufts (should have applied them in step 1 of base decoration).
7. Skulls and left arm bones from the Khemri Skeleton sprue.

 

 

Final note in regards to Armour scheme:

I painted this month a 10-man Tactical squad consisting of 40K marines for 30K. I used less Agrax Earthshade (step 7) and removed Step 9 (Nuln Oil wash) to create a more silvery tone which wouldn´t block the violet and green undertones of the armour as much as the previous scheme did. The squad still needs weathering though that´s why it hasn´t been posted yet.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Finished the Tactical squad in June 2023. Tell me if you like squad markings on the shoulder pad (same as on Rhino) or numbers for squad differentiation:

https://ibb.co/album/f8shwv

 

Finished the Vanguard squad in June 2023:

https://ibb.co/album/zXfr4K

 

Finished the remaining Terminators in July 2023:

https://ibb.co/album/bWH5xv

 

Added two Terminator HQs to lead the army (July 2023):

https://ibb.co/album/cxBqCd

 

 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Finished vintage (metal) 40K SM Scouts with Shotguns today:

 

https://ibb.co/album/QX8fkH

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I get the theme of "we're fighting in a wind-swept desert" but even still I think you went far too heavy on the weathering. 

 

Now that being said, I also want to praise the green as a lighting color -- the helmet lenses in particular look fantastic. 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

30K Iron Hands Tactical Squad from August 2023. Finished weathering the bunch today:

https://ibb.co/album/PZPNPX

 

The emphasis was again on using 40K minis and transferring them as faithfully as possible into the 30k era like it was done in the past with the Flamer Squad. So no aquilas and all the remaining beakie helmets of my bitz box were used alongside specific IH bionic heads.

 

21 hours ago, Iron Father Ferrum said:

I get the theme of "we're fighting in a wind-swept desert" but even still I think you went far too heavy on the weathering. 

 

Now that being said, I also want to praise the green as a lighting color -- the helmet lenses in particular look fantastic. 

Thanks fort he praise!

 

I began painting & building 40K stuff in the 90s and my minis from that era were all clean like they came straight from a factory. In essence box art was replicated. No drybrushing was used to make them dusty/dirty. Instead I foolishly used edge highlighting which nearly drove me insane as it took ages to accomplish. About two years ago I became interested in our solar system and watched a lot of documentaries about it. Especially Mars piqued my interest. Then Gee-Dubbs anounced HH 2.0 and I decided that a force of marines needed to get their boots dirty on "New Mars". There was also a need to improve my hobby skills as tufts, texture base paints, OSL and especially weathering has never been used on my minis before.

 

I really love the Red Oxide Paste from Vallejo and together with the mix of five weathering powders the minis seemed to be "real" for the first time in their environment as the legs and base blend in together. The idea of using heavily weathered minis came from watching a ton of 30K battle reports on Youtube while waiting for the AoD box to hit the shelves. The HH community tends to model minis straight from the war zone whereas the 40K crowd often paints them as if they were taking a picture shoot from a parade ground. This time I wanted to get the dirt and grime on my minis too.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

40K Iron Hands Veteran Squad built from 2nd/3rd 40K Blood Angels. Finished in August but languished in a battle report until now. Procrastination is a real thing:

https://ibb.co/album/tp9RV5

 

40K Iron Hands Apothecary built from 3rd 40K Blood Angels. This fella was also finished in August and stuck in battle:

https://ibb.co/album/d0g3dz

 

40K Iron Hands Chaplain built from 2nd 40K Blood Angels. This fella was also finished in August and stuck in battle:

https://ibb.co/album/qCdG6K

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Back to the Iron Hands. Painted in September and weathered today. Tactical Squad #2:

 

https://ibb.co/album/KzMmH4

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

LI_Iron Hands from the core box. They lack a bit of weathering powder right now. When I find time I will address this issue:

 

https://ibb.co/album/WnVmV6

 

Also finished in November:

 

40K Predator_#7 (built with vehicle construction rules from 3rd 40K):

https://ibb.co/album/BGsX93

 

40K Whilrwind_#2:

https://ibb.co/album/M8n7ct

 

40K Landspeeder_#4 (still needs weathering powder though):

https://ibb.co/album/V0qDRg

Edited December 12, 2023 by Deus_Ex_Machina

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I look at the LI stuff, very nice!  The smallest transfers seem to fit well on them, and I like the banner in particular.  I'm tempted by LI, but my biggest issue is that the infantry is all Mk.VI which is my least favorite Mark of armor.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

19 hours ago, Iron Father Ferrum said:

I look at the LI stuff, very nice!  The smallest transfers seem to fit well on them, and I like the banner in particular.  I'm tempted by LI, but my biggest issue is that the infantry is all Mk.VI which is my least favorite Mark of armor.

The models are easy to assemble with the exception of the smallest parts like missile launchers applying on SM shoulders. In addition each model part has grooves so that the corresponding part fits in one specific way eliminating building errors. Even the most fragile parts like lascannons didn´t snap or bend in a bad way. So this was very good material to work with.

 

I mention this in detail because most of the stuff on my work table are GW products from twenty years ago as there is a strong desire for me to finish them before directing my attention towards the heap of brand new 30K models. So for me the difference is very apparent as the old stuff could very easily end up misaligned in one fashion or another. This was the case with 40K Predator_#7 which was shoddily built by my younger self twenty years ago. I considered taking a pic of it before revamping the tank in Iron Hands colours but I forgot. 

 

Last but not least I would strongly recommend the following when building:

 

Put all parts IMMEDIATELY in a container that you have removed from the sprue. You don´t want them littering the table. One sweep of your arm will drop them to the floor and you will have a very bad time. I for instance have the bad habit of dropping often model parts on the carpet below my desk and then the screaming and cursing follows as I sweep my hand over the material in order to recover the part. This is bad when considering fallen SM heads but with the tiny LI tank components this can become even worse. Knowing of my failures I avoided losing any parts. There is a Youtube video of Angry Joe doing a battle report and he told the audience that he misplaced one of the Contemptor torsos and had to kitbash the model in some fashion to use it.

 

 

 

 

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Landspeeder #6 had been finished today. Again I was not in the mood to do the weathering afterwards but will have to before my next battle report will come up. I am looking forward to smoke 200 plague zombies (huge zombie fan right here) on New Mars so another template weapon will come in handy.

 

This was another rescue as it was my very first Landspeeder model. The "gadget rod" has been lost over the years and the pilot helmets have been damaged to such a degree that I had to use infantry helmets for the crew. Maybe there is a possibility to scratch-build the gadget rod from a vehicle antenna although I would still need a headlight to go with it.

 

https://ibb.co/album/z8ch67

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

I have no new minis to present but at this time of the year it would be prudent to show what has been finished so far since the IH army project has been started in June 2022. The aim was actually to finish the whole 40K IH lot in 2023 although this turned out o be a pipe dream. There are still a couple of squads to do and a few vehicles to paint.

 

Iron Hands Army_Pic_A

https://ibb.co/album/cc2JFj

 

In the upper left and right corner are a single 30K squad respectively. The rest are 40K units.

 

 

Iron Hands Army_Pic_B

https://ibb.co/album/cc2JFj

 

The three lone Terminators act as a "side deck" in Magic terms. These are used to exchange the Cyclone Missile Launchers of the 10-Man-Terminator squad if needed. The Fembot will either proxy some Mechanicum robot in the future or I will come up with rules for her on my own. It´s used as a bodyguard robot in another game so maybe I go along this route as well when I write rules for it.

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

Going back from LI to my bread and butter project: Painting more IH in 28mm. Currently this third 40K Tactical squad is being worked on:

 

https://ibb.co/album/FXqc0f

[Deus_Ex_Machina]

These guys were finished just a couple of days before the battle report of the "The Weakest Link" which would be around early February:

 

https://ibb.co/album/FXqc0f