Aarik's WIPs - Word Bearers and other heresy goodness

[Aarik]

Greetings fraters!

 

I've decided to start a thread for my WIP projects.  I'm hoping that posting here will help motivate me to paint and take pictures more, and hopefully some others will enjoy it tool.  It also feels a bit less intimidating to post here rather than on Instagram, and this medium will let me ramble into the void a bit more about my thoughts on painting and hobbying. 

 

As a bit of background, I've been lurking and posting here on and off in some form or another for it's gotta be at least 20 years.  Jeez that makes me feel old.  I remember lurking here as a kid back when the old Portent forums were still a thing.  I rarely get a chance to actually play, so 99% of my hobby is just painting, but I still like to cling to the delusion that I'm building towards playable forces.  

 

I've got a number of projects in the works and on the agenda, but my main focus the last couple years has been building a Word Bearers force that can do double duty in 30k and 40k.  The initial idea was to use a core of models that I already had: two of the CSM halves of the old Shadowspear box, a resin Leviathan, the old Betrayal at Calth Contemptor, a resin Scorpius, a bunch of Tortuga cataphractii, and some Gal Vorbak.  I figured I could use the at-the-time greater possessed (now just okay possessed) as Gal Vorbak, and vice versa, and the terminators, and bog standard marines could work in both systems too. 

 

I'm coming up on 3,000 heresy points worth of Word Bearers now (haven't totaled it up in 40k points recently, but it would be less due to fewer of my units working in 40k), and have thus started branching off into some side projects semi-recently.  I've been very taken by the Siege of Terra series, and have the idea of using the Siege as an excuse to collect smaller forces of Blood Angels, Imperial Fists, White Scars, and Solar Auxiliary that can ally with each other and represent the defenders at Terra.  I love the idea of a rag-tag force of survivors, and I'm aiming to lean into a very grimy, battered look for them to represent how grueling the defense has been.  I think of this as more of a long-term painting and modeling project, and an opportunity to paint a variety of color schemes to keep things interesting and put a bit more effort into converting and painting to try and push myself a bit.  My initial goal is to work up to 1,000 points of each of them, and then probably pick either the Imperial Fists or White Scars (or both! ) to expand on after that.  And being the ever-so-focused hobbyist that I am, I also picked up the recent Mechanicum battle group and have started painting that up as a long-contemplated Xana II/House Malinax force.  Once I get that finished (most likely minus the Triaros as it takes up a lot of shelf space and I'm hoping we'll get a plastic Karacnos kit soon-ish so I can try to grab the extra sprues and magnetize the model to pull double duty...sensing a theme with me?), I want to add the new plastic Arch-Magos and a Thanatar to get to roughly 1,000 points too.  

 

But enough words, onto what everyone really came here for: sweet, sweet pictures!

 

Here are some shots of some despoilers that I recently finished: 

 

 

 

The idea was to use the Shadowspear easy-build legionaries as the base for despoilers. I've got 15 finished so far.  I figured the more chaotic look of the CSM bodies would fit zealous marines looking to get stuck into close combat.  I filed off most of the little spikes from their armor trim, and replaced their arms, heads, and backpacks with heresy-era gear.  The two axes on the left are from the FW SoH upgrades, the right ax is from the semi-new FW despoiler arms kit, and the banner is from the old SoH command kit (just used as a vexilla).  I think they have a nice late-Heresy vibe to them with the mix of armor marks, and I'm happy with how they've turned out.  It's interesting to me how much changing the shoulderpads, helmet, and backpack can change the silhouette of the model. I like the green tone I got on the power axes, and the decal work on the banner was fun.  I feel like I have limited actual painting skill but a lot of patience for fiddly things, so I find decal work very enjoyable haha.  I even tried a little airbrush dusting on the bottom of the banner which was a bit scary but worked well enough.  And you can't see it very well in the pics, but I did eyes with pupils on the bare headed guy, and his skin was 100% airbrush which I think turned out very well for how little time it took.  These guys still need armor highlights and weathering, but I have a devil of a time getting myself to do that on my models.  I seem to always get my models to like 90% completion, but can't get over the mental hurdle to finish them, and there are always more models calling my name.  I've also since painted the eye on the sergeant's knee   

 

Here's a larger pic of the sergeant:

Lastly, here is an Ashen Circle that I painted up as a "thank you" for the lovely gentleman who 3D printed a bunch of stuff for me and was generally super helpful.  I've got a squad of ten of these for myself that still need edge highlights and pictures taken.  This was my first time playing with weathering powder to get the ember effect, and I like it for a first effort.  I thought having the Ashen Circle striding through burning rubble would be very fitting for them.

 

 

I would love to hear what everyone thinks so far!  If people would like to see them (and probably even if you don't haha), I can get more pictures taken of the Word Bearers I've finished so far.  They're mostly still missing edge highlights on the armor, so technically they're WIP and still fit for this forum   I will also try to get some pics up of the Mechanicum stuff that is currently on the painting desk.  Slogging through 20 tech thralls may require some motivation from kind internet strangers..

Edited October 19, 2024 by Aarik
Fixed links to pics

[Montuhotep]

Holy CRAP these are sweet; the paint and the transitions are so smooth.

 

More, I say, more!

[Rusted Boltgun]

That's a grand plan for growing your heresy-era forces (I like a plan, even if I don't stick to it). 

There's so much to like on your models, that bare head, the decal work and the ashen base stand out for me. I'll echo the cry for more, please!

 

[W.A.Rorie]

Those bases are top notch! Models look amazing too

[Bouargh]

Very nice. The ashen circle is especially nice with the orange cabalitic grooved signs contrasting well with the light grey

[Firedrake Cordova]

They look great

 

Sounds like a fun idea for a project

[Brother Desultor]

More please! These are amazing.

[Tallarn Commander]

Superb models. I might want to try making a Horus Heresy Legionary by chopping off spikes like you did.

[Aarik]

Thank you so much everyone for the kind words!  It's easy to get caught in the social media trap of comparing yourself only to the cream of the crop, so I appreciate the love for my humble war dollies.

 

@Montuhotep: Thank you, the transitions are just done with the airbrush.  Highly recommend getting one to everyone who hasn't made the leap yet.  Slight learning curve, but most valuable hobby tool IMO.

 

@Tallarn Commander: Do it!  Even if you leave the armor trim alone on the bodies and legs, just replacing the helmet, shoulder pads, and backpack does a ton to "heresy" those models up.

 

On to the update!  I had a pretty productive weekend and made some good progress batch painting the tech thralls from the Mechanicum battle force.  I had built five of them first to use as testers for the paint scheme, and then I figured out a good system of sub-assemblies for the next 15 that let me airbrush different parts different colors and save me a bunch of time on the basecoating step.  Essentially, I built all the bodies, left the chest plates and heads on the sprue (but glued the faceplates to the backs of the heads), and built the guns and backpacks separately but connected to each other by the cable.  The gun/backpack combos mostly stay put on the minis, but maybe a third of them needed a little but of blue tack help.  Doing sub-assemblies like this let me hit the bodies with grey through the airbrush, and then do their belt buckles, knee armor, chest plates, heads, and backpacks/gun cables in tan.  After that, its a simple job to snip off the chest plates and glue them on.  I left the heads on the sprues to finish their base coats.  I found that it really did save me time/make it more bearable to batch paint them by being able to quickly hit similar parts of the model at once.

 

The pic below shows how it all started to come together.  I thought I had gotten a pic of the heads on the sprues, but I was unfortunately mistaken.  I made some more progress since taking this picture, and have 5 with their base coats finished, and the other 15 just need the metals and black on their guns and backpacks.  After that, it'll be time for gloss varnish, oil wash, and then some nice ultra-matte.  Highlights should follow, but realistically I'll most likely move on at that point because I don't want to sink more time into chaff right now.  Not gonna lie, I'm very happy with how quickly I've managed to get through these guys.  It's given me a lot of motivation to finish off the box set, and carry that energy through to another one... (more on that below).

 

 

I also managed to find a photo set up that gave me results I was happier with and was also easy to, well, set up on my desk.  Not being satisfied with the pictures I was getting discouraged me a bit from taking them, so it was nice to find a way to get better results.  I ended up snapping a teaser pic of my most-finished Thallax to show off the finished scheme:

 

 

He's got a not-very-impactful edge highlight on the armor, but still needs chipping and weathering.  The other five thallax are done to this level minus the armor edge highlight.  The little scorpion decal is from the Legions Imperialis House Malinax transfers, and the skull on his other shoulder pad is from the decals he comes with.  He also needs his gun arm glued in, which should connect his gun cable to his body.

 

And here's a pic of my picture setup.  Having the light straight to the front like that washed out/overexposed(?) the pictures a bit, so I ended up laying down a sheet of white paper in front of the models, putting the light at about a 45 degree angle to bounce it off the paper, and lowering the exposure on my phone a bit, which worked out well.  The light is from Red Grass Games.  It's a bit pricey, but I'm very happy with it.

 

 

As you can see, the display cases on the left are looking very empty.  I still have most of my models boxed up after a recent move, which unfortunately includes the Word Bearers.  But snapping more pics of them is good motivation to unpack them and get them back on the shelves.  I did, however, get a pic of my Solar Auxilia test models:

 

 

I had always admired the resin models, and couldn't resist when they came to plastic.  I showed admirable restraint and was very proud of myself on release though, and only bought a five-man sprue from Ebay to paint up at first, rather than getting the battle force box.  But alas, that was not to last, as I recently found a good deal on the battle force set and grabbed one.  The original plan was to sell the heavy sentinel and draconsan to end up with an even better deal on the infantry and Leman Russ, but the sentinel model is growing on me and the lack of demand for it and draconsans seems to be driving their secondary market value down to a level where I'm questioning whether the savings would be worth the hassle.  So, we'll see what I end up doing.

 

I settled on the paint scheme for these guys after a happy set of coincidences.  I was very taken with the Theta-Garmon Unbroken Cohort scheme when I saw it, and then my favorites at Cult of Paint produced a great tutorial video for it, which I ended up using.  Having a tutorial to follow does wonders for me by preventing a ton of analysis paralysis when trying to choose colors for myself.  The Unbroken fit well with the Siege of Terra theme for my force too.  They fit the loyalist requirement, and I figured it would make sense narratively that a contingent of them ended up on Terra, or retreated there, after the battle for the Beta-Garmon system, given their relative proximity.  And to put the cherry on top, I had been kicking around the idea of having my Imperial Fists contingent (at least partially) represent Sigismund's ad hoc templar force described in the Siege novels, and there was some mention of Solar Auxilia that were part of it, and the black and white Unbroken scheme fits very well with the templars!  I'm planning to add some small templar cross and imperial fists decals to the rest of them to represent the two forces fighting together.  The Deathless Cohort decals are also from the Legions Imperialis decal set, which are great for the shoulder pads here.  Oh, and I'm not a fan of little search lights on the plastic solar auxilia infantry, so I'm gonna try my next batch with them cut off. 

 

Speaking of next batches, my goal is to get the rest of the tech thralls, thallax, and castellax finished to tabletop level (for me, basically done minus armor edge highlights/battle damage).  Optimistically, that might be done this week, but hopefully within the next couple at least.  After than, I may try to quickly knock out the Triaros so I can say I finished the box.  But then, after the Mechanicum, I think I'll move on to the Solar Aux battle force.  I'm feeling inspired by my sub-assembly work on the tech thralls, and I may be able to keep this speed through some Solar Aux infantry.  It will feel really good to see the finished Mechanicum and Solar Auxilia forces on the shelf, and to get the psychic buff from getting both those battle force boxes out of the pile of shame closet of opportunity. 

 

Let me know what you think, and if there are any easy things that would help improve my models!

Edited October 22, 2024 by Aarik
repeated words

[Firedrake Cordova]

The Thallax looks really nice

[Bouargh]

It is the first time I notice Thallax are left handed...

How is their assembly? I noticed some comments about how over complicated the thrall are in terms of cuts from the sprue. As far as I am cincerned I grabbed a pair of Castellax and their assembly was rather OK even if the number of bits is really big. A kit I doubt anyone can build without instructions.

 

The paint scheme you used is rad  . Can't wait seeing the rest of your HH mechanicum painted.

Especially the Triaros!

[Aarik]

@Firedrake Cordova: Thank you! 

 

@Bouargh: Thank you, as well!  The Malinax/Xana paint scheme is stolen from Cult of Paint too.  Just Tamiya Flat Earth and Wooden Deck Tan through the airbrush.  Super simple, but I love the tone. 

 

And I didn't find the Thallax too bad to assemble.  I'd say the trickiest bit is getting the legs glued in the right positions as the little guide pegs and holes weren't quite effective enough at locking the legs into the correct positions IMO.  The only other tricky bit was getting the arms in the correct position so that the gun cable can connect to its plug on the body whilst leaving the gun arm unglued for painting.  I thought I had them all lined up correctly, but I was apparently mistaken haha.  Other than that, I didn't think they were unnecessarily complicated, or in too many pieces.  I didn't think the Castellax was bad either.  It's got a decent number of pieces, but it goes together well and I like how the leg armor plates are separate for sub-assembly purposes.  Only complaint with the kit is the lack of a second multi-melta, darkfire cannon, and pair of saws.  And it also would have been really nice to get a second set of forearm armor for each arm, which would allow you to magnetize the forearms/close combat weapons.  But I don't know if the connection points would be the easiest to magnetize, and the saw rules apparently aren't great, so it may be a moot point.  

 

The thralls, on the other hand, lived up to the negative hype a bit more.  When I was building the first five models as testers, I got through the first three while thinking, "I don't see what everyone is complaining about, these are easy."  Then I got to the last two models, and thought, "Oh. Yeah. These are as bad as advertised."   But after building each model once though and seeing how each is supposed to go together, doing the rest wasn't bad.  It also helped that I built the last 15 in one batch, and I clipped each model off all the sprues and built them at once.  That is, clip all three remaining Model No. 1s and build them all, etc.  The only problem I ran into was building model number 3 without the chest plate on.  His chest has his little groin armor plate attached to it, and I found out later that the chest/groin plate didn't quite fit flush after assembly.  So I'd recommend dry fitting that piece whilst the glue is still wet to make sure it will fit flush later.  Going back and building some Solar Auxilia infantry afterwards also emphasized how complicated the thrall kit is.  The Solar Aux were a walk in the park in comparison, and I think GW could have done the tech thralls similarly with fewer parts (or at least simpler assembly) if they didn't redesign them from the FW resin versions.  But the plastic thralls are really nice models and look great together IMO.  Just mixing up the heads and left arms gives them a nice visual variety.  Even when I've got them lined up in columns of the same model, the group doesn't look like a bunch of duplicates.  

[Aarik]

Hello everyone, I'm back with an update.  I've made some progress, not the most exciting progress, but progress nonetheless!

 

The first thing that I've been working on has been finishing the basecoats on the tech-thralls.  I managed to power through and finish up their black and silver base coats, and they are now ready for gloss varnish, an oil wash, and matte varnish.  I figured I'd wait to do their lenses until after that.  Ideally they should get some highlights too, but that might be a pipedream for now for such a cheap unit that may not even make it into a final list.  

 

 

It was definitely slow going grinding these guys out.  I was getting a bit down on myself for not being able to finish quicker and feeling demotivated, but then I timed how long it was taking me to black out their guns, backpacks, pipes/hoses on their bodies, and heads, and it was taking me like 12-15 minutes of relatively diligent work per model.  That helped me feel a lot better because I was beating myself up for not grinding through them faster, but I was thinking it was just like a 3-5 minute job per guy.  So, I guess the lesson is to double check that your expectations are reasonable before you beat yourself up for not meeting them.

 

I also cracked and ended up assembling the Triaros.  Man, this thing is ginormous!  Longer than a Spartan, and wider than a Rhino.  I left the sides unglued from the body for now, and the tracks unglued, to make priming/basecoating easier.  I also left the top of the body unglued so that I can swap it out for a Karacnos top if/when that comes out or I grab a 3d printed one.

 

 

I actually really liked this kit, it went together pretty quickly and very intuitively.  And GW did a really good job IMO of putting the sprue gates  and mold lines in places where they can't be seen on the finished model.  There were barely any places that I actually had to clean up.  For everything that there is to complain about with GW, I have to say that almost every time I build one of their newer kits, I'm left very impressed. 

 

And to keep up the assembly theme, I also got my two las rifle sections, the command section, and the leman russ built from my Solar Auxilia battleforce.  Like I mentioned earlier, after building the tech-thralls, assembling the Solar Auxilia felt like a breath of fresh air.  I had the idea that I could paint all their arms and heads while still on the sprues, and I've got the ones for the five semi-painted ones basecoated with the airbrush to test it out.  I might be crazy, but I think I might be crazy like a fox haha.  The little blue tack blobs are there to keep the plastic bare for gluing the heads on later, and I'll do that for the rest of the lasrifle guys too.  I'm going back and forth on whether to leave their chest plates on the sprue too so they don't get hit with the white for the undersuit and I can just glue them on black, but I'm not sure if the time savings is worth the hassle.  We shall see...

 

 

As with the Triaros, I was really impressed with the Russ kit.  I think the revamp GW did for the Solar Auxilia version is superb, it looks way more realistic while still keeping the iconic silhouette.  And GW did a really good job with the kit, it's very intuitive assembly, and they went out of their way to make it so parts only fit in the correct orientation.  10/10.

 

I also magnetized the Russ turret so that it can take all of the turret options.  It was pretty simple to do.  I just glued magnets to the back of the turret piece, stuck a second magnet to each, carefully put glue on the back of each of those magnets, put a little vaseline on the sides of the magnets (hoping that would keep any super glue that got smushed on them from gluing them together), and smushed a big blob of greenstuff onto them inside the turret with a little super glue to help it stick to the turret.  The only slightly tricky bit was making sure to press the side piece hard into the turret so that the gap between the pieces was as small as possible.  It's still slightly visible, but it's good enough for government Administratum work haha. And hopefully paint will help hide it too.

 

 

I didn't snap any pictures, but I also magnetized the dozer blade, which was super simple.  If anyone wants some pics or an explanation of how I did it, let me know.  I thought about doing the same for the trench rails on the back, but decided to just stick a little blue tack on the parts that connect to the bottom of the tank because the rails sit pretty firmly in the little slots on the back, and it would have been slightly trickier to magnetize them than the dozer blade.

 

Also, in the spirit of purchases being hobby progress, I may or may not have found another good deal on a Solar Auxilia battleforce and picked it up    So I have enough infantry and russes for the base of an allied force, but this means I'll definitely need to sell at least one dracosan and hopefully both of them.  I'm still going back and forth on whether to keep or sell the Aethons.  Let me know what you think.  Now that I have two, I'm most of the way to a squadron, but unfortunately they're heavy support so I wouldn't be able to bring them with the russes in an allied detachment.  Maybe I'll list them with the dracosans to see if I can get someone to pick em all up as a bundle, and if they don't sell I'll just keep them.  They do look cool, and maybe they'll be better in HH 3rd ed. whenever that comes.  Not like I'll be getting any games in before then haha.

 

In other news, I picked up a little black display stand from Amazon to use when taking pics and tried it out.  This is the FW Word Bearers Tartaros Praetor, one of the few models I've edge highlighted!  His base was a test on doing marble through the airbrush, and will get redone at some point.  I also need to get his combi-melta glued on, and go back and redo his flames in green.  I think that will look better, but I already redid the flames once on him before, so just haven't had the wherewithal to redo them again yet.  I also replaced his resin (im)purity seal with a brass sheet one, and added one on the other side too.

 

 

 

Finally, I have a buddy who is interested in getting into Warhammer, but isn't much of a painter, so I agreed to start painting his army so we can get some games in.  Unfortunately, he chose Thousand Sons, so I will be in trim painting hell haha.  But I did some testers for him yesterday, and he liked the blue on the far left.  That was one of the simpler schemes (tallasar blue over a white zenithal), and I picked up some gold sharpies that will hopefully make the trim bearable.  I love the guy, but not enough to hand paint so much trim haha.  He's definitely gonna get tabletop standard at best.  If he wants more he can learn to paint himself   But, I think the models will still look nice enough on the table with the volumetric blue and clean basecoats.  And if I'm feeling extra generous, I'll even give the gold a wash too.  I figure if I try to knock out one guy's trim a day I'll get through the first ten quickly enough without going crazy.  He has the old Thousand Sons Start Collecting box, and I picked him up a squad of Scarab Occult termies as a birthday gift, so that'll be a nice little starting force for him.  He assembled all the rubrics, but blue tacked their gun arms on.  I can't remember if I told him to do that, so major kudos to him if he figured that out himself haha.

 

Edited November 11, 2024 by Aarik
fix words and pics

[Firedrake Cordova]

Looks like quite a lot of progress.  

 

I like the magnetising of the Leman Russ main gun - very sneaky

 

(also, very kind of you to help your non-painter friend out )

Edited November 11, 2024 by Firedrake Cordova

[Endtransmission]

That's a lot of progress right there. The tech-thrall unit is coming along really nicely and looks to be well worth the effort. Lets see how I feel once I get started on mine though! :D
 

[Aarik]

Hello fraters, I am back with another update.  Thank you for the views, comments, and likes.  I really appreciate you taking an interest in what I am doing, and it helps motivate me to keep hobbying.

 

After the last status report, progress in the forges was temporarily sidetracked by an infectious piece of scrap code code designated as Total War Warhammer 3.  It took over our systems and consumed a frankly ridiculous amount of our adepts' time to control.  But the tech priests and magi who fell prey to that insidious distraction have been suitably chastised for their lack of diligence in the Omnissiah's name, and work arming and armoring the Emperor's soldiers has resumed.  To that end, the Administratum has also seen fit to bless this humble servant with the purchase of a second Solar Auxilia battle force.  Traitorous critics might protest that the prior Solar Auxilia and Mechanicum battle force have not yet been completed, which should have happened before acquiring another one, but such heretical words fall upon the deaf ears of the righteous.  After all, blessed is the mind willpower that is too small weak for doubt to avoid impulse purchases.  Even grey plastic brings glory to the Omnissiah's name.

 

But despite this unexpected influx of materiel and the aforementioned insidious techno-distractions, progress has been made.  The valiant Solar Auxiliaries from the prior update have all had their initial airbrushing done, and the bodies of the reinforcements from the new battle force have been assembled and await their airbrushing.  But that is not all!  The second Leman Russ has been assembled, and the servitors have started painting both of them.

 

I based their color schemes on the very helpful Warhammer Community article.  I am glad that it came out before I started painting them because I had been planning to do them mostly black with white accents, rather than the other way around.  

 

  

 

The first Leman Russ is mostly on its way to Minimum Viable Done-ness, as I want to see what the finished model looks like before I keep working on the second one.  I panel lined this one with a Payne's grey oil wash, since that it part of the Cult of Paint recipe for the white armor that I followed for the infantry.  But that gave this guy a blue tinge that isn't really apparent on the infantry and that I'm not sure I love.  But the final step will be a thin Bitume (dark brown) oil filter all over, which may remove the blue tone.  But I wanted to see what the final product looks like before I start changing things for the second.  If it doesn't turn out to my liking, I will try either Ghost Grey or Starship Filth (both from Abteiliung 502 IIRC) for panel lining on the second instead.  What do you think, is the blue just in my head?

 

I also played around with a bit of chipping on the white side panel.  I would love to know what you think, and ways it could be improved.  I find it hard to strike a balance between having my weathering be subtle enough that it looks at least semi-realistic/to scale, but striking enough that it's actually noticeable haha.  I'm also pretty proud with the stripes on the barrel.  I really like the effect, and they were a huge pain to do.  I had to do it three times between the tape initially being too wide, having to order more, and then it peeling paint off when I removed it.

 

Also, just looking at this now compared to the WarCom pic, do you think I should go with a more yellow gold instead of the brass (Runelord brass, with a poxwalker wash on the side panel)?  I took the brass recipe from the infantry, but they have gold on them too so that would match if I did gold here.  I'm worried the brass has kind of a dull, boring tone.

 

 

And here is Russ No. 2.  Originally, I was planning to do the trim on all the tanks in brass like the first one, but I think doing it in black looks pretty slick too.  I just basecoated some black trim on this guy to see the difference.  What do you think, should I leave this guy black or do him in gold like the first?  Part of me would be bothered by them being different just because I like consistency, but I think that at the Siege of Terra it would not be surprising to have vehicles with varied schemes like this thrown together.  I was also thinking that I could justify it by having the lead tank of each squadron with gold trim as the squadron leader, with the others in black trim, but I'm not sure that I would want that ratio of gold to black.  I may need to make a decision about how much uniformity I want in the army overall, more on that at the end.

 

Also, what do we think of the black portions stopping at the white "lip" around the edge of the side panels, rather than going over it all the way to the tracks.  I cant't decide if I would prefer it the other way.  And would it look better to have that lip be in the trim color too, rather than white?  Should I keep that consistent through all the tanks, or would it look good varied?

 

 

You can see a few (hopefully) subtle nods in the decals to these tanks being part of Sigismund's force at the Siege, like I mentioned in a previous post.  I'm not sure that they "realistically" would have had the opportunity to add those to the tanks' hulls, given that it was an ad hoc formation that assembled while fighting (if I remember the books correctly), but some lore discrepancies have to be allowed for the Rule of Cool.  I'm pretty proud with the decal work on these guys overall though.  I spent too much time on trying to figure out a plan of visual elements from all my various decal sheets to keep consistent for all of them, but also still with enough variation that they're not identical, and lore justification/headcannon for the various meanings.  For example, these are tanks Nos. 1 and 2 from "A" Squadron, which I decided would be marked on the front side panels above/below that little rectangle thing.  If the Solar Aux vehicle decal sheet had more of each of the numbers and letters, I probably would have done them all in the same size...but alas.  And I do think the variation could be explained by each tank's crew having a bit of discretion with marking the tank, as long as the required information is generally there and where it's supposed to be.  I'm considering also giving them a tercio number, in addition to the squadron letter, that would be in roman numerals.  The sword element also represents "A" Squadron, and I'll pick a cool looking symbol for each of the other ones.  The skull with tears of blood is a unique vehicle marking (perhaps representing its name, "The Mourner"? ...it's a WIP) that I thought looked cool.  There's a couple others on the other side of the tanks as well.  The column of script on the turret box is supposed to be the names of the current and former crew members, inspired by a line about it in the series of WarCom articles about the Solar Auxilia color schemes.  I figured it would be a custom for all the crews to write them there, it seems like a place that's accessible and visible, but also that would be less likely to get dirty or damaged that putting them on the sides of the tank. 

 

And finally, looking through those WarCom articles again got me itching to try out a few more color schemes too.  Especially since I picked up the Solar Auxilia vehicle transfer sheet, so I have transfers for a bunch of other cohorts.  I thought it could be fitting to have some other cohorts represented, including the ones seconded to the Imperial Fists, White Scars, and Blood Angels (maybe Space Wolves and Dark Angels too).  [I like them, the Saturnyn Rams, and the Lord Marshall's own.]  It seems likely that those legions would have brought some of their supporting Auxilia to Terra with them, and that in the chaos of the Siege, some would end up fighting together in an ad hoc way.  I would probably keep all/most my vehicles and the majority of infantry in the Deathless scheme, but I was thinking of either (1) adding a few auxiliaries from other cohorts to the lasrifle squads in ones or twos (to represent soldiers who got separated from their squads, or are the only ones left alive, that joined up with the Deathless to fight), (2) doing full ten-man lasrifle squads from other cohorts, or (3) doing like a number of different cohorts within a couple squads (i.e., like 3-5 guys from each different cohort).  I'm worried that if I add other cohorts, though, the army would lack visual cohesion on the table top and look a bit jumbled.  

 

I also considered that perhaps it would make more sense to add members of other cohorts to my command squads (i.e., if I bulk them out from 5 to 10 men for some reason), as maybe commanders would want to keep the stragglers from other cohorts as close to them as possible.   But I am not sure (1) if I would ever want to bulk out the command squads like that from a rules perspective, and (2) if that would make sense fluff-wise as the most effective/likely way that the stragglers would be integrated.

 

I would love to hear what you all think.  Does the fluff idea of different cohorts ending up fighting together at the Siege sound cool enough to be worth it?  And if so, how would you do it?  Add them in ones and twos into the Deathless squads, thrown together into squads of stragglers from different cohorts, or only in complete squads themselves?  A combination of the three?  What do you think would make the most sense from a lore perspective; would you want to group all the stragglers together, or integrate them as much as possible into your own squads?  And what would look best on the table?  Should I just paint one-off models from other cohorts instead, if I really feel that strongly about it?  I know they're my war dollies and I can paint them how I want (and I need to finish these tanks and ~40 infantry first...), but I like the idea that there's some lore basis to what I'm doing, and ultimately want to end up with an army that looks good together.

 

Thank you for reading if you made it this far, and for any input you can provide!

[Firedrake Cordova]

I think the metal trim looks fine as Runelord Brass.  If you're worried about it being a bit dull, I suppose you could mix some gold into it? I do think that pure gold would look a bit "too blingy", but that's just my personal preference.

 

For me, the riveted trim being black looks a bit "heavy" compared to the white. I wonder if one of the "silver" metallics may look a bit better? 

[Aarik]

@Firedrake Cordova Thank you, I appreciate the feedback!  I do agree that the black trim looks a bit heavy, especially on the turret.  I might play around and try to find a nice paler gold to test out.  Looking at the WarCom pic some more, it looks kind of yellow in the midtone but paler in the highlights.  And that's a good shout re trying out a silver metallic, I had that thought too.  You think it's possible that's what the "black" trim actually is the in WarCom pic?  I thought it was supposed to be black, but looking again, it seems like it's the same darker silver color that's on the barrel.  And do you have any thoughts on the payne's grey/blue-ish pin wash?  I can't tell if I'm gaslighting myself about it being too blue haha.

[Tallarn Commander]

I agree with Cordova on the trim. And both the subtle blue tinge in the wash and the medium amount of paint chip weathering on the white look fantastic!

[Aarik]

@Tallarn Commander Thank you, much appreciated!  It helps a lot to get some outside feedback and keep me from running in circles second guessing what I've already done haha.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I like the blue tinge as well - it gives a lovely shading or "faux shadow" effect to the model while also giving the colour some warmth.

 

You had brought up whether to end the black where you did rather than bring it up onto the "ridge" to go follow the edge of the tracks - I like where it ends now and feel it would be both overpowering and hard to keep looking "clean" if you were to paint the entire ridge black.

 

As to how to paint the various models to represent a composite force, it might be helpful to consider the practicalities of making such a composite force.  Normally, it is more efficient in terms of logistics and having the individual tanks perform efficiently together to preserve the existing force structures.  That said, units generally perform better if they are more fully manned, which speaks in favour of folding depleted units together.  Even so, military organizations would generally prefer to fold closely related units together (so, platoons of the same regiment) as the assumption is that units in the same structure would be better able to work closely together and be supported through the same structures. 

 

That said, one could come up with a number of plausible reasons to have tanks from different units thrown together at the squad level.

 

1)  The units aren't actually being thrown together, but rather just the equipment.  In armoured warfare, its not uncommon for tanks to go out of action (whether due to enemy fire or other reasons), be recovered/repaired and then put back into action by other units - indeed, its not uncommon (as seen in Ukraine as well as both on the Eastern front and in Africa in WW2) for one side to capture opposing tanks and put them into action on the other side.  So, it may not be that one unit has joined another, but that one has recovered equipment lost by the other unit and then put it into service without changing the markings.

 

2)  There may be reasons to fold the units together.  For example, one unit may be so depleted that it isn't a viable force on its own, or its command/logistic structure may have been wiped out, or its leadership suspect - in those cases it might make sense to parcel out the remaining troops and equipment to existing units and essentially treat them as "new recruits" to be assigned where needed.

 

3)  It may be an ad hoc arrangement and not a force reorganization.  In a particular engagement, if the fighting is particular desperate or confused, one could easily see existing units "adopting" stragglers into their units for the purposes of that engagement, with the (at the time, anyway) understanding that when that is over (or when the stragglers are able to reconnect with their home units), the two units would separate and go their own ways.

 

So, there are a variety of rationales one could use to justify having tanks with various unit marking in the same tank platoon.

Edited December 18, 2024 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Firedrake Cordova]

13 hours ago, Aarik said:

that's a good shout re trying out a silver metallic, I had that thought too.  You think it's possible that's what the "black" trim actually is the in WarCom pic?  

I would assume that it's actually supposed to be a dark "silver" akin to gunmetal.

 

13 hours ago, Aarik said:

And do you have any thoughts on the payne's grey/blue-ish pin wash?  I can't tell if I'm gaslighting myself about it being too blue haha.

Personally, I'm not seeing a blue caste. Using a colour picker tool in an image editing program shows that the colour is either neutral, or has slightly less blue across the majority of the tank. There's a little "more blue than neutral" in the dark region above the sword icon, but that's it.

[Aarik]

@Dr_Ruminahui Thank you for the feedback and the detailed reply!  A combination of your points 2 and 3 is what I was envisioning.  Individual stragglers picked up by my cohort, or a unit or maybe a tercio from another cohort who was either cut off from their cohort, or are the only survivors of it, and join up with my army.  I figured with how timey-wimey everything got towards the culmination of the Siege, it would not be uncommon for survivors to be separated from the bulk of their cohorts and just band together into whatever ad hoc formations they could.  Your points 1 about using vehicles from other cohorts is really interesting too.  I had not thought about that.

 

@Firedrake Cordova Man, between the "black" trim actually being silver and the mysterious blue tinge, I may be a little color blind   I appreciate you giving me another set of eyes on it, and going above and beyond with the color picker!  I think I figured out what was going on.  For whatever reason, the tone of the brass trim made the white armor read more blue to me.  I tried painting some of the brass trim gold last night to see which I preferred, and it instantly changed how I saw the white armor haha.  With the brass trim, I thought the white on the first tank looked super different from the second (bluer tone, and more grey than white), but after trying the more yellow gold, they looked just fine together to me, and I stopped seeing the blue tone that was bothering me.  Not sure exactly why that happened, but it's kind of interesting to see how one color affected my perception of the other.  I'll let it percolate a bit more, but I think I'm going to redo the brass trim in gold, and either just do the second tank in gold too or test out silver trim.  I played with some oil filters too, and think I figured out a good way forward.  With the recipe mostly sorted now, I'm cautiously optimistic it will be pretty quick to get these guys finished!  I'll try to get some more pics up in the next few days.

[Firedrake Cordova]

13 hours ago, Aarik said:

Not sure exactly why that happened, but it's kind of interesting to see how one color affected my perception of the other

Human's perception of colour is somewhat relative/perceptual, and we also automatically colour-correct (e.g. view a white sheet of paper under warm/yellow light, and your brain will tell you it's white, not yellow).