The 'Crusader Host' 2.0 (and a tyranid)

[hd3]

I'm doing another random Assault Intercessor to add some variety. This time I've gone with an Imperial Fist since I'm doing that for my casualty for my Alpha Legion army too. If you're interested, you can check out the project that is part of at 

 

I went with Tamiya fine white primer which came out very smooth though I think I have to be heavier on the spray next time.  For the body, I went with a yriel yellow base and averland sunset in the recesses. Then a reikland fleshshade wash into the recesses too and finally gal Vorbak red for the chest Aquila. Finally, black legion for the armour rubbing and seals.

[hd3]

So I've added mephiston red to the shoulder pauldron trim to indicate this guy is from the 3rd company and a dorn yellow edge highlight. I'm always amazed by how much more the edge highlights make the model stand out. I understand the appeal of the 'eavy metal style.

 

I also realized I should've clarified that the reason I'm putting this on my terrain blog is the base. This is the same base as my Salamander but this one I'm going to paint as a snowy glacier type environment to reflect the fists home world of inwit. I haven't worked it out exactly yet but I was considering ulthuan grey all over, then a really thin layer of aethermatic blue or talassar blue over the lower recessed ground, then apothecary white in the recesses of the raised glacier chunks and an edge highlight of corax white. This is my first time painting white at such a scale though so I'm open to ideas 

[hd3]

I'm taking an emergency break from my Fist Intercessor because I've been challenged to a game of combat patrol on Monday. While I do have all the models for the CSM patrol, my last alpha legion possesed is in bits awaiting his astartes casualty base.  So I've decided to paint the spare extra possesed I have as a Word Bearer for Sunday to fill in. 

 

I did the flesh first going bugman's glow to cadian fleshtone with a recess wash of carroburg crimson and druchii violet. My worry is that the cadian flesh tone looks almost too healthy on a demonically possessed model. I want it to look unwell. 

 

I haven't settled on the rest but this is a 40k word bearer, so no heresy era brighter red with walls of text or black shoulders here. I was thinking khorne red, nuln oil, re-establish khorne red around the middle then highlight with mephiston red and a spot highlight maybe of evil sunz. For the metallic trim I was gonna use gunmetal by Vallejo to give it a really grimey metal look.

 

Since this is still a terrain log, I'm gonna try something new and use that 40mm sigmar temple ruins base I have. For the Word Bearers, that seems appropriate.

 

For the temple base, I used mounrfang brown which will eventually be covered in stirland battlemire and Vallejo English uniform for the stones. I plan to put basilicanum grey or maybe even astrogranite on the rocks. For the runes in the stones, I want them to glow in contrast to the possessed. So maybe corax white with kroxigor scale or tesseract glow on top.

 

 

Edited August 10 by hd3

[hd3]

I ve gone with khorne red for the armour with nuln oil all over and a second coat of khorne red away from the edges. For the trim I went with Vallejo gunmetal because the dirtiest silver seemed to suit late 40k word bearer. Ushabti bone and agrax then flayed one flesh on the tips for the horns. For the eye lens I used corax white then tesseract glow and a little warp lightning on the side to give more depth. Finally mephiston red for highlighting and I repeated the same formula on the base.

 

For the intercessor, I didn't change much except that the imperial fist chapter badge absolutely refused to lay flat on the shoulder. I used micro set but no help there. 

[Rusted Boltgun]

You have my sympathies with the chapter badge, I use them on my homebrew chapter. I end up absolutely drenching the decal in solution and working away at it for ages. If I am lucky, it shrinks and I get a small wrinkle.

 

If have read that small incisions at the edge would help it deform but that might mean cutting into the black border, depending on how you have trimmed them. Nightmare!

Edited August 12 by Rusted Boltgun
Use not sue

[Cleon]

Yeah, the round decals are by far the worst to apply to marine shoulder pads. Blood Angel chapter icons are usually ok with just a quick cut up from the drop between the wings, but I've never managed to get round ones to play nice.

[hd3]

Finally got some good photos of my word bearer possessed!

[hd3]

Almost finished my Imperial Fist Intercessor. This was a nice change but boy I would never want to paint this formula at scale.  I'd have to find a more efficient way to paint yellow. 

 

P.S

I am going to add a squad numeral over the assault marker too.

Edited August 16 by hd3

[hd3]

Just added a squad number decal over the shoulder.

[hd3]

So in our next installment of "This is only very peripherally a terrain log anymore" I'm doing an Emperor's Children Tormentor. This is partly terrain related though as I am doing a new basing technique I've only heard about. Because the EC are so fancy, I wanted him standing on a marble floor. So I'm going to take the 32 mm base , use sandpaper to grind it down until it's completely smooth and flat. Then spray it matt black, next spreading a moist towlette over it so taut and thin that it makes a porous spidery vein covering. Finally, spray painting it matt white which will be partly blocked by the towlette, hopefully creating a black and white marble look. 

 

For the tormentor himself, I used Tamiya extra fine white primer because I wanted the brightest most garish colours possible. For the black I went with good ol' Abaddon black and Vallejo squid pink for the contrasting panels. I wanted the metallic details to look different from my Alpha Legion models so I went with iron hands steel as my main metallic colour. And for irony. I think my clips are chipping off the paint though so I may finish the legs and feet first, then attach it to the base to finish the model.

[hd3]

Ok! I'm really thrilled with how this turned out. If I could find a way to produce this with multiple bases en masse, this is how I would base my EC army.

[Grotsmasha]

That looks great

[hd3]

Finished! Sans the micro sol and lightbox photo.

 

I avoided my usual paints as much as I could for the Tormentor. Liberator gold for the slaaneshi emblems and aquilla as well as canoptek alloy on the handle of the blade. To tint I used druchii violet on the steel and really thinned down volupus pink on the gold emblems and the recesses of the pink armour panels. Im really happy with how the leg covering came out, I think the incubi darkness and fenrisisn grey really accent it nicely. Finally the last touch was gauss blaster green with thinned warp lightning for the tassles. 

 

I went with a slaaneshi rune and a "3" for both the third legion and the third millennial, which was the EC division that joined Fabius Bile. 

Edited September 2 by hd3

[kabaakaba]

That guy looks great!!

[Grotsmasha]

Lov'in that pink

[Brother Christopher]

Well, it is heresy but the design of modern Chaos Space Marines is so much more interesting, creative and fun than the cookie-cutter Primaris. It's not enough for me leave the light of the Emperor but, man, do they look fun.

 

Great scheme' the pink and black work well.

[hd3]

Courtesy of Grotsmasha my Salamander finally has a face.

[hd3]

So I've started on my forest base/dark angels model now. I chose a Sternguard Veteran,  I went with Caliban green over tamiya ts-6 matt black spray for the armour then warpstone glow for edge highlighting, though I forgot to do the edge of the shoulder pads. For the aquilla/caputmori on the chest I used zandri dust then agrax wash then a highlight of ushabti bone and finally Rhinox hide with agrax and gorthor for edge highlights on the belt. I think next I"ll use vallejo neutral grey for the tabard and start picking out the ornamentation.

 

I don't know how to make the forest base though. I have some vines I could superglue on. Maybe over stirland mire? That doesn't seem very forest like though. Maybe flock green over the base?  Does anyone know a good guide?

Edited October 25 by hd3

[Grotsmasha]

I don't rexall the company's name, but there exist punch-out sheets of fully coloured foil plants, in many different themes, including Jungle. 

Might just have what you're looking for. 

Edited October 25 by Grotsmasha

[hd3]

2 hours ago, Grotsmasha said:

I don't rexall the company's name, but there exist punch-out sheets of fully coloured foil plants, in many different themes, including Jungle. 

Might just have what you're looking for. 

 

Oh mate that does sound perfect. I'll try to find it. Let me know if you remember.

[Grotsmasha]

1 hour ago, hd3 said:

 

Oh mate that does sound perfect. I'll try to find it. Let me know if you remember.

 

Not foil, laser cut plants. Here's Gamer's Grass' offerings.

[Firedrake Cordova]

You can also get punches to make leaves.

 

I guess it depends on what "look" you want your forest to have, as to what you'll want - temperate rainforest, tropical rainforest, arctic forest, generic temperate forest, Lord of the Rings forest, etc? You could potentially be looking at plants/flowers, ferns/bracken and similar, roots, vines, etc.

 

There's a few guides on YouTube that might be worth checking out: RGB Miniatures, Eons of Battle, Swords and Brushes, Artis Opus, Vince Venturella, and Pete the Wargamer all have ones worth looking at.

Edited October 27 by Firedrake Cordova

[hd3]

On 10/27/2025 at 4:57 PM, Firedrake Cordova said:

You can also get punches to make leaves.

 

I guess it depends on what "look" you want your forest to have, as to what you'll want - temperate rainforest, tropical rainforest, arctic forest, generic temperate forest, Lord of the Rings forest, etc? You could potentially be looking at plants/flowers, ferns/bracken and similar, roots, vines, etc.

 

There's a few guides on YouTube that might be worth checking out: RGB Miniatures, Eons of Battle, Swords and Brushes, Artis Opus, Vince Venturella, and Pete the Wargamer all have ones worth looking at.

 

Thanks Cordova, Ill check those out. In terms of look, I want a rocky pebble like base which is just being almost choked by vines in top. I have grit, rocks and vines but I've no clue how to layer them like that.

 

Anyway,  today I added Vallejo neutral grey for the tabards and Leadbelcher for the metal details. I can't decide if I should use agrax on the tabards for a more bone coloured cloth or a darker wash for a more grey with white highlights look.

 

P.S

I actually just found an affordable resin forest 32mm base so I might buy that for this guy and do the static grass plains for my white scar.

Edited October 30 by hd3

[Firedrake Cordova]

6 hours ago, hd3 said:

I actually just found an affordable resin forest 32mm base

Sounds like a good approach  

[hd3]

I did an agrax wash over the tabards and iron hands steel with retributor armor edges for the icon. I used skrag brown for the chord because I thought the off orange would add a nice note if brighter colour without throwing off the tone.

 

For the purity seal, I can't advocate enough for gal Vorbak red base with evil sunz edge highlights. It's just perfect.  Finally mechanicus grey for the knee icon though I'm thinking now I might do tallarn sand over the skull in the center. 

 

I'm also planning to add a single diagonal red stripe of mephiston red. over the left knee to indicate this guy is from the dark angels third company next. Tonight, it's onto the bolt rifle and hopefully get the actual figure complete.