Project: Imperial Fists, milestone 2000+ points painted

Not really much to say, after a long night of painting and weathering. I now have 2000 points in painted Imperial Fists. I have a couple of thing left to do before I am ready for War Con, but if I had to drop the army in the car and go it is ready. Now the focus is on doing the last couple of things that can raise my painting score and finish the dozer blades. But enough about that on with the pictures!



The whole force in all it's glory. I am happy with the way they look at the table level. They are starting to get the numbers that motivate me to paint the rest of the 3rd company.



The Dreads came out ok, once they were weathered all the brush stroke that annoyed me are harder to see.



The whole army looks good together, not just because it all yellow, but the weathering makes it blend together better. The infantry and vehicles look like they have been in the same dirt. Ron FTW is right, you want to tie the model into the environment.



I really like the look of the army on the table. it makes such a difference for me in the game when you have painted armies on a nice looking table. I know they are not the best painted army, but I am proud to put them on the table and I think folks will enjoy lining up their armies against them. That is what counts.

On The Bench: Dreadnoughts

I have run into painters block in working on my dreadnoughts. All three dreadnoughts for the 2,000 point list are sitting on my bench staring at me. The main issue is how to tie in the armies red accents into the scheme. I have some ideas on weathering, but with 8 days left before the GT, I don't have a great deal of time to work out a plan.

The lesson here is; back when I was doing my paint tests, I should have painted a dread to make sure the paint scheme worked for all the models in my army. That way I would not being trying to figure out how these units would be painted under a time crunch.

I am sure they will be fine. It is just going to take longer to get motivated than if I knew exactly how they were going to look. That is the way my brain works, once I have an image in my head getting the model done is quick.

On The Bench: Getting ready for WAR Con GT

I forgot how much work getting ready for a GT is. As you can see from my bench things are coming along and very busy. Everything is yellow that needs to be yellow. The Drop Pod, vindicator, marines and razorback are ready for ink and weathering. The Dreads need a ton of work, they are the new worry now that the Drop Pod is coming along. The dozer blades are ready for paint. These are temporary until FW one come in. I don't want the worry of not having them in hand hanging over me.

Looking at the painting scoring system for WAR Con, it looks like I will get 24/30 points. Not bad, I may enter the Master of the Arsenal into the painting contest as my fist entry ever. I don't expect to win anything! He is good for me but there are so many talented painters in the single mini group, he won't even stand out.

All and all though I am happy with my speed painted Imperial Fists army. 2,000 point of Imperial Fists, 46 figures and 11 vehicles in 11 months. That is 2 figures a week plus a vehicle every month. That is with building an Eldar army and a 10th company army to test play. I have a full time job, I have not gotten divorced and my son still knows who I am... not bad.

Project: Imperial Fists, Dozer Blades

I am famous for failing difficult terrain tests with my Rhinos. Since I have been playing the 3rd Company I have passes 3 test and failed a dozen. Therefore I am breaking down and digging up 15 points to put dozer blades on my transport rhinos. I know this will mean I will never fail another test or just fail the same number twice in a row, but I buying myself an end to 'you should really think about dozer blades..' comments. Points well spent.

Now I have to figure out how to model them. I really like the Forge World Dozer Blades, but it is $80 to get them here before WAR Games Con in July and cash is tight, so hello bits box!

I found 3 old Chimera blades within about 2 minutes of looking. So here is what they look like. Not sure about the spikey part... Has anyone done a cool conversion for Dozer Blades?

Imperial Fists 3rd Comp - 2000 point Punch List

We are shooting for Wargames Con 40K Tournament in July. This means I need to get painting to finish the 2000pts list. Here is a picture of the current status:



There are getting there but there are 5 models not started with painting.

Not Started with Painting
1. Drop Pod
2. Dreadnought w/Assault Cannon
3. Ironclad Dreadnought
4. Assault Marines
5. Tactical Marine w/Multimelta

There are 9 models that are in progress:

WIP
1. Dreadnought w/Twin Linked Lascannon and Twin Linked Autocannon
2. Assault Marines
3. Assault Marine w/Flamer
4. Assault Marine Sergeant
5. 3x Tactical Marine
6. Vindicator
7. Razorback w/Twin Linked Lascannon

I think I am in good shape, but I do need to focus. Right now the Vindicator and Razorback are on the bench and some troops are staged. Eldar and 10th company have been put on hold.

Imperial Fists 10th Bike Squad

Working on Bike Squad number 1. There will be 2-3 bike squads and 2-3 Scout squads in the 10th company. Each squad is 6-man squads, I may adjust that depending on points, but I am going to try to keep it above 6.



These are old models that I had laying around. The flamer is from an old Catachan flamers that I had laying around. You can see some bits in a pile in the photo, these are partial bike that I need to dig up parts to complete. Hello bits market. :)



...I wonder if I can sell my bits box?

EDIT: If the photo looks odd, it is because the lens on my camera phone is cracked, who knew?

Imperial Fists Space Marine Master of the Arsenal

Doing some work on character models and thought I would share a quick pict. I am going to put the Master of Recruits into my 10th company list and fluff wise Master of the Arsenal is the leader of the 3rd Battle Company. So they may see the field some day. Right now it is just painting fun.

Imperial Fists 10th Company Planning

I am starting to look at the 10th company part of my SM army. Basically it is a reserve list heavy on infiltrators, scouts and bikes. The Space Marine Captain on a Bike will lead one of the bike squads and the Space Marine Chapter Master (Master of Recruits) will drop in with the Sternguard Veterans. I am still tooling the war-gear but this is the basic layout.

Imperial Fists 10th Company (2,000 points)

HQ
Space Marine Captain on a Bike
Space Marine Chapter Master, Digital Weapons; Hellfire Rounds; Melta Bombs; Artificer Armour; Bolter x1; Relic Blade x1

Elite
5-Man Sternguard Veteran Squad, Combi-Meltagun x1; Melta Bombs; Bolter; Power Fist
Drop Pod w/ Deathwind Missile Launcher

Troop
5-man Space Marine Bike Squad, Flamer x1; Meltagun x1; Melta Bombs
5-man Space Marine Bike Squad, Flamer x1; Meltagun x1; Melta Bombs
5-man Space Marine Bike Squad, Flamer x1; Meltagun x1; Melta Bombs
5-man Scout Squad, Camo Cloaks; Sniper Rifle x3; Missile Launcher; Sergeant Telion
10-man Scout Squad, Camo Cloaks; Bolt Pistol; Combat Blade;
10-man Scout Squad, Camo Cloaks; Bolt Pistol; Combat Blade;

Fast
Land Speeder Storm, Multi-Melta
3x Land Speeder (1 Squadron), Multi-Melta x3; Multi-Melta x3
5-man Scout Bike Squad, Cluster Mines; Bolt Pistol; Shotgun; Astartes Grenade Launcher x3;

Tactical Analysis
Scoring units: 6-8
Inf: 31 models + 21 bikes
Vehicles: 4 models + a Drop Pod

Questions:

Q. Should I lower the number of Bike Squads and boast the number of men in each?

Q. Should I make a 5-man scout drop team for the Speeder Storm adn what would be the weapon load out?

Q. Am I too melta heavy and should trade out for some flamers?

Project: Imperial Fists, chaplain v2 day 2

So the chaplain is coming along. The base colors are done and ink washes are applied. All the highlighting and detail are next. Looking at him this morning I need to gun metal the intake jets. I am really happy with the Crozius handle the red came out great.

Painting black is always a process of cleanup. I started with white primer as light under coat. I find it helps pick out details, like the grenade under his arm. Would have never seen that had I started with a black under coat.

Being mostly black I will be relying mostly on lining to do highlighting. my current technique is too use a strong light source from above and paint the places where light strike the model. The secret is use a strong light.

Project: Imperial Fists, chaplain v2

Thanks Heresy Is the Only Answer I have a new jump chaplain . I have been using a converted walking chaplain up unitil now. Painting the new terminator chaplain was a great deal of fun, so I am looking forward to this. It is also good to get back to Project: Imperial Fists which has lag a little with me being distracted by Eldar.

I am going to use this opportunity to re-work my jump squad a little. Right now it is 8 man squad including a flamer, a sergeant with plasma pistol and power fist. I going to drop the plasma pistol and power fist and bump it up to 10-man with 2 flamer. The power fist has been under performing and I have only killed myself with the plasma pistol. On the other hand the flamer have done great job in almost every game. This will also give me the option of combat squading them. All for about the same point cost, roughly.

Project: Imperial Fists, milestone 1000+ points painted

Tonight, I passed a milestone. I now have 1000+ points of Imperial Fists fully painted. 1,224 points to be specific. Two Vindicators, Assault Squad with Chaplin with jump pack and Three tactical squads are complete! Next I am going to work on the 2 Dreadnoughts, Razorback and Drop pod I need to finish out the 1,850 list.

On the Bench: Up and running

Airbrush got setup up this week and I started in on my Sgt, heavies and specials. Tactical squad 1 and 2 are both going to have Lascannon and flamer so they can break into a AT fire team and assault team. There was a couple of big game this weekend and I wanted to get a least 3 colors on 750 points so that the Imperial Fists could play if needed. I ended up playing the Apocalypse 40,000 megabattle with my IG instead but it was good motivation to get the airbrush are put together.

Speaking of the airbrush. Wow did it need a cleaning. There is this place where the color cup meets the expansion chamber that I have to watch. It is hard to reach without doing a full break down of the brush and it tends to be the spot where paint collect and dries. I thought my mix was off then I was base coating these guys. It was coming out very thin. So I thickened my mix, wrong answer. That was a disaster, the brush stopped shooting paint at all. Turns out it was a dirty brush. I like I said a while a go, the first thing to do when you have a problem is break the brush down and clean it.

3rd Battle company is coming along here is the current progress:

Complete Battle Company (3rd) of Imperial Fists

• Planning - Done
• Buying - Still 90%, 1 Rhino, a couple of assault marines and HQ models left
• Assembly - 70% up from 45%a week and a half ago
  
• Painting - 35% up from 30%, 2/6 Tactical Squads in done 80% done, 1/2 assault squads 80% done and 0/2 devastators and no HQ yet.
  

That is what is on the Bench this week. See you next time.

Project: Imperial Fists, Rhinos

Rhino 2 and 3 are done. This is the last paint project I can do without setting up the airbrush. sigh.. I may have gone a bit over board with the weathering but I was having fun with it. Now off to the garage to see how much I can get set up.

Project Status - Imperial Fists Full 3rd Battle Company part 2

So after some more assembly, I need to stop gluing and start painting. There is a point where you have too much bare plastic in a project. I find that it can hurt my motivation. Completing a squad at time you have this vision of what the whole will look like. There is an identity to the project and the more bare plastic the less I can see it.

All unpainted armies look the same to me. But with paint on them they turn into something more real. It is like without yellow this project would be about plastic which I have no real emotional tie to. Paint them yellow and I suddenly they are now Imperial Fists connected to all the great books, fluff and other painted Imperial Fists armies I drooled over.

So I have two painting projects before I have to have the airbrush setup. There are 4 marines that need weathering and two of the Rhinos need detail work and weathering. After that it is get the airbrush setup or die.

Project Status - Imperial Fists Full 3rd Battle Company

Here is a state of the project for Imperial Fists 3rd Company. Yes I am building the whole battle company. After looking at it I am not that far off. It was kinda a wild off in the future statement when it was suggested, but now I can see it coming together.

A tip of my hat to paintedpotato over at dakkadakka who has already completed a Imperial Fists Full Battle Company.

HQ 50%

• Buy Master of the Arsenal (Captain)
• Assemble Apothecary, Standard Bearer and Command Squad

Tactical Squad (1) 95%

• Paint Lascannon

Tactical Squad (2) 80%

• Paint Lascannon, Sergeant and Flammer
• Finish Weathering Rhino

Tactical Squad (3) 80%

• Paint Sergeant and Plasma gunner
• Finish Weathering Rhino

Tactical Squad (4) 20%

• Paint Squad
• Assemble Rhino

Tactical Squad (5) 10%

• Paint Squad
• Assemble Rhino and 5 Tactical Marines

Tactical Squad (6) 5%

• Buy a Rhino
• Paint Sergeant and melta gunner
• Assemble Rhino, 7 Tactical Marines and Heavy weapon

Devastators Squad (7) 10%

• Paint Sergeant and 5 Devastator Marines
• Assemble 4 Devastator Marines

Devastators Squad (8) 0%

• Buy one more Devastator box
• Assemble Sergeant and 9 Devastator Marines

Assault Squad (9) 90%

• Paint 2 Assault Marines

Assault Squad (10) 0%

• Buy one more Assault Squad box
• Assemble Sergeant and 9 Assault Marines

Armory Support 60%

• Paint 2 Dreadnought s
• Assemble 1 Vindicator

So to finish things out I need 1 Assault Squad box, a Devastator box, a Rhino and a Master of the Arsenal. Everything else, I have already. Need to assemble 3 Rhinos (maybe two more for the devastators), 12 Tactical Marine with bolters, 13 Devastators plus another Sergeant, 10 Assault Marines, command squad and a Vindicator. Painting is coming along, but has a long way to go. Once I get the airbrush set back up I will start cranking through that again.

I think tonight I will work on Rhinos.

Project: Imperial Fists, Assault Squad

I finished up weathering and details on the Space Marine Assault Squad. The helmets turned out good, although they do kinda look like a football team.


The weathering on the jump packs turned out great. I had to dry brush some Chaos Black to get the scorch marks dark enough.

You may wounder why only 8 Marine, the reason is to keep them down around 200 points. I found that the durability of 8 vs. 10 is not that great and keeping them around 200 means I can field this squad in a 750 point game.

On The Bench: New work area

We’re in the new house and things are getting back to normal. So it is time to set up the work area and start painting again. I thought I would write up my thoughts on setting up my new bench to get back into the blogging habit.

Here is the new work area. The airbrush setup will need to move to the garage. I will be setting that area up in a couple of weeks once the house is unpacked. As you can see I have a smaller area but lots of storage. So far it is working well. With the area being more central to the rest of the house I can paint and be around the family. The old painting area was in the dungeon area of the house and so far away as to be out of reach if I was needed.

So first up on the bench is finishing off the Space Marine assault squad. I am done with the ink wash and will weather them tonight. Once I get the airbrush set back up I will start on tactical squads again. I have a set of sergeants for each squad (one with bolt pistol and chain sword and one with bolt pistol and power fist). This way I can change out weapon load outs as needed for adjusting points. My 500, 1000, 1500 and 1850 lists are stabilizing (more about that later) and I need to complete all of those models.

I am starting to line up projects again. Here is what I have on the horizon:

Complete Battle Company (3rd) of Imperial Fists

• Planning - Done
• Buying - 90%, 1 Rhino, a couple of assault marines and HQ models left
• Assembly - ~45%
  
• Painting - 30%, 2-3/6 Tactical Squads in process, 1/2 assault squads and 0/2 devastators

Build an Imperial Fist 10th Company Army of Scouts and Bikes

• Planning - Theme/Paint Scheme done, working on army list
  
• Buying - ~60%, 2 squads of scouts and most of the bikes
• Assembly - 0%
• Painting - 0%

Eldar Army

• Planning - Vague idea of what type of army I want to play, not paint scheme yet
• Buying - ~20%, Battle Force, Fire Prism and Warp Spider, Ranger and Farseer boxes
• Assembly - 0%
• Painting - 0%

Magnetized Imperial Guard Shadowsword / Stormlord

• Planning - Researching
  
• Buying - 100% being shipped now
  
• Assembly - 0%
• Painting - 0%

On the Bench

On the bench this week is the jump chaplain and assault squad. I am using a eight-man squad to keep the point cost down. This way I can keep the power fist and plasma pistol on the sergeant. The squad is getting the normal airbrush and weathering. The chaplain was a old model that got some conversion to bring him up to date. The jump packs are magnetized so that everyone can pile in a Rhino. It looks like this will be my command squad for a while.


In assembly is the Assault Terminator squad. They have magnetized arms and Forge World shoulder pads. I played them in a game over the weekend and I am thinking they will get shelved until their Land Raider is done. Right now my army is very mobile and I am having trouble getting them into the fight in the right spot with deep strike.


I need to put some more sergeants into assembly and start paint on the heavy weapons marines. Go, go, yellow marines. Latter.

Project: Imperial Fists, Chaplin

While waiting for bases to dry on the current 5 marines I am painting, I picked up my Space Marine Chaplin in Terminator Armor and played around. There is a product I had been meaning to test out, Vallejo Liquid Gold.

Over all I love the results. It is harder to work with being alcohol based. It drys fast if you put it on a pallet so you have to work quick or paint out of the bottle. The pigment settles fast and you have to keep shaking it back up.

edit: by the way.. this is totally a work in progress, lots of detail work and clean up. But, for a couple of hours work while bases dried... I am happy. enjoy

Project: Imperial Fists, Progress

A quick post to show off the progress of Imperial Fists Project.

Vindicator 1 and 2 are shaping up. There is still lots of clean up, details and weathering to do. I have Vindicator 3 in the box waiting for room on the workbench.


Rhino 2 and 3 are about at the same point. The Tactical markings where done by making a stencil out of plastic-card. Still lots to do on them yet. They are not table ready.

Tactical marines round 2 Started with me trying to find a better way to base and being generally unhappy with the quality of round 1. This combat squad turned out much better. there are still little things I could work on, but it is just a matter of spending more time.

Well that is about it for things with enough yellow on them to show off, now more painting.