Armies On Parade: The Iron Tenth

So I went into my local GW recently, to ask if there was any painting competitions coming up soon. I've only entered one before but it was a fun day, some serious talent about! Anyway, all they have on the horizon is Armies On Parade. Perfect! It's just the kick in the arse I need to get a bit of productive hobbying done. I have until the 23rd of October to get together a 2x2 board ready with whatever models on it I like. I'm going to use my Iron Hands, using this deadline to polish off a few things, figure out how to paint the tank, maybe add another character. Also, and in many ways even more important for me, is a bit of pressure and focus on actually building terrain. After two posts here showing off other blogs doing it the right way with stunning boards, it's time to get the proverbial finger out. I've been collecting bits for potential terrain for ages, bottles, containers interesting looking thingys, and now I get to use them. I measured a few of the pieces up and made rough 3D models of them to make a plan of the board. Here's where I got to. Now all I have to do is make it all...

The Hobby: Done Right! - Legion Of Plastic Blog

Today, after a lot of inactivity, I was compelled to write this post after seeing basically the coolest thing in the community since my previous shout out to the Painting Bunker a few months back.

Check out this amazing post on Legion of Plastic... actually, just check out the whole blog!

It's incredible, and as far as I'm concerned, another example of *exactly* what the hobby is all about, and what I think more people should pay attention too. Once in a while, stop doing the math-hammer, put away the calculator and working out MEQs, and just make some killer models to have fun with.

I wish I had a bit more time to dedicate to this kind of thing - hopefully I will over the coming months, but for now, go check out Legion of Plastic, and bask in the glory of incredible minis.

Cheers

Smells like heresy... It's coming from Heretic Approved!

This is a quick post and introduction to a new site I'm going to be contributing to - Heretic Approved. This is a new site aimed at the beginners and people new to our hobby. It's going to combine series  of painting and modelling articles, lore pieces on the various factions from the 40k universe, as well as general tips, tricks and pitfalls to avoid for first timers.

I've been roped in to help with some of the painting annd moddling side of things, and so far I've covered priming, base colour painting and edge highlighting. Some of the lore articles up there are great, and hilarious.  I love Scraps4Bitz terrain article too, I'm going to be embarking on something similar to these in the summer so this will be a great source for inspiration and help!

So check it out, have a browse around and drop a few comments too while you're at it. 

Cheers

The Iron Tenth - Part 6

Finally back with some models finished!

This is my second tactical squad I've done for my Iron Hands, and they will be the Second Tactical Squad of Clan Sorrgol. These guys are another kitbash extravaganza! Tactical, sternguard, various Forge World kits and I'm sure a few other bitz from the box. I need to revisit these guys, and all the others, to apply the clan markings, that will be a pain...  I took photos of the basing process too, but they turned out dreadful, so I've be trying that again on my next model - another Iron Father.

So lets look at a few more pics.

Assault on Black Reach meets Forgeworld

II painted in the cog: second tactical squad marking 

Brass etch II on forearm

Think the head is from an Ironclad - chain bayonet on the bolter too

Went with a heavy bolter for a change... believe it or not I think it's the first time I've ever painted one! Anyway, hope you like them.

Cheers.

Bionic arm from servitor

Another Ironclad helm and chain bayonet

Hobby as it should be - Shout-out to The Painting Bunker

Hey guys, I just want to make a special mention of a recent post by The Painting Bunker.

John over there put on his own tournament, focused on all the beat parts of the hobby, rather than math-hammer and ultimate army lists. This event was about fun, fluff, good company and breathtaking armies and boards. It's really incredible stuff. Take a look at the amazing models, and read the article. If you're intersted in great terrain check out the rest of the site too. Actually, check it all out anyway it's brilliant!

Cheers 

The Iron Tenth - Part 3.5

So here is the finished Contemptor. Might go back to name him, or add some sort of campaign markings maybe. I was pretty concerned about painting him. I wasn't sure how well the painting method I used for the troops would scale up, but I'm pleased enough here. I realised during painting I didn't do a 100% job on cleaning the FW releasing agent from the model. Amature mistake. It was a tiny spot though so I got away with it. I think the missile launcher is pretty cool too.



Not 100% happy with the servo skull, but it was a first attempt. The plain cable is just a paper clip, which attaches to a magnet on the base, and the other coil is a greenstuff cable made using the Tentacle Maker (brilliant investment, much more use of this in the near future). I'll definitely be adding more of these servo skulls across the army, might actually revisit my tactical and sternguard squads and add one or two.



One thing that's new to me on this project is the weathering, and by that I mean the small patches of kinda dust I guess around the ankles of my Iron Hands. I personally find it so scary doing this! You put so much effort into painting the feet and legs, just to wreck them! But I'm gaining confidence in it and I think the results are not bed. For me, the test will be to revisit in a couple of months with fresh eyes and see does it look okay, or did I ruin a perfectly good paint job! Hope you like it. Comments and criticism as always is welcomed.

Cheers

The Iron Tenth - Part 3.0

So this is the second Contemptor I've made, and it wasn't an easier job second time round. My first was a standard one, which I made for my Space Wolves, and I tried to magnetise everything. Literally. Baaaad idea, I think I aged ten years in the process.

For this one, all I did was magnetise the lower parts of the arms for weapon swaps and the base for storage and transport. There were a couple of casting issues, where the resin was so thin that cleaning it just put holes straight through. Luckily this happened in spots where I could easily hide or repair. The worst was the right shoulder which is now covered by the brass cog motif so happy days.

The missile launcher was a case of having a load of suitably chunky bits that I were saving and knew could somehow work with some sort of vehicle conversion. I think its mainly dreadknight and drop pod bits in there.

Just a note, the mid-abdomen section of this had some cabling which looks pretty cool, but unfortunately limits how you can position it in relation to the legs. Found this out a bit late in the game and had to break some glued joints to rescue the pose.

Anyway, below are some WIP shots, check back again for it all painted up. 

Cheers

 
 

The Iron Tenth - Part 1

Power armour is such an iconic part of 40k, and for good reason. It's just totally cool. When Space Marines got their new codex and those amazing new plastic kits, it was definitely a perfect excuse to start up a new project. I wanted a new challenge with this army, and not to worry about gaming or legality in anyway (I got a bit bogged down in optimizing my space wolves). I also wanted to learn some new skills too along the way. But what chapter to pick?

So many great Chapers to choose from: I loved Salamanders, but I'm pretty comfortable with green from my orks. Loved Imperial fists too, but yellow is a colour that I'm also pretty happy with from (bad moon) orks and space wolf/iron warrior markings. White Scars - these were a close contender! They look great, and white on that scale would be a huge challenge, so that was a close second. Iron Hands won out though.

So why black over white? Frankly Iron Hands won out for one reason - conversion opportunities! Bionics, servo arms, bits of tech-y looking crap - it's gonna be fun! These guys are just badass. All the gear, the dour attitudes, 'flesh is weak' and all that... awesome. I'm crap at painting black too, so big challenge to learn and improve. Being able to do it on a relatively large scale would be another objective - to many times I've bitten off more than I can chew in terms of keeping it consistent when scaled up. I have lofty ambitions to do up an armies on parade base for these, but baby steps...

So here's the first squad I worked on for the project - a tactical squad. Bits here come from the new tactical kit, as well as the new sternguard, some FW shoulder pads, Mk III armour and brass etching. Still have lots of brass bits, including clan markings, so may go back and add these if I decide it's one clan all the way. The painting is based on a tutorial from Tail of Painters - brilliant blog - but with a few changes that work for me. That's what these blogs are all about, taking inspiration or guidance and making it fit your own style. The bases went through several versions, but pretty happy with what I've settled on here - iron rich rust world, with bits of broken infrastructure, tiles and scrap metal. Tried to model them with a lot of 'neutral' poses. I've an idea in my head about them scouring some ancient crash site for lost artifacts, with no enemies present but still on high alert.

There are a couple of small conversions if you can spot them. The beaky guy has a guitar string bionic forearm. There's a baldy dude with more string and bits-o-crap on his right leg He was actually the first model, bit of a guinea pig for painting. I also magnetised the special weapon options and the banner is also magnetic. So there you have the first squad, stay tuned for much more of these guys.
Cheers.

Love this head for the Tenth Legion

Brother Guinea Pig - Test for Black, Bionics and Basing

Magnets for Banner and Special Weapons

Scanning and stuff

Internet - Welcome to Victory Painting!

Cutting out that chest piece sucked

I'm a 40k hobbyist. Well, a GW hobbyist really, right now though 40k is pretty much where it's at personally. Gaming is great, super-fun in fact, particularly when you're playing with a group of great people, but for me, painting, modelling and converting is what it's all about. It's always been a pretty much solitary pass time for me, but over the last while, particularly since getting involved in my local gaming group and becoming a contributor to r/warhammer, I've started seeing the hobby as more of a community affair.

Techmarine servo arm

So after much deliberation (read: procrastination), I've finally set up a blog. I've wanted to do this for close to a year now and, finally, I've bitten the bullet. Why? Well, I think it's a good and worthwhile thing to do. There are several blogs I keep tabs on, my daily websites I flick to to check for any cool little updates, new inspiring updates, or full blown epic articles on fluff, tactics and the community. I have gained so much from these blogs that I've long felt almost a kind of obligation to 'give something back'. I know, I know, we're not talking about donating blood or feeding the homeless here, but I think and hope people who read this kinda know what I mean.

FW brass etching

So here we are, Victory Painting, were I'll be keeping you up to date with my hobby experiences for the foreseeable future or until I just stop posting... hopefully that wont happen. I'm sure my good hobby buddies will keep me motivated, hopefully they might even post a few guest articles, and the more feedback I get the more I'll be pushed to keep it up (I'm a sucker for extrinsic motivation).

Tentacle Maker in action!

The type of stuff I hope to post are WIPs of project I'm working on, as well as the finished models of course. Maybe some images of my back catalogue, some of the stuff at the back of my wardrobe that would probably never see the light of day. A couple of tutorials - I'm no golden demon winner, but I 100% believe everyone and anyone can pick up something useful by seeing how others work. I've got a bit of an idea in the back of my head that I'd love to be able to pay for (most of) my hobby through commission work, maybe we'll raise that issue again in the future if anyone actually ever sees this blog (let alone likes it!).

Just needs basing

So there's my introduction, thanks for reading and I hope you make it back for some more of whatever I feel like posting! Just to kick off with some pics, here's one of my recent models that I have to say I'm pretty pleased with - my first Iron Hands Techmarine. If gaming I guess he can be run as a Librarian. He's going to be the first of, I hope, many Iron Hands Character conversions. Comments and criticisms welcome of course, not just on the pics but everything else too.

Cheers,
v1ct0ry88