Librarian Conversion, part 2

So I think it's finally done, AND I've got pictures to show for it.  I think I've got about 30 hours into this particular model between conversions and paint, plus a few more for gluing the head and scythe blade back on several times *chuckle*

And with his command squad:

And, finally the army transport case, opened...

Army Transport

So thanks to my wonderful girlfriend (yes, she gets referred to that way here a lot, but she IS my primary enabler :) ) my army now has better luggage than I do.

http://www.saboldesigns.net/division.html

I currently have all the foam from my citadel cases in it, which works pretty well, but will hopefully be obtaining the Sabol trays over the winter.

Pics of this, and of my Librarian conversion, soon, possibly over the weekend.

Librarian Conversion, part 1

So I got inspired looking at all the neat stuff in the GW locations in the UK.

I started working on a librarian in power armor, and the head of his force weapon fell off when I opened his blister... that gave me the idea to replace it.  I checked my bits and I didn't have any weapons that would work, so my next thought was "scythe".  So, having just started building a few fine cast models, I had some scrap resin around.  I then discovered it's really pleasant to carve (going back to my experience in wood carving when I was a kid)... so he now has a scythe.

I'm next looking for a pair of wings for him.  Not sure if I want to use Sanguinary Guard wings because I don't want to hit the Blood Angels button, so I might try to get the feathered variety of Dark Eldar Scourge wings... or maybe Reaper angel wings... we'll see what I can find I guess.  I'm really going for the "Angel of Death" look on this model, and it's my first full blown conversion on a metal model to boot.  I'm showing him below.  Not my best photo, but the scythe is nicely visible.  I know some people might think the blade is a little small, but I don't want him looking like Mortarion either.

Leicester and Nottingham GW stores, and Warhammer World

My sister got married in Leicester UK last week, so for I left North America for the first time to go to what turned out to be an incredible wedding and a great time.  While I was there, I figured I'd visit some of the GamesWorkshop locations.  I forgot my camera, but luckily, my father had his.

I made a couple discoveries.  My sister's place, as well as the apartment my family stayed in, was within an easy walk of the Leicester GW store.  I've never been to a GW store in the US, I think the closest one is in Maryland or something, so that in its self was an experience.  I don't think I saw any models I'd never seen in a store before, but I've never seen them all in one place either.  (Added plus, NO Magic cards and the children that seem to go with them in too many stores).

The other discovery was that the Nottingham store, which is in the center of Nottingham, maybe a 10 minute walk from Nottingham Castle, is not the main or best thing to see GW-wise, in Nottingham.  On the outskirts of Nottingham, in a section of the city called Lenton, is the entire GW facility, design, production, sales, and even a bar done up as a dwarven tavern.

I love the stores... the GW staff was nice, interested in the customers, and ironically, the guy in the Nottingham store who gave me the address for Warhammer World was actually from Indiana (it's also worth noting that his wife works in the design department, which I thought was cool).  I really enjoyed the experience of spending time in the two retail stores (probably an hour total in Leicester and maybe 30 minutes in Nottingham), but the experience of going to Warhammer World was just, well, an experience.  I had a good time and I was SO thrilled to be able to see their museum-quality displays of painted models, the life-sized Space Marine that I've found out online must have been or GamesDay 09 and the game room.  The terrain is FANTASTIC.  My dad went to Nottingham with me and even he was impressed with the displays and gaming tables.  Here are a few pictures - hopefully I'll get some more of them cleaned up enough to post soon.  (Oh, and for the record, having seen a painted Contemptor in person, and gotten to hold the unassembled model... I'll DEFINITELY be getting one when I can afford it.

Display and Traveling

So I got my hands on an old book shelf with 4 shelves (5 including the top) that I'm using to display my army in the living room.  It works pretty well.  By the end of the day I should be able to have about 3/4 of my space marines and vehicles on display and I'm pretty pleased with how they look so far (more pictures may take a little while for the reasons below)

I leave for England tomorrow evening.  My sister's getting married in Leicester, where she's been living while getting her Masters degree, and will probably stay for at least a few years with her soon-to-be-husband.  Because I'm such a nerd, while I'm there I'm going to go to the GW headquarters an hour or so from there in Nottingham while I'm there, and I'm stupidly hyped about it.

So, I'll probably post more in a week or so, unless I can get online in the UK after I visit GW.

A few more pictures

I was able to get a few more pictures done.  We'll start with my favorite tank - Lucia's Tear - I was feeling creative the day I started it, so it's got a unique paint job, which fits with its intended role as sort of a centerpiece of the army.  I may re-work the sponsons soon - that's the only paint on the tank I'm not happy with.

Next, I've got a Captain in Terminator Armor, who'll probably take the place of the previous model I was using for the Master of the Deathwing.  He still needs basing, but other than that I think he came out pretty well.

And finally, for this post at least, we have my Legion of the Damned models.  I dig the story, and love the models, so even though they're not included in the Dark Angels codex I painted a squad of the Legion.  I'm intending them as either a 5 man Company Veteran's Squad to use with the DA codex, or an excuse to occasionally run a base Astartes army.  A Couple of them still need their eyes/lenses painted... I had been thinking the armor could use some highlights or gloss, but I kind of like the flat, burned look on them for their theme and all.

Pictures (obviously, pic heavy)

So, as requested I took another shot at getting some pictures of my army, this time with white floor and background, sort of.  I tried using as much ambient light as I could, without flash this time, so we'll see how they came out.  One of these days I'm going to build a piece of terrain big enough to use for photos, but until then, this is probably the best I'm going to do with what I have.

First photo is my Land Raider Crusader, dubbed Contempt for the quote "My armor is contempt"

The next two photos are circa 1993 Rhino I kitbashed with some new parts because of some damage done while in the possession of a previous owner.  The Rhino hasn't been named yet, but bears the markings of the 1st Tactical Squad - the grey helmets that I posted about very early on.  In the second picture you can see awards dangling off the back of the tank - those are partly painted, but have no writing on them yet.  Once I've gotten better at photographing my models I'll try to get more of that posted.

Next, we have a Deathwing Terminator with Cyclone Missile Launcher done in my "Grey Man" color scheme, which I've switched most of my terminators to at this point.

and some more Deathwing:

Yes, that's an old-school librarian in the background.  I picked up a couple of them and a captain earlier this year on the extreme cheap earlier in the year on ebay.  I'm still working on the fluff as to why librarian armor is in a standard Deathwing Squad, but I think it will probably work out to this is part of a librarian's training before they're allowed to lead.

Next we see the 6th Tactical Squad with their Razorback named "Faith" (for the quote "Faith is my shield".

Below is the SM Captain that is almost done being painted, with the Command Squad that is intended to be personalized to work with the Master of the Deathwing when I don't blow the points on upgrading a term squad for him (hence the grey paint on the apoth.).  I also have a Champion of the Emperor model done up as my Company Champion for this Command Squad.  I may eventually find a shield cool enough to attach to him to make him truly WYSIWYG.

And... for the final picture of this post, a shot of as much of the army is at least moderately painted to-date, on my hobby table.

Critiques are welcome, but please be gentle.

Current Max Roster

So, I can almost put out 4000 points painted to what I think of acceptable, which is somewhat better than what I have seen a lot of people on the net calling "table ready".  I'm posting it in a couple formats below using Army Builder, after they fixed the Command Squad glitch that had been bugging me since early September.  Most of my vehicles are listed using their names.  It's worth noting that I'd rather run at about 3500, and in that case I'd only run 1 Deathwing Term Squad and probably insert one of Dreads, probably the Venerable, named as noted in an early entry Colmus.  I can actually field 6 full tactical squads and 2 10 man vet squads, but not all the models are up to my standard for paint yet.  It's also worth noting that I can give all of my tactical squads a heavy weapon, but most of my heavy weapon troops aren't too well painted yet :


Created with Army Builder® - Copyright (c) 1997-2011 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. All rights reserved. Download it for FREE at http://www.wolflair. com!
4000 Pts - Dark Angels Roster
4 Assault Squad
4 Assault Squad - Chainsword; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
1 Attack Bike
1 Attack Bike - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Teleport Homer
1 Azrael, Supreme Grand Master
1 Azrael, Supreme Grand Master - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Protector; Sword of Secrets
2 Bike Squad
1 Bike Squad - Meltagun; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Teleport Homer; Twin-Linked Bolter
1 Bike Squad - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Teleport Homer; Twin-Linked Bolter
10 Command Squad
4 Command Squad - Narthecium; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
2 Command Squad - Chainsword; Narthecium; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
2 Command Squad - Power Weapon; Narthecium; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
2 Company Champion - Combat Shield; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Weapon
10 Company Veterans Squad
5 Company Veterans Squad - Power Weapon; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Flamer; Plasma Cannon
2 Company Veterans Squad - Storm Bolter; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Flamer; Plasma Cannon
2 Company Veterans Squad - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Flamer; Plasma Cannon
1 Company Veterans Squad - Lightning Claw; Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Flamer; Plasma Cannon
8 Deathwing Terminator Squad
3 Deathwing Terminator Squad - Power Fist; Storm Bolter; Heavy Flamer
3 Deathwing Terminator Squad - Power Fist; Storm Bolter; Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Deathwing Terminator Squad - Power Fist; Heavy Flamer
1 Deathwing Terminator Squad - Chain Fist; Storm Bolter; Cyclone Missile Launcher
1 Ezekiel, Grand Master of Librarians
1 Ezekiel, Grand Master of Librarians - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Sercret's Shield; Traitor's Bane
1 Land Raider Crusader
1 Land Raider Crusader - Pintle-mounted Storm Bolter; 2x Hurricane Bolters; Twin-Linked Assault
Cannon; Power of the Machine Spirit
2 Predator
1 Predator - Dozer Blade; Hunter-killer Missile; Pintle-mounted Storm Bolter; Twin-Linked Lascannon;
Lascannon (each side)
1 Predator - Pintle-mounted Storm Bolter; Lascannon (each side)
1 Ravenwing Support Squadron
1 Ravenwing Support Squadron - Heavy Flamer
2 Razorback
1 Razorback - Dozer Blade; Twin-Linked Lascannon
1 Razorback - Hunter-killer Missile; Twin-Linked Heavy Bolter
2 Rhino
p1
Created with Army Builder® - Copyright (c) 1997-2011 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. All rights reserved. Download it for FREE at http://www.wolflair. com!
1 Rhino - Dozer Blade; Storm Bolter
1 Rhino - Dozer Blade; Extra Armor; Storm Bolter
4 Sergeant
3 Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
1 Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Power Weapon
2 Sergeant
2 Sergeant - Power Sword; Storm Bolter
1 Sergeant
1 Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Teleport Homer; Melta Bombs; Power Weapon; Twin-Linked
Bolter
1 Sergeant
1 Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Plasma Pistol
1 Sergeant
1 Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Combat Shield; Melta Bombs; Power Weapon
1 Sergeant
1 Sergeant - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Plasma Pistol; Power Fist
49 Tactical Squad
18 Tactical Squad - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Flamer
9 Tactical Squad - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Flamer; Missile Launcher
9 Tactical Squad - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Missile Launcher
9 Tactical Squad - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades; Meltagun; Missile Launcher
4 Tactical Squad - Frag Grenades; Krak Grenades
Total Roster Cost: 3830
Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com
p2


Created with Army Builder® - Copyright (c) 1997-2011 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. All rights reserved. Download it for FREE at http://www.wolflair. com!
4000 Pts - Dark Angels Roster
Total Roster Cost: 3830
HQ: Azrael, Supreme Grand Master (1#, 225 pts)
1 Azrael, Supreme Grand Master, 225 pts
: Command Squad (5#, 175 pts)
4 Command Squad, 150 pts = 4 * 21 (base cost 21) + Power Weapon x1 15
1 Company Champion, 25 pts
HQ: Ezekiel, Grand Master of Librarians (1#, 170 pts)
1 Ezekiel, Grand Master of Librarians, 170 pts
: Command Squad (5#, 175 pts)
4 Command Squad, 150 pts = 4 * 21 (base cost 21) + Power Weapon x1 15
1 Company Champion, 25 pts
1st Tactical Squad (11#, 225 pts)
9 Tactical Squad, 149 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Flamer 5
1 Sergeant, 33 pts = (base cost 18) + Plasma Pistol 15
1 Rhino, 40 pts = (base cost 35 + Dozer Blade 5)
2nd Tactical Squad (11#, 255 pts)
9 Tactical Squad, 154 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Missile Launcher 10
1 Sergeant, 33 pts = (base cost 18 + Power Weapon 15)
1 Redemptio, 65 pts = (base cost 50 + Hunter-killer Missile 15)
3rd Tactical Squad (10#, 225 pts)
9 Tactical Squad, 164 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Meltagun 10 + Missile Launcher 10
1 Sergeant, 58 pts = (base cost 18 + Power Fist 25) + Plasma Pistol 15
4th Tactical Squad (11#, 235 pts)
9 Tactical Squad, 159 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Flamer 5 + Missile Launcher 10
1 Sergeant, 18 pts
1 Rhino, 55 pts = (base cost 35 + Dozer Blade 5 + Extra Armor 15)
5th Tactical Squad (5#, 90 pts)
4 Tactical Squad, 72 pts = 4 * 18
1 Sergeant, 18 pts
6th Tactical Squad (11#, 255 pts)
9 Tactical Squad, 149 pts = 9 * 16 (base cost 16) + Flamer 5
1 Sergeant, 18 pts
1 Faith, 85 pts = (base cost 50 + Dozer Blade 5 + Twin-Linked Lascannon 30)
Fast Attack: Assault Squad (5#, 155 pts)
4 Assault Squad, 100 pts = 4 * 25
1 Sergeant, 55 pts = (base cost 25 + Combat Shield 10 + Melta Bombs 5 + Power Weapon 15)
The Horsemen (4#, 200 pts)
1 Ravenwing Attack Squadron, 0 pts
2 Bike Squad, 90 pts = 2 * 40 (base cost 40) + Meltagun x1 10
p1
Created with Army Builder® - Copyright (c) 1997-2011 Lone Wolf Development, Inc. All rights reserved. Download it for FREE at http://www.wolflair. com!
1 Sergeant, 60 pts = (base cost 40 + Melta Bombs 5 + Power Weapon 15)
1 Attack Bike, 50 pts
Fast Attack: Ravenwing Support Squadron (1#, 75 pts)
1 Ravenwing Support Squadron, 75 pts = (base cost 65) + Heavy Flamer 10
Contempt (1#, 255 pts)
1 Land Raider Crusader, 255 pts = (base cost 250 + Pintle-mounted Storm Bolter 5)
Lucia's Tear (1#, 190 pts)
1 Predator, 190 pts = (base cost 70 + Dozer Blade 5 + Hunter-killer Missile 15 + Pintle-mounted
Storm Bolter 5 + Lascannon (each side) 60) + Twin-Linked Lascannon 35
Purgo (1#, 135 pts)
1 Predator, 135 pts = (base cost 70 + Pintle-mounted Storm Bolter 5 + Lascannon (each side) 60)
Elite: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 240 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 197 pts = 4 * 43 (base cost 43) + Chain Fist x1 5 + Cyclone Missile
Launcher 20
1 Sergeant, 43 pts
Elite: Deathwing Terminator Squad (5#, 220 pts)
4 Deathwing Terminator Squad, 177 pts = 4 * 43 (base cost 43) + Heavy Flamer 5
1 Sergeant, 43 pts
Elite: Company Veterans Squad (10#, 330 pts)
10 Company Veterans Squad, 330 pts = 10 * 20 (base cost 20) + Lightning Claw x1 25 + Power
Weapon x5 75 + Storm Bolter x2 10 + Flamer 5 + Plasma Cannon 15
Validation Report:
c-1. File Version: 1.31 For Bug Reports/www.ab40k.org; b-1. Roster Options: Special Characters; a-1.
Scenario: Normal Mission
Roster satisfies all enforced validation rules
Composition Report:
HQ: 2 (1 - 2)
Elite: 3 (0 - 3)
Troops: 6 (2 - 6)
Fast: 3 (0 - 3)
Heavy: 3 (0 - 3)
Created with Army Builder® - Try it for free at http://www.wolflair.com
p2

New squad and HQ units

Well, of the new army I've managed to get one squad fully functional.  A 10 man squad with a flamer.  The sgt is about 5 years old at a guess, with base armaments.  I've made them the 6th Tactical Squad with a stylized six on their right shoulder.  That shoulder pad is red with gold trim to visibly differentiate them from the other squads, while the rest of their armor and colors are standard for the rest of the Chorus.

I obtained so many HQ units with this army that my non-unique units may occasionally get used as a really beautiful Company Veterans Squad from time to time just so they don't go to waste.  They'll probably all get painted by the end of next week.

Lucky

As trite as it might sound, and how often friends have said similar things, it occurs to me that I'm very lucky to be able to get involved in my hobbies as much as I am, and don't have to worry about whether or not I get to eat tonight, or whether I can safely sleep.  Maybe those thoughts deserve a little more thought.

Trade and additions

A few weeks ago a friend mentioned that he had a small 40k army someone had given him some time ago that he was going to sell before moving out of state while we were talking about different games.  He's a big Magic the Gathering player and I happened to have a collection I started in about '93 that had been sitting in a box for a decade so we discussed a trade.  Long story short, through another friend who acted as broker the trade happened this weekend and I'm thrilled.  For one box of cards, about equal in value to the broker-friend's estimate of the value of the 40k army, I got:

2 Rhinos circa 93, good condition, both have tiny issues that will take me about 5 minutes to fix, plastic
1 Whirlwind circa 93, plastic hull, metal turret, very good condition
1 Razorback circa 93, plastic hull, metal turret, very good condition
1 "Lasorback" circa 93, plastic hull metal turret, very good condition
1 Dreadnought, metal, assault cannon and CCW, good condition but needs to be stripped - the primer and paint are very heavy in some spots.
48 marines of various generations in power armor, some of which need parts.  4 are chest-huggers I may not use, two lascannons, two heavy bolters, 2 missile launchers and a plasma cannon
5 plastic terminators on 25mm bases - all need to be stripped but are otherwise in good condition
2 metal terminators on 25mm bases - lightning claws and TS/SS, unpainted
1 plastic land speeder that needs some work
1 Dark Angels Chapter Master figure, without the helm-bearer, unpainted and in nearly mint condition
1 metal techmarine with arm, needs a lot of stripping but may be viable
1 company captain in power armor, primed and in great condition
1 older style librarian in power armor, primed and in great condition
1 oooold style Blood Angels chaplain of the same type as my other one, unpainted and in very good condition - I'll probably trade or sell this one
1 metal apothacary with power sword primed and in good condition
1 metal standard bearer primed and in good condition
1 GW Army Carrier - case is in perfect condition, but I'll probably replace the foam at some point.

The army is mostly primed green with some paint - the tanks have almost no paint so they'll be really easy to work with.  It also seems to have been done on the DA codex, except the Blood Angels chaplain, so they'll interface very nicely with my current army.  I'm really happy about this deal - it cost neither of us anything , but it allowed us both to have more fun with hobbies we like and get rid of stuff we're not using.

New tank

I just finished the construction of a new tank - purchased as a GW Predator, but with magnets, it can be a lot of things.  At present, until I can get my hands on some bits, it can be:

Predator - AC Turret, Heavy Bolter sponsons
Predator - Lascannon Turret, Heavy Bolter sponsons
Rhino

I can attach a pintle mounted storm bolter to any of the options, and I'm trying to figure out where I can stick a hunter killer.  I need 8 bits to be able to use lascannon sponsons, and I think 6 each to be able to do a heavy bolter or lascannon Razorback.

The "commander" operating the stormbolter I kitbashed and converted a little... well more properly, I modified the arms meant to operate the SB, so he could have one hand on it and the other hand flourishing the chain sword arm from the space marine captain set, and he's got the bare head with breather head attached to him.  The "commander" who would appear to be driving the tank is also bareheaded.

Have to think of a name for it now...

Black Templars codex

Fiddling with the BT list on Army Builder I discovered that if I used that codex I could actually field a 5000 point army including 27-30 terminators, 80ish power armored space marines and 4 tanks.  For fluff reasons I don't know if I'd actually do it, but it's interesting to know I can field an Apocalypse level army.

originality and business in the 40k universe

I was reading a forum and these thoughts came to me.  I figured this was a more appropriate forum for them.

So much of sci-fi is borrowed, influenced or even stolen from its fore bearers.  As everyone's noted, Lovecraft (Chaos gods, etc), Bradbury (Martian Chronicles), Giger (Alien, Species, Bullet Babies, etc), Cameron (Alien, Terminator), Heinlein (Starship Troopers), Saberhagen (the Berserker series)... there are original ideas popping up here and there, but there have been plenty of people smarter than I am who've observed that there are only a dozen original stories that have ever existed.

Are the 40k and WHFB worlds original?  Heck no.  Is GW a crappy corporate entity for suing left and right for IP violations?  Heck yes.  But legal realities do not actually form true reality, as much as our governments and lawyers might argue otherwise.  Papa Tolkien had some wonderful ideas, but his races and many of his characters were directly out of myth and folklore.  Heinlein was making a political statement when he wrote Starship Troopers, and didn't even intend on hiding it in the slightest.  Sadly a lot of our world is a business and our hobby has become one.  I kind of wish I'd gotten involved in the 80s when I was playing Battletech, but I didn't - nothing to be done for it.  I AM glad I've gotten involved at a time when there are so many amazing models out there, and so many brilliant people designing them, the more brilliant people buying, modifying and painting them.

TSR was much more user friendly than WOTC, old GW was apparently similar... but we move on.  I hear Privateer Press is a little better, but starting to make the corporate slide... I think it's an unavoidable problem. Once a company gets big enough that they have a world wide audience, and hence can support world class artists to design their models, they become a profit seeking corporation.  I don't know if there's a real solution, but I hope the models and art keeps up at its current pace of excellent work and continuing improvement.

New Supplies

After several suggestions, I've picked up 2 Micron pens from AC Moore for details in purity seals, books and name plates for the army - the 005 and 01 sizes... so more rework on my dreads and tanks... we'll see how it looks.

Contemptor

Holy crap do I want to get one (or two) of these for the Chorus

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Downloads/Product/PDF/c/Contemptor.pdf

Tower, more figures and other stuff

Well, I've been working on the Tower of Witchfate Tor ( http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=12500057a&_requestid=150577 ) for the last several weeks - it was a birthday present from my wonderful girlfriend.  I'm about 32 hours in and probably have another 20 in details before I'm at least partly satisfied - hoping to have pictures soon.

On another note, I got my hands on a couple more Legion of the Damned models, both with bolt guns, so they'll be getting added - two more until I am able to field a DA Company Veteran's Squad made up of Damned Legionnaires.  I may at some point field the Chorus using the Space Marine's codex just to give the Legion its self a try, not to mention a shot at using their HQ unit that can use Orbital Bombardment.  The Master of the Death Company and the other Legion figure I was working on are just about done being painted.  I'll probably give them the clear coat next week if all goes well.

I'm also going to try my hand at creating, then duplicating in resin via a latex mold, a set of 5 custom bases, first in 40mm then in 25mm.  At first I'm just going to see if I can get my idea to work... then I'll figure out if I'm going to use them for new Chorus models or if I'm going to start a new army.  I'm heavily leaning towards Tau Empire at this point, but I like the look of the Necron models a lot, and I have this obsession with creating an Atreides/Fremen army using the IG codex too.

All of that said, I don't want to go TOO far overboard... I already have one army that I can't get into two Citadel army boxes (my Land Raider Crusader and the Land Speeder don't fit with everything else), so I'm going to take my time on any ideas to start another army barely 8 months into the new hobby.

Chorus Lucia enrollment log update

Some of the models I have available for the army have had their purpose changed, and I've obtained one or two others, so the actual roster has changed a bit...

I'm leaving the Supreme Grand Master off this list... I don't like the model all that much and there is a conversion in the works to go with that stats set...

HQ:

• Grand Master of Librarians (librarian in terminator armor model, converted using DA vet bits to provide book and stand)
• Interrogator Chaplain (chaplain in terminator armor model, fairly standard build)
• Chaplain (OLD Blood Angels chaplain model I was given, need to repaint and possibly mod a little more)
• Master of the Death Company (two actual models - a Terminator Captain with power sword and storm bolter, and a standard modern terminator with thunder hammer and storm shield, depending on what I want to send him out with)
• Company Master (DA Company Master model with power sword and bolt pistol)
• Command Squad #1 (Company Champion, Apothecary, Standard Bearer, 1 marine with a power weapon, 1 with bolter)
• Command Squad #2 (Apothecary, 2 marines with meltaguns, 2 marines with bolt guns, with a Company Champion that can be swapped in as needed)

Troops

• Tactical Squad 1 - Rage of the Imperium (All grey helmeted Inquisition survivors - 10 man squad, 1 flamer, and a marine with a missile launcher can be swapped in at need - sgt equiped with power sword and plasma pistol)
• Tactical Squad 2 (10 man squad with one meltagun, sgt equipped with power sword and bolt pistol.
• Tactical Squad 3 (5 man squad equipped with old style bolters, sgt equipped with power fist and plasma pistol)
• Tactical Squad 4 - The Old Guard (all beakie-helmets, GotC marines from original founding - 10 man squad with a flamer and a heavy bolter that can be swapped in as needed)
• Tactical Squad 5 - Ad Hoc (5 man squad - this is the non-heavies of the devastator squad that could be used as a tactical squad if needed - the models are not obviously a unit yet, and some need heavy conversion and/or paint)

Elites

• Scout Squad (10 man squad, 5 including sgt equipped with sniper rifles, 1 heavy bolter, 1 shotgun, 1 bolter, 1 bolt pistol and ccw)
• Deathwing Terminator Squad 1 - The Grey Men (the squad that will be upgraded should the Master of the Death Company be on the field, 1 pair lightning claws, 2 pairs thunder hammer and storm shield, 1 chain fist, 1 heavy flamer)
• Deathwing Terminator Squad 2 (Currently still in red paint, though they will go grey eventually too most likely - 1 pair lightning claws, 1 heavy flamer)
• Deathwing Terminator Squad 3 (also still red, 1 cyclone missile launcher)
• Deathwing Terminator Squad 4 (also still red, 1 cyclone missile launcher)
• Deathwing Terminator Squad 5 (currently unpainted older style models, and one heavily modified very old model with DA assault cannon arm)
• Venerable Dreadnought - Colmus (Lascannon arm, claw CCW, heavy flamer)
• Dreadnought (plasma cannon arm, modified FW claw CCW, heavy bolter)
• Company Veterans Squad (10 man squad, 1 storm bolter, 1 meltagun, 1 plasma cannon, 1 power fist, 4 power swords and one Legion of the Damned marine with multi melta that can be swapped for the plasma cannon as needed)

Fast Attack

• Ravenwing Attack Squadron - The Four Horsemen (3 Ravenwing bikes, 1 with meltagun, sgt has power sword, 1 attack bike with multi melta)
• Ravenwing Support Squadron (equipped with multi melta and heavy flamer)
• Assault Squad - Imperium's Sword (5 man squad, sgt has power sword and combat shield - these models have green details to denote the marines' status as IG trainee survivors)

Heavy Support

• Predator 1 - Purgo (auto cannon turret, lascannon sponsons, storm bolter and hunter killer missile - black paint to match the tactical squads it usually supports)
• Predator 2 - Lucia's Tear (lascannon turret, lascannon sponsons, storm bolter and hunter killer missile - red paint to denote its status as "flag ship" of sorts for the Chapter)
• Devastator Squad (mix of up to 3 lascannons, 4 missile launchers, with the heavy bolter from tactical squad 4, the plasma cannon from the company veterans squad or the multi melta from the company veterans squad available, 5-10 man squad possible, sgt has two chain swords)
• Land Raider Crusader (twin linked assault cannon, hurricane bolter sponsons, multi melta and storm bolter)

Transport

• Razorback - Redemptio (heavy bolter turret, hunter killer missile, turret is unglued, so can be sent out configured as a Rhino as well)

Fluff ideas, or the Forgiven

I have a lot of ideas for the story/stories behind my army/chapter.  At this point every time I read a new codex I come up with a little more.  The Chorus are the purists from Hell - they don't trust their Techmarines because they run too close to being heretical with their obsession with the Omnisiah, they feel the Grey Knights are corrupt in their use of daemons and hypocritical in their use of xenos technology.  They feel that the Imperial Guard has some hope, but pity their weakness and their frail bodies... but that most other Space Marines, even the Dark Angels have fallen to some form of corruption or another.

Story ideas though... the main one being their formation - a strike force of the 8th Company of the Guardians of the Covenant came upon a joint IG/Inquisition training group who'd been fighting a guerrilla war against a Thousand Sons invading force.  The GotC with the help of the trainees forced the CSM from the world and returned to the GotC ship.

Once they returned to the ship conversations began about how the trainees could be brought into the Chapter, and other conversations happened, regarding the purity of the Inquisition, or the lack thereof, and somewhere in the Inner Circle of the GotC it was decided to request the creation of a new chapter using GotC gene seed, the strike force that found the trainees and the trainees themselves.  Using the world they'd liberated from the Thousand Sons as a home world, the Chorus Lucia was born.

Since then, the Chorus has ceased to think of its self as truly "Unforgiven" though they still refer to themselves as such.  The thought started among the Inquisition trainees, the leaders of whom were in the beginning phases of Grey Knights training - that if the Chorus continues to remain as pure as possible, forsaking Chaos tainted tools, Xenos weapons, and even being wary of the Omnisiah, they would gain the Emperor's forgiveness for the crimes of their fore-bearers.  The Inner Circle of the Chorus refers to its self, among its self, as the Forgiven.  The Chorus still hunts the Fallen, and are quite successful in the task, but theirs is a hunt now born of righteous rage at the sins of the Fallen, then the guilt of a brother for his brother's sins.

I joke that I won't build a Techmarine for this army - the Chorus doesn't trust their Techmarines to leave the ships.  What I might do eventually is build one of those Joquaro weaponsmiths the Grey Knights use, but stat him as a Techmarine, for further fluff.  As it is I have a Legion of the Damned marine with a multi-melta that I'm going to work into either a command squad or elsewhere, and might eventually build a squad of Legion figures as a command squad, and in story say that the squad attached its self to the Chorus for reasons even the Chorus isn't entirely sure of.

Grey Terminators

So I've started this secondary paint job for my terminators that I like better and has gotten better reception from my friends, even those that don't play.  Still working on getting better photos, but at least the first picture came out OK.  The base of the body is Codex Grey with various washes of Leviathan Purple, and the heads are all Boltgun Metal.  There are still some details to work out, but like most of my figures, these will probably get worked on, on and off, for months or even years.

In the background you can see some of the terrain I've been working on.  The terminators are standing on a custom piece I built out of air dry clay (hand formed for the main portion and using molds for rocks), static grass and terrain moss in two colors.  Behind them are almost complete Citadel trees.

500 point army

500 pt army to be played possibly tomorrow

HQ:
Chaplain
Troops:
10 Man Tactical Squad, standard armaments plus one flamer
5 Man Tactical Squad, standard armaments plus one flamer
Elite:
6 Man Company Veteran's Squad, 3 with flamers

To be played against Eldar... we'll see how it goes...

Update

Since my last update I've added somewhat to the army, though most of my work has been going into terrain.

I have a total of 4 Deathwing Terminator squads now, 1 squad of which has been repainted to the Grey Man scheme - I'm hoping to get pictures in the next few days.  The special weapons for the Terminators are 2 Heavy Flamers, 1 Assault Cannon and 2 missle launchers - one of the last being customized, the other is fairly old.

1 Speeder has been built, but not painted.  It's configured to have a heavy flamer and a multi-melta, sticking with the heat/flame theme the Chorus has taken on.

The bike squad now also has it's 4th member, an attack bike, which has been painted as War... hope to have pictures of that soon too.

The Company Veteran squad is up to 10 man now, and the beaky tactical squad is now a 10 man.

I can put out a 4000 point army now I believe, and after reading the Grey Knights codex I've realized that I can put out about 500 points from that codex, and with very few additions, could make a 1000 point army using that codex.  I may add some Grey Knight terminators at some point, and it gives me an excuse to build one of the gunships - I love the look of that model.

The army as it stands right now

HQ:
Supreme Grandmaster
Master of the Deathwing
Grandmaster of Librarians
Interogator Chaplain in Terminator Armor
Command Squad 1 (Apothecary, Company Champion, Standard Bearer, 1 power weapon, 1 meltagun)
Command Squad 2 (Company Champion, 1 meltagun, 1 flamer, 1 plasmagun)

Elite:
Venerable Dreadnought (twin linked lascannon, heavy flamer)
Dreadnought (extra armor, plasma cannon - assault cannon and twin linked lascannon available)
Deathwing Terminator Squad (with assault cannon)
Scout Squad (10 man, 5 snipers, 1 shotgun, 1 ccw)
Company Veterans Squad (8 man, 2 power weapons, 1 plasma cannon, 1 meltagun, 1 stormbolter)

Troops:
1st Tactical Squad (10 man, 1 flamer, missle launcher trooper available - all grey helmets)
2nd Tactical Squad (10 man, 1 meltagun, missle launcher trooper available)
3rd Tactical Squad (5 man, sgt has power fist)
4th Tactical Squad (5 man, all beakies, 1 plasma gun
Razorback Transport

Heavy Support:
Predator (lascannon sponsons, stormbolter)
Land Raider Crusader
Devastator Squad (10 man, 2 missle launchers, 2 lascannons)

Fast Attack:
Bike Squad (1 melta gun, sgt has a power axe)
Assault Squad (sgt has power sword and combat shield)

Dreadnoughts

So I've actually had my venerable dreadnought, who I've decided to name Colmus - yes, after Colm Corbec, because I think if he'd been a space marine they would have put him in one... done for a while, though I don't know that much of my army will ever be completely done - I'll always find details I want to improve, and he's no exception.

Anywho... I definitely enjoy working on dreads... I think they're my favorite.  They're smaller than tanks, with a lot less blank space, but enough larger than normal marines that they're a little more fun to mod and paint.

So I found this super cheap one on Ebay, with some damage (broken claw - see below - lots of bad gluing and legs that were barely connected to their feet) and some really bad paint.  I wish I'd thought to take a before picture.  It's got what I believe to be a Forgeworld CCW, that was damaged - the bottom claw was snapped off, and it was badly glued to the body.  So, not having another arm like it, I decided a mod was in order.  I cut a claw off the claw-hand from my ven dread pack, and then cut the sword off an old metal terminator sgt arm and combined them.  Below is a pic, not great, but it gives the idea.

So far he looks pretty good in my opinion, especially after painting over the scorpion green his front plates had been covered in... I replaced his leg armor to some nicer stuff, and added a plate on his right side. I think he's getting some more to truly rep extra armor, but I don't know what I'm adding just yet.  Right now I've got the plasma cannon arm from the ven dread pack on him, but I still have an assault cannon arm and the twin linked lascannon arm he came with, and I'm leaving both of them so I can swap the non-melee arms out for whatever the next battle might need.

Bike Squad, AKA The Four Horsemen

So, after much debating I decided to start my bike squad.  Ultimately it will consist of sgt, 2 bikes and an attack bike, and will escort my version of the Master of the Ravenwing, but I only have the sgt and 2 bikes thus far.  I have put them together, with the sgt being very highly decorated and the others less so.  That sgt is going to be Conquest, his armor is gold, his bike white and trim done in reds, silvers and gold.  One other bike, currently deployed with a bare head and bionic eye, will be Death, and he will have a sickly pale green bike, dead black armor and the skin that is visible will be very pale - I intentionally avoided giving him a hood because I think I may eventually build a marine named Thanatos.  The last bike is going to be Famine, on a dead black bike - I haven't decided on his armor color yet, but I may actually make it bleached bone.  War I'm saving for the attack bike, and it will be a red bike with the riders in red and black armor.

I chose Conquest over the later Pestilence interpretation because I didn't want to go over towards Nurgle too much, and figured it fit the idea of my army better.  My idea actually came from my love of Albrecht Durer, so the change came later, largely after a conversation with Emily.

My Master of the Ravenwing will be done with large wings and be set up as the Angel who announced or accompanied the Horsemen to the Apocalypse.  His wings and bike will be white and silver I think, and his armor black, red and gold.

More pictures, and ideas for my IG survivors

So I managed to get a few more pictures today, but I need better lighting I think, with all the black armored marines I wind up getting only all the wrong details if any at all getting captured right now.  Do have a few to post though.  What I've got for now is one of my Inquisition survivors, a tactical marine with flamer, and a grey helmet -

a tactical marine, with black helmet, so a standard space marine, with a meltagun.  This is the color scheme for standard space marines.

And a company veteran with a stormbolter... and yes, he's meant to look like he's giving a benediction... he's actually one of the first figures I built and painted.

I've also figured out the color scheme for my IG survivors - right now represented by my assault marines.  The assault marines have red jump packs like you might expect, but their shoulders, helmet crests and left knee pads are all DA Green with light highlights, and they all got DA left shoulder pads.  Other details are red, and I'm still not entirely sure I love the color combo... but for now they'll do.

It's probably also worth noting that I have only barely begun figuring out how to flock my bases... so they're still looking pretty sloppy.

A beginner's thoughts on painting technique and tools

With a degree in art I at least have the background for the basics of painting, though when I paint on a canvas it tends to be very broad stroked and abstract.  The one thing I need  to work the most on is the very fine details on my models, and for that I think I'm going to need a couple of tools.  I definitely need some kind of magnifier on a stand, and I'm going to need to get some finer brushes and remember to only use them for details (I tend to be a multi-use kind of guy with most tools).  I'm also thinking that I need some kind of tool like what my grandfather (a silversmith/jeweler by hobby, a design engineer by trade) called a third arm so I can not be bending over whatever table I'm using, at least not so low, and so I can only have the movements of one hand to worry about, and not the one that's holding the figure.

Right now I'm mostly using 4 brushes - 2 from AC Moore, one of which is good for broader work, the other of which is pretty much shot and I only use for the occasional spot of dry brushing, 1 GW/Citadel detailing brush, which is mostly shot and I'm using for smaller broad work, and a newer Citadel brush which I just love.  It's keeping its point really nicely and bends just enough in use to give me the fine strokes I want, despite being bigger than two of the three other brushes.  I think I'll be looking at the Citadel brushes again when I go to find a really fine point brush... but that will wait until after I have some of the other tools.

Still trying to get some more pictures today... I'm finding that having most of the body black in combination with the dynamic poses I've been building my minis in is giving my camera some trouble in focusing.  We'll see if I can progress a little with that between relaxing and working on my assault marines today.

Two figures... Israf'l and Mik'l

Israf'l is pretty much a straight forward Terminator Librarian, right out of the package.  I don't think I added more than a couple small pieces of DA paraphernalia to him.  Mik'l is pretty heavily modified from a White Dwarf release terminator, with the Dark Angels terminator power sword and other paraphernalia attached.  The white thing on his right shoulder is the edge of a robed angel's wing.  I'll get a profile shot later.

These are the shots that came out well from the ones I worked on this evening... sadly they're both color patterns - neither one represents the coloration of the army as a whole.  Hopefully will get some more of those soon.

Painting and story progress...

So... my Inquisition survivors, those that are represented in my currently painted army are:

Tactical Squad  1 - 10 man squad, 2 upgrades - Vet Sgt has a plasma pistol and one trooper has a melta gun.  In this case I envision the sgt not as being more experienced than his men, necessarily, but the one who was the natural leader of a group that started and lived through some extremely hairy stuff together.\

Elements of my 5 man devastator squad - one trooper with a missile launcher, one with a lascannon (though the lascannon trooper's painting isn't complete.

My unique librarian, here named Ra'zel (based on the DA Grandmaster of Librarians, stat-wise), is also a survivor of that core group.  He was the one on the road to becoming an Inquisitor, but the Interrogator Chaplain with the group of GotC noted the psyker mutation in him and arranged to have him trained and indoctrinated as a librarian.  His psychic hood is the same grey as the helmets of the normal troopers of this group.

My Company Veteran's squad is, story wise, elements of that same group who found the Inquisition/IG cadet survivors.  They received laurels painted on their helmets tonight, in DA Green, Goblin Green and Burnished Gold.

On the note of paint colors... most are Citadel, but I have some left over Vallejo paints from a DnD mini project that I've been using.

Citadel Colors:
Scab Red
Red Gore
Blood Red
Chaos Black
Boltgun Metal
Chainmail
Mithril Silver
Skull White
Bleached Bone
DA Green
Goblin Green
Burnished Gold
Badab Black (wash)
Devlan Mud (wash)

Vallejo Colors:
Light Grey (this is the color of the Inquisition survivor helmets and other markings)
Polished Silver

I'm still trying to decide how I want to denote my IG survivors... they are really most of the rest of the troopers of the army, outside the veterans squad, but I'd like to give them some kind of unique marking as well.  Have to think about that... along the lines of a previous suggestion, I'll use the marking or color of their intended IG unit... once I figure out what that is.  Oooh... I had considered modeling that unit after the Blue Bloods (from the Gaunt's Ghosts books)... maybe I'll use a blue... something to think about...

Hopefully will set up a table, my tripod and camera on macro to do pictures tomorrow... keep finding new details to add even to the figures I'm proud of... have to stop eventually though.  I do have the army up to 2500 - 2750 points now though... and really having played only 2 partial games that almost feels silly, but I'm enjoying the process of building and painting at least as much, so I guess it's ok.

Late night thought

If/when I start working on bikes for Chorus Lucia I'm going to make the Chapter Master of that unit particularly anonymous as if he has no face and simply call him War... I may build a three man bike squad around him and keep them just as anonymous... my own little nod to the 4 hoursemen... we'll see

maybe pictures of the current army tomorrow night... my Master of Librarians is coming along quite nicely...

for now, to bed

Independent Character names

So, because the Chorus Lucia isn't the Dark Angels, and because they're probably going to wind up, story wise, an additional founding even off of the GotC, I decided to do new names for my HQ units and independent characters, based on bastardized Hebrew and Latin angelic names.

Unique Characters
Grand Master of the Chapter:  Ra'shnu
Master of the Death Wing:  Mik'l
Master of Librarians:  Raz'el
Interrogator Chaplain:  Israf'l

Other names:
Apothecary:  Shroa'sha
Company Champion:  Zaap'el
Venerable Dreadnought:  Tahar'el

Thanks to Emily for the help with the angelic names :)

expanded backstory

Chorus Lucia
Space Marines Chapter founded from the Guardians of the Covenant.

Colors – Black, Red and Silver – The Chorus Lucia uses most of the symbolism of the
GotC and the Dark Angels, but wears fully black armor with red and some silver details,
and often wear deep or blood red robes over their armor.

Unusually, the Chorus was founded on two groups – a company of GotC and the remains
of a combined IG/Inquisition training base on a Hive world that was nearly taken by
Chaos Space Marines led by one of the Fallen. The CSM bombarded and invaded
Aelinus, which was, at the time, an IG stronghold with an intense Inquisition presence.
The IG garrisons on Aelinus didn’t have a chance when they were somehow pinpoint
bombarded in their barracks. A group of IG cadets in a special Inquisition training
program, whose unit name is now known only at the highest ranks of the Imperium, the
Inquisition and within the Chorus its self, had been sent out on manuevers to plains near
a minor city on the southern most (barely) habitable continent and were spared the initial
bombards.

When the Thousand Sons landed on that continent it took virtually no time at all for
them to wipe out most of the remaining IG units who were being led ineffectually
by a planetary governor after their general and comissars were killed in the initial
bombardaments – the general’s head, in fact, had become a trophy of the Fallen who
was leading the Thousand Sons in this particular invasion. The remnants of the IG and
Inquisition infantries received orders to .fall back within the walls. The cadets and their
Inquisition trainers didn’t receive these orders and were still a mile outside the city when
the gates were sealed, and when the drop pods of the Thousand Sons started landing on
the outskirts.

Initially, the cadets went to ground, hiding in forests and swamps that were common on
that largely unproductive continent, managing to kill any scout parties sent into areas they
inhabited, but after a month of hiding they received word through a refugee that the city
was falling. On receiving that word their goals and tactics changed from simple survival
to picking off the supply lines of the enemy.

By sheer surprise that there were still forces of the Imperium outside the walls and dome
of the Hive city, the cadets enjoyed significant early successes, in fact capturing a CSM
vox caster that one of their technicians was able to retrofit to Imperial signals. Their
guerilla resistance went on for over two years, but their numbers dwindled – in every raid
there were at least a few injuries and a couple deaths – until by the time they heard over
their scavanged vox caster that the Guardians of the Covenant were coming, there were
only a hundred or so left, a mere third of their original number.

to be continued

Originally posted to FB in January, first story idea for Chorus Lucia

So, I was trying to think of background story for my idea for my 40k army and thought of this...

Some time ago, maybe a few hundred or a thousand years ago, a world on the edge of the space protected by the Guardians of the Covenant was attacked by Chaos Marines and Chaos Daemons led by one of the Fallen.  The IG and Inquisition forces that were on the planet were all but wiped out, and those that remained joined forces and retreated to a single city with a large number of their young cadets.  The GotC received a call for help and arrived shortly before that city fell, and fought to destroy the armies of Chaos.  Ultimately they fought their way through, captured the Fallen in leadership and retook the city... finding a remnant force of IG and Inquisition cadets, lacking any leadership outside that of their own ranks, fighting a guerilla war in the narrow back alleys.  Impressed with their ability to survive when even their superiors and instructors had fallen - and even more so with the affluent praises they gave to the Emperor when the Space Marines arrived, the Chapter Master offered them the chance to be turned into Space Marines (they were all very young yet) and join the Guardians as part of the new special task group Chorus Lucia