build: work-in-progress: iron warriors, pt. 9

Got a little work done in the last week...

Polybolos Alpha: vanilla CSM squad

Row 1:: plasma gun, bolter, lascannon
Row 2: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter
Row 3: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter

Polybolos Beta: vanilla CSM squad

Row 1:: plasma gun, bolter, lascannon
Row 2: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter
Row 3: bolter, bolter, bolter, bolter

Putting these together, I was again reminded how much I hate mixing metal and plastic kits. Such a nightmare. Particularly on the lascannon guys, as their left arms don't quite line up with the left hand molded onto the gun anyway. Had to pull out the grey-stuff and make a couple wrists. Because of the legs I used I also ended up chopping off the power cables and adding in some of my own on the gun arm.

I'm a big fan of the mini-chainsword/bayonets on the the bolters. They took some trimming to get to fit right while being held with the array of arms used, but I found a consistent way to trim them (and the bolters) so that they fit without painstakingly dry-fitting every model.

I still need to figure out basing. Trench-work, while appropriate, seems a bit too obvious. It also means I'd have to go in and add mud and stuff to the armour, which I don't particularly want to do. I don't want to dilute the rust effects with grime, if that makes sense. I've considered urban rubble basing, with mostly greys and muted yellows/greens, but that seems like a ton of fabrication work when translated across 48 infantry bases.

Oh yeah, I'm also waiting on a small bitz order to finalize what style of banner I want to use throughout the army - ragged vs. pristine. I'm leaning towards ragged, but don't have 'em on-hand to know for sure. The banners in the pics are all blue-tacked on so it'll be an easy test-fit and swap once I get the bitz in. Other than that, these guys are pretty much done...

Holy. Freakin'. Crap! That means infantry assembly is... DONE! As in, "No more little dudes to put together"! That is a weight off! Here's what the entire Warband looks like as of now...

There's an obvious hole where a Rhino goes. That Rhino will bring me to 1500 points assembled. That same Rhino, two Vindicators, and two magnetized Dreads will bring me to an even 2000. All things that are pretty easy and straight-forward to put together. The end of assembly is now in sight! With one day of good priming weather in January (50-50 chance here in Texas), having the entire lot finished by Adepticon may not be a pipe-dream after all.

To quote Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott, "Oh! This is exciting!"

build: work-in-progress: iron warriors, pt. 8

Managed to get Breaching Squad Aerugo and Iron Palatine Gibeon put together yesterday.

Breaching Squad Aerugo: counts as Plague Marines w/ Chaos Lord

Iron Palatine Gibeon: Chaos Lord, mark of Tzeentch, daemon weapon

Breaching Squad Aerugo: bolter, plasma, flamer

Breaching Squad Aerugo: bolter, bolter, bolter

The squad, like "Ferrugo" is pretty straight-forward. A bunch of dudes carrying normal weapons and some shields to represent the increased toughness and Feel no Pain of Plague Marines.

The Chaos Lord is less transparent. The backpack is meant to give him status and longevity (it's the backpack from the old Iron Warriors Warsmith model) while the sword and gun combine to represent the Tzeentchian Daemon Weapon. The entire reason I took Mark of Tzeentch with a Daemon Weapon was because I liked the idea of modeling the ranged attack with an exotic gun of some kind. I figured that an Iron Warrior that had served the cause over the course of millennia has probably come across and/or tinkered up a powerful gun or two in that time. I think the gun used, from the ForgeWorld Boarding Assault set, has just enough sense of the exotic to represent that while the big-ass sword is an additional reminder that the Daemon Weapon also serves in close combat.

I know it's a sword from the new Blood Angels kit, but the distinct lack of blood drops make me think I can pull off giving it an Emperor's Children vibe in the painting. It was a gift to Gibeon after a particularly hard-fought compliance during the Great Crusade. Somewhere out there, there's an Emperor's Children commander traipsing around with Gibeon's old master-crafted plasma pistol.

Currently on the workbench I've got the remaining 16 models from the Polybolus squads. If I can get them done this weekend, I'm in the home stretch. Just one tricked out Rhino, two magnetized Dreads and two mostly stock Vindicators to go!