Rebased assault

Continuing on from yesterday I managed to get the original squad of assault marines sorted out last night and here they are.

Rebased

So I have been working for the past week or so on getting some assault marines sorted out, mainly doing some work on the unit I had allegedly completed already when I noticed the quality of the painting was not really up to scratch as well as getting them ready for rebasing.
As it stands now they are more or less painted and they are glued to the new bases, I just need to take the time to apply the water effect gore to the bases to have them done which I should have done today but I have been distracted with family matters. I did get carried away when working on the replacement bases and got the terminator ones cleaned, primed and painted and when it came to rebasing they seemed a good choice since the bases are that little bit larger to make getting the gore in the right place a little easier.

Here is the end effect of these efforts....

A little finishing work is needed on these and the librarian could do with an additional layer of water effect but the basic feel is there I believe, once I have gored up the close combat weapons and ensured there is sufficient gore on the base they should look pretty good.
The assault marines will be finished in the next couple of days unless something very strange happens and then I will get back to work on the aerial unit of jump pack guys to get them done. After that it is the command squad on their jetbikes who should look awesome when I have their bases sorted out.

With a planned massive apocalyspe battle scheduled for the summer (approximately 20,000 points per side) I have a lot of painting to get done to be ready for it, especially since I have promised myself I am only taking proper completed models with me. Therefore unless I completely lose the track you can expect more frequent updates as I try to keep myself to a painting schedule to get from the current 500 points completed to something closer to 6,000 points by the summer while trying to maintain a reasonable level of quality.

Death from above

Following on for completing the first of my corpse bases I have been working hard to make some progress with the assault marines and today I completed the champion of the new squad and to be honest I am really pleased with how he has turned out.

For some reason my flash seemed to decide the lighting was sufficient to not be needed so i do not think all of the detail is showing up perfectly but hopefully this should be sufficient to give an idea of how he turned out.
I always knew I wanted to capture a dynamic pose for this guy and as such i quickly opted to make use of the heavy chainblade which came with the assault marines purchase, trimmed off the blade and added a chainglaive from zealot miniatures and it just leaned towards this highly aggressive stabbing pose. In fact it was the concept for this pose which led me to thinking that I need to modelling the second assault marines squad in aerial poses and I think it has really worked.

I also knew I had to have at least one guy in the army with gauntlets dyed with sinner's red as this has become quite the evocative aspect of night lords lore, I was never intending it to be a numerous thing and it had to be on someone who was not simply rank and file otherwise Curze would have simply killed him, it needed to be at least on a sergeant to justify the delay in the execution and this guy just felt right for it.

So there you go, the first of the second unit of assault marines and the first guy on one of the new corpse field bases, I hope he meets with approval or fear....

New bases for the Night Lords

After considering ways I could better capture the style and mood of the Night Lords in my army I came up with the idea of using more atmospheric bases than I have been using, doing some searching I came across the corpse field bases from Secret Weapon which are absolutely awesome. Combining those with some water effect mixed with red paint has created the gore effect on the base. I think some additional coats may be required to add some more depth to the liquid but I think this is setting up to add some really macabre style to the army.

The metal pole coming out of the base is going to be how I attach the first of the second unit of assault marines to the base. I am intending to have these guys in a aerial appearance with the pin connecting the base to the jump pack, the pin will be covered with cotton wool to resemble exhaust fumes with the intention of creating something a bit more dynamic.

Sorry about the lighting on these photo's, just could not seem to get the right set up for them but it should give the tone of what I am aiming for.

Outriders complete

Well almost anyway, currently they are only pending the night lord specific shoulder pads which I have not currently purchased for this unit but is planned for the next expansion to the force.

So that's the ourdiers, currently set up with the twin linked plasma guns but I have also painted up the twin linked bolters and I have avoided glueing any weapons in place for the time being and I am debating the best course of attachment as I am not sure there is a suitable location for magnetising them. Currently they are held in place with a small amount of blu tack for lack of anything more cunning.

More assault marines to come in the not too distant future and I am going currently planning to try something very different, if it pans out as I hope then there is going to be something in a change of style coming. More details to come when the tests are done.

Outrider number 1

So with Curze sitting in my to do pile I have been motivated to get my arse in gear and actually get some more models sorted out. The first batch of these are the outriders.
I have now more or less completed the first one and I have the remaining two well under way and hope to have the whole squad completed before the new year.
Here are some pictures of the first biker...

For some reason my camera seemed to thinking there was enough lighting around to not need the flash, not sure I one hundred percent agree but I think the pictures are bright enough to convey the important aspects of the model.
As you can see I have gone for something of a more dynamic pose for this guy, I just felt the models leaned towards something like that too much for me to not follow up on it.
Unlike the jet bikes I have added lightning to this guy and I tried a somewhat new method I had read about on the web and I have to admit I think it worked pretty darn well creating something of a more fine and natural effect for the most part.
The highlighting on the model was a bit harsh, I used a too bright contrasting colour which looks a bit off, I won't be using this on the remaining two outriders that's for sure.

As you may have guessed there is a pin through the base and in to the rear wheel to give the model sufficient stability, it worked really well and I am now considering using something vaguely similar on the second assault marine unit to create the image of them being in flight - I can then mix the models from the two assault marine squads to try and create as dynamic a feel for both units as possible and make them look a bit more impactful on the battlefield.

Typically with the release of Curze as well as forge world producing a rules update for the heresy armies in to 7th edition I have looked again at the terror assault rite of war, +1 initiative and +1" run move during night fighting is actually tempting since it would give my marines the edge over other marine forces and that then led me to redesigning my 2000 point army to the extent that I do not in theory need the outriders any more for it but that's the way it goes - at least I will have some more great looking models to pull out on occassion.
I will still get to use them, my standard dark eldar opponent is keen to stage a battle where I can use my whole planned night lord force and he can bring all of the dark eldar he has - this will come in at something like 4500 points and should be truly epic. On top of that late spring or early summer my group is muttering about heading down to warhammer world - it is something of a landmark birthday for me in 2015 and the suggestion I have made is for us to stage a massive apocalypse game on one of the warhammer world themed boards. I will of course be taking my camera to capture the awesomeness of that event and a battle report (of some kind) will come along as well.

I feel for that epic apocalypse battle it is safe to say that Konrad Curze will be my sides overall warlord, I cannot see anyone being able to argue the point with him or if they do I cannot see him letting them live for doing so. This may only change if somehow one of my gaming group gets in to heresy era armies and gets a primarch of their own and ends on my side and that is minimally likely especially since the other marine players are blood angels and space wolves who really are not likely to appear in a forge world heresy book any time soon let alone have models released.

Ave Dominus Nox!

So with the news last week that Forge world had released the Konrad Curze model I was understandably desperate to get my hands on him, today he finally arrived giving me my first look at the lord of the night.

Such a beautiful model I now simply have a ton of work ahead of me trying to do it justice, I am not sure I will be able to pull it off but I am certainly going to give it every go I can. Updates will be coming as I work on him. I am also currently working on the outriders and I have the second unit of assault marines to get sorted as well but since I have some time off over Christmas coming I am definitely going to be spending some time on Curze in that period - definitely the time of good cheer for me, possibly not so much for my regular opponents.