10/14/15: Showcase: SLW's Studio Renegade Guard Army WIP

"This day, we dedicate our lives to the masters.

This day, we dedicate our deaths to their cause.

This day, we dedicate our souls to the eternal glory of the abyss.

This day, we rise!"

-Mariak Soth, Invokator of the Cult of the Exquisite Corpse

Greetings warriors of the abyss! After selling my personal Imperial Fists army, I knew I had to jump into a project I'd been dying to work on for years and years! I've always been a fan of the Imperial Guard. Lots of tanks, massed infantry, the order system, everything just had a narrative feel to it. I'm a total sucker for the Gaunt's Ghosts books for that reason! My first army was Imperial Guard, and I knew it was time to redo that army with the skills and tricks I've acquired over the last five years of painting. This time, though, they took on a darker side....

The Renegade Command Squad, led by the brutal tyrant Ornifex Zaan, on left. Not shown is the standard bearer, who still needs to get his standard painted!

Doubling as either a Company Commander or an Arch-Demagogue, Zaan here is a brutal looking miniature, and reminds me a lot of the ghouls from Fallout! His adjunctant is the limited edition Warlord Princeps from Forge World, and is used as a Regimental Advisor. I also have the limited edition Navigator to work as an Astropath.

The Rogue Psyker Tru'ul; I opted for a sickly, pallid flesh tone to really give him a corpse-like look. Even the decapitated psyker head at his belt looks more lively than he does! He works as a Rogue Psyker or a Primaris Psyker, depending on the ruleset.

Last time I did Guard, there were no plastic Ogryn! If you're not running ogryn, you're missing out on a fun, hard-hitting unit! I also have another box that will become standard Ogryn, and both units will get a Taurox to ride around in.

The big centerpiece unit for the army is a renegade Malcador! While I love the model, its actually smaller than I expected, and I question its Superheavy status! Opted for 3 Lascannons and the Battle Cannon for extra armor destroying goodness!

Plenty of heretical runes and glyphs adorn the tank!

'Hail Zaan and his glorious new regime!"

The renegade brass etch is wonderful, and really adds that extra detail to the tanks. The Malcador comes with both Imperial and Renegade crew, and I'm sure the Imperial one will end up in a commission project very soon!

Side shot of the command chimera. Lots of weathering, lots of dust and grit. When the army's done I'll show off more angles.

Side shot of the Platoon command's chimera.

The first Taurox; while I can't run them in the Renegades list in IA13, these are great little transports for Veterans and Ogryn in the standard codex!

And what would a Guard army be without some Leman Russ! I have a second one that required a lot of cleanup and conversion work, and the goal overall is to add a third armed with a Demolisher Cannon!

On the workbench I've got 30 Infantry, as well as some heavy weapons teams, 30 Veterans (I'll be using renegade Death Korps for them) as well as some enforcers and a Platoon command. I'm booked until mid 2016 though, so we'll see when the next update on them is!

Granesh

1/17/15: Finished: Imperial Fists Tarantula Turret Sentry

Hey folks!

Like a lot of you, I love Forge World models. I've done everything from basic infantry to Titans, and its always a lot of fun to work on. I especially love the models you don't see very often! A couple weeks ago, I had to order a transfer sheet from FW for an upcoming commission, and as I had a little extra spending money, I decided to pick up something small for my Imperial Fists. Obviously, I decided on the Tarantula!

I'd never seen one in person, so I was a little surprised when it arrived! 

You get the base, then the...wait...Space Marine Razorback turret? I'd never paid enough attention to those, but its simply the turret added to a base!

Washed, assembled, based, and sprayed. For my yellows, I prime black, then airbrush the lower areas of the model with brown. Once dry, I spray white. Lastly, I spray the yellow, which coats well thanks to the white, and shades thanks to the brown. I use a lot of weathering powders for shading and effects, so the model got 3 or 4 coats of varnish.

And the completed model! About an hour from start to finish, this piece was incredibly fun to work on! Though the rules aren't amazing for normal 40k, I'd gladly run these in smaller games or even Zone Mortalis!

I'll have to get pictures of the Fists here soon, I'm starting to wrap them up, though there's still plenty of models I want to get for them!

Next up are more Imperial Knights, some Eagle Warriors, and a hodgepodge of other models!

Stay tuned!

Granesh

10/7/14: Finished: The Fecund Host of the Plague Father Nurgle Daemons Army

Hey guys!

This has been a project months and months in the making. Back in April, before moving from Durango, I traded that old Ork army I'd had lying around for a group of beat up Nurgle CSM and Daemons. I've always wanted to play with the new Plaguebearers, so as soon as I saw 30 of them, I was super excited! Some additions, cleanup, conversions, and some love with a paintbrush, and they're now a rockin' group of daemons that'd make Papa Nurgle proud! This army was mainly an exercise in using the airbrush on smaller models and using washes to achieve sickly, rotting areas.

The Great Unclean One, the Warlord of the force. I hate GW's metal/resin blob, so I opted for the FW's Mamon model. Works so much better, plus the detail on him is amazing!

Dat Nurgle hottub!

The first of three Heralds. I'm missing a picture of the 3rd one, but he matches the one above. The one below was part of the original lot, hence the missing antlers and reclining Nurgling. It bothered me enough to pick up a third one!

The palanquins were simple conversions of cutting the top of 2 Nurgling bases flat and adding two wooden chits on top! Those were weathered and rusted quickly, and two rare earth magnets were added to them and the bases of the Heralds. Quick and easy! 

Two groups of 20 Plaguebearers! Running these with a Plagueridden, Plague Banner, Instrument, with the Heralds attached. Heralds have the Locus of Fecundity, so they become a 21 man tarpit that can execute characters and eat their way through nearly any unit in the game! 

A selection of the Plaguebearers so you can see detail. 

Everyone needs Nurglings! Have another two bases waiting for finishing touches. These guys will be objective campers on the back of the board for sure. 

Two Daemon Princes; both count as Nurgle with Wings, Armor, and Mastery Level 2 and a Greater Aetherblade. Both are repurposed from trades and old models, and the green one was done to tie in with the Nurgle Chaos Marines. Still works for the Daemons though!

My favorite units in the army are these bad boys. Picked up two boxes so I can run them as 2 groups of 3 or one big group. Nurgle needs a fast unit, and these guys definitely take the cake!

Some individual shots too! The wings are my favorite part, they just came out so nice!

By turning heads and limbs, you can get them an even greater look of movement!

Ah, the little Herald that comes with Mamon. I'm actually running this as a Beast of Nurgle. 

He received the staff from Festus the Leechlord to add some height and interest to the back of the model!

And, because I couldn't resist, I had to pick up a Blight Drone. This guy painted up super quickly and looks great with the rest of the army! The huge tracts of rusted metal is a big contrast from the overly fleshy tone of the army. I'd love to pick up another one and make them a bigger unit, but we'll see!

And with some Plaguebearers for scale; this fellow is huge!

And last, but certainly not least, the Soul Grinder! This is the Forge World Plague Hulk model I'm using as a Soul Grinder, this guy provides the AA and vehicle killing power the army needs! Plus the model is amazing!

Gotta arm him with the Phlegm upgrade, it'd be foolish not to!

I also mounted him on a spare Valkyrie base for good measure and to keep the feet from chipping!

Don't have space for a full army shot yet, but I'm hoping to remedy that at some point! I had a lot of fun working on this army, and I'm currently working on an Armies on Parade board to show them off! I don't get to play 40k that often anymore, so we'll see what happens with the army after that! May hold onto them for the occasional game and display more than anything!

Alrighty! Back on track, October is gonna be packed with one HUGE, TITANIC model. I'd rather not spoil too much yet, but I'm very excited!

Stay tuned!

Granesh