Friday 27 February 2015

Infantry of the Praetorian IV - Gallery photos part 5

Welcome to another gallery post!

The following photos were taken about and a bit ago. Consequently some of what you will see has been updated and changed! Tanks have been updated with stowage and additional weathering and infantry have had their bases updated where needed. Anyway, I took these photos so I'm posting them!

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This squad was the first 'new' squad I painted when I returned to the hobby at the dawn of this blog. Notice the minor conversion on the autocannon where I have used the plastic autocannon from the Cadian kits.

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Here we have a few more guardsment from the 1st platoon. The number is more than pictured now as I have fully updated and rebased 4 squads of 10 with sergeants as needed. Another 40+ are on the way.

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Here we have the first 3 chimeras. As mentioned in previous posts the main painting was done over 10 years ago at the advent of the army. They were updated a couple years back to look like this. They have now been updated once more! Look out for a post of them in the future, they look brilliant and have had all the viewing lenses, targetting reticules, eagles and much more painted and with a healthy addition of sponge weathering.

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Here is the platoons first Taurox. Another will follow so the whole platoon of 45 is fully mounted. I think for the next Taurox I'll go for the autcannons mounted on the turret for variety.

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Here we have the command squad for the first platoon. The melta gun and Lieutenant were painted a couple of years back but the other 3 date back far longer (though may have been updated a little). In two minds about these fellas and think they need a bit more work to bring them up to code.

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This is the chimera for the Lifeguards. It still needs to be updated from this but as it was painted in the last 3/4 years it is still very decent. I'm planning on removing one of the heavy flamers and replacing it with a heavy bolter. No point having two as you can't fire both unless you don't move!

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The anti tank squad. There will be three more lascannons painted up eventually (using the original models). These guys have had the based updated now too as they were previously the wrong shade.

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The Praetorian Lifeguards! I really like these guys. The second 5 are finally converted and undercoated so it's a simple matter of me getting them painted. Can't wait to see the full 10 finally painted.

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Finally to round of this post we have the highland veterans. One of the first new units I worked on for the army a few years back. Having Highland Praetorians was one of the inspiration for me getting back into the hobby. Very much looking forward to painting the new Highland Scions.

Hope you enjoyed the post! I'll be rounding off the gallery posts soon and will have a few new things to show too.

I'm off to Texas for the whole of March (do I have any followers down that way?) with work so sadly there will be no time for hobby in that period. However I'm scheduling a few posts for while I'm away to ensure that I keep up with my blogging resolutions!

Thanks for reading!

Monday 23 February 2015

Finished Praetorian Chosen Men

Finally about a year and a half after finishing the first three, the final two Praetorian chosen men are finished! Huzzah! Here are some quick ad hoc photos. Enjoy!


The two in the back row are the ones I have just finished. They had been sat 80% for a long long time. They were all supposed to be painted for an Armageddon campaign weekend July 2013 if memory serves. Sadly the night before I was furiously painting and had to prioritize time and so could only finish 3. Luckily the minimum squad size for Ratlings is 3 so they still got some use (I used them as count as Ratlings).

I trawled the old photos and have added on a couple from that campaign weekend after showing the new guys off below. 

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I've manged to get the first of the new guys in focus. Painted the same as the ones over a year ago. The bits I had to finish were the skin, gun, grenades and a few other little details. They look perfect with the other guys so I'm very pleased.

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Once again the new guy is in the back . Fits perfectly. Painting the faces on these guys was a pleasure, Victoria Lamb sculpts have some of the best faces in the business in my opinion!

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We don't see enough backs of models, so here we go. You can see the cross belts they all wear fron the Victoria Lamb torsos. You can also see all the GW accessories from the guard kits that I added to keep them in line with the rest of the army. Additionally, note the legs are the standard imperial guard ones to tie them in further. I was always keen they should be Praetorian Imperial Guard, not just steam punk sci fi troops.

As mentioned earlier, here are couple of photos from Armageddon where they were positioned on the roof of a Chimera factory the IV were ordered to defend against a Bad Moon horde.

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Get your binoculars out, the chosen men are in the middle most tower.

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I also dug up a WIP photo of the models. Amazing what a lick of paint can do.

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Thanks for having a look!

Friday 20 February 2015

Finished mortars and the new base scheme

I have finished painting more models! A squad of 3 mortar teams have finally been finished after being on the to do list for more than a couple of years.


Just a pretty straightforward paint job on these, not any real converting to speak of. They all wear the standard red and khaki uniforms. Not really sure what else there is to say about them!

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Here is an example of the new base scheme. I played around with a few extra colours and painted the added stone grey to increase the interest on the base. The base you are looking at is from one of the thudd guns, they all have extra bits on their bases from the GW basing kit. There is a bit of work to do across the army to make them all consistent but I'll get there eventually!

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A couple of extra photos for you here. I've been taking an inventory of all the infantry I have and have been properly organising them into squads. I've finally converted a second command section and have used the Tempestus Scions banner for the standard, the lions on it make it extra Praetorian in my opinion!

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Here we have the current squad organisation (there are probably still another 20 which either need to be paint stripped or undercoated). 8 full squads and two command sections. I'd love to get all of these finished in the coming months, I've always felt my guard army is far too light in the footslogger department!

In the next post we will finally have the last of the Praetorian Chosen men finished! You won't have long to wait as the post is already written and the photos taken. Keep your eyes peeled Monday evening!

Tuesday 17 February 2015

The Praetorian IV Blog Goes Green...

Hi, and thanks to Col. Winterborne for letting me steal his blog again (as I still never seem to find the time to create my own).

If you follow this blog, then you’ll have seen my army of Bad Moonz battle against the glorious Praetorian IV Mechanised on a number of occasions. Now that we’re planning another big “Guard vs. Orks” battle we thought it time to show some of the new additions you can expect to see in the Ork Waaagh!

My work has taken me abroad for the last 6 months, and while I couldn’t pack anything too bulky, I did manage to pack a load of infantry that has been in need of painting for a long time. Here are the models what I’ve been working on in the warm evenings of Kuala Lumpur:

(please note: I didn’t bring my hobby drill with my to KL, so I number of the gun barrels still need to be “drilled out” – this will be remedied before they hit the tabletop!)

Firstly, we have 3 Big Shoota boyz. I never feel a normal Big Shoota stands out enough amongst a big unit of boyz so I always like to convert them to make them even bigger and more unique. These are painted in my standard scheme to reinforce squads of boyz.


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Second are my unit of Tankbustas. These guys were converted from normal plastic boyz models quite a few years ago - partly because I love converting and partly because I dislike metal miniatures (which were the only other option for Tankbustas at the time). I wanted to add a new colour to my standard Bad Moon palette for these guys so that they’d be easily identifiable as a special unit amongst the whole army, but still looking very much a part of it. I settled on the idea of painting the hoses and part of the rokkits purple, while keeping the rest of the model my standard Bad Moon tones. I’m quite happy with how the scheme has turned out, though I’m yet to see them sat amongst the rest of the army for the full test (as most of my Orks are still nicely boxed up in London).

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Third we have the most sneaky of Ork units – the Kommandos. I loved converting this unit (again mostly from normal boyz models) because it was so easy to do some fun things with them. From the massive silencers, through to the crawling Kommando I heavily modified most of the standard minis. Although (mostly due to rule changes since 5th ed.) these guys aren’t the best of units these days, I still felt they deserved special attention when it came to painting them. With a perfect chance to divert away from my normal yellow, I set about giving the Kommandos a much darker scheme (including darkened blades and guns for extra sneakiness), with some interesting camo patterns thrown in. Both these guys and the above Tankbustas have Power Klaw wielding Nobz back in the UK waiting to join the units.

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Next we have 5 Stormboyz. These guys are just a set of the normal plastic Stormboyz with a couple of small mods for the Nob. I have another 8 Stormboyz converted from the old plastic/metal Stormboyz pack, converted in to poses to match the new plastic ones, but I thought them too fragile to survive the flights intact. These are painted similar to my standard scheme, but with extra armour damage on the front surface of the packs and shoulder guards to emphasize their speed.

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And finally we have the newest addition to my army – a Weirdboy (made from the Warhammer ‘Wurrzagg’ model). With 7th ed. I feel like Psykers are becoming more of a ‘must have’ for W40K armies, so I really wanted to add a Weirdboy to my force (especially now you don’t have to rely on an Ork’s crappy leadership for passing a psychic test anymore). I think this model is way cooler than the W40K Weirdboy model and so had to go for him to reinforce my army. Like the Kommandos, the Weirdboy was a good chance to get away from my normal painting scheme and do something a bit different and I think he’s come out pretty well.

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Well, that’s it for this post in terms of pictures. I still have some new plastic Meganobz, a unit of Lootas, 3 Trukks, a Dakkajet and hopefully a Stompa to paint before the next game (that now looks scheduled for the end of May), so hopefully the good Colonel will let me hijack his blog again with some of these at some point :-)

Friday 13 February 2015

Finished Bullgryn!

Thats right, one finished bullgryn. Just the one mind you I don't want to overdo it. Have a look at the photos below. Without blowing my own trumpet, I really like it!


He's a mean looking fellow isn't he? I weathered the armour in the exact same way as I go my tanks as essentially his armour is all made from a tank.

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I've kept to the same colours as the rest of the army with the standard colour trousers and white detail on the eagle and belt etc. The power maul has a light blue glaze in the recess too to jazz it up.

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It's been a while since I've had the chance to do much freehand painting so I made the most of the little circle by painting a bull/skull hybrid. I'm really pleased with how it turned out and it was done in 10/15 minutes max.

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So there you have it. One finished bullgryn! Also note I've started adding slate coloured stones to the bases too, it's all a part of the big update for the army that is in progress...

In the next post there will be more finished models!

Thanks

Wednesday 11 February 2015

Armoured might of the Praetorian IV - Gallery photos part 4

In this post we will be taking a look at some updated pictures of the armoured behemoths of the Praetorian IV!


Up first the most beautiful tank to ever roll of the production line, the Macharius Vanquisher. In the game it is largely ineffectual due to a lack of really effective guns for the high points cost. In gaming terms I think you would be mad to take one instead of paying a bit more for a Baneblade. Needless to say I don't with such a mindset and it features whenever possible!

I struggle to think of too many crowning glories for this tank, however one does stick in my mind. It managed to shoot down a zooming and jinking chaos Hellblade fighter! One hell of a shot. If I recall correctly I think that was pretty much all it managed to do in that game.

Painting this tank was a joy and as you can see I went to town on freehand painting. In hindsight now I wonder if I should have painted the other two legs of the lion to give it a bit more depth.

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More freehand on the other side of the tank too. A fair few tanks have wreaths painted on their hulls and so I thought this one should have biggest wreath befitting its size! Sadly I don't have a close up of him to hand, but you can see the laurence of arabia type tank commander in the turret. He is replete with medals and a desert scarf and goggles, and of course his cane because what self respecting Praetorian tank commander wouldn't have a cane.

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Here we have the squadron of Leman Russ battle tanks. I've tried to give them all a unifying theme with the red and white on the side and from panels and the regimental lion head.

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Here is the vanilla leman russ with tank commander. This was initially painted about 12 years ago I think and was updated when the army was restarted a few years ago. I've always preferred the tanks without sponsons as I think it gives them a better looking silhouette, additionally it corresponds with my usual tactics of keeping everything as cheap as possible so you can get more squads and tanks.

The tanks commander is a very old metal one of a similar era to the one in the proper tank hat with his arm seemingly swinging across his body (I imagine he is telling a pirate joke where the punch line is arggghhhh). He is also one of the few soldiers in the army who isn't wearing a pith helmet or the usual coloured fatigues!

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Here we have the Executioner complete with the most expensive sponson combination you can manage! Unusual for me, yes, however there is a good reason! I painted this tank up in an evening just before attending a campaign weekend up at warhammer world. I was woefully short on points for  a 2500pts doubles game so quickly knocked up the Deathstrike and the Executioner to see me home.

I think that campaign weekend was only time the tank has ever been used. Fingers crossed it will take to the field again in the future, however it might require a bit take all your models kind of game. (apologies for the blurry nature of this future! I've been working on better photos and this one clearly didn't go to plan!)

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Last of the heavy hitters is the Leman Russ Exterminator. This tank is my favourite of the Leman Russ variants and is a perpetual in all my lists. Simply put it kills almost anything. It has a rude number of shots and has floored tanks, terminators, hive tyrants and swathes of greenskins. In a few battles he benefitted from being BS4 as an HQ Leman Russ (as per Imperial Armour rules), it just makes it even better.

Like the vanilla leman russ this is a throwback to the old army of 12 years ago or so. It got restored to its full (battle damaged) glory with the update a few years ago. Its the old metal Exterminator guns which are nice and chunky. once again you will see another freehand wreath on the turret flank. As per my previous posts, these tanks will almost certainly be refitted again soon with extra battle damage, stowage and some more painted details.

I hope you are enjoying the gallery posts, we are almost at the end of them. But before we do finish them there will be some new finished models to post (that's right newly painted and hopefully finished this evening!) and an editorial talking about my army, my love for the hobby and above all else consistency...

Cheers!

Monday 9 February 2015

WIP Imperial Guard Trojan tank conversion

A quick Monday night photo update of my latest project!
I seem to be flitting from various things in the army at the moment without actually finishing anything!

At present I am updating all my tanks with stowage and extra bits being painted. It's really making the old chimeras look a lot better so I'm very pleased.

This post however, is about a Trojan that I am converting after buying a chimera and raiding my bits box. The other day I decided to purchase the new 7th edition rule book. That shopping trip ended up with me buying a chimera and no rulebook. Something went horribly wrong... Or is that right?

I've built the mainstay and have various green stuff to add along with the final grabber or cable on the crane. Also I need to do rivets to keep it in line with the rest of the tank. Anyway here are the photos enjoy!





There is an icredible variety of IG bits from over the years on this tank, while you look at the picks, see if you can identify a few.

What I would love from you all is some feedback on how it looks so far and any suggestions you may have on what else to add or even remove. Additionally can anyone give me tips on how to make quick, easy and consistent rivets.

Cheers!

Friday 6 February 2015

Artillery of the Praetorian IV Mechanised Infantry - Gallery photos part 3

Welcome to another gallery post. Today we have the heavy hitters of the army, the artillery.

I don't have as much artillery as I'd like in the army, I've always wanted a battery of Basilisks, a FW Minotaur and possibly even a Praetor. A guy can dream. So without further delay lets check out some of the IVs heavy support.

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First up we have the Deathstrike missile launcher. This guy has seen action in lots of games of various sizes and has experienced the whole range of outcomes from the unpredictable payload. It's killed my own Leman Russ, wiped out death stars and killed nothing at all in equal measure.

The painting inspiration for this was the old school epic Deathstrikes with the chequered nose and white red combo (google it and you wills what I mean).

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One of my favourite tanks to use in the game and one that certainly gives people real concern, the deadly Medusa! Although I'm unsure if I can use it anymore given it got cut from the AM codex, fingers crossed the FW rules are the same.

This is one of the oldest models in my force, painted at the same time as the original platoon chimeras (over 10 years ago). It got updated when I started this blog with weathering, freehand,  converted crew and a shell rack for the back.

I've got plans to go back and update some of my tanks again. There are lots of bits of details I never touched (the skull eagle on the side, the glass in the front hatch, and further weathering with a sponge, not too mention the stowage that these tanks all need!).

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Ahhh, some proper artillery! No tanks here, but instead the bane of many an opponent, the brutal Thudd guns! These pack such a serious punch and have accounted for countless enemy infantry and even light armour.

The veteran among you will recognise that they are the old squat Thudd guns. I picked them up on eBay a couple of years ago complete with Praetorian artillery crew! An absolute diamond of a find, they only cost about £30 if memory serves.

I gave them some TLC by varying gun barrel length and going to town on some scenic bases with GW resin pieces and various guard bits. The crew are a mix of heavy weapon soldiers and there is a gunnery sergeant with a map (wearing the goggles). That's right a map, none of your fancy auspexs here, utterly useless if the Praetorians infantry haven't managed to put down range markers before the battle too mind you.

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Now you don't just bring a big gun to an artillery fight, you bring a massive Bombard Siege Mortar. This gun is massive. So much so they had to mount it on a Leman Russ chassis. One of FW's oldest and in my opinion best kits.

You will notice the red and white colours and the explosion mark freehand on the flank. These appear in one form or another on all my artillery tanks. In the same way marine devastators have the chevrons, or tac marines the arrows, I decided my guys needed a big explosions.

Additionally you can see that additional sponge weathering has been applied to this tank. This will eventually be applied to the rest of the army.

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Finally in this instalment we have the Hydra flak tank. What a thing of beauty, shame it is pretty much useless at its in game role due to the fact flyers simply come on and smoke it straight away.

Its one game of note was in a 5/6k apocalypse game where it outflanked (due to the strategic asset), came on behind an Eldar Vampire Bomber and almost blew it out of the sky in one turn! It was left on just one or two hull points and promptly shot off into the sky. Sadly the hydra didn't get to finish the job but it sure was good shooting.

It's the FW model and like the bombard, despite its age, is a thing of beauty. Lots of gems and glass bits to pick out on the turret section of the model. But sadly it seems I decided to ignore the viewing glass on the hull. That will be remedied in the future I think!

That's enough for now! I hope you are enjoying the frequent posting. Up next will either be the mainline tanks featuring the Leman Russ and Macharius, or perhaps a job lot of infantry. Let me know if you have a preference!

Thanks for having a look!