Topic: A Tale of 3 Friends (and maybe a brother)

[Saucey]

Well, Zeller, Another Friend (yet to sign up), and I all started new armies, Zellers being Biel-Tan Eldar, our other friend is Tau, while mine is an Armoured Battlegroup. We recently got a shipment from Bitkingdom (recomended, nice people to buy from) and I thought starting a blog might help us get things finished in a reasonable ammount of time. My brother may join once I talk to him about, my brother being Cappin_Ahab.

Saucey
Personally, my army is going to be an Armoured Battlegroup (and eventually a regular Imperial Guard Army). The main tanks will be from the 2nd Tank Company "Saucy Second", while the Infantry and Support tanks will be from yet to be named Companies.
I've been working on names for all of my Tank Commanders and have come up with the following so far:

13th Armoured Regiment
2nd Tank Company “Saucy Second”

Tank Company
00
Captain Evan, Company Commander
Leman Russ Vanquisher “Jean’s Wrath”

-
Commissar Stephen
Leman Russ Vanquisher “Jordan”

11
Lieutenant Spike, Squadron Commander
Leman Russ Battle Tank “Alice”

12
Senior Sergeant Bruce, Squadron 2-I-C
Leman Russ Battle Tank “Cindi”

13
Sergeant
Leman Russ Battle Tank “”

21
Lieutenant Blake, Squadron Commander
Leman Russ Conqueror “Asp”

22
Senior Sergeant Alan, Squadron 2-I-C
Leman Russ Exterminator “”

23
Sergeant
Leman Russ Conqueror “”

31
Lieutenant Robert, Squadron Commander
Leman Russ Battle Tank “Julia”

32
Senior Sergeant Gean, Squadron 2-I-C
Leman Russ Battle Tank “Noble”

33
Sergeant Riley
Leman Russ Executioner “Flashlight”

Siege Regiment
Leman Russ Demolisher

Artillery Regiment
Basilisk
Basilisk
Basilisk

Armoured Fist Regiment
Armoured Fist Squadron Command
Armoured Fist Squad
Armoured Fist Squad
Armoured Fist Squad
Armoured Fist Squad

So far, I have 12 Leman Russes, 3 Basilisks (soon), and 20 Guardsmen (soon)
Goals
- Build my 10 Leman Russ Tanks
- Build my 3 Basilisks (best Christmas Present this year, courtesy of Cappin_Ahab)
- Complete my Variant Turret Guns and Hull/Sponson Weapons
-- 2 Vanquishers
-- 5 Battle Cannons (Done)
-- 2 Conquerers
-- 1 Exterminator (Done)
-- 1 Executioner
-- Hull/Sponson Heavy Bolters (done on the Exterminator Chassis)
-- Hull/Sponson Lascannons
- Paint the afore mentioned tanks
- Assemble/Paint my Infantry
- Aquire 25 more Infantry
- Aquire Chimeras for said Infantry
- Play with said models when done (and before!)

Well, now for some eye candy! (I know it's what you're all looking for anyways)
The most sprue I've seen in one place (personally):
10 Leman Russes


Built Leman Russes (ignore the scheme on both, I bought them from Zeller, and the Demolisher has been stripped for the most part, which is why it looks pretty crazy)


My new Battle Cannon Design (based on the Ryza Pattern from FW)


New Heavy Bolter Design, my own idea, trying to keep the longer look of the Battle Cannon going.


I've decided on the Plasma Storm Pattern from the old Tank Chamo Scheme guide on GW, I figured the Orange would tie in to the Penal Legion theme nicely:

What's anyones opinion on the Company Marking? To odd to put on a camo tank? They are much cleaner now, I just can't seem to get a better picture.

Let me know what you think, I love comments/criticism.

[Zeller]

Picture shortage for the moment, apologies. I am posting from Saucey's place meaning I do not have all of my strikeforce to picture. Anywho, staying true to the Biel-tan theme I got a bit "trigger happy" with my wallet so to speak. I bought 3 boxes of aspect warriors and traded two of my leman russes to Saucey in exchange for him buying the remaining two boxes. Needless to say I have damn near every aspect warrior squad. Ah, I'm excited and depressed for spending the money.

Initially I wanted to have a gradual growth for my Eldar force but since Saucey was setting up a bulk order for his new army I figured I could do the same. I knew I wanted a force with a balance to it and one that has plenty of variety so naturally Biel-Tan was the correct path. Now with the core of my army bought I can finish tying off loose ends with a kit from here or there. I'm hoping to stay within the force organization chart so as to not have extra units laying around.

Moving on. Here is what I know possess in my strikeforce.

HQ:
Farseer
4 Warlocks

ELITES:
10 Banshees (Previous Edition courtesy of Filtch and a friend)
6 Striking Scorpions
6 Fire Dragons

TROOPS:
10 Guardians w/ Platform
10 Guardians w/ Platform
10 Dire Avengers

FAST ATTACK:
10 Swooping Hawks
4 Shining Spears w/o Jetbikes

HEAVY SUPPORT:
5 Dark Reapers
Falcon Grav-Tank
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PROGRESS AS OF Jan 2, 2009:

I've trimmed 5 Reaper bodies, bases, and one arm. Unfortunately one of the reaper launchers had a terrible mold defect. There is a little pod at the back of the launcher under the arm but it is quite literally missing. It's sad but not really a big deal since I'd rather not call GW and end up with 10 Dark Reapers. Five seems like plenty for the time being.

All 20 guardians are assembled with heads and arms awaiting priming before being glued. Once again, I am missing a few peices, namely arms, from the grav platform operaters. This is a problem. If anyone has a few peices like the operator arms and aerials I would certainly like to know if we could negotiate something.

The Farseer and 4 warlocks are assembled.

All 10 Banshees are assembled and 4 other banshees are standing by without arms. Heck, one arm snapped at the hilt while I was scrubbing off the paint.

The Falcon is trimmed and ready to be primed. Upper and lower hull halves are not assembled since I'm considering green upper armor and white or light blue lower hull.

I also have 4 Swooping Hawks from Filtch wich are assembled and waiting for their 6 comrades.

The Fire Dragons are all trimmed and ready for priming.

The Scorpions are trimmed and assembled also awaiting priming.

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FUTURE:
I'm happy with this force for the moment since there is enough variety to keep my interested. I do plan to round out the strikeforce with a few select units I both love and feel the need to field as anti-tank.

For the future I plan to pick units from this list:

D-Cannon Platform (I think they look cool so I want just one)
Wraithlord (anti-tank)
Vyper (fast anti-tank or anti-battlesuit)
Warlock (finish the Seer Council)
Jetbikes for my shining spears
1 Shining Spear to max out the squad
Waveserpents (add mobility to banshees and scoring units)
Warwalkers (I want at least one since the models are badass)
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My Blood Angels were done almost entirely with primer and spray paint. The Eldar being far to varied for spray paint will be painted individually and as such I want to do my best to make this army look fantastic. I need to buy a few paints I usually wouldn't have a use for such as Blazing Orange, Scorpion Green, and so forth. Unfortunately I am at a loss for designing a theme for the bases but I think in time such things will become apparent.

So, that's it for now. I will post the much needed pictures to add a little Eldar flavor to this thread a bit later today.

*PICTURES*

Pictures of a few units I've had built including the Scorpions I built today at Saucey's! Sadly I broke a scorpion chainsword which means I have two nearly identical scorpions.    :'(

[Zeller]

Update.

After a long day at the LGS I bought a Vyper, a couple washes, and three paints. I also built one Dire Avenger's set of legs.
  One step closer to an ultimate end.


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Update Jan 4.

I spent the night reading bits of IA Vol. 2 and building the hull of the Vyper. I finished trimming everything except the crew this morning.

[Saucey]

Well, we had an uncharacteristicall y productive day, meaning we got about 2 and a half-ish games in the 9 hours we we're there. My deployment time has really sped up from deploying foot slogging Orks  .

I played 3, 1500 Point Games, the first against Blood Angels (Zeller), the second against Necrons, and the third was Blood Angles with a Baneblade thrown in (Zeller again).

I was using:
250 - Company Command Tank: Vanquisher, Hull Lascannon, Extra Armour, Track Guards
205 - Squadron Command Tank: Leman Russ, Hull Lascannon, Extra Armour, Track Guards
195 - Squadron Command Tank: Leman Russ, Hull Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour, Track Guards
170 - Tank: Leman Russ, Hull Lascannon, Extra Armour, Track Guards
170 - Tank: Leman Russ, Hull Lascannon, Extra Armour, Track Guards
150 - Tank: Leman Russ, Hull Heavy Bolter, Extra Armour
195 - Siege Tank: Demolisher, Hull Lascannon, Sponson Plasma Cannons, Extra Armour, Track Guards

And just now I realized I was using 7 tanks all day
The results of the match probably wouldn't be much different. I lost against the Blood Angels the first time, and then had my butt handed to me by the Necrons (didn't even kill a whole squad, damn Res-Orbs), and the final game was more for poops and laughs than anything else. We stoped after we realized it wasn't really going anywhere and we we're tired.

Anyways, more eye candy!

The Army as it stands


Blood Angles






Necrons




Baneblade!



That's all I have for now, going to work on getting the basis of the Exterminator done tommorow, so updates soon.

Please don't feel afraid to leave a comment, we're generally nice people 

[Saucey]

Well, I was busy painting yesterday and managed to get a large chunk of my Leman Russ Exterminator done. I'm currently working on weathering it a bit more, so let me know what you think:








Oh, and I got my infrantry bits, here is my test model:





As always, comments are welcome.

[Zeller]

Update Jan 5

I spent yesterday evening building Dire Avengers. I built all the legs, 3 torsos, and a few other trimmings. I'm really loving the Exarch bits so I'm considering magnetizing the arms and head for him. Then again I am also considering buying two more squads of DA. They're just too cool.

I was a bit miffed about the Exarchs back details preventing some poses. In case anyone is wondering and can't tell I stuck clay in the arm joints to fix the arms in place. It would be rather tricky to paint cleanly if the arms blocked the torso wouldn't it?

I'm thinking of painting their body suit regal blue and the armor plates ultramarines blue, however, the regal blue looks like it might be a bit too dark even with a white undercoat. I suppose I'll need to find a few willing test subjects.

[Saucey]

Well, I have another update.

Traded some of my Orks and managed to get this:


Along with a mixture of about 30ish Guardsmen (Catachan/Cadian), that I don't know what to do with. So, any ideas would be appreciated. I also called Games Workshop about a defect in some of the Road Wheels of one of my Leman Russ kits and apparently they are sending a Leman Russ Demolisher as a replacement, due to the fact they are re-packaging Leman Russ', I can't argue with that 
This brings my model count to a definate:
14 Leman Russ Variants
3 Basilisks (still in the mail, got sent to the wrong state)
14 Cadians
17 Catachans

And I more than likey trading for Steel Legion, and about 9 more tanks of varying variety, so lots of work for me ahead

Anyways, heres a picture or two of the mostly assembled tanks:



Also, I'm pretty much done with my Exterminator, as seen here:








Let me know what you think 

[Zeller]

Update Jan 8

I spent an hour basing the strikeforce today. In total there are 73 miniatures and two vehicles. The pictures were taken at night and not at my desk so please excuse the poor lighting. Karandras and 6 swooping hawks still need basing. The hawks are soaking in Simple Green for the time being to remove the mold release.

I am getting anxious to paint this force but I have other more pressing matters at hand. For one, I need to find a job, and two I need to put some more work into my BA.

I also bought a white primer and a Rust-oleum green satin spray paint for my vehicles. I'm really excited to see the results but again, it must wait.

*Content Removed*

I was hoping to capitalize on GW's Windrider Host but unfortunately it is no longer sold. *Shrug* Money is money I suppose.

Here is the force to date excluding the Phoenix Lord:


Banshees


Farseer and 2-man Council



Guardian Squads:



Falcon and Dragons:


Reapers and Vyper:


4/10 Swooping Hawks:


Dire Avengers:


Striking Scorpions:


Thanks for looking. 

Update Jan 9

I removed the "I'm going to buy this when money permits" list because it was...rediculous. It would be awesome to have those models but it would cost so much. I look at my Eldar force and I feel content. Buying more won't make me feel better or unstoppable. I like what I have and...yeah. Anyways, I've decided to go through with my initial plan and round of the force at 2000 points with a Wraithlord. There should be enough units to play a variety of games. I don't know. Hmmm.

[Zeller]

Update Jan 11

I removed the swooping hawks from the simple green and built them. That makes 10 built hawks. I will base them tomorrow.

On a separate note, I've set my Chaos Marines and Eldar off into 2000 point forces that I must complete. My Blood Angels are also set with a 2500 point force. I will now be including updates relating to any of my three armies in this thread as I plan to work on them at random intervals.

To finish my Angels I need two death company marines. I must also paint a razorback, 6 DC, rhino, two speeders, and two attack bikes. Today I bulked up the Razorback with armor plates made from plasticard. It's grooved and looks a bit unprofessional but it looks better than some of the hull discrepancies on the top.

To finish my Word Bearers I must pin my obliterator and paint everything except my commander, a possessed marine, and a marine with bolter. That leaves 44 marines, 2 rhinos, 1 predator, 5 terminators, 4 possessed, 3 bikes, 1 obliterator, and 7 plague marines.

I'll post razorback pictures tomorrow as I'm currently busy watching the movie 'Sunshine' again.

[Saucey]

Update as of January 15th.

Well, the Armoured Regiment continues to grow, to levels I wouldn't have thought I could achieve.

So far, my list of vehicles will include:
Leman Russ Vanquisher
Leman Russ Vanquisher
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Battle Tank
Leman Russ Conquerer
Leman Russ Exterminater
Leman Russ Exterminater
Leman Russ Executioner
Leman Russ Demolisher
Leman Russ Demolisher
Leman Russ Demolisher
Basilisk
Basilisk
Basilisk
17 Total Vehicles

2 Demolishers are still in the box, and 3 of the Russ Variants are waiting to be put together. The majority of these tanks are waiting until I get some more plasticard of the right size, as I need to make custom Barrels for all the variants as well as Heavy Bolters and Lascannons. While I was waiting to get those I managed to pick up some infantry, namely Steel Legion infantry. and 60 of them to be precise.

1 HQ and 2 Platoons consisting of 2 Squads each, along with 8 Ratlings, so, my army rolls forward at over 3000 points I believe, once I get more of the tanks built I will take a group shot.

[Zeller]

Tiny update.

Well, call me a sinner but I spent 68$ on a pair  of Warwalkers instead of a Wraithlord. I was told beforehand that they came with a pair of each weapon and was dissappointed when the opposite proved true. No biggy.

I have primed all models except for my troops, platform weapons, and walkers of course.

[Zeller]

Update Jan 20 Eldar

I took the first steps on each aspect warrior squad. I'm trying to make them true to their aspect but show off their allegiance to Biel-Tan. My favorite thus far is the Reaper.







Some parts in the priming stage.

Here is an example of the green I bought. I'm not sure if it came out satin or not since I've never used satin paint.


The green tabards are the unifying theme among the aspects for the moment.

The dragon has red skin suit and yellow plates. After washing the red with Baal red I was saddened that the red didn't darken enough. Seeing the beauty of Blood Red over white primer makes me want to repaint my BA.

The banshee has bone plates and a white body suit for the moment. I'm thinking of bone body suit with a Devlin Mud wash to darken it.

The scorpion has Goblin Green suit and I am considering Scorpion Green plates since Snot Green was too dark.

The swooping hawk has Hawk Turquoise body suit and will have Ice Blue plates. I'm not sure I like this one.
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Update Jan 20 Blood Angels

Here are the Razorback pictures I promised and failed to post earlier. There are a few gaps between plates that need filling and areas near corners where no plate is present that needs greenstuffing.



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For the immediate future: I'm negotiating a trade to acquire a heavy weapon platform for the Eldar. I just need a part or two and I can prime the guardians and continue the project.