Well, my Tau are at 1500 points, and the current poor balance state of the Tau codex makes it hard to find any motivation to go beyond that total. So, what now? I really like the fluff behind the gue'vesa, not just as a Tau player, but because it's nice to see some humans who have broken away from the Imperium without automatically turning into OMGKILLDEATHPAINBLOODFORTHEBLOODGOD!!!!!!!! Chaos worshipers. So, my new project is an IG army in two parts:


1) Elysian veteran air cav. Vendettas/Valkyries, Imperial Navy air support, and (shockingly) no tanks. This is a decision partly because I think an entire pure Elysian army would be an interesting idea, and partly because the IG codex is so absurdly overpowered that I've decided to impose some limits on myself. While I plan to take full advantage of the Vendetta, the absence of Manticores/infantry blob spam/etc should keep the power level reasonable and lead to interesting games.


2) Superheavy tanks. I love tanks, what more can I say? And since the standard list will not require tanks, why waste time on those lesser things like Leman Russes? And of course I hate the Baneblade design, so I'm going to be building all those rarely-seen Forgeworld models instead. Which brings us to the first model for this thread:

Macharius Vanquisher

I'll be looking forward to this. Elysians are the way to go with Imperial forces IMHO. Although I don't see why you have to be completely lacking in tanks - for instance, they have Drop Sentinels and those amazing Fast Attack vehicles (I forget the names).
I do like the Forge World design of Superheavy Tanks (except for those tiny sponsons). Although I have to ask - is that tank yours or an example off the web?

Well, drop sentinels may appear, but the main thing is that the standard IG wall of AV 14 won't be here, nor will the Manticore spam. IG are a very different army when your toughest vehicles are AV 12 and you don't have blob squads providing a meatshield around everything.



It's mine.

It is definitely a nice tank, the rust/weathering effects are well done!

Wow Peregrine!
I have nothing against your Tau models but, IMHO, your painting skills are clearly evident from this model! One question; Did you use the Forgeworld's fancy 'weathering powders' on it, or is that just patience & detail brush-work?

Looking forward to seeing more of your Gue'vesa work.

- null

This is a great idea Peregrine. I too never understood why every rebel Guard regiment would always turn to the powers of Chaos. I mean, have you seen the dental plan the Greater Good offers?

Anyway, I really like the idea of an Air Cav list. Were you planning on running them under Forgeworld rules as well as the Imp codex? There were two interesting article on the From the Warp blog about such a list. You can find part one here and part two here. Maybe it will give you some ideas?

Just a lot of patience (the Macharius took at least 25-30 hours of work, total). A quick summary of the method:


Base hull:
1) Base coat a somewhat darker shade than you want your final result to be.
2) Drybrush progressively lighter and lighter layers, heavily at first and then with less and less force as you lighten the colors. In this case, it was about 4-5 layers of drybrushing.
3) For the paint chips, dip a rough brush into GW boltgun metal, wipe off most of the paint (leave a bit more on the brush than true drybrushing), and then "stab" at the model along edges where you'd expect to see paint chips.
4) Drybrush with a final layer to blend the paint chips a bit better.


Rust:
1) Add a small dot of GW devlan mud wash to each rivet, then wipe it downward in the direction that gravity would take it. This should leave a dark shadow on the rivet, and a streak of dirt running down from it.
2) Add a heavier wash of devlan mud in areas that would catch dirty water when it rains. Just paint it directly into the corner where two armor plates meet, etc.


Burn marks:
1) Drybrush heavily with dark brown.
2) Drybrush with black on the tips of the guns/exhaust/etc, fading to brown as you move away from the tip.



None of it is really difficult, it just takes a lot of time (did you know that Imperial superheavy tanks have a LOT of rivets?).




I hadn't seen that specific post, but it pretty much mirrors my thoughts on the list: lots of alpha strike capability, but those AV 12 gunships won't last long if that alpha strike doesn't cripple the opponent's anti-tank units. My current plan for the list, at 1500 points, looks something like this:


HQ:
- CCS with 3x melta, 1x plasma, astropath

Troops:
- veteran squad with 3x melta, demolitions
- veteran squad with 3x melta, demolitions

Fast Attack:
- Vendetta
- Vendetta
- Valkyrie

Elite:
- Gue'vesa'ui Marbo

Heavy Support:
- Vulture with TL lascannons and 6x hunter killer missiles
- Vulture with missile launchers and 2x hellfury missiles
- Thunderbolt with 4x hellfury missiles

Semi-update: I've been neglecting 40k in favor of digital art, a starship design and 3d model for a rather impressive contest: http://lperegrine.deviantart.com/#/d30pxza

However, that's all done and the Brown Box of Happiness (+20) from Forgeworld arrived with reinforcements for the gue'vesa:

Valdor x2
Minotaur, including Krieg gunnery crew.
Vendetta conversion kit and Elysian passengers.
Krieg engineer squad to go with the Hades drill my wonderful girlfriend got me for my birthday.


Valdor #1 is currently in progress, so expect updates soon.

Hey Peregrine that is how I did my rust on my Flesh Tearer Razorback good old rust streaks. But as always your work is looking Fantastic and I think your painting has hit the next notch great work keep it up.

Well, Tanksgiving is in 22.5 hours, so I (finally) have updates!

Finished:

Krieg engineer squad and master of ordnance:




I'm not sure why, but my camera isn't doing a very good job of getting the colors right on the infantry models. It might look like they're just a solid blob of gray, but in person the colors are a lot more distinct.

In Progress:

* Valdor tank destroyer.

* Hades drill.


If everything goes according to the plan, the Valdor and Hades will be finished tonight and pictures will be posted soon.

And things went according to the plan of "spend 16 hours painting, don't sleep at all, and then go kill a bunch of stuff at tanksgiving". The Valdor (counting as a Shadowsword) scored the kill shot on a Stompa, and the engineers and their drill did a nice job of thinning down the Kan horde.


So, a WIP shot of the Valdor. Painting is done, all that's left is a bit more weathering (mostly on the far side which isn't visible in this picture).

Wow, that tank looks like quite the beast! Glad to hear that it did well against the foul Be'gel titan.

Did you use any weathering powders on your tank, or did you just paint some weathering effects on? From the Warp had a great, two series post about them. You can see the results here.

Nice work on the Valdor Peregrine!

I was wondering what other tanks you have lined up for the Krieg part of your army. The FW IG tanks look great, with the Macharius with Vulcan Mega-bolters, and the Malcador being my favourites, so I'm quite curious as to what you'll try your hand at next.
Nice work so far.

Fi'rios Shi'ur

Just paint, though I really should move to the next level with all that other stuff. Mostly it's a question of mess, I live in a one-room apartment so things like oil paints (oh god the smell) aren't really an option.



For the immediate future, I'll probably be working more on my Elysians, but I have another Valdor and a Minotaur waiting to be built. After that, I'd like to get a Macharius Vulcan to go with the Vanquisher and probably an Arkurion Shadowsword, but I won't be able to afford those for a while.

And part 2 of the all-night painting session: the Hades breaching drill to go with the engineers.





You may also notice that the engineers in the second picture now have their backpacks and a few other final details. Overall I'm entirely happy with them, the models have amazing detail (and flawless casting quality) and the painting turned out every bit as well as I'd hoped. After painting these, I'll probably never be able to go back to plastic infantry, the quality is just so much lower.

Updates have been slow because I've been working on another 3d modeling contest, and now it's time to help me win it!



You don't have to be an EVE player to vote, but you will need a facebook account (make one just for the contest if you have to!).


0) Admire the full-size version of the ship: http://lperegrine.deviantart.com/art/Wh ... -190545898

1) Go here: http://evecontest.com/finalvote/

2) Vote for the "Whirlwind" by Jonathan P. Please note that the "Peregrine" by Silnys N is NOT mine, despite sharing my ATT forum name.

3) Get everyone you know to vote as well. Friends, family, your dog, get everyone.

Oh, but I AM an eve player. You have my vote sir.

Eve mail my in game sometimes: Hirimatsu Yamamoto.

---

Also, now that I have managed to read the rest of the thread, I have to say that I too have been considering an air cav oriented IG list, once I get my Tau army completed. (This is of course assuming the new GK codex is not to my liking. )

I liked the idea of vendettas with Veteran squads being air dropped into combat zones. The vendettas themselves are very capable tank hunters in thier own right. I will admit that I am still having a hard time with the idea of giving up tanks, but I am sure I will warm up to the idea as your thread goes on.

I look forward to seeing what else you have up your sleeve in the pursuit of this idea.

Thanks to those of you who voted for my entry, results should hopefully be posted soon. But now it's time for more 40k:



1) For the record-breaking apocalypse game, I have the following models to build by the 22nd: Grenadier Centaur, CCS (using grenadiers as plasma gunners), 5x engineers to finish the squad (including 3x flamers + "Harker"), and the MINOTAUR OF DEATH. Currently I'm on schedule to finish it all, so expect pictures soon-ish.



2) Update #1: after deciding on a winter theme for my bases (complete with snow and ice), I thought I'd try white coats on my infantry. Unfortunately I think I'm going to have to call this experiment a failure, the test model looks decent from a distance, but up close the blending just isn't quite right. And since white takes so long to paint, I don't think it's really worth it. But here's the test model:


3) Update #2: I have discovered, after reading Imperial Armour: Model Masterclass (well worth the $40 if you care at all about how your models look), some very useful techniques for weathering. Most importantly, I have discovered the benefits of weathering powders. Seriously, it would be very hard to over-estimate how effective these are. The improvement in realism (and for very little effort) is just amazing. Two examples:


The Valdor tank I posted earlier, now with rust on the sides. Compare the side sections to the center hull (which has not been weathered yet):



The WIP Grenadier Centaur. In addition to adding mud with weathering powders, this one also shows off my other new discovery: paint chips:

I have thought of doing a winter themed army for awhile, so I think it would be cool to see the boys from Krieg all bundled up! I think the test model looks good, but perhaps using something like an Astronomican Grey would be better? Any chance we could see an example of your basing style? I think that matter a lot when it comes to picking the right color on the model.

As for the weathering powders, you have convinced me! I really like the realism it adds to a model and nice and subtle. I will have to see about getting some. Did you use the FW ones?

Hope your entry in the comp wins!

TBH, I don't think light gray would work very well (and I already use a dark gray). It doesn't really get the look I was aiming for, and since it's still a strong contrast with the detail bits I wouldn't be able to save time with heavy use of drybrushing like on the engineers. It was really the precise blending required that took so much time, I don't think it would really be worth it on anything less than the ideal color scheme.





Not yet, but soon (hopefully). I just recently decided on how I'm going to base them, so I haven't even bought the bases yet.



Yep. Though, from what I hear, they're pretty much identical to the ones you can get elsewhere. The main advantage, as I understand it, is that you can get them in the same place as your models.