Roman Space Marine Conversion (Counts as Space Wolves Allies)

So I'm not going to talk about the who? (fluff of these Roman SMs?), what/why? (Isn't this a Praetorian blog?) or the where? (I know its been months) much in this post, I'll hopefully fill in some more detail in some later posts.

Having finally got a bit of time and inclination to do some modelling I've started working on some Allies for my guard. I say Allies, it's my current intention that my Guard are the Allies for these guys while I work on them and when they are done I can turn my attention properly on the Praetorians while at least having some decent points to hopefully get a game in.

Anyway there is at least a little bit of the why!

I simply post this guy up to get some opinion, he isn't a test model (although not glued totally yet), he is the real deal and what I intend to mass produce (20 at first for 2 squads) and I was wondering on your guys thoughts?

He and his brethren are intended to be proxy Grey Hunters in my army, essentially Legionnaires, but i'll go into detail on fluff, which I have thought about a lot, in another post.

The photos aren't great I'm afraid (crappy iPhone!) but hopefully you get a feel what I'm trying to achieve. All models will have a gladius (sheathed), cloak and leather belt straps and helmet plume. 80% will have shields others for the sake of variety (and expense!) will have lost or dropped theirs. The standard trooper will be wielding a boltgun, bolt pistol or gladius (like our chap here) or a special weapon.

This guy still needs a bit of gap filling and mould line removal. I also have a plan to add a shield boss to make my shields more scutum like.

Anvil Industry Roman Pads

Puppetswar Pretorian Pads

The only thing I was unsure of was the shoulder pads, originally I had tried 3rd party pads, Anvil Industry and Puppetswar both make great options, I particularly like the Puppetswar (right).

But somehow while all the other items add Romaness to Space Marines, these seem to take Space Marineness away. I don't know if thats a stupid comment, but thats how it feels, I haven't 100% decided yet, but without SM style pads they look a bit too converted and I couldn't add decals if I wanted. I would be interested in others thoughts?

And indeed thoughts in general, whether you think these will be ace or too cluttered, outside opinion is always welcome, I know for the majority of followers Guard is their thing so I appreciate it if you took time to have a look, for those that are interested, a little bit of thoughts on the fluff of these guys and how they fit the Space Wolves rules will come in the next week or so.

New Imperial Guard FAQ 1.3 and Gunnery Sergeant Harker

I don't really comment on the rules much as I am more of a part time hobbyist and only play the occasional game for fun, but I found the latest FAQ mildly interesting.

The only real change of note I could tell is Camo Cloaks changing from conferring stealth to adding +1 to cover saves. While there is therefore no difference to a unit that can take cloaks in general (Stealth conferred +1 anyway) , it does add a +1 bump on top of Stealth and therefore make Harker a more potent option.

So his squad now gets +5 save if not in cover but with Forest a +3 and anything better +2, if they take infiltrators and therefore camo cloaks.

So by my reckoning you could for example get a unit with a heavy bolter, three melta guns, and a lascannon, that with infiltrate can set up after your opponent has deployed and will have huge amount of firepower and pretty much a minimum of a 3+ save. Ok thats a lot of points but deadly and difficult to shift I would imagine.

A slightly different suggestion would be three plasma guns and a lascannon at a whopping 220 points but able to sit in forest or even better a building to take out light vehicles/terminators/meq at range while happily hiding behind a 2 or 3+ save.

As I say I'm not a big gamer, but when I do I like to use the special characters for a bit of more interesting take on the Guard tactics and this seems a bit more of a bonus than a simple +1 might otherwise seem. However I may be totally wrong and I'm interested in what the hardcore gamers think as at the end of the day you're still paying 30pts for a +1 cover save. But if you run Harker with some camo cloaked brethren (which I have seen on a few blogs) you might be happy. Or you might think a demo charge is worth more than a +1 to your saves for the same points?

Chimera Leman Russ Conversion Finished Building

So here it is in all its glory (minus the paint job obviously).

I'd planned to get it done a while back but then I went on holiday, back to work then was ill and before you know it a months gone by!

The heavy bolter is magnetised so it can be swapped out and because of this the front bottom section is fitted into place securely but removable in case I ever need to repair the back magnet (thinking ahead!).

The aerial box is also magnetised so it can be on or not, and for easier storage/breakage protection. Looking on the photos I wonder if I have over done the aerial size! But on the actual model I think they look great.

The forge world turret can swivel 360 and the main good thing about it is it can be swapped out easily for a different kind as they just drop in (I have a Vanquisher with Pask I'm doing after picking the turret up cheap off eBay). Its glued in elevation which doesn't bother me after seeing quite a few droopy Leman Russ barrels out there!

I have gone with the Chimera hatch on the front because I a) think it looks ace! b) probably wont need them on the Chimeras so win win.

I replaced the missing track sections with cut and filed plasticard and hopefully once painted it will give the impression of hatches to gain access to the tracks. I was going to put handles on but thinking about it you would probably lift from underneath so seemed fiddly and unnecessary.

I tried to keep the back interesting but not too cluttered, hopefully I have achieved that. It took a while to sand the Baneblade exhausts so they fit but I think they look well worth it.

Finally I know the side skirts were dividing opinion. I could take the point that some thought the model needed more "bulk" but they just didn't look right to me. I have spent a bit of time around and always liked tanks and it looks very unnatural to me on any tank to have the hull continuing passed the tracks. That being said once cut down they looked too flat so I added a 1.5mm section of plasticard to bring them out a bit. I really like the look but I'm aware others may disagree, but it definitely looks more tank like to me.

There we go, any criticism always welcomed as there's still time to tweak with it, but I'm rather proud and look forward to doing the next. I want two to start with but eventually 3 or 4 hulls with 5 or 6 turret swaps.

I'm taking a slightly different direction post building this....I'm going to carry on slowly doing the Praetorians but I'm actually itching to play with some painted models. Now at the rate and pressure I put myself under to paint these guys perfect, I think platoons of guard in the near future is not likely! So I'm going to work on my planned Allies, use the Guard as Allies then slowly flip back to Guard as I do more. I'll say no more about who the Allies are as I have lots of test work on at the minute but its a take on old classic that's been done before. Hopefully you staunch Guard guys wont mind commenting and continuing to give me much appreciated advice on something else.

Chimera Russ Conversion WIP Update and Advice Required

Ok so here is the intended look of my Chimera. The track guards aren't stuck down yet, I finished cleaning up and reshaping them earlier (they really were in an appalling condition straight from FW), neither are the side armour pieces or front hatches.

I love the look but would like opinions on the following before gluing down.

1) What do we think of the chimera round hatch on the front? I love it and think it goes really well but as you can see from my previous post I think I'll struggle to get them to do all three tanks and my chimeras. Do people think a flat square hatch of some description would be better?

2) The track guards I loved when I bought but didn't realise they had the gap till they arrived. I don't like it and I am thinking of filling it over with plasticard. What do others think? It just looks a bit weird and pointless IMO.

3) I'm quite tempted to not have the side panels sticking out but instead cut them flat so they stick directly to the sides, it may look less wide but somehow maybe more tank like?

4) I'm going to add some aerials to the turret but other than that was planning on leaving the front and top pretty uncluttered, unless anyone has some suggestions of what to add?

Any other constructive criticism also greatly received.

BTW anyone who enjoys sticking imperial guard tracks on is a sadist! I forgot what a pain in the arse they are! Not to mention the fact they never meet up properly, thank god I'm covering the gap!

Spare Chimera hatches anybody?

Gents, I don't suppose anyone has any of the new style Chimera hatches they would be willing to sell or trade to me? While cheap on most bits sites they also seem to always be sold out. I'm more than willing to pay or perhaps trade something in return, but I really love the look of these hatches and would ideally like them on all my vehicles without the need to buy a Chimera kit each time! Thanks in advance to anyone willing/able to help.

Chimera Russ Conversion WIP

Some kind words from Col Ackland prompted me to post up this to show I'm still working on stuff! I have spent the weekend working on this after planning it months ago and buying all the pieces. I have three planned but only one turret bought so far to try out due to the cost!

I have seen quite a few Leman Russ/Chimera conversions and having seen another excellent one from the aforementioned Col Ackland on his blog recently (go check his recent post out if you haven't already), I got the bug to start mine. I have never seen one that truly looked right in my opinion. There is a lovely example on the Mordian 7th Blog called the Charon Pattern, but again wasn't quite what I was looking for.

Please excuse the poor iphone photos, but here is my WIP take on the Chimera Russ. I'm trying to get a more modern battle tank look. Lower and wider mainly. I have never liked the cartoony look of the regular Russ, but wanted to use Russ parts as well as the Chimera rather than any 3rd party products. The Forgeworld turret was a must! Absolutely love it and think it works great, slightly bigger than a standard turret which is important as I find all the turrets too small.

I have also mastered how to get on with modelling when I've had a busy day. It's not great for painting but now when I get home I crash in front of the PC and put some TV on (Once Upon a Time is the latest, entertaining but not exactly method acting!) like usual, but now sit and clean up models and glue while I watch rather than being relegated to my hobby room. Therefore I expect to get a lot more stuff ready if not painted over the next few weeks.

Thanks for stopping by, as usual comments welcome, will hopefully be finished (not painted though) by the end of the week.

Resin Forest Bases

Long time no post, but without dwelling a quick look at one element of what I'm working on now.

I ordered a load of resin forest bases from www.back2base-ix.com. These are for use with characters, elites etc. and the first guys destined for them are the Ratlings that I'm just starting painting.

Do you think this looks right? I wasn't sure about the grey, its a nice contrast I think, but will it look out of place? I suppose I could try a reddy brown instead to blend a bit more?

Anyway I really don't want to end up doing shed loads of test tree trunks! But tree trunks are pretty prominent on all the larger and more interesting bases I'm putting together and they have to look right.

At the moment its Rhinox, black wash then drybrush Adeptus Battlegrey and Zandri dust.

Would appreciate others thoughts/suggested colours to use.