Independent Characters 2014 Hobby Progress Challenge - Part One Complete!

Finished out the first half of this year's HPC from the Independent Characters! 

http://www.theindependentcharacters.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=79&t=6461

He looks sorta confused ... like he missed his bus!

The DV cultists are some of the best minis GW's made in a long time.

Perry Brothers - Continental Infantry

And just as I am growing weary of all things 40K, I saw these in my local FLGS.

Pure win.  My only problem is that I couldn't afford more than one box.

The detail is impressive, the cost is stunning ($36 for $38 guys?!? Compared to a $20 IG Commissar model there's no question), and the uniform guide really puts it over the top for me.

Carpet sold separately, but the green plastic bases in the upper left are a nice touch.

Project Complete - Ghazkull Thrakka conversion

The full project is available on the Independent Characters 'Painting and Modeling' Board, but here's a snap of the completed conversion.

Update 2 - Aquila Strong Point

I put on a base layer of Macragge Blue and then a heavy wash of Asurmen Blue.

As you can see, however, there are visible brush strokes to deal with.  But I'll get that in the next layer.  For now, it's nicely shaded. 

Next up, a layer of light grey and then white for the upper layers.

Lots of touch up to do!  And I need to decide whether all those skulls with be natural or Bronzed.

Update - Aquila Strong Point

Sated with Turkey, glutted with pie, but forced to go back to work (*5 days a week, no less!), I've managed to get a little hobby done and advance my Aquila Strong Point Project.

As you can see, I've done the first part of the drybrushing for this - an underlayer of Tin Bitz, and then Shining Gold and Leadbelcher (*which I think used to be called Boltgun Metal).

From here, I'll give it a thorough wash, and then some overbrushing.  And then it's on to the blue and white to give it an Ultramarines feel. 

For now I've painted the barrel of the macro cannon in metallics, but I am leaning towards repainting its mount in blue

But what color to paint the missiles?

New Project - Aquila Strong Point

Surprisingly easy to assemble, I still managed to glue some odds and ends onto the wrong spots, but nevertheless, it's done.

And it's based.

So now to paint it. 

The only question - to go for a standard Imperial Grey? Or to push for a more thematic Ultramarines scheme? 

Am thinking the latter - paint the eagle a nice rich gold, as show on the GW site, but then make the walls of the fortess itself a rich blue.

 

Final decision to be made after Turkey Day...

Project Completed - Basilisk Field Gun

I posted the 'how to' of this on the Independent Character's forum, in the Hobby section, but wanted to share this with you all the same. 

My thinking is that this would be an easy tweak to the rules -- just use the IG codex standard profile for the Basilisk, but drop off the points cost of a Chimera (since it's immobile and will have no heavy bolter).  Then just use the artillery rules as per the main rule book.

These paint up very quickly -- and could really look great with some additional detailing (e.g.: there's a side panel that could be painted up to look like an electronic display).

By way of scale ...

Ork Stompa

Some time ago I scored a big lot of greenskins on Ebay. This happy fellow was included in the batch, and I finally got around to painting him up. Better photos to follow at some point, but the idea was to capture the Deathskulls theme while keeping the rest of the Stompa suitably worn and torn -- as I imagine ork vehicles must be.

I started with a dry brush of GW's Warplock Bronze, then Bolgun Metal, then a heavy wash of Agrathax Earthshade, followed with a overbrush of Chainmail (*which is an older name for some new shiney sivler they have) and heavy stipling with a Vallejo orange.

The blues and whites are from Vallejo as well - Sea Grey with Foundation White and a wash of Agrathax, and then more whites drybrushed.

Final version is below

 

Flames of War - Open Fire Sets

With a little free time on my hands, I decided to finally get around to basing the Germans from the OPEN FIRE boxed sets that I have. This is two full sets of them ... I've purchased some additional stuff, but haven't assembled any of it.

As you can see, the gun shields on the Pak 38s are missing -- I managed to break of them during assembly.  

I'm hoping that this stuff will paint up fairly quickly, since it's 15mm ... but we shall see.