First progress on the FIST!

So we're into month one and I've started my first units. Starting before January would've been bad form of course ;)

So I've started a HQ and troops. Specifically Codicier Lothar Ossiax and Tactical Squad Expurgio. Below are some work in progress pics. All need some tweaking + green stuff. I'd love to label each in turn, but that doesn't seem to be an option on the phone app. So, in order:

*Work station alpha!
*Codicier Lothar Ossiax (two pics)
*Veteran Sergeant Axiom
*Plasma gunner
*(as yet unnamed) brother kneeling with Melta bomb
*brother with boltgun

So we're going for a very technical look. Funky backpacks, if not servo-arms. The Libby is a simple conversion from the Dark Vengeance one. But with the addition of a bit of Fists brass I think the hammer looks spiffing!

Some of the rest o the squad are going to be from DV, so kinda dull. But need some painting practice before I bring out the coolest guys.

Thoughts?

Launching a crusade

For xmas, Santa brought to me - a blood angels battleforce, a captain box, and some more death company (thanks Angel!). The last couple of days have been spent in a haze of plastic glue and I now have assembled -

1 Assault Squad, with jump packs, power fist and two inferno pistols.

1 Assault Squad, without jump packs (I'm going to paint them as a tactical squad as I wanted to suggest that the Grail Bearers use chainsword and pistol as often as bolters and this was the easiest way to do it) with power sword, melta gun and two inferno pistols (red hot death!).

1 Death Company Squad, with 2 power weapons, power fist and bolters. I went with bolters as I wanted to take advantage of the Death Company's relentless rule to storm up to the enemy, let them have it with both barrels from the bolters and then assault! In turns of power weapons I have a sword and an axe so that I can have some AP2 in there.

Finally, a captain I've converted up to be my counts as Captain Tycho. I was quite pleased to be able to do this entirely in plastic, using mostly captain and blood angel bits, with just a breast plate from my bits box.

Photos below -

Here's the sergeant from the assault squad.

And here's the tactical squad

One of the tactical marines

And two others.

And the sergeant. I've based this guy on sergeant Rafen from the James Swallow novels, in particular I was inspired by the cover of Red Fury where he has his hair unbound and hanging down, and his armour has shields and heraldry on it. This then went on to inspire much of the rest of my conversions as it fits the knightly theme I'm going for. Note below the grail crest knee pad on my captain.

Here's the captain

I sculpted the face mask from green stuff after carving away part of the face with a craft knife.

And instead of the wing dripping blood that was Tycho's crest, I've modeled a winged grail as his crest.

To represent the 'Dead Man's Hand' I've nicked a hand from my bits box left over from the Grey Knights. I figured if he could rip the head off a daemonette then he doesn't care about armour saves.

And finally, here's some of the Death Company. I really went to town on these guys, trying to make them as individual as possible.

This one was a simple issue of posing him so that he looks like he's running towards the enemy, firing his bolter.

This one I trimmed the spiky crest off a helmet and modeled it as part of the back pack.

This one is based on a classic Death Company miniature back when they were metal. I wanted him to look like he was leaning back into the swing of the axe.

This one is one of the only bald blood angels. I wanted him to look like an aged veteran who has finally given in to the rage and is fighting his way through a horde of enemies, both real and imagined. I call him the Sgt Cloten marine.

And finally, my favourite. I wondered what it would look like if one of the Sanguinary Guard fell to the Rage so decided to model one. I picked the death mask with a tear weeping from one eye and figure I'll paint the mask bone white, with a single red tear and a gold crest.

Well that's all for now, more in January when I've got some of them painted!

Concept models

 Yesterday I had the chance to make a start on a few ideas I've got from my Lovecraftian themed 40K army for our 2013 army challenge over at Dan's house. The goal, which I suspect I won't fully meet is to have an HQ and troops unit finished by the end of January. As my list is Tyranid based that means lots of troop models. My idea at the moment is to build a Tervigon Shub Niggurath who births Dark Young Termagants. The central figure in these photos is a concept for one. It's based on plastic Gor beastmen, and this one has three cloven hoofed legs and some tentacles. The bulbous mouth part is to represent the Fleshborer 'gun'. Tentacles are damn hard to make and I need more flexible wire than the stuff I used, however I like the thin, non-octopoid look of them. I need to make them separately and let the green stuff set before molding them onto the amorphous and many mouth-eyed bodies. They are going to take a long time to make, perhaps even an hour each, but they'll be worth it.

The other models are two degenerate cultists. I used Hobbit goblins for this as they look very hunched, deformed and not a little fishy. Adding hoods to them is difficult because of their hunched shoulders, so I may have to rethink that a little. The model on the left has the face of tentacled Genestealer.

In the picture below are a number of brain-like Tyranid bits that I'm planning to use as heads for my Mi-Go fungi Gargoyles. Amazing what you find rummaging around in a Tyranid bitz box courtesy of Dan.