Hi

I was initially thinking of joining TOEG in the summer to give me a couple of months to get other projects finished first. But the sheer enthusiasm of everyone else getting ready for April start has persuaded me into giving it a go.

Choosing an army:
That was easy part. A while back I decided I wanted a painted 3K army for each of the 3 basic rulebook lists. So for last 6 months have been working through Orks, and I have a desert based Imperial Guard force about 80%-90% done (just need final highlights and basing). So I needed a Space Marine army.

When EA came out I had started on a Blood Angel force but never got far. I managed to undercoat some infantry and some tanks (rhinos, whirlwinds and hunters) but did nt pursue it as moved house and gaming club, and was a couple of years before got back into EA with IG.

The one complication was when I discovered a box on unbuilt plastic beatleback Warlord Titans along with old Epic box sets. I was tempted to do an old school Titan Legion force, but I would still be short of a painted SM force. The simple solution was to do a SM force with Titan support.


Blood Angels:
I wanted a force that I could use the core Codex Astartes army list. But I stuck to units that i could also use in Net EA Blood Angel list- so no Predator Destructors. And once finished all i would need to do is add some BA specific units like Death Comnpany and Stormravens.

I always think a good starting point for a 3k SM army is a SM Battle Company- in EA terms 2 Tactical, 1 Devastator and 1 Assault Formation. Add in a formation apeice of Terminators, Scouts and Bikes, plus armoured support in the form of Land Raiders, Preadtor Annhiliators and Whirlwinds and I would have a good basic intro army.

To give me options the 2nd block of troops would also be built around Battle Company, Terminators and Scouts, but this time with more mobile elements like Land Speeders, pair of Thunderhawks and SM Landing Craft. If I get all if that painted will be just shy of 6K points before allies.


Titan Support:
This required the most thinking over. My Lucius pattern Titans were painted in fairly drab colours and camoflage. For an old school Titan feel i would be using the Mars pattern models, painted up in much brighter colours with heraldry etc. Yet i could nt decide on a suitable Titan Legio.

I wanted a canon Legio that had been included in old AT/WD articles, but not one that ad been heavily featured. That ruled out the likes of Legio Astorum, Legio Astraman, Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Ignatium, Legio Metalica and Legio Crucius. Ideally I wanted a Legio that also had a nickname plus some basic details of colours and Legio badge. I also wanted a Legio with a primary colour and a metallic secondary colour to pick out the raised edges on beatleback Warlord Titan model. I looked at a couple of options like Legio Tempestor and Legio Magna but there was some confusion as to whether or not they were Traitor.

Eventually I settled on Legio Honorum (Deathbolts). They had a colour scheme of red with gold as secondary colour. Legio badge looked simple enough to paint apart from the damned blue and white checks (after painting black and white checks on Epic Goffs I would have preferred a check-free Titan colour scheme). It was featured in AT and WD but no pictures were seen of painted Titans. That would give the guidance of a canonical colour scheme to follow with also have a bit of flexibility to tweak things for variation.

Model wise I have a whole load of unbuilt plastic beatleback Warlords plus a few of metal Mars pattern Reavers and Warhounds. To start with I would be painting the rulebook standard configuration Titans but that would give me a strong base of fleshing them out into a full Titan legion as TOEG progresses.

Thanks for looking.

James

Work so far in prepping for next month.

1) The sum total of my painting efforts 10 years ago. I SM battlecompany with 8 Rhinos, 4 Whirlwinds and 4 Hunters. All infantry undercoated on sprue and based for desert terrain. Will be enough to allow me to do most of the rulebook training scenarios:


The reinforcements which should get me to at least 3K points and hopefully close to completion. Adds Land Raiders, Predator Annhiliator, Vindicators, Razorbacks, Bikes, pair of Thunderhawks and a Landing Craft. All assembled but unpainted:


The start of Legio Honorun Titan Legio. Yesterday I paint stripped some old beatleback Warlord Titans giving me half a dozen titans and mix of weapons, both plastic and metal. Add in an unbuilt Imperator that I dug out and a couple of both Reavers and Warhounds (all Mars pattern original GW metal figures) and I should be set:


Next step is now to work out a painting plan to meet monthly targets of 500 points per month.

Cheers

James

Some promising looking piles of minis there

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Thanks. Seeing as I could nt make any further progress on Blood Angels until start of TOEG, I have spent this evening paint stripping more Titans bought 2nd hand- 3 Mars pattern Reavers and pair of Mars pattern Warhounds. Got worst off tonight- will soak overnight and finish them off tomorrow. Quick wash and dry- then might try and undercoat them this weekend.

So red! So very red!

I like the idea of painting leaving the bases (with minis) on the sprue for painting.

I really ought to do a small marine force sometime.

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SG

Ghost's Paint Blog, where everything goes that isn't something else.

Thanks SG.

Worked out initial 3 months painting plan- to cover the units involved in Training Scenarios:

Month 1: Tactical & Devastator
Month 2: Tactical & Whirlwinds
Month 3: Assault & Predators

I suspect Month 4 will involve some Deathbolts Titans, before switching back to the Blood Angels.

Cheers

James

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My TOEG- Blood Angels and Deathbolts
My Painting Blog- Evil Sunz, Goffs
My Epic trades list

Just a quick update - have got a bit excited with Titan element of force having rediscovered my old box sets. My spare room currently looks like a Titan assembly yard. Pair of Warhounds glued together, two Reavers being primed and half a dozen Warlords based, primed and metalwork painted. Just need to decide on some more Warlord configurations.

Cheers

James

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My TOEG- Blood Angels and Deathbolts
My Painting Blog- Evil Sunz, Goffs
My Epic trades list

This week I have been a bit distracted. i was supposed to be finishing off my Orks.

However I got caught up with all the TOEG fervour and, given that this was my first attempt at TOEG, decided to start assembling and basing my Titans (given that had already done the same for first few months worth of Space Marines as per above). However I got a bit carried away and before I knew it I was basecoating three Warlord Titans.

I left the weapons off, partly to make them easier to paint, and partly because i had nt decided on what configuration of weapons. I may in fact try swapping them out from game to game.



Anyhow here is the state of my painting desk at the moment. At the front three Warlords, two Reavers and two Warhounds from Legio Honorum. In the middle a Great Gargant, Gargant, 2 Gunfortresses and 14 Warbikes that are 90% finished. Plus another Great Gargant, two gargants and 9 Gunwagonz.

For the Titans I was worried that red and gold colour scheme of Legio Honorum could be a bit gaudy, especially by time added blue and white checks on the left leg. So I tried darkening up a bit, leaving more Mechrite Red showing and adding bronze to the first coat of gold (although that did nt come out so clearly). Bases were an attempt to try something different. Trying to match something that MoK suggested- started with Calthan Brown over black primer, and then drybrushed up through mixes of Calthan Brown/Graveyard Earth/Kommando Khaki.

Cheers

James

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My TOEG- Blood Angels and Deathbolts
My Painting Blog- Evil Sunz, Goffs
My Epic trades list

Just spotted those B5 ships in the background - they look lovely! I have Minbari, Centauri, Brakiri, Vorlon, ISA and Shadow fleets for B5: ACTA somewhere...

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Army projects:
Iyanden Eldar - complete
Hive Fleet Scorpio - complete
Ulthwé Eldar - complete
Nova Guard Titan Legion - complete
Crimson Fists Space Marines - complete

Thanks- I stalled on painting those last autumn. Noone at local club was that interested in B5 due to the handling of ACTA by Mongoose- everyone who played ACTA has either moved away or sold their fleets. I was trying to paint tiger stripes on Minbari Sharlin Warcruisers and smaller ships. I was nt happy with my first attempt- to fix would have meant stripping and starting again. So I lost heart and put to one side. I was hoping to regain some confidence in painting before resuming them.

For the Centauri I just found them fiddly and time consuming- trying to paint individual panel lines. They were not a model you could drybrush- so it was lots of highlighting. Again without any opponents I just left at back of painting table to finish when I had time.

Thats a good selection of fleets. I sold my Brakiri box set last year and (stupidly) my Vorlons a couple of years back. It was to someone who came to our local club at the time- and for a very cheap price- I thought it would be a way to get another opponent. However he stopped coming down to club and I think he has since sold them. As he has never replied to my messages about whether he still has them I can only surmise he has sold them on, probably for at least double the amount I charged him. I am so glad that i did nt part with my White Stars to him as well!!

Oh well- live and learn. Shame because B5 is my all-time favorite TV series.

Thanks

James

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My TOEG- Blood Angels and Deathbolts
My Painting Blog- Evil Sunz, Goffs
My Epic trades list

Another quick update. Been working on Warlords today. I think I am getting close but warlords are not yet finished- main things I need to do are the weapons, the flock on bases and design and paint all the Honour Banners/heraldric symbols etc.









I was planing on building them as Standard Weapon Configuration (Volcano Cannon, Gatling Blaster, 2 TLD's), "Nemesis" Battle Configuration (Melta Cannon, TCCW, 2 TLD's) and "Eclipse" Battle Configuration (Volcano Cannon, Gatling Blaster, 2 MRL). (I may end up swapping Volcano Cannon on Warlord 3 for the Gatling Blaster on Warlord 1 to give me 2 dedicated units).

Main thing I am after is feedback on painting. I may try some Devlan Mud on the lower legs and bodywork. Other than finishing weapons, flock and banners, what else can you suggest? I might need some decals to add some more heraldric symbols.

Thanks

James

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My TOEG- Blood Angels and Deathbolts
My Painting Blog- Evil Sunz, Goffs
My Epic trades list

Would be interesting to see the finished weapon effect, especially on the close combat weapon. That aside could you reduce the width of your darks/shadows on the red areas? I find the very thick black (dark brown?) banding a bit disruptive. Alternatively try to blend the transition between red and shadow a bit more, or use a fine liner black pen to get a very thin line.

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Thanks Apoc. Initially I had just done Badab Black wash but went back over it with blacklining. I agree that black came out thicker than I was hoping- I will dial it down for the next batch of Warlords.

What would you suggest is the best way to tone down theses exisiting models? I could try a thinned down Mechrite Red- the big downside of doing the blacklining is that I had lost the darker reds that was previously showing. I guess we only learn by trying things!

Cheers

James

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My TOEG- Blood Angels and Deathbolts
My Painting Blog- Evil Sunz, Goffs
My Epic trades list

Hm not sure, where it goes over the gold you can just paint over it. For the red, aside from repainting, can you scrape it off at all without damaging the red?

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Just go over it with diluted red paint. You don't need full coverage.