Status report

I have the pleassure of announcing that I actually managed to finish my Catachan command squad this weekend. Still I might add some extra bits and bobs on them, but as they stand now they are ready to fight!
I still have to do the basework, but that will be done when there are fewer miniatures on the table, so I actually have room to bring out all my basing equipment.

The Cadian command squad has come a big step towards finished too, but there are lots of details on the heads that needs to be done. Small stripes of visible layers that need a different color for each one, and the chinstraps on the helmets also needs to be painted.
I'll also need to paint the ropes for the banner, and glue that on to the banner itself. The heavy flamer guy also needs to get the backpack attached (Still some painting left on that) and the arms attached afterwords.
I have a small problem with arming the medic in this unit, as both hands are used for holding bandages and there are no folding stock lasrifles in this kit as it was in the Catachan equivalent. Still, I guess the medic will get a laspistol or a boltpistol in a holster on his hip. I have a holstered laspistol reday for him, but will look through my Space Marines bits to see if I can find a boltgun as that packs a bit more punch.
Since he is a medic I suspect he will have plenty to do in a fight without using a weapon anyway..

Some of my veteran Space Marines have also gotten some attention this weekend. There are a handful of veterans just waiting to get their shoulderguards and backpacks painted. Was thinking of glueing them on and painting them after, but I see that it will smudge the green robes for sure. That means I stick to my original plan and paint first and just do the final details after they are glued on.
My flamer convertion went a little sour unfortionately, as my arm meassuring was a little off. The flamer looks good, but he can only hold it with his firing arm, the supporting arm is a little behind the flamer, the fingers barely touching it. Still, he might be shifting his grip (or something like that). I guess I just have to make the rest of the miniature look good, then no one will notice that the arm is a little off.
I used one of the beaked heads for him, so he will stand out a little among his battle brothers.

Another weekly update

As usual things are running a little slow, there is so much other stuff going on that the miniature work doesn't get the right attention. But still, there are some progress. The Cadian command squad are fully assembled now, but there are some detils thast still needs painting. The Catachan command squad is ready to march into combat, as soon as their standard bearer gets his arm attached. I will do that as soon as I have used mithril silver on the scull in the middle of the standard. Both command squads might still get some extra stuff added, like canteens, knives, grenades, and such, but that can always be added at a later time. The metal command squad is getting painted a little bit at the time, but it doesn't get too high priority. My Ogres are also in the half-painted state at the moment. Sly (Sylvester) is missing paint on eyes and mouth as well as a wash on his pants and boots. I also need to use some wash on his chains. Dolph just need a few detailing touches such as eyes, mouth and the leather parts of his belts and carrying straps for the grenades. The other 3 ogryns have gotten their pants and tshirts painted. Also yesterday I got my last ogryn for the 6-orgryn squad in the mail, so he will be assembled this weekend. I got a package from Games Worshop HQ yesterday, and in that package was Gunnery Sergeant Harker (Gunny Highway in my army) who actually looked a bit smaller than I had expected from his description in the army books, there were 3 Kommisars that I really look forward to painting, and the first Chimera. I really hope my order of Cadian parts arrive soon from Ebay, as I then can assemble my Sergeant Bastonne too... Then he and Harker just need their elite squads to lead in to battle. 

The Space Marines are also getting along. The second batch of specialists will get their arms attached to their torsos on sunday if all goes according to plan. Then they just need shoulder guards and their backpacks to march into war. I will also see if some of them can get some extra equipment to make them look even more like special forces. For the Space Marines I already have a base scheme, so they will be based the next time I bring out the white glue.

Imperial Guard and Marine update

The weekend is over, and it's time for another update.
I have worked mainly on my Imperial Guard command squads, but I have managed to get a little progress on my Space Marines also.

The two plastic command squads are comming along nicely.
The Cadian torsos are all but finished, the only thing missing is one coat on the helmets and the medals on the commanders chest.
Then I have to fix the arms on some of the troopers, like the vox operator and the medic.
The vox operator will be holding a chart in his left hand, and I have to paint the chart before attatching the hand holding the chart to the arm.
The medic is holding a medipack unrolling a bandage so I need to have the arms perfectly alligned so the hands will fit correctly. I will paint the hands and bandage before trying to attach it all in one operation to the torso. It's always a lot of hassle doing it that way, but it is the only way I know to get it to fit perfectly.
The same arm problem will come with the heavy flamer, and here I will also need to find a way to attach the hose from the weapon to the connection in the prometheum tanks that will go on his back.
I'll also need to finish the platoon banner, and attatch the arm holding it to the banner bearer.
I also need to add some extra equipment from the command sprue, like canteens and grenades and such.

The Catachan command squad has come a little further, here it's only the arm with the Platoon banner that needs to be attached after the banner is finished. Apart from that the only things missing is backpacks (almost finished painting them) and some other extra equipment from the command sprue that I think will look nice on them. I tend to use all the backpacks (3 on the command sprue) and make sure that every man has a canteen, perhaps some ammo pouches, and some grenades where that can fit.

The elite Space Marines from the Dark Angels chapter that has come to help battle renegade space marines are getting closer to completion. Most of them uses both hands on their weapon, so I will have to have the torsos finished before I glue the arms in place. This also means that the weapons must be finished before this can be done. I will also need to paint the insides of the shoulder guards before they get attached, as the blue probably will spill over to their green capes if I don't.

I hope to get some progress on my miniatures this comming week, as I would love to clear the space on my worktable to start working on my Valkyrie. In order to do that I need to have at least 50% of the miniatures painted and off the table.

I still haven't figured out exactly how I'd like to base my Imperial Guard army, but I have decided to base both Cadians and Catachans (and others if they drop in) the same way. I plan to use some moss as growth, and also some barbed wire on some of the larger bases.

I have an idea to use some barbed wire and perhaps something from the bits box on some Space Marine bases. This will be a small attempt to make some unity in case I actually get an Apocalypse army together in the future, as well as giving me more chances to practice.

Guard update

I have been busy like a little beaver in my workshop in my spare time this christmas/New years vacation, and hopefully the next few weeks will make a god start for my Pledge for 2010.

At the moment I have 4 Ogryns of a unit of 6 ready to paint. One of them is about 80% painted. The remaining 2 Ogryns are on their way in the mail, and will be assembled and painted upon arrival. They are all from the current range of Ogryns, and will work as one unit.

I also have an old-school Ogryn. He is a lot smaller, but just as mean looking. Since he is so much smaller I have decided not to include him into the unit, and instead use him as a bodyguard for one of my commanders. The commander was suposed to be Lt. Fuzz (named after the blonde, childish Lieutennant from Beetle Bailey) but as I painted him I thought he looked a lot like the Norwegian entertainer Jahn Teigen, so he might be promoted and given a new name. I'll decide on that as the army progresses. There might be the need for more command squads in the future...

My last post gave name to some Ogryns, but that idea has been slightly altered... They will now be named after actors known for their muscles (or at least not that much for brains or "good" looks). 

My small bodyguard is Sly (since Sylvester Stallone is quite a lot shorter than other muscle-men). The Ogryn that is almost completed is named Dolph (after Dolph Lundgren) and I will name the others as I see who they look like. But I think my Bone 'ead might end up as a Chuck (as in Norris) or a Bruce (as in Willis) (so far Bruce is a hot candidate because of the hairstyle). There will pobably also be a Claude (or Jean) (Jean Claude Van Damme), Arnold (Schwartzenegger) and a Vin (Diesel), but we'll see when they are finished.

At the moment I am working with 3 command squads, where the command squad with the bodyguard attached will be the high command in the field and it will include some regimental advisors and a commisar or Lord commisar.

The other two command squads will be platoon command squads and they are the start of the real backbone of the army.
I am not too happy with the information of army organisation in the Imperial Codex, but until someone tells me I'm wrong I will use the platoon organization charts and max out one platoon at the time. The platoons will differ in miniatures, but I will try to build each platoon from the same range. At the moment there is one Cadian and one Catachan command squad.
The Cadian platoon will include a unit of elites led by Sergeant Bastonne. As there are no current model available of him, I will make one from my bits box and make him the way I believe he would look.
The Catachan platoon will have both Gunnery Sergeant Harker (or in my case Gunnery Sergeant Highway) and a Guardsman Marbo (probably also assembled from the bit box as he looks nothing special in the current miniature range). Harker will command an elite unit, Marbo sort of is his own elite unit...
I have decided to keep the company colors in a few palettes to make them all look like part of the same army, and they will have the same colors for boots, Combat BDU's, armour and weapons. Apart from that there will be some platoon or unit variation. Catachan units will have green combat vests, while Cadian units have light grey jackets or frocks.