IJW does Nurgle! (or possibly Orks, or Squats, or more Eldar)

[IJW]

I used to indecisive, but now I'm not sure...

Anyway, so many ideas and models, so few painting hours! I've got a load of old models plus some current models off eBay, but am not sure what to put my limited painting time into.
Also I'm a skinflint, I'll be buying the Apocalypse book (maybe even the backpack) but don't want to buy a huge amount of new models.


Option 1
Carry on with the Nurgle Renegades I just started, aiming to put together a (mostly metal!) Battle Company for Apocalypse.



This would be the return of parts of my old Emperor's Lightning chapter, with several battle barges having been adrift in the Warp for a little too long...

Pros: I've got enough infantry models for a basic Company made up of CSM/Death Guard squads plus Raptors (old metal jump-pack Marines) and Havocs, plus original Chaos Dred and some extra Nurgly models to have some Chosen. Easy paint scheme.
Cons: Need Rhinos. Loadsa models. Might be a bit boring to play footslogging CSM. Could do with buying a Deamon Prince and a Defiler or two.


Option 2
Waaagh! I've also got one or two Orks, mostly unpainted/in need of stripping, or simply painted in too many different styles. Not sure if this would be for near-future Apocalypse games for the fun of making Battlefortresses, or wait until the new codex comes out.
This would be a combination of Evil Suns and Bad Moon klans.

Pros: Da boyz are back in town! Lots of potential for scratch-built monster machines for Apoc. Got lots of models already, including Shock Attack Gun.
Cons: Even more loadsa models. Start now and potentially have to redo things with the new codex? Don't have many vehicles, just a Battlewagon and a couple of buggies and a squad of bikes.


Option 3
Squat Guild Bikers. Yep, those long-forgotten short guys who got eaten by the 'Nids. I've got a squad or two of painted bikers, a couple of squads of painted infantry (including an all-heavy bolter unit), exo-armour Warlord, two painted heavy weapon trikes and lots of unpainted models. The plan would be to use the Ork codex to represent them.

Pros: Just seeing them on the table again. Several painted units which just need touching up.
Cons: Old painted models might not match too well with my current painting styles. Really need to wait for the new Ork codex.


Option 4
Finish some more Harlequins and Eldar.

Pros: Lots of painted stuff already. Touching up a few more of the mostly-painted models would easily give me a large (4k?) Apocalypse force. Doing the unpainted stuff would take me up to 6-7k. Have a Falcon and two Prisms waiting to be assembled.
Cons: Short attention span. Don't have any Wave Serpents. Not much experience painting large Eldar vehicles.


Option 5
A little bit of everything. Who needs sleep, anyway?

This would probably involve painting up 1000-1500 points of Nurgle Marines for regular games, using my Eldar for Apocalypse, then once the new Ork codex is out doing some Orks plus big machines. The Squats would probably be limited to 1k points using the already painted models with minimal retouching.

Pros: Lots of smaller projects to keep swapping between. Might not need to buy much. More variety in games.
Cons: Lots of work. Easy to get put off by the amount of things to do. Only have one evening a week for gaming, so each army would only get to a tabletop once a month.



Thoughts? This thread will become the project log regardless of which route I take.

[Aflo]

You're making me choose between those killer harlequins of yours and dwarves on motorbikes? That my friend is cruel My vote goes to the squats though - don't think I've ever seen an army of them done before.

[Dominus Ex Machina]

Why be satisfied with just one project when you can run several?

That is one lovely marine, I love the old-school models!

[Ross]

Well, you might have guessed what I'm voting for!!

Oh, you don't?!?!?

Well then, I think it should be squats, bring on the angry halfers!!

[IJW]

Cruel, me? Nah!

Ross - great stuff!

In the meantime, here's a few more photos of the WiP Nurgle Renegades. The first ones are copied from a thread in the main M,P&T forum about underpainting.





Fluff-wise, the Emperor's Lightning are an old Chapter who seem to lose an unusually large number of ships to the Warp. This has been going on for several millennia with the blame being placed on enemies within the Navigator's Guild, a psychic taint in the geneseed and countless other ideas other the centuries.
What the Chapter Masters are coming to realise is that the missing Brothers have not simply vanished into the Warp but have been tainted by Chaos, with the missing barges eventually congregating together into a single force equipped with armour from all the major periods from the Heresy onwards, but comprising a large number of Mk6 suits, and even ancient Contemptor Close Assault Dreadnoughts (colloquially know as the "Chuck").

[IJW]

I had a go at darkening the test scheme as the Bilious Green was a bit too bright even for me, but wasn't that pleased with the result:


Some more about to get updated:


On this one I hit the right colours for the green/yellow - by applying only a single thin coat over the grey/white underpainting, the colours are much more Nurglesque, particularly where there are areas of grey underneath. This can be seen best in the crease by the helmet ridge:


It's also a lot faster than underpainting, adding a top coat and then shading the top coat...

Most of this group have the green and purple done. Bronze detailing, pouches, bases and rusty brown inking on the metallics still to go. Pictures to come at a later stage.

Ian

[sheep]

Guess you've made you descsion then

Looks great mate, can always count on you to have stunning old models, good stuff .

Cheers

Sheep

[When Black Roses Bloom]

I would preffer to see moulddy old chaos space marines spreading desease and muckus all over the place. KILL! MAIM! BURN!

[IJW]

Guess you've made you descsion then

Nah, these were done a couple of days ago. Although I have to say I'm edging towards a bit of everything.

[IJW]

A couple of shots showing the bulk of the Marines:





If you look closely you can see that it's mostly old Beaky Mk VIs, but there's a lot of others mixed in there, from the Mk IIIs painted up as Marines Errant (blue and white halved), a fair few Mk VIIs (chest eagles will need replacing/covering), plus a few Nurgle-specific models from each edition.

[IJW]

One or two Orks awaiting conversions and painting:


The army will mostly consist of Bad Moons and Evil Suns, perhaps with a nautical-styled Battlewagon full of Freebooters.


Including some crappy plastic Space Crusade Orks if I get really desperate to bulk up the numbers.


This was a real bargain on eBay, something like 35 old metal Orks, including six of the old Power Armour Orks and the old metal buggy - all for a grand total of £15.29.

Now to go and find the Squats for their group shot...

Ian

[IJW]

P.S. That's only a fraction of the Orks, there's still a big bag full of RT-era metal Boyz, some Warbikes and a Shokk Attack Gun.

On to the Squats, who seem to be moving quickly ahead in the poll... the first two images are from my 'old figure collection' thread, photographed properly in a diffused box.

[IJW]

And some not quite so well photographed ones:


There's another sort-of-painted infantry squad somewhere (all with Heavy Bolters that are about the size of modern Bolters), but they will need stripping anyway. But this isn't a bad core for a small force, the bikers only need some minimal retouching. The rest of the Thudd Gun is around as well.



This heavy Trike was converted so that the gunner has a proper seat, and the whole gun assembly rotates on a pin.



And... (drum-roll please!) the Guild Master.


This guy's sole aim in any game was to split off from the rest of the army, ride hell-for-leather towards the enemy table edge and leave his little flag thing stuck in the ground. It got to the stage where people were so irritated by this that they would send 2-3 squads after him, almost ignoring the rest of the army! Note - this was around the time of the X-Y coordinate grids for shooting at vehicles, and the bikes were so small on the grid that they were almost impossible to hit. Especially once you added in the modifiers for suicidally fast targets - was it 32" a turn they went? Oh happy days.

[IJW]

Holy Cr*p! I knew I'd been keeping this lot locked away in case of a need for urgent funds via eBay, but I'd forgotten how many of them there were!

That's another five Heavy Trikes for a total of seven, another 15 normal Bikes for a total of 23, one-and-a-half command squads, an Exo-Armour Biker and most of a Hearthguard unit in Exo-Armour.
Oh, and a load of heavy weapon gunners and loaders, and a couple of Judge Dredd Powerboards (Death from Above!).

let's see how the poll changes in the next few days...

[Ross]

Screw the poll, get cracking on the Squats!!

You've got a fantastic collection of 'classic' models in all theat, lucky barstewered!!

[Acolyte of Bli'l'ab]

I love this post already! and always fun to see more squats

[IJW]

Now for a photo-less post.

Game-wise, the Squats would be represented by the new Ork codex, assuming that the leaked 'playtest' codex is similar to the final version.

HQ
Squat Warlord in Exo Armour w. Multi-Melta
Represented by Ork Warlord in Mega Armour w. either Big Shoota or Shoota with Shootier and Blasta. Alternatively, if Big meks can take Mega Armour, go for a Kustom Mega Blasta.

Squat Warlord in Exo Armour on Trike, or the Guild Master on Trike?
Represented by Wazzdakka Gutsmek, to get Bikes as Troops

Elites
Hearthguard in Exo Armour, possibly in a Rhino.
Represented by Meganobz mob, possibly in a Trukk.

The much-feared Heavy Bolter unit.
Lootaz Mob

Troops
1-2 Units of Squats
Boyz Mobz

2 x 10 Bikers
Warbike Mobz

Fast Attack
3 units of Heavy Trikes (3,2,2 or 3,3,1) with a mix of Multi-Meltas and Heavy Bolters
Warbuggies, with a mix of Mega Blastas and Big Shootas
Alternatively, use Deffkoptas and ignore the bits about moving over terrain - Hit 'n Run would fit Guild Biker tactics very well.

Heavy Support
Thudd Gun and Mole Mortar
Big Gun battery

I guess that lot to come to 1600-1900 points, so I could even leave out the footsloggers and go for a 'pure' Guild Expeditionary Force. Yay!

[IJW]

In the meantime, Kult of Speed isn't a bad list for a pure Guild Biker force:

Guild Master (KoS Warboss with Choppa)

10 x Bikers (Warbikes)

10 x Bikers (Warbikes)

3 x Heavy Trikes (Warbuggies w. TL Rokkits)

2 x Heavy Trikes (Warbuggies w. Skorchas)

3 x Heavy Trikes (Warbuggies w. Kustom Mega Blastas - about as close as you get to old-school Multi-Meltas)

Total: 1001 points, nothing but HQ and Troops.

[Rogue Trader]

some great stuff here, i would love to see he squats done

[IJW]

Given the way the poll (and my interests) are going, for now I'm going to carry on with the Renegades and start putting together the Squat Bikers. Stay tuned...