Champions of El'Johnson: The Deathwing

[Hadriel Caine]

Wow, where do you live? I don't think you could drive 30 mins in the UK without finding a GW stockist.

[Gearhart]

really!??????? i neede to move i live in florida, usa. it sucks! lol

[Kap'n Krump]

He looks great dude, the green is just the right shade, as is the red. Massively cool, man your guys look so good. Allso, what plans do u have for the pod? you must have cooked something up.

[Hadriel Caine]

I always liked the Dark Angels green/ Blood red combo; They share the same tone and compliment each other well. Besides the fact that they make Deathwing look like xmas marines when combined and cause a lot of angst amongst payers trying to decide the colour of their bolter casings...

The new washes (combined with inks I'll admit) help to tie them together more. This guy was a real pleasure to paint- I hardly felt like I did any work. I'm v proud of the sculpting/ conversion work on the model too (particularly around the breastplate and the bottom of his legs, lots of GS and guitar wire that has paid off and is almost difficult to perceive as a conversion!)

@Gearhart- you get the added bonus of living in the states however which for my career at least is kinda the place to be!

No updates today- I'm horribly busy with Work prep; two scripts to learn, audition on Friday and tutoring this afternoon. Its nice to busy but I can't wait for it all to start being a bit more lucrative.
I may be having my first game with these guys this evening against Peaoui's Alpha Legion so stay tuned for some game pics and a report.

In the meantime Kap'n Krump has been getting some painting DONE (and I mean DONE!) so check it out here: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...painters/page6

cheers

A.

[Hadriel Caine]

UPDATE!

Bet you weren't expecting that were you?

One guy done, think he came out well. I have been using this book as reference:



I also made progress on the Apothecary but decided I'd had enough of painting white for the day:



how is everyone doing?

A.

[Nomrana Est]

UPDATE!

Bet you weren't expecting that were you?

Yes. Yes I was.

They're looking really good, although I assume you haven't finished the TH Termie just yet. Correct me if I'm wrong.It's because the armour doesn't appear to have a solid white coverage, which, personally, detracts only slightly. If they look better IRL, and just photograph weirdly, then ignore what I'm saying.

The apothecary looks like he's coming on well. Will there be some form of heraldy which you'll paint onto him to mark him out? I think he could do with something special, not only to mark him out in the force, but also to allow you a break from painting white.

[Lt.DustyMillar]

some very nice terminators here mate, especially liking the techmarine. could you get a shot of him next to one of your 'normal' terminators as a comparison for height.

also are you going for individual hereldry for them all, or just you character pieces?

[Hadriel Caine]

Hello!

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm hoping to fit some more painting in tonight/ tomorrow and get a game played on Tuesday at the new indie in Sheffield 'the outpost'; it looks amaaaazing.

@Nomrana- You are correct of course. Nowadays I'm getting all of the colours/ basing done then going back for the umpteenth layer of white. its too much to do all at once and the paint needs to be totally dry to get the right finish and I'm too impatient to do it in one sitting. He does look ok IRL next to his brethren but needs a bit of work and tidying up across the board to get him in line with my earlier work.

In terms of the apothecary I had actually thought I might avoid heraldry altogether- my reasoning is that he is a terminator, hunter of the fallen first and foremost. A medic second. I thought I might bloody him up a bit but (not OTT) but other than that the regular colour scheme- there is enough interesting stuff going on in the command squad as it is in my opinion. What do you think?

@Lt.DustyMillar- thanks for dropping by! I'll grab some pics of the techmarine with the command squad when I've finished the apothecary. Sound good? In terms of heraldry it depends whether the mini has a nice enough blank space for free hand and how I'm feeling: It won't make it onto every model but by the same token isn't restricted to characters/ sergeants by any means, if that makes sense.

cheers

A.

[Nomrana Est]

I've always reasoned that Apothecaries are battlefield medics and surgeons first and foremost, and warriors second, although they will take to the field of battle should they be needed. But, then, that's just my personal opinion.

I'd say he does deserve something to mark him out, perhaps the emblem of the snakes twisting around a staff, or something along those line. I don't think it has to be too complicated. Again, ignore me if you wish. I won't take it to heart.

[Gearhart]

looking fantastic! always great to see wht youve been up to but may i ask why you prime black? instead of white.

[Hadriel Caine]

'The Martyr's grave is the foundation of the Imperium'

I am very excited about this next update. I had intended to go back and work a bit more on the apothecary but when I sat down I decided to begin by doing another coat of white on the TH/SS guy from the previous post. With this done I added some static grass to a few marines that had escaped this stage over the last couple of months.

I then picked up my Dreadnought. I'll do a little bit more on him thought I... a little bit more turned into three hours and a finished dreadnought INCLUDING back banner depicting the strength of the Lion in the face of the fallen.

Here's some pictures showing the level of battle damage and detail I've put into my Dreadnought:

I'm very happy with the scroll work on this model as well as the various free hands. I am also extremely satisfied with how the robes/ hood/ tabbard came out. I was worried that the mini may look OTT and comical but in my opinion at least it has an air of menace and mystery, which is what I was going for!

Having cimpleted the dreadnought I almost packed my paints away but decided instead to have a crack at the Drop pod, whilst I was on a roll. I hadn't intended to finish it... but I did!

I'm over the moon with how this turned out. In future I might use transfers but I'm more than happy enough with the free hand insignia that have been partially chipped off. Doing the chevrons was a night mare and I haven'y done much detail on the inside but I'm toying with the idea of gluing it shut as it falls open all the time much to my irritation.

The weathering was great fun to do and involved a lot of inks, stippling, rubbing with kitchen towel, overbrushing with metals and grimy washes.

What do you think of it? I was aiming to make it look like it was a utilitarian device solely for the purpose of delivering the dreadnought from space to the surface as quickly as possible. Working order, no aesthetic up keep when on campaign. Besides- when it lands during a game its just landed, not fallen off a conveyor belt on Mars...

@Nomrana- I would usually agree with your opinions about battlefield medics being medics before soldiers. Ordinarily I'd agree with marines too. But not Deathwing; The pursuit of the Fallen is primary. Above everything. Above commitment to humanity, the emperor and duty to the survival of the chapter itself. I imagine that the Deathwing would rather use their last breath and have no successors in the wiping out of the Fallen than letting their treacherous brethren survive for even a second longer than is within their power to grant. Or something...

@Gearhart- Thanks for stoppping in as ever! I prime black not white out of habit. Also I hate painting over white... I understand shadows much better working from dark to light with miniatures and so prefer to add the lighter coulours- I feel I get more depth this way, although I freely admit painting white over black is an absolute nightmare... I'm looking to try out some of the new GW paints- apparently the new white has superior coverage to Skull White that was...

so thoughts? Comments? What do you want to see painted next (except Leo- he's a reward for finishing the project!)

A.

[Hadriel Caine]

@Lt.DustyMillar- here are a couple of scale comparison pictures for you:


with one terminator using the Micro Arts Legs and one using my own sculpted ones


with FW titan crew, own sculpt terminator and Lion El'Jonson

and, just for fun;


with a drop pod, serf and the Dread.

As you can see he's big, whilst shorter than the terminators. Which is good as that's what I was aiming for!
Hope that helps.

A.

[Gearhart]

fantastic! i really like it and my i suggest trying a grey primer? as an experiment? i can get them at walmart here but testors should be a good choice if you cant find a cheap can of grey ive used it as well for covering black and it works wonders, just give it a try i would love to see how it works for you

[Nomrana Est]

@Nomrana- I would usually agree with your opinions about battlefield medics being medics before soldiers. Ordinarily I'd agree with marines too. But not Deathwing; The pursuit of the Fallen is primary. Above everything. Above commitment to humanity, the emperor and duty to the survival of the chapter itself. I imagine that the Deathwing would rather use their last breath and have no successors in the wiping out of the Fallen than letting their treacherous brethren survive for even a second longer than is within their power to grant. Or something...

Well, I can't really argue with that, especially the way you put it. I can certainly imagine that sort of zealotry in the Deathwing, so it's certainly more relevant that the Apothecary leans more towards combating the Fallen.

Anyways, the Dread and Drop Pod look great, the Drop Pod especially. The weathering you've done on it really shows off the effect you wanted, as if it had just dropped from orbit and survived some serious frictional heat, as well as making it appear a utilitarian and much used vehicle. Much kudos to you on that.

I really like where this project is going, and would very much like to see more.

[Kap'n Krump]

I can think of nothing better for my drop pod to become, looks flawless man. I have nothing to say on it, my jaw honestly just droped.
I got a bit giddy at the dread, then more giddy at the checks. Not OTT at all man - grim, menacing, intimidating. Genuinly has that "going to hunt you" feel and very tasty free hand. Everything about it is what iv come to expect from you and im glad your still going.

The scale shots just made me love the tecki more. As for whats next, i forget whats left... regardless it will involve white.

[Hadriel Caine]

Well... I had my first game with these guys yesterday at The Outpost in Sheffield; its a cracking new independent store catering for more than just GW and with some wicked facilities. I was playing against my good friend Peaoui (Andy) who was using his rather nice Alpha Legion (some of whom can be found here http://www.warseer.com/forums/showth...he-inside-quot).

We rolled up for capture and control with the standard table edge set up. Andy won the roll to go first and put his objective in this rather pesky tower:


He set up a VAST number of tactical and devastator marine squads using combat squads and arrayed them across the length of his deployment zone:


I deployed two Terminator squads- one on my objective and the other opposite his, in the open.

I failed to seize the initiative and Andrew fired god knows how many heavy weapons at the squad in the open... two terminators failed their invulnerable saves against lascannons and plasma cannons and it was my turn.

I deepstriked the chaplain and belial's squads. The chaplain ended up where I hoped, just short of the objective

but Belial ended up scattering off the table, allowing Andy to place them anywhere on the board...

This was unhelpful at best...

The apothecary in the Alpha Legion command squad saved the brunt of the chaplain's firepower and only one marine was removed.

Andrew cast a psychic power on his Librarian 'Null Zone' or something like that which forced me to re-roll invulnerable saves... This was not good. Having presented most of Andrew's army with only one target the squad was first thinned and then removed completely


During this time the lascannons took out another tow marines from my squad on the right and his plasma cannon somehow scattered into the centre of my squad in cover, vaporizing two.

At this point I deepstriked my Dreadnought in the drop-pod (having forgotten that I could have done this in turn one). He stepped out of the transport, using it as LOS cover from the devastators and completely wiped out a sternguard squad AND Epistolary with one salvo from his plasma cannon and storm bolter ('It's only a storm bolter' famous last words mate!)


The rest of the game involved my dreadnought stomping through marines at a steady pace of 1-2 a turn (after being unable to shoot for a turn I leapt into combat with the second Librarian) Andrew kept missing with his Sergeant's powerfist and I kept grinding the squad down, but too slowly.

When footslogging Belial et al eventually caught up with some of Andrew's marines they clobbered them. Leaving them well in the open to be shot at and die variously... Lascannons finished off Belial, the Standard and the plasma cannon dealt with the sergeant. The apothecary and assault canoneer survived the game. End of the game Andew still held his objective and contested mine.

result? LOSS.

lessons learnt;
-deepstrike with the shooty units to maximize the effect of arriving
-don't go all out for the objective on turn one
-the whole point of droppods is in allowing you to turn up on turn one...
-focus fire things and don't charge people with heavy weapons into combat in terrain. They WILL die.
-don't deploy in LOS with terminators- they can move and shoot heavy weapons so there is no point being exposed in the opponent's first turn...

At the end of the day though I was simply outmanoeuvred, outgunned and outplayed. I was unlucky with armour saves but then I always am and should expect as much.
Also the librarian Psychic power that made me re-roll invulnerable saves was a nasty trick.

Andrew's army was tooled up to fight terminators with lots of plasma (about 8 pistols, 3 guns and a cannon) and lascannons. Combat squads meaning I was wasting attacks wiping out 5 men not 10 and being left in the open for his shooting phase.
I don't think his list would be that successful in a tournament setting but he knew how to beat me!

hope you enjoyed that

A.

[Hadriel Caine]

...and some responses to the plog!

@Gearhart- I'll give grey a go on my next project; a small addition to this force... A truescale deathwatch kill team!
@Nomrana- I'm glad you like the vehicles. I would like to make a 1750 point force (this is currently 1500) and I think another dread is definitely on the cards- its my birthday next month and I want a contemptor.
@Kap'n- cheers for the praise buddy. I'll be honest I have been putting off painting it because its so flat and daunting. I'm pleased I did a good job of it. how's the traded battlewagon working out for you? I wanna see what you've been painting too! I think I'll paint a couple of the heavy weapons guys when I've finished the apothecary so that I can put fully painted squads down rather than 3/5 in each...

cheers

A.

[Peaoui]

It certainly was a very fun game. 'man/corpse' of the the match had to be your dred though. He was pesky to say the least, maybe he should join forces with scoobie doo?? It was nice to play against a nicely painted and themed army, always makes for a better game.

Also, The Outpost was a great venue, if you live in/near sheffield check it out because they are starting a guest game series where they will bring in a non GW game and promote it. So far they have done Dystopian Wars and it looks great!

Good game Hadirel, my guys were great shots so Im sure you can salvage some termie armour from the field for your new recruits??

[salarath]

Great stuff, the freehand banner is awesome, reminds me a bit of Alan lee's rings style artwork- good job! The match report is interesting, if you were to replay it how might you deploy differently?

[Gearhart]

...and some responses to the plog!

@Gearhart- I'll give grey a go on my next project; a small addition to this force... A truescale deathwatch kill team!
@Nomrana- I'm glad you like the vehicles. I would like to make a 1750 point force (this is currently 1500) and I think another dread is definitely on the cards- its my birthday next month and I want a contemptor.
@Kap'n- cheers for the praise buddy. I'll be honest I have been putting off painting it because its so flat and daunting. I'm pleased I did a good job of it. how's the traded battlewagon working out for you? I wanna see what you've been painting too! I think I'll paint a couple of the heavy weapons guys when I've finished the apothecary so that I can put fully painted squads down rather than 3/5 in each...

cheers

A.

haha great im glad i cant wait to see those! ill be waiting and i just found out im finally getting a gamesworkshop store 30min from me!!!! haha total win after 5 years... better late then never haha