Working towards 1500 points of fiery Salamander fury!

[fluffy05]

Great update!

All the figures look very good. Wish they were mine

[constant_ones]

Your painting has a great velvety texture to it, not sure how you are achieving that kind of finish but it looks great!

[Rogerio]

Very very cool indeed, really nice and neat painting. The shade of green looks excellent, my mate does salamanders and they are a really nice army to do. Vulkan dosent half make them good as well!

[Leeman Russ]

These are awesome - very tempted to re-highlight the few that I've done in a similar light (also will speed up the process somewhat!)

[barjed]

Absolutely stunning! I have registered just to comment on your work, if that says anything . I think your minis are an excellent example how a relatively (meaning no fancy techniques) simple paintjob can produce such a lovely effect. If you don't mind, I am going to use this scheme on my Dark Eldar - it's not too dark, it's vibrant and sufficiently menacing for the evul spess elvez (plus the gold is contrasting nicely and we all know that DE love their gold) I've already ordered a can of AP Greenskin primer!

Anyway, I have some questions for you and would love to get some answers, if that's ok!

Your primer seems to be extremely smooth while I struggle with grainy (orange peel) effect on mine and it seems to happen no matter what I do. I use a spray stick, spray on my balcony and try to avoid days with high humidity but alas to no avail. I've used both Black and White Citadel Primers plus Black and Yellow Army Painter primers. You can see my SM Captain here covered in the grainy mess here - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/15148588/wh...2022.25.29.jpg

Your gold seems extremely smoothly finished. Did you use on of the Citadel golds (perhaps it's something from the new range?). I never seem to be able to paint gold that smoothly, no matter how much water I stuff into my palette. What wash did you use for the gold parts? Was it Gryphonne Sepia or something else?

In general, I am very impressed with the amount of shading your Thraka Green provided - I seem to always struggle with actually getting my washes into the crevices. Do you wash your entire fig or just crevices (seeing the milky smooth armor plates I am guessing it's the latter). Was it one layer of wash or did you wash multiple times?

Thanks a lot and again, wonderful job!

[kingofthesquats]

Thanks for all the kind comments guys! Sorry I've not been on to express my gratitude sooner, it's been a bit of a crazy week!

Barjed, I'm flattered you want to use similar techniques to me! There really isn't a lot to it, so you should be able to get the look you're after in no time.

With the army painter sprays my top tips are:

1. Shake the can for a full five minutes. It's a long time to shake a can, but I've had grainy results from army painter sprays in the past, and this is one thing about the process that I consciously changed and have seen better results from.

2. Spray no further than the recommended 20cm away. I used to spray from further, like a whole forearm away, but the recommendation from army painter is 20cm. Again after doing this, I got better results.

3. Finally, use 'sweeps' when you're spraying. Hold the nozzle down, 'sweep' over your models, and release. Try to get a good coverage without drowning them. Try to cover them with as few 'sweeps' as possible, as I believe this can increase the grainyness. I can't stress enough not to drown them though, I've had some horrible disasters with the plate metal army painter spray!!

For the gold I've used a coat of chainmail (awesome coverage), followed by a couple of coats of shining gold, then wash with Devlan Mud (although I'm now running out!) and highlight back up with shining gold. Nothing to it!

I completely covered the infantry with thraka green, and just applied it to the recesses on the vehicles. Army painter greenskin + thraka green = effortlessly shaded infantry! I think my vehivles could have a bit more definition, but I'll have another look at everything when I've finished painting 1750 points.

Which brings me onto my question for you guys. I had four mini-games of 6th ed. at my local GW today. I only won one but had a great time learning some of the new rules! I've come up with a new list to paint towards for 1750 points. I'd really really appreciate it if I could get some feedback, as I never seem to get comments on the army list threads. I don't want to grind anyone's face into the dirt, just so long as I have a 'solid' list!

Thank you in advance for any comments!

1750 points:

EDIT:
MM = Multi Melta
HF = Heavy Flamer
BP = Bolt Pistol
MBs = Melta Bombs
EA = Extra Armour
ML = Missile Launcher
PF = Power Fist
CM = Combi-Melta
CF = Combi Flamer

1750 points

190 Vulkan He’stan
175 Tactical Squad x5, CM, PF, Rhino, EA

140 Librarian, Terminator Armour c Storm Shield
555 TH/SS Terminators x7, Land Raider Crusader, MM, EA

220 Tactical Squad x10, Chainsword, CF, MBs, Flamer, ML, Rhino

115 Dreadnought, MM, HF
115 Dreadnought, MM, HF

70 Land Speeder, MM, HF
70 Land Speeder, MM, HF

100 Thunderfire Cannon

[barjed]

I completely covered the infantry with thraka green, and just applied it to the recesses on the vehicles.

And no clean up on the model? I mean, usually when I wash my models completely it tends to leave some nasty marks on large, flat surfaces (and marines have lots of them).

As for your list I would recommend Sternguards (with Meltas/CM or Flamers/CF) for Libby with The Gate of Infinity. You can then proceed to hop around the map with your squad (even if they get assaulted!) and melt your opponent's vehicles with your Meltas at short range.

[Veteran Sergeant]

I like the mid-mounted Razorback turret choice. It's how I chose to do mine, and makes much more sense for its field of fire.

Nice, neat paint job too.

[kingofthesquats]

And no clean up on the model? I mean, usually when I wash my models completely it tends to leave some nasty marks on large, flat surfaces (and marines have lots of them).

Good point! I should have been a bit more detailed with my explanation. When you've applied the wash and it had a little bit of time to decide where it wants to go, but BEFORE it's started drying properly, just use the tip of a brush in the pooling areas to 'suck' out some of the wash. It's not that tricky once you've done it a couple of times, and it means you can remove some of the wash if you've been too liberal with the wash, as I usually am!

Hope this helps, and thank you both for the comments, I like to get an extra half inch on my Razorback's range, and I'll bear that in mind about the Sternguard!

[Veteran Sergeant]

Haha. I wasn't really referring to the game advantage. I actually meant from an effectiveness of design perspective. But I guess there is that too.

[Alex_H]

Really nice looking army. I look forward to seeing more.

[barjed]

Good point! I should have been a bit more detailed with my explanation. When you've applied the wash and it had a little bit of time to decide where it wants to go, but BEFORE it's started drying properly, just use the tip of a brush in the pooling areas to 'suck' out some of the wash. It's not that tricky once you've done it a couple of times, and it means you can remove some of the wash if you've been too liberal with the wash, as I usually am!

Hope this helps, and thank you both for the comments, I like to get an extra half inch on my Razorback's range, and I'll bear that in mind about the Sternguard!

Thanks!

Also, a solo Land Rider will attract lots of fire. LOTS. Plus it costs a lot of points. Instead you could get some Beacons either on your Sergeants or your Drop Pod (that is if you use Drops for your Dreads) and then just Deep Strike them in.

Another option would be to consider a small squad of Scouts armed with the Sniper Rifles. With the recent buffs to sniping units in the new edition, a lot of people are going to dust them off (Eldar Pathfinders, Necron Deathmarks etc.).

[Adama16]

Awesome looking salamanders, looking forward to see more of this.

[kingofthesquats]

Haha. I wasn't really referring to the game advantage. I actually meant from an effectiveness of design perspective. But I guess there is that too.

Haha, I've shown myself up as a bit of a cheese monster! I think it looks better that way round too. I honestly thought that was its intended position when i built the kit, otherwise the vents would be in front of the gun?

Thanks for all the great comments guys! It'll keep my motivation up. I'm having a quick 40k break to paint some Cygnar Rangers for Warmachine, then i'm going to paint my first Land Speeder for these guys.

Cheers!

[Yorrik]

These Salamanders are exceptional. They are particularly smooth and showroom clean. Your Vulkan is beautiful, the purple mantle is a brilliant color choice that really makes the mini pop.

[Rogerio]

These are awesome - very tempted to re-highlight the few that I've done in a similar light (also will speed up the process somewhat!)

Yours look class mate i wouldnt worry about it! keep it up i say.

[kingofthesquats]

Yours look class mate i wouldnt worry about it! keep it up i say.

Hear hear!

[kingofthesquats]

Well it's been 4 months since an update!

I have been quietly working away on the army, and the finishing line is almost in sight! Here's the final 1750 points army list that I've been working towards:

190 Vulkan He’stan
240 Tactical Squad ‘I’ x10, CM/PF, Flamer, ML, Rhino

140 Librarian, TDA c SS
555 TH/SS Terminators x7, LRC, MM, EA

135 Tactical Squad ‘II’ x5, MBs, Razorback

115 Dreadnought, MM, HF
115 Dreadnought, MM, HF

120 2x Land Speeders c 2x HF
70 Land Speeder c 2x MM
70 Land Speeder c 2x MM

1750 points

All that is left to paint is the Heavy Flamer Land Speeders (that will be finished next weekend) and the Terminators and Terminator Librarian.

For 1500 points I'm going to drop the Dreadnoughts and use this list:

190 Vulkan He’stan
160 Tactical Squad ‘II’ x5, CM/PF, Rhino

140 Librarian, TDA c SS
540 TH/SS Terminators x7, LRC, MM

210 Tactical Squad ‘I’ x10, BP/MBs, Flamer, ML, Rhino

120 2x Land Speeders c 2x HF
70 Land Speeder c 2x MM
70 Land Speeder c 2x MM

1500 points

Once the Terminators are painted I will need a break from painting this army (I started it in January!), and to give myself a chance to play some games with it. However, I will eventually add a Sternguard squad so I can mix my lists up a bit. It will be made up of converted (see the first wip below) models and a Sternguard Squad box. I'll probably wait to ask for the Sternguad box for my birthday (February) off someone, to give myself enough of a break from painting this army!

So without further ado here's some pics of the newer stuff!

Land Raider Crusader:




2x double twin-linked (with Vulkan!) multi-melta Land Speeders:




Army shot!




Combi-melta Sternguard wip:





Cheers!

[Mega Nutz]

Great looking work, the shade of green your using is top notch.

[kingofthesquats]

It's been a few months! I've updated my army list (will post soon) after playing a few games with my army, and I've finished my Sternguard (pics soon). I won best painted army at a 40k event at Tabletop Nation in November... But my army was just about the only fully painted one! Anyway, I'm going to start some pre-heresy Emperors Children soon, and I want to share a conversion I've knocked together. I'm going to use the Chaos codex and I'm going to have a unit with Autocannons, here's the first mock up...



Hope you like!