Dropzone Madness

Time for an overdue Dropzone Commander post!

I've finally finished my friend Bryan's UCM Army that I promised to complete many moons ago.

Here then is 1,500 or so points of the Forces of the Reconquest!

(x2) Squads of Legionnaires (3 bases per squad) with (x2) Bear APC's and Condor Medium Dropship
(x2) Squads of Praetorians (2 bases per squad) with (x2) Raven-B Light Dropships
(x4) Wolverines with (x2) Raven-A Light Dropships
(x2) Falcon Gunships
(x3) Sabre Main Battle Tank with Condor Medium Dropship
(x3) Rapier Anti-Air Tank with Condor Medium Dropship
(x1) Kodiak Armoured Command Vehicle with Condor Medium Dropship
(x2) Archangel Interceptors

And here is my own slowly expanding PHR Division of the 7th Fleet .

(2) Squads of Immortals (2 bases per squad) with (x2) Juno A1 IFV's and Neptune Medium Dropship
(x2) Squads of Sirens (2 bases per squad) with (x1) Triton A1 Light Dropship (another pending)
(x2) Ares Type 1 Main Battle Walker, (x2) Phobos Type 1 Main Battle Walker, (x2) Menchit Type 1 Main Battle Walker and Poseidon Heavy Dropship
(x1) Zeus Type 2 Command Battle Walker, (x1) Hyperion Type 2 Heavy Battle Walker and Neptune Medium Dropship
(x2) Apollo Type 3 Strike Walker and Neptune Medium Dropship
(x1) Athena Air Superiority Fighter
(x1) Hades Type 4 Superheavy Walker

Bonus photos courtesy of JR Miniatures showing some of the models above with their new line of 10mm scenery.

PHR Neptune (Dropship), Zeus and Phobos (Walkers) face off against a UCM Condor (Dropship), 3 Rapiers (AA Tanks) and 3 Wolverines (Scout buggies).

A Poseidon Dropship, 2 squads of Immortals and a Triton Dropship join the fray.

The PHR left flank swoops in.

2 squads of PHR Sirens disembarked prior to securing critical Intel, Overwatched by a Menchit, Zeus, 2 Ares and 2 squads of Immortals.

Fleet Command monitors the action from orbit.

Definitely a step-up in quality from my kitchen table and humble mobile phone camera!

The Horror Coalesces...

The majority of the Mortis Engine spirit swarm is finally finished.

If you look closely you can see the clear acrylic pin I added to provide extra support when assembling the model to it's base.

Next up, adding the spirit swarm's separately painted weapons and the finished base!

Parting the Mist...

More progress on the Mortis Engine Spirit Swarm.

Over the GW Astronomican Grey base-coat I applied a wash of 1 part old GW Hawk Turquoise with 4 parts GW Lahmian Medium. To this I progressively added Astronomican Grey, then old GW Space Wolves Grey and finally GW Ceramite White. I then put an even thinner Hawk Turquoise wash over everything to keep the blue-green colour on all parts of the model. In the deep shadows and at the transition to the armour and robes I applied GW Guilliman Blue Glaze.

On the spirit mist I tried to achieve more of a water colour effect rather than the dustyness of dry-brushing. This gives a good contrast to the skeletons, skulls and bones.

"Something wicked this way comes..."

Rising from the grave is my new Vampire Counts army for Warhammer. The model currently being summoned via my painting table is the diabolical Mortis Engine.

I'll post as I make progress on the various sub-assemblies. Working from the ground up we have the beginnings of the Spirit Swarm. This will carry the Unholy artifact and it's attendant into battle.

 

Step 1. As two separate assemblies, the Spirit Swarm is base-coated with old GW Astronomican Grey. All of the skeletal shapes are painted Army Painter Skeleton Bone. I will also be painting the shields and some of the weapons separately.

Step 2. The skeletal areas are first washed with GW Reikland Fleshshade. After this wash has dried, a second wash of GW Agrax Earthshade is applied.

Once this second wash is dry the skeletons were dry-brushed with Army Painter Skeleton Bone, then highlighted with further dry-brushing by incrementally adding GW Ceramite White to the Skeleton Bone. A detailed shot of this can be seen in the first image on this blog post. Note that the grey base-coat has been touched up around the skeletons, and the armour has been base-coated in Game Color Hammered Copper.

Dropzone Commander - PHR Painting Guide

I've had requests for more information on how I painted my Dropzone Commander Post-Human Republic vehicles. What follows is a detailed step-by-step guide following the assembly and painting of a pair of Apollo Type III Strike Walkers.

 Step 1a. First clean all the parts in warm soapy water - I find that I get a more consistent application of primer if I do this. Assemble the upper and lower chassis' with superglue. In the side slot on the upper chassis, drill a hole to add a magnet for mounting the weapon (either RX1-L Railgun for an Apollo-A or a RX-13 Manslayer for the Apollo-B). Drill a hole into the weapon to add the matching magnet. Fill the weapon mount slot with putty (I used Play Doh) so that it doesn't get clogged with paint during priming.

 Step 1b. Remove the post on the top of the lower chassis and glue a magnet in the same position to replace it. Drill out the underside upper chassis deep enough so that the matching magnet allows the upper chassis to sit at the correct height when mated.

 Step 2. Prime the parts. I used an old sprue with magnets glued to it as a painting stick for both the upper and lower chassis'. I primed the parts with Army Painter Skeleton Bone.

 Step 3. To remain consistent with my two tone colour scheme, I painted some panels on the upper and lower chassis' GW Ceramite White.

 Step 4. With a black Pixma brush pen, I painted in the individual "pore" dots on the upper and lower chassis. The vents and grills were carefully washed with GW Nuln Oil, then drybrushed Army Painter Skeleton Bone to re-highlight.

 Step 5. I then lined in all of the bone and white coloured panel seams with GW Reikland Fleshshade.

 Step 6. The metallic underside of the upper chassis, exposed backs of the legs and weapon barrels were painted with old GW Chainmail. The four engine exhausts were painted with Game Color Hammered Copper.

 Step 7. All of the previously painted Chainmail is then liberally washed with GW Nuln Oil. The Copper is washed with GW Agrax Earthshade. Allow a good hour or more to dry.

Step 8 and 9. The washed metal (Chainmail and Copper) is then dry-brushed with old GW Mithril Silver. The bone panels are highlighted with several applications of Army Painter Skeleton Bone slowing adding GW Ceramite White up to pure white points.

And finally shots of the Apollo walkers with final detailing. This includes painting the green, red and blue lens' (similar to the Eldar vehicles in this blog), and some simple decals denoting the fleet and vehicle registration.

Hades Type IV Superheavy Walker ready for deployment

The forces of the Post Human Republics 7th Fleet have recently been bolstered by the arrival of a giant mecha-scorpion of awesomeness - the Hades Superheavy Walker!

An absolute joy to paint. Hopefully it plays just as well on the battlefield!

 For scale comparison.

The Hades alongside a Poseidon dropship, stand of Immortals  Infantry, and an Ares Type I Walker.

Before final assembly.

Turret complete, body still to be highlighted and the legs and feet waiting for wash and final highlights.

Eldar Wave Serpent Complete!

With the release of the new Eldar Codex for Warhammer 40,000, the unit that has the internet buzzing is the venerable Wave Serpent.

At the same time that I purchased my Hornet and Lynx from Forgeworld I also got the Type II upgrade kit for this model. Needless to say, much cleaning and reforming in hot water was required to get the (very few) additional resin parts to fit.

The Wave Serpent is based on the Falcon chassis, first released back in 1993! The sprues do show their age, needing a lot of flash clean-up, but the components still assemble very well.

I painted the tank chassis as 4 separate pieces, 3 of which are the underside. The top hull includes the Forgeworld resin rear "fin" preassembled (with a lot of Liquid Green Stuff). The sundry other pieces (weapons, turret, vanes, gems etc.) were also painted separately.

Here's what every part (including some that I didn't use) looked like fully painted, just prior to assembly.

Fresh from the Bonesingers, here then is Craftworld Thae Anor's shiny new Dedicated Troop Transport ready for action.

 

A group shot of the Craftworld's full armoured complement.

Soon (I hope) some Guardians will make an appearance...