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.