Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Shadow Crows

We are scattered, we are lost, but we are not yet dead. We become Crows now, until the 10th flies high once more." - Commander Korvydae, Shadowcaptain of Raven Guard 10th Company, “The Shadow Crows”

Here is a look at the beginnings of my newest 40k addition. Rather then rewrite the whole thing, here is a mostly copypasted post from the ATT forum..

Thoughts Behind the Army:
When I began to plan for this army I decided that I wanted a few specific things.
Jump Packs, Lightning Claws, and Beakies. Raven Guard became an obvious choice, and I did enjoy what little fluff they have.

While Shrike or Korvydae's Forgeworld rules would work OK for a jump pack list, I feel the Blood Angels DOA rules really make it much more viable, but I really did not want another red army. Korvydae's rules mimic Dante (although he is very much Dante's junior), so I chose to establish him at a time where he has grown considerably in power, and perhaps at the head of a more gritted force. My Korvydante army was born.

I was rather disappointed with the showing for Raven Guard in the Imperial Armor book. I've modeled this force off of an interpretation of Korvydae further on in his life. His company have been torn asunder, and he has gone a bit crazy trying to replenish these losses. I'm not entirely sure if he has been ousted from the RG, possibly to atone by overseeing a newly founded chapter at this point. Their equipment colors have been stripped down to base materials either in penance or because they have been cast off. It is possible that they have uncovered long lost equipment belonging to the original legion, maybe even some of Corax' experiment chambers. It can be a rather tired idea in some space marine stories, but one that could explain the method of advancing newer recruits into marines in such a small force, and gene-instability mimicking the red thirst.

I will be trying to avoid overly Blood Angel units like Sanguinary Guard and Death Company for now, though I do plan to have some things that stretch RG fluff. Sanguinary priests will be lore keepers with relics or banners reclaimed from the dropsite massacre, my librarian Furioso was made mostly just for the sake of modelling him, etc..

Current Showing:
The army is forming in tune to a monthly escalation league. My killteam 200pt force performed very well, although I have chosen to give the scouts the boot for the next round. In their place, a librarian dread and a fully fleshed out assault squad to bring it to 400.


I have since modelled a second assault squad and 6man VanVet group, as well as a priest and librarian. I particularly like my repurposed Ezekiel shown here. I stripped my 10year old paint job, and hacked up his feet quite a bit, but I think it was for the better. Pictures of the assault squad and VanVets will follow next week. At present force I have 1250pts, though that is including the scouts which dilutes the jumppack idea a bit. I plan to play this army for awhile and determine if I want to go up to a 2k force. I most likely would add another assault squad, another priest, and an honor guard with Korvydante.


______________________________________________

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Mass Effect Model - Normandy SR1 Complete!


After much taping, detailing, and airbrushing, the Normandy is complete! This was my first complete scratchbuild, and it sure was taxing. But I learned a lot and I'm pretty happy with the end result.



The glare in the lighted pictures is due to my gloss coat coming out a bit fuzzy(it was drying too quick when leaving the airbrush) You can see how much it reflects when the light is on in the pictures due to the bumpy nature of the coating, but its still black without a flash. This isn't too big a deal as it is, but I should be able to fix it with a correct coat of gloss/matte finish. I will probably pick up a can tomorrow and test this out before packing up for shipping Tuesday.

Now for a break, and then to think about MEM2011 project :]


Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Normandy SR1 WIP continued



Well I am reaching the last few hurdles of the Normandy auctioned model. December was very busy, so I wasn't able to devote as much time to it until recently. After multiple failures at producing good plastic casts, I decided to go back to plaster. To offset the brittle nature, I've magnetized the wings for transit, and kept much of the thin parts in plasticard. The magnets work fairly well, but they will most likely have to be glued to keep the build secure after shipping.



As can be seen, the major coats are done, and now its detailing time! Heres hoping the winning bidder enjoys!



Projects on deck:
1k pt Shadow Crows, Raven Guard successor chapter (Blood Angels jump pack list)

~35pt Cryx army: ESkarre, PDenny, a bunch o' green LED's, satyxis, and deathjack :]