I managed to finish off the second Heavy Support choice for the 8th Tale of Even More Painters challenge - An Imperial Navy Vulture. As soon as Forge World released the model with the twin Punisher Cannon upgrades, I knew I had to have one. Taking the lessons learned in assembling the first Valkyrie served to make this model go together rather smoothly.

I managed to finish up the Valkyrie for the Tale of Even More Painters challenge #4 -Since most aerial assets used by the Imperial Guard are generally 'on loan' from the Imperial Navy, I decided to go with the sandstone color scheme I used on the Thunderbolt.


I went with a grey color scheme on the underside similar to the Thunderbolt as well. I plan to add some waterslide aquilas and various decorations, but I couldn't find the Micro-sol and I need to wait until I get more before I start that process.


I have an Apocalypse game coming up in a couple weeks, so I spent some time building several units that I need to make the points requirement, first up is another flyer - a Vulture gunship armed with twin punisher cannons. The model was just too cool to pass up!


Next up is a squad of Stormtroopers - made from a mix of Scouts (half 'vanilla' scouts and the other half are from the Land Speeder Storm kit), Catachan lasrifles and FW Cadian upgrade bits. I'm not 100% happy with the way the Hellguns turned out though, I'll likely sell these guys off once I get them painted and do a rebuild using the shotguns from the Scout sprues as a basis for the weapon, adding the scopes, cabling and lasgun muzzles. These turned out a bit more like Hellcarbines, I think.


Last up, and what will likely take the most work to finish in time for the game - the six remaining King Russ variant tanks. I decided to go with one squadron of 3 Vanquishers (led my a Knight Commander Pask proxy), and one other squadron including a 'vanilla' Leman Russ, a Punisher, and an Eradicator. I'm still figuring out how/whether I will add side sponsons to the tanks - they're designed to utilize the Predator sponsons, and I'm trying to figure out how to best use those in conjunction with the various weapon options included in the new Leman Russ Demolisher kit.


When all is said and done the addition of these models will bump the army up to just shy of 7,000 points. I think that should probably be enough Guard for most purposes!

Not a whole lot of hobby time this weekend I'm sorry to say, though I did manage to finish the eyes and skin, and lay down the undercoats for the main color scheme for the various models in the Regimental Command squad. Some of the faces turned out rather amusing (and I hope to get good close-up shots of the individuals as I finish them off), I slipped a bit while painting the Master of the Ordnance, and he ended up being severely cross-eyed. It being the guy who calls down the always-inaccurate artillery however, I decided to keep him that way. Similarly, the bodyguard not currently in the "getting shot" position ended up with a wild eyed, shell-shocked look.


As the regimental command squad is composed primarily of veteran guardsmen, I'm going with the reverse color scheme (grey fatigues, red armor) as I did for the Hardened Veterans. A couple notable exceptions - the medic wears white fatigues, and the astropath wears the standard green of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. The Officer of the fleet is in the standard blue tunic and white trousers and shirt, and the commissar is in basic black.

I'm hoping to get this squad polished off over the next few days, which will hopefully then give me time to finish off the Valkyrie I have half painted so far:


All of the Imperial Navy craft in the army will be painted in the brown/grey livery similar to the Thunderbolt I've painted in the past, I think that will give the aerial corps a sense of continuity.


I did paint the interior of the Valkyrie before I assembled and painted it, though the Vendetta I have planned will likely be sealed shut - I really did not enjoy builting the Valkyrie and I have to say I'm not looking forward to building another one. At least I figured out all the WRONG ways to put the kit together when I built this one, so perhaps the second go-round won't be quite so frustrating...

Woo-hoo!

Got a call from my FLGS this afternoon to let me know my order arrived:

Well, most of it anyway. I'd ordered three each of the Valkyrie, Sentinel and Cadian Command box sets, but only got two of the command and Valkyries. Probably for the best, there was a sharp stabbing sensation in my wallet as it was.

Haven't really had a chance to tear into the boxes just yet, but I'll post my thoughts on the new sprues in short order - it's a very exciting time to be a guard player!