Tag: Imperial Knights

Warhammer 40,000 – Big Weekend

As Coronasan’s whole female contingent had decamped to the US for 2 weekends we decided to get a couple of larger games in, while the cats were away as it were.

Weekend one was to be Warhammer 40,000 focused and would consist of a couple of games. One larger and one more normal in scale.

Weekend two would be a very large Steam Wars Game that we expected to take all day.

Coronasan has a report of the first fight we played on the first of our big weekends.  We pitted one Reaver Titan against all the Knights I could muster…

I started full of optimism and charged head long towards the mechanical behemoth. Only to find my knights dropping like flys as it swatted at them, and eventually flattened the last of them under its somewhat titanic feet…

A great little game and one we have talked about playing for years it seems…  Now ticked off the list for a while. At least until that itch needs scratching again!

The second game lasted slightly longer, but only just, as my Space marines (an Imperial Fist successor chapter) took on the Blood Angels.

My force was a fast detachment of jump troops and Landspeeders and an elite detachment of Terminators, Vanguard jump troopers and Sternguard riflemen.

With the Blood Angels having almost as many late deploying troopers as I did we expected the lines to be blurred from the start.  My terminators and their Librarian deployed behind the Blood Angels main line and the Blood Angels Jump Troopers and Terminators dropped behind my own troops.

It was down to weight of numbers in the end with the larger Blood Angels units carrying the day and clearing the smaller elite units out of their defensive positions fairly quickly.

My Vanguard were unable to charge due to some very poor dice rolling after they deployed.  Before they were even able to regroup, they were out flanked and wiped from the battlefield in only one turn.

Two losses in one weekend…  A major defeat but a good time had all the same.

Warhammer 40,000 – Space Marine Veterans

With the prospect of a game of Warhammer 40,000 against Coronasan’s Blood Angels planned, and a points limit of 75 power set for the encounter, I have been forced to limit myself to only 3 Imperial Knights in my army.  That however leaves me with 7 points to fill from somewhere else, because sadly no Imperial Knight unit is available for less than 9 power…

Time to fall back on the old faithful Space Marines.  Mine are a chapter that was started over 15 years ago when GW released their first range of spray paints.  I undercoated all my existing plastic and metal Space Marines, along with all my vehicles, in ‘Shadow Grey’.  I later found out that the pots of brush on Shadow Grey were a completely different colour to the spray paint.  A consequence of that poor paint choice has been that I have had a devil of a time painting them since then. I actually dread painting the miniatures as errors cannot be corrected easily, and new parts or figures can’t be added to the existing units without them being painted in a completely different colour…

The answer was to paint any new Space Marine units that I added to the army in a completely different colour.  Then add a dash of that colour to the older figures to either cover up errors or to help link them to their newer brethren.  As the new Space Marines are bright yellow (likely to be another poor colour choice, only time will tell) I have painted the helmets of the Sergeants in these units yellow to both tie them in and show their Veteran Sergeant status.

I only needed 5 Veteran Sternguard Marines for the 7 power that I had to fill.  However, I ended up painting up 11 men, as that was how many I found in the old Space Marines box that matched the look I wanted and the unit profile.

(Please note: I am not a traditionalist when it comes to GW Space Marine armies, so these figures are armed in a haphazard manner that can be loosely translated to: if they have two guns its likely to represent a combi weapon profile of some sort… Anyone who does not play 40k will have no idea what I am talking about at this point I suspect!)

Why on earth did I paint 11 figures you may ask, especially when the minimum size for the unit is 5 men and the maximum is 10..?   Well, that way I can field 2 units of 5 men, each with their Veteran Sergeants wearing yellow helmets, or one larger 10 man unit with only one Veteran Sergeant. Fielding the larger unit leaves me with a yellow helmeted chap that can be played as either a Lieutenant, Captain or General Orificer if I have the points spare…  Simple…

Warhammer 40,000 – Missile Rack

My original Missile pod for the Knight kit was added to my Knight Gallant and painted in green to match is livery.  Not my best move as it looks slightly odd when used with any of my blue liveried Knights…

A replacement original Knight part on eBay appears to retail somewhere between £8- £15…  So, as it was always likely that I would be looking for a cheaper alternative, I took advice from Coronasan and tried out a missile rack from the GW Taurox transport kit instead.  This retails for about £3 on eBay so was a much cheaper option.

The main issue with this part is that it is designed to go under a roof panel and have its lower side up against the model.  As I wanted it perched up on a domed carapace a slight adjustment was required.

A couple of wires, and a piece or two of MDF offcut, and any obvious holes were covered. After that it was a case of slotting in a magnet and spraying it blue.  Again, its too warm to paint with a brush, so it too will have to sit aside for a few days before I get to finish it off properly…

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knights Army Photos, Just Because I Can

Its too hot to paint in the shed again and, as they are about to go into their boxes, I thought some of you would appreciate a group shot and rundown of the new Imperial Knights Army.

An army that only took me about 3 weeks to complete…  An astounding pace for me…

Two caveats on this post 1) The lighting is poor in the shed in the mornings but you get the idea.  2) I have not used these in an actual game so the effectiveness of their load out and battlefield role is my best guess at present…

Knight Gallant: A close combat monster with missile launcher (to be fired on the way in).

Knight Crusader: A shooter that can put out a huge number of mid to long range shots from its pair of cannons. Also mounting an anti-aircraft gun on its carapace, as I just know that a few flyers will be headed my way as opponents.

Knight Armiger Helverins: Agile long range shooters to lend support to their bigger brother.

Knight Paladin: An all rounder that can close with the enemy or stand off and shoot.  Again with a AA mount on its carapace (until I can source a second set of missiles).

Knight Armiger Warglaives: A pair of close combat attack dogs.  I suspect these will be useless against troops in units above 5 men strong but will happily dismantle any Space Marine Terminators or vehicles they come across.

As a bit of added flexibility, my Knight Gallant is also playable as a cleaner, less corrupted, brother to my original, Nurglesque, Knight Errant: A Renegade Knight that sports an AA mount on his carapace and enough heavy fire power to burn through, or crush, any other heavy vehicle he manages to get close to…

Warhammer 40,000 – Final Knight Completed

From a Blog point of view I am calling my Imperial Knights project complete.  When I came home from holiday I did not expect to be off work this long or have a new 40K force finished before I returned to work.  That’s the joy of this hobby I guess. It allows you to remain somewhat distracted from life’s little issues and provides you little wins that can help to raise your spirits.

The last of the Imperial Knight models benefitted from a more organised painting process than the last three.  Some detail work was done before the final construction, which made a few of the bits easier to work with.

As I don’t know which will work best yet, the guns in the left armpit have been magnetised on this one.  The carapace weapon system from the last Knight (a set of AA guns) and the one on this Knight (a missile launcher) are also magnetised so that they can be used on either model.  I should have thought the colour through a bit further, as both work on this model but the green missile unit stands out as odd on the blue knight… (Maybe I should just try to get my hands on a second missile unit…)

With decals applied another layer of colour is added.

This is a close combat specialist so a whopping great chainsword is a must.

So much detail that I chose not to paint.  There is always an option to return to these and add more if it bothers me in the long run.

The base is suitably matched to the last six Knights, but also generic enough to be used in any dark based force as an allied detachment if I want.

I have not, as is usual for me, followed any real heraldic 40K lore for the placement of the decals.  Just adding them where I felt they looked ok.  I was running low on larger decals so had to use a couple of paired smaller ones to cover some of the wider plates.

A big power fist provides him with his second close combat weapon. Being equipped with a set of paired close combat weapons makes him the cheapest of the larger Knights and defines him as a Knight ‘Gallant’.

Having lots of skulls and a slightly ‘Green’ colour scheme makes him stand out a little from the other Knights, and allows me to consider him as a option to field in my Chaos Death Guard army.  Followers of the chaos gods do like to cover themselves in sets of skulls.  He is, perhaps, a little ‘clean’ for Papa Nurgle though…

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knight Storage Options

Yesterday was too hot to paint so, as the shed has been feeling slightly cluttered lately, I decided to get s few things tidied up and put a few things away.  The completed Knights have not so much been put away as found a home.

When Maplins sadly closed its doors recently, I made the effort to pop in and help them clear their shelves slightly.  I picked up a set of three silver tool cases, in small, medium and large, along with a couple of their more expensive pick’n’pluck cases.

Its not like I needed them for anything at the time but, like so many boys of a certain age, I have a ‘thing’ about buying bags… Don’t know why…

This collection of silver cases are one of the many things that have been making the shed feel slightly over filled of late.  In this instance they came in handy though.

The two pick’n’pluck cases are big enough to hold my seven Imperial Knights as well as a Nurglesque Renegade Knight I purchased to support my Death Guard forces but haven’t played as yet.  This should allow me to store them safely rather than be forced to put them in the display case (which I really should try to tidy out this week as it is looking just like a very obvious glass storage box at the moment).

I plan to head out to the shed and finish the last of the seven Imperial Knights as I write this so, if the next post doesn’t show it completed, you will know that I got distracted again…

Warhammer 40,000 – Finished Knights (Almost)

In my last post I think I called these guys finished.  Obviously I was not correct as their bases were still unattached…

I don’t spend much time on bases as a rule. I find them more of an after thought in most instances.  I only tend to match bases it they are for an army (like the red earth bases for my Steam Wars Martians).  Otherwise they are often quite random affairs.

These guys have such large bases that they are almost as obvious as the model itself.  I have looked at some more artistic bases online and decided I was not up for that, so these were based similarly to my Marine 40K army (a self mixed sand, stone chip and black flock).  To tie in a couple of models as a ‘Unit’ or ‘Lance’ I added in a couple of matching additions.

In this case the additions were a couple of bits of plaster, that had been moulded from some cobblestones, a trial greenstuff mould taken from a pavement drain and some hatches from a set of MDF balcony (fire escape) sets.

There is something quite pleasant about painting individual cobblestones in a random mix of colours.  With the blobs of brown and silver applied it was time for the flock.

Not an exciting set of bases but they will be fine for a set of table top quality Knights.

As they are similar in design to my Marines, if I chose to at a later date, I can play the Knight as a detachment supported by my Space Marine infantry.

I will need to get the last of these painted and then set them up for a proper army photo shoot.

An army of Seven miniatures…

Warhammer 40,000 – Getting Back Some Of My Mojo

After what seems like a week of going into the shed, sighing, then leaving without getting anything done. I have managed to move a couple of the bigger jobs along.

In my more muddled state of mind, I got everything wrong with these guys.  I prepped the wash I planned to use in a pallet before starting to paint the brass sections. In the 40 degree heat of the shed that would have meant that it would be dried out long before I got to use it.  When I realised my mistake, I did what all good modellers do, and just pushed on…  Sod it, the brass on these would be less than visible under all the armour anyhow.

The slightly uneven surface to the silver paint, caused by the can running out, means that it has held on to more of the dark tone wash. This has provided a darker colour to these chaps than the last lot.  Not horrible but more notable than before.

The larger Knight was done without adding any dark tone wash as I calculated it would be almost a whole bottle to cover this chaps chassis.  Not worth the expense and, as I cannot go out at the moment, it would mean that I had none left in the shed for the next week or so.

As before I relied on the decals to bring back some of the colour variation that a three colour paint jobs lacks.  I will likely go back over the lens and a couple of silver or brass sections but these are about as done as it gets for my Knights.

I matched the placements of the decals to the last set of Armigers, so that they were at least similar (promoting more of an army theme).  If I have one grumble to bring up with these kits, it would be that the gun shield, small as it is, is a poor fit.  It has no real retaining ring, or tab, so getting it to lay straight on the gun is a bit more fiddly than it should be. This is more notable because the remainder of the kit is so well designed. Every other part is an almost perfect fit so why these are such a pain I do not know.

With the larger Knight also decaled up, the trio looks quite good in their matching livery.

So, that only leaves me to start on the final build of my ‘Freeblade’ Knight to complete the force.  I plan to be a bit more organised with this one and learn from my mistakes on the last three…

So far I am quite pleased with the overall look of these guys.  ‘Tabletop ready’ might be the best way to describe them, but they are ready none the less.

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knights More Basic Colours Done

Another batch of basic jobs completed. At least its warm and sunny outside while I am at home.  Perfect for undercoating and primary colour application.

The shed is usually well stocked with rattle cans in a range of basic colours, but after so many sessions base coating these new Knights, I have gotten through an awful lot of silver paint.

So much so that on the last turn of these Helverins (sadly the turn that pointed their faces towards me) the damn can ran out and spat a few larger blobs of paint all over what may be the most obvious side of them (mental note: paint faces first and under carriage and arses last in future).  I believe its the same rule with bars of soap and towels too…

The basic livery colours are also done.  I am undecided as to whether I will keep this layout, or try alternating the leg plate colours, on these guys as yet.  I will likely put them aside until their larger Lord is done first and follow his lead by matching whatever I decide to do with the armour plates on him.

Warhammer 40,000 – Imperial Knights Small Update

Only a small update today.  I have not been in the right health or frame of mind for painting lately and I have not managed to get out to the shed in the last few days.  The posts you see may seem relatively normal, but have been cunningly timed to look like I am consistently working away at a good rate.  I have had some time off work due to illness and any free time, however unexpected or unwanted, should be used well if you can. Sadly I have been feeling quite poorly (please feel free to give sympathy and encouragement – none will make me feel better but it does wonders for the person giving it I am told) so I have not been able to use the time as well as I might have wanted…

When I am able to I try to pop out the shed.  It breaks up the monotony of being at home, alone while the good lady is at work, and stops me being tempted to watch what passes for entertainment on daytime television. I have been able to get lots of basic jobs completed but not any of the even mildly detailed work…

Clipping and trimming are easy enough, and don’t require much focus.  If I get too carried away with it all I can sometimes manage to stick stuff together too…  The last of the basic jobs in the shed, and the last of the waiting Imperial Knights kits that I have, are these Armiger Helverins which will eventually be liveried in the same colours as my other ‘shooty’ Knight, the Crusader.