# Forged in War!



## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Hails folks,
I'm pretty new to this board and found this Project Logs section to be an awesome thingy. I used to play a daemonhunters army (both puritan & radical) but I quit the game for a while as I had too much different things going on. 
Nowadays though, I yearn for a change, so I picked up the new Space Marine codex and started thinking about an army to do. 

I decided on Salamanders, as I like the scant bits of background they have, and really like the new special charachter Vulkan He'stan. 

The plan now is to start collecting a small force of about 500 points to begin playing. 

I went out and bought my first model today; a Space Marine Biker. This was destined to become my captain on a bike, armed with a deadly force weapon.
In my enthousiasm, I assembled, 'converted', based and pointed my fledgeling hero in 3 hours of hobby frenzy.

















The quality of the pictures sucks ass, I know, but I'll try to replace these webcam-shots with decent pics asap.

I'll add an army list and some fluff about my forces as well in the near future.
Let me know what you guys think, but about the models or the choice of army or whatever. Just be nice, or the Emperor will kick you.


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## Dies Irae (May 21, 2008)

I also love Salamanders, i wanted to play them for years (since Armagedon in fact), but i never started..now i just inished a 3000 point army list including "vulkan He'Stan" and aroud 100 Marines (4 Tacs,2Ass,2Dev,2Scouts = full company ^^ In only 3000 points^^ + a dread, a predator and a chaplain ^^ I'm so happy i cant just say it with these ^^s)

PS: Err...i dont see you mini... Can you fix it?


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Bardictraveller said:


> http://lh4.ggpht.com/_MdR3QHJohhs/SgnWFa8Zk8I/AAAAAAAAABM/PQxj-c8QI0c/Image000.jpg
> http://lh4.ggpht.com/_MdR3QHJohhs/SgnWFqpQzUI/AAAAAAAAABU/ijApMDSKOk0/Image001.jpg
> The quality of the pictures sucks ass, I know, but I'll try to replace these webcam-shots with decent pics asap.


I've just linked them for you. Unfortunately, you'll need to rehost (try Tinypic) your images for them to show. Looks like a nice enough model? Did you use the command squad standard arm and Company Champion sword? Nicely done.

For the painting, it looks a little flat, you might want to try flat lining on the edges of the green armour, and apply a brown wash over the gold to bring them out  Excellent start!


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Vaz said:


> I've just linked them for you. Unfortunately, you'll need to rehost (try Tinypic) your images for them to show.


thanks; will look into that as soon as i find the time.



Vaz said:


> Looks like a nice enough model? Did you use the command squad standard arm and Company Champion sword? Nicely done.


It's actually a normal space marine biker with the right arm of a Grey Knight Marine with a nemesis blade. I clipped of the little spike at the back end of the halbard to make it look more like a spear.



Vaz said:


> For the painting, it looks a little flat, you might want to try flat lining on the edges of the green armour, and apply a brown wash over the gold to bring them out  Excellent start!


I'm trying to get the flat paint to look table-top nice atm (I'm not really a great painter ) so highlighting and stuff we be for later on 

Thanks for the replies though, and keep 'em comming .


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Okay; little update 

Managed to take a few new pics of the Captain on the bike. 









As you can see, I only really paint for tabletop gaming quality. There's actually two reasons for this. First one is obvious; I'm not the world's greatest painter, and I'm actually really happy with how decent this model turned out (especially considering I've not touched a paintbrush in almost a year!). Second reason is time. My daemonhunter army is in so many ways incomplete just because I spend way too much time on one model. I intend to go back to my Grey Knights at some point in the future, possible using them as allies for my Salamanders.









As I wanted this model to represent my Captain in small games (40k40 or anything up to 1000pts), I used a standard space marine biker and replaced the right arm with a spare Grey Knight Nemesis force halberd. I clipped of the little spike at the back of the halberd to have it represent a spear of sorts as this fits the Salamanders background more (Spear of Vulkan anyone )
Also, I painted parts of the helmet & the shouldpad borders in gold to show his status. I used a transfer to show what company he leads (it's on his bike, on the right side of the front wheel).

A new model I just finished. It's a normal space marine with a bolter that had lying around. I got a lot of old(er) models from my brother that I used as allied space marines for my radical Daemonhunter army. 








Again, the paint job isn't the greatest, but if you look at it on the table during a game, it looks decent enough. 
When it comes to painting, I undercoat the models by hand with chaos black (I have a undercoat spray can, but somehow, I just prefer to do them by hand..) I paint the armor in dark angel green and everything metalic with boltgun metal. The eyes, targeter lens & right shoulderpad trim got a base of mechrite red (foundation paint). After that, I apply snot green on the armor, blood red on the red parts, and use shining gold on the parts that I want to look like gold (well duh). The base is Graveyard earth over a base of dark flesh. I use the salamander transfer on the left shoulderguard and a transfer or symbol on the right to show which squad the marine belongs to (Troop, Assault, Heavy Support,..)
The purity seal is graveyard earth over dark flesh as well, as I'm out of bleached bone 









I tried to freehand the arrow denoting tactical squad on this model because I screwed up the transfer (ripped it with my tweezers). Allthough it doesn't look to shabby, I'll use transfers for this in the future though.

Next model I'll be working on has a story all of it's own. 
Meet Brother-Marine Zyggysmundt...








Brother-Marine Zyggysmundt (Ziggy for the battle-brothers) used to be the only devastator marine in my bro's Dark Angel army *not* toting a plasmacannon (I still dread those things...). When my brother started a guard army and I got his space marines to add to my DH army, Ziggy became a Relictor waiting for a new paint job. During his long carreer, Ziggy's been through both the Maelstrom & the Eye of Terror countless times (and he looks it!). He earned a name of his own after surviving an entire shooting fase of Imperial Guard. Some of you may scoff at this, but here's the miracle... Ziggy was the last model of my army still on the table, opposed to aprox. 1200 points of guard. He dodged battle-cannon shells, basilisk fire, a absolute shitload of flashlights and several plasma & meltaguns. I've never gone to war without Ziggy, and he's never let me down. He survived each and every game I ever played. All the dodging and praying to the Emperor to protect his ceramite-encases buttocks does prevent him from ever hitting anything though...









Even Space Marine's compensate...

And now for something completely different;
This is the army I am collecting at the moment. It's a 500pts Salamanders strike force, which I'll later expand. The 500pts give me the oppertunity to re-learn the rules in quick games of 40k40, and are (relatively) cheap when it comes to buying models. I intend to work with a €12,5 (should be around £8) budget per month to collect everything I need.

*Salamanders 3rd Company strike force*
HQ
Brother-Captain Sor'ak with power glaive, mounted on a bike *(145pts)*

Troopts
Tactical Squad Dra'ko
Brother-Sergeant Dra'ko & 9 battle-brothers. 1 marine is armed with a flamer. Another is armed with a missile launcher *(170pts)*

Scout Squad Ru'ak
Brother-Sergeant Ru'ak & 4 scouts. 1 scout carries a missile launcher, the others, including Sergeant Ru'ak use sniper rifles *(85pts)*

Fast attack
Scout Bike Squad 'Fire Dragoons'
Brother-Sergeant B'ran and 3 scouts on bikes. 1 scout has an Astartes grenade launcher installed on his bike *(100pts)*

My battle-plan with this force would be to have the tactical squad break up in 2 combat squads, one with the sergeant and the flamer, the other with the missile launcher. the flamer squad would advance under cover fire from the snipers to deal with dug-in enemy and such nasties, while the missile launcher squad would see to dealing with stuff like vehicles, high thoughness beasties and suchlike. The schoutbikers, along with the captain would skirt around the side of the battlefield, pouring fire into the enemy flanks. Should the need arise, they can easily charge to the aid of any of the other squads. 
Mind you, I still have to test this strategy, so I'm not sure if this'll work out 

Season's greetings,
Matt


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## general (Feb 1, 2008)

Firstly, a very tidy model. Neatness is the first step with painting.

Secondly, whilst I sympathise with not wanting to spending too much time on paint jobs, there are a few simple techniquies that you could try.

Firstly with your metals (in guns engines etc.). Have you considered drybrushing? It doesn't take any longer than simply blocking in the colours, and adds a lot. I like this technique, as its quick and easy and produces reasonable results (although some seem to feel its 'too basic').

Secondly, have you considered washes? The new GW washes are fantastic. 
Below are some pics of some tests I did. I painted these guardians years ago, as a failed attempt to start eldar. I used the black wash (badab black I think) on the legs. To me seconds to do, and did a good job. The one on the left was washed, the one on the right was not.










Without wash









With wash









Hope this helps. I'm not meaning to say you have to do this, but it could allow you to get a tabletop ready army quickly, without having to sacrifice shading etc.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Thanks for the tips; will give them a shot  I'll have to go and buy some extra paints again though  Those will propably be on next month's 'buy'-list :d

In the mean time; I've scrounged through my left-over bits and models, and managed to find a full 10 man Space Marine squad, complete with converted Veteran Sergeant, flamer & missile launcher. Working on painting those now.

Keep the comments comming folks


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## jack (Oct 30, 2008)

I think these look really good.
General has some good advice and also another couple of coats would make it look a lot better.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

@jack; thanks m8 

Ziggy is back in action. with a fresh coat of paint, he'll be able to dodge and evade everything the enemies of the Imperium can throw at him








As Ziggy here is destined to be in a Devastator squad some time in the future, I painted the white chevron on his knee pad freehand, as the transfer is to big to fit there.








I've freehanded a 'Marksman's Honour' on Ziggy's right shoulder pad. Not that he ever hit anything though, but so senior a marine should have some sort of honour, right? The freehand was done by painting a bullet shape with boltgun metal and then coating the top part of it with shining gold. 

My first sergeant








I tried to accentuate the robes by highlighting the edges, but I think i'll need some more practice to get those lines nice and thin. (my nickname is Butterfingers for a reason, trust me). I decided I didn't want to do entirely white helmets for veteran marines so I settles on a broken white facemask & 'mohawk'. I did this by using a base coat of fortress gray, and a tad of space wolves gray. The axe is from Warhammer Fantasy dwarves. I got lots of those, and like carving them up :mrgreen:

Lastly, I also re-painted my missile launcher toting Salamander.









Keep those comments comming guys 
Next on the menu will be anoter batch of marines with bolters, and a flamer.


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## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Good Tabletop stuff for now.

The washes really are a great device for quick results.

I find Badab a bit dark for things and water it down a bit.

Thraka Green will probably end up being your best friend on these. Devlen Mud is a good one to have in your kit aswell.


Nice choice of SM army, always good to see them pop up.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

These washes, are they also from GW? If not, what brand are they, so I can try to find them 

Got my first combat squad finished. I'll have a group pic tomorrow.

'Night guys, and thanks for the help


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## jack (Oct 30, 2008)

They are from GW and are in the same pots as foundation paints. If they dont sell them at your GW then try the GW website.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

jack said:


> They are from GW and are in the same pots as foundation paints. If they dont sell them at your GW then try the GW website.


Thanks  will give that a look.

small new update; I've finished my first combat squad. 5 marines, one toting a missile launcher. I allready finished the squad sergeant (see above) to go in the other combat squad; which will be carrying a flamer.

Other update would be my plan for this army. I'm heading for a 1750 points force consisting of the following:

*HQ*
Forgefather Vulkan He'Stan (190pts)
Codicier on a bike with 'The Avenger' & 'Vortex of Doom' psychic powers (135pts)

*Elites*
5 Assault Terminators with Thunder hammers & stormshields (200pts)

Dreadnaught with multimelta & dreadnaugt ccw with heavy flamer (115pts)

*Troops*
Tactical squad
10 marines; 1 flamer; 1 missile launcher; rhino (205pts)

Tactical Squad
10 mariens; 1 flamer; 1 multimelta; rhino (205pts)

Scout Squad
4 snipers; 1 missile launcher; camo cloaks (100pts)

*Fast Attack *
Scout Bike squadron
Sergeant & 4 scouts; 2x grenade launcher (130pts)

*Heavy Support*
Devastator Squad
10 marines; 2 heavy bolters; 2 multimelta (230pts)

Land Raider Redeemer (240pts)

comments are welcomed


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

New update; got a couple new pics of my first completed unit.

Rhino transport:






Front scroll detail






I'm pretty happy how this model turned out. I used an old Rhino that used to be in my Daemonhunter army (which I'm as of now, officially quiting due to lack of interest, due to Salamanders army ). It's been painted several times allready, so that's why the paint job might seem overly thick. The tricky part (for me) was to make sure that the large blocks of color seemed solid, not striped. I messed up a €50 landraider in that way, so I wasn't keen on repeating that. I tried to accentuate the borders on the black parts of the vehicle, but that didn't work out all that fantastic; Still, the overal result is good enough for count as tabletop-quality. Next time, I'll make sure I've got a thinner brush for this though.
The front detail shows the vehicle's name (Fire of Wrath, for those who can't make it out), which I free-handed. That was an absolute bitch of a job to do, and seriously considering to go and buy a thin white or black pen for this kind of deal as it saves me a nervous breackdown.

Tactical Squad:
Lovely new option in the SM arsenal is the Combat Squad (thank you, Dark Angels ). To represent leadership in the Combat Squad without the sarge, I added a white stripe to the helmet (similar to that of the sarge).













I added transfers with the salamander symbol on several marines (6 in total if I'm not mistaken) and added lines representing liturgy and suchlike to the others. The leader of the 2nd combat squad got the company number written in the company's color (red, duh) on the right pad.
Battle plan with this squad would be to have the combat squad with the flamer & the sarge inside the Rhino, while the other marines are gonna pour bolter rounds & missiles in whatever's in range (preferably infantry, cavalry, bikes or vehicles).

Next up will be another squad of recycled dark angels. These will form my second tactical squad toting a lascannon and a plasmagun. I'll change those to flamer & multimelta as soon as i get the bits; Same goes for the missile launcher in Tactical Squad one though. I want to make my army Salamanders all the way, no matter what tactical advantages missile launchers and plasmaguns offer. (Though they rock )

In the meantime; here's a shot of my entire force thus far. Together with the 2nd tactical squad, I could allready field 500pts of Salamander fury.







As always, gimme your 2cents  (Models are expensive, and every cent counts:mrgreen


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## general (Feb 1, 2008)

I really like the rhino. Very striking. Nice job with the highlights too, and the the colors are nice and smooth, so you've avoided the 'stripey' issue nicely.


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## zas240 (Apr 3, 2009)

Awesome Sallys, I have always liked them and the green looks good.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

general said:


> I really like the rhino. Very striking. Nice job with the highlights too, and the the colors are nice and smooth, so you've avoided the 'stripey' issue nicely.


Thanks m8  nice to hear that, since it was my main worry (aside from the free-handing, but that's not nearly as obvious)



zas240 said:


> Awesome Sallys, I have always liked them and the green looks good.


I used to think Sally's a boring chapter, way back when I started 40k :d I was always more drawn towards the Dark Angels my brother was playing. somehow, the sally's grew on me  I hope the new Salamander novel from Black Library does them any justice and sheds some light on their fluff 

Thanks for the comments, fella's 

On the updating side..
While cleaning a bit in the rack where my bro & I used to keep all our modelling & painting materials, I've found about.. 20 pages of transfers for both infantry & vehicles. Now.. to find mini's to stick 'em on


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## Dies Irae (May 21, 2008)

Well now that i can see you pics, i can give you my...well i dont know, at the exchanges rate i could be my four or five cents:

-1) Good job on the marines, however, as general said, washes are great, Devlan Mud on metals and Traka Green on...guess what...yeah, green armor. 

-2) You should try to water down your paints a little bit more, because on the top view of your Rhino, we can see lots of paintbrush traces. Even if you have to use 2 or 3 coats, you should water down your paint (when i paint my black shoulder pads, i use 1 Chaos Black brush (which means that i dip my brush in the pot once and put the paint on my palette) mixed with 2 Water brushes, it work good and leaves no traces on the shoulder pad, the paint is also more "wet", so better for freehands)

-3) Didn't you forget Ziggy in your army list?

Good luck


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Dies Irae said:


> -3) Didn't you forget Ziggy in your army list?
> Good luck


Still trying to fit Zigg's in there somewhere  He'll propably end up in a tactical squad or as a dreadnaught  depends on how the army plays, and how i feel like using him :d


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## CMDR_VELIK (May 20, 2009)

Nice work on the sallies there. I like the way you painted the rhino. are all your rhinos going to be painted like that or is that 1 just for that squad. I have an idea close to your rhino scheme. but I'm just getting starting to paint my army though. I posted some wips pics up also. maybe that we can trade some paint scheme ideas. your sallies are coming along nicely.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

One suggestion I would like to make is in regard to the boltgun metal areas: add in a wash or two of black in these areas. They will still look like metal areas the way you want but the wash will make them look a bit less bright and shiny, more used.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

CMDR_VELIK said:


> Nice work on the sallies there. I like the way you painted the rhino. are all your rhinos going to be painted like that or is that 1 just for that squad. I have an idea close to your rhino scheme. but I'm just getting starting to paint my army though. I posted some wips pics up also. maybe that we can trade some paint scheme ideas. your sallies are coming along nicely.


Thanks for the nice comments. Yeah, I'll paint all my rhino's that way (because it's easier for me ). They stand out more from the infantry, but are still nicely tied to the rest of the army. Plan on doing something similar with any vehicles I might add somewhere in time..

Unfortunatly, I've got exams comming up, so I'll have to keep my paint's, brushes, models, pc,... locked away so I have nothing left but courses & books 
Hopefully be able to get some work in soon


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## Azwraith (Apr 23, 2009)

everything looks awesome!

one little tip i can make is in regards to your force/power weapons to give them a little more interest.. this is how i do my power weapons

i mix up to paint colours for me its lightning bolt blue (dont know if it still exists) and skull white both a 1:1 mix with water. i have both those colours ready.

then i paint the said area with the lightning bolt blue now while its still wet i pick up some white paint (not cleaning my brush) and put it at the tip of the weapon and then do swirling motions as i mix the paints together then i pick up a bit more blue and add it to the base and a little bit more white on the tip of the weapon and wallah done!

here is a example.









this one is a bit blurry but a closer pic


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Long time since i got to add anything here.

Finished my exams yesterday, and continued painting my Sally's. Onlyl 4 models left to finish details and such, and I'll have two completly finished squads. I also added some mobile HEAVY firepower.









Though I once though about what I wanted in my army, I pretty much tossed that list down the toilet and flushed.. several times. Thing is, different-sized battles need different gameplay. And that also means a different approach. In small games of say, 750pts, stuff like this Dread can really ruin your opponents day. On top of that, I like to imagine the skull of pretty much whatever clenched between that powerclaw when those pincers squeeze....

Played my first battles today with my Sally's. I faced my bro's Imperial Guard, and I must say, the new Guard Codex holds some really cool newbies, and makes for a highly challenging army to face. 

I brought my Captain on his bike with a relic blade, my first tactical squad with flamer & lascannon and the Rhino. I divided the squad in half with the Combat Squad rules, and mounted the Sergeant, the flamer & 3 others in the rhino while the missile launcher squad would slug by on foot. My second tactical squad, I tossed in a drop pod, since I wanted to see what those are like on the table. This squad had a stormbolter (on the sergeant), a plasmagun & a missile launcher. Last part of my army was the Dreadnaught with heavy flamer & twin-linked lascannon.

My bro used an Infantry Platoon with a commissar, plasmagun, meltagun and powerfist added to the command squad. The platoon held 2 infantry squads, both with lascannon & grenade launcher. He also brought a 20-strong whiteshield (conscripts) platoon and 10 veterans toting a plasmapistol, a plasmagun & a meltagun. An armoured sentinel with an autocannon & a Leman Russ Exterminator rounded up his army, which was led by a Primaris Psyker.

We played two games, with the fifth edition rules. It had been a long time since either of us played, and we're both still getting used to the new rules. First game was a Seize Ground mission with table quarters deployment. We had to fight over 3 counters. The game went pretty good with heavy losses taken on both sides. I managed to rout the conscripts pretty fast, chasing them away with boltgun and flamer fire. In turn, the Psyker electrocuted more than his share of battle-brothers. In turn 5, the game came close, with me owning 2 out of 3 objectives. A malfortunate roll (for me at least) saw us play a turn 6, where my bro finished off my few remaining warriors and turned a Space Marine victory into Whipeout.

Battle two was a straightforward Annihilation match, using the Pitched Battle rules. Turn 1 saw a very lucky sentinal destroy my dreadnaught with a single burst of autocannon fire. Again the Psyker took a terrible toll on my men while the conscripts proved hard as nails as a wall of bodies. Sheer Imperial Guard man- and firepower thinned out my combat squads while the Sally's couldn't manage to rout of decimate enough guardsmen to make it count. After 6 turns of mayhem, the dice came up '1' and so no 7th turn was played. My bro had managed to wipe out the dreadnaught and 2 combat squads, while, through the 'combined squads' rule of his infantry platoon, denying me a single kill-point in return. 

Here's a few screenies from the front.








The army I was facing. 









My bro's Tallarn Guerillia Resistance troopers, toting an obscene amount of armour penetrating potential. In larger games, these lads pack along a Heavy bolter.









My dreadnaught would provide mobile cover, while taking pot-shots at any armoured targets my bro would throw at me. That would have been the plan, before a Sentinal's autocannon shells penetrated the armoured sarcophagus and forevermore silenced the entombed warrior.









This pesky little armoured (Front Armour 12!!!!) sentinel tied up my Captain in close combat for 3 turns without dying, and prevented my captain from backstabbing the immobilised Leman Rus tank that was shooting up the rest of my army.

Today's great tragedy however...
Battle-brother Ziggy fell in the line of duty, and is unable to continue fighting in service of the Imperium. As was decreed, his still-living remains will be entombed in a Dreadnaught as soon as the chapter's Techmarines have salvaged and repaired the dreadnaught that fell in battle today.


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## jetstreamnz (Jun 9, 2009)

Good looking army .... hope that they get ziggy up and going asap!


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## NurglingStomper (Jan 31, 2009)

Looking good so far. How many points is your army? And can we get a whole army shot? Please.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

NurglingStomper said:


> Looking good so far. How many points is your army? And can we get a whole army shot? Please.


My 'army' at this point is about 750 points :d
I'll try and get a full army shot one of these days


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

An update;

Been playing and painting extensively the last few days. Me & my bro (Imperial guard) went a-fighting to get to learn the new codexes for both space marines & imperial guard, as well as the 5th edition 40k rules. We played in the 750pts format every time, but every two or three battles, we changed our army lists to try a different approach to playing. Soon, we'll start uping the ante, as I bought a new tactical squad and plan to add some units of my old Daemonhunters army to see how that works together.

Also managed to make a couple new pictures.

First up is the latest addition to my force, a Librarian, built from left-over bits of space marine. I know chainswords don't normaly count as power weapons, but as it's a rune-bearing psyk-charged weapon, I couldn't care less 








I did the armour with Ultramarine Blue over a base of Midnight Blue (I don't know if that actually even still exists, but I have a old pot of it left ) The runes on the weapon and base were done with space wolf grey. I decided to carry on the helmet theme I allready had on my squad sergeant and captain. (Captain= gold mask, Sergeant=white mask, Librarian= green mask). The blue armor and red base really set him out from the rest of the force, while the green shoulderpads & backpack connect him nicely.









This is my full force at this moment. I got another squad with a missile launcher, meltagun and plasma pistol toting sergeant comming up for painting asap.

This is the manufactorum ruin that I finally painted. This bit is lying in my terrain box for almost three years now. I've got a Basilica and a Magistratum Building awaiting painting aswell. Will try to get those done as well one day or another.









Here are some pics from the battles me & my bro had. You'll notice both of us using proxy's from time to time, as we're both trying to figure out what kind of game we like playing most. My bro allready has tons of Imperial Guard, but his army was based on tactics and abilities from the previous edition of 40k, so he's quite busy updating his tactics and army composition. I proxy because GW doesn't own all my money yet 
















A first battle saw us play the Seize and Control mission. We deployed according to the Pitched Battle rules and had to fight over 5 objectives. These were placed in a cruciform along the central line of the table. The middle objective was, as it should be, the staging grounds for a viscious battle between my close-combat minded combat squad and a squad of steel legion guardsmen and remained unclaimed at the end of the game. Another battle saw my (yet unpainted) librarian and a small squad of marines arrive in the side of my bro's army where they managed to slaughter 2 infantry squads and a command squad before being cut down by a hail of las-shots. Though they may be only Strenght 3 and can't penetrate mighty space marine power armour, beware when your opponent grabs hold of these for 1 squad shooting at you:








The new orders in the Imperial Guard codex are not to be ignored. First rank FIRE, second rank FIRE! is a dangerous tool!

A third battle, Annihilation with Spearhead deployment, witnessed a fast-paced space marine army attempt to take a small outpost guarded by a rear-guard of a greater imperial guard armoured battlegroup. 2 Leman Russ Exterminators, 2 chimera-mounted veteran squads and a melta-canon toting Devil Dog caused massive damage to my marines and denied me victory. 









Our last match, we played a good 'ol fashioned Attacker/Defender mission (which isn't covered in the current edition's rulebook.. a shame!). 3 tactical squads and a whirlwind, led by my Librarian, had to make their stand in a ruined building and prevent the Imperial Guard from getting their hands on 3 dangerous and corrupted relics. The marines resolve strenghtend by the knowledge that, should they fail, the entire subsector might fall, were Fearless, while the guard, who were Without Number (destroyed infantry units may return to the board on the next turn using the normal rules for units deploying from reserves) were bent on capturing the relics under orders from their lord commander, who answered to the orders of the Inquisition.
Fierce fighting from both marines and Stormtrooper squads (those AP3 hot-shot lasguns hurt!) saw massive carnage ensue on both sides of the battle, but in the end, my Salamanders proved victorious, holding the ruins until they could be extracted from the warzone with the relics safely contained.









comments welcome, as always


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## CMDR_VELIK (May 20, 2009)

The army is coming along nicely. like what you did to the dread. can wait to see it get a bit bigger and painted.librarian is cool and its not a chain sword he's using his pysk power to make you see a chain sword:good:


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Bit busy with all sorts of stuff again as of late, but I try to find the time to finish up on the last squad of Tactical Marines.

So far my army consists of:

Captain Sor'an of the 3rd Company, riding a bike and wielding the Spear of Valor, an ancient relic of the chapter.

Brother-Librairan Braghan, heir apparent to Chief Librarian Vel'cona, wielding his force sword and a boltpistol.

Tactical Squad Uriath, consisting of Sergeant Bael Uriath and 9 battle-brothers. One marine wields a flamer while another rains death on his foes with a missile launcher. Uriath is issued a Rhino transport.

Sergeant Caro S'ven lead the second Tactical Squad which sports a plasmagun and a lacannon.

The third Tactical Squad is led by Sergeant Ku'un Istan and brigns a meltagun and a missile launcher to bear on the chapter's foes.

The chapter's Apothecaries nurtured and restored the wracked body of Brother-Marine Ziggy and placed him in the armoured sarcophagous of a mighty Dreadnaught so he can bring further death to the foes of the God-Emperor. (They also gave him a twin-linked lascannon so he might finaly manage to hit something with it.)


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Again, a small update, due to still awfully busy... (unfortunatly)

'been thinking about what to add to my army next, and a squad of Terminators came to mind. Browsing through the Codex and reading about Vulkan He'stan (and his *Chapter Tactics* specifically) the idea of having a massive tank (say a Land Raider, the one that belches gouts of flame, like the Promethean Cult proscribes...) barrel into the lines of the Salamanders foes, blasting the frag launchers and disgourging a group of furious Thunderhammer-wielding assault Terminators to wreak havoc on their chosen foe makes me smile (wickedly).

I even figured out a paintjob for Vulkan's finest.









The black armour should make them stand out really damn well on the battlefield while the green shoulder pads (and the color of the base) should tie them to the rest of the army.

Now to raise the money to go and buy these bad boys...


*Edit*
Do any of you guys have an idea how to add the Promethean Cult iconography to Sally armour? (the flames on the right shoulder pad). Haven't yet dared to try it out as i can't freehand a normal looking flame


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Another update..

I finaly got round to painting some more models. Tactical squad 3 is starting to near completion. The first combat squad (4 marines with bolters and 1 with missile launcher) has now been reinforced with the sergeant (bearing a plasma pistol) and a meltagun-toting son of Nocturne. The last 3 models have been coated and the metallic areas have been marked with Boltgun Metal.








Note the Mk VI Corvus Pattern shoulder pads granted to Sergeant Istan.

Furthermore, I (finaly) finished work on several of my Grey Knights. As I've said earlier, my first 40k army is a Daemonhunters force. I've played a couple games with them, but failed time and again due to mis-use of my warriors. I never decided on a paint scheme for them either, so they were a mix of rather poorly painted goofs, until now  I chose a colour scheme that shares many of the same colors I use on my Sally's, so they look nice as a combined force aswell. So far, I've finished a 5 man Grey Knight battle squad with a psycannon, my Brother-Captain and 2 of his Terminator companions (one of which brings an Incinerator. 








The Grey Knights march to war once again.









This Brother-Captain and his retinue will be sent in to deal with the viles of daemons the Warp can throw at them.









My Grey Knight Ancient bears an Anointed banner, whose mere precence on the battlefield repulses the daemonic and ushers the Knights to even greater valor.

Next on the list of revisited models is my Land Raider. I originally bought it to add long-range fire support to my Grey Knights, but I can use it for my Sally's army or an Inquisitor's Retinue if I want to. I'll try to paint it so it can fit in any type of army (Sally's, Purtitan Daemonhunters or Radical Deamonhunters)

Last but definatly not least, I made myself a new Inquisitor. The models is based on the Coleman Stryker model from Warmachine's Cygnar range. A simple weapon swap made him ready to fit in the grim future of 40k. (pictures to follow soon)
As wel as bringing the Emperor's divine authority to the tabletop, this fellow allows me to bring Chemos and Thas'rik, my daemonhosts. (They do enfuriate my Grey Knights quite a bit while tucked away in my miniature case together )

And this is how all of that left my desk...


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## Liber Heresius (May 10, 2009)

Nice army thus far... I'm really enjoying reading your posts as you build your force, looking forward to reading more! :biggrin:


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## CMDR_VELIK (May 20, 2009)

hey Bardictraveller your sallies are coming along nicely. and the greyknights aren't bad either. lets see some more.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Thanks for the supporting comments guys 

Working on my landraider now, which will be painted like my rhino. Hopefully, it will help me out when facing my bro's Imperial Guard (which is, quite frankly, to mechanised for my liking )

Pics of the Inquisitor and some of his cronies will be added tomorrow.

'Nite


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Finaly a new update. Working at the local playground had me busy the last few weeks, but I managed to paint up another Inquisitorial model today, as wel as some funny converting.

Today's pics will be a bit dark, as the lighting in my room tends to suck in the evenings.

First up would be my Inquisitor Lord however. This fellow, I plan to kit with a psycannon, 2 gun servitors, a plasmagun-veteran, 2 sages and a mystic. (I prefer the lords to be a nice fat firebase.)








The astute among you will obviously note that this isn't a GW miniature. Indeed it is not. I used a Commander Stryker mini from Warmachine and '40ked' it. Funny how a Grey Knight Nemesis weapon and a tank commander laspistol can do wonders. The aforementioned Psycannon is mounted on a seperate base, as I like the idea of a psi-guided weapon (and the codex says I can!)








This models (still needs to be painted!) represents either a familiar or the psycannon, depending on how I kit the Inquisitor. The psycannon is made from the searchlight of a landraider and a bit from a missile launcher. I plucked in some iron wire and hey presto.. psi-guided psycannon.









These fellow are 2 sages (left & right) and a mystic (center). All three of them are painted straight from the blister, though the mystic is actually a Sisters of Battle Penitent. I just like the idea of his twitching spasmically just before he croacks being a warning for incoming daemonic filth. I'm also rather pleased with how nice the scribling on the left sages scroll worked out (though it's not visible on the picture, trust me it's neat  )

Though I like my Grey Knights, after reading Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn novels, I had to have Daemonhosts in my possession (get the pun?)








Again, painted straight from the blister. The red one, I painted first, and it shows. It's a bit of a shame that I didn't really try to make the flesh look more warping (as I did do on the other one), but I'm not gonna re-do him as I've gotten a lot of people telling me it looks nicely demonic, which is exatly the point. 

Last, and shortest of the bunch, is my plasma-gunner. I didn't want a regular IG-veteran so I started looking through my bits box for a suitable fantasy battles empire model. And then I found this blighter...








It looked to funny in my head to 'not' use it 

As always, any comments will be appreciated.
Cheers, Mat


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## Crimson_Chin (Feb 20, 2009)

I approve of the ... ahem ... ratling plasma gunner.

You should go back and paint the edges of the red daemonhosts eyes. It appears that there is a bit of white spillage there. I have recently starting painting eyes first, and that has cleared up a lot of problems I've had in terms of painting "within the lines".


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Crimson_Chin said:


> I approve of the ... ahem ... ratling plasma gunner.
> 
> You should go back and paint the edges of the red daemonhosts eyes. It appears that there is a bit of white spillage there. I have recently starting painting eyes first, and that has cleared up a lot of problems I've had in terms of painting "within the lines".


Thanks for the advice. I'll give that a shot.

It's actually a dwarf, not a ratling 
(Those epic stunty's were so cool back in the day...)


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Another update, since I've managed to sneak some more time into painting models.

First up is yesterdays plasmadwarf, which will serve as a Plasma-toting warrior henchman for my Inquisitor.
I stuck with the same palette of colours I use for all my models, so he fits in nicely, despite being about half the size of my GK termy's.









Speaking of which, my GK Terminator squad finally got finished. I painted up the last 2 battle-brothers, each wielding a halberd and stormbolter. I'm really pleased with how these bastards turned out, after they've been on my 'to-paint' shelf for over 2 years. (during which they were tested on with a million different paint schemes)









The Elite of the Ordo Malleus will be delivered into battle in this metal behemoth, which they'll be sharing with my 3rd Company Salamander Space Marines. I painted this lump of plastic in the same way as my rhino, using adeptus grey for the highlights instead of space wolf grey. To show the vehicle was seconded to the Inquisition, I added both Sally (Head and company number) and Inquisitorial("I" & prayer script) transfers. As you can see, I need to drybrush the tracks and add the 2 Godhammer Lascannons, but these are currently awaiting my paintbrush. With them not being attached to the big lump of plastic, I can more easily get into those icky little corners and suchlike, so as they make the most of this model.








The picture sucks, I know.. my lighting isn't grand in my room. Good thing I'll be moving to another room sometime next month...

Eventually, I think I'll buy myself a Redeemer, 'cause it fits so nicely with the 'Burn everything to crisps' strategem of my Salamanders. (or I could go for Forgeworld's Grey Knight Redeemer with Hellstorm Incinerators and a twinlinked psycannon, with the nice script and grey knight land raider doors... )


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## CMDR_VELIK (May 20, 2009)

Hey like the LandRaider fits in nicely with your armies paint scheme and which is coming along pretty good. and the plasma dwarf is cool.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Thanks 

I just calculated a bit, and found I can field a force of almost 2000pts now that includes the following:

*HQ*
*Librarian* w. bolt pistol, force weapon, psychic hood, Vortex of Doom & Force Dome

*Grey Knight Brother Captain* and retinue of 4 terminators, one of which carries an Incinerator.

*Elites*
*Dreadnaught* (Ziggy!) w. twin-linked lascannon, power fist & heavy flamer

*Ordo Malleus Inquisitor* w. psycannon, power weapon & retinue of 2 heavy-bolter equiped servitors, a plasmagun wielding Squat, 2 sages and a mystic

*Troops*
Salamanders *Tactical Squad* w. flamer, missile launcher & rhino w. dozer blade. The veteran sergeant wields a power axe.

Salamanders *Tactical Squad* w. plasmagun & lascannon. The sergeant of this squad has a stormbolter.

Salamanders *Tactical Squad* w. meltagun & missile launcher. The sergeant carries a plasma pistol.

2 *Grey Knights Squads* consisting of 3 Knights with nemesis blade & stormbolter, 1 justicar with nemesis sword & stormbolter, and 1 Knight with a psycannon each.

*Heavy Support*
*Land Raider*

All I still need to add is a unit of 3 space marine bikers, 2 of which will be wielding meltaguns. The sergeant will be given a power weapon and meltabombs. This unit's objective will be to assassinate stuff like basilisks and sentinels and suchlike flank- or rearguard units in my opponent's force.

As this army uses the allies rules, I doubt I'll be able to use it in tournaments, but I couldn't care less. Also, it's a slow, ponderous army, but that kind of fits my Sally's background just fine.

Also finished: my MIU-controlled Psycannon / Cherub familiar. 
I wanted to make the cherub look like a slightly unhealty fat little kid with wings, which I think worked out nicely. The thingy looks unhealthy  The Psycannon is really straightforward boltgun metal steel parts with a Red armor on top.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Finished up my Armour 14 basket of doom today.















































Next up is the last 3 marines, 2 heavy bolter servitors and a squad of 5 more grey knights. 
Once I finish those, I'll have to go out and make GW richer again...
Not sure what i'll add next though.Possible options are some more bikes to add speed, some assault terminators to add some punch, or a tank to add more firepower. Suggestions anyone?


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Just posting to bump, and to let y'all know I won't be adding new bits this week, as I'm off for some seriously neckbreaking headbang action over at Wacken 

cheerio's


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Hiya folks, I'm back from Wacken Open Air (awesome!) and I've been talking to my bro (who's playing IG's, and whom I've battled before (there's pictures earlier in this thread)) about what to add to my Sally's force next. We've settled on a unit of Sternguard Veterans. These boys will bring 2 flamers or 2 meltaguns, depending on the force I'm facing, and ride to war in a Razorback. Fluffwise, this unit is part of the elite 1st company of the Salamanders Chapter, and as such, are initiates in the Promethean Cult. Because of this, they'll have black armour with green accents. Like this:









In terms of modeling, I plan to just use standard tactical marines, but add some older armour patterns, some purity seals, targeters, grenades and if I can get my hands on them, some bionics. I'll give them 2 flamers, and I'll have 4 models to spare that I can arm with other heavy or special weapons, should the need arise. The razorback they ride in will be painted like the other vehicles in my army, but I'll try to add some iconography of sorts to make it look more important 

Hope to be able to show you guys some new bits soon.

Toodles


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

*Back from the Warp*

Hails folks,

Finaly got back to Heresy to update my log. I've been a bit busy, both in terms of schoolwork, summerjobs & working on the Salamanders. I've assembled a 6 man strong squad of Sternguard Veterans using salvaged bits from my bro's old Dark Angel force and parts from our bit box. 









I've used all the bits of older types of power armour, and heads with bionics and 'beaky helmets'. The skin I did with a Flesh Wash over Shorched Brown, as plain black didn't look nice at all. The Flames on the banner and on their shoulder pads, as well as any text on scrolls and such was done free hand. It's not high class, but I'm definatly pleased with the result.
















Being veterans and inducties in the Promethean Cult, my Sternguard arrive on the battlefield in style, in their very own Promethean Razorback. Painted in the same manner as my Landraider and Rhino, the Razorback stands out because of the bigass flames on the door. These were also done freehand.









Aside the Sternguard Veterans, I've done some work towards a unit of scouts. These will be divided into two combat squads. The first consists of 5 snipers. These would ideally disrupt stuff like big squads of Imperial Guardsmen, Ork Boyz,.. the like. The models I've used for these are acutally Cygnaran Longgunners from Warmachine. The story behind these guys is that they are aspiring warriors from Nocturne, who've yet to be given their first implants. They first have to prove themselves in the fires of war before being allowed Vulkan's geneseed. The other combat squad consists of 3 scouts with a bolter, a scout with a heavy bolter and the sergeant who'm i'll give a bolter of a boltpistol & chainsword, depending on my opponent.
















These two units round out my 1500pts of Salamanders just fine.
This is what I have so far:
Librarian Sigurd, whose wielding a Force Chainsword
Tactical Squad Mar'duk brings a flamer and a missile launcher, while their sergeant wields a power axe. The come with the Rhino 'Infernum'.
Tactical Squad D'Ante adds a plasmagun and a lascannon to my force.
Tactical Squad Har'lon is wielding a meltagun and another missile launcher. Their sergeant has a plasmapistol.
Scout squad Corin brings 4 bolters, a heavy bolter and 5 sniper rifles.
Sternguard Squad Ignan add a combiflamer, powersword 2 flamers and a twin-lascannon toting razorback.
The landraider 'Sanctus Animi' has 2 Godhammer lascannons and a twin-linked heavy bolter to spew death at the enemy, and is backed up by the twin-linked lascannon, heavy flamer and powerfist of Brother-Dreadnaught Ziggismundt.

This all looks like this:









Other than my army itself, I've gone and made myself a bit of decent terrain for a change. It's just a simple bit of wood with a little stream carved out. I've added some sand and rocks and spraypainted it. After it dried, I've painted it to look like a bit of swamp-ish terrain.









Further plans with my Sally's are to simply add another 500pts. These will consists of Vulkan He'stan, and the Dreadnaught and Tactical squad from the Battle for Black Rigde box. After this, my force is complete, and I can start working on a new project. 

I just hope Armageddon is ready for Whaagh Morghar...


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## CMDR_VELIK (May 20, 2009)

Hey they are coming along nicely. like the idea about the sternguard I'm using 5 deathwatch guys for my sternguard. maybe I can get them posted soon


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Thanks 

The Deathwatch models are damn awesome! Do post them


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

I don't like the Cherub. Painting looks a bit blotchy compared to everything else.

Nice spin on the regular Salamanders colour scheme.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

The blotchyness is largely due to the fact that most of my models are second hand; this cherub has seen a lot of different colours in its time; and i didn't really bother to go out and buy some product to clean the paint off without melting my mini.

thanks for the comments though 

Next up will be my scouts, though this may take a while now  I got my hand on the first models of a new army which I will also document with a log here. All I can tell you guys at this time is that it will involve anarchic charges, loud gunz and smoke-belching, ramshackle engines!


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Just a quick update, with nothing really to do about my army, but I couldn't resist!

Made myself an Imperator Class Titan this morning, and called him Little Brother









Comments welcomed as always ^^


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## Saggamortuss (Aug 22, 2008)

Awesome!!! I just read through the whole thing and was astounded at how much progress you've made throughout the entire project. Kudos!

P.S. Lol nice titan.


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Thanks mate  (now please don't set the Great Devourer on my ass)


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## Bardictraveller (May 11, 2009)

Small update. Had some time on my hands today, and painted the space marine commander model from the AoBR set. Not my favourite model ever, but it's not bad either.
I tried a new way to paint sally-green armour. I usually coat the model black, then give the armour a base of Dark Angel Green and after that, I apply Snot Green.
On this dude, I tried Orc Hide Shade as a base instead of the DA Green.
Same goes for the gold bits. Normaly I just go for Shining gold over Boltgun Metal. Here it's Shining gold over a base of Iyanden Darksun. I like the result on the gold a lot. It's not as 'pale' as my gold usually is. 
There's still some detail to do, but I'll get to that later. (Along with the cloak, but I've no idea yet what colour to use for that one  Suggestions and ideas are welcome)


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