And now some actual Steel Legion - and an update on the 18mm Austrians

Hey guys, it's been a while!

Not a lot of hobby time lately, and most of it was used on the 18mm Austrians. Man as much as I love them, it is pretty hard work... I will be pretty happy once they are done :D

So far I managed to paint 3 more line infantry units, 4 artillery bases and 1 unit of jagers. Which means that I just have to paint one more cavalry unit and a couple of officers, and then the campaign army is finally finished! Here's a little preview on the last unit I painted, still not based up (and I know, the officer looks veeeery creepy...):

After that I will most likely concentrate on my High Elf prince on griffon, and then I can finally paint  Gotrek and Felix :D It's about time! I am so much looking forward to this. 

But, to keep some sanity between the countless Austrians, I managed to get my hands on some REAL Steel Legion miniatures for a change, and I just had to paint one immediately. These figures are so wonderful, and I am very happy that I burried the plan to kitbash them out of something else. Proper Perry twins sculpts are just the best thing you can paint. 

I tried to match the original colours from the White Dwarfs I saw, but I am not sure I got it right... But I like it, so I will stick with this for the first squad. 

I hope you like it!

It seems like the blog is gaining a bit more attention lately, viewership is going up! If you are reading this, maybe consider suscribing to the blog or sharing it with your friends... Or leave a comment if you want! 

See you soon with the full 18mm army! 

First test figure painted

And once again, I’ve changed my mind—but just a tiny bit :D

While I was working, I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to depict the St. Jowen’s Rifles so they could fight on Armageddon—in that toxic atmosphere full of poison that the inhabitants are exposed to.

And then I remembered that there were a few separate gas masks in the old Cadia HQ set!

I liked it right away, even though you can barely see the figures’ faces anymore.

But somehow it fits quite well, and with the familiar shape of the old helmets, it looks much more appealing to me than my previous attempts. Maybe I should have just printed the heads a little bigger; I don’t know.

I also found this picture here, which I really, really liked. I drew a bit of inspiration from it for the color scheme as well. Sadly I don't know the artist's name. If someone knows, please let me know! 

 

In any case, I painted a first figure as a test; you can see the result below. I think I’ll let it sit for a few days and see if I still like it then... This project is pretty tricky in that regard!

 

 

Now the only question left is where to get more supplies. I still have a total of 5 of the respirator masks from my 2015 project, and now another 5. That’s nowhere near enough for an entire army. But it went pretty well with Blue-Stuff this time; let’s see if I stick with it or if I’ll have to model something on the computer after all. But the prospect of modeling, test-printing to see if it fits, making changes, printing again, and making more changes—I’m not too keen on that right now :D

And here's a side by side comparision with the new figure and the ones from some time ago... I definitly prefer the new one. 

 

St. Jowen´s Rifles (for now)

I’ve thrown everything out the window again and will now go ahead with the project using the original Cadian heads after all.

I had reworked the heads again so they’d look exactly like the original Steel Legion heads, but I still wasn’t entirely convinced. I’d rather put a little money aside and get the originals someday when I find a good deal.

I will stick with the color scheme, though. I haven’t quite figured out the background yet—maybe it could be an infantry regiment from St. Jowen’s Dock (perhaps the “St. Jowen’s Rifles” or something like that? Sounds pretty good).

Anyway, with the first test miniatures, I tried to recreate a few poses from the original Steel Legion figures, with varying degrees of success. This project is also really well-suited for practicing a bit more hand sculpting, so in that regard, it’s already been worth it!

I decorated some of the bases with homemade barbed wire and Ork skulls from the GW Skull Set, and a small modification depicts a poor Imperial soldier who also didn’t make it. 

 

And even more Steel Legion!

Yes, I should not have painted them, I know... The Austrians are looking very angry at me from the back of my painting table. But I could not help myself!

I did change quite a lot of things on these models. First of all, the new conversions of course (see my latest post). Painting wise I painted the armour with a mix of 1:1 of black and "Bronzed Green" by Vallejo, that gave enough difference to the lasgun, that's still pure black. But the weapon got a highlight with a dark grey, and the armour the metal flakes as before (but less of it!). 

Also, I painted some freehand Steel Legion emblems on the shoulder armour. 

 

Now I don't have an option but to continue painting the Austrians, as I ran out of models... But more are on the way :D Damn. 

 

All the best

Lucas  

More Steel Legion conversions!

Hey guys, here's a quick update on this project! 

Not too much time right now, but I managed to do some sculpting on these three figures over this week. Pretty rough, but I am pretty happy how they turned out!

I probably should have sculpted the heads myself, as they are not looking 100% steel legion yet... But I am not sure that I should change them now that I have three ready :D

I decided to sculpt the coat a bit longer, now they definitly look different enough from the original cadians. Also, the higher collars help a lot I think.

I also think that I will alter the painting scheme a bit: mixing some green in the black for the armour parts will make it a little different from the weapon, and I also should do less of the metal chips visible... Maybe it was a bit too much on the last figure.

Well that's it for today's update, now back to sculpting more Napoleonic figures!

 

 

Another distraction: Steel Legion

Hey guys!

Well, I’m sure a lot of you can relate: there are just too many different project ideas swirling around in your head, inspired by pretty much everything around you, and as always, you just have limited time.
Right now, Warhammer Fantasy, Star Wars (I’m playing Star Wars Outlaws again… what a fantastic game), Samurai, and of course my 18mm Austrians are all fighting for my attention. 
And what do I do? I start a totally stupid Warhammer 40K project.  

Against my better judgment, I’m actually pretty hyped about the latest Armageddon trailer that Games Workshop recently released.
I’ve always thought the Steel Legion was cool, so I was, like most of the online fanbase, pretty disappointed not to see them in the trailer.
I should mention that I know practically nothing about 40K; I just find the setting really interesting and pretty cool.  

I think the old metal figures for the Steel Legion are beautiful, but I don’t feel like spending hundreds of euros on used miniatures on eBay... So I dug out a few leftover pieces from my Cadia army from 2015 (which I’d already sold) and started doing a bit of converting.

Maybe this is a good time to tell you how much I hate the new Cadian figures by GW. I’d really love to like them, because all the new building options, the tons of individual parts, and so on… That’s really great.
But I think the models are just incredibly ugly. Such weird proportions and facial expressions, strange poses… And did I mention the proportions? Just look at those tiny heads!

But whatever, you can still find plenty of the old ones on eBay. I’ve always thought those were cool, and to this day, they’re way better than the new ones. But back to my new conversion!

Of course, the heads had to be replaced first, and after a quick search online, I decided on the ones from Reptilian Overlord.

However, I made a few changes:

Of course, the Imperial Army’s skull-and-wings emblem belongs on the helmet. Besides, I didn’t really like the goggles—they were way too different from the original... Good thing I know my way around ZBrush, because the changes were done in half an hour, and after another two hours, I had a whole bunch of heads to work with. 

Other than that, I didn't change much. I just had to sculpt the gloves and a hose for the gas mask. And there you have it: a Steel Legionnaire! Good enough for me. The coat could and should be a little longer, but I think that will be way too time consuming... So I will leave it like it is for now. 

Maybe the head should be a little bigger, but I am not sure about that yet.  

Here's the finished conversion: 

 

 

And after that, and thanks to the quick drying time of Tamya Quick Type, I also managed to paint the figure today! 

I am quite pleased with it, and it was soo fast. Basically there are just four colours on this figure. Black, this warm beige, leather brown and grey trousers. Okay and some metal, but that's it! I used a lot of contrast paints though, not sure I will continue with this method. But it's even quicker, so maybe not too bad!

Sorry for the image quality, Lightroom does not work today... Not sure why.  

 

And with that I will go to sleep now! Not sure when or if I will continue to work on this project any time soon, but it was a LOT of fun :D And so fast! I think I still have a Leman Russ in a box somewhere... 

All the best

Lucas