Demi Squad Yestine and Librarian Hetyrn Kylesa

Been a while...!

I haven't really had the motivation to paint for the last few months due to my personal life not quite going as well as I'd like. However, I'm feeling a lot better now, and thought it was time to start working on more Shrikes. This will only be a quick update, but hopefully will show what's next to be finished.

Sternguard Demi-Squad Yestine. These will have a couple of combi-plasmas when done.

Also, as a treat to myself, I've started to crack into my Librarian, Hetyrn Kylesa. I've gone for a slightly different way of painting him, using Stegadon Scale Green as a base and highlighting with Sotek Green and Temple Guard Blue. It should work well against the usual red of the Shrikes, and will be a very nice change from red 

These are basic WIP's, but hopefully give an idea of how they will look when done!

Zaiden Shraane,Captain of the III Company

'What can be said about my brother Zaiden Shraane? That he was the best of us, an exemplar of the Shrikes. He fought war like a man born for it. His commitment to a battle would be the turning tide. The fields of Ghemsecht, Adrim's Sorrow, the Tropon Conflagration. All won by decisive blows applied by Shraane.

His death on Kerishian Seven-Alpha robbed us of our future just as much as the Black Deep Atrocity did'

Talak d'Eletin, I Company, Crimson Shrikes Adeptus Astartes

'They call me 'The Revered' now. The truth is all I ever see in my brothers' eyes is shame'

Anicent Shraane, 'The Revered' - Dreadnought, Crimson Shrikes Adeptus Astartes

''Hunter Revealed', the assault force of Shrikes deployed onto Kerishian, were led by Brother-Captain Shaane. His tactical acuity and rapid assaults against rebel elements drove the fight to the Ethnarch. This would have broken any sane man. Shraane's mistake was to forget that the Ethnarch was mad. Insane enough to try any method to save himself from retribution. His response, and the insults to both the Shrikes and Shraane's honour, led to the mortal wounding of Shraane at the height of the war, and the rise of Brother Yor Jestine of the I Company to nominal leader until the resolution of the conflict'

Inquisitor Judia Isut - 'To Drift Like Fire'

Tangent Diagonal WIP part two

I've been working away on Tangent bit by bit, and am now at the stage where I only have the main body, pilot and base to complete. I'm tempted to bit a bit of Cities of Death scenery on the base just to make it look look Tangent's involved in urban combat. C&C always welcome.

More work on Tangent Diagonal

So, I've been getting some paint down on Tangent Diagonal in the last week, when I've not been playing the new COD (in which, I can confirm, I suck) and have finished the front section and cockpit. The only problem is, when the canopy and pilot are in place you can't see much of the detail I painted in! Ah well, such is life!

Anyways. pics! Does anyone else find that taking pictures tends to highlight mistakes that you can't even see? I have so much touching up to do!

Hopefully I will have the majority of Tangent done by the end of next week, as it's mostly metallics left and then details...

Tangent Diagonal WIP

'You think Astartes are dangerous on the ground? Wait until you get them in the air...'

Attributed to unknown Kerishian PDF trooper

I was going to work on painting my Sternguard next. However, after painting a full Tactical squad, I didn't want to run the risk of burnout painting infantry. My 1750 list has a lot of vehicles in it, which presents a problem for me. I really, really dislike painting vehicles! I'm not sure why, but it's something I tend to try and avoid. So, time to tackle my fear head on, and where better to start than Tangent Diagonal, my Stormtalon? I wasn't sold on the model when it first came out, but it grew on me, and when I finally bought my own I fell in love! It's gorgeous, and instead of thinking of it as a plane, I feel it has more of an Apache/Cobra look. I can just imagine one of these hovering outside an enemy held building and just shredding it with assault cannon and missile fire. 

I've done the red and black on the model, and just need to start laying down the metals now, which shouldn't take long. Speaking of which, I need to find a tutorial for making engine burns if anyone knows a good one? 

The Fourth Shrine War.

//Entry//

//Inquis/2564556M.41/FourthShineWar/CrimShks//

//ThrdCom/Actns/

//SqPoriat//

Ctn???

'Squad Poriat were deployed to provide the devotees of Ikartian with proof that the Emperor protects. After the Ethnarch enacted his terrible work, and corrupted waves of mutated gene-horror swarmed the streets and chapels of that great city, their role in the Shrine War changed. Yes, the Emperor protects. But he is also wrathful.'

Inquistor Judia Isut - 'To Drift Like Fire', An examination of the Fourth Shrine War

'Ten Astartes. Ten Astartes against the frenzied hordes. They talk of these things in legend. The reality is somewhat different.'

Brother Dayrn Sevart, Squad Poriat.

'The Seventh Ethnarch of Quiscience. Madman. Tyrant. Prophet.

All of the above are just words. The Ethnarch was not a creature of words. His sermons were delivered unto the flesh of his foes. Experiments that were a crime not just against the Imperium, but reality itself. Melding warp-magicks and gene-flensing to create that which he believed Mankind should aspire to become. Insanity will make a man have belief that even his greatest crimes were done with the best intentions. We hunted and quarried him though sector after sector, putting that which he forged to sword and the flame. When he fell onto Kerishian Alpha-Seven, our luck had changed. The chances of using a Astartes recruitment world as a lair were fortuitous beyond our wildest dreams. Three months after the Ethnarch made planetfall, the Astartes battle cruiser 'Dagger Luna', containing elements of the Crimson Shrikes' First, Third and Tenth Companies translated in-system...

What happened to the Crimson Shrikes on Kerishian Alpha-Seven was a small price to pay to bring the bastard Ethnarch to the Emperor's justice.'

Inquisitorial Agent 'Tristian Ravewind'. Believed to be an alias of *REDACTED*.

Images of Demi Squad Poriat, who during the First Battle for Ikartian were led by Sargeant Poriat in guerilla warfare against high value targets and armour destruction. After the destruction of 'Dagger Luna' and the impossibility of resupply, both demi-squads were forced to conserve ammunition, and later resorted to one or two man raids on enemy positions armed with only close combat weaponry and their fury, designed to cripple both remaining Ethnarch command structure and sow terror amongst 'regular' line troops.  

Demi-Squad Surrtaya, led by Imoge Surrtaya. As seen above, he carries the marking of the 'Thorn Wreath' on his right shoulder pad, and wields a Phobos pattern bolter, a rare gift in such a young Chapter, and both of these signify that Surrtaya is soon to undertake the ritual that could lead to advancement into the First Company. It is believed that after the end of the war, he undertook the membership trial known as 'The Piercing', but died four days into the ordeal.

Of further interest can be seen both Brother Kaynt on the far right, and Brother Tormah carrying a M36 Class II gravitational weapon. These brothers were the first two Astartes causalities in the Shrine War, and although Brother Kaynt was believed to have perished in an explosion on the fifth day of the battle, Brother Tormah was captured and flayed alive by the Ethnarch's forces. After the war, his body was recovered, but missing both of his progenoids...

More work, and the art of transfers...

I've been slowly working on my first Tactical squad, and have now managed to get two more Marines done, including my graviton gun wielding specialist. I was going to go with a plasma gun, but the graviton gun just looks too cool not to use, plus my gaming group won't mind if I say it's a plasma gun. 

After posting some of my pics on the Bolter and Chainsword forum, I had feedback that the Shrikes needed something to break the red and black up. I realised that a perfect way to do that would be to use squad markings and a chapter logo, just to bring some more life to the models. I originally painted the Tactical arrows on, but found that I could get better results using transfers. I've never really used these before, but after some searching around on Youtube, and buying some supplies, I was ready. I decided to use the Raptors transfer sheet from Forgeworld as the chapter symbol would work nicely. These are the first results, and I'm sort of OK with them. There's a few creases that I've yet to work out how to eliminate (advice would be great here!), and I've had to paint in a few gaps, but overall the effect works. Mircosol and Mircoset are your friends! I would recommend that you try transfers, even if you're a bit nervous, as they can save so much time and effort.