Aveinus Kaane: Current and Future Projects

Hello everyone,

So over the last week we have been putting up army overview and future project updates, its now my turn! :)

As I am sure many of you have seen I am the groups Iron Hands player and eventually the Blood Angels player. I've been working on the Iron Hands since I started in the heresy setting and I am now beginning to feel like I am heading towards having a finished legion. I began by buying models I wanted to paint and models that I thought were suited to the Iron Hands, so as you have seen on the latest battle report they are not particularly competitive from a gaming point of view. However, the Iron Hands did perform very well against Kaelo and his Raven Guard in some friendly games before the throne of skulls event!

I will say that I am like most people in the hobby hampered by money and time. This is why I don't have a top of the range camera or display board! I'd rather buy more models ;). Below is the best I could do towards fitting all of my legion in a photo!

I am looking to add to the army soon with five more Gorgon Terminators being next on the shopping list, I will be looking to take on your advice on what weapons to arm them with too and on how to use them effectively in future games!

Below are a few of the best close ups I managed to take before being called into work!

I am currently working on a second contemptor with dual lascannons, I just have a couple of white details to do and then its onto transfers and the dreaded purity seal. I still have a lot of other transfers to complete, particularly on the predators with their turrets being the difficult part to get right. There are also other effects to finish on some weapons too when I get around to it.

In terms of what future projects I have on the way, it will be Blood Angels next once I have finished a few more units for the Iron Hands. These will most likely be the Gorgons, another contemptor and a unit of heavy support marines. As you can see from the picture below, I have invested in the battle at calth box set for the cheaper marines, but will not be cutting corners on the legion specific heads, shoulder pads and bodies! I do like to give them character and will have them looking regal. So it shouldn't be too far down the line before I start to work on a few Blood Angel units and testing out a paint scheme for them.

In terms of other projects I have going on, I have been tempted like Kaelo and possibly Darien into a little bit of AoS, with the nice looking new models being released. Other than that we are looking at getting into the new version of Blood Bowl when it is released! Again this all depends on money as I have been spending far too much on warhammer to bare thinking about!

So I hope you liked the insight into my current and future projects, I am excited about starting the Blood Angels but want to mostly complete the Iron Hands first so they can compete better in a our future games.


Thanks for reading,

Aveinus Kaane

Community Question: Meduson Immortals

Hello everyone,

I'm back with a different sort of post tonight about the Iron Hands and one of their special units!

So to set the scene, as most of you will have seen I have completed a unit of Meduson Immortals. As you would expect I was very excited about using these in battle, however, I found them to be more than a little underwhelming! lol.

What I will mention now is that I'm by no means a power gamer so that is reflected in the unit composition and weapons I chose for them. However, I would like to see how everyone in the community who plays Iron Hands does field the Immortals, but also how anyone who doesn't play them would field them too?

So I'll just have a small description of how I field the Immortals below:

The way the I have been fielding the Meduson Immortals are in a unit of ten, with seven of them having Volkite Chargers, two with melta guns and the sergeant with a power fist. In games I have played they have been equiped with melta bombs too. I believe they came to 325pts the last time I played with them but I may be slightly out without the books in front of me.

I tried to make a fluffy unit but also tried to give them some punch, but having played with them they didn't perform particularly well for their points cost. On the other hand arming them with bolters doesn't save a great deal of points and still doesn't make them any better. This is especially apparent when you compare them to the standard breacher marines who have also recently had a points reduction.

Having looked at both of the stat lines there doesn't appear to be any other significant differences between the two units other than the 5+ feel no pain the Immortals get. Now if we are missing something then please comment below as we have been mulling this one over the last few times we have played games.

Again please comment to let us know how you play the Meduson Immortals or how you would play them with your weapon choices and tactics also being interesting to hear about! :).

Thanks again,

Aveinus Kaane.

Pre-Heresy Iron Hands: Castrmen Orth

Hello again everyone, I'm back with another short post about Spear-head Centurion Castrmen Orth. As I showed you in my 2500 point list, I am planning on having Orth as a HQ choice for the Iron Hands and I'm hoping to use his abilities to make a really effective predator squadron!

"One of the most highly regarded tank commanders in the Iron Hands legion, Orth's subjugator armoured battalion was chosen among all of the Gorgon's forces to accompany him and the veterans of the Avernii aboard the Ferrum as they pursued the traitorous Emperors Children".

To build Castrmen Orth I've used a variety of kits. The body is from the space marine tank commander kit, the bolt pistol arm is from the Mk III weapons set, the other arm and shoulder pads are from the Iron Hands Legion Mk III squad and finally the head is from the Betrayal at Calth set (Thanks Castiel!)

In gaming terms I have decided to use Orth because of his ability to grant one of my predator tanks ballistic skill 5 and the tank hunter special rule. So he will be ideal to use in a magna melta cannon predator or in a super heavy tank in larger games. I am also planning on creating another model for him (with legs) where he is armed with a power maul and a bolt pistol. This is for if his vehicle is wrecked and he survives!

For our campaigns I may keep him as Castrmen Orth as there is no information from Forgeworld on which clan he originates from and Sorrgol is happy to adopt him! I am planning to mix up my list and unit selection as the campaigns progress so you may well see him in the heavy conversion beamer predator as well. I will also add that I still have the Sorrgol transfers to add to Castrmen Orth and the predator.

So I hope you've all had a good christmas and new year. Don't forget to check out our coverage of GW's birthday party yesterday!


Thanks again for reading,

Aveinus Kaane

Pre Heresy Iron Hands: Ferrus Manus

Hello everyone,

I'm back with a quick post to show you the finished version of Ferrus Manus!

"Ferrus was amongst the strongest of the primarchs, within him burning the heat of the furnace, its fury tempered by an exterior as cold as unyielding iron"

After my last work in progress post I just needed to add the Ceramite White to one of the cog motifs and also add the Runefang Steel highlight. I chose to add the Ceramite White as it ties the rest of my Iron hands together and matches the clan transfers.

As I've already mentioned in a previous post it was the arms which I enjoyed painting the most. I used the Runefang Steel as the base with a light wash of Nuln Oil to pick out the muscles and then the Guiliman blue glaze to give them more of a liquid metal appearance. Finally I added a highlight of Runefang Steel to the raised parts of the muscles and the Guilliman blue glaze to fade the metal into the skin of his upper arms.

I have decided to not add the scenic base yet as I will probably magnetise the other components at a later date.

I did manage to get him completed by the Battle Bunnies Christmas party, however he really lacked a delivery method and ended up moving forwards with the Gordon Terminators and then back again without engaging any unit at all! This is why I have decided to add a Spartan assault tank into my future Iron Hands force.

I'm not the best builder of models so I did find the servo harness quite fiddly to put together, however I think it eventually came out quite well. The servo-harness itself includes a servo-arm, plasma blaster, graviton gun, grenade harness, heavy flamer and a nuncio-vox! Not bad at all!

With Ferrus completed I will soon be working on a character and I should be able to share my other completed units with you once the transfers are applied. I've now decided on Clan Sorrgol after reading about Meduson and I think he will make a great shattered legions leader in the future. I will also be doing a post with some background about Clan Sorrgol and why I have chosen this particular clan to focus on.


Thanks again for reading!

Aveinus Kaane

Battle Bunnies 20 Legions of Xmas: Iron Hands

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me;

Ten Ma-chine addicts
9 Angels weeping
Psy-chos a' skin-in'
Seven breachers breaching
Russ-is-a-slaying
Sa-vage laugh-ing kill-ers!
Dirty ditch diggers
Per-fect-ion
+++Records Expunged+++
And a Legion full of mys-ter-y

Legion: X
Name: The Iron Hands
Former Names: The Storm Walkers
Primarch: Ferrus Manus
First Captain at the outbreak of the heresy: Gabriel Santar

Forgeworld Colour scheme: (by Matt Murphy-kane)

- Airbrush the model with Tamiya Gun Metal
- Airbrush Tamiya Flat Aluminium from the top of the model in a zenith highlight
- Mix Tamiya Smoke and Tamiya Clear Yellow (90/10 ratio) and thin with Tamiya thinners. Then airbrush onto the model in about 3 layers.
- Airbrush on Drucci Violet in random areas.
- Airbrush on Tamiya Clear Green in random layers, going over both the golden colour and the purple.
- Re airbrush the purple to strength then colour. Again going over the different colours on the model.
- Then apply thinned layers of Tamiya Smoke until the colour is dark enough.
- Finally apply Purity Seal over the models as it will make them darker.

Aveinus Kaane's paint scheme:

- Chaos black spray undercoat.
- Apply Leadbelcher to the silver parts of the model and the armours rivets.
- Next is a medium wash of Nuln oil all over the model and into the recesses.
- Once dry I apply multiple thin layers of Ceramite white onto one of the embossed cogs on the legs or free hand the cog onto the chest plate.
- Ceramite white is also used neatly for the eyes.
- I then use Abaddon black to clean up any mistakes.
- Runefang Steel is then used as both a highlight and for battle damage around the edges of the silver and black armour.
- It is important not to make it too uniform or it will be too overpowering.
- Finally I use Guilliman Blue Glaze in the recesses of the eyes to give a blue glow.

There is a full painting tutorial on the blog, under Pre-heresy Iron Hands.

So with my 2500 point list, I have tried to tick all the boxes in terms of the fluff as well as Iron Hands strategy.

"The Iron Hands are masters of the engines of war, wielding weapons and armoured tanks with the skill a master swordsman might a blade."

- Spear-head centurion Castraman Orth     80pts

• Legion predator tank: Magna melta cannon; Lascannon sponsons; Dozer blade (Dedicated Transport)

- 9 Legion tactical marines: bolters; legion vexilla + Sergeant (Powerfist)  175pts

- 9 Legion tactical marines: bolters; legion vexilla + Sergeant (Lightning Claw)  175pts

- 4 Legion tactical support marines; plasma guns + Sergeant (Plasma gun) 175pts

- 4 Legion tactical support marines; volkite calivers + Sergeant (Volkite caliver) 125pts



- Contemptor dreadnought talon: Contemptor with close combat weapon; Twin bolter + Heavy conversion beamer.     210pts

- Contemptor-mortis dreadnought: x2 Twin linked lascannons + Havoc launcher.     200 pts

- 4 Gorgon terminators: Combi-bolters; Power axes + Gorgon hammerbearer (Combi-bolter; Thunder hammer)       200 pts

• Legion spartan assault tank; Dozer blade (Dedicated Transport)

- Legion spartan assault tank; Dozer blade.     300 pts

- Legion predator sqaudron; Lead legion predator; Magna melta cannon; Lascannon sponsons; Dozer blade.

- Legion predator; Autocannon; Lascannon sponsons: Dozer blade.

- Legion predator; Autocannon; Lascannon sponsons; Dozer blade.      405pts

Ferrus Manus; Forgebreaker.        455pts

Total: 2500 pts. 

The main idea behind this list is that it includes some esoteric weaponry like the heavy conversion beamer, volkites and plasma but also includes the war machines the legion is so renowned for fielding. The Iron hands are also known for their vast amounts of resources and war gear so I'm planning on having a lot of options for them as the legion grows. My list also makes use of their rite of war and the legion specific traits. The idea is to make use of the rules inviolate armour and chosen ground to deploy the troops and dreadnoughts in my deployment zone as the anvil and fire base. Ferrus Manus and the Gorgon terminators will deploy inside the Spartan on a flank to swing into the side of the enemies advancing forces, whilst the predator squadron uses the armoured encirclement rule to outflank and hit the enemies vehicles or artillery. Castraman Orth is also quite useful as he gives his predator BS 5 and tank hunter. Also the two dreadnoughts are in separate units to make use of fleet and then the helical targeting array for the contemptor-mortis dreadnought.

So there it is, just a quick look at what I am planning for the future. Other units such as the heavy conversion beamer predator and close combat units will be used to change the tactics depending on what the legions scouts report of the enemy!


Thanks again for reading!


Aveinus Kaane




  

Pre-Heresy Iron Hands: Ferrus Manus WIP

Hello everyone,

I'm back with another work in progress post for Ferrus Manus! I decided to squeeze this post in after a few of you asked about how I painted Ferrus's arms. It was actually the most enjoyable part of the model I have painted so far as it was a bit of a step into the unknown for me. Unfortunately I have been quite focused on getting this model right so I couldn't break concentration to do a step by step painting guide, but I will talk you through how I painted his arms.

To start with I will just list the paints I used below:

- Chaos Black Spray
- Runefang Steel
- Nuln Oil Wash
- Guilliman Blue Glaze
- Rhinox Hide
- Rakarth Flesh
- Reikland Fleshshade

So this is the first picture although due to how shiny his arms are I couldn't get a brilliant shot. I began by applying the Runefang Steel on to the base coat of Chaos Black in multiple thin layers so no black was remaining on the lower parts of the arms.

I then used Rakarth Flesh in multiple thin layers over the black on the upper parts of his arms. I wanted to paint most of the arms silver so it would be the most eye catching part of the model, although I did leave enough skin so it is possible to see where the change occurs. It is at this point I also painted the straps on his gauntlets with Rhinox Hide.

I should also mention that where the Runefang Steel and Rakarth Flesh meet on the arms, I did not make the edges uniform. I did this so it is possible to see where the metal and skin are almost blending together. Next I washed the silver parts of the arm and the straps with a light wash of Nuln Oil. There should still however be enough wash applied so you can make out the arms muscle definition. I also applied a light wash of Reikland Fleshshade over the Rakarth Flesh.

It was important to ensure the two washes were very light around where the silver and skin meet. Next I applied a layer of Rakarth Flesh over the muscles of the upper arm leaving the Reikland Fleshshade in the recesses. I then used the Guilliman Blue Glaze as a light wash over the silver parts of the arms. I made sure I only applied it lightly around where the silver and skin meet so it enhances the blending effect where the two colours meet, again try not to make it too uniform so it looks quite natural.

The final steps were to highlight the silver part of the arm, over the fingers, hands and muscles to keep the arms from looking too blue. I was worried about applying too much of the glaze, but I do really love how it has came out. It should still look predominantly bright silver but with a blueish hue to it. 

I particularly like the blue because I think it makes the metal look alien and like its almost fighting with Ferrus's body to gradually creep up his arms turning his skin blue and then to silver. Obviously if you would prefer his arms to be more silver then just apply less glaze :).

So I hope you all like it! please feel free to ask any questions below. 

Thanks again for reading!

Aveinus Kaane

Pre-Heresy Iron Hands: Ferrus Manus WIP

Hello everyone,

I'm back with another post for my Iron Hands legion which features the gorgon himself;
Ferrus Manus!

So it was a bit of an impulse buy for a future meeting with the other bunnies to give my force some much needed close combat capabilities. However, I have to confess I was planning on doing a step by step build for the model but unfortunately I am in no way a master model builder! lol. It's definitely the fiddliest model I have ever built, as you have to apply all of the parts for the servo harness, chains and pipes separately. The picture below should give you an idea of all the tiny pieces before the build.

Sometime later after much frustration and cursing! Ferrus was ready :)

I will definitely say it is a beautiful model, the details on close inspection are brilliant. I personally enjoy the painting side of the hobby to the construction, so i'm excited to put brush to model over the next week. The only drawback I can see with the model is its posing. I know it is designed to be apart of the diorama with Fulgrim, but in most other cases he is swinging way too high in my opinion.

I did think about reposing him myself to change his stance or the height of his swing, but in the end I decided to build him as intended. Another Ferrus in the future may get some changes though :).

I have also decided to not paint or put together the scenic base for the time being. This is because I am wanting to maximize the amount of painting time I have on Ferrus himself, so he's completed for his first battle field appearance. The other reason being that I would like to magnetize the scenic base. Below is a photo without the dead Emperors Children on it ;).

So I hope you like the quick post from me, please feel free to ask any questions. I will be doing an overview post in the not too distant future talking about the legion, its organisation and tactics. After doing my research I'm looking forward to discussing the Gorgon's style of warfare and how I see it affecting my legion. (In a fluffy way of course!)

Thanks again for reading,

Aveinus Kaane  



     

Pre-Heresy Iron Hands: Paint Scheme

Hello everyone,

So I'm back with a post on what paint scheme I've been using for my Iron Hands. Now this is my first stab at producing a paint guide, but it should hopefully give you all an idea of how I achieve a simple but effective scheme :).

Before I start I will just list the paints and washes I use to hopefully make it easier to replicate:

- Chaos Black Spray                                                
- Abaddon Black                                                      
- Leadbelcher
- Nuln Oil
- Ceramite White
- Runefang Steel
- Runelord Brass
- Astrogranite Texture Paint
- Dawnstone
- Standard Mechanicus Grey
- Agrax Earthshade
- Guilliman Blue Glaze

So I begin by undercoating the model with GW's Chaos Black spray. I personally like to keep the arms and back pack off of the model to begin with so I can reach all of the hard to reach places. I then use Leadbelcher for the base coat on the silver parts of the model. I try to make sure I get every rivet on the MkIII armour with the Leadbelcher, as well as all of the cog designs on the legs. As for the face plates, I tend to switch between black and silver for variation in the squad. The final step of this stage is to give the entire model a medium wash of Nuln Oil. As you can see I did change my mind on the face plate of this model halfway through! lol.

Next I apply Ceramite White to one of the cogs, as I think it gives the model something that draws the eye away from the black and silver and ties the army together as Iron Hands. It's important to apply the white in multiple thin layers over one of the cogs which will already be silver. I choose a different cog on each model or free hand the cog on a chest plate for variety. I have also used this on some of my vehicles which you will see in future posts :). The other area I use the Ceramite White at this point is on the eyes, this isn't hugely important on the Meduson Immortals but it works really well on a contemptor.

Then I use Runefang Steel to both edge highlight the model and give it its chipping effect. I start by carefully highlighting the edges of the Leadbelcher parts of the model such as the face plate, cogs and gorget, followed by each bolt rivet. Once this is done I edge highlight the armour plates but make sure to break it up so that it works as a chipping effect too. It can be a time consuming job but when I get it right I really like the results. I try to strike a balance as I don't want it to look too bright or too chipped. I find if you use a sponge to add chipping on the small armour plates, you get the chipping effect but lose any edge highlight and if you apply both there is just too much going on. Hopefully you can see this on the photos.

I then mix some of GW's small pebbles with the texture paint Astrogranite before applying it to the base. Once dry I wash the base with Agrax Earthshade into the recesses and then lightly dry brush with Standard Mechanicus Grey, dawn stone and then most importantly Longbeard Grey which really picks out the rocks nicely.

Next I do the same process with the silver on the arms, shoulder pads, shield and back pack as I add them to the model. I do also use a sponge to add a chipping effect on large areas of black plate such as the shield. As for the volkites I use the same techniques but just add some Runelord Brass to the guns piping to add another colour. After the gun has been washed with Nuln Oil, I just reapply it as the piping's highlight.

The last the parts I do are to paint the shields visual feed and the inside of the volkites gun muzzle with Ceramite White. It is at this point that I then use the Guilliman Blue Glaze to wash the white once its dry, to produce the blue shading. I also apply the glaze to the eyes. It is important to be careful as to where the glaze sits, because you want the brightness of the white to still show through to create the glowing effect, but to also shade the recesses a darker blue. This works really nicely on plasma weaponry.

So that's it! Hopefully some of you may find it useful :). It feels like it has taken an age to complete, so please ask any questions you have about the scheme. A few points I will add, are that I do dry brush my walkers and vehicles with s
Standard Mechanicus Grey and then Dawnstone before adding the Runefang Steel. I do use a sponge more on the bigger models to apply the Runefang due the larger armour plates, but I still use a detail brush to add it as a highlight intermittently along the edges of the armour.

Thanks again for reading!

Aveinus Kaane

Iron Hands Wave Two

Hello again sports fans,

First of all I would like to say a huge thank you to all you guys that we meet at events and who I talk to in the store, it's mind blowing how many people read our rantings and the level of support we get from you all is phenomenal. So From every one here at battle Bunnys thank you!

Right that's enough feelings for one night, let's talk about hobby!

My birthday was a few weeks ago and I got a masterdons hold full of iron hands stuff. 

This weeks project is building and spraying 20 of the new Iron Hands marines, these will then be mixed in with my other marines to make 2 20 man squads. I have also part built 3 contemptors ready to be spayed and painted.

As these models are so well sculpted I will be doing a step by step painting guide for the dreadnaughts and the marines

There is even more to come in the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled.