Macragge Pdf

[Chris Parsons]

Hi Guys,

Well it's been a while, and I have to admit to my usual slackness!

I had a great start to the year, 5-6 months of fairly solid painting and then for whatever reason I simply stopped. It might be "painting fatigue", or just real life issues which have caused this.

I find I have to really push myself to paint, bizarrely I love the end result but hate the actual painting side of things. Plus at the start of the year I had motivation to paint as I was taking part in a tale of four gamers style challenge, which once again I failed to finish.

However the project isn't dead by any means, and this week I have been assembling the rest of the army ready for painting.

Unfortunately I have lost the charger for the camera, so don't have many pics to upload, but hope to sort this out over the weekend.

So I have assembled a few things which I haven't posted pics of yet.

First up is my Manticore.

Guilliman pattern Manticore

Firing Position





Travel Position





I have to confess that this was completed a little while ago but I hadn't gotten around to putting up any photos. I typically finished this about two weeks before the new GW one came out, but to be honest I think this one fits in better with the rest of my army, even though I do love the new one.

I also have started on Straken's Vendetta.





These are also pretty old photos. So old in fact that I have almost painted the Vendetta now, but as mentioned haven't had a camera to get any photos. I do have a couple of shots of it in action though.





Not the best photos ever, also some painful memories of Straken and his Vendetta getting toasted by scarab swarms!

Although it doesn't look like I have done a great deal I have assembled two more Chimeras, making the army so far fully mechanised, and I have started on my first squad of melta vets.

I have also assembled a Guilliman Pattern Devil Dog which has turned out quite nicely.

After that I have to assemble another squad of vets and two Valkyries and the army is all assembled. I have 2 weeks off in October so I reckon the army should be finished by the end of the year.

That's 1500pts of Guard painted in 12 months, which might sound slow but considering it took me 4 years (!!) to paint the same amount of Cadians I don't think I have done too bad.

I also have the camera back now so should be able to start more regular updates with any luck.

As always cheers for looking, C and C always appreciated

[Kanazawai]

Hey,
nice to see this alive
good looking color scheme and clean painting.
The only thing i don't like is the chaplain/his weapon, but that's okay^^

[Chris Parsons]

Hi everybody,

well once again I have been very slack at keeping this plog up to date, so apologies for that.

I have been working on the PDF though, although not as much as I had hoped to.

Here is the army so far, up to 1500pts just about.





And then some more work on the Manticore:





Unfortunately I have yet to completely finish anything, mainly because I have been getting everything assembled and base coated so I can game with them.

However I am slowly going back through and finishing units now. I hope to have the army finished by April as I want to take it to Throne of Skulls.

Cheers for looking, I have some more pics to show but didn't want to overload everybody.

[Chris Parsons]

Well guys, I didn't realise I hadn't updated my plog for quite so long!

Admittedly that's probably because my "hobby slacking" has been worse than ever, I was doing really well but then lost all motivation to paint.

I do have some pics to show though, although not much, but thought I would prove I was still alive!

So some progress on the Vendetta. The majority of the highlighting on the hull is done and I have started on the decals. This is the first time I have used proper decal products and varnishes and I have to say it is worth it and makes a hell of a difference. Of course I probably should have dusted it before taking the photos, and apologies for the crappy pics too, time for a new camera me thinks.....









And the reason this bloomin' thing has taken so long, the hand painted over a black undercoat white underside!



I won't ever make that mistake again, it took about a month to get this bit painted, it has about 7 or 8 stupidly thin layers to get it white, but it's still not 100% smooth, but will do for this one. Next one I paint will get airbrushed though!

And I have also done a tiny bit more work on the Vet Squad. I got rid of the melta gun as I didn't like the way it overhung the base, so he now has a lasgun. I did make up a couple of melta gunners to replace him though, still got to drill out the barrels on these guys.

And I also made up another Vet, this one stopping for a cigarette, which I have yet to green stuff (and his arm's held on with blue tac for now).





Anyway, sorry it's such a tiny update, I have benn neglecting the painting side of things a bit recently but hope to resolve that.

As always cheers for looking.

[Marshal_Ezra]

I actually really like the white underside. I did a red top and I left my underbellies black... but I really like the way your's turned out, so I might give it a go.

What was your recipe?

[Chris Parsons]

Cheers Ezra, I am glad I did the underside white as I wanted a more "real world" feel but also because this particular Vendetta is attached to 1st Company.

However in hindsight I would never do it the way I as it was a bit of a nightmare.

This was done by painting several very thin layers of Codex Grey over a black undercoat.

That was followed by a couple of very thin layers of Fortress Gey.

I then added a touch of Fortress Grey to Skull White and applied this in severa extremely thin layers.

It had to be thin because I didn't want to leave any lumps or brushmarks, which pretty much worked but it isn't perfect and took a loooong time.

I think this may be the reason I lost all motivation to paint for a couple of months!

If I were to repeat the process, which unfortunately I have to as I plan to have 2 Valks in this army I would airbrush the underside white (with a tiny touch of grey) and then shade down.

But yes it looks alright, but it still gives me nightmares.....

[Marshal_Ezra]

Yea, I could see that giving you nightmares. That's why I only have 1 medic in the army, white is a pain to pain from black. Your process sounds a lot like mine does, just more layers.

Unfortunately, I don't have access to an airbrush, so I have to do it all manually.

Thank you for giving me motivation to finish painting my IG army.

[Pax Urbis Pax Imperi]

My favorite thing about that Valkyrie are the decals. Decals are hardly ever utilized, and to do it well, with the impression that its been painted on, is hard to achieve. Well done!

The quotes are especially nice, along with all the Ultramarines symbols everywhere.

[Chris Parsons]

@ Marshall Ezra: It's good to know somebody else feels my pain when it comes to painting white! Painting it by hand isn't too bad on single figures, but on anything bigger than a helmet or shoulder pad sends shivers down my spine. Glad I've given you some motivation to paint your guard, my motivation comes in dribs and drabs but I feel in the mood for painting right now so hopefully will have more stuff to show soon.

@Pax Urbis Imperi: I have to admit that up to this point I had had an unspoken policy that I would never use decals. I try to only use them on vehicles, but the last time I did they looked awful as I wasn't really applying them properly. This time I used varnishes, decal softeners and fixers for the first time and I have to say I am now converted. It wasn't without it's problems though, had some scary moments with fogging and bad varnish but thankfully I managed to sort it out. I can highly recommend the vallejo varnishes, I was using Revell but they were a bit pants! I got the littanies from the new Ultramarines Decal sheet from FW which work out nicely I think. I wanted to break up the large blue areas and this fitted as I have similar things on my Ultramarines. I must admit though I do get some funny comments from people when they see Imperial Guard with Ultramarines symbls on them!

[Piranha_mp]

Well no matter what comments you get when you use Ultramarine Logo's, everyone must admit that this is one hell of a cool army. It's beautifully painted, an original well-thought concept, and perfectly executed.

Keep up the good work, it's an inspiration.

[Meph]

Hear, hear! A very good looking army indeed. I'm personally a big fan of the Space Marine themed support troops. The use of the SM turrets on the IG vehicles gives a nice flair to the models.

Out of curiosity, are you planning on applying some weathering or are you going to keep them factory-fresh as-is?

[Chris Parsons]

Cheers everybody, thanks for all the positive comments.

Sorry for the rather large delay in updates, to be honest I have been pretty much out of the hobbby for a few months.

Hopefully back on track now, so I have some new pics to show.

I have been working through my transports for now, so here are some Chimeras.

First up is my counts-as Straken's command Chimera.

HQ: Company Command Chimera









Still some work to do on it, like the standard, metallics etc.

@ Meph: they will be getting some weathering once they are all varnished. The weathering will be pretty minimal though as I reckon the forces of Macragge would keep all their gear spick and span.

I have some more pics but didn't want to overload everybody.

[slovak]

Great work! Love the army, and love the idea.

By the way, on the picture posted above-- where did the head come from on the vet lighting a cigarette?

Keep up the great work. The results really show.

[Chris Parsons]

Cheers Slovak,

It has been a bit of a labour of love, but it is taking aaaaages.

The head is from one of the FW Cadian upgrade kits, it might be the Vets with shotguns.

I have gone through so many FW Cadian heads they all seemed to have blurred into one but I will try to put a link to the kit for you in a bit.

[Plueschpanda]

Yes the head is from the veterans with shotguns upgrade kit... I have one right in front of me
Your army is incredibly well painted and it is a pleasur to look at it. I especially like your chimera variants.
Cheers!

[Chris Parsons]

Hi Guys,

Well I must admit I have been very guilty of neglecting this blog, but then again I have also been guilty of not doing much painting too!

I do have an update, although it may not look much.

I had done some more work on the Chimeras for my infantry platoon, but in all honesty forgot to post pics so here we go.

Chimera Transport Tactical 190:








There is still work to be done on them, mainly revarnishing the decals, sorting out the metallics etc.

The photos have also really yellowed out the stowage for some reason, it isn't actually that colour IRL, I think it may havebeen the light I was using.

[Chris Parsons]

Then there is the Platoon Command Chimera.

Tactical Command Chimera:






Again there are areas that need revarnishing, or where I just forgot to add a coat of matte varnish before taking photos. And there is still more detailing etc to be done before I do any weathering etc.

Then last of all we have the final Chimera, Tacticla 450

Tactical Chimera 450:

[Meph]

Those models are a joy to watch, kudos!

[slovak]

Glad that you're still working on this project, it remains beautifully done.

[Chris Parsons]

Cheers guys,

I must admit the Macragge PDf have been a little bit neglected for a while, I have terrible 40KADD at the moment.

I have been frequenting a few tournaments recently and their comp has meant I couldn't use this army so I went back to my Ultramarines and painted more of them, then I started a Blood Angels army and have just started building a Warhound Titan and my Death Korps too.....

However the Macragge PDF are going to their first Tournie in May this year, and there isn't a massive amount to do on them so I hope to get back to them in the next couple of weeks.

I do have some more pics, although these don't show a whole lot of progress.

A teeny, tiny bit more done to the Manticore. The white missiles took aaaages, so I painted other things instead!



And a new addition just because the army lacked a bit of "punch", a Guilliman pattern Russ.







The dozer blade isn't glued in place just yet, I need to do that after painting but it was just to get an idea of what it look like in place. It does line up better than it looks, but it kept falling off when I took the photos!

I did actually have much bigger plans for the Russes in this army but my first attempt failed, and I need this one for the tournament.

The plan was to reverse the tracks so that the Russ looked like a mini Land Raider.

Unfortunately this didn't work first time around and I ended up trashing a kit, but I have now worked out how to do it so expect a new improved version in a little while.

For now I have had to settle with the Predator Sponsons and the Vinicator dozer blade but it looks different enough I think.

As always, cheers for looking.

[Meph]

Yup, especially the sponsons give it a more modern look.

[fire1098]

It definitely has something for everyone doesn't it? Well done.

[Chris Parsons]

Hi guys,

Well it's been a while hasn't it?

Unfortunately had a fairly [I Swear Too Much] start to the year, split up with the missus in January, and in between sorting out my flat etc I haven't really been getting much hobby done of late.

On the bright side though it means I now have a lot more time to paint.

So I have steadily been getting back to my man dollies, and have some new pics.

As usual nothing is finished at this stage, but I am currently working on 4 different armies and keep flitting from one to the other.

Also because the new rules allow it I will be including my Ultramarines in this plog too, which is awesome. Thank you 6th Edition!

First up we have some Ultramarines Rhinos, and yes there is a reason there are six of them with Tactical markings........ I must be mental!

Ultramarines Rhinos - Second Company




Next up is the third full Tactical Squad which is almost finished, so half way there.....

Ultramarines Tactical Squad - 2nd Company




Then the beginnings of a Scout bike squad.

Ultramarines Scout Bikes






And some progress on the rough riders.

Macragge PDF Rough Riders










And then just because I am more than a little bit excited about 6th edition, and stoked about the new allies rules here is my army in full, which I can use in standard games.

It's almost as if GW were reading my blog.

[Mechanicore]

When I first read about the Allies in 6th edition, my first thought was how much more awesome your army would be.

[Chris Parsons]

Cheers Mechanicore, it's like they read my mind.

I must admit I am really chuffed, this project has been ongoing for over 3 years (but then I am a very slow painter), and both armies are almost finished, but now I have a lot less to do as I can combine all the elements that just need finishing touches.

Next project is a Tau army in desert colours with a couple of units of human auxilliaries, and i am very excited about that too as I already have the idea in my head. It was going to be another guard army, but I couldn't justify starting another, but now i can add them to the tau I have always wanted to do.