The Iron Warriors – RTB01 missiles

I just wanted to share these models with you. I scoured the earth to find some RTB01 missile launchers when thinking about these guys, and love the results. Obviously some converting had to be done to get them to fit, but it was worth it, and they are a constant talking point when facing new opponents.

I would love to do something similar when I take on the Dark Templar project again, but these missile launchers are just so damn rare these days that it may become a bit of a nightmare – we will see.

Friday Update

So I've been at this blog for almost a fortnight now, with an over-enthusiasm that is to be expected when a child discovers something new and exciting. No doubt the pace of my blogs will drop off as the weeks go by, but I fully intend to have at least a once-a-week update.

After reading some great posts on other people's blogs I have decided to adopt the Painting Points Challenge that is currently doing the rounds – taking it a step further like Erik A from Berks Warhammer 40k and giving myself a monthly target to aim for. I need this kind of structure to stop me getting distracted now that I don't have a weekly gaming club that I can get to.

I am so close to my first painting point that I can taste it – as you can see the Blood Angels Veteran Sergeant there is almost complete, just a few details to finish now. Just when I think I'm getting there I find something else that needs painting on him! I even found space for some yellow paint, but not happy with how it went down – it'll do for this guy but will have to get some help from the experts I think, ha.

The Dreadnought arms are not far behind. I have the Terminator Sergeant ready for final detailing, then to complete the list, the Dred body and four Tactical marines with their red armour done and ready to be tidied up and detailed. I have promised myself not to look at anothiner miniature until these guys are done – anything bright and shiny and I'm off track!

I had a bit of a scoop last weekend to help bolster this new army. I was given a donation of Blood Angel figures by my best mate, stuff left behind from when we had a regular gaming night. The figures used to belong to one of the guys who has long since left the hobby. Thanks Kev!

The collection is a real mixed bag, with some figures victims of the spray can (I didn't know you could get so much paint on an individual figure without thinking "hang on, this doesn't look clever"). There is a couple of Tactical Squads in there, an Assault squad including the Honour Guard medic, some metal bits and most importantly...a 5-man Death Company.

In other Blood Angel Project news, I made my first purchase this week – some metal BA shoulder pads – after a decent Ebay sale or two. These will go with my next Troop unit, whatever it may be, so that I don't hand to paint or decal any more icons. I missed out on a couple of auctions for BA characters, but with hindsight have decided it's better to hang on until the new book before shelling out on ICs, they may change completely.

The Iron Warriors – part 3

The Boss Man

Many moons ago I saw a conversion done by Graham Davey (in WD or maybe an old Chaos codex) that used the body of Kharn and the bare/bionic head from a metal Chaplain. I really liked it, even though it was painted as Black Legion, and took it as the basis for my Chaos Lord when I first started my Iron Warriors. When it came to taking my IW to tournaments I wanted to upgrade to a Daemon Prince, and liked the idea of my guy being elevated to daemonhood.

The new Daemon Prince model (at the time) was so awesome there was no decision to be made when choosing where to start. He had to have wings and a daemon weapon so I ordered bitz from the classic Daemon Prince via GW mail order (do you remember those days when you could order bitz?..sigh). The wings were pinned in place and blended in (quite poorly with hindsight) using greenstuff. The Daemon Sword was removed from the Prince's hand and the axe pinned in place – a plastic chaos vehicle spike was pinned at the other end.

For the bionic arm I had ordered Ghazghkull's arm, which was a perfect fit and posed to match my Lord figure. I used a little greenstuff on the Prince's head to create skin edge so that half of his face was bionic, again to match my original Lord figure.

This Daemon Prince model has gone on to lead my Iron Warriors in many tournaments since, including several GTs. His bark was always worse than his bite, and his perceived threat (especially sitting behind my line of guns) has been a very successful tactic against all but the cleverest of opponents.