Cygnaran Marines 5

Man, here I was expecting units to be the worst part of this - but they've been the fastest to paint up so far! I'm really excited, I painted these both up in about 4-5 hours total. So without further ado, here is a group shot of the Arcane Tempest Gun Mages and Rangers. I particularly like the gillie suits on the Rangers.

In preparation for my Sword Knights (the next unit, I think) I was checking them, and I noticed that one of them was missing an arm. I looked all over and couldn't find it, so rather than dealing with the PP parts store I decided to use the Insta-Mold I have to make a Green Stuff cast of another Sword Knight's arm. After trimming it up it looks pretty passable from the front.

The picture isn't great, but the back is pretty derpy. My hope is that between the positioning I did and some paint it won't really be noticeable. At least not among 9 of his buddies.

Cygnaran 3rd Marines Update 4

 All right, in the interest of keeping this brief, here is a group shot of all my Cygnaran Marines since the last update.

Left to Right: Black 13th (Ryan, Lynch, Watts), Gun Mage Captain Adept (GMCA), Allister Caine, Big Bertha the Defender, Journeyman Warcaster (Jr.), Captain Maxwell Finn, Jonas Murdoch, Trencher Chain Gun, Captain Arlan Strangeways, and Trencher Master Gunner. 

Next batch is already in progress: Gun Mages with the UA and Rangers! 

Mercs: The painted collection so far.

When I agreed to play an Unbound game with some friends, I realized that I had well over 150 points of painted Mercs. Closer to 200, in point of fact. This seemed like an excellent opportunity to take a group shot and show off how far I've come. I've still got plenty of unpainted mercs, but it seems a lot more manageable when I look back and see what I've accomplished.

Mercenaries for the Play it Painted challenge

I'm not REALLY doing the Play it Painted challenge, but I AM interested in having my mercs fully painted, so for Ossrum and MacBains tier lists tomorrow I needed to do some work. I painted 5 models in about 5-6 hours or so. Speedpainting ftw!

Cygnaran 3rd Marines Update 3

All right! Like a boss I've gotten a flurry of painting done this week! First up is the Cygnar Battlebox plus a Sentinel, for an even 15 points. Should be enough 'jacks to last me for a while. I forgot to take an all-together shot, but whatever.

This army will feature relatively few heavy warjacks, the idea being that the Marines don't have much heavy armor, but rely on light, mobile 'jacks. The Roman numeral IIIs have been recolored to represent the role they fill in the army - Light blue (the Ironclad) for infantry, yellow (the Lancer) for cavalry, red (Sentinel and Charger) for artillery. The color scheme is as follows:

Sharpshooters/scouts: Gnarls Green/Ordic Olive
General Infantry: Frostbite
Cavalry: Cygnus Yellow
Artillery: Khador Red Base
Engineers: Hammerfell Khaki
Dragoons: Ember Orange
Medical: Iosan Green (With a Red Morrowan Starburst on White background)

This color scheme will be consistant throughout the army, with individual elements like the Trencher Sniper being part of the sharpshooters and the Trencher Rifle Grenadiers part of the artillery. Should be interesting!

3rd Marines Update 2.1

So I wasn't satisfied with the 3rd Marines Symbol, and made a new one. It could arguably be better, but for tabletop quality I think it'll be easy enough and look great as a unifying symbol.

Cygnaran 3rd Marines Update 2

So here is the first test model for the Cygnaran 3rd Marines. the Lancer. I think overall I like the scheme, but I'll probably make a few tweaks. Speedpainted him in about 3 hours, total. Not bad for at est model, IMO.

 The right shoulder is just a Roman numeral III for the Cygnaran Third Army, and the left shoulder is an experiment for the 3rd Marines symbol - a stylized anchor that forms the center of another Roman numeral III. Not sure I like that, and I'll experiment some more before the next time on a better symbol.

Journeyman/Birthday Update

Happy Birthday to me! Not that I have anything birthday-related to put here, I just wanted to say that.

More than anything, I wanted to show off the start of the Cygnar Battlebox I'm working on for the Journeyman League. I've had this idea in my head for 2 years or so for a very "narrative" Cygnar experience, so here goes!

This army will represent the Cygnaran 3rd Marines, stationed out of Fort Bronson near Ceryl. It's a relatively small outpost, and not well-funded, but they've been a key part of coastal defense since the Scharde Invasions. In recent years they've seen further reductions as the war fronts have shifted more toward Khador, Llael, and the Thornwood, but they still maintain a notable presence of warjacks, troops, and landing ships ready to strike quickly at key targets.

Lately Commander Stryker has been operating out of Fort Bronson, taking direct command and leading a number of raids on the Khadoran coastline and some of the smaller Scharde Islands. These attacks are not full-scale invasions, but rather attempts to take key positions, destroy enemy supply depots, or secure valuable resources. The only warjacks ready for these initial attacks are a Charger, a Lancer, and the pride of the fort - a venerable Ironclad named Bruiser who fought with them since the Scharde Invasions. This Ironclad has been a tried-and-true part of the fort in nearly every operation, crushing thralls underfoot and developing something of a grisly habit of pounding defeated enemies into fine paste if not given further direction. Though it's against regulations, the men of Fort Bronson have attached an alchemical torch to the back of the 'jack. During battles the torch serves as a rallying point for the men, and when falling back they know that so long as they can still see it burning they can hope for victory.

The idea for this army is to have a kind of WWII Marines feel to it, very light on magic and mechanika but heavy on mundane troops and weaponry. This will be an army of Trenchers, Field Mechaniks, Defenders, and probably no Storm Knights, Stormsmith, Sword Knights, or things like that. The idea is that these men are offloaded onto a beach (the basing should reflect this) and told to storm a position, not dig in for months facing off against Khadorans. Fast moving models, ranged attacks, moderately light armor - that's the plan, at least. Warcasters will be pStryker, Kraye, either Caine, pHaley, and Siege, I think. I'm really pleased with the few minor modifications that really breath some life (and movement) into an old metal Ironclad I had. It really feels like he's ready to go smash things and act as the centerpiece of the army.