I finished the Demolishers last night, using all size of shells from the Bombard cutoffs. The fit pretty well after some filing but I still needed to do a little bit of putty work around the turret.

Just the Stormblades are left before I head back to painting, but I need to do a short tangent for a gift this week.

I finished the Stormswords the other night. They're Shadowswords with the barrel clipped off with some heavy bolters stuck every which way on it. The heavy flamer is the same conversion I did for the Salamander Command tanks: Squat Trike multi-melta with the barrels carved up.

I also figured out what I'm doing for the Demolisher barrels, they're the shells from the Bombard mortar cranes. Like the Buffalo was to the Cheyenne people, the Bombard is to this army: every part will be used.

Finally, I started to figure out what I'm going to do for the Stormblades. I thought I had three spare sponsons for the right side, but I haven't been able to find them so I'll need to convert them out of plasticard.

Slow but steady progress on the next batch of tanks. I finished up the Hydra this week. I wasn't a fan of the Space Marine/Titan Legion era Hydra, the autocannons pointing straight up in the air with no means of tracking aircraft seemed pretty dumb to me. This is the conversion I came up with.

I modeled it after the Epic 40k era Hydra, cutting and pinning the autocannons to the side of a Manticore weapon platform with its missiles filed off. I used a plasticard channel to get everything level with the top of the tracks, and a greeble that I cut off of the autocannons onto the back of the chasis. I got the idea from a TacComm post some ten years ago.

I also started work on the Stormswords this week. They'll be getting some heavy bolters and flamers next.

I started building my next batch of thirty-ish tanks. I plan to finish the last two super-heavies, along with another artillery, Leman Russ and support option again. First up are the Vanquishers, these got elongated barrels. I still have to go back and drill out for the hatch/Commissar plugs.

For artillery this time around I went with Bombards. I used chimera chasis hulls instead of the Russ chasis they came with (that's now called a Collussus I think) with the bombard mortar sans shell crane.

The Demolishers got their heavy plasma cannon sponsons, but I'm still thinking on the turrets. A shortened barrel looks a little too "phoned-in". I got to see what else I can come up with here.

Finally, I flocked the Exterminators to see what that's going to look like. This was pretty much what I did for my Knights so I'll likely continue it with this army as they're both Space Marine/Titan Legion era.

The Stormhammers got finished up last night. I ended up adding four more heavy bolters per tank to make them WYSIWYG. They originally had four total in Epic: Raiders and on the model, but a long standing typo for twin heavy bolters was officially adopted this year.

At this point, all of what I've built has been painted. Back to the conversion table next for another handful of tanks.

The Manticores are all finished up. I went with some classic red on the missiles. Just the Stormhammers left, after that I need to figure out if I'm building more guard or painting something else.

I finished the Salamander Scouts this week, throwing one on the floor in celebration. After a bit of glue the autocannon was reattached and they were finished, again…

I also painted up one of the Commissar character plugs. I glued a fish eye on his back for a hatch and sculpted the arms. Super close up he looks like he's grinning like crazy.

I got the Leman Russ Exterminators done last week but forgot to snap a pic. Things are moving along, albeit slowly. This week will either be the Salamander Scouts or a quick tangent into Shieldbash to get things ready for an upcoming invitational.

I finished up the Shadowswords last night. I also went back and painted the headlights on the Baneblades that I missed. Next up are the Leman Russ Exterminators.

Not painting much these days what with the heat, but I did finish tidying up the base colors recently.

I was getting tired with the lack of perceived progress while painting the entire army though, so switched gears and just started painting the Baneblades. They just need a clear coat and flock at this point. Onto to something else next week.

Not many updates but I've been slogging through the camouflage on the Armoured Company these past weeks. The base colors and shading are done, I'm now onto tidying. That should finish up this week and hopefully I can start on the highlights.

The green and tan each get a base, wash, neaten up, and two highlights. The black and metal get a wash and a highlight or two, depending on how they look.

I also painted this guy up over the course of a couple hours this week. He's a battle wizard from my last Kickstarter. He's meant to be a gold wizard/alchemist.

Most of the building is finished, I just need to sculpt a few more arms on the Commissar markers. I also got the tanks glued to the bases. I used 30 minute epoxy for this, as I wanted something a little more supstantial that super glue.

I came up with a heavy flamer for the Salamander Command, they're a multi-melta from the plastic Squat Trikes. I reworked the barrels a little bit to look more flamer-ish.

The Baneblades are all done as well. They got twin heavy bolter sponsons, a new heavy bolter in hull turret, and new lascannon barrels that made them match the Leman Russ more.

The Stormhammers all got their heavy bolter turrets as well. They weren't too bad once I drilled out the old barrel.

Finally, here's more first pass on the color scheme. Thoughts? I was shooting for something suitably 90s GW. It's not to the level of the Eldar, more a tabletop level I think.

Still working on the conversions. The fish eyes came in so most of the tanks got them glued on. I still need to make some hatch plugs for some Salamanders and the Baneblade but that's mostly done. I also finished the Commissar plugs aside from sculpting the arms on them.

The Salamander Scouts got their autocannons this week. I ended up hacking apart a Chimerax turret, brass wire and a plastic tube that I drilled out to make the muzzle. One turret got me two autocannons. I'm still thinking on the Command, I think I'm going to try and make a heavy flamer like the Hellhound's cannon out of plastic.

The Exterminators got muzzles for their twin autocannons as well. I drilled out a plastic tube and cut away a small bit down the side so I could fit them side-by-side. They came out all right I think.

While I can appreciate the access 3D printers have brought to this hobby (and Epic in particular) my heart still yearns for a time when if you needed a unit that wasn't commercially available you converted it. You see conversions less and less these days, so I thought I'd try a little challenge: finish a 3k army without any 3d printing or custom casting shortcuts. We'll see how this goes, but I'd like to finish this up before NEAT this year (normally held at the end of June, but still tentative given the world right now).

For the army I went with Imperial Guard, specifically Minervans using the old SM/TL models. I thought it was fitting to use models that are pushing 25–30 years old as it adds to the nostalgia factor for me. Minervans also offer plenty of opportunities for easier conversions what with all the vehicle variants.

I didn't do anything special for the Manticores, aside from snipping off the wrecking ball on the back of their launcher. I have some 1/8" diameter adhesive fish eyes coming, they're used to make lures but I think they'll work out great as hatches. I plan to put a hatch on each one on the right hand side, as this will be useful for my Commissar characters (see below).

The Salamander Scouts and Command are the most intensive conversions in this army, the back compartment was made out of plasticard square tubing and strips, filed and cut at different angles. The autocannons are nearly done, but I'm still trying to think of something for the heavy flamers aside from a plasticard build. These will get the hatches as well.

The Exterminators just got some brass wire as autocannons, I'm going to try and put some muzzle details on the end. I doubt putty will stick to them so I'll likely try heating up and bending some thin plasticard strips. You can see my plans for Commissars here, I'm making plugs that I'll be able to move around. When a vehicle doesn't need a Commissar I'll just have some hatch plugs to put in their place.

Finally, the only change I made to the Shadowswords was to use Squat heavy bolters for the sponsons. Not too bad, but then I realized I had to do 12 of them for the Storm Hammers… You can also see my Supreme Commander dude there as well, I need to sculpt his arms still.

I haven't felt much like painting this year so I needed something different to kickstart myself back into it. I started Defender X for Monsterpocalypse a couple of weeks back and finished him up this weekend. I tried painting him last year but wasn't a fan of how the purple was coming out. After a bit of ink and contrast paint mixing I got something that I was happy with, here's the result.

G-Tanks and a Repair Truck are next.