Relictors Space Marine Scout Snipers w/ Camouflage - Squad #3

Hello All, thanks for checking out the blog. Here is my first set of Scouts for over 10yrs. My previous Scout Squads #1 & #2 were completed in Nov 2008 are still being used on the battlefields today, so these new additions will help out with area denial or objective holding.

For this Scout squad I continued with the theme from the first two squads with camouflage but inspired by a gaming buddy, went with a much darker scheme and camouflage which is the same colours as the terrain. I see these as sneaking around the terrain reporting the enemy dispositions and striking from the shadows with well aimed volleys of sniper rounds/blasts (Apparently the Space Marine Sniper Rifle fires a small dart made from a deadly neuro-toxin chemical. The liquid chemical is frozen into a dart or sliver within the gun before it is fired. Unerring accuracy is afforded by a low power beam of invisible laser-light which drives and guides the chemical dart to its target. If the target is armoured, the beam automatically pulses when the rifle is fired, punching a tiny hole which allows the toxic dart to penetrate).

Here is a shot of the rear of the models showing the camouflage cloaks, I like the variety the two metal sculpts add to the squad. The standing metal sculpt has had a helmet added to the waist belt. I added some colours and metals for the sake of how the miniature looks on the battlefield and for interest rather than realism, I know you would cover any metallic reflection surfaces IRL, but this is Grim Dark 40K and big white emblems on big shoulderpads, metal buckles and shiny lenses is in :)

Here are the three plastic Scouts, I've used heads from Dreamforge Games Valkir Heavy Troopers instead of the normal heads, I don't really like the Scout sculpt heads with the just-off proportions and big chins - and these are easier to do than flesh faces too so that is a win win. The middle Scout has the arms from a close combat scout, I removed the Combat Knife and the spare Sniper Rifle you get in the kit added to a Combat Shotgun arm - gives a unique and different pose.

These two are the metal Scults from about 1998, very characterful and I added a helmet to the base to link with the rest of the squad. I gave the standing one a face covered in cam-cream for a different look, I think it worked out well and gives piercing eyes.

A very enjoyable squad and a welcome addition to my Relictors. Thanks for dropping in.

Cheers, Siph. (5 painting points)

Relictors Landspeeder Storm WIP - Getting more for your money

Hello Readers, thanks for dropping by. Keeping to my aim of this year to make a dent into the to-do pile and get some of those units on the table, one of my long purchased loafing boxes was a Landspeeder Storm. Well looking at the kit it doesn't make sense to me to build the kit with all the occupants in it, I prefer the idea of the Pilot and Gunner and an empty crew compartment I can place passenger models in if necessary.

Even a Space Marine would have difficulty staring into the on rushing wind, smoke and haze of the 41st Millennium battlefield, so following my Scout Bikers, these crewmen will have Pig Iron helmets which look great on Scouts I reckon.

That leaves four crewmen that come with the kit who are spare. The first crewman hangs out of the right-hand side of the Landspeeder, with one foot up on a step poses a problem for a base, so I added a rock and voila, one Scout in the field. I've swapped his hand from holding the rappelling lines to a CCW, not shown, off for ease of painting.

The second crewman is sitting on the left-hand side of the Landspeeder, his pose is sitting back but with some wedges (not stilettos honest!) which will be covered by the basing material, his pose becomes a bit more upright, and being the only left handed Bolter wielding Scout, I was keen to use him! He now looks like he is stalking forward.

The third crewman is the Sergeant, he stands looking out of the top of the open topped Landspeeder, but with the addition of a Bolt Pistol instead of a steadying hand, he is now ideally engaged in close-combat with the enemies of the God-Emperor!

The final member of the Landspeeder is sitting back reloading a Bolter but his legs were too prone, one tucked in and one pointing straight along the seat, so I cut his waist and plonked the torso on a spare pair of Scout legs, so now I have a walking Scout re-loading in the midst of battle (shows his lack of experience - fancy a SM running out of ammo mid battle!).

So, four Scouts with different poses, they will look great interspersed into other based Scouts in the field, adding some personality and character to the rank and file. And more importantly, 4 (ok 3.5) more models for minimal cost!

Cheers, Siph.

Relictors Space Marine Scout Bike Squad Finished

Here is my latest offering at long last, they have taken longer than expected, but the sheer amount of little details on these guys slowed me down, I know, even slower than normal! I'm not the fastest painter in the world by far.

These are a great kit, plenty of additional details, that said, I've only used a few on each, these are my light reconnaissance squad, the other squad will be made of the old metal scout miniatures and some 'normal' SM bikes loaded up with plenty of saddlebags, fuel cans etc etc. They are WYSIWYG so I had to add Shotgun Holters to all the bikes - but the rules are 2 shot Assault, the TL Bolters are Rapid Fire and bikes are relentless? So, why bother with Shotguns?

The Shotgun wielding scout above has an empty bike holster, because he's holding his shotgun! The bikes have plenty of screens, buttons, weapon options (TL Bolters or Astartes Grenade Launchers), bandoliers of Grenades, ropes, Shotgun shells, roll mats (I've painted to match the Camo Cloaks on my previous Scout Squads seen here).

The Biker Helmets are from Pig Iron, and are their Heavy Infantry Heads.  These two bikers show the Astartes Grenade Launchers - who is not to like Rapid Fire Frag and Krak out to 12/24in?

Finally, the Sergeant, he wears a Respirator head from the Scout Biker kits, echoing the other Scout Squads on foot, they have SM Respirator Heads. He also has a grenade and rope at his waist and a FW combi-flamer for a nice template weapon before the charge...

Thanks for reading, I hope you like...

Relictors Scout Bikers WIP No.2

Because I am as slow as a slow thing at painting, I thought I would at least post some progress shots of my 5 Scout Bikes, the bikes are now completed. These shots show the details nicely, they are fabulous models often overlooked by the majority of gamers for the next new UBER unit, however, they are a treat, a hidden gem. Just look at all the nice additions, a plethora of extra kit to add as little or as much as you like.

Don't worry about the seat mold lines - they'll be covered by rider.

I've gone for fairly lightly loaded bikes as I have 5 normal SM bikes for a squad of long-range Scouts (old metal riders on normal SM bikes with lots of fuel cans/ravenwing saddlepacks etc.) I've included the holstered Shotguns as they come as standard (why? 12" S4 Assault 2, but Bolters are TL Rapid Fire S4 24"(12") and bikes are Relentless - I guess it's to give options for the Astartes Grenade Launcher armed bikes? 24"(12") Rapid Fire Frag or Krak - nice.) and the kit comes with a Chainsword arm but no codex entry for one, but plenty of Shotgun shells, roll mats, grenade packs, ropes etc. I've also gone for muted decoration with Boltgun Metal Skulls rather than normal Gold, and weapon casings will be black to hint toward the Scout rule - how do you infiltrate a huge motorcycle? ;)

Lastly, to give my superhuman riders some chance of breathing in the dust kicked up by the other squad members, I've used some third party sci-fi helmeted heads (Pig Iron Heavy Infantry) that look great as motorcycle crash helmets! The Sergeant will have a respirator head similar to all my other Scout Sergeant heads and included on the biker sprues.

Relictors Scout Bikes - WIP

With the coming of 6th, Scout Bikers have become a lot more viable, with true toughness of 5 not just 4(5) and with additional Hammer of Wrath attacks in CC, I'm liking what I see. Plus their Infiltrate and Scout Move (but now they can't assault on first turn if Outflanking from Reserve) I quite like what they bring for a fairly low points cost. I have a squad of 5 old Scout Biker models on SM Bikes I have wanted to use for eons as well as 3 newer Scout Bikes from the Spearhead Boxset, so I added two more bikes and now need to get around to painting all ten... the first 5 new plastics are on the painting bench. I envisage the heavier SM bikes loaded with long range scouting stuff, Ravenwing packs and whatnot. They may take longer to get done knowing my short attention span, but these first five are the short range recce team, so light on add-on packs and roll mats etc.

The main bike bodies will be done shortly, I find its all the details that will take the time. I also picked up a few Sci-Fi helmeted heads to use as bike helmets (top left above), instead of the plastic Scout heads. The cool respirator head will still make the cut, like my footslogger scouts (here), he will be the Sergeant.

What was I saying about details.... so many parts to choose from... only question is how many Astartes Grenade Launchers? One , Two or Three?

Relictors Space Marine Scouts - Squad #1 and #2

As promised, some more phots of my Relictors.

I have a couple of squads of scouts finished. Firstly with bolters and a missile launcher, the second squad with sniper rifles and a heavy bolter. My paintjob came from the idea that scouts would still wear their Chapter colours (Relictors Grey Armour) but would concede to some sort of camouflage (Cloaks and Trousers/Tunic) in order to be able to infiltrate. Thus, my guys have trousers and tunics to match the base colour sands, camo cloaks and camo silencers. The Hvy Bolter chap is a simple plastic conversion from the scout boxsets using a sniper cloaked body and cut down Hvy Bolter. The Sergeants have a normal marine head filed down to fit and one scout uses a IG head. The base of the Hvy Bolter has some 28mm scale Shell Casings I got from ebay.The sniper squad have a Hvy Bolter after reading an article on scout tactics from the Games Workshop website. I plan to make the bolter squad to 10 men so I can either use it as full squad or two combat squads.

Bolters and Missile Launcher

Sniper Rifles and Heavy Bolter

Camouflage Pattern