Last couple of days have been hectic. Vacation is running towards its end and it is time to finish up all the summer projects around the house, so not much time to sit with the models.
I have however started painting on my "Warlord" knight which now would be something like a "Dominus" class knight I suppose. I think GW really missed out on the Knight codex when it comes to versatility in the load out of the knights. Instead of having predetermined pattern as it is now I think they could just have defined the chassis and the number and type of hard points and that one would have to equip them with the right type of weapon for the role you wanted them to have or what ever fits you play style. That would have worked better with the limited number of models instead of trying to fill out the troop selection with predefined patterns of armaments. It would have made the codex and army much more interesting if it was more about buying the right weapons for the knights than buying patterned knights when building the army. Some more diversity on the hard points would also have been nice, more like what they have for the titans. Two main hard points for the Armiger, three for the Questoris and four for the Dominus. As it is now I do not really see a big difference between the Questoris and the Dominus.
Well, as I am not really a gamer I am not to concerned about it, but it would have been nice to have been able to actually have some freedom in the rules to allow some creativity with the models to make them more unique. I like the fluff and try to stay at least partly true to the universe in my conversions but I do not want to build and paint the same expensive model over and over exactly the same way. Now that is enough ranting for this post... back to what I have actually done.
For this knight I decided to use a two color paint scheme, much like what I did for the Varangian. I think it gives the model a grater 3D look as all the details are not lost in one uniform color field. It is also easier to weather the lighter color than the dark green which is nice. The legs and body are done and I will now start on the armor and weapons. After painting Varangian these "small" models are quite quick to paint.
I also managed to get some build time in on the Armiger Knights, i.e. the Skag Valkyrie. I already had the thrones stated for all of them so what was needed to move forward was to cut all the parts for the bodies from the sprues and make sure that everything fit as it should, then I attached the thrones and the back pieces to the bottom of the torso, leaving the sides off so that I can paint the interior. I also added some cables and vents as well as the turbines to the interior to fill it out. I might add some more on the side panels, but it is tight enough already with the pilots so I am not sure that it will not cause more problems than it is worth. The pilots are almost done, I just need to find some left hands that work as well as trim the ponytails on the heads so that they work with the thrones, alternatively I will use the helmeted heads from the skitarii.Once the torsos were underway I had a look at the legs. Once again its mono pose legs that can be assembled either as right or left stance. Luckily it is not too hard to cut them up so that you get a much larger range of motion to them. As I will have four Helverins I decided to make two of them in a braced firing pose and two running forward under the cover of fire. The two Warglaives will act as the leaders of the pack and so I decided to have them also in some striking poses rather than walking. I have only built three of the six pairs but I am happy with the result so far. I also decided to add a shield to the thermal spear and make the cleaver into a halberd. I will also give the Warglaives some extra height by adding thicker soles to the feet and some spacers in the waist. That together with the different stances will make them more individual.
I must say that I enjoy these smaller knights. They are big enough to make some interesting conversions but not so large that it takes to long time. They are also quite affordable as they come two to a box.
So I have not finished any models this time but I am working on it. I will also get back to Varangian, working on the back piece as well as finishing up the shoulder armor.
