For August, I had a Land Raider Crusader to add to my Black Templar army, and it is done. Even though it was only a single model, as crazy as this month has been (I still haven’t posted photos from Games Day, and I’ve totally ignored my blog), I got it done just under the wire. It’s a nice addition to the army, though, and I managed to avoid the “police car” effect that my Razorback had.
I went with the same kind of illuminated script detailing that I put on my Venerable Dreadnaught; I figure that, like a VenDread, a Land Raider would be an ancient piece of tech with a backstory, and the Templars seem like the types to put that story on the equipment itself. One thing I am surprised at, though, is that on the Space Marine vehicle transfer sheet, there’s not a single large black Maltese cross. There are white ones (and I put one on top of the chassis), but no black ones, which I wanted to put in the large white area on the Land Raider’s front right. To get one, I’ll have to order a BT transfer sheet from Forge World. For now, it’s no big hurry.
Also, regarding my Razorback, I managed to de-police-ify it by painting in some of the white:
I’m much happier with this version, and it matches the Land Speeders and Land Raider in just having a couple of spots of white rather than big panels of it.
As for what I’m painting this month, I’m not sure. Saturday sees the new Space Marine codex released, and with the Templars officially being de-codexed and rolled into the main book, it’s going to change up the list I’ve been painting. I’m not sure how much at this point, although I imagine my five-man Las/Plas crusader squad will probably go. Points costs will need to be re-evaluated (although hopefully things got a bit cheaper). Wargear will be changed up. My first priority will be re-calculating and seeing what I need and what I’ll have to add to make things legal (as opposed to the things I’d like to buy eventually, like a Stormraven and some Sternguard).
I’ve also added another army to the mix; I managed to luck upon an amazing deal that got me a Leman Russ Executioner (and a Demolisher turret as well), a Chimera, a Vendetta, and about 40 or so IG infantry, including 3 Mortar Teams. I haven’t quite figured out exactly what I’m going to build with them list-wise, but I know I’m aiming for something Steel Legion-esque in appearance. There’s converting to be done!!