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This will no doubt be a very slow-moving plog, but here we go anyway;

Earlier in the year, I painted a Battle company plus transport in Epic scale:


Since then, I've moved into the larger scale.

First of all, one of the last miniatures I finished in 2013; a Land Raider:


And the first one of 2014 - Armennus Valthex, Master of the Forge:


Army Painter Plate Mail Metal with a Nuln Oil wash, highlighted with silver. Ultramarine blue for the blue bits, and that's most of 'em done.

The Land Raider was second-hand, so there's some damage and glue marks on it, and I've had to glue the hatches shut. Still, it served well as a test for the colour scheme.

Starting in April, a few friends and I have set ourselves the challenge of painting a 2,000 point 40k army in four months. I chose the Astral Claws.

As well as Valthex and the Land Raider, I'd previously painted Lufgt Huron and half of what would turn out to be a Devastator squad:






My first part of the challenge, in April, was two Tactical squads, two Rhinos and a Captain:










You can click the images for larger versions.

Very nice is that the FW games day mini from a wee bit back? It's a lovely mini, with a good pj on it, too

Do you have a thing about open-able doors on your tanks, btw. Just kinda get that impression...

I really like the armies you've put together. And the blue stripes on the LR are very sharp!

Dave - yes it is. As for interiors, if they're there, I'll paint them. The Land Raider didn't get done as it was second-hand and the front ramp mechanism was broken.

Job - masking tape. Not perfect, as there was some bleed, but it was a big help.

I had meant to update this with each month's batch of models, but I forgot. I've finally finished the army (well, the planned 2,000 points; I've already got ideas on what's next ...), so here's the pics.

May's miniatures were a Command Squad with a Razorback and a Centurion Assault Squad:








The Chapter symbols on the shoulder pads and the banner are from the Forge World decal sheet. I had planned to paint the exo-armour of the Centurions in a different colour to the power armour underneath, but I ran out of time to think of anything, and ended up just doing them silver.

The cumulative 1000 (ish) points force had an outing against the Ultramarines (in my very first game of 7th edition 40k), and were soundly defeated. The Captain and Command Squad managed to fail to charge the length of their own Razorback, and the Centurions got beaten up by a huge squad of Terminators.

June saw the force being joined by a Damocles Command Rhino (because I like the model), a Devastator Squad (technically the other half of the squad shown two posts up), a Sternguard Veteran Squad and a Bike Squad (to give Chapter Tactics: Astral Claws something to do):














This time, the army faced off against Eldar. That game was more of a mixed result; the Sternguard and Centurions didn't manage much, the orbital barrage called down by the Damocles managed to kill a single Dire Avenger and I kept getting Tactical Objectives to seize objectives deep in Eldar-controlled territory. On the other hand, a Tactical combat squad killed a squad of Fire Dragons in melee, the bike squadron gunned down a Wraithknight and another tactical squad managed to wipe out a squad of Howling Banshees who'd spent all game just milling about doing nothing much.

In July, I added a Stormtalon, a Librarian, a Terminator Squad and a Scout Squad. The original plan had been the Terminators, a Terminator Chaplain and a Techmarine, but I fancied adding a psyker and a flier to the army for variety instead.















This month's battle has yet to be fought. The Astral Claws will take on the Ultramarines and Tyranids soon at Warhammer World ...

As well as the Astral Claws, I've also painted a Knight Paladin of House Degallio (don't worry; the arms aren't stuck permanently in that silly position!), and a small squad of Legion of the Damned.

Future potential reinforcements include a Land Speeder Storm and a second Scout Squad with boltguns, a Chaplain, a Land Raider Crusader or Prometheus for Huron and a Whirlwind and/or Hunter. Unless I get sidetracked by Space Wolves, Elysians or Chaos Space Marines. I'm also looking at fielding the army as a Tyrant's Legion force, using my Guard Army as Legion Auxilia and Armsmen. To that end, I've built Corpse-Taker Apothecary Iscario Seneca (from page 58 of IA vol. 9) and three Dissection Servitors, and a Legion Retaliator Squad (which is currently awaiting the arrival of some shield arms).





I'm also considering adding seven more bikes to make the Bike Squad into a Legion Iron Hunter Squadron, and adding some Dreadnoughts.