Painting: Lima-Foxtrot BattlesuitsWere as I’m not so happy with the Fire Warriors, I’m much more satisfied with the battle suits. These are the first few with more on the way. You’ll note the lack of weapons. The intention is to add the ‘magnetised’ weapons once I finally get them constructed. But with 50 odd small magnets and a variety of pieces of metal, this should not present a difficultly.
You’ll notice also the close combat attachments. Although rules wise they make no effect I added them as the unique take on the ‘lima’ cadre. I envisaged them being far more un-orthodox with their combat tactics and equipment. The weapons are used now only for combat but also utility, such as cutting through jungle or negotiating obstacles without using jetpacks (that would give away their position).
As with the Fire Warriors my plan is, in the future, to muddy up the models a tad. These ones will be left alone, but in future I want to give battle damage / undergrowth appearance to the other battlesuits that are in the making. Lima battlesuits would combat the enemy for weeks on end in hit-and-run skirmishs so I wanted to give the appearance of battlesuits that had seen almost constant movement and action.
The scheme is a khari undercoat (from Tamiya as apposed to GW) with use of camo green high-lighting, bleached bone and camo green detailing on the legs, dark angels green helmet and some chaos black / hawk blue / scotched earth detailing.
Blank Battlesuit
First to be painted but the last constructed, I used 4 Skeleton sprue swords (old plastics) and added them to his forearms, as well as adding two shields and modifying the arms so that they are a tad straighter.
The idea is that the suit is either ‘at rest’ or in a more relaxed pose, ready for combat. The weapons would mount on the shoulders. I attempted a camo scheme on his shields as well as using various base ‘multi-cam’ colours to the model.
Indeed, the choice of ‘Dark Angels’ Green helmet was infact based on the helmet I used for airsofting myself .
Flamer battlesuit
One of the first battlesuits I built, with twin flamers as standard (none-magnetised).
Note the use of Tomb Kings Undead scimitar blades on the forearms, giving it an appropriately eastern appearance. This time the arms weren’t modified and I went with a ‘in combat’ idea. As before, I attempted some camo work on the shield on the top of the suit which I think came out a bit better.
I also applied a heavier high-light than the previous model but I think I still need to work on it as its not bright enough. My inking work still needs attention but I think I’m getting cleaner with its application.
Commander Shas’el
My Sub-commander work-in-progress. I intend to fully high-light / ink this model once I master the technique, with the possibility of a little dry brushing on the head.
My other full commander will be the Forgeworld Shield-bearer (whose name escapes me just at the moment) that sits undercoated and awaiting attention. This one has some lightly conversation work to bring him up to ‘XV-81’ standard with the smart missile system
Although I do not know how this will fare in game terms, background wise it made prefect sense as the ‘Lima’ Cadre rely on Ambush and special operations tactics. Being able to place your commander outside of LOS and fire indiscriminately on the enemy seemed the prefect option, as well as being able to adequately defend himself with other weapons.
More work in progress
Bits of additional battle suits to be constructed.
One is a team-leader with my own version of the ‘cyclic ion blaster’ and plasma gun. With a hard-wired multi-tracker and targeting array (that you can see as a conversion on the side of the Cyclic Ion Blaster) this model will be used either as a lone wolf or heavy team-leader for Marine hunting.
Again this one will be none-magnetised but my intention is to deploy all other team-leaders with interchangeable weapons.
You can see the same ‘twin swords’ I used with the first blank battlesuit but this time only on one arm.
With the other incomplete battlesuit I attempted a ‘punch dagger’ style with multi-trackers in the arm-weapon recesses. Again, this battlesuits main weapons will be on the shoulders. I see him as being a missile gunship in particular but any variety will be possible.
Each team (of which their will be 4 separate teams in total) will have their own designative close-combat weapons styles to desinguish them from each other. So far its punch daggers and two swords, but I hope to use a wolverine style for another team using spare parts and old-plastic broadswords.
Anyways, that’s the plans gentlemen.
Comments please
