+ inload: Iron Warriors Predator +

Ba-bang!

The Predator rocked back as though kicked; the tracks quickly settling with a rhythmic clanking as a cloud of dust billowed from every flat surface. The engines' idling grumble kicked into a whine and a metallic tinkling as the tank wheeled away and turned down a side-alley.

The crack of the double-retort echoed and re-echoed weirdly in the confines of the sub-district streets, and Izmir's eyes flickered, darting around; suspicious. Even slaved to his autosenses, the tank felt close and confined; like a loose-knit bag over his eyes.

Izmir and the other two permanent crew were locked into their seats; their armour soft-connected via their backpack ports. The fourth Iron Warrior squatted awkwardly in the little remaining space; his feet braced against the crew's dormant charging backpacks. Jogged around in the heat and the dark, the tank crawled onwards – into danger; towards an uncertain victory.


+++

+ Acerbus, Predator battle tank +

+ Standard order dictates three Astartes to man a Destructor-armament Predator – the commander, who operates the main turret and directs the crew; a primary gunner, who controls the sponsons; and a driver, who is responsible for navigation and mobility. +

+ Unlike the advanced micro-noosphere of other vehicles available to the Legions – such as the dread Land Raider, Sicaran variants or Crotalid assault transports – vehicles based on the rugged Rhino were rugged, practical and built with redundancy and reliability in mind. This was an intentional part of the concept briefs: Astartes tanks were designed to take advantage of the sophistication of the crew's personal equipment – their power armour. With the armoured crew having shielded internal comms, advanced autosenses and numerous other targetting and survival aids, the tank itself could get by with the bare minimum. In case of damage or loss, the vehicle could be quickly repaired or replaced. In the unlikely event of it being captured, the tank would prove impractical to most enemies – if for no other reason than the distorted scale necessary for the post-human crew. +






+ As a result, the Deimos-pattern Predator was a spartan environment, with little thought given to aesthetics or comfort. Nevertheless, some advanced systems were in place. The crew's thrones were designed to integrate with the rear of power armour plate, essentially replacing the need for a backpack while in place. The backpacks could be stored near the rear of the tank for retrieval, and could in turn be plugged-in to recharge. This gives an example of the spare elegance of the design; as the three backpacks could be used in a pinch to substitute for an engine subcompartment – allowing a Predator with catastrophic damage to limp away even if all four engines were destroyed. +



+ This Predator – designated Acerbus – is marked with simple visuals; yellow stripes and an alphanumeric key marking it as tank One Hundred of Muster IX. The alpha symbol following the Muster indicates it being a dedicated infantry support tank, rather than a full part of an armoured cavalry division. +

+ The Iron Warriors were well-supplied with comparatively simple Rhino-based vehicles; as more advanced designs – even those partly created by Perturabo himself – were preferentially deployed to other Legions. The IVth turned this to an advantage, spearheading massed armour deployments and making the most of the lightning-strike capabilities available to an armoured force that required little support and virtually no rest. +

+ This was achieved by integrating a Jardimcy Legionary to the crew; an additional 'spare' Astartes who was – in theory – carried in shuttle groups in Rhino carriers that accompanied the main column; but in practise often forced to cram into the tank alongside the small amount of supplies each Predator carried. The Jardimcy would take over duties for injured or exhausted crew, extending the vehicle's combat capabilities. They were also used to replace casualties in the field; reducing the need for a supply train and allowing the column as a whole to continue driving forward. +



+ The presence of the Imperial Eagle remained common even deep in the Horus Heresy. The reasons for this are many and varied – everything from the IIIrd Legion's conscious mockery of Imperial ideals; the Alpha Legion's misdirection; and simple misunderstandings or the dissemination of misinformation. In the case of Acerbus, the Eagle was maintained in honour of the Imperium – the Iron Warriors felt they were fighting against the tyranny of the Emperor himself, not the institutions the IVth had sweated and bled to build. +



+ Resplendent in Legion livery of gunmetal and black, a large bulldozer blade for rubble clearance has been installed on the Predator. This was an extremely common upgrade; particularly amongst those crewed by siege-orientated dodekatheon members. +

+ A number of gleaming blue lenses are visible here; each of which are available for any member of crew to use via their power armour's 'hood'; the pict-slave's vision being directed, ghostly and green, into the viewer's visual cortex. +

+ Finally, the Predator Destructor's fearsome standard armament of two 'Godhammer' lascannons and the distinctive quad-firing burst autocannon are visible. These made the tank a versatile terror against everything from heavy infantry to medium-weight battle tanks. In concert with its pack-mates, the Space Marine Predator was a versatile machine capable of bringing down even the god-machines of the Titan Legions – albeit at great cost! +



+ Amongst the Iron Warriors, names were commonly given to Predators following their first successful campaign. On the face of things, this may seem an uncharacteristic indulgence for the fiercely unsentimental IVth Legion, but classification and naming had a ritual significance – almost to the point of obsession – to pre-Compliance Olympia. Such a history was not easily erased; and the cold exterior of most Iron Warriors only imperfectly subsumed a furnace of suppressed creativity and emotion. +

+ Simple geometric and high-contrast yellow and black markings on the turret and top of tanks made the vehicles easily identifiable from the air; helping to minimise 'friendly-fire' accidents. The 'IV' here has been crudely daubed on by hand – perhaps by a literal-minded Iron Warrior – and could not possibly be seen from orbit. +

+ inload: Worldbuilding – the finished article +

+ The Streets of Purefinder Chanterwick +

+ Vox-silence for a few days, but I'm very happy to show the finished board. +

+ The Rubricist Childeric and his compatriots make their way to a rendezvous with Magos Manderghast + 

+ Iron Warriors push through deserted streets +

+ A Pan-Oceanian Fusilier checks his six in this unfamiliar city +

+ How it was done +

+ The building stages can be seen in earlier inloads starting here: [+noospheric datalink embedded+], but the painting technique follows:

_1 Head outside and lean the primed board against a tree. 

_2 Use a large household brush to splash some hot zones over the board. Spread them randomly; aiming to work into some recesses and avoid a patterned approach.

_3 Colour the paving one colour (I used a lighter cream-grey) and the remainder a complementary hue (I used a neutral mid grey).

_4 Work the edges of the wet grey areas into the edges of the red areas, aiming to leave some zones of pure colour (see step 6 for how to blend large areas).

_5 Continue to blend areas into one another to achieve a mottled result as shown. Blend the paving more (footfall and travel will smooth out dirt).

_6 To blend, stipple the brush on the borders of the areas with the household brush. Use a gentle tapping motion with the tip of the bristles, and adjust the angle of the head to avoid creating patterns.

_7 To remove any brushmarks, use a household sponge to dab over the surface. This also helps to blend the colour further.

_8 Leave the main board to dry a little. While you're waiting, paint any other bits you need – in my case, the large building bases and scatter boards. These were done in the same way. Note the splashes of light green on the unworked boards on the right. These come in next.

_9 You can get a bit Jackson Pollock here. Take some contrasting and complementary colours. I used light green, pale brown (made from a mix of the red and light grey paints I used earlier) and light grey; but the principle is to have colours that fit with the palette you've used. Spatter them in a variety of directions over the board by loading your household brush with the colours and cracking it sharply against your palm to flick the paint across the board. For a less controlled approach, simply wave the loaded paintbrush around sharply, as though fighting a lightsabre battle!

_10 Stipple the areas of colour in as above, then lay the board down to dry. At this point, I went in to watch the Rugby, and came out in a bad mood when Wales lost. Black armbands are optional at this point.

Put any additional boards nearby – this is so you can do everything at once, for some consistency.

_11 Open a number of ink bottles – I used red, yellow and green – and pick a large brush. I used a size 16 round, but anything fairly large will work.

_12 Drip the colours over the board, with an emphasis on the paving. 

_13 While the ink remains wet, use the household sponge to smear the inks over the paving area.

_14 Drizzle water over the whole board (don't drench it – just use the household brush to drip lots of water on) then use the ink-soaked sponge to dab and move the colour around the whole board. Tip and tilt the board to encourage the colour to flow and move around. The gesso is waterproof, so don't worry about it soaking into the cardboard paving. 

Once you are happy, leave the board to dry. This completes the basic painting, and you're on to the time-consuming bit; detailing.

+ There's no simple method for detailing – it'll depend on your specific board. For the paving, I used a combination of drybrushing and more careful brush application to colour the area with a variety of stone colours. The manhole covers were coloured with rub 'n' buff gold. +

+ With the colours in place, I used superglue and PVA to attach grasses and drifting leaves (Gamer's Grass tufts and birch seeds respectively) to add a bit of life. This is an important step, and one that makes the board look more 'lived-in'. While a board looks fine without them, it lacks a little verisimilitude; and comes across as artifical – though you might struggle to put your finger on why. + 

+ The shot above shows the leaves and grasses in place, along with a couple of the building baseboards. I've used the same technique on these, and also added patches of greenery with fine turf. In the grim feudal darkness of Cepheus, people still have a scrubby yard to grow vegetables, raise ovi-avians or simply sit and watch the world go by. Again, a little greenery adds life, and it also breaks up the monotony of the board. +

+ You'll also note a couple of bits of terrain – a leaking water/power tank, and a tiny park bench. I'm hoping to add lots of little touches like this to create the sense of a real place. They're both perched on the spare pill-shaped bases I made specifically to hold these details. These are designed to fit almost anywhere on the board to provide cover away from the large main buildings. + 

+ The gutters here show the raised nature of the road itself. They are specifically just wide enough to hold the small scatter boards mentioned above. +

+ So, that's it for the moment. I need to add some buildings, and I'm hoping to get my first game in on the board around All Hallow's. +

+ inload: Bubbling under; and post CCIII +

+ It's not all terrain building round here, though it has occupied almost all of my hobby time recently. I've got a couple of little projects bubbling away, based on nothing more than – in the first case – really liking the models; and in the second, getting a rather fantastic bargain. +

+ Genestealers +

+ First up are these fellas; the first main release of metal genestealers (I think there were a couple of earlier prototypes, but these were the ones used for promotion of the first edition of Space Hulk. Perhaps an Oldhammerer could clear that up? I seem to remember there were metal arms for these at some point; but these ones have the plastic set. +

+ You'll also spot a Dark Emissary, a figure from a Warhammer campaign based around Albion. He's likely going to be the basis for a withered Genestealer Magos. +

+ I really like these models. The blue plastics are the ones I remember playing with – first from Space Crusade, and then the slightly different Space Hulk ones – but the metals have a charm of their own. They are more rounded and hunched than the plastics, and their features are more similar to humans than the plastic versions. This lends them a certain sinister feel. I'm sort of tempted to use them as first-generation hybrids by playing with the arms... nearly complete genestealers, but with a definite human heritage. +

+ I suspect the sculptor is Bob Olley; but am happy to be corrected. +

+ Solar Auxilia +

+ Secondly is a Solar Auxilia force, who will likely be appended to my Ultramarines or Iron Warriors (or if painted neutrally, both). This was a bit of a bargain. The picture and description was a little unclear, but I took a punt on what I thought was two squads of volkite-armed auxilia. Imagine my surprise when I opened the box to find the following:

+ Okay; so the two full squads I was expecting... which seem to be in good order – nicely assembled and cleanly primed *phew* – but there was more in the box. In addition to a big pile of 32mm bases:

+ What looks like a complete third squad – I'll double check, but any arms etc. missing will be perfect for conversion-fu. On top of the there's a command section, missing only the commander himself:

+ Quite the haul! +

+ inload CC +

+ In all the excitement I missed Death of a Rubricist's two hundredth-pot [+ auditory-phial exload: fanfare +]. Without making too much of a fuss, I'd like to thank you all for reading along and your comments. Here's to another 200 inloads! +

+ Worldbuilding: Nightfall +

+ Colour – or the lack of it +

+ With the underlayer of the board complete, time to get some paint on it. This project has used quite a few techniques and materials that I've wanted to try for a while, so I thought I'd turn the painting process into a little tutorial in case you want to have a go at your own terrain. +

+ 1_ I started out by running masking tape round the edges to preserve the darker wood effect. This'll (hopefully) make a nice border. This board has a lip on one end – see the picture – to help secure it to the table beneath, which means that the side on which it sits has to hang off the end. However, I've left the masking tape off the far side, allowing for potential expansion into a larger board. While I have no current plans for expanding it, I wanted to leave the possibility there. +

+ 2_ To prime and seal the board, I used gesso, which you can pick up from any art store. It is traditionally used to prime canvasses for oil paints (and other media these days), but the synthetic version is a great alternative to spray priming miniatures or large areas. I plumped for black gesso, but it comes in a variety of colours (most commonly white). +

+ Pour it straight on to the board, a section at a time. You can be quite generous. It's got a decent working time, so as long as you don't wander off halfway through, it'll remain workable. +

+ 3_ Begin working it in with a large brush. I used a 2in household brush. Gesso is essentially a form of acrylic paint, so you can dilute it with water and can rinse and clean your tools with just warm water – no need for white spirits. +

+ Spread it around the area to get a good coverage, with no gaps. Gesso bonds it tightly to any porous surface (like wood, fabric or cardboard) and shrinks slightly when it dries, preserving the detail. As a result, you can lay it on fairly thickly without obscuring detail, but there's no sense tempting fate – so aim for a smooth surface that is not too thick. +

+ 4_ The consistency is similar to acrylic, so use a stippling motion (straight up and down with the tips of the bristles – almost like a stabbing motion) to work it into crevices. As mentioned above, you can water it down a little to help, but avoid turning it into a wash. +

+ Of course, an alternative is simply to use a smaller brush, but that'll take longer; so it's really down to your preference. +

+ 5_ Gesso will work over non-porous surfaces like metal, but may need a coat or two. It will never be quite as protective as on other surfaces, but should stand up to careful gaming use. In any case, a layer of varnish will help preserve the colour on these magnets. +

+ ...And that pretty much concludes my little diatribe on gesso. It'll dry relatively quickly – it'll be touch dry in just a few minutes – but it's best practise to leave it to properly set overnight. +

+ Next up; paint. Proper paint – colours and everything! +

+ inload: Worldbuilding – The exciting bit +

+ Purefinderre Chaunterwyck +

+ With the base sanded down, it's time to prime it and get into the... oh, no – apparently it's time to put buildings on and start pushing toy cars around my little town. +

+ Yeah, after all the work I'd put in, I felt I deserved a chance to put some panels and buildings on and get a preview of the town. As well as sanding down the roads (I used a coarse/fine sanding block bought from B&Q), I've secured some washers to the pavement surface with superglue and blended them in to the surface with a little additional sand. These will be contact points for scatter terrain like phone boxes, streetlamps, trees, benches and the like. I also added a couple of other patches of sand so that the dirt and rubbish didn't pile up unnaturally around these features. +

+ I also used the same sand and some spare tiles to texture the baseboards of the scatter boxes, which you can see on the far left of the pict-capture above. These will have greenery and scrub on top; both to act as terrain and – more importantly – to add some much-needed colour to the board. Urban spaces tend to have a lot more life in them than some typical urban boards, and that goes doubly for feudal worlds like this. I'm aiming for fairly scrubby looking greenery – a sort of urban planting that's gone to seed over long years of neglect. +

+ The buildings are from Micro Art Studios District-5  [+noospheric inload embedded+] and Wolsung [+noospheric inload embedded+] ranges. While very different in detail, they share much in common in terms of wall thickness, square corners and similar design features; so I think with the right paint scheme they'll fit together naturally – just like modern and older buildings fit in together in the modern world. +

+ The panels you see creating a little platform are a vague idea that came to me as I moved the paintpots (little tester emsulsions) I'll be using for the board. I may work the empty paintpots into columns once I've finished with them. That'll let me support a second level on the board at the same height as the Wolsung walkways. +

+ inload: Worldbuilding – mean streets +

+ Men at work +

+ I wrote last time about being a little unsure about the size of the paving stones, so I decided to break up the road surface with smaller stones and little cobbles. The small slabs are made exactly in the same way as the large ones, but cut slightly smaller; and fitted in wherever they'd comfortably go. The cobbles (shown in the picture as dark grey patches near the front) are simply tiny balls of ProCreate putty pressed into place and slightly flattened with the eraser end of a pencil. ProCreate's not very sticky at the best of times, but the eraser end works a bit like a flat silicone clay shaper and makes sure they don't stick. +

+ This was quite a time-consuming stage, though not as bad as I'd feared. I think filling the rest of the road and the pavements took about two hours in total; and that included lots of cutting tiny stones. The cobbles proved handy to fill in awkward curved areas, but I was careful to include some larger sections to help them 'read' and ensure they were spread believably across the area. The pavement nearest the camera here has thinner narrow slabs to represent a kerb. It also has a small are of cobbles represented by textured wallpaper (picked up for a song at Hobbycraft) abutting the board edge. This was a nice quick way of texturing the surface, and I was tempted to try it on the building pediments. +

The paving completed.

+ Pediments and grouting +

+ In the end I decided to use a simpler texture, akin to concrete, for the pediments. This keeps the areas anonymous, so that whatever is placed on top gets the limelight. I used a mix of Daler Rowney Acrylic texture paste [+noospheric inload embedded+] and coarse pumice gel by Golden. [+noospheric inload embedded+]. It's scraped fairly thinly, and you could just as easily use textured paint. In fact, I'd recommend you do for large flat areas like this, as I ended up using an entire (and quite expensive) pot :s  +

+ However, the pumice gel did prove ideal for grouting. I accidentally spilled some on the paving, and ended up rubbing it it while trying to remove it. Taking a step back, I realised it worked really well to fill the gaps, so ended up applying it across the road and pavement, as shown to the left. As you can see, it rubs in well, filling the fine gaps. There's a bit remaining on the surface, but I'll give it a going-over with a sanding block to smooth off the rough edges before sealing it.+

+ This angle shows that the pavements are now at the same level as the road, with recessed guttering. +

+ Small stones, cobbling and grout fill awkward ares such as those shown here. The manhole covers now fit in a lot more naturally. This shot shows the drop from the paving to the ground level. +

+ The board as it currently stands (bottom) compared with an earlier stage. +

+ Another shot of the grouting. Any areas missing large slabs (such as directly below the blue manhole cover) will be filled with lichen, grass tufts and so forth, to add a little life to the scene. +