The Orderly for the Lieutenant’s command squad with the Platoon banner for the 3rd Platoon of the 13th Company of the Necromundan 1989th Regiment.
Imperial Guard Orderly with platoon banner
The model stays close to the source material with a few minor changes to suit my tastes.
The Source Material for the Banner
The banner is made from rolling out green stuff when it is half dry. One of the features of this banner is that it actually rotates around the flag pole. I do this so that is is easy to paint the rest of the model when you can move the flag out of the way, it makes packing and transport easier, makes it more able to take a drop (tested already) and means you can change the position on the final model if you are unhappy with it’s facing with ease.
13th Company 3rd Platoon, Ollanius Pius with the slogan “Mortis Imperius” which google translate says means “the power of death”
Necromundan 1989th Regimental Banner
Rear Detail
A dramatic pose is a prerequesite for carrying the platoon banner in this guardsmans army
Next up is the grenade lancher guy and a guardsman to round out 5 models for the command squad and soon after will do a medic as an optional 6th model.
TheOttoVonBismark 
Nice. That is proper old school!
Hi cheerfulmeerkat,
Happy you like it!
I like the paint job on the trooper. Those old guard are Copplestone sculpts arent they? The “lens” on the end of the laspistol barrel is cool.
Some unsolicited, but hopefully constructive criticism: I approve of having the banner detachable for sure, but the thickness of the banner around the pole lets the overall effect down a bit I think. Is the banner green stuff or foil or something? The banner also looks a little glossy, currently it looks almost like it was painted with enamels. Some decent matt varnish would help with that.
I always liked that old GL trooper model: I am looking forward to seeing that. The 1989th regiment is a nice touch 🙂
Hey sho3box,
Thanks for the feedbacks as always.
All those guardsmen are Copplestone’s work. In fact they could all be an army of twins – or clones perhaps, there is some precedent for that in the compendium background as some guardsmen are genetically engineered in the original fluff – like “space marines light” I guess.
Yes it is a little on the thick side that flag, it is just the way it ended up sculpted as the whole thing is green stuff ( it’s my first effort at one defense also 😉 ) .
The flag is actually painted as two banners side by side on the flagpole (as flags don’t generally have different iconography on different sides) and the flag’s have wrapped around the pole once already, hence the bunching around the pole effect. I don’t think I nailed the painting of this two flags idea well but meh, it’s done and the next banner will benefit from the lessons learned. I don’t think I will go back to paper banners now and the benefits of green stuff banners outweigh the up front extra design time. Foil banners look like they might work well also.
Final finish on these models when I get the whole command squad done will involve revarnishing so you can expect to see a reduction in the glossy effect in places (but bear in mind that I happen to like gloss varnish on toy soldiers) so that the whole squad fits together visually. The flag being very glossy is probably not a good look for a flag…unless it is made of spaceworm silk perhaps…maybe a nice satin varnish instead, who knows what I might go for, I often change my mind because I forget what my earlier decision was.
Glad you like the lens on the laspistol. I decided that I was going to paint an energy based weapon like it would actually be constructed, with a lens. It always annoyed me how consistently wrong GW design did lasers in both rules and in art. The GW lasgun has the a muzzel design equivalent to Barbie and Ken’s anatomy if you asks me. The lens helps to distinguish this figure as a sci-fi model which is definately a good thing in this business.
GL trooper is nearly done, as is his colleague regular trooper (who looks like a martian in his gold helmet and greenish skin tone lol). I have to wait till I am in the mood to do their faces and final detailing or they end up looking on the wonky side (more than the usual level of wonky that is)!
🙂
The occasional bit of RT era (or possibly second ed now that I think about it) art showed lenses in the end of lascannon and the like. I always thought it was a cool look. Painting a lens is a better way of spending ones time than drilling out barrels, thats for sure 😉
I have had a couple of armies that had a gloss, “toy soldier” finish over the years (my 3rd ed Dark Eldar army in particular). I like that look on certain types of model, although my preference now is generally for matt, largely because I have found a decent way of doing it that isnt subject to the whims of the Irish climate and (importantly) it photographs better.
I also enjoy being able to use gloss as an additional way to draw attention to specific parts of models (like the boots on the commissars that I painted recently for example). Its a quick and easy way to add a little visual interest.
I do think that a gloss banner looks a bit odd, a little too toy-like regardless of how gloss the trooper model is though. Where the line for “realism” is drawn for these things is very much up to the painter of course, but purest Gargleflarkian spaceworm silk or not, a gloss banner jars my suspension of disbelief a little more than I like. It doesnt feel “right” to me, whatever that means. YMMV etc 🙂
Your usual level of wonky is more than adequate. You have nailed the grey fatigues. Are there two highlight layers on those areas? They look the part.
So after getting fifteen guardmen and a robot cavalryman painted, whats after that? Something quick and high output and satisfying I hope.
The grey fatigues are I think 2 highlight with a 3rd highlight sparingly on the extremes. I feel I am still getting the hang of painting the gray, I suspect that the forced perspective of the pictures make the effect look good, there are definately grey areas on the model that I could nitpick, but I try not to get hung up on painting figures these days, better to get a good output and come back to them later if they really bug you.
I really want to paint the medic for this force next as he has lots of character and has fairly novel gear compared to the other members of the team. He should not take up too much effort and will round out this force for now – plenty of models there now to have a satisfying skirmish game.
Hard to say exactly what will grab my attention next, those Necrons need some personality models for one thing. I have an itch to paint up a robo-sniper, who I have now decided will be smoking an electirc cigarette for kicks. I would also like to have a go at a Bender themed Necron lord for the force. I think you are right in terms of the quick output project next. The Slann are also begging for some attention but they take longer than the Necrons so they will have to wait.
And lets not forget Patus and Jessus – that thunderhawk bobblehead model would be awesome painted in Royal Mail (Imperial Mail?) colours and Jessus could sit in the servitor gun position…but thats just my silliness coming to the fore again no doubt.
One persons “try not to get hung up” is equivalent of anothers opus and vice versa. Your guardsmen are neat – the most important factor no matter who the painter is – and they look nicely layered and highlighted where it counts. Photos accentuate different things, making some aspects better and others worse I find, so thats a variable factor.
Output versus quality is a pet topic for me as you know. Life is short and the lead mountain is big. “Good enough” is the new “perfect”.
I decided to name my White Dwarf giveaway toaster necron “Enda O’Skeleton”. He doesnt have a cigar, but if he had then it would be a robot cigar witha Cuban accent like Stogie from Robo-Hunter.
I picked up a Bender, Roberto, Hookerbot and a Zoidberg in a sale a couple of weeks ago. I would link you, but they seem to have sold out now.
I am not sure that Ast-ro-Pat and his black and white cat plus attendant red stormraven is a good investment of time and resources, but hey, thats up to you. Churing out a small legion of necrons would be great though, and surely bvery fast if you use the technique that you used on the guys last year.
Medic, GL trooper and regular grunt next though. Put these guys to bed at last. Im rooting for you 😉
Yes a Stormraven might be a little OTT now that you mention it. I think I might just make him a van out of the mountain of spare ork junk I have lying around, I can make it look like I want then. But as you say, I have some grunts to finish before I start reaching for the next project 😉