The Storm Wardens Project is coming to a close, and its time to draw the winner of the Army, but even if you don't win the army, there are other prizes which will also be up for grabs!
The prize drawing will be live online on Jawaballs Live, on a special broadcast Sunday July 25th, 2Pm EST, or 11AM PST
You can check out the army miniatures and other awesome goodies on the Storm Wardens Army page.
Here are some of the additional prizes which are also up for grabs:
Kirk from Siegeworld is all about Apocalypse, and went big by offering up a Forge World Eldar Vampire Hunter. Here's the Forge World pic, the prize today is not fully assembled or painted.
The guys at Bolter & Chainsword have been helping us spread the word and also sent us an awesome, super limited edition deck of custom cards with some amazing 40k artwork, this was an admin only exclusive that was not for sale, and its just amazing, you can see some more of the awesomeness at the bottom of this page at B&C, they also threw in a rare B&C patch for the winner.
Everyone needs an airbrush, so Santa Cruz Warhammer pitched in a brand new Badger 175 dual action setup with all the trimmings and connectors for canned or compressor air.
And here at Miks Minis, I'm giving up a NIB Chaos Daemon Prince coupled with the most current Chaos Space Marine Codex.
Rumor has it there are some Tickets to Games Day USA up for grabs too, so tune in and keep your fingers crossed. If you miss the live show we will be contacting the winners and posting the results after the show.
Now don't forget, all of those great prizes listed are for the runner-ups. The big enchilada, covered in awesome sauce, served up with a side of rock-and-rolly is the above Storm Wardens Army. We didn't even get all of the units photographed in time, so it's even bigger than what you see. Throw in a signed copy of Deathwatch by the author Ross Watson, and you've got one heck of a grand finale!
10pm EST sees the close of the Storm Wardens Project. You have up until that time to either jump on board for the first time, or contribute a little more to a previous donation. There is a PayPal donation on the right hand side of this blog, and all the info is located here. Remember, there's a beautifully painted, huge army up for grabs with everything going to a great cause helping out Doctors Without Borders! So sign up today, for there is no tomorrow!
There's only about 48 hours, just a bit more, left in the Storm Wardens Project. It's hard to believe that it was May 6th when the guys at Santa Cruz Warhammer first emailed me and a handful of others about the project. We didn't even know chapter it would originally be!
Now here we are, with the end in sight, and although I'm kind of sad to see it go, all of the goodness that's come of it will last for a very long time. Part of the inspiration for my barter bucket so long ago was to get the community of us gamers together and collaborating of sorts. Well, nothing say collaboration like the Storm Wardens Project.
I'm going to mention the "dream team" involved with this project, but before I do I do want to quote myself from those first emails back in the beginning of May, "Sheesh, these guys outclass me tenfold!" So when I keep saying I'm not that great or whatever, I am certainly not fishing for compliments. I'm not trying to kid anyone, I shoot for tabletop quality on the majority of my models, and I'm about all over the map when it comes to gaming genres. For the record I did do my best when it came to my contribution however, I don't paint everything to tabletop standard! When it comes to the rest of the guys on the team though, they're pretty much the endgame in 40k modelling, gaming, and especially painting. Just to be included with them along the way has been, well, an honor. That may sound cheesy, but it's true.
I've mentioned before, a lot actually, about the amazing army that's up for grabs. It's grown into something that is simply stunning. One facet about the army that appeals to me the most is that we created and painted the models how we wanted, without a particular list in mind. That's why you see a lot of power fists in there! The power fist is a marine icon, but not that prevalent across an army on the table due to their high points cost, but in the Storm Wardens Army, lots of fists were thrown in there. Why? Because people were building what they like, not what they "had to" or were restrained by points cost by. That's why on my particular contribution I gave Veteran Landes a plasma pistol. In a game they make cringe every time I roll to hit, but really, they look too cool not to throw in there.
It's been posted a couple of times already, so I'll just link to it here. The army is great, the models are beautiful, the templates are one-of-a-kind, it's no secret that whoever walks away with this thing is going to have a permanent smile on their face for about six months. But what this is really all about is helping Doctors Without Borders. Every single person who has jumped on board, some with just a buck, have all contributed to a great cause. Mike at SCWarhammer has broken it down in a great post here.
So that's it, the sun is fast setting on the Storm Wardens Project. The Deathwatch RPG releases at Gen Con, which is where this official chapter makes their published debut, and the amount of mini-drawings that have been given away for a while now continues to grow. If you're already on board, thank you so much, and if you haven't jumped on yet, well, time is short! Would you like to know more?
The Storm Wardens army continues to grow, as you can see!
We are slowly coming to a close with the Storm Wardens Army Project, and what can I say? It's been wildly successful on all counts, beyond even our expectations. The army itself has been painted by some of the most talented folks out there* and is eye-popping to say the very least. You're not going to find a larger, better looking, more complete Storm Wardens army anywhere...in the world at this time. I do have a sneaky suspicion you're going to see these begin to pop up quite a bit over the next year however. 100% of the proceeds (other than the unavoidable PayPal cut) of this project are going directly to Doctors Without Borders, and that's the bottom line; as fun as this has been, and as sweet of an army that a veritable 40k dream team* has put together, it's the charity that matters most.
I've got a good-sized Dark Angels army, and a decent old school Ultramarines army too, but it's safe to say I'll personally never own an army as nice as this one, but...you could. You. It's kind of crazy, a buck, a single dollar could be all that it takes. Mind boggling actually. You can see the army so far in the muster pic up above, but it's not done yet, still coming in:
A Landspeeder Storm
A Bike Squad
More Command Squad Members
x2 More Tactical Squads
Don't forget, all of the above comes with a Storm Wardens t-shirt, custom Chessex dice with the Storm Wardens logo, custom Gale Force 9 templates, also with Storm Wardens logos, and a signed copy of the upcoming Fantasy Flight Games Deathwatch RPG (where the Storm Wardens were born). Oh yeah, did I mention the entire army comes packed in a custom laser-cut P.A.C.K. transport supplied by Battle Foam? Like I said, freakin' MIND BOGGLING! *Present company not necessarily included!
All right, I'm happy to present my finished contribution to the Storm Wardens Army Project, command squad veteran Landes! This fig was a blast to build, to paint up, fiction up, and of course put forth for a great cause, Doctors Without Borders. Remember, this trooper is just one of a very large, and fully painted, army. An army that's completely up for grabs! Enjoy the following pics and don't forget to jump on board!
As I'm coming to a close with my Storm Wardens Project contribution, I thought I'd share a little more fluff concerning Veteran Landes and his wargear. I've had a lot of fun with this fig, which is something I don't usually say, nor do I usually say I'm learning a little bit more about myself as a painter along the way, which is exactly what's going on. To say the team I'm working with are professionals is no exaggeration, I hope the little personality I inject into the model will go a long way to shorten the gap between my contribution and the rest of the army.
Landes and the Techmarines of the Storm Wardens chapter have grown close over the decades. It could have something to do with the fine recipe for Stormhårn he brought with him from his home planet of Sacris, Stormhårn being an extremely potent drink that is inexorably able to have a slight intoxicating effect on the physique of a Space Marine despite their redundant purifying organs. To this end, the Techmarines help maintain Landes' armor and assist with any personal requests he has along the way. It is joked that if Landes ever takes command of his own company he won't need to be gifted with a venerable suit of artificer armor because he'll already be wearing it! He donned his right shoulder pauldron upon his induction into the command squad. This armor plating has ablative reactive layers like most marine armor but has also been crafted with a stylized motif of a lightning storm, reminiscent of his home planet. "Ride the lightning!" is a battlecry most often heard by Landes himself, or by squads that have followed him into battle.
This is the inspiration I used for his shoulder pad, a Jaxville Zeus
Upon induction to the command squads, veteran troopers are given ample freedom to choose their wargear. Landes caused a few raised eyebrows when he took his first chainsword instead of the power fist he had in the assault company. This chainsword, named the Ragnarökkr, was given to Landes when he became the sergeant of his first tactical squad. He took it with him to the assault company, and as sergeant there, he utilized the mighty power fist, but always kept the Ragnarökkr sheathed at his side. It has seen its way through countless battles and even more foes than can be accounted for, which its beaten and pitted surface can attest to. Vowing never to drop his chain-blade in battle, Landes has attached it to his forearm by means of a heavy chain, the very chain he brought with him from the surface of Sacris. It is said this is a length of the chain from his coming-of-age ceremony where his native tribe had tethered him to an adolescent Fen-croc in the pit of a swamp cave where he was forced to battle his way out. His belt pouches are said to be the leather of the same beast.
The induction rate of power distribution is said to be marginally more efficient in the older backpacks that were in use during the transition between the MkVI Corvus armor and the MkVII Aquila armor. Landes has acquired one of these older packs and currently makes use of it. It is slowly being augmented to peak performance by his fellow Techpriests.
"No, I swear it, I had seen it with me own eyes!", the weathered Guardsman of the 577th put down his tankard and took a long look at his fellow soldiers for effect, it was a poor effort, but one not lost on their dulled wits. He continued his tale, "I heard the whine of the giant's plasma pistol piercing the mortar shells, and I knows what was gonna happen next, BLAM! self-destruct0! So I hit the dirt, duck and cover you know. The next thing I seen was he popped the pistol's breach like on one of our hunting rifles back homeworld and the whole core popped out, hissing, steaming, and sounding ready to blow! He caught it with his other hands and threw it like a grenade, it swallowed four of the renegades manning the autocannon nest in plasma flames meltin' 'em down to their boots!" The trooper was met with derision and snide remarks, one fellow even pushed back and went to find conversation elsewhere, but the drunken storyteller wouldn't be deterred.
"He stood there, bullets bouncing off his armor and I lay like an idjit in the mud. The renegades thought he was unarmed and charged him. He reached in his belt pouch and pulled out a magazine for a bolt pistol, like what Commissar Hades carries, flipped his plasma pistol's breach closed, and slammed in the darn mag sticking out the top where the power core used to be. Them renegades had no idea as he tore into them BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!" The trooper emphasized each bolter round with a slam of his tankard, sloshing drink all over the table. "Hot bolter brass rained down, sizzling in the mud all around me, I ain't never seen nothing like it!" The trooper took the rest of his tankard in one gulp, put the now empty vessel on the table, and wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. "Then he turned to me, right at me, I'll never forget it 'cause he actually spoke to me and said, 'There's battle to be had boy, out of the mud with you!', as he charged off it started to rain and I swears I heard the crack of thunder as he bellowed, "RIDE THE LIGHTNING!"
Some in-progress pics of Veteran Landes of the Storm Wardens chapter. I'm not saying I'm a master painter or anything, but these photos don't do a whole lot of justice. They were taken on top of my grill on the back deck with my camera phone. Be that as it may, you can still get the gist here of how it's going to look and what I'm shooting for.
What I'm doing differently with this model than most of my other ones is simply taking my time. Not in general, but taking my time specifically, with the details, with my brush, with the paint; slow, methodical steps. Instead of hitting an area in one go with a quick stroke, I'm surgically building up that area with multiple small layers.
The other thing I'm changing my style from here are those layers mentioned and the color selection. In most cases I'm doing a three color combo, building up from the darkest to the lightest edge highlights, I'm also using small, focused areas of washes and inks in a fairly controlled manner. This is the kind of project I don't want to screw up or rush, and it's also the kind of project that makes me lament two things; my lack of decent brushes, and my procrastination in developing these atrophied painting skills all along.
My palette here doesn't contain any surprises really. I went with green frag grenades because, well, even 40,000 years in the future grenades need to be green. To balance out the red purity seal I painted the two krak grenades red as well. For the hair and rocker 'stache I went with my favorite, Nordic blonde. Face it, if this guy's not fighting the enemies of mankind with a bolter, he's shredding the axe on stage. For that, he gets to be a blonde.
Remember, you can actually take command of not only Veteran Landes shown here, but of an entire Storm Wardens army, the works; fully painted and unlike any other Space Marine army out there right now. Just visit Storm Warden Command for details.
The Storm Wardens descend from Sacris’ moon to the foggy moors and teeming tribes below to hold a series of games and ritual combats to select only the fiercest and most cunning warriors to join their ranks as aspirants. Often, aspirants must struggle against the fen-trolls and other highly dangerous native fauna of Sacris during the trials, battling their way up and down the shifting moors in a combination skirmish and marathon race. The aspirants must navigate past pockets of deadly swamp gas, through regions infested with swarm leeches, across quicksand-laden plains, and find their way to the Storm Warden’s landing site.
Those who survive that far then compete in games that pit aspirants against each other in contests of strength and skill at arms. Simply to compete in these trials elevates a man in the eyes of the tribes of Sacris; succeed or fail, he has tested himself against the greatest warriors on the planet, and that is worthy of great respect. After passing the trials, many Aspirants take with them the Sacris claymore, an heirloom weapon cherished by the tribesmen. It is also common that, when a Storm Warden dies, his claymore is ritually returned to his homeworld, and many blades have earned great honor for their tribe in this manner. -Ross Watson, Deathwatch author
Veteran Landes began as one such aspirant. Nearly two hundred years ago he competed for a right to taken to the stars and become one of the Emperor's Finest. He earned great honor for his tribe as he bested all others on the field that day.
During his first campaign donning the shield emblem of the Storm Wardens he further distinguished himself. As a scout he found himself deep within enemy territory, the rest of his recon team taken captive by a conclave of Eldar that were seeking a rare artifact on a tomb world, Using his combat knife and a seemingly endless supply of grenades we was not only able to rescue his team to a man, but managed to inflict enough casualties to the Eldar to force them to retreat back to their staging point. Landes was able to get word back to command who had the bulk of the Storm Wardens lying in wait. They ambushed the retreating Eldar and secured victory on the planet, in no small part to the efforts of a single scout.
Veteran Landes went on to achieve even more success once promoted to the tactical squads of the Storm Wardens. He continued to surprise his commanders as he filled many roles in the heat of the moment; picking up a fallen heavy bolter and holding off scores of Orks, commandeering a crashed Rhino and barreling it through a Dark Eldar coven, using a pair of freshly sheered scything talons to cut down the remaining Tyranid warriors, and the list goes on. It was this gallantry that catapulted him into the ranks of the assault company, where his tactical mind and sheer tenacity eventually landed him the rank of sergeant.
After a bitterly fought campaign against the Tau Empire it was clear Assault Sergeant Landes was destined for greatness. He was indoctrinated into the command squad of the company, serving as one of the elite few who work in conjunction with the captain himself and their specialists. It is with little doubt that Veteran Landes, should he survive his tenure in the command squad, will move on to the veteran first company, and perhaps from there one day he may even captain a company of his own.
"We can build him, we have the technology...with 100% 'bucket' bits."
I am finally back from the whirlwind of vacationing that has been the last week and a half or so, whew! Time to get to work! I've got a small role to play in the models portion of the massive Storm Wardens Project, but that doesn't mean I'm going to skimp!
I'm doing one of the veterans of the command squad. He's not as important as, say, the Captain or Company Champion, but he ranks higher than a squad sergeant (I think). I wanted to make him full of character and try to be unique in his own right. Usually the command squad veterans end up just being tactical chumps with bolters, but not this guy!
Festooned with grenades and pouches
For me I wanted to make this guy as symbolic as possible too. To that end, he was assembled with all parts gained 100% through the Barter Bucket. I've got tons of bits myself, but just to add a little extra spice to the mix I went to the bucket...for everything. That way many readers all got to contribute to the project too. He includes a lot of bits for just one model:
Putting him all together was fun, and following up on my recent Deathwatch project (which I still need to paint) I had some practice at it. Oddly enough, this is the first time I've used a custom base like this, it was incredibly easy too and I can already tell it adds a lot to the overall fig. Just wash it in some soapy water before working with it and you're good to go. The custom shoulder pad is just freakin' gravy in how cool it is.
The massive Storm Wardens collaborative army project is slowly coming to a close. As the collaborators themselves are finishing up their contributions, they are being posted all in one place at the new Storm Wardens blog! Even at just a glance the models will tell you this is going to be one incredibly good looking army. Plus, there's loads of custom dice, templates, and more! Check out the new blog here, and for a refresher on the project, check here!
There's a lot more than just what these teaser pics show! Needless to say you can already tell that this is going to be one heck of an army with some serious muscle behind it. I'll be posting some pics of what I'm working on as well soon, but until then I wanted to share what the other members of the team have been working on. Pretty impressive stuff!
Now this weekend is yet another giveaway, officially the second of many more to come. Secret Weapon Miniatures is sponsoring week two with a gift certificate to their store worth $50 bucks! That's right, fifty bucks, makes me jealous I'm not eligible! At a buck a base, with almost a dozen themes to pick from, you can really stretch that certificate. It's not just bases either, they offer weathering pigments, conversion bits, and more. Check 'em out!
