Vostroyan Army: ROUGH RIDERS!

The incredible conversion work was done by John at Santa Cruz Warhammer -- and they have been a real pleasure to paint so far!

Yup, my army is getting Rough Riders. Ten of them at the moment. These five are unbased as I'm working on a set of new bike bases for Secret Weapon Miniatures. The urban series should work quite nicely for these guys - although I may put them on "Runic Mountain" bike bases... we'll see.

The Sergeant will keep the red coat to match the command squad and the rest of the unit will have cream coats to match the infantry. The Sergeant is also on an WFB Empire Outrider horse which turns out to be slightly larger than the stock Rough Rider horse.

I love these models and really couldn't be happier with the conversion work that John did for me. He put in a lot of extra little touches - such as the lens on the Sgt. - that have really kicked these up from Rough Riders to VOSTROYAN ROUGH RIDERS WOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!

Vostroyan Army: First Infantry Squad

I'm nearly finished with the first infantry squad and decided it was time for an update. I've included a close-up shot of the five finished troops and a super zoom of the WIP Sergeant.

Things have been super crazy and I haven't gotten to do as much painting as I would like. I lost my job three weeks ago and have been looking for a new one - and trying to build Secret Weapon - ever since. I'll get some painting done though because I really want to see this squad finished.

I decided to use a red stripe on the left shoulder armor to identify this as the first infantry squad. I'll use similar marks on the other squads so I can tell them apart on the table.

The bases are from my "Urban Streets" line - although these are from the now defunct mold. I'll put the next squad on a set of the new version.

Vostroyan Army: First Finished Infantry

I still have 43 infantry models to complete for my 1k army... but it's nice to have one finished.

The rest of the infantry will look more-or-less like this fella. I'm fairly happy with the end result and like how the snow works with my "Urban Streets" bases.

Vostroyan Army: Infantry Squad 01

I've made a solid start on the first five of my infantry. I still have a long way to go, of course, but given that this is the first time I've seen the colours on anything other than a single test model I'm reasonably pleased.

The melta conversion was made by snipping the end off of a Vostroyan flamer. The flamers will be made using the grenade launcher models - but that will happen later.

There are forty infantry - not counting the Command Squad - which includes four flamers and four meltas. I'd like to have the whole thing completed by the end of March. Between the day job, casting and sculpting that might actually be pushing my timeline a bit tight... but that's the goal all the same.

Vostroyan Army: Leman Russ A01

I have started re-painting the first tank in my old Armored Company. This allows me to recycle those tanks AND work on the techniques I'll be using on my Games Day 2010 entry... without having to improve them while painting my Forge World model.

Sorry about the shine but there's a layer of gloss on there.

I took some step-by-step photos but I've gone back and redone much of it so I'll get a new series when I settle on the process. This guy still has quite a ways to go AND WILL BE PART OF MY ARMY! This model WILL see game play.

Feedback is very welcome and I'm happy to answer any questions. Thanks in advance!

Photos of the original Armored Company can be seen in the "Armored Company" tag.

I may still sell a couple of those tanks since they don't really fit the Vostroyan army... but for now I'm glad to have finished tanks to start painting.

Vostroyan Sniper - Snow Theme Competition

There are a lot of things about this guy I would change if I were going to start over - but given that I'm painting him in quick and dirty strokes I'm fairly pleased. I do need to get some better photos but I wanted to get something up for feedback while I had some free time.

All of the basing was done with the Instant Scenery Kit - Winter from Secret Weapon Miniatures. I'm really pleased with how well the products work and how easy it was to get a detailed base finished in a hurry. I still haven't made a dent in the mock-up box even though I've done this base and covered one of my display bases in snow.

On to the next project for a bit... goodness knows I have enough of them!

Vostroyan Sniper - Snow Theme Competition Mini

This guy is getting into a winter theme competition but I decided to paint this guy army fashion - meaning quick and with little or no mixing - to see if I could develop a decent recipe for my army I'm a little over an hour into this guy and I'm pretty pleased.

I'm not using a Secret Weapon base for this guy (GASP!) because I wanted to see what I could do using just the materials in the new Instant Scenery Kit: Winter -- so this is a stock GW base with materials from that kit.

I'd hoped to finish him in under two hours but I think I'll break that by just a bit while I play with getting the snow and weathering right. I can live with that.

Feedback is very welcome - and I'll try to get some better photos, of course.