Category: Armies on Parade

“Ambush at Pipeline 13”, Flesh Eaters Armies on Parade 2024

On By Chris B.In Armies on Parade, Flesh Eaters, LEDs, Silver Stars, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,0003 Comments

“The War of the False Primarch was a dark and bloody episode of the Imperium’s history, now largely lost to myth and purged from all records, that plunged the Segmentum Pacificus into anarchy from 780.M33 to 860.M33. The conflict was finally ended when the High Lords of Terra convened the Pentarchy of Blood and tasked five loyal Chapters to destroy eleven others that had been declared Traitoris Perdita for their actions during the war.”

IMPERIAL ARMOUR VOLUME TWO – SECOND EDITION PG. 17

Concept

The Flesh Eaters space marine chapter, a key member of the Pentarchy of Blood, bring the will of the High Lords to the followers of the False Primarch in Segmentum Pacificus. Early in the war the Flesh Eaters scoured civilian population centres for clues to the False Primarch’s whereabouts during ‘The Pacification of Logan’s World’.  The following year Brother-Chaplain Uriah Grimm set the world of Interlude Quay aflame during the ‘Interregnum at Interlude Quay’ as he assaulted hidden bases belonging to the Silver Stars chapter. 

Sent reeling by the ferocious Flesh Eaters assault, the Silver Stars attempt to regroup and retaliate, beginning a guerrilla war on Interlude Quay. Geothermal Pipeline 13 is sabotaged, and a Flesh Eaters patrol is ambushed. The Flesh Eaters take casualties, but are able to deploy their teleport homer. Brother-Captain Caedes and his Terminator honour guard arrive to lead the counter attack!

My plan with this year’s Armies on Parade board was to continue the story of my Flesh Eaters space marines, as told in 2022’s Pacification of Logan’s World and 2023’s Interregnum at Interlude Quay. The hunt for the False Primarch continues! I mocked-up several concepts for this board, including a multi-level bunker and a ruined plaza. In the end I settled on something a bit more ‘open’ so I could capture the army in its full glory. In hindsight, I think the way last year’s board was split between two levels didn’t do the army justice. Eventually I hit upon the idea of an ambush around an isolated pipeline crossing a wasteland. This seemed like the ideal concept for an open board that allowed the army to be viewed together, while also adding points of interest and something to focus the ‘battle’ around.

Designing & Building the Board

As in previous years, the board is built around a large picture frame with the glass removed and a texture applied to the wood backboard. The pipes are simply plastic drainage pipes bought from a local DIY store and glued together. You’ll notice they have some extra gothic details – like Imperial Eagle buttresses – to add some 40K flavour. The pipes were sprayed silver, then lightly sprayed dark brown in selective areas. I tried to target areas where rust would logically gather due to rain and weather. Further rust effects were applied to these areas using Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust. Various extra bits of scenery – such as a chain-link fence and small industrial building – were planned but eventually fell by the wayside as I realised just how much the pipes dominated the board.

I knew from early in the process that I wanted to include ‘smoke’ effects this year, as I thought it would really enhance the look of the LEDs and the smoke concept seemed to fit really well with the industrial pipeline idea.

The smoke was achieved with an ‘Ultrasonic Mist Maker Atomizer DIY kit’ purchased from eBay, and a small reservoir of water at the bottom of one of the vertical pipe sections. The ultrasonic atomizer, as well as the miniatures described in the next section, were all controlled by batteries hidden under the board.

The explosion at the back of the board was made from flickering LED tealights covered in soft toy stuffing. The stuffing was given a spray of Chaos Black to make the smoke darker. This was included to help sell the concept of a pre-prepared ambush by the Silver Stars.

Silver Stars, Flesh Eaters & Servo Skulls

The Silver Stars space marines from my Armies on Parade 2023 board returned to the fray this year. As the Flesh Eaters include so many LED muzzle flares and bullet impacts, I always think it’s important for them to have an antagonist on their display boards to help give some context to the effects.

At some point in the design process I thought it might be fun to have a little vignette playing out of a Silver Stars sniper and a Flesh Eater silently closing in with their combat blade drawn to deliver vengeance. Below you can see the initial reposing of the sniper (left), a test on my workbench (centre), and the final product in situ on the board (right). Both these miniatures will eventually find their way onto their own bases and join their respective forces as regular models.

The Flesh Eaters casualty on the right of the board is intended to represent the victim of the sniper – but he did at least manage to activate the teleport homer before he fell! The casualty is mounted on a 40mm base and will eventually be used as an objective marker. If you look closely, there is a ‘1’ on his pauldron, for missions where numbered objectives are relevant. The servo skull with its LED eye was made in exactly the same way as Brother Nikko’s servo skull. I glued a triangle of translucent green plastic to the LED eye to really emphasise the scanning effect.

There was another servo skull flying around the board, minding his own business. This was just meant as a fun extra detail, but I think I might have mounted him too high on the pipeline, as he doesn’t appear in most of the miniatures eye level photos!

Conclusion

So that brings us to the end of another ‘Armies on Parade’ project! As is traditional, I only finished assembling and painting everything on the evening of the deadline. But at least this year I sent that submission email with 40 minutes to spare, rather than the 10 minutes that I had last year! Last minute rush aside, I’m pleased with the outcome, especially the smoke and all the little extra details like the sniper, casualty and servo skulls. I’ll aim to start earlier next year, but I’ve been saying that for five years now – although in my defence Space Marine 2 dropped right in the middle of the prime board prepping season this year!

Given more time, would I have done anything differently? Not significantly. I would have mounted the second servo skull lower on the pipeline, as mentioned above, and probably would have included a few smaller extra pieces of small scatter terrain. There was also an additional Silver Star that I didn’t quite finish in time (I’m sure we’ll see him soon) and of course the large Flesh Eaters tank that I’ve been working on for a long time and still haven’t finished…

What’s Next?

This isn’t the end for the Flesh Eaters. I still have the tank to finish that I mentioned above, plus I’d also like to add some Scouts and Death Company into the mix. Will I revisit the Flesh Eaters for Armies on Parade 2025? Possibly, but I’m also tempted to rest them for a year and have a go at something else. Time will tell!

That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this insight into my 2024 Armies on Parade board. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember you can also find me sharing my work on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky and Mastodon.

Flesh Eaters ‘Armies on Parade’ 2023 Compilation Reel

On By Chris B.In Armies on Parade, Flesh Eaters, LEDs, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,000Leave a comment

I recently shared pictures of my ‘Armies on Parade’ 2023 project, “Interregnum at Interlude Quay”. As I mentioned in the original post, I was up against the submission deadline for the online contest, and only just had time to take the photos. But now the dust has settled, I’ve gone back and taken a few videos to showcase elements of the display board that don’t come across well in the still images, such as flickering flames and the flashing teleport homer. You can see the video on Instagram below, with an appropriate soundtrack of course!

Only a brief update today to share this video. Thanks very much for reading, and please remember that as well as Instagram, you can also find me on Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky or Mastodon.

“Interregnum at Interlude Quay”, Flesh Eaters ‘Armies on Parade’ 2023

On By Chris B.In Armies on Parade, Flesh Eaters, LEDs, Space Marines, War of the False Primarch, Warhammer 40,0003 Comments

“The War of the False Primarch was a dark and bloody episode of the Imperium’s history, now largely lost to myth and purged from all records, that plunged the Segmentum Pacificus into anarchy from 780.M33 to 860.M33. The conflict was finally ended when the High Lords of Terra convened the Pentarchy of Blood and tasked five loyal Chapters to destroy eleven others that had been declared Traitoris Perdita for their actions during the war.”

IMPERIAL ARMOUR VOLUME TWO – SECOND EDITION PG. 17

Concept

The Flesh Eaters space marine chapter, a key member of the Pentarchy of Blood, bring the will of the High Lords to the Partisan naval base of Interlude Quay deep within Segmentum Pacificus. Following the trail of intelligence gained from civilians captured during the Pacification of Logan’s World, Brother-Chaplain Uriah Grimm sets the world of Interlude Quay aflame, disrupting Partisan supply lines. Amidst the chaos, elements of the Flesh Eaters first and third companies launch a strike against hidden bases belonging to the Silver Stars chapter. The hunt continues for the Abomination known as the “False Primarch”.

This year’s board is continuing the story from last year’s Armies on Parade contest entry, the Pacification of Logan’s World. The army has grown over the past year, so a larger board would be required. I quickly arrived at the concept of an attack on a hidden base or bunker complex. This idea would allow me to showcase detailed close-up action and also a sweeping battlefield.

Designing & Building the Board

The board was built from a large picture frame, giving it a pre-made border. The middle of the frame was filled with layers of foam board, which are cut into the shape of the hill at the rear, and the earthworks disguising the hidden bunker at the front. The foam boards were then textured with a mix of sand and Vallejo model texture paste.

The various structures on the board are mostly made from Games Workshop kits. The ruins at the rear of the board are made from the Sector Imperialis Ruins kit. The tank traps are from a very old Games Workshop battlefield scenery kit. The partially ruined defence line in the middle of the board is made from part of the discontinued Wall of Martyrs kit and layers of cork board.

The fires burning in the ruins are made from flickering LED tealights covered in soft toy stuffing. The stuffing was given a spray of Chaos Black to make the smoke darker. The burning ruins were intended to both hide the transition to the background image and sell the idea of the burning city. I wanted to give the impression that the Flesh Eaters were pouring out of the city to overwhelm the hidden base of their enemies.

The background image of the burning city skyline was a royalty-free image taken from Freepik.com, printed out A3 size, and then glued to a sheet of foam board. Unfortunately, now that I’ve looked more closely, I’ve realised this was an AI generated artwork, which I don’t support on principle. Next year I think I’ll investigate painting the background myself.

The Silver Stars & The Hidden Base

I knew from early in the planning that I wanted some antagonist miniatures on the board for the Flesh Eaters to fight against. It gives a sense of life to the battle scene and helps give context to the muzzle flares and bullet impact effects.

The Silver Stars chapter are a creation of my good friend and regular opponent, Apologist. They are the instigators of the War of the False Primarch and the leaders of the Partisan faction. I have quite a lot to say about modelling and painting the Silver Stars, so I’m going to devote an entire separate article to them soon.

Going back to the board and the hidden bunker, he internal walls were made from the Zone Mortalis Columns and Walls kit. The lighting is simply two red LEDs connected to resistors, a switch and a battery pack underneath the bunker floor. I bulked-up the shape of the LEDs with acrylic gel and then painted a silver frame around them to give a utilitarian look. The propaganda posters were designed digitally and printed on paper, which I then stuck to the walls using Pritt stick.

Conclusion

There we have it, another ‘Armies on Parade’ project concluded! If you were following this project via any of my social media accounts, then you may have seen that it all came together very hurriedly in the end. In fact, I only finished painting it on the evening of the deadline, and only finished photography and sent the submission email with ten minutes to spare! Despite all this, I’m pleased with the outcome, especially the hidden bunker elements. I’ll start earlier next year, although I always say that…

Given a bit more time, would I have done anything differently? In hindsight, the bunker foreground could have been lower, and the rear of the battlefield could have been higher. This would have allowed a better lower angle for photography to capture a sweeping panorama without the bunker walls blocking the miniatures behind them. I would also have liked to have had some Partisan Imperial Guard fighting alongside the Silver Stars, if I’d had the time.

What’s Next?

What’s next for the Flesh Eaters? This certainly isn’t the end of the project. You may have noticed a Dreadnought in the pictures which I haven’t shown elsewhere yet, so he will be getting his own photography session and blog article soon. I also have more Assault Intercessors to finish, plus a Terminator Librarian, Terminator Captain and a rather large tank! I’m already thinking about what next year’s Armies on Parade board theme will be, but I think it’s safe to say it will be a continuation of Brother-Chaplain Uriah Grimm’s adventures in the War of The False Primarch.

That’s all for today, I hope you’ve enjoyed this year’s Armies on Parade project. Thanks very much for reading today’s post, and please remember if you’re on Instagram, Threads, Twitter/X, Bluesky or Mastodon you can also find me posting my work there.