Monday 6 August 2018

Steel Legion Sentinel Squad!


3 sentinels all finished and ready to roll for my Steel Legion! I've always really liked the Sentinel kit since it came out all those years ago. Sure, there have been a few updates, but I've wanted a unit of them ever since I can remember, and now I'm living the dream!


For the weapons, I went with Lascannons and hunter killer missiles. Their battlefield role is clear; hunt some tanks! How good they'll be is still in question, but as a moderately priced option that is fairly robust, they fall into that bracket where they'll be likely to be cost effective even as a distraction. They also help fill a bit of a void in the army, so it's several birds with one stone.

Design wise, I wanted them to look like a squad and not just 3 disparate vehicles. Running with the idea, I decided it would be fun to make a command sentinel (pictured in the centre). I thought a flag would be cool, and handily, I had an Anvil part from the regiments range handy that was perfect for the job. It is mounted on a thick metal rod too, so it is nice and stable out the top there.

I used the missile launcher flipped in reverse with the searchlight mounted on it to build some kind of extra arm/scanner module. No idea what the function is supposed to be, but I imagine it broadcasts orders to the other sentinels or tracks battlefield movements or something.


On the subject of searchlights, I wanted to have every sentinel be slightly different, but still look uniform, so I moved the searchlight locations on each one to give them a slightly different look. I knew they'd be blue as well, so it makes them a more obvious thing to change in the weathered scheme where small things might get missed.

I also added in the red and white stripes that are featured on all of my tanks. It seemed like a good way to lift the scheme a bit and give them a bit more oomph visually. I added a bit of yellow too with some of the symbols to match the uniforms of my troops.


Hunter Killer Missiles anyone?

Just to prove I painted the backs too! (you might be wondering if I did when you find out how long I spent on them)

The urban bases match my infantry. I cut and glued all those bricks by hand! I think I missed my calling in brick laying...

As far as painting is concerned, I used exactly the same method I used for my tanks, which is detailed here: https://tabletopapocalypse.blogspot.com/2018/05/how-to-paint-steel-legion-tanks-astra.html

The funniest thing is that I actually painted all 3 of these in a batch across the space of a single weekend. It wasn't even that full on either, and I feel like I've really hit my stride with the Steel Legion scheme. I was worried when I started them that the way I painted the tanks wouldn't translate too well onto smaller models, but I'm actually really happy with these sentinels. One of the driving forces behind my Steel Legion is for the army to be used a lot in battle, and I think these are going to be an option that I'll take a lot!


They look nice with the force too. I've finished a lot more than this, but it just shows how they look together. I'll put some proper photos of the basilisk up soon.


9 comments:

  1. They look great man! Really outstanding work.

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    1. Thanks. I just checked this post after writing it yesterday, and I actually can't believe I painted them in a weekend. Really happy with them!

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    1. Thanks dude. Gotta keep blasting stuff out as I have so many Steel Legion units on my building and painting desks!

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  3. Lovely work! They look fantastic!

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    1. Thanks. I think the red and white stripes really make the difference; they lift the scheme a lot and stop it from becoming too murky and dull. It was something I was really careful with as the grey/tan tone of the base model could become muddy and unexciting if left unchecked!

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  4. Excellent work sir ... mightily impressive to my eyes. :)

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    1. Thanks. They're nothing too special really, but they look good and they didn't take too long. Pretty much my motto for painting whole armies!

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    2. Thanks. They're nothing too special really, but they look good and they didn't take too long. Pretty much my motto for painting whole armies!

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