Phantine Skyborne! Ready to Jump!

Command Squad with Scanner

 For the men and women of Phantine, everyday is a fight for survival. Growing up living on mountain tops in closed off cities, the people of Phantine live above the polluted clouds of their world. Called "The scald" these clouds can kill a man in minutes should anyone fall into them. Therefore when the Imperial Guard came for a tithe on Phantine, there was no ground to muster the troops.

Two types of soldiers are pulled from this world: Airmen for the Air Corps and Drop Troopers from the Skyborne. Today we cover the men and woman of the Skyborne. First appearing in Dan Abnettt's Guns of Tanith, the Phantine Skyborne played a vital role not only in reclaiming their world but in the Sabbat Crusade.

A Phantine Sargent

"They were all big, powerful young men wearing cream-coloured quilted jackets and baggy, pale canvas pants bloused into the tops of high jump-boots. The sides of their heads were brutally shaved, leaving just a strip on their crowns. Not as a result of lice treatment, Varl thought. These men kept their hair that way. They were Phantine troopers. Skyborne specialists."  - Guns of Tanith

This description didnt do enough for me so I decided to email the man himself about how the Phantine would look. Dan Abnett was kind enough to respond (for which I am very grateful!):

"I think they would look very much like WW2 aircrew crossed with paratroopers, with the jump-packs being "jet-pack" type units about the size and shape (and appearance) of an un-deployed parachute
Any help?
Dan 

With this information in hand ive set about painting them based off the images I could of World War II aircrews and paratroopers. It is my hope that these are the best representation of the Phantine that I can do.

Scald Squad

My own Only War Character (Captain Jonus Remaus) is a modeled in this army as well with his power sword "Liberus". As a member of the 44th Phantine He is the leader of "Scald" Squad seen here.

Full army shot with Holm Squad on the far right

 The second squad seen here (Far left) is Holm squad. This squad is led by Sergeant "Cowboy". Cowboy was originally nicknamed Cupcake after a superior called him a "cupcake solider",In response, Cowboy bettered himself and during the Ventra Majoris crusade fought against Chaos to protect the world of Sigma Majorus. He is current serving under Captain Remaus and someday hopes to get command of Scald Squad.

My yet un named squad

Seen here is the newest squad of the 44th. This is my last unnamed squad. They are the newest recruits after the Ventra Majoris campaign. Currently they are on patrol with the 44th fighting against Necrons and Orks. Whether or not they can stand against the horrors of the galaxy remain to be seen.

After taking these pictures I realized that I forgot to add in the 2 lascannon sentry guns conversions I had done for this army as well.

The Drop Sentinel in the back is a converted regular sentinel that has been heavily modified to fit the drop role. Its been a big part of this army since the beginning and earned me a few kills of enemy armor during the campaign I ran with my brother against his (read: my) tau forces. It is now a constant part of my drop army.

In the mail I have 2 more surprises coming for this army.  While these are just the ground elements of the army, I hope to be able to show the air elements soon.

Write a comment, say hi or just let me know you were here! Every little bit helps.

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A Tau Crisis [Suit] Story

Panoramic Shot of the Crisis Suits

 So once again, its time for another update! This time from the far eastern fringes. In what is a first for me, I have finally painted all 12! of my Tau Battlesuits. For the advanced Tau player this might not be much but for a Cadre that started out in mid 4th Edition, its been a hassle just getting to this point.

Top down view of the teams

Every time Ive painted them I have never liked a scheme enough to stick with it. This time however I have found one that really spoke to me. I started with a few of my regular suits to get to scheme down and then proceeded to continue on with a new suit each week. Overtime, the suits started to get better looking which helped me feel as if they were getting done. All of the Crisis suits have been converted to some extent since my cadre is using the XV-46 Crisis suit, a variant found in the DeathWatch RPG series. Of course since there is no official pictures of the suit, I went with what i felt best could be achieved closest to the writing of the material. The XV-46 is used a close range suit, designed to work in hostile, close quarters combat such as ship boarding and Zone Mortalis type games. My Cadre however, has requisitioned a few for field testing against their common foes of Necrons and Orks.

Another view of Commander MirrorWater

All the Crisis Suits line up by teams

So whats next? Well im not sure if I want to return to do some more for my Imperium armies or stay working on the Tau. I thought out moving on to the Stealth suits but they get so little game time it wouldnt be worth it (although it would be fun to paint!). Other considerations are the (old style) broadsides which have been converted or maybe a vehicle or two to transport my Fire Warriors. Im going to have to see how time allows me to do these. Im hesitant to work on the vehicles without a airbrush due having always burned myself out on them,  Readers, what would be a good airbrush for a beginner?  Let me know in the comment below! As always leave a comment, say hi! or just let me know you were here. Every little bit helps.

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Thunderbolts of Phantine [XX Squadron]

Commander Jagdea in the lead T-Bolt
Sharp eyed viewers will notice that a cooling duct is missing
a replacement has been requested by the squadron

Here's a project that I've wanted to do for a very long time! A wing of two Thunderbolts from the Phantine Air Corp. First seen in Dan Abnett's Guns Of Tanith and later their own series Double Eagle, the pilots of Phantine remain my favorite Imperial Guard Regiment.

Since Phantine has no ground to muster troops on, their tithe to the Imperial war machine was in the form of pilots, each squadron being 12 (wo)men strong. My Phantine consist of both the Air Corps and their drop troopers known as the Skyborne.

This first T-Bolt is piloted by Commander Jagdea, first encountered in the book Guns of Tanith. Her piloting skills are shown to be second to none and she remains a top favorite character throughout the series as she flies Umbra 1. Since the wiki's are not much help on what the Phantine looked like, I had to resort to the use of the books themselves. They were described as:

"Matte Grey with copper plating on the exposed engines and ducts"

Umbra 2 and Umbra 1 from left to right

This gave me some idea on how to do my own models allowing them to have their own unique feel as close to the book as possible. The Second Thunderbolt is going to be flown by XO Milan Blancher in Umbra 2. Even though Blancher becomes KIA in the book, his character was too cool not to add and since my forces are suppose to be about the time of Sabbat Martyr (773 M41), its possible hes still alive at that point. Besides, with 32 kills to his name, this guy is just too cool not to make a model for!  Someday I hope to add a third and a fourth to the collection but the true goal will be to have a Marauder piloted by another famous pilot of Phantine.

Soon I hope to have my full forces done up in a picture for you all to see!  Keep checking back and leave me a note to saying you were here or just hi! Every little bit helps!

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