Iron Sultanate - House of Wisdom

Adrian Phillips - @tabletoptitans

I want this warband to center around two alchemists and their respective homegrown monstrosities. 

Continuing to play with digital kitbashes, I scaled up the original alchemist file and used the legs as the basis of this larger-than-life haemonculus. The torso of a communicant made for his chest, while one arm came from a desecrated saint and the other from the paws of a Lion of Jabir! For the head I actually took the tank from that same scaled up alchemist and plugged in the tube to his gnarly chest. I have been a bit jealous of all the new plastic kits so for the alchemist I decided to highjack the sniper priest, giving him one of the Sultanate heads from the accessories STL pack.

That’s it for now, time to get back to the labs for my final haemonculus!

New Glory: 2   Total Glory: 3

Trench Pilgrims - Procession of the Sacred Affliction

Dave Taylor - @davetaylorminiatures

With all my infantry painted up, I wanted to add a few more big guys. My converted Anchorite Shrine forms a great center point, but I needed a little more armor penetration. Enter my digitally kitbashed Lazarist Communicant with a massive anti-tank hammer. I added a millstone around his neck to help connect him with the rest of the warband. The warband was also lacking some ranged punch, so I spent four of my Glory points on a mercenary Communicant with Anti-materiel Rifle. To add more visual connection, I added some putty bandages that are slanted to look like they are blowing in the breeze. 

New Glory: 3   Total Glory: 6 

New Antioch - Free State of Prussia

Ian Huxley

When it came to the Trench Cleric, I find after I have painted the core models, I have the worked out the kinks in the recipe and the character models always have more detail to elaborate (ever saved the meat loaf for last after eating all the vegetables?). I used the same palette, but the metallics and parchment details are extenuated because of the model. 

New Glory: 1   Total Glory: 6 

New Antioch

Jake Krajeski - @buildpaintplay

The Elite of the Commonwealth forces are the unbreakable champions of the Faithful, the modern pinnacle of the human soldier, the armored might of the Winged Hussars. 

My forces are led by a Lieutenant with the Machine Armor upgrade, and New Antioch allows two Mechanized Infantry as well (which I upgraded).  So, these absolute beasts are there to shoot, stab, and smash their way to victory! 

Matka Boska! 

New Glory: 2   Total Glory: 5 

New Antioch - The Red Brigade

Rasmus Carstensen

Debt (Shocktrooper), Tithe (Mechanized Shotgunner) and Succor (Mercy Dog). 

Since the last check-in, I've given all the characters in my warband names tied to their backstory and role as one of the Claimed in Blood. It all connects to the display piece I'm currently working on, which depicts the moment these soldiers were severed from New Antioch and bound by a shared rite. 

The bloodied helmets are a vital part of the warband's identity. They serve as a reminder of the rite itself, and of what each survivor lost and gained. The helmets are ritualistically given to the blood in a kind of anti-baptism, lowered into the great pool that formed at the end of the first battle. Once donned, the blood runs down their armour, drying in places and remaining fresh in others as they march towards the next fight. 

New Glory: 2   Total Glory: 3 

New Antioch - Free State of Prussia

Sam Lenz - @samsonosmas

When it came to lining up some mercenaries, the Anti-tank Commincant stood tall. Pun intended, but this model is an iconic sculpt, one from the early days of Trench Crusade. Mercenary models provide a nice break from routine and still allow one to add to the warband. Plus, I can loan him out to friends if I like, being a mercenary and all. 

New Glory: 2   Total Glory: 7 

New Antioch - Red Brigade

Tim Engleman

Wow! This has been a really fun project. To continue building out my Red Brigade, I added a couple of larger pieces to the force. 

The machine armor's open shoulder panels seemed like the perfect place for some Red Brigade iconography... right up until I had to squeeze the design in under the shotgun to match the other side. It took a little more maneuvering than I expected, but I'm really happy with how it turned out. 

New Glory: 1   Total Glory: 4 

Cult of the Black Grail

Courtney DeVries - @figuratively_speakingminis

Here, last of the members of the Cult of the Black Grail, to join the legions of the damned. To prevail over Earth and humankind. The Lord of Tumors and his followers, and Amalgam, move across the battlefield with their diseased flesh, corrupting their victims. 

New Glory: 2   Total Glory: 7 

Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent - Envy

Evil Dave Taylor - @davetaylorminiatures

With the core of my warband established, I needed to flesh out the specialist choices. My Sorcerer and Hunter of The Left-Hand Path just had to express their own envy. With my warband being envious of the power held by others, I wanted to make that connection strong. My Sorcerer has the Envious Eyes ability and chose to snag the Takwin Anqua Bird from the Yuzbazi conquered by the warband. The Hunter stands atop a slain Lion of Jabir and wields a Sultanate crescent axe. Finally, I spent my Glory points on the wonderful Goetic Warlock. 

New Glory: 3   Total Glory: 8 

Heretic Legion - Naval Raiders

Felipe Crieghton - @theatomikdoctor

As you can probably tell, I really embraced the grime, rust, and weathering on these characters. At first, it felt strange because I normally paint in a much more controlled and methodical way. Using The Army Painter's Chipping Brushes pushed me outside that comfort zone and encouraged me to be more spontaneous. I even loosened up my approach to blending and gradients instead of chasing perfectly smooth transitions. That shift in mindset ended up being one of my favorite parts of the project. Rather than focusing on perfection, I focused on telling the story of these battered, weathered characters, and I think the final result has a lot more personality because of it. I'm going to carry some of that mindset into future projects, including my final submission. I also want to experiment with the Chipping Brushes on larger pieces - maybe on the terrain for a future Trench Crusade board I'd like to build (and bring to the office!) 

New Glory: 2   Total Glory: 7 

Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent

Jeremy Clark

For my biggest model in the warband, I knew I wanted the focus to be on the teeth on the wings. It feels like that's where the most contrast is, since the yellow-white color stands out so nicely against that deep blood red. I also did a light drybrush of silvers and rust colors for the armor to make him look old and worn and then finished it off by having blood dripping trails falling off various parts of the body. 

New Glory: 1   Total Glory: 6 

Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent

Joachim McLaughlin - @mr_mclaughlin

Saint Anaqinius was once a mighty holy warrior and general against the forces of Hell and the governor of one of the many fortress cities protecting the road to New Antioch. 

But one day, when the city was besieged, he forced all the people of the city to fight on the frontlines. Those who fled were met with his cold wrath. He slaughtered them all, And not just the men, but the women and the children, too. In his eyes they were like animals, and he slaughtered them like animals. He fought all, until his body was broken, near indistinguishable from the piles of corpses around him and it was at this point Sudor found him and entombed him in a shrine made from those that he had sworn to protect. 

I painted this Desecrated Saint with most of the same colors as the rest of my warband, mostly using colors from John Blanche Vol 1 & 2.  

New Glory: 1   Total Glory: 4 

Court of the Seven-Headed Serpent - Sloth

Lasse Sell - @fantasticmapsstore

With all the glory I've gathered this Arena, I felt I needed to spend it on something good AND that I, of course, needed even more glory! That's why I painted up the fantastic Preator model that I converted with a Serpent Assault Gun and huge hammer. The Goetic Warlock and Scripture Guardian became my two mercs and while I initially didn't know how to paint the Guardian, Joachim suggested that I paint its cloak like my Hunter's skin cloak and that just tied the whole Warband together, so to speak! 

New Glory: 4   Total Glory: 9 

Heretic Legion - Naval Raiders

Lyle Lowery - @lyle.lowery

Shifting gears as we approach the end of the challenge, I wanted to give my Naval Raiders a simple display base. I imagined them either emerging from the sea or returning to it. While I quite like the idea of the former, I chose the latter for a couple of reasons. First, the slope down to the sea meant I could put the models in the back a bit higher up. Second, I could realistically put a bit of blood and what not on the models. 

To give the display insets for bases, I started by designing very simple rings in TinkerCAD. I also designed a flat base with an elevated rear platform to fit within a picture frame. This would form the basis of my display. I arranged my rings and glued them down. Then I used air-drying clay to build up the earth on the base. After a few layers, I added basing pumice for texture. 

Next time, I'll paint it and add water effects to finish the display. 

New Glory: 2    Total Glory: 3 

Heretic Legion

Stéphane Nguyen Van Gioi - @scramasaxe91

The North Sea Mine Barrage would have forced the Heretic Fleet to shift their tactics, had they not invented this monstrosity. 

The demented engineers of the Black Crucible accidentally discovered that cramming a whole conclave of choristers inside an unexploded device vastly amplified their powers ... thus they created the ultimate bane of all navigators. It was not uncommon to see these terrors leaving the sea escorted by the carcasses of drowned sailors; their despair invigorating the choristers shackled inside the sphere.

Light Battle Dress was preferred to a more conventional tone for the drowned flesh, upon which True Blood proved great to give all the entrails the required viscosity. The natural shine of Pure Red, on the other hand, gave the best results to achieve this OSL from underneath. 

New Glory: 2   Total Glory: 4 

Heretic Legion - Naval Raiders

Tyler Mengel - @mengel_miniatures

Every warband needs a leader, and I generally like to keep that mini towards the end of painting. It's a nice little reward for painting more of the rank and files guys. It also allows me to spend a bit more time on them. The Heretic Captain follows the same general colour scheme as the rest of the warband—all black! The black cloak and entirely enclosing armour reminded me of a certain dark lord from another setting, which was kind of the idea from the start. 

I also had one more Heretic Trooper to paint. The infinitely cool infiltrator version with the cloth mask. It was a lot of fun working on the highlights and shading on his face to emphasize the skull shape beneath. I also got to add a fun little smoke grenade and reuse a smoke technique I came up with for some 1490 Doom minis. With that, my warband is done. Hmmm, but there's still one more update, and I do have some glory points to spend... 

New Glory: 2    Total Glory: 6