Iron Warrior Project Has Begun, Starting with Allied Traitor AM

As of yesterday, painting has begun for the Legio Army Throwdown III, a 4 month painting challenge that has participants painting a 1500 point 40K army from scratch. I've decided on doing an Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marine force, with an allied detachment of Astra Militarum. The Troops choice from my allied detachment, a Veteran Squad with a Taurox transport, will be my first entry into the challenge.

I put a lot of thought into what these guys would look like, especially since I only have to paint one squad and one command section for them. My inspiration/backstory for these guys are the Selucid Thorakite regiments that fought with the Iron Warriors during the Horus Heresy. The only mention I've seen of them comes from the book Angel Exterminatus. In it, it basically says they are Imperial Army regiments raised from Olympia, the home world of the Iron Warriors.

I wanted them to look like more than just slave rabble to throw in front of the guns, so when I settled on what you see I wanted them to look like hardened, twisted veterans. Maybe they are even the very same traitors from the days of the Great Crusade, kept alive all this time by the twisted majicks of the Eye of Terror. Who knows...?

So, here's what I settled on for these guys- first the components:

Legs, Torsos, Groin Armor, and metal heads are all from Victoria Miniatures.

Arms and weapons are from GW's Catachan range of miniatures.

The heads for the sergeant at the bottom left and melta gunner at the top right are from the 'Iron Mutants' range by Puppetswar.

There are also assorted bits and parts of bits from GW's Chaos Space Marines and Space Marine Scouts in the form of grenades, pouches, rope, and the Chaos Meltagun variant.

Basing has already been decided on with the test models I've finished, which of course are not part of my Throwdown army. It's cork painted dark grey, drybrushed light grey, and then washed with a mixture of water and MIG Dark Mud pigment, as below:

For the paint scheme I've decided on a scheme inspired by German SS Autumn Camo from WW II- a khaki base with splotches of ochre and black. I may also go with a less ambitious plain ochre option- jury's still out.

Likewise with the Taurox I'm a bit flummoxed as to whether I just paint it like the Defiler I've already done:

Or do I try to incorporate more of the ochre/SS Autumn Camo? I don't want the allied detachment to look completely separate from the Iron Warriors. Suggestions folks? I could really use them!