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Ok, so here is the story. I assembled these marines thinking that I'd use them as Relictors marines to support my radical inquisitor. I used armor without the imperial aquila, used older Mk legs, and used heads from the Night Lords with the wings removed. I think they look suitably sinister. Then, I had the idea to make them into a squad of 'fallen' angels (since I have the transfers, etc.). But that might require a swap of heads to beakies (to make them look 'pre- or just post-heresy'.

I'm also stuck on what to do with the one marine with the storm bolter in his left hand. I can't seem to come up with a suitable weapon/pose/etc. to make him fit in with the rest.

Comments and criticism/ideas welcome!

Those heads are awesome. Please don't swap them out for beakies! Man, without the bat wings, those are some of the best helms GW has done. Funny how both these and the Berzerkers look so much better without the ridiculous ears...

And the storm bolter looks good as-is. Standing out a bit will just make him a focus, so paint him well.

Nice work overall.

So, I imagine then that painting them in the dark grey of the Relictors would make the best use of the helmets?

The storm bolter does stand out, but I think its more due to its size (it is two chaos bolters fused together), which makes it look oversized in his hand.

Also, the angle of the arm looks odd for some reason. I'll try to get another picture to show that.

*edit* Here are two shots of the stormbolter

very nice. got the colors all planned out?

I actually like the pose with the SB.

The 2 CS guy is good.

The guy with the PF looks like he is saying
"Puleeease Darlings!"

Good to see them painted Sir, so looking forward to updates!

I think they look really solid, and very sinister as you say. What's the issue with them? You want to run them as Fallen but are concerned they aren't looking pre-Heresy enough? I say keep them as is and run with the heads and armor and such, it's a good "eevil" look

- Salvage

If you're feeling your conversion oats, I'd say try cutting and turning the power fist so it's palm up, and curling it's pointy finger just a smidge. THEN it looks like he's saying "C'mover here and die like a good little pretty."

I think the two problems with the storm bolter guy are the knife he has clutched to his chest like a favorite doll, and the face the storm bolter isn't lined up with his shoulder. When you shoot a large caliber weapon one handed, (and indeed most weapons) you hold it such that the force of the recoil goes straight up your arm and into your shoulder, otherwise contolling the muzzle is a real bear. Small pistols you can get away with shooting with just the wrist and forearm to control at short range if you are not worried about accuracy, but from the picture it looks like he is using just his wrist to control the weapon. It gives it a really awkward look. Perhaps if you rotated the SB a bit so that a line from muzzle to butt continued directly into his shoulder, and then redirected his gaze accordingly, it would look a lot better.

The knife hand, I don't know. I never really liked the psycho ice pick grip since it is awkward to fight with larger knives that way. It can be done, but outside of SE asia and anime, most people use large knives like short swords.

Cruentus wrote:Ok, so here is the story. I assembled these marines thinking that I'd use them as Relictors marines to support my radical inquisitor. I used armor without the imperial aquila, used older Mk legs, and used heads from the Night Lords with the wings removed. I think they look suitably sinister.

Then, I had the idea to make them into a squad of 'fallen' angels (since I have the transfers, etc.). But that might require a swap of heads to beakies (to make them look 'pre- or just post-heresy'.

I'm also stuck on what to do with the one marine with the storm bolter in his left hand.

They look great! If only GW didn't close their Bitz service - I'd buy a bunch of Night Lords helmets!

Don't use the beakies - send them to meee!!!! (seriously, the NL helmets look way better).

The Stormbolter can swap for a Bolt Pistol, problem solved.

Wehrkind wrote:the storm bolter isn't lined up with his shoulder.

The knife hand, I don't know. I never really liked the psycho ice pick grip since it is awkward to fight with larger knives that way.

Hence, I suggest swap the SB for a BP.

The knife can be a reverse grip with the blade outward, but yeah, it should probably swap for a Chainsword in conventional grip.

Reminds me as a kid being told to carry knives facing down so I didn't accidentially cut somebody. Never really understood that as I figured I was more likely to drop it and cut my toes off. Silly old people, what do they know? But really, if you had to fight with the knife facing down wouldn't you want it so that the blade was facing out so you could get a good slashing motion? Faced in you have to have already swung to get them on the return. It would work better with a shorter blade so you did not have to navigate such a long weapon in close combat. But what do I know, I'm a nerd. lol

Wehrkind wrote:The knife hand, I don't know. I never really liked the psycho ice pick grip since it is awkward to fight with larger knives that way. It can be done, but outside of SE asia and anime, most people use large knives like short swords.

Unless, of course, you are 8 feet tall and capable of killing with your saliva. He could hold it like a toothpick and still be deadly. It looks cool, so whatever.

I say spend your time on more minis, fudge with these poses later if you still feel the need.

And Relictors grey is good to allow the cool bitz and poses to speak for themselves.

Thanks all for the replies and ideas.

I have taken a couple of more photos of the model with the storm bolter. What I did to start was to re-align the wrist to bring it more in line with the arm and shoulder. I agree that it does seem to be sitting a little high (first pic). And I realigned the head to look down the arm.

Then, for the second shot, I removed the arm completely (snapping it inadvertantly at the elbow), then re-aligned it even more with the shoulder, and added a Bolt Pistol (which looks a little better 'scale-wise' (not to mention is actually legit for a squad member). (and yes, I know the bolt pistol has mold lines, its just a place-holder

The final pic is from the top, to show the re-aligned arm, and the head.

The left arm is now all blu-tacked together, so I can try out other suggestions...

I have learned that photography shows every little goof/grain of primer/mistake you make!

What I was trying to do is to make each of the models 'unique' in some way, and the standard bolter arms leave little room to maneuver (which is what I'm using here).

More C&C welcome. Now I'm feeling the pressure to get paint on them
*edited for more content*

I'm going to have to chime in with another "nice helmets!" Are those the metal helms that are available as a 'bitz package' now?

I like the re-aligned SB too, but I think the BP fits better. It might just be because it's not so bulky.

You can get the helms, but you also have to buy shoulderpads. Seem kind of expensive to me. :(

I like the way the pistol worked out. I think the storm bolter could work, but probably would require more work than an option that isn't exactly legal for the model is worth.

Oh, yeah, I like the BP. It fits better.