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This is my first attempt at a blog here, so I hope I can keep things running smoothly without too many long gaps.
Trying to decide on a new army after a 10 year absence is a big step; there are so many forces to choose from now that my original army is no more. The force that finally got my vote was the Guard, thanks to the Krieg models, but pricing up a 500 point list was just stupidly pricey. With a dislike for the current plastic sets, I set about converting some test troops from existing sets (Cadians and SM Scouts), Pig Iron heads and a little bit of green stuff. The paint job is just a quick test, hence it looking rushed/incomplete.



They don't look too bad, but neither are quite what I was looking for. The heads are a little too small compared to the rest of the body; plus it was going to work out just as expensive to make either of these as I'd need to buy a truck load of Scout legs/bodies/arms from somewhere and all the bitz places seemed to be permanently out of stock.

Then I found BrotherArgos' hugely inspirational Steel Legion thread and decided to go for broke and try my hand at sculpting/casting my own instead. Never having done any sculpting before, it's a nice big challenge!

Here's a rough sketch of what I hope my new guard will look like. Click the image for a larger view


The rough idea is for a regiment raised from a mining world, with everyone growing up in the mines and learning to fight in the tunnels rather than in more open spaces; hence the nick name, The Moles. This would lead them to use more close quarters weaponry like shotguns, flamers and las-carbines rather than big tanks. The mining environment would, probably, also lead to a disproportionately high number of bionic parts in the units as well as always taking at least one Tech priest and servitors with them.

I'd like to make a number of legs/bodies/heads so I can mix and match parts to make a slightly more rag-tag force; eventually expanding out to cover all the list options.

Regiment history and the start of my sculpting later

They are amazing and suit the theme you seem to be going for quite nicely. These could easily double as renegades *hint hint*

I love the subtle changes on the guy on the right alongside the obvious ones.

Fantastic use of PI heads. I'm keeping track of this one for sure.

These guys look fantastic so far.

Don't go with the traitorous scum that's infesting the P&M Forum! Stay with me, stay with the Emperor! Only joking, keep it loyalist, maybe?

*Fights infilTRAITOR*

Yes.

Anyway, I'm glad you've got such a clear and concise concept going on, it's always refreshing to see a well planned army.

sA

Starting the sculpting

As I mentioned before, this is the first time I've attempted to do anything with Green Stuff, so any tips would be greatly recieved.

Using some cadian legs as a base, I started adding on some greatcoats. For now they are just the basic coat. I'll start adding some of the extra details from the sketch later, once I'm sure that the coat matches up to the body correctly. There's also a few things left to do to the feet. Around the ankles/lower legs will be bandaging, plus the boots need some steel toecaps adding



I've tried adding on some edging to a couple of the coats, but it's going to take some practice to get them looking smooth and strap like. The different lengths of coat don't really matter to me as I want a rough looking regiment. In fact, you can see one of them has a ragged edge already

While they all cured properly, I had a go at the body too



Again, some detail still needs to be added and milliput used to smooth out some of the roughness, but you can at least see the overall idea. It's been done so that any head should still fit inside the scarf, though I know this is going to come back to bite me when I try and cast it unless I can find some way around it.

Eventually I want to make some of my own heads to go in there, like the domed heads in my sketch.
The plan also involves creating some packs, which include a breather canister. Not quite sure how that's going to look yet though


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I guess the plus side to my mining colony concept is that I can use them as either traitor or loyalist because they are going to look scruffy as hell

This looks really good, and for a first-time user of Green Stuff you have a real knack. The only advice I would give it to ensure your tools are wet, don't try to do too much at once (do a bit, let it dry, do another bit) and perhaps leave the GS to cure for a few minutes once you have the basic shape, and the re-mould.

But, great stuff! I love the idea of "The Moles". You should make some "counts as" tanks which are based on mining equipment - nothing huge, but perhaps smaller ones? You could have a little exo-suit which counts as a Sentinel, and is smaller and squatter? Maybe a train of three connected small carts which counts as a Chimera? Some sort of thermal rock-cutter which counts as a Hellhound? The incredibly fat miner who eats all the pies which counts as a Baneblade?

I recommend looking at (and don't laugh) the Lego Power Miners for inspiration!

I agreewith Darknight, looks liek you have an ack for some greenstuffing there ! Especially for your first time.

I really like the scarf like things, if that's what they are (take no offence in me not knowing, I'm dosey like that )
And I really like that spikey helmet as well.

Good job.

Wolf

Thanks, I think I just need to be more patient when sculpting. I have a pot of water on my desk, but it never seems to keep things wet for more than one or two strokes before the tools start sticking to the green stuff and distorting things.

I've seen the Power Miners and they are very cool, in fact, the Mine Mech looks rather Sentinel like anyway. If the Catachans can have a chainsaw in their sentinels, I can have mining equipment on mine

I'm not sure what to do about tanks yet, I think they may be tank regiment from a nearby Frontier world in the same sector. But Ogryns are certainly going to be represented by some sort of heavy duty mining suits, or power loader type affairs.

Look for the page on IG regiments from the 4th Ed Rulebook. There's a similar Regiment called the "Tunnel Rats" in there with a very similar uniform that may help you a lot as well

Nice work on this regiment!

endtransmission wrote:Thanks, I think I just need to be more patient when sculpting. I have a pot of water on my desk, but it never seems to keep things wet for more than one or two strokes before the tools start sticking to the green stuff and distorting things.

I have done a fair amount of sculpting with GS, and I don't like using water as a lubricant. Not only does it quickly disappear, but when the GS gets very fine, water can start causing it to disintegrate and prevent it from sticking where you want it.

I think a much better alternative is to run your sculpting tool along the side of your nose or in your hair near the scalp (don't stab yourself). As gross as some people find this, human skin oil is a very good lubricant for sculpting on this scale. I learned this trick from an art teacher in a print making class in college. Works a charm.

If you don't want to use that, then I'd recommend a small smear of vaseline or other petroleum jelly. You'd wand to wipe most of it off, but I really think GS performs better when used with oil lubricants rather than water.

Your mileage may vary.

Good luck!

If you don't want to use that, then I'd recommend a small smear of vaseline or other petroleum jelly.

Alternatively, you could slather yourself in vaseline and rub your tools on yourself. Of course, if you do that at the FLGS you might get some strange looks .... but we do play with goblins, right?

Darknight wrote:...slather yourself in vaseline and rub your tools on yourself.

Take me now.

sA

metallifan wrote:Look for the page on IG regiments from the 4th Ed Rulebook. There's a similar Regiment called the "Tunnel Rats" in there with a very similar uniform that may help you a lot as well

Thanks, I haven't read the 4th edition codex, I'll have to have a look and see if I can find a copy. Always good to have more inspiration


Automatically Appended Next Post:

nathonicus wrote:water can start causing it to disintegrate and prevent it from sticking where you want it.

I noticed that this evening while trying to add some bandages around the legs (photos tomorrow, hopefully!). I'll give your suggestion a try over the weekend, thanks!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Quick update as it's too dark to take a decent photo outside and my lightbox isn't set up. Last night I managed to clean up some of the legs, added some bandages to one pair; sculpted another body and created a first draft head.

I found the picture of the Althian Tunnel Rats in the 5th Edition rulebook this morning. Nice design, but not quite what I'm looking for as they are too spikey. Plus I see their cloaks getting caught in mining machinery; much like super hero cloaks in aircraft

The Chem Dogs from the 4th edition codex look closer to my concept as they have long coats and a tank on their back.

Reading through http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/'s list of Guard regiments, it seems what I've been designing in my head is very close to the Mordant Acid Dogs. Apparently WD284 had a page about the Acid Dogs Vs Hrud. Does anyone with this issue know if there's any more information about them than there is in that wiki article please?

Now I need to decide if I stick with the Junos Moles, or if I swap over to the Acid Dogs. Making Acid Dogs would give me the opportunity to pretty much make each one unique; though that does mean I need to make a bajillion different heads and/or accessories to go onto each one. Could be fun from a sculpting point of view; though less so from a casting one

endtransmission wrote:

These are very, very nice!

infilTRAITOR wrote:These are very, very nice!

Thanks! I managed to add more details last night, such as a belt and buckles. Letting the green stuff cure for a bit before adding in creases certainly makes it easier to add detail. The new body is much nicer, even if I do say so myself

Hopefully I can get some photos later

endtransmission wrote:

infilTRAITOR wrote:These are very, very nice!

Thanks! I managed to add more details last night, such as a belt and buckles. Letting the green stuff cure for a bit before adding in creases certainly makes it easier to add detail. The new body is much nicer, even if I do say so myself

I agree w/ infilTRAITOR, they ARE really cool... I love the way they seem much more lively and realistic than standard Cadian troopers...

For real soldiers always have a lot of additional wargear strapped everywhere they can, grenades, magazines, knives, compasses, pouches, scarves, headlights, etc... I think you got it damn right!

Will follow your work with the greatest focus...

Congrats!

The first attempt at a body was a bit scruffy, so I decided to leave it to cure for a while. I'll try smoothing it out a bit later. In the mean time, I"ve sculpted a second body and attempted a dry fit with some arms and one of the pairs of legs



As you can see, the arms haven't been cleaned up properly; they are just to see how things are going.

When we take the arms away, you can see the new body in more detail... and can also see that I need to work on making the body fatter at the bottom so it has a better fit with the legs as well as adding details like belts

I really can't fault that at all and am highly anticipating seeing it painted

Yes, a belt would come in handy for smoothing the gap between legs & torso...

Right. After some deliberation, I've decided to stick to my Malfian regiment as the Acid Dogs uniform/description wasn't quite what I had in mind. It was a busy weekend, so sadly there aren't any updates. So some background instead.

The Malfian Region

The Malfian regiments are recruited from across the Malfian subsector, which is part of the Calixis sector of Segmentum Obscurus. Due to the remote nature of the Calixis sector, most of the Imperial Guard tithes remain in their sub-sector, being fed to the numerous war worlds that litter the sector. Malfian has it's fair share of these, including Farcast, Kuluth and, most importantly of all, Protasia, who has declared independence from the sector.

The Malfian regiments are generally drawn from the numerous Hive worlds Alactra, Landunder, Lind, Malfi, Tephaine and Zweihan's World, allowing the mining, forge and agri worlds to maintain their worker levels. Occasionally, however, each of the remaining worlds supply specialists towards the overall Malfian regimental command, especially during times of crisis, which we will get to later.

The Fydae System
The Fydae system contains three planets, Junos, Fydae Minos and Kessae. Junos is a mining world, ripping itself apart with guild wars. Fydae Minos is an Agri world, supplying large amounts of corn and cattle to hive worlds across the Malfian Region and Kessae has only been settled for 1000 years and as such, is classed as a frontier world. With lots of unpopulated land and two planets supplying large quantities of salable goods it's unsurprising that a number of pirate groups have set up shop in the Fydae system, which is causing havoc with the tithes being sent to the Imperium.

Junos
Junos is one of three planets in the Fydae system, located in the southern reaches of the Malfian region and supplies various minerals and metals to the nearby forge world of JXM A18Z. These materials produce parts for the Calixis fleet, which is stationed in the Malfian region.

When it was first settled, Junos was a pleasant, green world with a very low gravity; but over the millenia, heavy industry and the fallout of heavy strip mining has polluted the atmosphere to such an extent that most of the air has boiled off into space, forcing everyone below ground into the mines. Unlike most Imperial planets, this has actually levelled the playing field for the populace somewhat as the noble families generally fled to Malfia rather than face life underground. With the entire populace living in the tunnel system, never seeing sky or breathing fresh air, life on Junos is more akin to being born on a spacecraft than living on a planet.

The habitation areas fill old, mined out areas of the planet's crust, with the mine shafts sinking down towards the core of the planet. With no oxygen being produced on the planet's surface, only the day to day living quarters and the active tunnels are oxygenated; the miners have to wear sealed helmets with oxygen tanks in order to avoid posioning from all the dust and gasses released when mining. In order to ensure the smooth delivery of the metals and minerals mined on Junos, a delegation of Adeptus Mechanicus are always present on Junos in order to maintain the air pumps and mining machinery. As a side effect, it is not uncommon for miners on Junos to have some form of low quality cybernetic augmentation, either as a result of the constant fighting, or a mining accident. The high cost of these augmentations are covered by the extortionate insurances the miners are forced to pay as part of their Guild membership. As far as the Guilds see it, it's cheaper and more efficient than trying to recruit and train more miners form off-world.

With no noble families, the mines are now run by a conglomerate of mining clans who make sure Imperial tithes are paid on time. Each clan supplies it's own security details to form the PDF, or fulfill the regimental manpower. As such, corruption is rife within the security services as each clan holds sway over their forces. It is also fairly common practice for each house to "sponsor" local gangs in order to grab terrotiry from rivals under the guise of keeping the peace. All this adds up to a lot of people becoming very skilled in tunnel fighting as everyone tries to keep hold of what is theirs.

The Junos Moles

Having lived in dark, cramped conditions all their lives; involved in almost constant gang of guild warfare, it's not surprising that Junos has a fairly steady supply of recruits looking for a more relaxing time in the military. Their uniforms are taken from their mining heritage; long armoured leather coats with sealed helmets. Weaponry is styled to be as compact as possible, with the regiment favouring las-carbines, shotguns and flamer based weapons above all others, with fusion weapons being converted from the standard mining equipment. Plasma weaponry, due to it's unreliability, is shunned as a meltdown in some of the environments they fight in could cause breaches and atmospheric loss. Their ability to fight in confined, dark environments has led to them earning the nickname of The Junos Moles.

They also tend to lack snipers, rough riders or heavy armour; none of which have their place in a mining environment. These areas tend to be filled by regiments founded on Fydae Minos or Kessae. The Fydae Minos snipers tend to be so skilled that they regularly replace Ratling squads in the Malfian regiments. Ogryns on the other hand, have been replaced with hulking suits of mining armour and the Moles have a permanent staff of Tech priests and servitors on hand to maintain their equipment and cybernetics.

The main areas of deployment for the Moles is to night worlds, city fights and, most implortantly, ship boarding actions, where their tunnel fighting skills shine. More recently they have seen action across the entire Calixis sector, scourging outbreaks of the Fydae zombie plague. To date no-one is quite sure where the virus originated, but it seems to favour areas where people are in constant close contact. There's no-one better to send into those confines than the Moles...

If you're lucky/unlucky I may flesh out the other planets a little when it comes to doing the other units such as Ratlings and tanks.
Sorry, that ended up much longer than expected! At least it should keep you going until I get some more work done on the sculpts

Oh nice background for them... I like when people expand some obscure part of the 40k universe (for this one, Dark Heresy uh)...

I just have two points I wanted to mention:

endtransmission wrote:With the entire populace living in the tunnel system, never seeing sky or breathing fresh air, life on Junos is more akin to being born on a spacecraft than living on a planet.

- maybe you should consider Junos to be a low-gravity world; this would match better with Junosians being close to void-born citizens, as well as putting some emphasis on their skill in boarding action (i.e. in-spacecraft warfare)

endtransmission wrote: It is not uncommon for anyone on Junos to have some form of cybernetic augmentation, either as a result of the constant fighting, or a mining accident.

- Even in the 40k universe, bionics are "quite" scarce... So you could justify this by the vital role of Junosian miners for the Calixis sector, and with the ruling mining clans preferring to afford crude cybernetic implants on wounded miners rather than having to train more and more off-worlders in replacement of maimed workers... Moreover, should you need some reason for Adeptus Mechanicus troops in your army, you could introduce a small AdMech party in charge of producing bionics for Junos...

Other than these two minor points, I think it's well-rounded!! Nice job!

Cheers,

Raphaël

Both excellent points. I'd forgotten about the scarcity of bionics. I'd originally had something similar with the AdMech presence, but more for the mining machinery and air pumps... but completely forgot about it. Good idea with the bionics though, thanks

I like the Dark Heresy material, there's plenty of interesting bits to pick up and add into a background. I'm tempted to carry to expanding out the Fydae stuff over time for DH use, not just background material for my guard. I also want to try and include various Inquisition related items into the force. Maybe the HQ is a junior inquisitor and his retinue who are leading Moles for a while (using the HQ stats/equipment of course)

I shall go update the text now

endtransmission wrote:I'd originally had something similar with the AdMech presence, but more for the mining machinery and air pumps...

I think this works better than a bunch of TechPriests whose sole mission is to graft "lowly" wounded miners with bionics... So let's say they do this as a hobby, or part-time job lol ..

Cheers,

Yggdrasil wrote:I think this works better than a bunch of TechPriests whose sole mission is to graft "lowly" wounded miners with bionics... So let's say they do this as a hobby, or part-time job lol ..

Even better. The Guild takes a large portion of the miner's pay as "insurance" in case of accidents and only provides really basic, simple bionics in return. When people join the Guard some of these need to be upgraded as it wouldn't be safe to use them on a battlefield. This gives me the chance to model some clunky looking bionics that get the job done and some smarter looking ones. (there are also new comments in my previous post too)

First quote:

endtransmission wrote: The Guild takes a large portion of the miner's pay as "insurance" in case of accidents and only provides really basic, simple bionics in return. When people join the Guard some of these need to be upgraded as it wouldn't be safe to use them on a battlefield.

Second quote:

endtransmission wrote: It's cheaper for the guilds to provide these than it is to lose a valuable miner. Plus, it's covered by the extortionate insurances the miners are forced to pay in their guild membership.

I think we get the idea better in the first quote, but I'm not sure why... Thinking about it for a moment, I guess it's because of the order the sentences are. If you swapped them, like :

"As a side effect, it is not uncommon for miners on Junos to have some form of low quality cybernetic augmentation, either as a result of the constant fighting, or a mining accident. Their tremendous cost[, both the bionics in itself plus Techpriests proficiency [or tithe],] are covered by the extortionate insurances the miners are forced to pay in their guild membership, and it's cheaper for the guilds to provide these than it is to lose a valuable miner." (phrases in [ ] are optional/alternate suggestions)

We would understand the links between guilds/AdMech/miners/bionics better...

Anyway, your idea of tithing a huge share of the miners' pay as "insurance" is very Imperial/guilds/40k-like (your call ) and fits very well in the theme...

endtransmission wrote: In order to maintain the air pumps and the mining machinery, the guilds have brought a delegation from the Adeptus Mechanicus to Junos

From this sentence, we understand the guilds are powerful enough to summon an AdMech presence to do their bidding... If it's what you meant, then go ahead (your story after all uh). But I'd rather have something like "In order to maintain the air pumps and the mining machinery and ensure the proper delivery of the various ore to the Imperium, a delegation from the Adeptus Mechanicus has settled in Junos and works closely with the ruling guilds" (a bit awkward but I hope you get my point...)

endtransmission wrote: Maybe the HQ is a junior inquisitor and his retinue who are leading Moles for a while (using the HQ stats/equipment of course)

Would you be using Witch/Daemon Hunters rules, or would you count him+retinue as Company Command Squad + advisors from the IG codex?

endtransmission wrote: I like the Dark Heresy material, there's plenty of interesting bits to pick up and add into a background.

Indeed, it's been my "breakfast reading session" for a while, and I like it alot... Some very original fluff, planet/hive/character wise... And some nice details about life in the Imperium, forces present in an Imperial sector ( WHAT?!? Only 50 SoB for the whole sector?!? )... Thanks Fantasy Flight!!!
Can't wait to get my hands on some other books, plus Rogue Trader (which will most probably unveil a lot on the darkest corners of the 40k universe)!!!


Oh, btw, good writing skills!! Much less boring than mine !!

I like your suggestions/clarifications, so I'll tidy things up a bit more in the morning when I've got some time thanks

I'm not sure if the Inquisitor thing will be used, it was just a vague idea for having a more interesting looking Company HQ with the advisors being things like a Rogue trader instead of the Master of the Fleet. Though these are all things to do *after* the basic troops are sorted.

IMustNotGetSidetracked.IMustNotGetSidetracked.IMustNotGetSidetracked

endtransmission wrote:IMustNotGetSidetracked.IMustNotGetSidetracked.IMustNotGetSidetracked

Yeah, I guess the Ecclesiarchy should write a psalm somewhere, or maybe the Munitorum could update their Infantryman's Uplifting Primer :

Prayer for straying souls

Oh thee Emprah
May thee bless us lost souls
With the most perfect dedication to our current project

[Chorus:]
IMustNotGetSidetracked.IMustNotGetSidetracked.IMustNotGetSidetracked

Oh thee Emprah
May thee clear the watery pools
So that on our paintjob lies no defect

[Chorus (twice)]

Sidenote : don't forget to crush all those stray heretical models, that lay scattered and unfinishedon your desk, when reciting the chorus

Let's hope that could do the job (but I'm not so sure uh...)

Last night saw a number of little additions to the bodies and legs; mostly adding bandages around the ankles and belts/bulk to the waists so that the bodies matched up to the legs properly. I've also had two or three attempts at making the helmet in the original sketches. I think tonight I'm going to try a different approach of goggles, gas masks and scarves instead. For some reason this seems infinitely easier than creating a domed head that looks ok; plus it means I can make each person slightly more individual.

Speaking of individuality, so you may have noticed that the bodies and legs are fairly blank in places. The aim for this is to cast a load of generic bodies and then detail each one individually. Suicidal? Maybe... but the sculpting is actually good fun, even if it is slow going at the moment.

My new light box arrived this morning, so I'll be able to take pictures of progress more easily, rather than having to wait for a sunny day. Now I just need to work out the whole casting thing so I can start to actually piece things together!

The resin and moulding materials have been ordered from TOMPS and should arrive tomorrow, which means this weekend I can have a go at casting some of the bits. The EXCITEMENT! Now I'm off to to buy all those extra bits like some cheap lego, plasticine and mixing pots from PoundLand

Sorry for the delay in updating this... but disaster struck during my first attempt at the mould making process. Despite using olive oil, which a number of tutorials recommended, the two halves of my mould stuck together into one great big lump of blue rubber

I need to go on the hunt for a better mould release agent, vaseline seems to be the next release agent of choice. On the plus side, when I'd cut it apart to retrieve all my bits, it was nicely bubble free so at least I got part of it right.

To keep you going , here's a quick look at the lasgun (or the back of...) and head that you've not seen yet. The head isn't what I want for the final thing, but at least it was something to do a test model with. If I get time later, I'll scan the head design that I want, but for now...



[update]

Oh. One thing I did learn about my sculpts and casting is that I'd gone a little sculpting-happy with the scarf on the bodies. If you take a look at the pictures earlier in the thread you'll see that the heads sit recessed into the body piece. In order to get the dip inside the scarf, I've had to create a little plug that I can leave in the mould when pouring the resin in. Fingers crossed that the idea will work when I get a working mould

As I mentioned earlier, the sculpted head you can see above was an early prototype, but it came out a bit too boxy and unbalanced; it may still be useful as a tank commander head as it does have a suitibly large targeter built in

So I went back to the drawing board (or sketch book in this instance) and came up with this :



Much more Miner/Soldier than the sculpt. Under the scarf will be a gas mask, so there will need to be tubing coming out from underneath the scarves going to oxygen tanks on their backs. I may just sculpt this onto the backpack rather than the head and make it look as if it's coming out from under the scarf on the body. The eye piece will be optional (I think. If I can cast it separately). The basic helmet will have a dent in each side allowing the eye pieces to be placed on one or both sides, or the easy inclusion of radio sets, lights or hw/vechicle targeting equipment to be attached. Under the helmet is a simple leather hood covering up most of their face, stopping dust getting to their comms equipment (the bump over the left ear).

I have it all sorted in my head... now for the hard part of creating it. I just need to work out how to create a nice smooth, balanced rim for the helmets as they probably wouldn't be circular, but more oval in shape to fit the head more comfortably. Any ideas on how to cut/create this? I only need to make one bare helmet and I can create a green stuff mould for future ones.

Any women in the pipeline?