Cheers, guys! Regarding the fifth member of the squad/Killteam, your wish is my command:
This guy was actually rather complicated, because he was the first model I worked on, yet the last to be finished. For a while it felt like I wouldn't be able to get him to a stage where I was happy with him, but now I think I've managed to make a reasonably good model from all the pieces. Take a look:
As has been the case with the other models, some details are still missing (and there'll be quite a bit of cleanup work to do).
EDIT: It seems like I cannot keep my hands off the nurgl-y stuff right now: Even with the five Blightkings mostly completed, I still had a pretty tidy pile of bitz left, and among them was one last armoured torso front. Looking at the part made me wonder whether it could be used to build a cool Nurgle Terminator. I'll let you be the judges regarding whether or not I succeeded:
The base model was an AOBR Terminator, if you can believe it. Still lots of gap-filling required, but I believe the model is getting there.
I'd remove the skull if you can- When I first saw it, I thought that was the head, and it looked tiny and odd- and even knowing that the helmet is the real head, my eye is still drawn to the skull at the top as the 'face focus' of the piece.
I think this might be an instance where your 'favorite head' isn't the best choice.
Anvildude wrote: I'd remove the skull if you can- When I first saw it, I thought that was the head, and it looked tiny and odd- and even knowing that the helmet is the real head, my eye is still drawn to the skull at the top as the 'face focus' of the piece.
I think this might be an instance where your 'favorite head' isn't the best choice.
I think he should greenstuff it to the head like making it a head growing out of the top. Would be Nurgle fitting IMHO.
Ah now this I like. I'm not totally sold on the other guys as I think they look rather too much like the stock models for my tastes, but this new chap is amazing.
His malformed proportions are excellent, reminiscent of the old Realm of Chaos range. He looks like a creaky old tortoise. I do think the Blightkings are pretty cool, but the fact they are all big fat guys makes them all a bit less special when lined up together, for my money Nurgle should include all shapes and sizes, especially deformed shapes.
Also he has some more 40k elements which I like, he instantly scans as a 40k model. I think I'd be tempted to ditch the shield and use something more 40k there as it is a bit of an odd shape. A big 40k spiky bulwark or something. And the little skull could draw focus from his head, but I think if it is painted to match the armour it will work fine.
I'd add some cables or rusty gunk to fill up the gaps in his torso. And it kinda bugs me that the cloth on his shoulder isn't hanging straight down, but I'm nit picking really. Favourite model of yours in ages.
@ Anvildude: Hmm, I'm not sure the skull will be that much of a problem: I've used a similar build in the past -- on this guy, for example:
And I don't think there's any danger of mistaking the skull for the actual head -- but maybe that's just me. Oh, and that's not that one WoC head, by the way, but rather a facemask from the Blightking kit itself. I used it because I wanted this model to have a resemblance with the Termie posted above.
@ Llamahead: I'll go on record stating that not only does the Blightking kit deliver excellent value for the money, but it's also one of GW's more reasonably priced kits atm. Seriously, the amount of stuff you get out of that kit is insane!
@ Sammoth: Ewww, mate, I won't do that!
@ Medium of Death: Oh, one important thing: This guy is not supposed to be the sixth ranger for the truescale Plague Marines, but rather a different project altogether, so there's really no need for him to measure up. That said, the size is almost the same between him and the Blightking conversions, but they look totally different and differently scaled (the Blightkings' truescale look becomes VERY obvious when seen next to this Termie conversion).
@ Bruticus: Cheers, mate! Although I cannot agree with your assessment RE: the Blightkings conversions (for obvious reasons), I am really happy that the effect I was going for with the latest Termie seems to have worked: "creaky old tortoise" indeed! I think the combination of the bloated midsection and (by comparison) spindly legs is very nurgl-y and adds to the diseased look -- although it's certainly not for everybody (I am currently getting quite a bit of negative feedback for it, in fact). But yeah, having him look that way was very much a conscious decision, and I am glad the effect seems to have worked.
As for the question of further details, the model still requires a lot of gap filling, so I guess I'll have ample opportunity to sneak in some more details here and there. The shield will definitely stay, though, because it was the combination of the spear and that particular shield that inspired the conversion in the first place. You're spot on about the cloth on his right pauldron, though: I'll try to carefully bend it into a more realistic position!
Well my question regarding the Blightking/Terminator fit seems to have been answered... (And the answer is the very one i hoped for). Very nice conversion btw, as are the 5 truescale Plague Marines. Though I must ask: could you fit the helmet behind the armor?? It looks odd imho the way it is. And...what's that thing on his back?? Great work overall as usual!!
@ Legio Ultra: It would definitely be possible to have the head in a more recessed position with a bit of work -- but it's not the look I want for this model: The head sticking out a bit like that really helps the "tortoise look" Bruticus mentioned.
@ Dreadclaw69: I'll definitely be looking at the option of adding some more detail to the legs, although I think I shouldn't go overboard with it, seeing how the breastplate is mostly plain as well.
On a mostly unrelated note, my blog, Eternal Hunt, just managed to crack the 300,000 views mark late last week -- AWESOME! Even the legionaries of the 4th assault company had a little party when I told them the news:
Happy hunting, guys! You’ve earned it! Looks like a orbital bombardment may be in order…
I've made a few small tweaks to the fifth member of my "Blight Marine" squad:
I added a few small details and replaced the skull dangling from the left pauldron with a small bell (an element that is already repeated several times on the model). Now I only need to fill some small gaps and maybe work on the backpack a bit, and this guy is ready to be painted, along with the rest of the squad:
Building these guys has really been a whole lot of fun, and I hope painting them will be equally interesting -- I'll probably put that off until I've made some serious progress on my Call of Chaos vow, though.
And there's a better look at the Blight Termie conversion:
The new pictures also give you a better look at the tank/breathing apparatus ensemble I added to the model's back:
And finally, a comparison shot between a Blight Marine and the Termie conversion:
As you can see, even though these models are very close in size, they still look differently scaled, probably due to the use of more Terminator bitz on the second model.
I seriously love the fifth plaguemarine . However, I think I'v figured out whats doesn't feel right about the nurgly termie. Because of the curve of the breast plate his head doesn't look like its inside his armour, but sitting on top, like it couldn't move. I cant tell if youv'e already glued it from the picture, but maybe if you cut off the top of the Blight kings armour(just a bit) it would sit better. Otherwise, great work.
How are you planning to paint them, like your other Nurgle marines, or in a different scheme?
Regarding the Termie's head, am I the only one who thinks that having your distended neck slowly pierced by a sheet of rusty metal somehow seems very fitting for a servant of Nurgle? Seriously, though: My idea for this guy is that whatever's left of him inside of that armour has continuously grown and swollen, forcing the armour to warp and extend as well -- hence the idea of the armour actually poking into his flesh at some points is pretty plausible. That said, since I needed to fill up the pretty huge gaps in his torso anyway, I tried to tidy up the area a bit (in keeping with a very helpful suggestion I received from euansmith over at the Ammobunker). I also bent the cloth on the right pauldron into a more realistic shape, while I was at it. The pictures aren't great, but they should still give you an idea:
As a small bonus, it's now even harder to make out where the armour ends and the actual flesh begins -- I really like that!
As for the paintjob, I think I will try to optimise my Nurgle formula for these guys, since I am not 100% happy with the recipes I have tried so far. Before I start painting these guys, though, I will first have to sink some serious work into my Call of Chaos vow over at B&C
Thanks, mate! I am sure that UHU makes for some really disgusting effects, doesn't it? A fellow forumite over at Throne of Skulls always uses UHU to create stringly gore and bits of entrails, and similarly pleasant stuff like that...
So, another small update regarding the Blight Terminator -- plus I also need your input, but we'll be getting to that in a minute.
First up, here are some better photos of the model with all the unsightly gaps filled and smoothed over:
I basically considered the conversion finished at that point, but then a funny coincident happened: The facemask fell off, and I thought to myself: I might as well try some of the other Blightking head options, just for the heck of it.
The following one isn't quite the look I want, but maybe the pictures will still prove helpful/inspirational to some of you:
The worst thing has got to be how bloody jolly this chap seems to be...
Anyway, messing around with the different heads was fun, but then I tried one last option and ended up really, really liking it. Take a look:
The strange/interesting thing about this option is that it actually uses the decorative skull that's part of the Terminator armour as the actual head, so using it would still require a bit of work to make it look more believable:
But for some reason, I really like this option, so here's my question to you: Which do you like better, the original facemask or this new option?
Personally, I like the tucked look of the old helmet - it made him look like a sturdy bloated turtle; like his body had overtaken his head as he swelled up.
Well, I might be the odd one out here but am I the only one who prefers the second (bare) head option? Althought i believe you posted it more as a kind of joke, he gives off a very nurgly feeling, a bit like this image
Spoiler:
I don't know why but the very kind features like the round cheeks and the kind-of smile (like some very old and slightly demented grandpa) make a great contrast with the "I'm a Chaos Terminator and I'll kill you in 3...2...1..." status of this guy.
There is a tendency, isn't it? As an afterthought you try other heads and then settle with a helmet with two downbent horns? Well, the thing is it REALLY looks cool.
- But I liked the original helmet more, plus the crouched stance speaks "terminator" more loudly.
-BUT
That grimacing face is best of all! It does fit so well with caring and loving Papa Nurgle! A true follower of Nurgle who goes to war with an attitude of "Papa loves you and so do I!" I felt there is only one thing missing, in order to make him more "in spaaace" again. Give him a hoodie with earphones, like the soviet resp. russian cosmonauts!
You see, "in spaaace" is all about enthusiasm.
see what I mean?
okay, not always. But here are the iconic white old-school-caps.
I vote for the original option. I have quite the bias though, as I've never been big on exposed/helmetless heads. The blightking face just seems too goofy though. The third helmet, to me, doesn't sit within the frame of the silhouette as well as the first. The slouched, sunken in helm seems to fit better with the theme. Blah blah I'm drunk, KS.
First up, regarding that converted Nurgle AOBR Termie: Thank you all for your well-considered feedback on the matter! The longer I keep thinking about it, the more it feels like the head doesn't even have to be an either/or choice in the first place: Maybe I should just paint both helmets and leave them exchangeable, so I get the best of both worlds?
Anyway, in between all the Nurglite models, I finally have something that is both a) Khornate and b) painted to share with you! YAY!
You may remember the converted/truescaled Kharn the Betrayer model I posted a while ago, right? Well, believe it or not, but that big boy is finally finished! Take a look:
And here's a comparison pic with the original Kharn model (still an absolute classic, make no mistake!):
All in all, I am really rather happy with the finished model, if I do say so myself!
I love the true scale Kharn, he just looks so much more menacing and like the artwork than the classic. Yo've captured the feel really well without losing anything. That said I must agree that I love the classic model too.
Your Kharn looks fantastic!! Great work, looks like an upgraded version of the original model. and your paintjob does him justice as well.... As a matter of fact, seeing the comparison between the Gw model and your kitbash, it seems to me that your painting skills have improved quite a bit since you painted the other Kharn (Good job on hat too )
Thanks a lot for the kind words, guys! I am glad you seem to like the model as much as I do
Legio Ultra wrote: As a matter of fact, seeing the comparison between the Gw model and your kitbash, it seems to me that your painting skills have improved quite a bit since you painted the other Kharn (Good job on hat too )
Haha, I should hope so, mate: That stock Kharn model was painted about fiteen years ago -- I only added one or two slight touchups back in 2010 or so -- apart from that, it's still my original paintjob from way back when.
I wish you all a very merry Christmas! It has been a hell of a year, and I hope you are all having a great time with your friends, families, loved ones, pets and little plastic men! Season's Greetings from Skalathrax!
So, after lots of eating, sleeping and general laziness, I have finally started to get some paint on everyone's favourite maniac in Mk 1-ish Terminator warplate -- the Doomwall!
The humble beginnings:
And this is what he looks like now:
Still not quite finished, but he's definitely getting there!
Looks like a fellow one wouldn't want to be around unless they were on his side. Very menacing and looking pretty good so far, can't wait for a update.
And thanks for the kind words, guys! I really appreciate it!
After spending quite some time on the Doomwall's paintjob, I needed something quick and fun to cleanse my palate (or should that be palette? ). Anyway, I decided to paint up that traitor psyker test model that I showed you fairly recently:
Unfortunately, the pictures aren't the best as it's nearly impossible to take any decent photos in this weather -- it's driving me up the wall, to be honest But you should still get an okayish impression of the paintjob,
"...thank, you, THANK YOU, ladies and gentlemen! Now, for my next trick, I will demonstrate how to squeeze blood out of a simple imperial propaganda poster. As you can see here..."
Excellent work, as usual I've been following your wordpress blog for a bit (aegisguard) love your conversions. So much thought put into them. Kharn looks like he should at that scale. Well done.
Thanks for the kind words, guys! I really appreciate it!
The Traitor Psyker wasn't a big project or anything -- just a bit of mindless fun to relax after painting the Doomwall model. In that respect, I am pretty happy with how he came out! And you guys are right: He does have a subtly humorous streak, doesn't he? As for the body, I spliced together a Skaven Stormvermin upper body with some Empire flagellant legs.
As for the Doomwall,...
Weather be damned, you'll have to live with the following pictures for now. Here's Brother Garron, the Doomwall, completely painted and based. Enjoy!
Thanks for the positive feedback, guys! I do have another finished model for you, as it happens:
As part of my Call of Chaos vow over on The Bolter & Chainsword, I am painting a pretty tall order of new models at the moment -- at least for my standard. The latest finished piece to come out of this ordeal is a new Chaos Dreadnought/Helbrute, completed thanks to a couple of painting sesssions that really wore me out... I think I'll need some rest now
Before I show you the whole model, I'd like to share a small detail that I am quite happy with: I have wanted to feature a mostly destroyed Necron warrior on one of my bases for a long time -- as a shout out to the iconic ending of the original Terminator movie, and now I finally went for it:
It's certainly just a small thing, but there's a nice irony about two dead guys who both inhabit machine bodies sharing one base, don't you think?
Anyway, without further ado, here's the Dread:
And the remains of that poor Necron again, leaking oily fluid onto the ground...
This is my fourth Dreadnought, and I think I may have one more of those guys in me at a later date. The only thing to decide is whether I want it to be a Dread for my fallen Space Wolves (who are allies to my World Eaters) or a huge, warp-infused beast. Or both? Anyway, for now, let me know what you think!
@ Anvildude: Haha, that's why I painted them as metal instead of leather: I imagine it's some kind of clamp mechanism, a mag-lock or what have you, with the shoulder pad not held by straps but rather clamped/locked to the arm.
First up, one cool thing about my new Dread I forgot to mention is that I kept the arms detachable, so the model can now be used will all the different extra Dreadnought weapons I have built so far (quite a few):
In fact, having another model that can profit from all those extra weapons was really the original reason for building yet another Dread
In an attempt to relax after all that red colour, I also tackled some quick and fun conversion projects:
A little headswap I've been wanting to do ever since Dark Vengeance was released:
The helmet will need some further repair (it's missing a sizeable chunk because it's actually basing material (!) from the Thunderwolf kit), but I love it because it's an almost perfect plastic version of Jes Goodwin's original Thousand Sons design.
I also built another Fallen Angel, à propos of nothing:
The pose was inspired by an excellent model created by fellow hobbyist Fawzi, by the way.
And finally, can anyone guess what this is going to be?
These three guys are great, i especially like the fallen angel, with his pose, just like the ground pound from the Space Marine video game (how about giving him a jump pack...or wings?).
And is that third model a small version of Baron Harrowthorne to be used in an different game mode?
As always, good work and keep it up
And you are quite right: That model is indeed a "Chibi-version" of Baron Harrowthorne's Knight Titan. Quite possibly the only Epic scale model I will ever built, but a fun distraction nevertheless. More news on him soon
With the last few days given over to frantic painting in order to finish my Call of Chaos vow over at The B&C, I have been rater neglectful of this thread -- sorry for that!
The good news is that I have completed my vow, and that means new finished models -- YAY!
The final model to be completed as part of my vow was a Forgefiend, and I won't lie to you: I was basically resigned to give up on the whole thing, because things just weren't coming together at all. But then the strangest thing happened: Looking at all the fantastic stuff completed by some of the other participants and felt the spark of motivation returning. Even then, the task remained a problematic one, however: I really didn't like painting the Forgefiend, and I swear it was hating me right back: In true daemon engine fashion, it kept fighting me every step of the way. But in the end I persevered and bound it into its final form. However, I christened it "Gorespite", for giving me so much trouble
So yeah, here it is: Gorespite, daemon engine bound to the service of Khorne's Eternal Hunt:
And my entire Call of Chaos vow, consisting of:
- 1 custom Kharn the Betrayer
- 1 Chaos Lord in Terminator armour with Thunder Hammer and Lightning Claw (Brother Garron the Doomwall)
- 1 Chaos Dreadnought/Helbrute with Multimelta and Power Fis
- 1 Forgefiend with twin Hades Autocannons (slightly converted)
That's a sweet additional 500 points or so for Khorne's Eternal Hunt! Huzzah!
This was the first time I ever participated in an event like this, which makes me all the happier to actually have finished my vow!
All these new additions certainly call for some new army pictures in the near future! However, I suppose it'll be quite some time before the weather allows me to set it all up outside and take some dapper new photos. Until then, I have this picture (taken this last December for the "We Are Legion!" Contest over at Le blog dé Kouzes) showing a pretty big part of the army to tide you over:
It's not the entire army (it's missing the twenty odd "old" berzerkers from before my hobby hiatus during the 2000s and most of the additions from the Call of Chaos), but it's a fairly accurate depiction of Khorne's Eternal Hunt in its current incarnation.
Cheers, mate! And I am happy to have inspired you! Just out of curiosity: Where will you add the cockpit? In place of the head/neck, or will it actually be sunk into the Heldrake's body, between the shoulders?
Hmm, I don't want to sound too in love with myself, but I would have expected the big guy to draw a bit more feedback. Oh well...
Aaaanyway, here's an update I hope will warrant a comment or two: More work on the Chibi-Knight:
With the basic construction out of the way, I was free to revisit several areas of the model in an attempt to make them as close to the big model as possible. Things got a bit out of hand, especially regarding the right arm, which is almost ridiculously similar, and I am pretty happy with the outcome! The only major detail missing at this point is the banner between the legs, since I will only add that after the model has been painted -- all else would make those legs very complicated to paint
And here's a comparison between the big version...
...and Chibi-version of the Knight:
Oh, and it would be really rude of me not to tell you where the inspiration for this particular project came from: Fellow German hobbyist Paule has created some very cool kitbashes of all kinds of Epic scale walkers -- check them out here.
Got to say longtime fan (well kind of long time) this is adorable and a great build. Do you have any intentions of using this great gift of you’re for the great changer of ways?
Any ways Great job and even if we don’t comment watch Ur numbers we are always watching some times on multiple forms lol
Wow I love the mini knight! Very clever. He actually reminds me of the old Tinbotz (the Ork robots made in mockery of Marines and Eldar) and I hope you use him as a type of cyberfamiliar in your army; maybe with the Warp Smith?
One tiny detail I think would help; another mini-stubber mounted beneath the left shoulder. Oh and do you have a top hatch on there? A thin slice off one of those circular protrusions on sprues would probably be the right size ...
Cheers for the feedback, guys! I really appreciate it!
Slipknotzim wrote:Got to say longtime fan (well kind of long time) this is adorable and a great build. Do you have any intentions of using this great gift of you’re for the great changer of ways?
I actually have, if only sparingly: I have to admit that Tzeentch is the chaos god I find the least relatable -- all that wanton mutation is scaring me off, I guess. That said, Thousand Sons armies can be absolutely beautiful if done well, so it's probably not a surprise that my only Tzeentchian activities so far go down that route: You may have spotted the Rubric Marine further up:
And there's also this sorcerer I built and painted a while ago:
weirdingway wrote:Wow I love the mini knight! Very clever. He actually reminds me of the old Tinbotz (the Ork robots made in mockery of Marines and Eldar) and I hope you use him as a type of cyberfamiliar in your army; maybe with the Warp Smith?
One tiny detail I think would help; another mini-stubber mounted beneath the left shoulder. Oh and do you have a top hatch on there? A thin slice off one of those circular protrusions on sprues would probably be the right size ...
Haha, you're right about those ork botz! I remember them from the 2nd edition sourcebook's colour section As for the second stubber, you may have a point -- although I believe I'll be using a shaved down bolt pistol for this, so as not to make the model too cluttered.
Llamahead wrote:Liking the Epic you need more you know a Banelord would be cool and a few Deathdealers
Haha, sorry, no. I have very little actual interest in Epic, to be honest. Adeptus Titanicus now, that would be a whole different thing: If GW should ever update that one, then I am game
One of the first conversions in this vein was Huntmaster Bardolf. He leads the normal, footslogging troops into battle and serves as a commander in small to medium games of 40k. This is him:
I think the Chibi Knight will make an excellent addition to your Terminator Squads. That could very well be what the Baron looks like outside the Knight Titan....when he wants to get up close and personal.
So, here's another small update for you all: Something quite WIP, although it's been fun so far:
Ever since I saw this piece of artwork by Diegogisbertllorens in FF's Tome of Blood, I wanted to convert a model resembling the berzerker in that illustration. So I cut up one of my leftover Chosen models from Dark Vengeance and started to experiment:
As you can see, the model diverges from the art in some places, but the inspiration is still pretty obvious. It's also nowhere near finished, being held together with modeling putty at the moment, but I already like the general direction.
I like it - but I don't care for the normal axe in one hand and a chainaxe in the other. I say either dual chain weapons, or the chainaxe and a pistol or even rifle.
That's really cool! Only thing I would change is similar to what Kepora said except that I would do duel regular axes, because I like the way he's choking up on the axe, looks menacing
Great miniature man! Though I think you could dump one shoulder pad but that's just a personal preference... And regarding the axes, I think he would look better if he held them from the same point.
Btw where do his arms come from?
Here's a small update regarding the latest conversion:
The model doesn't look as if anything much had happened, but the copious amounts of modeling putty holding it together before have been replaced with a cleaned up GS build now. And I have followed Kepora's advice and replaced the big axe with a plasma pistol to see whether I like it better. I could also give him one of the following weapons:
Maybe the plasma pistol is actually the best option, though. Any thoughts?
@ Legio Ultra: He really needs both shoulder pads, both because the bare arms only barely work with the massive (!) Chose body, and the pauldrons add some much needed visual balance. Plus they also hide the massive damage to his torso where I had to take off the original arms. As for the arms, the right one came from the warshrine of chaos priest, while the left one is from a Bestigor.
Kraut, I'm liking the build so far, has that great gladiatorial feel to it, but I was wondering if you had any play in how the head was angled. If you could twist it ever so slightly to the model's right, I think it might bring it together a little more. It'll give the model more movement, like he saw an enemy to his right and it's just angling himself towards it.
The Dark Vengeance models have a wonderful sense of weight and menace to them, and I think you could use that to your advantage a bit. I'm liking the plasma pistol hand a lot more than the alternatives, the two axes was cool, but I think having them both diminishes the effect and makes him look a little overbalanced.
Either way looking forward to the results. Your creativity is a big inspiration.
I say the 'plain' axe instead of the plasma pistol. Plasma wounds don't give any blood, after all! Plus, the slight difference in style between the two axes, as well as the different holding position, would add a good sort of asymmetric balance that would fit well with a head turn.
I like the configuration with plain axe and plasma pistol as it is. The futuristic firearm emphasises the brutality of that anachronistic tech-less axe even more. And I like how he grabs the haft beneath the head. That's a man carrying the tool of his profession to the next work site.
See I also liked the first two axes, the problem I think was in what he was holding it was how he was holding it. Since they are both axes its more obvious of the difference in where on the axe he's holding. I think 2 axes is the best but choose whether you want both axes held by the handle ( Like the chain axe in the first pic ) or just chop the chain axe a little bit, fiddle with it and make him choking up on it holding it under the blade like the axe he is holding now.
Thanks for the well-considered feedback, guys! This really helps, even in those cases where I just elect to ignore any kind of useful criticism and stick to my own plans out of spite
Seriously, though: I think I am going to keep the plasma pistol -- it just seems like the cleanest, most sensible option to me -- and I am usually the first guy to put two (or more) CC weapons on my models. Maybe it's also the fact that I always love painting blue plasma coils? I don't know...
As for the right hand axe, I'll say that this is really one of the key elements of this conversion to me. I think Hruotland has perfectly summed it up:
Hruotland wrote: And I like how he grabs the haft beneath the head. That's a man carrying the tool of his profession to the next work site.
That's exactly the impression I wanted to convey! And just try to imagine how dangerous this guy has to be if he goes to war with such a relatively unsophisticated axe...
Anyway, this is the finished conversion:
As you can see, I have replaced the strange, unconnected cables at the top of the chestplate with a gorget piece. It's not easy to make out in the picture, but it looks like it's decorated with a row of stylised teeth, which I think is a rather nice fit for a World Eater.
Cheers guys! A plasma axe, though -- how would that differ from a regular power axe? Anyway, maybe when I next need a badass axe for one of my chaos lords? We'll see.
In the meantime, I've converted yet another Dark Vengeance model, and everything started with half a head:
My recent Chosen conversion left me with half a chopped-off Chosen head, and since I am always careful not to throw away anything the might yet prove useful, I tried my best to repair that helmet for future use. The solution was to splice it together with the jaws of a Cairn Wraith skull. Take a look:
I was pretty happy with this, and so I continued working on it. The combination of a) Biohazard's feedback above B) browsing through Wade Pryce's excellent World Eaters again c) the first leaked pictures from the upcoming, Khornate End Times release and d) the memory of a certain piece of Adrian Smith artwork from the 3.5 codex made me realise that there was just one way to go for this helmet:
While I was super-happy with the helmet, the usual routine of dry-fitting it to a couple of possible bodies I had lying around didn't really work out all that well: The head just looked too "special", for lack of a better word, to be squandered on yet another Chaos Space Marine. But then, fate intervened:
You see, some time ago I picked up an extra set of Dark Vengeance Chosen for a song from a fellow hobbyist. Those have served me very well for conversions (the bare-armed guy posted fairly recently in this thread is a good example of that). And having them around also means that I can keep a completely (or at least mostly) unchanged set of Chosen around, because I actually like the stock models very much. Another Kranon the Relentless model had been part of the deal as well, but the problem was that the previous owner seems to have been very fond of the old superglue, and while the regular Chosen are easy enough to cut apart, the way Kranon is designed has really prevented me from working with the model so far -- all that superglue really made it impossible to take the model apart. So it basically went to the bottom of the pile, with very little chance of ever seeing the light of day again.
But lo and behold, it turned out to be the perfect base for a conversion using the newly converted head. Sorting out the particulars took some doing, but after a bit of tweaking, I ended up with this model. Let's call him "Huntmaster Korann" or "Kornan" or whatever anagram of Kranon we can think of, for now:
The next thing to address will be his backpack. For now, it's mainly a placeholder:
It's basically a standard CSM backpack with a piece of horse spine stuck on top -- a leftover from an earlier, ultimately discarded, build of my World Eaters Apothecary. I just stuck it on this guy out of the blue, but I kinda like the effect with the spine. I have to say I am not a huge fan of Kranon's original backpack -- it looks slightly too organic and Gigeresque to really fit the style of my army. And I like how the standard backpacks bulk out the model's silhouette -- but I am still very open to suggestions at this point, so shoot!
All in all, this is turning to be quite a squad of Chosen, don't you think?
Which is funny, because I happen to have a lot of converted Chosen from the time before Dark Vengeance. Oh well...
This guy has a certain -Idon't know, cannibalistic vibe to me? The theme of the gaping jaws is repeated down on his loincloth, and then the chopped head, like he is living up to the name of World Eater... I like him!
Man that squad looks great!! I do believe that he is a little static though.. Perhaps twisting the sword arm as suggested by Medium of Death will give him more dynamism. And if you go that direction, try raising the right foot a bit abioe the ground and twist his head a little bit too...
Anyway good work!!
Or you could put a pelvis and some dangly legs on the spine. Change it up a bit, subvert expectations. After all, it's Skulls for the Skull Throne- Khorne gets the skulls, the Berserkers get what's left!
@ Iliu: Haha, easy there, mate! I was just ...conserving my strength, so to speak. For something big
In other words: There goes my impulse control again:
The level of detail in that kit is amazing -- so is the amount of extra bitz you get! It should certainly be possible to get my money's worth out of this guy! Here's my (very early) battle plan:
Most of the kit will - obviously - be used to built a Bloodthirster that may or may not end up having some resemblance with Angron. It seems easy enough to create a bit of a resemblance via some cable-dreadlocks, but we will see about that. Right now, the lowly Bloodletter of Unfettered Fury is my favourite, because there's something iconic about the classic weapon combo of whip and axe that I love. Plus that face is amazing (it's also the one that resembles the artwork of Daemon Primarch Angron the most, incidentally).
I probably won't be using the two-handed axe on this main model, but let me just take a moment to say the thing is MASSIVE! Like, Imperial Knight massive -- it could conceivably be used to give an Imperial Knight an axe -- not an especially big axe for a Knight, but a serviceable one, certainly.
The rest of the kit will then be used to spice up some Daemon models I've built earlier, namely my two Khornate Daemon Princes appearing earlier on this thread (the bestial one and the gladiatorial one). There are some additional doodads in the kit that both models will certainly profit from.
If anything's still left after that, expect to see it on some of my World Eaters -- every single plastic bit from this kit will be used in one way or another -- at least, that's the plan
Let me just share some additional, Bloodthirster-related observations -- maybe it'll be helpful for those of you who are still on the fence about whether or not the kit is worth it for them.
Here's what my own model looks like right now:
Now I did take it fairly slow, even though it may not look like it: The head, left arm and armour plates are just tacked on for now. However, since the first seven or so construction steps are the same for all three variants of the model, there was little harm in assembling him so far. It's a wonderfully engineered kit, and the only part that has been giving me any trouble whatsoever is the tongue, of all things.
Anyway, I am pretty sure you all want to hear about the size of the model, so here he is, next to a standard Space Marine:
He could always have been bigger, of course, but I am rather happy with the model's size and bulk. There's also a very handy scale conversion pic here, for those of you who want to know how the model measures up next to the other Bloodthirster models so far.
One interesting thing is that nobody forces you to build your Bloodthirster all armoured up: Here's what he looks like with all the armour plates removed:
The only armour you will positively need is that belly plate, since he'll have a pretty big hole in his torso, otherwise.
Oh, and I know you all want to know about the size of that axe, so here's another scale comparison for you:
Pretty big, huh?
So, what's in the kit beyond that? First and foremost, you'll get the option to build either of the three advertised variants, of course. You also get to mix and match between them to a certain degree. I suppose it should even be possible to create new weapons setups (twin axes, for example) with a bit of cutting and gluing. Now when it comes to extra bitz, here's a a quick overwiev of my observations so far:
You get an additional set of arms (for the two handed axe) plus an additional left arm, depending on whether you go with the whip or that - very stupid, in my opinion - meteor hammer
there's an alternate breastplate, loincloth and belly plate. You can mix and match between different setups with these.
You get three complete heads (except for a tongue bit that is shared between two of the designs). The leftover heads are only ever so slightly larger than those of the plastic Daemon Prince kit, so they should be usable on your DP conversions.
there's a bunch of chains and talismans of Khorne that you can use on the wings or be used on different models
you get two axe heads for the one-handed axe.
Let's take a closer look at some of the bitz:
I. The optional skull shoulder pad is interesting in that it would possibly work as a facemask on a daemon engine or *gasp* even an Imperial Knight conversion
II. If - like me - you think that flame pillar is a stupid way to elevate the model on the base, you'll get it as a leftover bit that might make a cool objective marker or something similar...
III. Here's the alternate armour set you get: Those belly plates work pretty well as bespoke pauldrons for Chaos Terminators, you know...
IV. The chains and talismans for the wings -- I think I'll rather be using these on a couple of different models, as the Bloodthirster seems cluttered enough for my taste
In closing, let me point out two more interesting bitz:
First up, the chaos icon used on the Bloodthirster's whip:
I think this would make for an excellent squad standard or a back-banner for a Dark Apostle. I am also considering leaving it off, because I would rather have a whip without a bulky object like this on its end, but the part is still very cool on its own.
There's also the RT-era styled bone crown for the Bloodthirster head:
As you can see, it comes as a separate bit, so you could also use it on your DPs, juggernauts or even on a Terminator lord (it almost looks like the top of a Terminator torso front anway...).
So yeah, so far for my observations! Hope this helps!
@ Ignatius-Grulgor: The 40k rules are probably a bit of a disappointment, as far as rules go: Just a single page of the instruction booklet deals with 40k, and even then, all it provides is one statline for all three variants of the model. Definitely don't buy this kit for the 40k rules alone!
In the meantime, while plotting out the course for my Bloodthirster model, I've already been using some of the bitz from the kit in different projects: Since I knew I wasn't going to use the meteor hammer weapon, no matter what, I used the chain from it to add a final, gladiatorial dash to one of my Daemon Princes. Take a look:
His two weapons are now connected by a length of daemonic chain -- I think this pushes the gladiatorial look even further, which I really like! I also used two of the small wing doodads from the Bloodthirster kit to make the armour look more Khornate -- the extra bitz from the Bloodthirster are actually a godsend when it comes to spicing up that rather bland and cartoony DP kit, if you ask me!
Work on the Bloodthirster continues, but the model is still in its building stage.
I have settled on the axe/whip combo now, and here's what the model currently looks like:
I've glued the model to the fantasy base for now, so I can have it upright. A couple of observations:
- as you can see, this guy is fairly massive, even without his wings. I really like that!
- after much deliberation, I chose the asymmetrical axe head: While the other axe is beautifully designed, it just looks slightly wrong to me, held at that particular angle -- more like the 'Thirster is presenting it to the audience. The asymmetrical version doesn't have that problem, at least not to the same degree, and looks like he is actually preparing for a swing, so it was definitely the way to go for me.
- you wouldn't believe how much messing around it took to sort out that whip arm -- the instructions are slightly ambiguous, with pictures that aren't all that helpful, so getting the whip into a position where it both cleared the floor and didn't interfere with the head did take some doing. As you can see, I also left off that clunky chaos star, shaving down the whip so it tapers down into a pointy end instead -- this seems more natural and plausible to me, plus I get to keep that burning chaos star for something else
Oh, and here's another comparison picture for you: The Bloodthirster next to a (fairly standard) plastic Daemon Prince:
As you can see, the 'Thirster is quite a bit taller and more muscular. Regarding the DP, I made one more addition to him: Some Khorne runes were shaved off the vambrace of a leftover Bloodthirster arm and attached to his hip plates. See if you can spot them
I'm asking this from a design point of view as opposed to what you have personally done to the model, but does it feel like the model is a little top heavy? Especially if you add the wings? It just seems like alot of model for such a tiny contact point on the base.
As far as what you've done, I agree that the whip looks better with a "regular" end as oppossed to the chaos star bit. I also really like how you have used the bits to make the original demon prince more Khornate.
Hmm...I like the weapon combo a lot. Very classical. But something about the axe is making my brain itch. I thibk it's that he's holding it really low, making it seem kinda unbalanced. Is there any way you could move his grip up on the axe, closer to the fulcrum or blade of the weapon? Or would that necessitate rebuilding the entire haft?
Naa... the grip towards the lower end of the handle is correct, if the axe is to be swung. The problem is (as with most GW figs raising their "choppas") the hand has to be tilted so that the axe points more backwards. In order to handle a battle axe one-handed (top heavy in comparison to a -balanced- sword), you have to swing it in wide arches, taking advantage of the momentum. You jerk it up with a fast pull, as soon you reach the top point of the swing you turn the wrist and pull forward/down, the axe head will follow the trail automatically. You let then swing, controlling only direction. If you miss your aim, you use the momentum to raise the axe again with a minimum of required force. But chances are high you don't get a second chance, because mass inertia makes a battle axe quite slow in comparison. So you better hit first time and take advantage of that concentrated mass!
I see more problems with the whip - in this position, he cannot use it, only get the axe entangled in it, or trip over it by himself. To use a whip, you must even more gain momentum by swinging it, because it is flexible. Yes you CAN get this momentum by pulling the whip over your head, but not with a raised axe. In this combo, he has to keep the slash on his right or very precisely keep the axe down while swinging from the left.
Hruotland wrote: Naa... the grip towards the lower end of the handle is correct, if the axe is to be swung. The problem is (as with most GW figs raising their "choppas") the hand has to be tilted so that the axe points more backwards. In order to handle a battle axe one-handed (top heavy in comparison to a -balanced- sword), you have to swing it in wide arches, taking advantage of the momentum. You jerk it up with a fast pull, as soon you reach the top point of the swing you turn the wrist and pull forward/down, the axe head will follow the trail automatically.
Huh. I always knew an Axe needed a bit lower of a grip, but I didn't realize it was THAT low. I guess I just read the Thirster's post less as " Swinging the axe" and more that he was raising it while charging, so a higher grip would be a bit more natural.
Kraut, could you try rotating the wrist backwards so his pose is more like 30k Khârn, with the axe more parallel to the ground?
The thing with axes and hammers is that you want to get the most leverage out of them as possible- and for that, you want the most handle between your hand and the hitty-bit as possible, therefore holding it as low as you can. In many ways, having a pommel on an axe therefore is, well, bad design- it's better to have the bottom of the handle end smoothly, maybe with a little bend to it to help it not slip out of their hands.
Swords, on the other hand, benefit from having that heavy pommel to balance them more- a sword is a more versatile weapon, which you should be able to stab and slash with whenever- while an axe or hammer should be kept in constant swinging motion.
tl;dr- Swords are light and balanced, to stop and start and precisely manipulate the tip into good positions, so the closer the hand to the center of mass, the better (pommels are heavy). Axes are heavy at the head and are swung- momentum is their friend, so you want your hand as far from the blade as possible.
I'v actually swung a battle-axe, and if I remember correctly, the axe should be high if you want to swing it quickly, and be able to come around and do something with the axe or a gun or something.
@iliu: yep, start with the axe high. Best base position is having the axe resting on your shoulder, in order to swing it, you only need to punch your fist skywards and then punch forward and down, and hey presto! the axe follows all by itself. To lift it from the ground or so costs much too much time. The technique for chopping wood with a big axe is essentially the same concerning the part about bringing it down. The bloodthirster is in mid-swing, I assume.
Well, what do you know: I don't drop in here for a day or two, and a massive discussion about the handling of axes starts up -- but seriously, guys: Thanks for sharing! This was really interesting, and seeing how I wasn't sure about the 'Thirster's grip on the axe myself, it's good to see GW got the realism right on this guy -- as if a huge, winged daemon the size of a house needed any realism, but oh well...
As for the position of the wrist, I am actually kinda happy with the way it looks now, plus the model doesn't really offer that much leeway when it comes to reposing in the first place. Turning the wrist would probably be possible, but I already glued the hands to the arms -- sorry
In other news, I've picked up my box of Skullreapers/Wrathmongers, and my first impression is that these are probably a perfect set of conversion stuff for 40k Khorne -- the models are scaled to fit almost perfectly with the DV Chosen, and there are so many awesome bitz in the kit. Some of the weapons are very much OTT, but on the other hand, the heads and faces are far better than they seemed in GW's promotional images.
Take a look at this scale comparison between a (slightly modified) Chosen model and a Wrathmonger:
While the Wrathmonger may be slightly taller, the scale is still pretty similar -- so similar, in fact, that parts from the Chosen will fit the Wrathmonger/Skullreaper models without a hitch. It's also important to stress that the guy on the right doesn't even qualify as an early WIP -- I just tacked together some bitz, in order to show you the scale.
I also found it interesting that some of the - almost comically brutish - Skullreaper heads work much better when used on "regular" CSM models. Take a look:
Much better, don't you think? I've merely shaved off those stupid "cheek horns".
Oh, and one thing that really excites me is that you basically get twice as many torso pieces as you need: One set for the Skullreapers and one for the Wrathmongers. And each of those pieces has its own breastplate, which can be used as intended or cut apart to use on your other WoC/CSM models -- all in all, this kit provides an enormous pile of leftover bitz for conversions, which makes it a pretty good purchase, if you are not totally disgusted by the look of these guys.
Looking swell.
Like most people i were uninpressed by those new khorne guys, but saw potential for bitz. Especially in 40k/30k and specially especially those heads. I think they would look great on some world eater legionares.
Would you say that the heads are similar in size to the more modern, slightly smaller heads, like sternguard or forgeworld marines? Or bigger, like the old berserker heads?
This is a fantastic kitbash, I have now dug all of the required buts out to make my own version. I never really had any plans to make the actual chaplain anyway.
@ Zywus: The bare heads are not as bulky and massive as the old heads, but closer to some of the more recent GW/FW heads in scale. The helmeted heads are pretty bulky, mostly due to the bunny ears, but very finely detailed and far less clunky than the GW plastic berzerker heads.
@ Legio Ultra: The torsos have pretty big holes, both in the back and in the front. So they'll only be useable without the armour plates with a fair bit of GS work (although you get enough chest armour for all the torso pieces in the box, if that is any consolation).
Cheers, mate! I hope you'll be happy with today's update, then
So yeah, meanwhile, the experiments with the Skullreaper/Wrathmonger kit continue. In a move of nearly unbelievable generosity, Commissar Molotov recently sent me a huge pile of stuff, including a lot of leftover DV Chosen and Chosen parts, so I have all the material I need to experiment with those two resources in earnest.
Let's start with something boring: A fairly stock Skullreaper with a tacked on Chosen arm:
Everything's just tacked together for now, in order to show you how well those Chosen arms work with the models.
And here's something more involved: A mix of Wrathmonger/Skullreaper and DV parts:
Once again, all the parts have only been tacked together with modeling putty for now, but there's something suitably gladiatorial and feral about this guy that I like. I also think the model serves as proof that those leftover Wrathmonger chests can really be put to good use!
One important thing, though: The stock Wrathmongers/Skullreapers are a bit taller than the FV Chosen:
So the best approach would probably be to save the Wrathmongers/Skullreapers for unit champs, Chaos Lords etc.
On a semi-related note, this very cool gentleman was also a part of Molotov's bitz drop: Malthus Dire, champion of Khorne:
Such a deceptively simple, yet awesome conversion! I'll make sure to paint him up to the best of my abilities, in Mol's honour!
Oh, and there's one more thing: In case you were wondering, here's what I did with that chaos star from the Bloodthirster's whip:
As you can see, it makes for a teriffic Crozius Maul for my Word Bearers Dark Apostle, Belzas Azalon. I also touched up the right shoulder pad, while I was at it
oooohhh I quite like the guy with the DV legs, that works well. I have like... 6 sets of DV Chosen laying around earmarked to be berzerkerified. Hmm must purchase new plastic bits!
When I first saw the new Khorne kits, pretty much my first thought was that you were going to do some great things with them in this log. Glad to see you proving that thought right!
I love seeing your mockups and blu-tacked experiments. Thanks for sharing the fun with us.
Cheers for the positive feedback, people! As it happens, I have yet another update for you: In a spontaneous moment of inspiration, I used yet another of the DV Chosen sent to me by Commissar Molotov as a base for a counts as Huron Blackheart conversion:
As you can see, most of stock Huron's characteristic elements are there -- I even got a bit of a kick out of having the model in a pose similar to that of the stock model, albeit more dynamic. The model will still need a bit more work, especially when it comes to the backpack and to making the character look more like his own man than a Huron stand-in. One thing I really like is how carefully shaving off the original head allowed me to keep some of the cabling from the stock head and make it look like they are feeding into the bionic side of the head:
In the interest of full disclosure, the conversion takes quite a few cues from the work of my fellow Brother-Slaugtherers DexterKong (the general idea and some of the "ingredients") and Biohazard (the axe conversion).
VERY awesome - but the 'heavy flamer' is kind of...I don't know, underwhelming? It also looks kinda tacked-on, and looks like it'd get snapped off the moment he punches something. Replacing the fingers with bladed claws to open the hand up more would be awesome, and you could put the flamer in the palm - OR sculpt flames dancing out from underneath his hand, winding up through the fingers...
Great job with the skullreapers man. I think they're much better than GW's initial pics indicated, and I too was really impressed with the bits that came with the kit. I've got power weapons for days now!
Nice conversions. I like the chosen with the fist/flamer the best.
Kepora wrote: VERY awesome - but the 'heavy flamer' is kind of...I don't know, underwhelming? It also looks kinda tacked-on, and looks like it'd get snapped off the moment he punches something. Replacing the fingers with bladed claws to open the hand up more would be awesome, and you could put the flamer in the palm - OR sculpt flames dancing out from underneath his hand, winding up through the fingers...
Maybe have a power fist holding a burning skull to denote the flame attack?
just wondering if those skullreapers and wrathmongers are termie sized because i wanted to convert one of them into a fantasy battle-esque chaos lord. and by those pics of the chosen it doesnt look like i can do it
Regarding the Skullreapers/Wrathmongers, I am still finding my feet with the kit, so it will probably be a good while before I produce my first finished model from that kit Oh, and they are actually as tall as Terminators -- if somewhat less bulky.
As for Huron, I get what you are saying about the flamer, but I'll have to disagree for a number of reasons: I really don't like the flamer nozzle emerging from the palm on the stock model, for one. I really like the Huron model, but the right arm just doesn't do it for me. As for a hand engulfed in flames, that's precisely the approach DexterKong chose for his amazing Huron model, and I didn't want to copy that more than absolutely necessary. And I kinda like the flamer emerging from the back of his gauntlet -- it just seems plausible to me.
I did some more work on the model, though: Here's the cleaned up, mostly finished version of my counts as Huron:
Not all that much was changed: I added a pistol holster, a grenade and a small chaos star to the model's belt. The fist received some additional cabling. Most of the work happened on the model's back, however:
As you can see, I added a promethium tank and a fuel supply running from the backpack to the flamer. Oh, and an icon from the new Skullreaper kit was added on top of the backpack to serve as a shout out to the iron halo on the stock Huron model.
The model's pretty much finished at this point -- although I am still considering whether or not to add some longer claws to the left fist...
Looks awesome. The one thing that struck me with the flamer was the length of the hose. It looks like if he went to punch someone with the powerfist, he’d get about halfway there and then either be cut short by the fuel line, or there would be a snap and a lot of promethium everywhere.
But that’s just a minor thing on an otherwise very nice mini. And might just be the angle.
Thanks for the info on the Wrathmongers...I'll just have to get my hands on a Warshrine priest then Very nice work on the Huron count-as, looks great I love the axe conversion (though I know the where inspiration came from). And that flamer has a Boba Fett kind of look to it that is unavoidable to me. I also really like the head (is it a loaylist sergeant's head btw?)
Cheers for the positive feedback, guys! I really appreciate it!
As for the length of the cable, aw, man, that's a bit of a Catch 22 though, isn't it? Make it too short and people will point out it's too short. Give it a realistic length and it will end up looking unwieldy and clunky, mess with the model's composition, and chances are, people will complain about it looking too long. Personally, speaking, I subscribe to PDH's theory that all cables and fuel supplies in the 40k universe can and will always extend to the needed length via "tech-magic" of some kind.
...
...seriously, though: There may be a bit of leeway in that cable/hose, don't you think? Maybe it extends farther out of the tank as needed? In any case, I'm rather happy with it, so it'll stay that way. Sorry!
KrautScientist wrote: Cheers for the positive feedback, guys! I really appreciate it!
As for the length of the cable, aw, man, that's a bit of a Catch 22 though, isn't it? Make it too short and people will point out it's too short. Give it a realistic length and it will end up looking unwieldy and clunky, mess with the model's composition, and chances are, people will complain about it looking too long. Personally, speaking, I subscribe to PDH's theory that all cables and fuel supplies in the 40k universe can and will always extend to the needed length via "tech-magic" of some kind.
...
...seriously, though: There may be a bit of leeway in that cable/hose, don't you think? Maybe it extends farther out of the tank as needed? In any case, I'm rather happy with it, so it'll stay that way. Sorry!
Just tell anyone who asks that it's a 40K flex hose
@ Anvildude: Huh. How is the version I have now not wysiwyg? I mean, it's not really a cable in the first place: It's a hose, so it doesn't have to be crinkly.
@ King Pariah: Oh no, I really don't want it to look any more organic! Sorry
I mean so it looks like it stretches. The wysiwyg was a little tongue-in-cheek.
Smooth sides on a hose suggests a traditional rubber hose- fixed length. Crinkles, like a bendy straw, suggest that it can not only flex, but also stretch and change length. Even if the crinkles shown on the model wouldn't allow proper scale expansion, it still has that suggestion of stretchability that helps keep the model looking plausible, even if it doesn't look realistic.
@ Anvildude: Ah, I see now -- thanks for clearing that up, mate! I have to admit though that I am really rather happy with how that fuel hose is looking right now -- maybe I am just glad that I managed to get it all lined up? Anyway, I think it'll stay that way, warts and all.
In other news, there's something that I really need feedback on, so please let me know what you think:
Biohazard and me have engaged in a mutual challenge to get our respective chaos lords painted. Biohazard has already honoured his part of the challenge and produced a fantastic painted version of his Lord Malek Deimos, so my own Lord Captain Lorimar is next in line. Here's the model, for those who don't remember:
But when I dusted the model off today in preparation for undercoating it, something happened: I tried the cloak from the Wolf Guard Terminators on Lorimar, just for the heck of it. Here's a picture of the effect:
And you know what: I think this version actually works better, especially when it comes to the model's compositions. Of course there a few kinks to work out (I think I'd want to get rid of the wolf head, for once, to make sure the cloak fits between Lorimar's pauldrons), but maybe this is actually the better option, at least for this version of the model? It would also free up the other, also excellent, cloak to be used on an eventual, inevitable mounted version of Lorimar, where its flowing lines should go really well with the sense of motion a cavalry model should have.
So what do you think, should I go through with this change of wardrobe? Any thoughs?
Both work, but I like the original one a bit more. Of course, if you were going to use it elsewhere, it would look cool there as well.
I might be a little burnt out on wolf pelts in general. While they can be nice, they tend to be overused. How many other pelts do you have in your army? One might be fine. But in the context of looking at pictures on Dakka (including loads of SWs), it’s nice to see someone rocking a non-wolf cape.
Thanks for the comment, Nevelon! I hear what you're saying about wolf pelts feeling somewhat overused -- the good thing is that they don't appear very frequently in my army, so I suppose I could get away with using one more
A small addendum to my last post: As it turns out, the version with the wolf pelt works much better if turned around 180 degrees on the base:
Again, keep the comments coming! I really need to make up my mind about this soon!
Wolf Pelt bad. Hound Pelt good! To my mind it fits his involvement with the legion before the arrival of Angron. A hunting souvenir from before the nails took his soul.
I think the SW cape looks better now that you rotated him on his base, plus the pelt is a very good visual hint for the hunter legacy of your army.
On the other hand the WoC cape is simply a wonderful bit.
I believe that if you are absolutely certain that there will be a mounted version of him somewhere in the (hopefully near ) future, the switch the cloacks. Otherwise keep the WoC.
(And YAY we'll se Lorimar painted!!!! )
You don't have to paint it as a Wolf pelt, though, especially if you get rid of the head. It could be a jaguar pelt, or a lion pelt, or a tiger pelt, or bear, or thylocant or dire rabbit or whatever you want, with just a simple paint job.
Cheers for the feedback, everyone! Most of the comments I have received here and on B&C have been in favour of the wolf pelt, so the wolf pelt it is I have to admit that I am really happy with the slightly updated look myself -- I think it makes Lorimar look more aggressive and formidable, and it also finally provides the model with a "golden angle": I was happy with the conversion before, make no mistake, but I think this version is an improvement. Anyway, I touched up some rough edges here and there (mostly parts where the cape looked a bit wonky), and here's the version that will be painted and finished really soon -- that's the plan, at least
Like I said, the original cape will be used on a mounted version of Lorimar (riding a juggernaut, of course). That version will definitely happen, as I already have most of the required bitz (and have already gone through the arduous process of rebuilding Lorimar's converted torso piece ).
Even with a model to paint and merely a couple of days left, I just can't stop building. As for the painting side of things, I have just returned from undercoating the model...
...so this is actually happening! Yay! A couple of days to go -- wish me luck!
When it comes to building stuff, like I said, I couldn't stop myself: In an act of ultimate heresy, I used some of the hip plates from the Skullreapers' armour in order to make the armour of a true scaled Slaaneshi Marine I built at an earlier point look more, well, Slaaneshi:
On a far more Khornate note, I experimented with one of the Skullreaper bodies and think it would make for a teriffic counts as for Skulltaker. Here's an early WIP for you:
That Slaneeshi marine looks great,. When will we see a true scal Khornate Marine? And the Skulltaker conversion is great as well, though i think you could choose a better breastplate for him (if anyone fits that is)
And now PAINT PAINT PAINT
@ Legio Ultra: There's already been a true scale World Eater, you know...
Spoiler:
As for the breastplate, each of the bodies comes with two matching sets of armour, and this was certainly the most fitting one for the daemonic look I was going for: I think the armour is just jagged and organic enough to pass for daemon armour, but that may just be a matter of personal taste.
@ King Pariah: I had to google that in order for it to make sense, and now I can't get that blasted song out of my head -- thank you very much indeed!
So, anyway, a short while later, here's the cleaned up and basically finished Herald/counts as Skulltaker conversion:
All in all, this has been a pretty easy conversion: Most of the model is simply a stock Skullreaper, with the arms and head replaced with Bloodletter bits. The body already has the characteristic, pocked skin, so it looks like it belongs to a Bloodletter anyway. One thing I did was to graft on a Bloodletter neck, so I would have a more natural way of attaching the head.
I am still thinking about adding a cape like the one the original Skulltaker has: On the one hand, it seems like a fun challenge (and I do have an idea that might work), but on the other hand, I am really happy with the dynamic posing and striking silhouette the model has right now, and I fear an added cape would just overclutter the model...
However, I think you could get something interesting by having a 'rope of skulls' being held by the one outstretched hand. It's not like skulls are in short supply in GW stuff (you should be able to get bucketloads off Undead players), and it would then be a simple matter to drill them and string them along a wire- you could then position it for even more dynamism without covering up the model itself.
Aah I see what you did there And thanks again for the added intel on the wrathmonger kit As for Skulltaker, I think that he should have a cape....actually the chain cape from the WoC Lord on Manticore should absolutely suit him (though it might need some clipping at the tips to make it shorter)
Great job
I think that a cape would help the model be more recognizable as Skulltaker, as it is one of his more prominent features. Perhaps you could have a cape of just skulls on chains coming from his collar to give your own take on the character.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! You have given me much food for thought!
After quite a bit of deliberation, I have decided against using a cape: It would destroy the dynamic, lithe look of the model, which is basically my favourite part of the conversion. It may work better on a more static, bulky model like the original Skulltaker. In the end, though, I would much rather end up with a model that I like than with a model that instantly reads as a Skulltaker counts as.
The problem remains that the model's back seems rather barren, though: People over at the B&C suggested either giving him vestigial wings or some kind of trophy pole, so I tried both options:
Funnily enough, trying to give this guy some wings was as easy as digging out some Vargheist leftovers from my bitzbox, because a pair of vestigial wings is included with the kit. Take a look:
Here's the thing, though: While it may look alright, it's not really what I am looking for for the character. I love how the model seems to be running towards its next prey, and the winged version somehow loses that feeling -- plus the wings really mess up the model's silhouette. So back into the bitzbox they go -- sorry
Normal trophy poles were also straight out, because the model's elongated skull makes a normal trophy pole impossible: Even if I were to find a position where both elements wouldn't interfere with one another, the model would still end up wearing a trophy pole that prevents it from turning its head. Ouch!
I did have a trophy rack from the Dark Eldar Kabalite warriors, though -- and it works, I think. Take a look:
It doesn't interfere with the skull, plus I like the blade-like look it has. It even has some 40k bric-a-brac dangling from it, which is nice as well. So what do you say, good idea or too Dark Eldar?
As for the chain of skulls Anvildude suggested, you can see that he's already holding two skulls in his left fist, so that's a start To be honest, though, adding more skulls would make things a bit awkward, because you end up with this huge chain of skulls that needs to be posed realistically (and will therefore probably end up killing the model's dynamism to some degree), so I think I'll stick with the two skulls.
In other news, here's a progress update on my paintjob for Lorimar:
This is what the model looked like with the base colours in place:
Pretty hideous, right? Fortunately, he looked better once the washes came out and the red and bronze were mostly finished:
Next stop: Lots and lots of cleanup and detail work -- but I am definitely getting there, slowly but surely
Brutally awesome work my friend! Im not usualy a huge fan of the CSM ..... I feel they are usually overdone... but these guys have just the right amount of "barbaric" taste for my liking! really cool!
Nice call on the Trophy Rack. I actually liked the wings but I can see why you didn't want to keep them. The Big boss is looking great too. Having just read the HH book with Lorgar and Angron ascending in it this model's skulls reminds me of the skulls he wears in the final confrontation. (not too spoilery I hope) Very nicely done whether or not you knew about the symbolism.
@ Edreynaline: You're perfectly on the money regarding the bandolier of skulls: That element was very much inspired by the bandolier worn by Angron! Plus I love how ADB's storytelling has actually made those skulls far more ambiguous: Khornate warlords have always worn skulls, but we always suspected those might be mere trophies. Now we know that they may just as well be the skulls of honoured enemies and comrades, affording them one last look at the battlefield with dead eyes.
Anyway, here's something you should like: More (and better) pictures will follow soon, but for now, let the following images prove that I have completed the challenge issued by Biohazard. I give you Lord Captain Baltus Lorimar of the World Eaters' 4th assault company, Master of Khorne's Eternal Hunt:
I don't quite know how to feel right now: This guy has literally taken me years to finish him, and I am just immensely happy that I finally have. At the same time, I could probably name a thousand things I could have done better. Anyway, here he is. Let me know what you think!
A very good job indeed. There are always things that could have been done better (as I am experiencing with my Ultramarines captain who started from some sketches), but the fact that he is done and the fact that you are pleased with him are just proof that he is an excellent model overall, and an inspiration to us all, trying to come up with our very own HQ choice for our force
Great job
Thanks for the kind words, guys! I am glad you like the model!
So here's a picture of Lorimar with his personal retinue, Lorimar's Fist. I am not 100% happy with the photo, but it'll have to suffice for now:
Oh, and seeing how this entire project has been a bit of a collaboration between Biohazard and myself, I whipped up a little something to commemorate the occasion:
I gotta give you kudos Kraut, if I hadn't followed this project log I never would have been able to tell that 4/5 if those guys were built from the same model.
Lorimar is a masterpiece. I cannot imagine a more worthy Chaos Lord to lead the Eternal Hunt. How would you run him and his retinue if you used them in-game?
One minor quibble: Only the guy up front has bloodied his weapon. Do you have plans to splatter more around, or is the guy with the gore just going to taunt his squadmates?
Again, thanks for the kind words, guys! Finally having finished this model feels like a bit of a breakthrough, to be honest
@ Nevelon: While you may be right about the blood, I usually find that - even with a World Eaters force - overdoing it with the glossy blood effects gets ridiculous really quickly, so I tend to err on the side of caution when it comes to adding blood.
For today, here are the better pictures I promised: I think they come quite a bit closer to how the model actually looks when seen firsthand:
“Your Emperor is no god. He is a lost soul, forever trapped within an oubliette of his own decaying flesh. If there is any justice in this world or the next, he must be howling for release somewhere in there. When one of us comes for his shriveled skull, on that last day, it will be a mercy.”
Lord Captain Lorimar of the World Eaters’ 4th assault company
And here's another picture of Lorimar and his Terminator retinue:
But wait, there’s more! Because with today’s update, you actually get two models for the price of one, so to speak!
In addition to my 40k version of Lorimar, I have also been sitting on a 30k version of the same character for a good long while: Some of you may remember when I picked up some models from my fellow German hobbyist AgnostosTheos a while ago. The two of us had been engaging in a little project where AT was going to build 30k versions for some of my World Eaters. But then he sold off his army, unfortunately, and left me with no other choice than to pick up some of the pieces. Among those pieces was a converted Terminator model that I thought would be a rather nice fit for a 30k version of Lorimar:
As you can see, the model was already basically finished, save for the hands and weapons — so it was really easy to choose fitting weapons to make the character resemble his 40k incarnation. I also built a base for the model (and, again, made it subtly similiar to the 40k version). And here’s the result: Captain Baltus Lorimar circa M32:
Again, just to be perfectly clear: I can merely claim responsibility for the hands, weapons and base. The rest of the model was beautifully painted by AgnostosTheos! Oh, and I did add a chain decal to Lorimar’s right vambrace:
This is a sign of him having won his captaincy in the fighting pits by slaying his commanding officer — a rather important part of his backstory!
I am also rather happy with the arid ground on the model’s base, created by a generous helping of Agrellan Earth:
And here’s a comparison shot with both the Pre- and Post Heresy versions of the character:
I am really happy with those two guys, to be honest
And finally, after having met so many of Lorimar’s subordinates and after having seen the man himself, all that remains is to take a closer look at his personal background:
Lord Captain Baltus Lorimar, commander of the World Eaters’ 4th assault company and Master of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt
Baltus Lorimar has been the 4th assault company’s commander ever since the days of the Great Crusade. A divisive figure among the officers of his sundered legion due to his actions at the battle of Skalathrax, Lorimar has nevertheless managed to stay in command of one of the biggest World Eaters warbands, and one of the few still managing to maintain some kind of discipline and order.
Born on the blasted plains of Europa in the aftermath of the Unification Wars, Lorimar was indentured into the growing Legiones Astartes as part of the tithe the Terran clans had to pay to the Emperor who had defeated them. He became a legionary of the XII Legion, quickly rising to the position of a line officer during the Great Crusade. When the legion was reunited with its Primarch, Lorimar had been stripped of his command and incarcerated by Valna, Captain of the War Hounds’ 4th assault company, because he had refused an Imperial noble’s order to execute a squad of abhuman auxiliarii after a battle. Once the Primarch came across Lorimar during his inspection of the legion flagship, he freed him and offered him another chance to prove himself. This act made Lorimar fiercely loyal to Angron, and he would continue to follow the Primarch unquestioningly, even as his fellow legionaries grew more and more wary of the Red Angel. Lorimar later won his captaincy in the fighting pits, killing his former captain Valna and taking command of the 4th.
During the latter days of the Great Crusade, the 4th fought in the Eastern Fringe at the side of the Word Bearer’s Piercing Gaze Chapter. Lest the 4th evade the corrupting influence of the ruinous powers, First Chaplain Erebus of the XVIIth tasked the Chaplain of the Piercing Gaze Chapter, Belzas Azalon, with introducing warrior lodges and the covert worship of the Primordial Truth to the 4th assault company. Azalon brought Lorimar into contact with the Cult of Cron, a warrior cult the young captain eagerly adopted in order to provide his company with an identity and a code of martial honour.
Once the 4th was reunited with the rest of the legion, Lorimar was very pleased to see that a similar warrior culture had begun to form all across the legion, with the legionaries accepting their Primarch’s gladiatorial origins and cobbling together a mongrel culture from it.
The Heresy itself went by in a red haze, with Lorimar, like many of his battle brothers, growing more and more into a frenzied madman. He and his company were on their way to madness and damnation until the Skalathrax campaign. During the Long Night of Skalathrax, Lorimar suddenly came to and realised, in a terrible moment of lucidity, that the actions of 8th Captain Khârn were about to shatter the legion and wipe out the company he had sacrificed everything for.
In a move nearly unprecedented for a World Eaters officer, Lorimar and the remains of his company withdrew from Skalathrax before the battle was over. While Lorimar’s actions saved a substantial part of the company and made sure it would continue to function as a fairly coherent fighting force, they also earned him the disdain, if not enmity, of many of his fellow officers, who still refer to him as “Lorimar the Craven”.
Ever since, the 4th has been just as threatened by the corrupting influence of chaos and the madness of the Butcher’s Nails as every other World Eaters warband. To combat the effects of this decline and in order to keep the madness at bay, Lorimar used the ancient warrior codes of his company to formulate an ethos strictly based on honour and martial pride: His company embarked upon an Eternal Hunt, endeavouring to kill the strongest warriors and run down the worthiest prey.
Even though the 4th has remained a fairly large and coherent force, the legionaries always have to fight against the encroaching madness, with infighting and rampant frenzy all too common within the company. So far, Lorimar has managed to quell these uprisings with an iron fist.
When not on the battlefield, the Lord Captain is given to bouts of dark brooding, filled with resentment at the ruination of his legion, with disgust at the depths to which many of his former brothers have sunk, and with burning hatred at Khârn, whom he considers the destroyer of the XII Legion.
Kraut, I've been following your work for a LONG time. In fact, this very blog was one of the biggest factors that got me into the hobby (and picking CSM/DAemons as my army)!
You are a fantastic member of the hobby community! Please keep up the excellent work.
Who needs glossy wet blood? Just get some dark brown-red wash and dab it in the crevices of the non-power weapon heads. Dried blood not cleaned out yet.
Anvildude wrote: Who needs glossy wet blood? Just get some dark brown-red wash and dab it in the crevices of the non-power weapon heads. Dried blood not cleaned out yet.
@ JeffyP: That is the biggest imaginable compliment, mate! Thanks a lot!
@ Anvildude: While that might indeed work, none of these guys has anything other than a power or daemon weapon, and I imagine they just boil away the blood, once activated/let loose
@ Cave Johnson: Cheers, mate! Biohazard's - excellent - thread can be found here
Cheers for the kind words, guys! And don't worry, a detailed tutorial on the image editing is on the way
Aaaanyway, a small update today: Here's a small project I started yesterday: Barras Ergha, the 4th assault company's Master of Signal:
Granted, Master of Signal may not be the most obvious battlefield role for a World Eaters, but seeing how I imagine the 4th to be a bit more disciplined and focused than your average force of bloodcrazed madmen, I thought it was fun to have them retain some of the command structure of a Pre-Heresy legion, including the various specialists. At the same time, this guy is still a World Eater, so he needed to look like a true warrior. I think I've managed a pretty good balance.
Oh, the right arm, head and legs came from that sweet stash of bitz Commissar Molotov recently sent me -- credit where credit is due
A small update on the Master of Signal: I tidied up some parts of the conversion, especially the cabling on his backpack.
Some of you may have noticed the helmet mag-locked to his belt. I added it because, even though I am a huge fan of bareheaded Marines, it seemed sensible for a comms-officer to have the option of donning a helmet that certainly has some additional sensors and communications functionality. Speaking of which, I lost my marbles a bit and obsessively added some comms-equipment and additional sensors to the helmet to make it look more plausible:
Man great conversion again... Very imposing and command inspiring miniature. Good Job @ThunderFury 2575: the legs come from the secondd of a set of 2 Ltd SM Captains released last year, so i'll wish you the best of luck finding it since it's going to be a very rare piece
Legio Ultra is right about those legs -- which is why I had to use them for a special character, seeing how I will probably never own another pair The vox is an optional part from the new AdMech Skitarii, btw.
I seem to be on a bit of a roll today, so I'll just leave this here:
...and with the characteristic neck frills:
Still quite a bit of fine tuning left to do, but it's a start
Here's a small daemon doggie update: Sorted out the neck frills and collar of Khorne, so the model's mostly there now:
In case anyone was wondering, I did actually try both leftover 'thirster heads, but while the second one was also rather bestial, it was also decidedly less canine. Plus I really wanted to use that fabulous RoC/HeroQuest style bone crown on a model -- it really makes the hound look like the king of Flesh Hounds, doesn't it?
He looks like an old 60's or 70's Monster Movie monster. Sort of semi-human proportions compared to how a lizard or beast would normally work- mostly in the hips, I think. Are the flesh-hounds, perchance, mutated men?
KS, the master of signals is great and that helmet is amazing and even more so because it is just a minor detail on the model.
The real question though is what body is that you used for the dogs?
Oddly enough, I had thought of an Arbaal conversion I had seen recently and was interested in seeing if the heads would match a maulerfiend, but I think that is a 50mm base, which is still great as I have some khorne specific dogs of my own to make.
Archmagos_Amadeus is right, of course: The Flesh Hound's body came from the Dragon Ogres, while the head is that of a Bloodletter.I am really happy I had this idea, because the Dragon Ogres were sitting in my bitzbox more or less unused: I originally bought them because I thought they might become daemon princes -- alas, they were a little too small for that. And while the kit has quite a few useful bitz, it's great to have found a useful function for those reptilian lower bodies.
Here's a size comparison with a regular Marine -- I've also snuck in a first piece of cork, although nothing has been glued down yet:
As you can see, the Flesh Hound is quite a beast...
In other news, I have returned to some older models in order to give them a tweak or two:
First up, this Iron Warriors Warsmith:
I just keep coming back to this guy, changing details about the model (new pauldrons in this case), but this will be the last round of tweaks, because the Warsmith will serve as my test model for the new Leadbelcher spraypaint, before I (hopefully) use it on my Chaos Knight.
And there's another prospective member of Lorimar's Terminator retinue, now with a new weapon:
The idea with Lorimar's retinue is that each of the members should have a distinct set of weapons (not because it would make any sense rules-wise, but rather to make these guys look more gladiatorial), and so I've added a meteor hammer to this model, courtesy of the new Skullreaper/Wrathmonger kit
Oh, and one last thing: I promised you a "Glamour shot tutorial" about how to touch up photos of your models like I have, right? You'll find that promised tutorial here, for future reference.
I seem to be in building spree mode at the moment, so here is another conversion for you: My version of Lheorvine Ukris, a World Eater from ADB's "Talon of Horus" who steals quite a few scenes.
Building Lheor seems a bit derivative, seeing how both InsanePsychopath and Flint13 have come up with stunning interpretations of the character, but then those two models were what inspired me to go for it in the first place -- I just couldn't resist
Here he is (still slightly WIP):
Some parts of the model try to faithfully recreate the depiction of the character in the novel and accompanying artwork, but I did take some liberties: For instance, I ditched the aquila breastplate, because...well, screw aquila breastplates, alright? Seriously, I just loved the "Great Crusade" look created by that particular torso, so I just rolled with it.
Seems like you have been doing quite a bit of converting lately... They all look great of course, both the marines and the hound. One small gripe with the WE Terminator: his head look too similar to Lorimar's imho Appart from that great as always!!
@ Nuwisha: That's a lightning claw from the Raptor/Warp Talon Kit.
@ Legio Ultra: Hmm, I do see the resemblance, even though I did use two different heads on the models -- I'll have to work that out during the painting stage, I suppose...
@ queen_annes_revenge: As I said, there's a detailed tutorial here.
In other news, I have a new WIP to share with you today
But first, to give credit where credit is due, I have to say that the model I want to show you owes quite a lot to Martox' recent true scale Khornate Marine: I chose a similar approach to come up with my own true scaled World Eater. Take a look:
Just like Martox, I used a Chaos Terminator torso for the upper body, but I shaved mine down until it worked (and until the original Skullreaper breastplate fit over it). The axe was spliced together from a Chaos Terminator weapon and an axe from the Skullreaper kit. And the right pauldron came from a very sweet bitz package Augustus b'Raass sent me earlier this week (cheers, mate!).
And here's a scale comparison shot showing the WIP World Eater next to my (pretty big) true scaled loyalist Marine:
Very cool and the size looks good. The only thing that seems ever-so-slightly off, and this is just me, is that his helmet catches on his left shoulder pad. Otherwise I think he looks pretty good, I'm just glad I didn't see this before I went to GW today otherwise I might have ended spending even more money!!
I really can't help but think that the skull reapers armor just looks too big. My eye is drawn to that beer belly on the khornate marine every time and it bugs the heck out of me.
@ Gogsnik: Hmm, interesting idea -- I may have to add a dangling head, after all
@ wolfmerc: I think I get what you mean, mate, but I am not seeing it -- at least not to the degree you are. Sorry!
In other news, I have recently entered the ETL IV event over at The Bolter & Chainsword, and have made a vow to complete 662 points' worth of models -- which actually comes down to three models
Those three will be my World Eaters Apothecary, and Iron Warriors Warsmith and this beast here:
Gilgamesh, the Warrior King, the Twice-Consecrated, Son of the Ember Queen. Chaos Knight Errant.
I felt the ETL provided the perfect occasion to finally get this bad boy painted. I am kinda nervous at the prospect, to be honest, but I am committed to this. The model hasn't changed too much since we last saw it on this thread, although I have made a few last minute tweaks here and there. One of the last things I did was to add some cables (harvested from the insides of an old PC) to the cockpit, in order to make the interior look a bit more believable:
It's a small thing, admittedly, but one that I think will make a difference in the end.
Oh, and for those who wanted to see both the fulls-sized Knight and the Chibi-version I converted side by side, here you go:
As for the Warsmith, I basically included him in my vow because I needed a test model to experiment with the new Leadbelcher spray I hope to use on my Chaos Knight, so I tossed him in It's this model here:
And, as luck would have it, my experiments with the Leadbelcher spray this morning came out much, much better than I had anticipated, and I have been rather motivated ever since. That stuff is great! Fantastic coverage, goes on like a dream etc. My only gripe is that it's very bright -- but nothing that several passes of wash wouldn't solve, right?
So I have been painting all morning, since it's my day off, and I already have a first ETL-related update for you. Take a look at the Warpsmith taking shape:
He's already pretty far along, actually, although he's missing quite a few touchups, as well as his cape and his base. Anyway, it shouldn't surprise you that I am pretty pleased with myself right now
Cheers, guys! And Kepora is right, of course: Warsmith it is!
Speaking of which, here's the first part of my first vow completed. I give you Warsmith Greimolt Sturm of the Iron Warriors:
I am really very happy with the model, although you might notice that the chevron pattern seems slightly different across the two pauldrons -- that's just me being too dense to realise that I should have inverted it. Oh well...
I did add a little additional flourish to the shoulder pads, though, in the shape of two decals. One of them shows the legion badge
I actually used on of the 90s decals for this, as I like them far better than their more modern counterpart.
The other shoulder pad received a Roman numeral "IV", for obvious reasons
So yeah, that's one down, two to go. Unfortunately, one of the two will be that huge Chaos Knight. But after my experiences with this model, I do at least have a plan for the Knight's metallic sections now
“Lorimar, the man who killed Voss.”“Voss died well. That is more than can be said for most of us. What was he to you, Iron Warrior?”“You should rather ask what I was to him, World Eater. A brother. More of a brother than you, at least. What kind of man kills his own brethren like that?”“The kind that survived Isstvaan. The kind that survived Terra. The kind that survived Skalathrax.” Lord Captain Lorimar and Warsmith Sturm
Here's a tip on the Knight (and any big model, really). Try not to let any one area have too much solid color. Whether you get that through weathering or with a plethora of itty bitty decals, or trophies or whatever.
And on the weathering, especially. Don't make the top dusty. It's a big thing, so all the 'road dirt' will stay at the bottom, maybe halfway up the shins. The torso and arms will primarily be dirty due to ichor (because nothing that big has blood for him to spill on himself) and scraping on things like trees or cliffsides- so the back and shoulders might have more gouges and dirt on them. The top will probably be almost completely clean, except for rain spots, drops of blood (again) and maybe little nicks from enemies either shooting down or trying to jump on top of it.
Basically, what I'm saying is, don't weather the whole thing the same.
Also, washes. Not all-over washes, but washes where you swipe the brush over the top edge of the plate and let gravity pull the color down as it will, to give proper streaks- especially good for rust and sections with rivets or decorations that would interrupt the flow of rain or blood or whatever as it runs down the part.
Also, for large mechanisms- oil. All the joints should be lousy with black and white oil and grease streaks (white for lithium grease) to the point that you know your hand would come away grungy when you touch it- because all that stuff ends up squirting out as the mechanism moves.
I love the Iron Warriors guy. very nicely done on the glowing eyes (I love that space marine head), decal work and chevrons!
As for weathering large models... I weather them like a tank. There are extensive resources in the scale modelling community... my favorite being the Mig Jimenez book. For instance, the tracks of a tank should basically look like the terrain it's on, except the areas with more friction showing a little more of the model beneath.
See, there's issues to weathering a tall walker like you would a tank- most notably in that the tank treads are going to be grinding through the terrain, as opposed to a walker who's going to be dirtying the top surfaces primarily from uni-directional splash. Different patterns of muck thrown up.
Also, you have the issue of, well, hight. Tanks are maybe at most 2 people high, while a walker like this is multiple stories up- it's a lot more difficult for the sort of dust and debris to get up that high, much less high enough to fall back onto the top, while that's a common occurence for a tank.
And even then, if you're putting them in a dryer environment where it's dust and not mud, a walker is going to kick up much less dust overall than any sort of wheeled or tracked vehicle.
Thanks for the Knight-related feedback, guys! I think I'll be taking quite a few cues from JeffTibbetts' absolutely amazing Knight project, simplifying some of the steps as needed. That should give me a pretty good start. But I guess it'll take some time to work up the courage to start on the big guy
In the meantime, I am really much happier with the finished Warsmith model than I had expected beforehand, which is why I now want to build more Iron Warriors, even though I have zero use for them and don't want to get sidetracked. What I really hate about one-off projects is how they never seem to stay one-off. At least for me
Anyway, I indulged myself and built the coolest, most badass IW champ I could come up with:
As you can see, I have him quite a bit of wargear, because that creates the workmanlike look I think is so cool about the Iron Warriors.
Cheers, guys! Glad to hear it, too, because that was certainly one of the most important things about this conversion: I wanted his legion to instantly recognisable from looking at the model. Gogsnik, that is a Skullcrusher helmet with the bunny ears clipped off, btw.
And here he is, already undercoated:
I doubt I'll be going any further with him tonight, but I like how he already seems more finished than models merely undercoated in black or white. Yes, I know it's a cheap psychological trick, but still...
@ MagosBiff90: To be honest, I only included that shield to give myself an excuse for painting another hazard stripe area. Those yellow areas are a pain to finish, bu they do turn out kinda nice, don't they?
I think we all know at this point that there will at least be an Iron Warriors Killteam -- I am just too happy with the Warsmith and progress on the champ so far, so yesterday evening I caught myself thinking: "If I were to build an Iron Warriors Killteam, one of them would have to be an Apothecary, due to the IW's well-documented history of scavengin geneseed..."
I was already sitting at my desk before I could stop myself. Here's an early WIP:
I also went back to the only IW model I had painted before the Warsmith: A rather ancient CSM kitbash, built even before my hobby hiatus (that lasted for most of th 2000s) and later painted as an Iron Warrior, because I needed a model to test the (then) new Nuln Oil on. Here's the original model:
While I didn't completely repaint the model, I did touch up those hazard stripes, because I like my new recipe for yellow much better. I also added another "IV" decal to the left shoulder pad and got rid of the clunky icon, while I was at it:
Just some final touchups and a new, suitably muddy base, and he'll be done.
I really like the apothecary, has a sense of personality to him, a more dry sardonic sort of vet. I can't place what head you used for the life of me though, where did you find it?
Cheers, mate! I am really happy with the Apothecary, even though he's still at the pretty early WIP stage. That head is from the AdMech Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard kit, btw.
A small update: The refurbished Iron Warrior now has a base:
I think I'll leave him like this. Like I said, the model is ancient, so it doesn't exactly warrant a full repaint -- I'd rather use that energy on a new model
Speaking of which, there has been a bit of progress on the champ:
He'll still need quite a bit of work until I can call him finished, but we are certainly getting there.
I'm always so annoyed by those apothecary tool gauntlet things. They just don't look like, well, anything like what they're supposedly used for. 'least a 'urty syringe is syringe shaped.
Okay, I HAVE to know what recipe you use for the armor trim. XD And I LOVE that Apothecary so far, even if he has a fleshhead And my own Warsmith character has a tendency to mess with genetic stuff - hence his nickname, the Genesmith. XD
Also, did that optic on the champion's backpack also come from the new Mechanicus kits?
I'm a little late to the thread seeing as I just joined this forum 2 days ago but I just wanted to say your defiler conversion is super sweet! I have always played Khorne armies except for one time when I betrayed my dark lord and tried out a Sister's of Battle army. Khorne showed his wrath as he saw fit by letting me lose that entire army to a man (woman).
@ Kepora: The trim is a really easy recipe: A basecoat of Warplock Bronze, then a generous wash of Gryphonne Sepia, then drybrush with Brass Scorpion, then a final highlight with a 50:50 mix of Brass Scorpion and Mithril Silver, where applicable. Oh, and that optic bit was actually cut from a Tempestus Scion torso
Oh, and I am really happy with the Skitarii head on the Apothecary -- glad you guys like it as well!
Anyway, I did some more cleanup work on the Iron Warriors champion, and he's mostly finished now, except for some final touchups and the base:
And here's what the beginning of the actual Killteam look like right now:
Great looking warband!the champion came out really nice. I never had a closer look on the iron warriors upgrade kit, but they torsos look really cool.
Looking forward for the apothecarius.
@ Boba Fett: I was lucky enough to pick up some of those torso pieces as part of an ebay auction quite a while ago, and I think they still hold up rather well -- they would be a great fit for Iron Hands as well, come to think of it.
@ kencotter: Yeah, it's basically the same approach, only that I kept drybrushing the true scale Marine until I ended up with a fairly even, almost golden coat of paint. But the colours and basic approach are very much the same.
As it happens, I cannot seem to stop converting new Iron Warriors at the moment. The beautiful thing about this being a small Killteam, though, is that I can use that to explore all of the Iron Warriors archetypes I like. Here are the next two team members:
On the right is the Apothecary you already know, although I did some slight cleanups on this guy. On the left is a new model, because you cannot have an Iron Warriors Killteam without a massive Breacher guy, can you?
Very cool! The apothecary is great; that head works perfectly in this context.
I really like the breacher too, especially his helmet. Although that shield will make your life difficult when it comes time to painting — it's the perfect surface for big warning chevrons but it will be fiddly painting around the details . The only thing is he seems a bit short-torsoed, at least in these photos, and I wonder if he'd look a bit more imposing and proportional with a few mm of plasticard spacers at his waste.
Good stuff! Though to be honest, I was expecting someone bigger.
That being said, think you'll make an Iron Warrior that uses parts from the Skullreapers? Maybe someone who's spent one too many cigarette-breaks with the World Eaters.
The breacher looks great! Where is the head from?
I really like how you captured the essence of the army.: prepared and equipped for every situation.
Great killteam!
Keep up the good work
Btw: have you seen the mold line on the handle?
theNublet wrote: Not sure what you mean. They're individuals, not a hivemind. They have differing experiences, outlooks and opinions, each and every single one.
Well, I understand that. It's just that, the whole 'indoctrination' thing suggests that the furthest any single one of them is going to differ from a squadmate is going to be about the level of 'different people' that you get between a good-day and a bad-day in a single guardsman.
More than that, though, is the whole 'This guy is a Breacher, so he has a mace and shield' or "This faction prefers using Heavy Bolters with slightly longer barrels" sort of stuff- how/where do you get that from a page of color-swapped profiles of the same suit of armour and a couple battle doctrines?
theNublet wrote: Not sure what you mean. They're individuals, not a hivemind. They have differing experiences, outlooks and opinions, each and every single one.
Well, I understand that. It's just that, the whole 'indoctrination' thing suggests that the furthest any single one of them is going to differ from a squadmate is going to be about the level of 'different people' that you get between a good-day and a bad-day in a single guardsman.
More than that, though, is the whole 'This guy is a Breacher, so he has a mace and shield' or "This faction prefers using Heavy Bolters with slightly longer barrels" sort of stuff- how/where do you get that from a page of color-swapped profiles of the same suit of armour and a couple battle doctrines?
@ weirdingway: I have already painted one of those shields, and I suppose the trick is to first paint it all in a solid yellow and black chevron design, then block out and paint the decoration, chaos icnonography etc. afterwards -- at least it has worked pretty well that way on my Warsmith. As for the torso length, I think the problem is that this particular pair of legs is very straight compared to the usual, slightly crouched position we see on Space Marines. The torso still seems proportionate enough to me, though .-- at least, he's not shorter than the model's original torso.
@ theNublet: Hmm, while I won't rule out anything at this point, I don't think these guys will get too Khornate bitz-wise: I still want them to look chaotic, but a different flavour of chaotic from my usual World Eaters, if that makes any sense
@ Anvildude: Now, as for the different character of Space Marine Legions or individual Space Marines, here's my take:
I'll admit that Space Marines may seem a bit samey if seen from the outside, but I think many different sources describe them as individuals, albeit in the framework of a given Legion: While the indoctrination and training may be the same, I would think the individual Astartes is still shaped by his experience and basic outlook on life. That goes double for the Traitor Legions who are far less regimented and standardised at this point. Looking beyond the individuals, one thing I believe GW has done pretty well is to differentiate the different legions (in the background, at least), which is why exploring the various archetypes can be so much fun, at least for me: World Eaters, for instance, are massive and fearsome warriors, yet they are also kinda feral and gladiatorial. Iron Warriors are just as fierce, but in a more detached, clinical way: They are all about superior armament and wars of attrition. Bitter and resentful, with lots of cold brutality. Emperor's Children are outlandish and proud, all about pride in their excellence and depraved and new sensations on the other hand. Word Bearers are covered in devotional oath papers and icons, yet also priestly and serene: Yes, they are definitely in it "for the evulz", but they are also holy warriors, thinking themselves vindicated by the Primordial Truth and filled with a zeal and faith that come from utter religious fanaticism: They think they are actually saving you, even if it means sending you to hell (very literally). The list goes on and on. For better or worse, we have moved beyond "a page of color-swapped profiles of the same suit of armour and a couple battle doctrines"a long time ago (again, mostly in the fluff and not so much in the rules, unfortunately).
The background for this exists -- and has existed for a long time. And it's fun to try and make these guys as samey as Marines should be, yet as individual as they can be -- especially when they are veterans of the Long War. But that's just my take on things.
@ Boba Fett: Yeah, there are quie a few moldlines and rough areas which will need to be sorted out before painting. Thanks for pointing it out, though!
So by 'fluff' do you mean books? Like, I know that a ton of the original Tomb Kings fluff from their first army book wasn't included in the hardcover next version- And of course there's all the Black Library stuff, I suppose, but I thought that was almost all from the POV of Loyalists.
@ Anvildude: These days there are tons of supplementary material, both about the loyalists and the traitor legions. The BL publications would be an obvious place to start, but it has to be said that the books tend to vary in quality from excellent to pretty awful. I've learned to go with authors that will invariably deliver quality content (Dan Abnett, obviously, as well as Aaron Dembski-Bowden and, to a slightly lesser degree, Graham McNeill. Some of the stuff from Matthew Farrer is also excellent). Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords Trilogy is the obvious best practice for giving compelling characterisations for both a legion and its members without falling victim to some of the more hokey elements of the background.
I'll have to second Kepora on his jealousy Great IW killteam though, I really like the uniformity given by the chest, it makes them look more like an actually organized military force than a chaotic warband. I also really like the Apothecary's head
Though i'll have to say (not that you don't already know it, and not to be a ) that the former icon bearer doesn't fit very well in the unit...
Hello KrautScientist, brilliant stuff in there, just registered properly to dakka, but this thread and your inq28 stuff have been on my lurk list for a while.
Anyway, nice take on these Iron Warriors, good way to combine marine awesomeness and battlefield practicality. Can't wait to see the two new guys complete.
(And the answer is the very one i hoped for). Very nice conversion 
field them both!
) that the former icon bearer doesn't fit very well in the unit...