Been away from Dakka for a while. I came back recently, saw all the =I=munda stuff and got inspired.
I find I really like the more free-form and creative approach to 40K, going off the beaten path and claiming the entire 40K universe as your playground.
Now I just need to find some local players...

First off, a mood shot:

Inspired by Xanthos' excellent Voidborn conversion, and discovering I had all the needed bits on hand, I set out to build a small boarding party.
I haven't worked out too much of a backstory for them yet, I mostly see them as a civillian salvage crew. Pretty low key, they're more scavengers that pick the bones of derelict ships than actually capable of reclaiming the entire vessel.
Basically they're the vultures that pick over a the carcass of a vessel in the hopes of hitting it big before the Adeptus Mechanicus or Navy retrieval ships force them to scatter.
I've kept them fairly generic and devoid of markings, so they can fill a number of roles in either a campaign or some one off games (like I said, I haven't found other players yet, so I'm still somewhat without a clear purpose). They may eventually see use as either scavengers/fortune hunters, civillian or "lower deck" boarding parties, station security. I could even send them out to retrieve a runaway Gryx...

Here are clearer vid-capts of the unruly bunch:
Front:


And rear:

I've tried to give each of them a bit of character of their own, as well as a role within the group.
The leftmost one is an old hand at the salvage game. He projects a "seen it all" attitude, and seems quite at home in the dark, abandoned tunnels of an unknown spaceship. Often he is found humming some bawdy tune past the stump of his cigar. His autoshotgun is made from a lasgun stock, the front from an old plastic Necromunda shotgun and thinned down drum from the Guard grenade launcher. He is the squad support guy, the large ammo drum allowing him to lay down a fierce torrent of fire, if the situation requires.

Next is the flamer operator (never, ever enter an unknown spacecraft without a flamer, who knows what you might need to cleanse).
He is meant to be a more cautious man, you would be too with a canister of low-grade prometheum strapped to your back.... This is why he's the only one in the group to not have abandonded his stuffy, uncomfortable helmet, the rest ditched theirs as soon as they found breathable air inside the derelict.
The barrel of the flamer has been shortened, so it is easier to wield inside the cramped corridors of a space ship. His backpack is half of the stock flamer backpack, with his life support built from pieces of a meltagun and the barrel of a Kroot rifle. It looks a bit ramshackle and unreliable, another reason for him to act a bit worried all the time....

In the middle is the crewboss. A fierce and stern man, he carries a chainsword to open up doors, cargo containers and troublesome survivors/rival scavengers... His firearm is a shotcaster, a revolver made to fire shotgun shells. Amongst this salvage operation, such weapons are known as "thumpers" or "wristbreakers" for their vicious recoal. On his head is an upgraded comms set, it allows him not only to communicate with his salvage squad, but with the comms officer back on their ship as well.

Next is the pointman, a cautious and focussed individual. He carries a regular old pump-action boarding shotgun. Like the squad support gunner's auto-shotgun it is loaded with low velocity solid shot, big and heavy enough to hurt a living being, but not strong enough to accidentally punch the ship's hull and cause decompression.

The final member of the team is the entry specialist. Most of the space and weight of his backpack is claimed by the powerpacks needed to run his massive breaching saw (I intend to count it as an eviscerator). He carries a single-shot shotgun-pistol as a backup weapon. The filtration/re-oxygenation unit on top of his backpack is made from the centre of a meltagun.

The crew isn't complete yet, I've still to convert and paint a tech-servitor for them. He'll be used to hack open locks, loosen bolts and generally be a dogsbody and packmule.
He'll be done along with the rest of the servitors I have in stock.

I've had fun painting them, trying out a few new tricks (a different way of doing faces and using painting metal over a grey basecoat, for example) and generally deviating from my normal neat and "technical" painting style.
The latter shows the most on the ceramic armour plates.
A few more pictures are HERE.

In the end, I've had more fun converting and painting this group than I've had in some time. I'm still undecided where to go from here. Do I start on the servitors, do I paint up an Inquisitor or something else entirely? I don't know yet, and frankly, I kind of like this feeling of freedom... Now to just convert some more people locally to the glory of =I=Munda...

Bye, Modhail

Awesome conversions overall.

Two questions: What did you use as extra armor on your guys and how did you convert the shotguns?

Very nice set of guys. I see I'm not the only one inspired by Xanthos' Voidborn. Terrific paintjob on them, too. I'm interested in making some similar to this for Vets or Stormtroopers for my Guard army.

They look totally fantastic! the changes to their uniforms and the paint job have de-militarised them I think, and so they really do look like Space Hulk salvagers! They have heaps of character too!


You should start a Blog if you have more models planned c: , and also I'd love to see a battle report on that amazing terrain you have!!

Thanks!

Meanbob, the extra armour is just armour plates from the Kroot sprue, blended in with GS.
The shotguns came from the old (ancient?) plastic Necromunda figures, from back when they were still released in a boxset (Pre-Specialist Games).
The drum for the drumfed shotgun is made from a Cadian grenadelauncher's ammo drum, with about 3mm shaved off the thickness.

Bottle, I'm afraid the battlereport will be short and boring, seeing that this is all I've actually got finished:

This is brilliant - great group with nice character and fantastic terrain! Please let the mods move this to P&M blogs, because surely there's going to be more!

Awesome terrain, and I like the power cell backpack. I've never seen that done before, and it could be cool to use as a plasma gun backpack or something. Very unique looking guys, good job.

Fantastic! The terrain is exquisite: it's quite clear you've taken a lot of care and attention to detail on it. Are there plans for more, or is this a scenic base of sorts?

The models themselves are equally lovely: I particularly like the subdued hazard striping and the strong generic feel of the group – they could just as easily be civilian contractors as a military group; or a commercial raiding party as space pirates.

The sentinel driver heads are really characterful – if you wanted to expand the group, you might look for the old tank crew blister, or perhaps Obadiah Shaeffer from Forgeworld.

Great work!

Completely agree with Migusla.

That initial image is five shades of Win.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading all that and the miniatures are great. Rock on my convertin' brother.

(looks a second time, downloads images).. mmm.. just great.

Be great to have some synergy with a bunch of guys with similar approach to the Hobby of 40k.

~ Tael.

That looks very Space Hulk. In a good way.

I really like the extra armor on the Guardsmen. I think those conversions are excellent.

awsome please come again

Wow, Migsula, Apologist and Shas'El Tael, I've always admired the quality of your work. I consider your comments quite the compliment!

The terrain is actually the four first (and so far only) finished pieces of a set of Space Hulk terrain I started about two years ago. I haven't actively worked on it for over a year, though it never completely left my mind during that time.
In fact I've only just packed it all out again, a week or two ago, with the intention of continuing work on it.
You can see more of it here.
With the amount of detail and thought I put into each section, the going is slow, but rewarding. Once it is finished (hopefully before the release of a 4th edition Space Hulk ), I plan to use it whenever I can. That means not just Space Hulk, but small scale 40K, Necromunda and such as well. =I=munda is certainly a major influence in my resuming work on it, along with the current rumours of a re-release of Space Hulk.
Don't expect it be finished, or even major updates soon though... Like I said, the going is slow, but to me, the journey is just as important as the destination. That, and I tend to switch projects quite regularly.

Yeah, you're right Migsula, might as well make a blog out of it. <wanders off to find a mod>


(Edited, because apparently I can't type properly this evening....)

This is an incredible log Modhail!! I think that's reflected in the responses you've gotten, in particular from the greatest dakkaites. The theme and character of your scavengers is terrific. I really like that you made some nobodies (I mean that in a good way ), a bunch of guys just trying to get by, whose great dream is cleaning out an Adeptus Mechanicus ship! Very original and well put together!

Also, I have to say that your modeling and terrain is of superb quality. When I first looked at the hallway you made I thought it was one of the outpost pieces from Forgeworld with all that detail! So I'm giving you a big and hope you stay inspired to produce more greatness

Looks really great! I really like that terrain and the conversions you've done on those guys. Especially the chestplate things.

Loving these guys! I think it´s so cool that you´ve expanded on the voidsui theme, and the painting is top notch too.
I can certainly see the different characters as you describe them. This group is such a wonderful bit of 40K "Grimdark´ness", and I love that.

The flamer, as you say, is necessary for this type of group, the drumfed shotgun is ace, and I dig the sentinel pilot heads. They do look like inner helmets for voidsuits.

And the terrain....... Stunning!

Glad to have helped you get this going, this stuff rocks.

10/10

Wow...just wow! I really like the Eviscarator! Great job on those models!

I guess this is what Migsula meant by that the blogs should inspire people! Very impressive!

Malika demands tutorials!

I think that terrain looks even more impressive in the last picture! It's a labour of love and it really shows with all the detail you've packed into it! I can't wait to see more.

When Space Hulk comes out, you sir will be a Prince among men!

Well, Xanthos, thank you for thinking of the conversion in the first place!
It was certainly the spark that set off the fire, so to speak. Without it, these guys just wouldn't exist today.

The sentinel pilot heads were a lucky hit, really. The sprues were on top of the box of guardsmen I was going for, and my eye just happened to fall on them.
And yup, flamers are indeed a scavenger's best friend...


I had to go to the model shop this morning, to restock on some plastic strip. Once that was done I could finish the main structure for the walls on the second of 2 corridors, that I have tagged as Terminator starting points:

I still need to do the floor for it, and maybe add some extra greebles to it: The mandatory purity seals in random places, maybe a short demi-column at either end holding up a small effigy of a space marine, some pipes or grilles inside the "windows", etc. Once painted, they won't be actual gothic windows, you see, just solid metal plate. They're really decorative bracing instead of windowframes.

I also added the rivets to the first Terminator starting corridor:

It's now all done and ready for primer. In the background you can see a quick sketch of my plans for the floor in the second corridor.
Both these corridors I see as "mid-deck" corridors, not as austere, dank and messy as the lower decks, where the ratings and other scum reside, but not quite as garish and opulent as the "top deck" where the Captain and his staff tread either.
The ones I'm building are the decks where you would meet junior officers, Enginseers and Commissar Cadets, maybe the odd higher crewboss on an important errand.
(No, I'm not going to do any "top deck" corridors, my mind wouldn't survive building a Rococo palace like that...)

The rest of the corridors won't be quite as densely detailed as these are.

Wow...this is going to become cooler and cooler isn't it?

You should build a teleporter chamber or something. Perhaps try to get your hands on an old broken camera and use the big lens (wide thing, a model should bit on top) as the teleporter itself, add a small control console and stuff like that. Kind of like the teleporterroom from Star Trek, but then with gothic statues and such!

Wow man, this is just full of awesome and win!

How did you get the light effects on your shots? I have been playing around with "action shots" like that a bit, and you really have something great going on here!

Now... where is that subscribe button?

Having just finished browsing your 3D Space Hulk project, it is an impressive undertaking and I can see how it was easily put on hold due to constraints. But, it is indeed brilliant. Really like the idea of it. My mind is just bubbling with ideas myself now.

Blogs to inspire? I was certifiably catatonic this last 2 years with regard to modelling and converting. Until I came across this nest of Conversion fiends, talk about flicking a switch, its great!

I'll be honest Modhail, Xanthos.. I too have a couple of Scrappers' in the works now.. just..couldn't..resist..

EDIT - Just saw your update.. wow.. loving the new sections. And no.. I do not leave my ship without a Flamer..

It is funny you should mention bumping into Officers etc.. currently working up a Junior Fleet officer from parts, a step from making some Scrappers' to tangle with over derelict hulks.

~ Tael.

Wow, I don't know how I passed this up. I love your models, really ageless and sort of ambiguous in a way that would be perfect for any practical role in the game.

I also love how you were inspired by Xanthos, it just demonstrates the depth of ideas, and the festival of awesome that takes place in this forum.

Peace.

sA

There, I'm done building for today... I had the walkway for the second corridor finished, only to discover one critical measurement was off by 2mm... Doesn't seem like much, but that measurement is repeated 5 times, escalating the error. I've just finished ripping it all apart again, shaving the excess off of all the various parts and fitting it all together again. bleh. I did cut out the decorative trim that goes besides the walkway, but I need to rivet that all up before I mount it. I need daylight for that. Time to call it a day.

Whoops, I just noticed I overlooked some replies when I last posted...

Malika, the eviscerator is an Ork Chain-choppa, fixed onto guardsman grenade launcher arms. It's connected to his backpack (from a Sentinel Multilaser powerpack) by a greenstuff hose. You'll need to fill some gaps at the shoulders to make the arm with the front handle fit against the side of the choppa.
If you want a tutorial on the voidsuits, just have a peek in Xanthos's =I=munda topic. All I basically did was copy his voidborn conversion, but I omitted the extra plates on the shoulders and sculpted on steel toecaps instead of thicker soles on the feet.
If I ever decide to build another guy, I'll try to remember taking step by step pics.

I did think about building a "teleportarium", but I just can't seem to fit it right now. I'm planning to build the rooms so they actually fit their function in the various scenarios. Sadly this means there's no room left over to put a teleporter in. A shame, because I had some pretty nice ideas for it. But, if I ever finish the core set, and I still have the drive to add the Genestealer and Deathwing expansion, I will certainly put in a teleporter array!

Bottle, yeah, a 3D Space Hulk set has been a long term desire of mine. Eventually I decided to just go ahead and start on it, and to just see where I ended up. I think, that if I had fully thought it through beforehand and realised the sheer amount of time and work it will take, I would never had started. So, hurray for rash decisions!
Heh, a prince...Only if I actually manage to finish it by then. I started work on it two years ago, and those 4 sections are all that's finished...

Wehrkind, I have to admit that the lighting effects are just happy accidents of lighting and not the result of any skill of mine...
The "mood" pictures were taken in natural daylight, with the camera pointing towards the window. (A basic no-no in photography...) This meant that the shadows fell towards the camera, giving a sense of gloom. I couldn't be bothered to go get the tripod from the garage but took the pics camera in hand, so the depth of focus was slightly thrown off. This causes the near and far end of the corridor to be slightly blurred, enhancing the sense of depth. (If I took the picture with the exact same camera settings but on the tripod, the whole tunnel would most likely be in focus.) In the last picture, it was slightly cloudy, but still bright, causing the camera's colour filter to throw a blueish cast over the image. I've actually got 2 more pictures of the same scene, where the camera achieved perfect focus on the genestealers, and the flame counters respectively.
So the best tip I could give you photography wise is: alway take several pictures, and select the best one at your leisure.


Shas'El Tael, I know what you mean. The Space Hulk project had been dormant for over a year, and I had totally lost interest in 40K, gaming wise. While the rumours of a rerelease got me looking at 40K forums again, I hold the mad gang at Dakkadakka solely responsible for me actually getting excited about doing suff for 40K (setting) again!
So, thank you all, guys and gals!

This is some of the best "hulk" style scenery I have seen, really looking forwards to watching this develop as there is nothing better than nicely converted and painted models on great scenery!

Cheers,

Dante

Modhail I love your work so far! Those boys would make a fantastic VanSaar gang...I can't wait to see more support crew.

I didn't quite make the progress I had hoped for today. My wife accidentally smashed her little finger into a doorframe, and we feared she might have broken it. So we spent a nice afternoon at the First Aid station trying not to look at other people's injuries and leafing through crappy, ancient magazines...

But, I did get something finished, the flooring on the second "Gothic" corridor:


And a model's eye view (assuming the model is question is an Ogryn or similar...)


All it needs now is adding greebles and grimdark, in other words: random tubing, vent grilles, skulls and purity seals.
I'm still not sure if I want to add the demicolumns with statuettes at the ends or not...

I've also been giving some thought to where I want to go with the boarding party and =I=Munda in general.
Originally I just wanted to add a (tech)servitor to them, to serve as a pack mule and general labour and call it quits so I could start on a next warband.
But then I did the math and discovered that this groups was rather on the small side and might get shorthanded in the course of a campaign as a result.
I've checked my bits pile, and if I bitz-order a few more IG radiopacks, I could make 4 more voidsuits.
But I'm not entirely sure what to do with them? The current group seems, to my feeling, complete and nicely rounded out.
I could add a higher crewboss in a better quality and more ornate voidsuit, but I'm somewhat apprehensive that he would undercut the role and character of the current teamboss.
Besides I wouldn't think he's risk going outside until absolutely guaranteed that it's safe...
Maybe an (unwilling) techsavant, but I wonder how to bring the character across from inside a bulky vacsuit?
I've also been thinking about some guys with (shock?)towershields. They'd be a lot of weight to haul around, but als very usefull inside a Hulk: Use them to barricade doors/corridors, keep the degenerate scum inside the hulk at bay, in an emergency you could use them to plug a gap... The 3x5' Swiss army knife of spaceship scavengers.
Plenty of ideas, and plenty of time to mill them over, as I won't be able to order the needed bits for about a month anyway.

Which brings me to the next issue: once they're finished, what to do with them?
Well, play in an =I=Munda campaign ofcourse! Which means creating enthousiasm and finding/pressganging other players... There isn't really a big modelling/converting scene locally, so, in order to find enough players I'll most likely end up making a few extra "loaner" warbands in addition to the NPC groups. This shouldn't be too much of a problem, I've got almost all of the Witchhunter and Daemonhunter character and retinue figures, so I'll just paint some of those up. (been looking for an excuse to put them on the painting qeue anyway)
Maybe also a priest and SOB bodyguard, or a small Ad.Mech. contingent (a techpriest with a gaggle of servitors and a few skitarii, most likely).
And Migsula's and Tael's blogs have got me itching to try some true scale marines. I'm just a bit unsure about their powerlevel, but on the other hand, they're will be just 3 or 4 of them at most... And they'll have problems of their own.
I don't know if other =I=Mundaists have run into the problem of player recruitment? If so, got any tips to share?

And the first seeds of a campaign idea are germinating... I'm keeping it close to my chest, in case any potential players start reading here. It's basically the result of several projects slotting together, including the Space Hulk terrain. All I'm willing to say is that it will most likely involve a Rogue Trader fleet returning from wildspace, an alien plague and several parties interested in retreiving "heirlooms"...
But, being dependant on the Space Hulk terrain set means I have to choose: postpone starting the campaign for (many) months, or accept playing on unfinished terrain. Hmmm, decisions...

Well, if it wasn´t for the fact that Holland <-> Denmark is mighty far to travel for gaming, I´d be so much up for a cross country =I=Munda game.

Possibly at some point we can have enough interested gamers that we could do a huge online scenario, with lots of gaming groups.

Till then, try your nearest gaming store, that´s where I´ve found some willing players after moving to Denmark.
And be prepared to accept that not everyone wants to put the same high amount of detail work into their models.

Your campaign concept sounds good, and the idea of modeling up extra groups is good too. Specially if the other gamers aren´t that into the modeling aspect of this.

That's a seriously detailed piece of scenery as it is Modhail, ..then your list of additions to round it out just makes me chuckle.. details details.. never enough

I've been considering similar issues to yourself with regard =I=Mundites in my area, ..but I'm happy to build these models and create thematic bands of profiteers etc I have also just ordered in some parts to not only make a sizeable Outfit, but also.. bring in the Imperial Navy.

"Jigs up lads, Navy's here!"

I do like the idea of a blast shield,.. my general aim is to make a cargo hauling team and the protection team. If a patrol picket wanders by, its bug out time 'Firefly' style.

Enjoying the direction here in your project, look forward to next month indeed!

~ Tael.

Damn I should really stop reading you guys' threads, they keep making me wanna put a side my army I working on to make some my own group. I love the models and the fact that these games are much more story driven than normal games.

Shas'El Tael wrote:That's a seriously detailed piece of scenery as it is Modhail, ..then your list of additions to round it out just makes me chuckle.. details details.. never enough

Nope, never enough... Makes me wonder why it's taking me so long to build it all though... It's very detailed as it is, but it's still very regular and "sterile", I want to add some irregular touches and signs of inhabitation, breathe some "life" into it.

Shas'El Tael wrote:..but I'm happy to build these models and create thematic bands of profiteers etc I have also just ordered in some parts to not only make a sizeable Outfit, but also.. bring in the Imperial Navy.

"Jigs up lads, Navy's here!"

I do like the idea of a blast shield,.. my general aim is to make a cargo hauling team and the protection team. If a patrol picket wanders by, its bug out time 'Firefly' style.

Funny you should mention Firefly, I had the pilot episode running through my mind all the time I was building and painting my salvage crew...
Your blog has certainly given me ideas for further crew members. I like the notion of a separate cargo team and protection team.
And Navy.... I really should see about making some of those too..

Edit: Had to spend some time today in supplication of some ovipositing rodent... But I did get the extra details for the corridor finished:

One side,

And the other side...
(proper, unfuzzy, images will follow after painting)

I should be able to get them primered after dinner, which means painting tommorrow! (Unless the aforementioned rodent isn't sufficiently appeased, and more of his brightly coloured, unborn offspring need to be sought out...)

And Brother Stynier: Go on, give in, you know you want to....

Great wall sections, they are amazing. I have similar problems Ive been trying to convince my friends to try it but they are wishy washy one only will play if he can only use his marines he has built from his dark angel army... and the other has no interest in the modelling side really.
For a tech savant you could either do like a floating capsule on a tau drone cariage with the ancient admech inside and a bunch of tendrils or dare I say some small droids? Or you could add a rogue trader in the mix. He wouldn't be a team kinda guy and would have a fancy pants suit.
You should check out this force he's doing a deathwing force for space hulk boarding and built him self a squad of ravenwing bikes to cut open doors and haul stuff http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=161381

Heya Modhail!

I see you're also from the Netherlands, where do you live? I might be interested to join your gaming group.
I've always been a big fan of your Spacehulk terrain (I've seen it on GWhobby.net IIRC) and playing on it would be even better!

Ik ben zelf ook bezig met een =I=munda warband, ik heb zojuist een topic gestart met wat WIP's van what ik nu heb.


Cheers!

This stuff is amazing I like the short piece about each figure pure genius. For the tech-savant guy why not try to use the Empire Wizard Sprue and make a void-suit based on that. I'll also second the Rogue Trader suggestion.

Will you be playing with this warband or is it only modelling purposes? If it's a combination of the two, what about NPC characters? You know...weird creatures living in the ship (Genestealers, but also other stuff), Tech Priests, corpses, technicians and so on.

Oh yeah, awesome to see more Dutchies here by the way! (just because I'm in Peru shouldn't mean that my flag should be Peruvian)

Hi Pfreck,
I'm from Tilburg myself. Our gaming group isn't exactly active though. It's really just 2 and a half guys who meet once in a while and play whatever they feel like at the time. Sometimes it's something from GW... I just like spending my spare time building crazy stuff in the hopes of actually getting to use it one day...

Llamahead, I've got some ideas for a tech-savant. Basically I'd prefer to keep everyone in the group in a similar style of voidsuit, and I kind of like the idea of some wizened old guy virtually drowning in a bulky, heavy suit... I'm just waiting on the needed bits to actually make him.
I'm not going to do a Rogue Trader, they're too sophisticated and classy to be seen anywhere near this bunch of lowlife scum. But I do have an idea for a nice crewboss... Once again, waiting on bits.

I did get something done today:

I finished converting 1-G0R, the salvage crew's support servitor.
Here he is, wielding his trusty plasma-cutter:


His cutter is a low-grade model, a Rhyza-built Class IV "Gooseneck" It's big, heavy and uncomfortable to use, because of it's substandard heat containment. As a result it's preferrably mounted on a servitor, who aren't bothered by the scalding head coming off the cutting head and containment coils. The main reason the Class IV "Gooseneck" still sees widespread use is it's low price and ease of maintenance. It's not a delicate instrument, and unsuited to welding or other construction work, so one would usually see it in the hands of low-budged salvage and wrecking crews...

Oh, and I built a weapon-servitor as well, but he's not for the salvage crew. He's the start of a small gaggle of servitors, which will see use in either a Mechanicus warband or as general hazard to be encounterd on Space Hulks or other derelict ships:


Because I'm not exactly drowning in Servitor models, and they are now appartently Direct Only I wanted to have some flexibility, and decided to magnetize the little guy:

In front of him are both his plasma-cutter and his spare arm with cargo-clamp. I may even build a more agressive arm for him, so he has the option of tagging along with the break & entry team.

Oh, and I built a weapon-servitor as well, but he's not for the salvage crew. He's the start of a small gaggle of servitors, which will see use in either a Mechanicus warband or as general hazard to be encounterd on Space Hulks or other derelict ships:

Wow... these guys have so much character! Thanks for sharing and looking forward to seeing more!

@ modhail: how do you get a weapon like the heavy bolter, or the autocannon to stay stable using a single magnet? When I've tried that, they tend to roll forward or backward.

Great work. Now I want to create my own boarding party...

Hey Malika, just missed your post as I was typing...
Gaming or Modelling? Half and half really, I started the conversions on the spur of the moment. But I'm also trying to get some friends to get in on the fun (contacted a few of them by email, got one whole response so far) and start an =I=Munda campaign.
But if that falls through, they'll still get used for skirmish games set inside my space hulk set, once finished. When I started building the hulk scenery, I also gave some thought to ways of getting the most use out of it, outside of just playing just the Space Hulk rules. Originally I was thinking towards Necromunda, Inquisitor or themed Killteam games. Then =I=Munda came along, and it just fits the bill perfectly!
There's actually a lot of ideas I'd had floating around in my head for a looong time, suddenly becoming connected with =I=munda as the binding agent.

NPC's won't be too much of a problem, the 3D boardpieces will be part of a full Space Hulk game set, so I'll have plenty of Genestealers. Most likely I'll build Genestealer Hybrids as well.
In addition I've actually already got several pages of notes for Space Hulk based Killteams assuming several types of inhabitants with increasingly tough opponents the deeper you go into the Hulk.
These consist of:
-Genestealer infested Hulks (traditional Space Hulk adversaries),
-Ork infested Hulks (toxic spores, squigs, grots, boys, etc.),
-Chaos infested Hulks (imagine rounding a corner and standing face to face with a Chaos Terminator!) and
-"Empty" hulks (where you could encounter mutant rats, feral crewmen, automated defenses and malfunctioning servitors and such. Just because it's empty doesn't mean it's safe! Suddenly descending blastdoors also appear to cause some trouble )

And I'm also plotting and gathering the models for two or three other warbands, tied in to the idea for a =I=Munda campaign I'm developing. (As described in an earlier post)

Cruentus: The heavy stubber and grenade launcher balance just fine on their own, due to their limited weight. I only had problems with the Heavy Bolter, but that was quickly fixed with a second pair of magnets between the backpack and the ammo feed. The one in the backpack should be visible in the pic?

Oh that sounds great! By the way, if you're going to include (Chaos) Space Marines...do make them true scale! I mean, you're already putting so much work/thought in your work that the smaller space marines would be a let down.

I'm planning on working on a Word Bearer squad with a whole group of cultists, maybe we should try out a =I=munda campaign like that one day! Depends when Im back in Holland and all that of course!

Definitely tuned into the same frequency Modhail, I intend to use the same Servitor as they are great models.. surprised to hear they are now Direct Mail only?? What the..?

I like your take on a 'budget' plasma cutter, the cargo hand is a great addition too. I'm going to have only hauler types for Servitors, I want to bring out emotion through a humanoid security guy then a stand and fire servitor.

It's fun looking at your scratchbuilding ways within these models too!

Similarly, your thoughts on a Warhammer Quest style Boarding action follow similar vein to mine. Random roll for type of "Infestation" ..the salvage team see the 'signs' for such things.. then off you go, rolling against a specific encounter/generator table.. such as blastdoors..

I do like this impetus for varying the range of NPCs too.

Looking forward to more

~ Tael.

Malika, I'm actually taking a bit of a compromise on that point: The Terminators I'll be using for Space Hulk won't be true-scaled, as I'll need to them to fit with a regular 40K army and I don't intend to let Terminator armour anywhere near my =I=Munda! (Except maybe for a big scary NPC)
I do intend to build both a small (3-4guys) loyalist and chaos (Word Bearers as well) Power armoured warband, those will be true scale.

Shas'El Tael: They seem to be in Europe, at least that's what the store guy told me when I tried to get some more. It may, just may, be different elsewhere in the world.
That's why I'm building each servitor to fill as many roles as possible at the moment, I've got 2 of each type (both old style servies, 2 gunservitors and 2 techies) and I want them to stretch as far as possible.

Once everything is finished I intend to take the Warhammer Quest analogy to it's logical extreme: I want to take top down photo's of each corridor section, and make some WHQ-style exploration cards, with flavour text, maybe some special rules, etc. Build some random encounter tables. Then, when we play, the GM can just pull a card, find the corresponding board piece and the players can properly explore...
In a campaign, I could even use the exploration card mechanic to give careful players an advantage: If they perform proper sub-surface scans in the preparation/income phase they could get a bonus to determining beforehand what kind of Hulk they're facing (I'm not in favour of automatically revealing this, I prefer the suspense of not knowing). They might even get to place part of the map in advance. Ofcourse, too agressive active scans might alert the inhabitants to your presence...
Hmmm, Space Hulk Quest....

Me too, the going's slow, but at least I'm going again. Thanks to you lot here!

Shas'El Tael: They seem to be in Europe...

Hmm okay, I'm going to look into it tomorrow.

Once everything is finished I intend to take the Warhammer Quest analogy to it's logical extreme:..Hmmm, Space Hulk Quest...

Well.. get off my radio channel.. I was eluding to this but didn't figure you would bite, I like your approach...though I do not approve any title similar too "Space Quest IX - Salvage the Edge" (see if anyone gets that reference....)

Hmm, I'll PM you some ideas I've been mulling over, in the meantime.. more minis!

~ Tael.

Space Hulk Quest sounds interesting. If I recall correctly the original Space Hulk game had quite easy rules. Will you be including Necromunda/Mordheim elements in the gameplay as well?

Malika, I'm actually taking a bit of a compromise on that point: The Terminators I'll be using for Space Hulk won't be true-scaled, as I'll need to them to fit with a regular 40K army and I don't intend to let Terminator armour anywhere near my =I=Munda! (Except maybe for a big scary NPC)
I do intend to build both a small (3-4guys) loyalist and chaos (Word Bearers as well) Power armoured warband, those will be true scale.

Hmm, well if you are going to include a big scary NPC, do make that one true scale, not actually having Terminator units in =I=munda/Space Hulk Quest (Warhammer Hulk?)

I've been toying with some ideas, partly inspired by the more recent blog of Migsula and Apologist's pre-Heresy ultramarines. At the moment I'm very much intrigued by the potential of pre-Heresy =I=munda games but with the fluffy details of Apologist's material. Might be something for a later date though.

If Space Marines would be included in this (maybe even as main characters) it could be considered to be some "big scale" version, kind of like what Apocalypse is to 40k. Now I don't mean entire armies and Titans with Necromunda rules, but a unit of Space Marines that function as an entire army of their own.

Kind of (un)related to this was another concept I hope to work on when I'm back home: the Vindication Wars. It's basically the conflict between the various Officio Assessinorum agents in the Imperial Palace. Imagine playing a game of 40k apocalypse with only one model on each side. These guys would move really fast, use all sorts of deadly wargear, basically blasting away all the terrain there is. It would be very fast paced and very destructive. That's kind of how I would imagine an =I=munda game between two marine units would work.

The idea of Word Bearers' boarding actions on Ultramarines' ships during the Battle of Calth kind of comes to mind here for this sort of thing!

The vindication wars is an absolutely awesome idea! I'd like to do it pretty sneaky and stabby. Make the assassins stalk eachother around inside the palace. Add a lot of civilians such as adeptus ministorum clerks and palace guards that the assassins needs to avoid being seen by while doing their dirty bussiness. The assassins can try to kill them off, but their opponents will gain "indiscretion points" tha can be used to fuel special maneuvers and call the alarm on the assassins. I need to write down a bunch of rules right away.

Well, the Vindication Wars weren't that sneaky, imagine some figures with superpowers and high tech gear blasting each other and everything around them and you get an idea of how it was.

Sorry for going off topic here!

One little thingie to get back on topic. Flame markers, I've seen that you're using the plastic ones. While effective I don't think they do justice to your hard work. Have you considered making/painting a few of your own that look more convincing?

@Malika: Don't worry, if I want to use Terminator units in the Hulk terrain, I'll just play Space Hulk or Kill team. They're made for that kind of stuff...
I'm still on the fence wether or not I want Space Marines in my =I=munda.
If I do include them it will either be a lone individual, or a small Bloodquest style band: a few (less than a combat squad's worth) marines, sent on a quest and left to fend for themselves, without any support from the larger Chapter. Once they suffer a casualty or 2 they'll be forced to rely on local warriors...

Concerning the flame markers, they'll have to do for now (these were actually just a test order, to see how they were sizewise: would I be able to pick them up out of the corridors, and would 2 fit on a square alongside a genestealer in "I can fly" pose? Yes on both counts).
For the time being my focus is entirely on finishing the terrain (and miniatures) and getting a serviceable set of counters to play Space Hulk with. That task is big enough as it is, no need to build an even bigger mountain for myself to climb right now by adding scratchbuilt tokens as well. (I'm guessing it will take me another year to finish it all, at least, and only IF I can keep up my current rate of work, which means dedicating all my hobby time to it.),
Maybe in the future, once the terrain and miniatures are finished and I've had a couple of months to bask in that achievement, that I will turn my attention to prettying up the counters.


@Malika & Mellon: I like your ideas on the (pre-)heresy and Vindication Wars games! They seem to straddle the grey area between =I=Munda, Killteam and small scale 2nd ed. 40K games, but are still very much story-games instead of wargames. Definitely food for thought. Maybe somthing to explore further in the Skirmish Games forum?


@Tael: I can't, the frequency dial seems to be stuck....
I have no idea about the reference, but don't worry, that's nowhere near what I had in mind! "=I=Munda Salvage: All your wrecks are belong to us" has also been rejected.

No time for mini's right now, I'm painting those two corridors! Tommorrow is the last day of my one week off, so hopefully I'll get them finished tomorrow. Because after that my production rate will need to slow down again (can't model or paint at work.... Boss gets irate.)

I've hit a bit of a snag at the moment on on the painting: I've finished the steel base colour for both corridors and have just started on the brass and gold bits.
But now I'm uncertain if I want to leave the decorative trim on the edge of the arches of the newest "gothic" corridor in steel, or wether to paint it brass.
On the one hand the walls do need a bit of extra colour. But on the other hand I really, really like the "rythm and texture" they have now, with the "windows" being all steel.
Maybe I should do the "greek temple"-style trim on the top of the corridor in brass instead? Help a man decide!
Below is a picture, so you can see what I'm talking about. (For reference: the trim on the floor will be a medium brass colour, the winged skulls on the walls a brass/gold, the trim of the walkway will most likely get a subdued yellow-black hazard striping.)

Here's an idea, I don't know if it's possible but maybe. How about casting certain parts of your terrain. This way you would need to reconstruct each corridor. You basically have some sort of "basic frame" and than add little details to make them unique, but the basics stay the same. Might come in handy if you need more corridors and halls.

Would also save you a lot of work I think.

(I'm not suggesting you should make casts of GW's IP though, just in case you were wondering)

That's a coincidence, just yesterday a friend reminded me that he has access to a CnC router and offered to cut repeat items, like those arches.
I'm of two minds about using "standard"/prefab components really... On the one hand I would welcome the extra construction speed.
On the other hand.. When I set out to build the space hulk terrain, I wanted every piece to be unique, to have it's own "identity" as it were.
I find it hard to articulate, but I feel that every sections needs to "be a character", evoke it's own mood, and tell a "story"/come alive as it were.
Somewhere along the line, my perception of this project has changed, maybe because of the amount of work, time and (creative) energy I have and will put into it, it no longer feels as just a "terrain project".
I feel it has become more about fulfilling a creative urge and (as tacky as it sounds) realising a vision. Having and taking the freedom to explore what I think the interior of a Space Hulk/40K spaceships could/should look like.
I don't know, I guess it's akin to a discussion I remember reading here, about blurring the line between miniatures and art.
I'm having some difficulty reconciling that with the use of standardised components. If I didn't I'd probably just have uses Necromunda Bulkheads and CoD sprues for the walls and floors. Quicker, simpler (maybe even cheaper, in the end), but less unique and it would definately not give the sense of a "living" piece of 40K universe that I'm aiming for. I don't just want to build terrain with this Hulk, I want to evoke a feeling of "realness". Try to, in a limited way, transport people into a part of a living universe, through what I create, immerse them.

I think there is also a craftmanship thing at play here, seeing how the amount of work is in no relation to the intended purpose, when you consider the availabilty of prefabricated parts/terrain systems.
Perhaps I'll eventually accept the practicality of using "prefab" for limited, recurring, items like cogitator alcoves or support struts and the bare frames to build doors around. But I'll still craft the masters myself.

Hmmm, a simple question seems to have triggered a lot of thought....
I originally just logged on to show progress.

The 2 "Terminator" corridors are finished:


Some detail shots, hidden in links:
"Cathedral" corridor, side 1
"Cathedral" corridor, side 2
"Cathedral" corridor, floor
Detail shot of the "Ob-servitor" skull, I had originally scratchbuilt one of my own, but when cutting a part to size, it jumped off the table and was eaten by the "carpet gremlins". Spent an hour looking for it, but couldn't find it.

"Gothtech" corridor, side 1
"Gothtech" corridor, side 2
"Gothtech" corridor, floor

And a little joke: See-through basing?


Finally, an overview of all finished pieces so far:

Tilburg he? Misschien moet ik toch maar eens langs komen met wat biertjes en =I=munda ideetjes! Je had nog tegenstanders nodig toch?

As for the casting of components, I meant it as a means of speeding up your "production". However, I agree that the "art" gets lost. If so, perhaps only cast the basic frame (lets say the gothic shaped arches and such) and then add the details (the artistic side) to it. This way you would create very unique pieces of terrain/art without it being standardised, but at the same time keep the uniform look it should have.

By the way, how well do 40mm round bases fit through your tunnels?

I love the two way inspiration and plasma cutting action of this blog Keep it up lads.

One word - Fantastic.

Love the quality of the sections you have made so far, it was always a dream of mine to have my own 3d space hulk board....one day, one day!

Cheers,

Dante

Malika, ik geef wel een seintje als we van start gaan. (Kan alleen nog wel een paar maanden duren...)

Yeah, I understand what you mean, It's just that my butt has been on the fence about this for so long, it may have gotten stuck...
Problem is, I'm not really planning much of these corridors in advance, so I don't know how often I'll use the arches. All I have set is stone is the amount of corridor sections, and where I need to put rails to slot doors in. Basically I just tackle each corridor section separately and see where the muse takes me. I did somewhat intend for these to corridors to be differing in style from the rest of the Hulk so they can be used as Terminator entry areas. But then again, I may just change my mind some months from know, and make Boarding Torpedoes as entry corridors instead.
Thank you for your input though, it's giving me plenty to chew on. Which means the final "product" will only get better.

Oh, and 40mm bases fit just fine... Unless your name is Ghazghkull, ofcourse.

Migsula: Me too! It's wonderfull to see the ideas bouncing back and forth. I just hope my bits arrive soon, so I can realise the ideas Tael triggered with his latest work on his salvage crew. (I should really dedicate a corridor to Adept Baracus, patron saint of welding tools...)
It's just too bad my weeks holiday is over, it means my rate of building stuff will slow down again... Can't lock myself in the hobby room all day anymore.

Dante: Thanks!
If you plan well, it is actually fairly achievable. Unless you go crazy on the detailing... (Who, me?)

Malika, ik geef wel een seintje als we van start gaan. (Kan alleen nog wel een paar maanden duren...)

Maak je geen zorgen, ik ben pas eind april in Nederland en moet dan langzaam beginnen mn Word Bearers op te bouwen. Ben van plan vijf true scales te maken en een grote groep cultists (cannon fodder), maar die cultists zullen lang op zich laten wachten (wacht totdat Troll Forged Miniatures ze maakt), dus misschien worden het vijf Word Bearers and wat Dark Mechanicus dingetjes. We zien wel... Kan misschien een idee worden om alle gangs te laten jagen op die vijf Marines. Maar ok, dat gaat nog wel een tijdje duren, moet ook nog mn bachelorthesis schrijven, voorbereiden voor een optreden (met mn band) in juni en misschien verhuizen. Dus ja...we nemen onze tijd!

Yeah, I understand what you mean, It's just that my butt has been on the fence about this for so long, it may have gotten stuck...
Problem is, I'm not really planning much of these corridors in advance, so I don't know how often I'll use the arches. All I have set is stone is the amount of corridor sections, and where I need to put rails to slot doors in. Basically I just tackle each corridor section separately and see where the muse takes me. I did somewhat intend for these to corridors to be differing in style from the rest of the Hulk so they can be used as Terminator entry areas. But then again, I may just change my mind some months from know, and make Boarding Torpedoes as entry corridors instead.
Thank you for your input though, it's giving me plenty to chew on. Which means the final "product" will only get better.

Try to get your hands on the old Space Hulk computer game perhaps? As for boarding torpedoes, the idea of having hallways/corridors/etc with a big torpedo or drop pod penetrating it is just too cool! I've been toying with the idea of creating some weird droppod thing from a beercan. Hmm...might be a funny boarding torpedo. The idea of fusing my Word Bearers plans with =I=munda and boarding actions is just too cool...hmm... I supposed we couldn't make the corridors count as the insides of an Ultramarines ship can we? (not saying you should change it)

Oh, and 40mm bases fit just fine... Unless your name is Ghazghkull, ofcourse.

True scale marines should do just fine then!

By the way, I guess you've already seen these films, but perhaps they will give you some cool ideas:
-Alien (the very first...duh!)
-Aliens (Cameron really got the vibe right)
-Sunshine
-Event Horizon
-Das Boot

Now that's an update, those new sections are grand. The visual effect of the base thing was a laugh

I was digging through some archive CDs the other night looking for further inspiration on other projects and uncovered a whole host of imagery. Some related closely to your future ideas and concepts.. here you are Modhail :

Space Hulk corridors and Genestealer broods.. oh my!







Hope they are useful to some extent, I also reread the section on Rogue Traders in well..Rogue Trader Rulebook, it is an interesting reread and fount for ideas.

~ Tael.

YOUR STUFFS AWESOME!!! great job keep up dateing with pics it def inspires me to do something like what your doing! great stuff!!!!

Really first class scenery especially, that along with those classic illustrations really brought back some Space Hulk memories!

I also love the way the bases on the figures fit so well with the terrain.

It's amazing how such a simple and subtle conversion on these troopers really brings so much depth and character to the models. They really look great and very distinctly non IG. That helmet is also Rogue Trader-tastic.

And those mood photos! Brilliant I thought I was viewing it direct through a battleship vid screen! Fantastic work.

Love those old Space Hulk images, still have my copy of the original rulebook handy and pour over it regularly.

Looking forward to more of this.

Cheers,

Dante

Malika, ik verwacht toch niet eerder dan in/rond de herfst te kunnen beginnen.

Hmmm, I believe I still have the old SH game lying around somewhere.
Beercan? Why do I fear an assault from the Adeptus Inebriatus?
I've already got plans for the coming =I=munda campaign. But for the future,the Word Bearers have potential as adversaries: Players could start, what seems to be, a simple investigation into a cult that strays for the true path of the prescribed Imperial Cult. But the deeper they dig, the more dire the heresies. Finally, at the assault of the cult's main chapel, the true enemy reveals myself!

Sunshine? Never heard of that one. Have to look into that one.

Tael, I believe I have those pictures buried in my reference pile as well, but nice to see them again! I love how the middle one shows just how agile Terminators can really be.
And the good old Rogue Trader book is indeed a great source of inspiration. Don't you just love the plot generator?

Dante, Do you have the 1st or 2nd ed rulebook?
I feel, that while the 2nd ed book's production is more polished and "slick", the artwork in the first edition (and it's expansions) is just so much more evocative.

1st and 2nd, gotta agree, both are great but the first just has a bit of an edge about it.

The original artwork tends to be some of the most evocative in 40k I feel, grungy.. detailed.. just..various.

Talking book artwork, I just happened to come across Fantasy Flights Heresy Roleplay series for 40k. They have now released a Rogue Trader supplement, which talks all about those lads, their retinues, foes and ships.. with artwork.

I think I just found my new coffee table book purchase. Thought I would give you heads up on that too for some inspiration

A few parts arrived today, so I'll be getting stuck into 'replying' to your modelling extravaganza very soon

~ Tael.

Sorry if this was already brought up but I am at work and too mentally drained to do much other than look at the pretty pictures.
Have you thought about casting these parts in resin? You might be able to save yourself a LOT of time by making 3-4 wall sections and casting them over and over again rather than making all the exquisite detailing by hand every time.

That and I would like to buy about 30 kilo’s of the walls if you do decide to cast them

Its looking fantastic I wish there were guy in my area that could commit to something like this. All else said all your conversions are very inspiring.

Shas'El Tael wrote:Talking book artwork, I just happened to come across Fantasy Flights Heresy Roleplay series for 40k. They have now released a Rogue Trader supplement, which talks all about those lads, their retinues, foes and ships.. with artwork.

I think I just found my new coffee table book purchase. Thought I would give you heads up on that too for some inspiration

A few parts arrived today, so I'll be getting stuck into 'replying' to your modelling extravaganza very soon

~ Tael.

I gave Dark Heresy a pass when it was first released, because they announced the closing of Black Industries simultaneously. With every new book FFG releases, I feel my resolve weaking... But knowing the completist in me, I can't buy just the one book...

Great! Had an envelope with some parts fall on the doormat here too. I look forward to continuing the "conversation". (Got some plans for the layman Tech-adept/savant, and I need to adress my lack of torch and crowbar.)
Because of your earlier comment about Serenity, I dug out my Firefly DVD's again. They're just chock full of inspiration. I'm trying to make a consious effort to look past the action and at the sets in the background. They got some lovely walls and corridors in there...

Wehrkind wrote:Sorry if this was already brought up but I am at work and too mentally drained to do much other than look at the pretty pictures.
Have you thought about casting these parts in resin? You might be able to save yourself a LOT of time by making 3-4 wall sections and casting them over and over again rather than making all the exquisite detailing by hand every time.

That and I would like to buy about 30 kilo’s of the walls if you do decide to cast them

Braindrain at work? Gee, now there is a familiar problem...
I prefer to build all sections by hand, and make each one unique, as well as more fun to build (at the cost of time, a lot of time). I may, just may cast a few recurring and labour-intensive bits, like cogitator consoles in the future. I'm still pondering this issue.

30 kilo's of walls? That's quite a bucket of cash you're talking about. There's a man in Germany that has gone that route (http://spacehulk.beckerf.de/html/3d-spacehulk.html, and I recall him mentioning the cost somewhere. You could buy a small car for that price... And it's still a mindbreaking amount of work.

Shas'El Tael wrote:
Talking book artwork, I just happened to come across Fantasy Flights Heresy Roleplay series for 40k. They have now released a Rogue Trader supplement, which talks all about those lads, their retinues, foes and ships.. with artwork.

Sorry to hijack the thread. Have FFG already released the RT supplement? I thought it was sceduled for late this summer, and I can't find any mention of it on FFGs homepage.

According to their website, it's still in development, to be expected in august this year.

Malika, ik verwacht toch niet eerder dan in/rond de herfst te kunnen beginnen.

Oh gelukkig! Dan kan ik in de vakantie eraan werken!

Beercan? Why do I fear an assault from the Adeptus Inebriatus?

hehehe, or any large can shaped object, I like the idea of a more round shaped Drop Pod, maybe some sort of "local design" used by the pre-Heresy Word Bearers.

I've already got plans for the coming =I=munda campaign. But for the future,the Word Bearers have potential as adversaries: Players could start, what seems to be, a simple investigation into a cult that strays for the true path of the prescribed Imperial Cult. But the deeper they dig, the more dire the heresies. Finally, at the assault of the cult's main chapel, the true enemy reveals myself!

Might be a cool idea! Perhaps it could be combined with Space Hulk somehow?

Sunshine? Never heard of that one. Have to look into that one.

Oh you should, it's really good!

By the way, check your PM!

By the way, I totally forgot to show you guys this. This might be a cool source of inspiration for those who want to do spaceship related stuff. Check out this little thing over at the Anargo Sector Project LINK

The idea is to create a pre-Imperial ship in full detail, this includes detailed description of all aspects of the ship, artwork, RPG/wargame stats, etc etc etc.

CELS has been working on pictures for quite some time now, look at these for example. But most fitting for this thread are the Interior pics.

By the way, here is a preview video of the ship!

@that video, from 0:42-0:47
Do they have a TR0N Light Cycle onboard the ship!? 0:
The video is pretty neat though! :]

Modhail, we need an update with pictures! D:
I think you should book more holiday off work to carry on making corridors ;D

+++ end transmission +++

Hehe, the bike is a so called Panthera-class Motorcycle, you can check more ground vehicles from the Anargo Sector Project over here.

That level of realisation always impresses me, developing such effort for in some cases, a one off event. However I admire Modhail's vision to a larger degree, due to the inherent desire to produce something that can be utilised multiple times. Nonetheless, those links are a great resource Malika.

In my mind, for some inspiring work, there usually has to be a combination of several factors;

The ability to conceptualise, execute and maintain a vision. It's quite multi-disciplinary in it's nature, so my hat off to those like Modhail who stay the course on such large projects. The sheer gravitas of these projects just resonate inspiration among those who enjoy the value inherent in the work.

Like a plant receiving water from a laden cloud, my recent conversions have grown from the storm of inspiration and combined vision that is =I=Munda and the core modellers within it.

Even when painting my scavenger crew, I couldn't break from Modhail's scheme, because it had such a weight of concept behind it, to diverge would seem.. inappropriate. As if I'm trying to dilute an idea and claim it as my own, ..if you follow?

Either way, enjoying the Boarding Party and all the models that will come out of it. (Tips fictional hat..)

~ Tael.

Malika:
Nice videa, thought the image quality could be a bit better. The first 20 seconds certainly got my brain bubbling with ideas...
Those images are excellent, I've got them saved to my "Space Hulk Inspiration" folder...
Do I detect a hint of "Anphelion" in the design of the corridors?
Oohhh, and ceilings... That's my one big regret for this project: I can't do ceilings... They wouldn't be practial, wouldn't see use, and needlessly add to an already daunting workload. But I would so love to make some proper "gothic" corridors with vaulted ceilings... But, then miniatures wouldn't fit inside.
Maybe, just very, very maybe, when this is all finished, I might make one or 2 separate ceilings, especially for taking pictures inside the corridors.
I must say I'm impressed with the amount of thought and effort everyone at the Anargo Sector project is putting into it. Quite a task, fleshing out an entire sector.

Tael: Thank you for your thoughts, and the compliment. It means a lot to me, coming from someone I consider an inspiration.
I'm not so sure if I can be considered to be "staying the course" at this point already, though. After all, what I've got completed is, maybe at most, 10% of the total task at hand.
And that's already taken me 2 years, including a 1 year hiatus, during which I just couldn't bring myself to actively work on it. Then again, once I pass the 50% mark, it will (hopefully) all feel like going down the slope instead of going up it.
I understand what you are saying about the sense of gravitas. It's something I experience when working on the Space Hulk as well.
Because I am aware just how big a project (in both scale and amount of work) it is, I experience it as hobbywise "magna opus" of sorts.
I know that I, wether I finish it or not, will likely never make something with this level of impact ever again. I guess that is why I'm going to the lengths I'm going to, by handcrafting each corridor as a unique piece: I am aware that I need to get everything right, there's no going back, no second chances. No shortcuts "because next time, I'll get it right", this is it. I guess that the, almost reverential, attitude this causes in me, filters through somehow and is picked up on by others.

I like the plant and cloud analogy. And I think it is amazing how we are, simultaneously, both the plant and the cloud. We're alle feeding this massive rolling thunderhead that is =I=Munda with our own creative energy and ideas, and an the same time we all seem to take so much from it as well. I certainly know that all the things I've done the past month hobbywise are fuelled from it.
This exchange of ideas is quite a rush.

Oh, and Bottle: Sadly I can't, I've only got so many days off in year... But I can tell you that I've started preparing for the next couple of corridors. I've pulled out my folders with notes and sketches and am going through them again, so I can start to build a picture for myself of what I'm going to do.* The slate is clean from the work on the previous two corridors, so the muses can start flexing their muscles. While they're at work in the back of my skull, I've got some boarding party stuff to build...
AND I can give you some new pictures:

The boarding party are close to solving their lighting problems! They're currently on their way to trading station Ghar'aege, to negiotiate the purchase of two "Lux"-Pattern servoskulls:

The speaker grille on the left one will be greenstuffed shut, to make a searchlight.

They made the needed contacts thanks to the seemingly endless knowledge of their Savant:

After more than a century of life, his mind is still as sharp as a razor, and his tech-savvy unsurpassed among the local salvage crews. His ability to discern the few valuable items from amongst a cargo hold full of debris and pick the best hauls is one of the main reasons this salvage crew depend on him.
That and his endless supply of stories and anecdotes, in case any of the crew are having trouble sleeping...
Age has left it's mark on his body though, and moving in the heavy bulk of a Hardshell Voidsuit is too physically taxing for him these days.
Luckily, a few hauls past, the crew came across an old heavy augmetic frame. They had it repaired and fitted to the Savant´s Voidsuit. With it, he can once again guide the hauling teams under his own power, instead of sitting propped up in corner and needing the aid of 2 other men whenever he had to move.
The frame can be seen more clearly here:


The first five members of my salvage team were left nameless, because I intended them to be multipurpose, and didn't want to pin them down too much in my mind.
This guy however has so much character, I don't think he will make it to the end of painting without gaining a name along the way.
He still needs greenstuffing done on him. Most notably his collar, toecaps and the grille on the backpack needs to be changed into a lamp. (Old man like him doesn't see to well in the dark anymore, so he gets a lamp to help him out. )
I had fun making him look like he was some crotchety old bookworm, that felt uncomfortable in the big heavy suit, but still couldn't help dragging along every source of information that he might possibly need. I may still decide to add even more "clutter" to him, maybe I can squeeze in a small notebook or two...
He may carry a pistol and a smoke grenade because he was ordered to, but he is definately as far from a combat-character as can be.
To reflect this I put him in a less active pose, which also allowed me to show off his "smart guy arrogance".
His big bald skull and the frame on his suit had me thinking about Ueber Aemos, Eisenhorn's old savant, when I was building him. Maybe he's family?


*This may take some days/weeks, I'm just thorough and obsessive like that...

Brilliant, great character in this new guy. I love how it's possible to cram so much love and information into just a simple plastic model. The savant is a brilliant concept, and a brilliant model. You played the exo-skeleton really well: it's subtle enough not to be intrusive, but speaks volumes about this guy.

Looking forward to much, much more.

Peace.

sA

What a great update! (thanks! xD )

I love the servo skulls, especially them being utility ones! I really want to make them for my models, and I think I'll give them all random little functions too.

And the frame, such a fantastic idea. I love the tablet he's holding too. I agree that even more clutter would look great on him, but don't over do it :]

Malika:
Nice videa, thought the image quality could be a bit better.

I know what you mean, I think the original resolution of the video was probably smaller, google video probably enlarged it.

The first 20 seconds certainly got my brain bubbling with ideas...

Can't wait to see what you come up with!

I must say I'm impressed with the amount of thought and effort everyone at the Anargo Sector project is putting into it. Quite a task, fleshing out an entire sector.

We've been around for a couple of years now, started on the ancient Portent forums (now known as Warseer), moved to our own forum rather quickly, ended up having tons of information spread over four forums, a whole bunch of harddrives, photobucket accounts and our brains. Things are a bit quiet at the moment because the main core of contributors is distracted by real life stuff or is slowly losing inspiration. A shame really :(

I remember this piece of terrain from an old WD in which a bunch of guys built this gigantic tower (as tall as an adult man) which functioned as terrain for Necromunda and Space Hulk. I'll look up the WD when I'm back home and pass you those pictures, while not as detailed as your work I do believe it can be very inspirational!

Another idea, look at these Deathwing by VanSan over at Warseer. What interests me about this blog isn't just the amount of detail and skill the guy uses, but these Robo's. You can find another pic here. Perhaps an idea for a larger type of drone/machine that is used to enter potentially dangerous rooms?

I'm glad you like him!

Malika, I know what article you mean, I've got that WD in my stash as well. It's "Corkin'!" if I recall correctly.

While I like the notion of using robots, I feel it's a bit high end for this salvage crew. They'll just have to go in themselves. After all, tech is expensive, life is cheap....
They're lucky enough as is, to have a pair of servoskulls and one or two servitors of their own.

I may find a use for the concept in another warband though. I kind of like it.

@ Malika - I remember that WD too, it was one of the ones about a year after necromunda hit.

@ Modhail - Awesome job on the newest mini's. Where is the head of the savant from? Might have to swatch some of those ideas for the servo skulls for my Rogue Trader group!

Cheers,

Dante

That'll be Corkin'! That was my first ever WD, and basically inspired me to get the Necromunda Boxset, even though I was still putting together my Goff Orks!

Sorry, I don't mean to side track. But mentioning that article has just given me some EPIC nostalgia. :]

Dante, swatch away! I'd love to see what you'll do with the ideas.

The head of the savant is from the WFB Empire Wizard sprue, the one with the forked goatee and the skullcap.
I trimmed away his goatee and carefully shaved away the edges of his skullcap.

Excellent stuff, the assist frame on the savant is great, really liking that one! The servo skulls are also good stuff.

Malika, is this the tower you were thinking about? I´ve been mulling the idea over for a while now, and was thinking that building something like it would be a project for when I get my new flat, with more space, eventually....

[Ferris Bueller] He is so choice..[/Ferris Bueller]

Love it. Exo-frame, book nerd and scrawny runt in a suit. Oh how the mighty gauntlet has been laid down!

Servo skulls are a riot, serving their days out as floating, glorified illumination devices.

The hand held is a nice piece of scratchbuilding to scale, I have some old RT Era plastic digipads I could just lazily use.. but no! I think I shall have to answer your, albeit unspoken, challenge.

..these parts from the UK are taking an age..argh!? (okay, I am just being impatient..)

~ Tael.

@Xanthos: yes, that was the tower I meant, that thing was just too cool!

I miss the "Specialist Games"... :(

OMG all of this stuff looks so ace. I especially love the new guy, I have one question for you though. What is his head from?

I want to play on that multi-level space hulk. I don't care if I have to use only a squad of IG and three very confused Sisters Repentia to do it.

Hey guys, keep an eye on this thread over at the Troll Forged Miniatures forums. Might give you more ideas and such! Some of the concepts from it are from Philips Sibbering's Ecopolis.

That site about casting is really cool. I am going to have to play around with resin casting, maybe this summer, and see if I can't run off some cool looking walls and the like. Of course with planet strike coming out, right after IG, I am going to be up to my neck in plastic kits...

Ghost in the Darkness wrote:OMG all of this stuff looks so ace. I especially love the new guy, I have one question for you though. What is his head from?

Modhail wrote:The head of the savant is from the WFB Empire Wizard sprue, the one with the forked goatee and the skullcap.
I trimmed away his goatee and carefully shaved away the edges of his skullcap.

Hmmm, thanks for the link Malika, it'll be interesting to see in what direction that will go.
If they want to see how certain structures or details were created, just point them towards my photobucket. (The 3rd pic shows the measurement I use for the "standard" corridors, like the 5 square corridors I built most recently. The first four corridor sections I built are of the "extra-wide" variety. The extra wides are 12cm wide, measured on the outside.)

I'm guessing yourself and Xanthos are going to love the new planet strike stuff eh?

Have you thought of using any of the FW interior detailing stuff from the facility scenery they did? The operating table is pretty cool!

Cheers,

Dante

I have that table bought it for the cityfight stratigem medice facility lots of attachments for the arms worth the money I payed for it.

Little update on Icesword's stuff: LINK

If I'm not mistaken those will be cast.

Have you considered including pipes in your structures? They could even be moving "above" the structure as to symbolise a ceiling of a sorts without it actually being there. Maybe use glue that comes out of those pipes as leakage. Soldiers walking underneath it getting wet and all that!

The landing pad looks the most exciting at the moment, it simply has the most lootable bits... The rest,...less so.

The operating table is indeed very cool. It has been placed on the "Win the lottery"-list a ling time ago...
I like the corridor sections and the inserts as well, but I don't think I would actually buy them, just harvest the images for ideas and then build it myself.
The Red Scorpion Captain is also on the list, for when/if I get around to building the board sections for the Genestealer and Deathwing expansions.

Malika: Wow, that flooring is very close to what I was thinking of for my next couple of corridor pieces...
Been sketching and mulling ideas for the last couple of days, and I think I'm close to having the design I want to build. Just need to work out some measurements and such.

Hehe, I thought I had plenty of pipes already in the first few corridor pieces...
While I like the idea of the "overhead" pipes, I'm really rather limited in what I can do, without blocking access to the miniatures. I've only got 5mm of "depth" I can fill with details in the narrow corridors, without making it inaccessible for the new Genestealers. And pipes jutting up would only lead to impaled fingers... I like the idea though, I'll have to keep it in mind for when I get around to building the rooms. I've got some more play there.

There is a little something I always found odd about Space Hulk. Yes, it's inspired by movies such as alien in which we have clausterphobic ships filled with monsters and what not. But 40k ships (and Space Hulks) tend to be gigantic, with halls big enough to fit entire armies with Titans and what not.

Which makes me curious, are you also going to include chambers and such in your project as in halls containing gear/vehicles/etc?

My plan for the time being is to just create the same set of corridors and rooms as the core Space Hulk game contains.
If I still have the will to go on after that, I want to add the board sections for the Genestealer and Deathwing expansion, maybe, just maybe, some of the separate card pieces from the White Dwarf, etc. as well.

If I need a bigger chamber, I can just build a surrounding corridor and have a door give acces to the empty space inside it. (Since such a thing won't likely be needed in a SH game anyway.)

The way I see it, those big halls are things like cargo holds and gun emplacements, maybe a chapel or such. the remaining 90% of the ship is still near-solid machinery/superstructure with small corridors worming their way trough. Those big carverns will be first ones to get crushed when ships gets mushed into a larger Space Hulk. For the real big caverns, you could use an entire regular 40K or Necromunda table and just state it is inside a space ship.

GW art and fiction is also responsible for the image of 40K space ships being big opera halls floating in space: Such large cathedral arches are just cool to paint/describe. They add a sense of surreallism and convey the Imperium's bizarre attitude towards technical practicalities.
A dank, narrow corridor doesn't allow you to show of a gazillion depressed ratings, and I can imagine that a writer will puke if he is forced to find a novel way of describing "dank, narrow" for the 20th time. Especially if he is only at the second page of his 300 page novel...

Just a tiny little update for now...

I've started work on the next (set of) corridors:
So far I´ve only just started on one corridor sections, further progress was hampered by a lack of tubing and a nearly full bottle of superglue that decided to self-destruct...


(yes, the top tube in the first picture is crooked, it's all just stacked together for the picture..)

They're inspired by the piece of artwork that Tael posted about 2 pages back in this topic:


I intend to add an overhanging piece to the top 2 cm of the wall, to hint at the narrowing of the corridor towards the top. I'm curious to see how that turns out. If it works, I may be using it in more corridors.
The floor will be a mesh floor, similar to the vent stack corridor, but without a hollow space underneath, just glued straight to the base.
Both the floor and the "wainscoting" (best way to describe it, really) wil have their regularity broken up by the odd access panels or interface ports and readouts. The same for the centre section of the wall, but that will have to be raised detail. These pictures don't show it, but there are recessed "screwholes" in the corners of the panels.
I'm still undecided about the overhanging section of the walls, wether to mimic the style from the artwork, or to make small pointed arches backed with mesh instead.
For the latter, combined with the floor, I'm a bit worried about a "mesh overkill", but then again, the arches may just add that needed gothic touch...

Looks great as always mate.

I think the lowered roof section should be arches with mesh so that you can still see through it. A finer guage for the flooring (or the roof ?) would help differentiate them.

You could always do the flooring as it is in the illustration, a sort of ribbed piping effect. I'm pretty sure textured plastic card is available like this. Alternatively you could get the same effect using carefully spaced strips.

Looking forward to the details being added!

Cheers,

Dante

Really interesting to get some close ups on the section and how you place pieces. I do like that lower edge wall with the pipes on it, bulked out in plasticard. Dante has pretty much covered my other thoughts

I spy a bulkhead there.. any Trek 'Shhtuum' SFX?

~ Tael.

What is that round thing?

I've got an idea, well...maybe you've already considered this but I thought it might be cool to mention. I was watching Alien 3 the other day and while the movie doesn't really have any space ship action or anything like that, it does offer a very interesting atmosphere/location. The prison/mining/foundry facility has all sorts of corridors but what made me think of your project was the ventilator. I guess large ships and space hulks need some sort of system to supply the whole thing with air. So what about a corridor with a "dead end", that end being a big rotating blade (ventilator) which spread the air/oxygen across a certain part of the hulk. Maybe add some sort of control console at the end of that corridor meaning it would offer an interesting potential. It could either blow (pushing stuff away) or suck (pulling stuff to it)...imagine some lonely human being pulled into that ventilator and getting ripped into pieces!

By the way, did you ever see the Space Hulk terrain made by Iron Hands? Check Part 1 and Part 2. You might also want to check out his other Industrial Terrain. While I personally think that you're stuff so far is looking tighter and thus better, I still think the guy made some inspirational stuff!

Thanks for the input!
The arches are definately in now. I don't have differing sizes of mesh available (apparently it's only the size I have or rabbit hutch mesh that's for sale locally...).
But, I could change the orientation of the mesh, that may create just the visual difference I am hoping for.
I that doesn't work out, I've still got enough of the textured plasticard you describe, Dante.

Tael, that bulkhead was really only a size tester for the doors, the way I made it means it will strip the paint off the door with the first use... So now it sees use as a template for placing the doorrails on the walls!

Malika: Controls? Hmmmm, I think I know just the place: How about on the other side of the doorrails? (No use if you can only use the controls by standing in front of the fan now?)

I did see the stuff made by Iron Hands before. I like to leaf through his site every once in a while for inspiration. He's certainly got the dank and derelict atmosphere nailed.
And you just have to respect someone with that kind of recycling skills!
Somehow his stuff has a vibe that reminds me of the Rogue Trader era artwork.

Whoops! Malika, I completely overlooked your question...
The round thing is taken from inside a "Senseo"-type coffeepad. Not the regular ones though, I believe this one is from a Cappucino pad. The Chocolate ones are nice too, a bit deeper. It's a bit of a messy job extracting them from a used pad though...

Oh, and I've started work on the core of a second warband (this will be one of the "loaner warbands":*

These four will most likely form the militant part of the warband.
They will be the escorts for an Ecclessiarchy Priest and his personal scribe, maybe I'll add a proclaimer as well.
The Priest will be made from the WHFB Empire Wizard kit. Background-wise I intend him to be a "Priest Reclaimant". A member of the Sacred Order of Blessed Reclamation, it is his duty to seek out and reclaim lost or captured relics of the Imperial Faith. I consider these priests to come in two kinds: The diplomatic ones, who are sent out to retrieve/acquire Relics from other Imperial organisations. And the explorer ones, that venture out into the galaxy, trawling old battlefields and such in the hope of recovering new relics. A bit Indiana Jones like.
This priest will fall firmly in the former category: a big-hat-wearing orator, almost drowning in his pompous robes. His objective will be to bore you to tears, in the hopes that you will give up the Relic he wants just to make him stop talking... Not a combatant type at all!
His scribe will be the rotund priest with parchment and quill from the Inquisitor henchmen, the orator will come from the Inquisitor henchmen as well. Basically they're just nobodies whose primary function is to raise the status of the Priest and provide 2 more warm bodies for the Sororitas to worry about keeping intact.

I used the start of this warband as an excuse to prep the rest of my Sisters as well:


Here are some samples of the bases:
Canoness and Heavy Bolter Sister
Sister Superior and regular Sister
Two more Bolters Sisters
Flamer Sister
And final Bolter Sister
I intended the bases to mesh nicely with the Space Hulk, but still retain a clear Ecclesiarchy theme.
Aside from some extra purity seals to denote their Celestian status the miniatures are unconverted. I couldn't bring myself to hack into such lovely sculpts.
As far as painting goes, I want to try and mimic the colourscheme on the codex cover. For some reason it makes me think of the Renaissance, I like it's blend of richness and ferocity.

Oh, and I've got another week off coming up, but unfortunately this won't mean more progress: I'm going on a camping trip with the family.
So, no new goodies to show the coming week (unless I can convince the misses to let me take my painting kit along ) and I won't be able to respond to you folks.



*: You'll see me switching gears like this regularly... Hobbywise I'm a bit like a butterfly, constantly flitting from one thing to the next and then back again...

Arise my thread! Return from oblivion like R'Lyeh rises from the depths!

Not immediately related to my boarding party, but still, there's enough of a sidelong relation to warrant it's inclusion...

After a bit of a distraction I'm once again gearing up to work on my Space Hulk terrain.
I've not actually done work on the terrain itself, but I did collect all the terminators I'll need (except for a Captain or two). And I've started assembling a few:


I don't much like the fact that the modern Cyclone Missile Laucher lacks a proper designator. So I set out to fix that. I had some trouble figuring out how to build the designator, and was working up the courage to scratchbuild one when my eye fell on a Terminator lightning claw. Inspiration struck:


Here's how it looks from the business end:


My intentions is to paint these Terminators up as Howling Griffons. I want to give them detail and ornamentations comparable to the 3rd ed Space Hulk Terminators.
Ideally I'd like to hang some Griffon talismans on their armour. So I set about making a few:

I still need to do the last heraldic shield, and then I'll make a mould of either greenstuff or milliput, so I can make casts of them.
To give you an idea of their size: The grid I scratched into plasticard they're on is 4x4 millimetre, the same size as the loose Crux Terminatus* talismans on the Terminator sprues. The grid on the background is 1 centimetre square.

*: What's the multiple of Crux Terminatus anyway? Crux Terminatii? Crux Terminatuses? Crucii Terminatus? ???

nice. Just noticed this threads. I will watch this thread.

Nice work mate ill be watching this thread to!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also whats the neck armour as the kroot one looks to small to be it?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
on the first boarding party?

Thanks!

It is in fact the Kroot shoulder armour...

Woul; it work on guardsmen in any way without having to greenstuff it?

Sadly, I don't think it would... As you can see it still leaves a fair bit of gap:

(Unfortunately I don't have a clearer pic, but you can see it reasonably welll.)

Thanks mate i was thinking of making some as stormtroopers that have that enclosed flamer helmet and added front armour like that using the kroot shoulderpads.

Why haven't I seen this blog before?

Awesome terrain and great figures; really inspiring! Keep it up!

Wow those miniatures look really good!
Keep up the good work!

I don't know how I've missed this thread up til now! There are some really original, fantastic conversions here, and a lot of character added to some great miniatures. I'll definitely be stealing an idea or two, so thanks so much for sharing!

Well, I got the final shield done and made the moulds:


(The green one is, well, greenstuff, the other one is green-grey milliput. It's non-flexible and moderately heat-resistant, so hopefully I can use that one to make casts with heated sprue...)

One row didn't mould quite as cleanly as I'd hoped on both moulds, but luckily nothing that can't be corrected during cleanup... All in all, I'm impressed with the amount of detail that actually transferred. Now to get the stuff cast and plastered over my marines!
The first three testcasts are also included in the pic, those were (hastily and impatiently) pulled from the greenstuff mould.

Thanks guys!

This is the squad I'm getting ready for paint at the moment. They're from the 4th edition starter set. To compensate for the fairly basic poses and details I've sprinkled parchments with Oaths of Moment and some of my press-moulded icons over the squad:

The bases are a bit of a rush job. I originally wanted them to have resin bases like the Sarge and squad leader, but I didn't have enough of them.
When I get the chance to get more bases I'll likely rip these off again and put the whole squad on resins.

This is the sarge up close:

You can clearly see the parchement with his Oath of Moment and his little heraldic shield with the griffon.

And my Terminator Librarian:

The heraldic shield was practically the only way I could add some Howling Griffon-specific detail to him.
He is absolutely plastered in bling....
I'll not be adding his "bookstand" to his head, I think it makes the mini too top-heavy. I still need to find/make a fitting icon to put up there instead.

Hi Modhail

Only just now found this blog, apologies I haven't had time to read every post yet but I love your salvage team. They are awesome.

Thanks!

I didn't much like the huge lectern the Terminator Librarian has to lug around, so I made something a bit more subtle and stylish:



A lot easier to move around inside a Space Hulk with...

Whoops, totally forgot about this thread.....

I've (finally!) got the first combat squad of my Howling Griffons painted:


This pic shows their actual colours a bit better:

The paint is a bit thick in places, as I used these as guinea pigs to find a way of painting the yellow and red that I liked best.
They're not meant as high end paintjobs, just a good tabletop standard...

The second combat squad is currently on the painting table...

Looking great man! Whatever happened to your terrain? Are you still working on it?

I'm still thinking about working on it....
At the moment I'm figuring out how to proceed with my Terminators and I'm assembling some genestealers (and looking at piccies of Genestealer Cults). So, in a way, I'm active (again) within the larger "Space Hulk" project, just not with the terrain itself (yet).

Put another layer of paint on the second half of the Howling Griffon squad today.
Oh, and I made a careful start on their opposition: a Genestealer Cult...
(The Howling Griffons army was a spin-off from wanting to build Howling Griffons Terminators for my long suffering Space Hulk 3D project. Because I want to use that for all possible editions of Space Hulk, I needed to build some Genestealer Hybrids anyway. Enter snowball-effect. I'm intending to keep the Genestealer Cult as small as possible, nothing larger than a Necromunda gang or such.)
Anyway, pictures!

Magus and friends

The magus has only the basic assembly done. I still need to make a top for his staff for example. I also want to add a ribbed shouldersection and ribbing to the back of his collar in greenstuff, to tie him in to style of the classic hybrids and the rest of the cult.

Speaking of the rest of the Cult, here is a test I made for my intended Genestealer Hybrids:


He'll be a 4th generation, so he'll be mostly human, with maybe a single vestigial Genestealer arm coming out of an armpit.
He still needs his arms, a genestealer cult icon somewhere and ribbed kneepads ofcourse...
Which I don't intend to sculpt over and over and over for each Hybrid. So I turned once again to the pushmould:

I sculpted these today, once they are fully cured I'll make the mould(s).
The lower half is a little test. I want to see if I could make a mould useable for the collar and rebreather for my hybrids. I'm a little afraid that I made the collar bit to small though.

Pushmould for a collar... *astonished* That's so clever! I'm building a genestealer cultist army and this would be an reasonably fast way to complement my ancient metal hybrids. Thank you for the idea.

And your work is looking good as always :-)

Very cool stuff here, I'll definitely be watching this.

You(r stuff) are (is) epic!

Eric

Very cool! It is great to see SH work of this quality, esp on the hybrids!

That is so ridiculously awesome that I am at a loss for words..... The models look great, the terrain is stellar, and great conversions on those Genesteeler cultists. I will be watching this closely.

very,very nice press molds.

Gee, I've only done a single hybrid! (Okay, two ff you count the Magus.)

Mellon, you're welcome. I like the =I=Munda stuff you did and I'm eager to see your take on the Cult.
And lucky you for having those ancient metals...All I have for reference are photos of them.

MajorTom11, thanks, you've set something of a gold standard yourself in your thread. Very inspirational. Very clean greenstuff work on the hybrids too.

I've got half a box of Flagellants, plus a box of Ghouls coming in the post. So I should be able to get some more variation in my Hybrids soon.
I intend to keep my Hybrids fairly in line with 40K's current look and style, but still give a firm nod to the old models and background. Hence the collar and kneepads on an otherwise "modern" IG miniature.
If I decide to make some Brood Brothers, they will lack the collar. I want to reserve it as a sort of "uniform" for the actual hybrids, seeing how 4th gen and normal humans are hard to distinguish otherwise.

Love the work you've done for the Genestealer Cult so far, Mod! I really like the oldskool 'Cult collars, a very nice way to make a normal Cadian look like he belongs to the 'Cult.

I gotta ask though, from what company are the resin bases you use for some of your models, like the Magus for example? I would love to have some of those.

Good stuff - I will be sure to give a more verbose feedback soon

Pfreck, the "tall" bases are from Dragon Forge Design. The thinner ones are from Fenris Games, you can find them on his Ebay store.
I'd heartily recommend both, good product, good service.
The cream coloured ones are from Vanus Temple, but he doesn't sell anymore.

Sweet Zombie Jesus... This is fantastic. Great stuff!

This looks really good, what size have you planned for this board?

And I see a dutch flag, do you live in the netherlands?

Looking good man, keep on doing what you do!

Awesome stuff, love the mold usage.

Hi guys!

Ironbars, yup, fellow dutchman here...
I don't have a size planned for the board. I'm making loose segments that correspond with the boardpieces from Space Hulk. So size would vary according to the number of pieces used and how you lay them out.
Once (/when/if?) I get all the pieces done it will cover a fair bit of table: the squares in the corridors are all sized for 40mm bases. You can find a list of the amount and type of sections here and a picture here. For reference, the red stick in the picture is an 18" GW "whippystick", and the miniatures are, from left to right: Space Marine, Genestealer, old GW metal Chaos Terminator.
So far, I've got 6 sections of the lot actually finished....

I made the first mould of the icons today, it's currently hardening. I should be able to pry it loose tomorrow. Then will see if I can get useable casts from it!
I also (almost) finished Hybrid Bob:



He only needs his backpack adding. But that will have to wait until the GS mould is done and I get the first few casts...

I had some GS left over from making the mould, so Bob is getting friends:


They've only just got their hunchback roughed out. I didn't bother smoothing it out perfectly, as it will be covered by their collars and hoods anyway.
Two have gotten their cranium "enhanced".
These will be 3rd generation hybrids as well, but less heavily armed than "Bob". For these I'm thinking about pistols and CCW, maybe a lasgun or autogun for one of them.

Nice looking work, of late.
Those "friends" are coming out great so far. Just a few relatively simple conversion touches, but they add so much character, such a sinister atmosphere, to the figures. Well done.

Magus has got his collar done, all he needs now is his staff top and a rebreather pack.



The three hybrids have also gotten some work done:

The guy with the chainsword still needs his two left shoulders filled and blended together.
The hybrid in the centre needs the rest of his arms added. I'm thinking of giving him some sort of power weapon.
The freak on the right still needs all his arms. I want to give him an autogun (converted from a lasgun) and maybe try to have his 3rd arm be vestigial.
After that, it's time for their collars and hoods.

Fantastic work! Your GS skills and terrain really look great.

Rise, rise from the deep, my thread!
Finally got some spare time to sit down and do some hobby stuff today:

I got my first Terminator ready for paint:




He's still nameless at the moment. I'd like to name each of the Terminators I'll build for my Space Hulk project, but that means coming up with about 30 names...

Here's a close-up of his heraldry:


It represents a Griffon, astride the Imperium, guarding it from harm. Sadly, outsiders often misenterpret it, thinking it a display of the Griffons putting themselves above the Imperium. This is sometimes a source of frustration to Brother (insert-name-here)
Hmmm, looking at these enlarged photos, I'll need to pluck some stray bits of GS out before I primer him. That'll have to wait untill it is all cured though, don't want to risk accidentally smooshing it all flat again!

How is it I've never seen this thread?? Your stuff is awesome! I forget the other dakka member who was making some insane conversions for 'stealer cults... but I'm diggin' this too! The rocket launcher guy with the claw and extra hand is especially nice. Let's see some paint on these guys! Your Space Hulk board pieces look good... I"m sure these will be equally so!

I think it's because this thread is a bit like R'lyeh: It arises only rarely, for a short while, before sinking back into the deeps of the forum to slumber....

Anyhow, found some spare time, painted a terminator:



And his heraldry:

(See previous post for what it represents)

Now all he needs is a name. And maybe purple braids instead of brass, I'm still debating that one...

So, Iä Iä F'thagn to you all, untill the stars are right again!

Looking good, that greenstuff heraldry is sharp.

Do you also have an update for your terrain?

Thanks!
Sadly no update on the terrain... But I got 4 genestealers painted:


Nothing fancy, no super neat painting. Just basic "get 'm done" painting. Don't want to lavish too much time on them, they've got 20 brothers/sisters who need the same treatment. (Plus my 1st. ed. SH genestealers, 3rd ed. SH genestealers, etc. )

Much too nice weather to lock myself in the hobby dungeon all day... So I only did a tiny bit of sculpting today.

Nice harsh lighting to show up all the flaws... go me.
He'll get another one on the right side of his launcher at another time. He'll also get a sculpted HG icon on his right pad. Then it's just a matter of sticking on purity seals, maybe an oathsheet somewhere. Just the simple "glue in place" style blinging, before he can get painted.
His back looks a bit bland though...
Because of that I'm considering adding a small book chained to his rear. It'll either represent a book of devotional litanies, or a logbook of completed oaths. I like the latter idea best, because of the symbolism: He has completed these oaths, and has literally put them behind him by chaining them on his back. Yet they are still with him, and add to him...

I used the leftover Greenstuff to make a little something for a future Terminator:

Haven't got any definitive plans on which Terminator will get this one, but it'll always come in handy somewhere.

Slow progress is still progress so keep giving us more howling griffon action.

After this horrible summer we've got the right to use the probably last good weekend to take advatage of the sun, right?

Just read through the entire blog, and I've got to say this is amazing! I can't wait to see an update on the terrain and the sculpting is brilliant. !

Hello!...Love the thread and all of your amazing conversions...I'm curious as to where you got your scenic bases from for your Genestealer Cultists however...I just can't seem to find them anywhere...

Wow, nostalgia!

The Magus is on a base from Dragon Forge Designs, the Tech-Deck range. The rest of the cultists are on Sulaco bases from Fenris Games. I can heartily recommend either company, very good product, matching service.

To be honest, if you have them finished you should definitely throw some images of your magus and cultists up on here...Would absolutely love to see them...This thread has inspired me greatly in the conversion of my own cultists for Necromunda.

If I had them finished, I would have posted them...
This project is currently deep on the back burner due to an outbreak of Real Life, I'm afraid. :(
Plus I'm kinda bummed out with 40K at the moment (partly due to a certain webstore stiffing me on my order for the 6th Ed 40K set).

Great work all around, I can't even pick a favorite. The custom hybrids are great!

Geez, it's been long, hasn't it?

This week the stars were apparently right to continue my long-suffering Space Hulk/Boarding party project. Or, at least, the Space Marine portion of it...
I finally finished painting the second half of the Howling Griffon squad:

The paint is great on these, I love seeing the lessor popular themed chapters done up nice.

Thanks Jabbakahut!

I've switched gears a little again, this time giving some attention to my Griffon's future adversaries:

A few of them were done quite some while ago, but the leftmost three are recent "converts".
Still got plenty more to do, and I mustn't forget to keep the 1st Ed. Space Hulk Genestealer list in mind, as they'll need to be usable for that as well.

Those are beautiful hybrids. Great bases too.

Good to see you back into action Modhail


Take care.

Well, the first five Hybrids are ready for paint, now I just have to have a day with decent primering weather....

In the meantime, here's a wee man I worked on today:

He will be part (the nominal leader) of an Ecclessiarchy warband. What I still need to do on him: Greenstuff the various seams from the mini's assembly. Sculpt the stylised sunburst around the skull on his Big Man Hat, so that the combination of skull, filigree and starburst resembles the Ecclesiastical "I". Oh, and he'll need a base too I guess....

He will be unarmed, and utterly useless stat-wise (I'm thinking juve stats in =I=Munda, generally old-man level stats in Inq28, but with high Sag and Will.) Everything about him just screams self-righteous, pompous and overbearing, but utterly useless in combat. A nice liability for the more combat-oriented members of his retinue to protect. :-)

Background-wise the good Deacon will be a member of the Order of Blessed Reclamation. They're a variation of the Imperial Creed that is focussed on finding, and reclaiming, the various Relics that have been lost or misappropriated over the long Millennia of the Ministorum's existence. Some members are Indiana Jones type figures, specialised in retrieving relics from former (or active!) battlefields, alien-occupied territories and the wild space between and beyond the reach of the Imperium. The good Deacon is not one of them. He specialises in reclaiming Relics from other Imperial organisations or noble families through diplomacy. His favourite tactics is to use his skill at oratory and wide judicial knowledge to bore his target into submission... You see, the Relic in question belongs to the Church, it always has and always will, simply by dint of it's nature and existence, he just has to make the current caretaker see that truth. Usually by talking and talking and talking and.....

In the end, most "caretakers" will eventually gladly give up the prize, if only to shut the Deacon up!

Really great looking stuff here, glad to see your back at it.

My, it's been a while, hasn't it? But none the less, once more I emerge, like a Space Hulk come from the Warp, into the 40K universe....

Somewhere, somehow, don't know why, I got bit by the Space Marine bug again. So I assembled another Terminator for my Space Hulk project (which continues to proceed at a glacial, no make that geologic, time scale).
Here he is:

And his anterior:

I'm not entirely sure he is complete yet, the feeling has been nagging me that he is, somehow, too plain. I think I'll just leave him be for a few days before I render final verdict.

I've also started another model for my =I=Munda collection. He too is a member of the Adeptus Astartes:

He is actually just a testcase to see how I fare at making a true-scale marine. As such I've concentrated on the basics of that conversion, and paid less attention to pose and personality. Still, he is the very image of a classical Tactical Marine.
Any next marines will have more attention given to them, to make them more individual and unique. My plan, if this testcase works out, is to make 2 or 3 more True-scale Howling Griffons for use in =I=Munda. I just need to represent my favorite chapter, and =I=Munda gives me the chance to really portray a Space Marine with all the intimidating presence and grandeur they have in the background. As a typical size =I=Munda warband can only fit 2 or 3 marines , pointswise, I can lavish some attention on them. Plus, I really like the idea of a small group of Marines being sent as emissaries somewhere and getting in over their head in intrigue and plots. Sure they're absolute brutes in combat, but you try and be covert and inconspicuous when you're 8 feet tall, painted brigh red and yellow and people fall to their knees in adoration with every step you take...
Since taking this picture I've filled in his stomach area and sculpted the Griffon chapter icon on his shoulderpad. They're currently curing on my hobby desk.


I've also assembled and embellished a second Tactical squad of Howling Griffons (from the AoBR starter box), but neglected to take their pictures...

Hey look, activity!

For some reason, that single true scale Space Marine kept a prominent place on my workbench. despite me not working on him actively. Last week he got joined by a WIP Terminator, then another, and suddenly I was working on my Space Hulk again... I've got three more Terminators assembled, ready to get plastered in bling.
As an added bonus, my son was on a sleep-over this weekend, so I could claim his play area as a workspace for two whole days! Which resulted in a new Space Hulk corridor section getting ready for paint, the first one I've done in, uh, five years or so...

Here it is:



As you can see, it's a corner which is dominated by a major outlet of the ship's air circulation system.

For some reason the corridor as it is now somehow looks barren to me, it may be the large amount of white plasticard...
I think it will paint up quite nicely though. I just have to decide on a colour scheme for it.

This is what it will be added to:


Yeah, it'll take me a bit before I get enough corridor sections for even the first mission...
But hey, I'm not in a hurry. I'd rather build it well than build it quick.
Aside from finishing off the corridor I showed at the start of this post, I also got a bit done on a second passage. It will be a part of the vessel's Ossuarium, where the bones of deceased ratings are kept. No pictures, as it's just a jumble of separate parts right now, but I can say that it features enough skulls that I could build ten corridors without a single skull and still make the GW Terrain Skull Quota.

Now I just have to wait until I get another chance to work on it.

Looks good. Nice work on the new section, and the old ones look great.

It 'd be nice to see some more before New Year's eve, though...

awesome work dude, really nicely detailed scratchbuilt terrain
keep chugging along!

Oooooooooh, I missed your cool stuff! Good to see you're back at it!

 Littletower wrote:
It 'd be nice to see some more before New Year's eve, though...

Hehe, touché. Do you have a specific New Year's eve in mind, or will any old one do?

Like I said, this only came about because my son was away for the weekend and I could annex his usual play area as a workspace. So progress on the terrain will need to wait until his next sleepover trip...
Mini's however, I could work on sooner...

Good answer! Minis will do, so I'll just wait for those.

Modhail wrote:

 Littletower wrote:


Like I said, this only came about because my son was away for the weekend and I could annex his usual play area as a workspace. So progress on the terrain will need to wait until his next sleepover trip..

Have you considered sending him to summer camp or boarding school?

Just kidding! It's just nice to see your sometimes reclaim your man-cave and inspire us with your kick ass terrain!