That drop pod is soooo cool! (Waits for call from the inquisition...) Great work, gluing those rivets must have been soul destroying (read gratifying). Cannot wait to see that painted up!
Her body is green stuff on a copper frame. I referred to photos of cattle and power athletes and plus-sized lingerie. If you examine her hands, you'll notice her digits are in a bovine arrangement rather than an ape's. Her sword is carved from 3mm clear acrylic; shave it with a fresh scalpel and apply thin poly cement (I used Tamiya brand) and you get a glass-like finish (it even polished away some accidental scratches). A hundred heresies to whomever can decipher her name!
HD images:
Spoiler:
Automatically Appended Next Post: A few closeups on those hands:
She's really quite a unique spin on the old Keeper design. When I first saw her I started playing the guess the manufacturer / bits game, but then you spoiled that you sculpted her around the time I assumed you must have
Sword is a particularly Chaotic touch, with how its aesthetic cuts so strongly against the rest of the model. Extremely cool
That is amazing work from top to bottom Linds. The sword is a show-stealer but the detail you've taken with the rest of the model design is really impressive.
I was intending to sculpt a bovine face with an 80s deathhawk for her. But I got so attached to the skull I made that I couldn’t bear to put flesh and skin over it
I like the idea of the demon possessed shields. Cool squad for sure.
The Nid spore turned Dreadclaw is a fantastic conversion. Simple, but highly effective and thematic. The last pic with the guys face poking through the mouth did make me laugh though.
I’ve had combo-Flamers recommended as equipment for Havoc Champions. Got three of them done, along with a couple of pairs of gunners. Five- or-ten-member Heretac squads aren’t that bad, you know. For a backfield unit that both screens and takes potshots, they do an alright job.
My best friend collects space wolves. The banner says ‘Fenrisians, go home’.
Not sure what happened to the saturation on that last pic.
Looks like I forgot to shower accolades on your dreadclaw too - which is dumb because it deserves the praise! Great paint on its flesh, and gotta love the little CSM face poking out
Squads are impressive too, and the Havoks remind me I really should dig into the new 30k plastics next time I make a CSM army. Fluffy on top of giving nice variation to the tired CSM kit.
In-game, they're pretty good! I've taken them as Brigade fillers a few times, and as a horde in their own right. Both work well enough for what they are. Reposing them to break up their silhouette uniformity was great fun, and painting them was a blast
But... is it really Lorgar, to whom their loyalties lie?
Been playing some Nurgle Daemonkin games, so it felt appropriate to add Epidemius to my collection:
Not a fan of the Finecast version and had a Poxbringer and Skull Throne to spare, so here he is
The banner’s an amalgam of bits box stuff. Sculpted a new face and torso and his hourglass.
He!s been doing pretty well so far! His last outing saw me face off against a Knight and a Spartan full of Blood Claws. That was some fierce firepower! Even the overwatch killed a fresh Daemon Prince :(
BUT when the Death Guard allies did get into combat, things started to turn. Havocs dominated the emptier half of the board and farmed Tactical Objectives whilst Sorcerer did a diving tackle with Smite to free up my Obliterators from being entangled with Space Wolves. A re-roll on my Fleshmetal D value plus VotLW meant the half-dead Spartan took fifteen wounds. Boom! Up it went and took out the Long Fangs. The momentum shifted in my direction and Epidemius actually stepped up and got his hands dirty driving away the Imperium’s last banzai charge. The garden was well watered that day
I've been considering adding breachers to a list myself, because I'm a fan of models with shields, which is obviously difficult because Chaos doesn't actually allow you to add shields to any models as far as I'm aware!
I had been considering some kind of Nurgle unit, where I can model the shields as being a representation of the FNP save... What have you fielded your breachers as?
Bookmarking your build log, as you have several unit conversions that would work perfectly for my potential army idea. (I came here from your post on my thread about also being inspired by the Mhara Gal model!)
Lindsay, there is some really amazing sculpting, converting, and painting going on in this Blog, I especially love that Dreadclaw conversion. Brilliant! You even put a chaos marine peering through the sphincter, ready to start the boarding assault!
@Niiru - I use my Breachers as Chosen, it feels right for a short ranged firepower squad that can look after themselves in melee (free Chainswords as of latest FAQ) and are first into a breached hull - but I can see shields working well as a look for ponderous and unstoppable Plague Marines
Erm... truth be told, I’ve barely run it in this edition. I’ve mainly gone with Nurgle or Slaanesh daemonkin, only transports I’ve regularly fielded are the Dreadclaw and rhino. Games I’ve played with it, it’s felt underwhelming. BUT these are games where I’ve been Warptiming something else - at some point I’ll try filling it with Berzerkers or Possessed then park it on the enemy’s lawn. Flame Rubricae are on the to-try-in-it list, when I’ve got tired of Epidemius.
Spartan is amazing this edition. My friend runs it with her Space Wolves and it makes me cry. Being able to cast 5+++ on one then move it again and always get full overwatch will be brutal. Surprised we don’t see more on them in the tactica thread, especially now it’s got PotMS. I’d build mine up right now if it weren’t going to be Khornate and a bad fit for my current play style.
lindsay40k wrote: Erm... truth be told, I’ve barely run it in this edition. I’ve mainly gone with Nurgle or Slaanesh daemonkin, only transports I’ve regularly fielded are the Dreadclaw and rhino. Games I’ve played with it, it’s felt underwhelming. BUT these are games where I’ve been Warptiming something else - at some point I’ll try filling it with Berzerkers or Possessed then park it on the enemy’s lawn. Flame Rubricae are on the to-try-in-it list, when I’ve got tired of Epidemius.
Spartan is amazing this edition. My friend runs it with her Space Wolves and it makes me cry. Being able to cast 5+++ on one then move it again and always get full overwatch will be brutal. Surprised we don’t see more on them in the tactica thread, especially now it’s got PotMS. I’d build mine up right now if it weren’t going to be Khornate and a bad fit for my current play style.
Interesting! How many models/units does she usually fit into it? Slightly concerned about putting basically my entire army into a single eggbox lol.
She’s trying various combinations of Wulfen, Blood Claws, Wolf Guard, and characters.
Also usually a following Wolf Lord and Battle Leader giving it re-rolls on all 1’s (pretty cool on eight mobile lascannons that can’t be tarpitted - do NOT charge a Spartan with a Daemon Prince) and Njal giving it cover & DTW coverage.
There is, of course, an element of ‘I hope I get first turn’...
lindsay40k wrote: She’s trying various combinations of Wulfen, Blood Claws, Wolf Guard, and characters.
Also usually a following Wolf Lord and Battle Leader giving it re-rolls on all 1’s (pretty cool on eight mobile lascannons that can’t be tarpitted - do NOT charge a Spartan with a Daemon Prince) and Njal giving it cover & DTW coverage.
There is, of course, an element of ‘I hope I get first turn’...
Had enough of Stompfeets the Knight blowing me up when I play my best mate. I’m gonna Warptime this in her face and snip some legs. Got some magnetised mounting points for icons and trophies. It’s got to earn them first, though.
Starting point was to make it scuttling sideways like a proper crab, and for the top to not be the torso of a gunbot but the turret on the critter. Instead of a head or sensor array, the top hatch bears a prisoner. We’ll let him out when he admits that Horus was right.
Face took a lot of work. Heat bending didn’t work out on the Carnifexes tongue. Ended up gently forcing it, using layers of poly cement to get the surface to go pliable then set. Got WIP pics somewhere.
Scourges were made by separating the three whips on each one, drilling right the way along (cutting off the tips to get in the live end), then running a paper clip all the way along so it had a flexible core that holds a bend. Worked superglue down the hollow core, ran the pin down and immediately bent it so the glue would set it into place. Green Stuff made skin inside some spare Helbrute arms.
The Defiler Reaper autocannon looks more like a Butcher Cannon and I wanted to de-emphasise it as this model ain’t going to waste time shooting. Sliced up a Terminator RAC and mirrored it, then mounted it with some tubes and pin. A few leftover Beastmen bucklers made for hatch covers & Legion icons.
Whilst basing it, it occurred to me that (1) these feets are perfect shapes for glowing effects, and (2) some fractured and molten ground will add to the intensity of its rushdown. The blending took forever. Worth it
You don't usually see the defiler kit get a lot of thought put into its posing - and you never see one based! - so props on both fronts That is one savagely aggro spiderbot <3
First squad of troops. Technically the second, as my ratty Cultists turn out to owe their loyalty to Mortarion!
Overseeing their work:
I’m pleased with the colour scheme (which has lost some of its cartoonish saturation in the image processing). Went with Heresy colours, with some copper corrosion to add a bright colour to the cracked porcelain, rusty iron, crusty bronze, and mouldy biomass. The overall effect reminds me of the toilets in my first school. I’m looking forwards to the challenge of contrasting it with a different finish on the same white when I come to add some World Eaters.
I mentioned some WIP Defiler photos. here we go:
Bending the tongue was tricky. I’m not a fan of the ‘apply an open flame to plastic’ method, especially with a domestic workspace. I used brute force, gradually applied, with a layer of poly cement applied and allowed to fully set whilst a rubber band held it in position. A sculpting tool handle pressing on the back side encouraged it to bend in the desired places and prevented sudden shearing. After a few days of stretching, it stayed put in the position I wanted.
Made the legs fit on a Knight base. The scourges were drilled right the way through, I think 1.75mm, then a thick paper clip run through them and superglue poured in with it. The shape was quickly pressed out whilst the glue was still wet, the pliable metal preventing sudden snapping and allowing me to focus force on key spots that were less pliable.
But, one Defiler isn’t enough!
In the first project, I got the hang of tightly binding up a chassis and adjusting the ball and socket limb joints. Managed to make a more scorpion-like gait just fit on the large base. Then, applied extra thin poly cement to the seam - it flows in between the parts by capillary force and gets things fixed together, and spillages barely affect the surface detail. Get some!
Took a jewellers’ hacksaw to the feet and pinned them to the base with thick paperclip. I’ll need to get under this to paint it properly, and there’s no way it’ll remain fixed to the base and upright with just two unpinned points of contact. Adding axial lines (the underside of the base has a grid you can work off) made it a lot easier to centre the model.
As before, the ‘turret’ will not double as a ‘torso’. It’s a hefty part, though, so I ran several paper clips through it for securing it to the arse of the chassis, growing a tail, supporting two guns, and running a third contact point to the base. You can also see here how I fixed the pins from the feet to the base.
One of the rods connecting to the chassis runs through to the ‘tail’. The ‘arm’ rods are each anchored to an internal side wall, so the structural layer of green stuff can be applied from the inside and firmly pressed into place.
As you can see, the direction of motion and firing is dead forwards, and the centre of gravity is nice and central.
A lot of GS pipes were pressed out with copper wire cores. This made them retain their shape when I bent them to fit the tail’s posture, then a layer of skin was put over them. The base was given my standard treatment of rubble, skulls, and Daemonic organic growth; a taut ‘strand’ was made by a thin poly rod being glued into place, then skin sculpted over it. The broken rock around the feet combines with GS & superglue to add structural stability, and there’s a hole drilled into the plastic ruin that’ll be used by that angularity bent pin on the turret to give the machine a third point of contact, hopefully ensuring it stays upright.
And that’s almost it for WIP corner! The scorpion is now built and being painted; forgot to take further snaps before the spray can, buuuut here’s a WIP from the next thing I’ll be uploading:
I needed to support a leaping Maulerfiend (because there’s no such thing as too many Daemon Engines) and found I could run a pair of pins up a Marine’s legs and through two bits of ruin. A biker body had the perfect ‘shoved’ posture and limp limbs. I haven’t done a diorama base before for this army, but having finished this project I’m happy with the end result. I’ll be posting the finished pics when my summer flu frags off.
Lovely death guard there - for a given value of 'lovely' obviously . The verdigris works nicely as a touch of colour against the main scheme.
Always nice to see WIPs, and looking forward to seeing the second defiler completed. Good tip on the plastic rod strand - I'm forever failing miserably to use putty for that, will try to remember this next time.
And the prospect of a leaping maulerfiend is exciting - always think using 'victims' as the supporting base is a great visual idea.
Reposed the Maulerfiend as a bounding quadruped and gave it a lion’s mane of tendrils. Ran metal rods through the Novamarine body and into the chest to support it. People seem to think it’s a crush attack, but if you look high you’ll see the decapitated head, still glowing at the edge where the tendrils struck. It’s working really well as a distraction Carnifex so far. First battle it joined, I got first turn and it died from overwatch. Damned Blight-haulers! Got it into a fight once so far, and it completely whiffed before getting gunned down.
The daylight dimmed the second I took my shooting box outside, and I think I’ve over-compensated with the image settings. Still, you can see what’s going on, and the base isn’t masked in shadow, so that’ll do.
Your stuff has some wonderfully dynamic posing; especially the Defiler. It's rare people pay that much attention to it, and rarer still that they pull it off successfully.
How come everyone's name is written in the Latin alphabet except for Gudoza?
I’m drawing on loads of languages and not strictly constricting myself in how I’m writing them. Kotar’s updated appearance has a slogan transliterated into Heiroglyphs
I’ve got a few more projects finished, folks, just waiting for good light to get them photographed...
Aaaand good light appears! For half an hour. It was long enough!
Kicking off the show, we have an opening performance from the scorpion Defiler:
Between two Defilers and a Maulerfiend, and apparently an incoming Land Raider price cut, I reckon I'm set to field an armoured Spearhead at the drop of a hat. But, wait - the eagle-eyed might have noticed that my mecha-beasts don't have explicit Marks. Ah, well, that's what the little magnetised mounting points are for; and I've put together a few more icons to pop into place where necessary:
Now. For the main event...
Noise Marines with head sculpts! The guns are bolt weapons with a Warp Talon vane, a vehicle gungoyle, a small tube inside slices of larger tube, and cables pressed with a green stuff tool and built up with layers of skin. I chose artists who get a lot of airtime on my speakers.
Ozzy, Geezer, Tony, and Bill:
Otep:
LL:
Johnny:
Max:
Zack:
He was the first one I did and I had a bit of size creep go off. Finally, Marina (and Pearl):
Winking expressions aren't easy on a non-human face! I'm really happy with how she looks on the table or shelf.
There's a few more to be shot, and a couple of Death Guard units on my table. All as and when, with the winter light.
I have a t-shirt from that gig that I still consider to be 'new'.
EDIT - No, not Ozzfest in December. Also, that was 2001.
Anyway, they're great. Johnny and Max get my vote as stand-outs, though that's largely personal bias 'cause Sepultura were the first band I ever got into in a big way.
I love these old minis. They’re showing their age, especially in the paucity of leader options and antique low quality backpacks, but their abundance of arms - chunky hands notwithstanding - enable a load of poses, and I’ve used them a lot over the years to make diving pistoliers, dual-wielding gunners, etc. And they’re really compatible with Heresy stuff - especially the Maximus suits.
I made Sfázo about twenty years ago. Only gave him a white undercoat and some gaudy splashes of red. Gave him a few adjustments - some Word Bearers accoutrements, fine tuning of his pose, and switched his combi-Melta for a Chainsword. Felt great to give him the paintjob he’s been lacking all this time.
I have a t-shirt from that gig that I still consider to be 'new'.
EDIT - No, not Ozzfest in December. Also, that was 2001.
Anyway, they're great. Johnny and Max get my vote as stand-outs, though that's largely personal bias 'cause Sepultura were the first band I ever got into in a big way.
I did see them at that Ozzfest, as well - and also have my t-shirt from that event! I caught Soulfly headlining in Nottingham the year before. Now, I haven’t been to a gig in years... last one was PUSA, I think.
Man, those really are some choncky models. Really dig the look in white, I'm used to these dudes being green with sludge and a side of more green. White armor + brown cloaks (and a side of green) is very nice.
I had a ruck with Space Wolves yesterday. At WW, no less, with a spectator from the design team
2K game, ITC rules, Champions scenario where you get a central objective and one in each DZ. Front-line Assault deployment.
We had
Spoiler:
Chaos Lord (Armourbane), Exalted Champion, DA (VoL, CC), Sorcerer (Prescience, Warptime); 3x5 Heretacs (usually go with Cultists but I wanted to run an all-Marines list); 8 Zerks with PF, 10 NMs with Blastmasters & Lightning Claw, 5 Terminators with plasma, HF, Icon of Wrath; 5 Raptors with triple Melta; Autocannon Havocs, ML Havocs, LR Proteus with Heavy Flamers; Rhino with Havoc.
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Sniper Phobos Lord (+1 damage shooting trait), Primaris Rune Priest (cover aura spell, -1 to hit Malediction, armour of Russ), Bjorn, Gravis Lord; 2x5 Intercessors, 5 Infiltrators; Murderfang, Wulfen Shield Dread, Redemptor Dread with Lucius drop pod; Lascannons Long Fangs with Cyclone Shield Terminator, Heavy Plasma Long Fangs with Cyclone Shield Terminator, 5 Hellblasters
I let her deploy first. She put her Plasma Fangs in a tall central building, with Infiltrators below holding her objective nominated as Engineers. Las Fangs in a tall side building with sniper Lord, overlooking my objective, and with Intercessors on the ground to prevent ground floor deep strikes. Gravis Lord and Hellblasters (Engineers) outflanked. Redemptor In Drop Pod. Shield Dread and Intercessors led Bjorn and Murderfang with Rune Priest right up front in the middle. Missions were Engineers (2 units forfeit fighting to mine VP’s from Objectives), Behind Enemy Lines (have units Start & end their turn in enemy DZ), Marked for Death (kill LR, Havocs, Havocs, Zerks)
I put my objective in a corner behind a hilltop wall and nominated both Havocs squads as Engineers. Land Raider below, empty. Heretacs either side of the formation to anchor against outflanks. Chaos Lord able to be heard by all of them. Termies and Raptors in reserve. Zerks, NMs, Sorcerer and DA behind Heretac squad in a ruin at ground level, planning to jump out and grab a VP off the central objective in the first turn. Rhino deploys as an easy target for Lascannons. Missions were Engineers, Headhunters (kill characters), Marked for Death (the four dreads).
I let her have turn one; her Plasma Fangs have no targets, and I want to be the one moving onto Objectives last in a round, and I have a Devastation Battery. I cast -1 to be hit on the Land Raider (she later casts -1 to hit on it). Her Death Star of dreads marches on the centre. Only one Intercessor tagging the objective - if I roll 3+ to advance my Heretacs, I’ll grab the first end of round VP for it. Redemptor drops in right in front of my lines. A Punishing Volley of Krak Missiles deletes it. Yeah, new Havocs are pretty cool! Her Las Fangs and Cyclones don’t take the Rhino bait, using a strat to ignore hit modifiers and pound the Land Raider down to 4W. Sniper Lord fails to Wound Chaos Lord. Bjorn and the Shield Dread roll 12 & 11 for their charges, running through a gap in the ruin wall and ragdolling the Berzerkers and Heretacs and piling in to the Noise Marines. But! The Berzerker Champion and one of his squad lives. I throw 4CP at VotLW and Fury of Khorne. 12 Power Fist attacks wounding on 3+ with full rerolls punishes their impetuousity. Then none of them run to morale. WORD BEARERS TRAIT IS AWESOME
My first turn. Heretacs on either side of my objective scatter to block outflanks. Land Raider moves up towards drop Pod with Chaos Lord. Sorcerer fails to cast anything. Heavy weapons on Land Raider and Havocs focus on lascannons long Fangs; I want firepower supremacy, and rid of that sniper lord’s screen. Small arms target the drop Pod. Twin heavy Flamer gets two hits that fail to Wound. Noise Marine pistols troll Bjorn magnificently, then CCDA shows them how it’s done. Zerks go down fighting against Shield Dread, whilst Rhino drives into it. Land Raider, CL, and Heretacs charge the Drop Pod. Knock it down to 1W. YAY SHE CAN’T SHOOT AT THEM. I let her make a Shock Assault attack for it, hitting on a 6 due to SW trait
First round ends with me 3-4 ahead.
Her turn. DA fails to pray, because of course he does.
My knee-jerk rants about him getting a fail state on his ability and costing more for the privilege immediately feel vindicated. Hellblasters have no useful point of entry, so they stay in reserve. Gravis Lord turns up in a blind spot just outside the NM building. Murderfang, Intercessors, and Rune Priest move up to try to join the mosh pit. Long Fangs, clearly shaken, only manage to kill a Havoc Champion. Rune Priest does nothing. Gravis Lord successfully charges the Noise Marines with an 11. STOP THIS. Murderfang, Intercessors, and Rune Priest declare charges. They can only reach the Rhino that’s bothering Shield Dread. Gravis Lord stabs five Noise Marines. They get free shots with their Bolt Pistols, inflicting a Wound. Intercessors tip over the Rhino. It explodes. It inflicts 3W on all of her units in the mosh pit. It kills a Noise Marine. Who takes a free shot with his Bolt Pistol, wounding Gravis Lord again. Noise Marines make their attacks. The Champion’s Lightning Claw kills Gravis Lord. Rock and roll! Land Raider eats the Drop Pod.
My turn. Land Raider moves up to a position where it can see and reach the Sniper Lord (assuming Havocs clear the remaining Las Fangs); Chaos Lord can charge him if needs be, and Heretacs are blocking Hellblasters from getting a double tap on the LR. Terminators and Raptors drop on the Plasma Fangs, to waste them this turn (she’s not got the CP for her Rune Priest to let them get free shots) and kill her Engineer Infiltrators next turn. Noise Marines are now disengaged, with both Blastmasters and a Doom Siren intact, and a prescience caster next to them.
It’s not a tournament with accumulating VP tally, so opponent concedes.
Lessons I learned:
- stompy vehicle jamboree is hella risky, one of them goes bang and things could go south quickly. Nothing wrong with throwing a redundant transport in there to add another potential explosion
- Devastation Battery is formidable
- LR Proteus, with appropriate support, is now at the very least an interesting gimmick - nobody expects it to have heavy Flamers and a Power Sword
- Long Fangs are a hard counter to a lot of our endurance buffs and must be taken seriously
- Spend at least 10% of your army budget on anchoring your flanks
- Don’t forget your pistols
- If you can choose first turn, look carefully at the table and your mission and your opponent’s list
To celebrate, I’m going to take proper photos of my Contemptor, which I completely forgot to do a year for two back.
