After a month and a half of researching other =I= Munda blogs by Migsula et al, Xan, and Anodyr, I've finally gotten enough support and material to begin the long and dark road to full-fledged games. The writing team for this blog and main gangs (for now... meeting this Saturday to sell concepts to 4 other players) will be myself with my own Inquisitor team of Inq. Darius Veran and his retinue of "I-Men", my cousin/new dakka member Zakkennaya123 and his Inquisitor band, as well as a xenos-loving Inquisitor plus retinue/ considering Rogue Trader and team who *AHEM* has not joined our cult, er, community..

We've all been hard at work gathering materials, making solid backgrounds for our teams, and working out the scenarios. It's all pretty new, and this is definitely taking our gaming, modelling, and imagination to the limits and beyond.

The gaming will come MUCH later, sorry to say, as we're starting from zero after a negative on our search for our existing Necro terrain. All of it will have to be made from scratch. It'll be a pretty pure P&M in the very beginning, with some fluff/short stories on our guys, and of course, PICTURES.

Thank you, Dakka Community, for inspiring the hobby- and a big shoutout to Migs et al, Xan, and Anodyr for providing us with with a start to this grand adventure!

So, without further ado, please enjoy your time here, and as always, constructive critiques/comments, and contributing ideas are always welcome! The title is tentative, until I get the other minds to agree on a non-biased "appropriate" title...

It Takes One to Know One - The Origins of Darius Veran by HF Izanagi

The short-range stealth-transport Raven's Claw cut silently through the blackness of the stars through Segmentum Pacificus, leaving a faint blue ion trail. Onboard, the steady vibrations of the engine created a gentle thrum- one that Veran found soothing, especially considering what he had just gone through within the past 48 Terran hours. He stared out of the portside observation window, contemplating what had come to pass and how he had been reduced to nothing more than a lapdog... "Inquisitor Darius Veran, to you..." Veran mused silently, "my mistake." smiling bitterly.

A liquid blue shadow steadily made its way through the overhead piping and rafters before flipping down silently behind him, several paces back. The movement in the reflection did not escape him.

"Agent Wagner... do that again, and I'll put a bullet through that accursed skull of yours... freak." Veran hissed venomously. The agent stood to her full height, a full head shorter than Veran, and draped in a black pieced-together armor suit. She released the grip on the sword strapped to her back, her spaded tail swishing back and forth like an entranced-cobra, a nonchalant smile on her face. Without the blue tint of her skin, Darius mused that she would have been a beauty, cursed to share that attribute with xenos-like traits.

"It takes one to know one... Inquisitor." Wagner spat back confidently with a smile, "So, why in the Emperor's name are we heading towards Jucha?" She strode next to the Inquisitor, not making eye contact. Instead, she chose to stare through the portal and let space take her.

"Orders." Inquisitor Veran replied curtly. Focusing on the stars, the hum of ship died, and had she tried to continue, he would not have heard his companion in his reverie.

-------

With the blessing and courage befitting a leader of the Guard, we present this medal to commemorate Darius Veran, for exemplary performance and graduation with honors from the Imperial Academy.

Darius Veran, age 22, had just graduated as one of the top 10 students in his class of thousands. And by top 10, it meant that he was the best of the best, having achieved identical scores and accolades as the other 9 hopefuls. He would enter the ranks of the Guard at a much higher position, and his family's influence would send him straight towards intelligence or at the very least, a position as a soon-to-be Commissar, given his academic records. His family's name, his honor, and his life was set. He could not have asked for a better way to begin his adult life. He was on his way to a celebration, no doubt lavish, thrown by his parents to commemorate this day. His parents had sent for him in a deluxe transport vehicle, a hybrid limo-APC that outdid the interior of all the rest of the Veran personal transports, if such a thing was possible.

"Master Darius, you have a private message coming to you on the com... securing line... privacy measures up... " his bodyguard/servitor droned as the glass on the transport tinted and the partition came up and obscured the driver.

"Answer." Darius sighed, knowing instinctively it was probably his parents, congratulating him and probably ready to give him keys to his own house somewhere in the northwestern spire sector.

"Greetings, Darius, and congratulations on your graduation." - the man on the opposite end was swathed in shadow, but from the contours was bald and dressed in a heavy robe. The one thing that caught his eye was a heavy-link chain draped on his neck- and below that a symbol of office- the Holy Inquisition.

"You honor me, Inquisitor, though you catch me off guard... I do not have the pleasure of your aquaintance..." Darius said amicably, hoping that he hid his anxiety well enough.

"You shall know me soon enough, but as you may have already deduced, I represent the Order of the Inquisition. I realize that you are probably on your way to a celebration to honor you and your achievements..." the Inquisitor said, his voice deep and sonorous "but a small matter has come to my attention... and desire an audience with you... immediately."

This time, Darius could not hide his wince. The Inquisition... a small matter... his mind was processing any and everything he had said in the past 6 months that would incriminate him in any way, shape or form.

"Your servitor has already been uplinked with the coordinates. You will be shown in to the facilities, and all we ask is that you surrender all arms at the door or leave them in your vehicle." the inquisitor continued, "Thank you, for your time."

Moments later, they arrived at the illustrious spire office of the Inquisition. The building stood like an ivory spear amongst the darkened steel somber buildings that surrounded it. The effect was lost on Darius, however, as he was ushered into the building silently by armed guards and servitors.

Darius was brought to the end of a hall, and golden doors swung open to receive him, and shut strongly behind. He strode into a circular room. It was a place of observation and judgement. A circular black/green marble floor stamped with the skull and =I= symbol, it was an auditorium with a raised, gilded-gold ring, and throne-like seats swathed in shadow to obscure the occupants. His eyes adjusted quickly and found the inquisitor he had spoken to, sitting in the centermost chair, features still as hidden as when he had recieved the transmit.

"Darius Veran, thank you for joining me today." the Inquisitor said, "My name is Augustus Falk- Inquisition Ordo Hereticus."

Darius bowed stiffly. Hereticus, rooting out treason, heresy, witches... mutations... he knew he was beginning to sweat- and he would be willing to bet his life any sane man would do the same in this same situation. His mind raced as he tried to find out exactly what reason they could possibly have for summoning him in a closed council.

As if of cue, Falk leaned forward and steepled his deeply veined hands in front of his face. His smooth pale head, deadened steel eyes and long aquilline nose made him very much a vulture: vicious-looking and deadly serious. He regarded Darius as a bird of prey would- cold and calculating. The inquisitor's eyes rolled back and showed white as he linked into the Inquisition database.

"Darius Veran, age 22, of the illustrious Veran family- your great-grandfather, Roma Veran, also graduated Academy honors, made his name in the spice trade, provided necessary transport during the most recent greenskin invasion into our sector, " Falk listed as he dictated the records linked to his implants, "Father, Cyril and mother Lynn... father has expanded the transport company to now include arms manufacture and transport... yours is one of the most wealthy families on this planet... have always supported the arts and the Academy..." Falk continued.

Darius coughed, abruptly stopping the inquistor. "I am in awe, but... I must ask... what is the nature of this meeting, Milord Falk?" he said, praying to anyone or anything that would listen, that they had not found anything incriminating.

"Ah, my apologies." Falk smiled, sending chills up Darius' spine, "Simply put... you are born from the stock of champions. But... we have... how do you say... found an anomoly in your records." Falk explained, pausing to let it sink in.

"I do not follow, sir. Am I... sick?" Darius feigned, knowing full well what it was, and hoping his paled complexion did not further implicate him.

"Come now, boy... your parents' money and influence have hidden it well. But you are... different. Special, wouldn't you say? A mutant?" Falk continued, obviously enjoying the lack of surprise on the boy's face... confirming his accusation.

"Your silence betrays you, boy." Falk said in a subdued, but menacing manner.

Darius balled his fists, knuckles white. He could feel the power gathering- one look, one single release, and he'd shatter the man- Inquisitor or not, psyker or not, with a blast of concentrated warp energy from his eyes. His mind was racing at the prospect, but still retained its characteristic cold and calculating nature- figuring escapes, entries, hides, probablities, angles of fire...

"I believe we told you to leave your weapons at the door... but I don't see any way you could leave behind the power in your eyes..." Falk chuckled, "and I wouldn't try it... this room is completely sealed, but the automated weaponry, among other things, is trained and ready to fire the moment I give the signal... or the moment my body detects damage or death."

"So you know..." Darius said, resigned, "Why draw this out? Why not hunt me down?! What do you want from me?!!" he screamed, turning his head sharply, the glow in his eyes readily visible- a guage and testament to his anger.

"I appreciate you turning your head... aha ha ha ha ha..." Falk laughed, a small trace of a smirk left as he continued, "You're right... if I wanted you dead, I need but snap my fingers to send the Veran name into ruin. Why not...? Let's just say... it's complicated."

"I am of the sort to fight fire with fire... one such as you, trained to be the best of the best by our standards, but having other 'gifts'... you would be more than a match for anything I could send, short of our more extreme options. However, I, myself, have conversed with Xenos... throne forbid, have traded knowledge and equipment with them. And I strongly believe that you are more useful to us alive than dead." Falk continued "You are not known as I know you... I've kept that information to myself and purged all notes in the records. To the rest of this world, you are Darius Veran, darling of the Veran clan, rising star of the Academy."

"I give you the choice- submit to my service, as an agent of the inquisition... or refuse, and be destroyed- your family in political and financial ruin." Falk said.

"Then the choice is already made for me, is it not?" Darius spat back. His shoulders slumped, a clear sign of his defeat.

"I knew you would see it my way..." The outer walls behind the inquisitor shifted open revealing viewing portals up to the ceiling, and the up-raised thrones fell to the same level as the floor, further elongating those portals. He stood and walked to the windows, beckoning Darius closer. Darius came to the side of the inquisitor, hands crossed behind his back in parade rest style. Despite his unease and hatred of the man, unable to stop his academy training overtaking his instincts.

"Did you know that in this world alone, there are over 500,000 unregistered psykers, wyrds, mutants, witches, and other heretics? The Ordo Hereticus is tasked with destroying every single one of these abominations... wasting this potential font of untapped power and resource." Falk said, eyes squinting against the fiery orange of dusk. "Most will never see past the age of 10, and survival into young adulthood is less than 0.01% due to the exacting nature of the Inquisition. But you have been spared... by your parents. By my good graces. I chose you... It must be you."

"And what would you have me do?" Darius questioned bitterly, "I am one of those many, as you have found out. You would be accused of treason if you did not take my life, right here. Right now." Darius turned to the inquisitor defiantly, hating and caring not about his future.

"There are others with far more obvious mutations, and those 'visibles', as we term them, are quickly culled when found. Should they survive- should they actually be able train their talents for practical use, assuming there is a practical aspect and not purely physical deformation... their survivablility rises exponentially." Falk said. It took a moment for Darius to realize that Falk had not been speaking to him directly, but rather, speaking to his mind. "You are not the first I've approached, Darius Veran. In fact, had you acted sooner, you would have met my aquaintance, Talia Wagner, for the first, and last time."

At that very moment, a blue and black bruise scaled the pillars down and gracefully landed behind the inquisitor's position. Swathed in a black leathery scarf and strap-laden armor, the new-comer stood silent, thoughtful. Aside from the inhuman "characteristics" such as the blue skin, spade-tip tail and malformed 3-digit talons as hands, Marius surmised the would-be assassin was a woman, and a young woman at that, judging by the bright yellow eyes hidden behind the black mask. Darius inclined his head slightly, a move mirrored by the assassin in quiet greeting.

Falk cut through the awkward silence by continuing, "Using my... sources... I've come into possession of certain knowledge- knowledge that has even the highest factions of the Inquisition mobilizing their pawns. The forces of Chaos have destroyed a colony world to take possession of a vital artifact- one we previously did not know existed. The warp tore that ship and its inhabitants apart and flung them all over our known universe. The artifact must not fall into the hands of the enemy.." Darius stood, warily watching the inquisitor's assassin as he listened. "You will face other xenos, greenskins, creatures of the warp, possibly other human targets. While training a group of academy hopefuls such as yourself for this purpose is an option, the chances of their survival is low... and their chances of recruiting more of you are extremely slim... I need you as my emissary. My right hand. To extend peace to our 'special' population... we need to show that we are on the same side- that we ARE them. Money, power, exoneration from past crimes, and security. That is what we will offer them. As one of the Inquisition, under my personal command, that is what I offer you, Darius."
-------------------------

Darius' world slowly came back into focus with a gentle nudge by his blue-skinned agent, having no idea how long he was lost in his memories.

"Did it hurt?" she said- obviously part of a longer conversation that he had missed.

"What do you mean?" he asked, looking her in the face, darkened for having been brought back from his thoughts, but slowly becoming composed. She tilted her head and asked again.

"I asked, 'Did it hurt?'- Saying goodbye to your family?" she asked again, with serious patience.

"I've just been cut off from the very people who gave me a life full of wealth, security and love. I'm dead to them- they don't know where I am, except that I met with some 'accident' that took my life! What do you think?!" Darius snarled, "Of course it hurts! That much is obvious, woman!"

"No sir, not to me. I've never had a family to lose. My apologies, sir, for asking." she said coldly, bowing and slowly turning on heel. Despite having the edge and snapping first, Darius was the one taken aback.

"Ta-Agent Wagner. I apologize for my manner.. this is a... sudden, and somewhat unwelcome change in my life." Darius said, "Our mission is to head to Jucha- Inquisitor Falk has released a profile for a potential recruit."

Talia stopped and turned, nodding in acceptance. "Who is it?"

Walking to a console and picking up a metal ring-binder folio, Darius ran off "Female, estimated mid 20s, freelance assassin. Goes by the names 'Talon', or '23'. Real name, unlisted. No information on how those code-names came about. If anything, she's like us- different. Falk has her marked as an anomoly that he's taken great pains to hide, but has no details on what about her is special." Darius said as he scanned the profile. "All I know is that she is a candidate for our mission. We'll find out when we get there." he said as he passed the file to his agent.

"And how will we know when we meet her?" Talia mused as she skimmed the contents. "And how will we convince her if she's content or unwilling?"

"As you said, Agent. It takes one to know one... we will offer our protection... or we will give her death."

FIN

Pics of Inquisitor Veran and Agent Wagner TONIGHT

We'll all await some pictures of this then...

Intriguing and most welcome - would be awesome to follow all the gangs in one blog like we did

Looking forward to more!!!

Migs, thank you for gracing us with your presence!

That's definitely how we want to do this- we want to have all of our material gathered in one place, so no one is left out and we can all see what we're working on. From what I've heard, the others are coming along nicely with their fluff/bitz-gathering/modelling.

I'll be holding the fort down this week, and this weekend, we have a "conference" to discuss the fine points, take pics of WIPs, etc. for the other members.

Looking forward to find out more. But looking forward to pictures more so. The stuff in your gallery is good.

Peter

Thanks PDH! I appreciate that. I hope the pics for tonight are up to standard!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Alright. As promised, pictures of the initial two characters from the above story. Originally, this Inq band was supposed to be bad. Pure and simple- an Inq lead by a corrupt mentor and be filled with a rogue psyker, a daemonhost, and 2 standard agents for retinue. Oh, and someone else, who I hadn't quite planned yet.



But after a night of drinking w/ Monsier Zakkennaya, thinking about how this gang was supposed to be a group of misfits/untouchables... something about it sparked "mutant" to me. And being an avid comic-book reader and artist, I couldn't help but make parallels to the miniatures I had in my possession and people they "could" be.. but I promised tasteful conversions, so I hope I can deliver. If you know who they represent, kudos- it makes me happy. If you don't know who they are, it's not a big thing- I hope you appreciate them for what they are- converted minis. Also, before seeing any of the works from other blogs, I always made their bases fit in either the 25mm or 40mm size. Huge bases overflowing with detail had never crossed my mind... But here's my attempt to think outside of the box and detail them for the sake of detail.
Ladies and gentlemen, the beginning of the =I= Men...


Inquisitor Darius Varen- Inquisitor/ Mutant in service to Lord Augustus Falk, Ordo Hereticus


Inquisitor Veran: Pre-Hair mode- Miniature cleaned, and most of the soul-gem/Eldar iconography filed clean off




Boots tops added, currently 3rd attempt at his hair... honestly, I'm not too fond of the Bon Jovi going on- love Bon Jovi, it just doesn't do it for me for this miniature... yup. It's official- I hate it. Next round, the work I do on this will have Veran with his new hair...




Side-View of crap haircut... I'm still working on his other arm- currently using copper wire, GS, and bits to make a wrist-mounted blaster



Agent Talia Wagner- personal bodyguard to Lord Falk, now agent to Inq. Veran



Initial work- I pinned the head into the neck slot, rolled GS over a copper wire, drilled a hole at the base of the spine, slightly above the waist.




Hand Detail- and I have no idea why, but a GS Terminus Crux- if you know the character, you'll know the the original is highly religious- that, and I wanted to make it a bit more personal




Back View- GS'd tail and tail spade... I did the moulding of the tail directly on the dry GS tail-body itself- it was time-consuming, and I'm sure there was probably a better way to go about it.

Anyways, that's a small set for now. I've got more work and more pics to come up with- I'll try to update as often as I can, but I'm hoping the other members can contribute later on-This hobby has work, married life, and MBA to contend with.


Oh yea, there were a couple more pictures I didn't put up here - more of the same, if you wanted other views of either Wagner or Veran. They're in my gallery. Thanks for stopping by- as always, constructive comments and critiques are always welcome!

My apologies... the third writer has come. Please welcome Eyvinr when he comes to post his material on our =I= Munda Blog!

Love the writing you put up there, really characterful. I also like how you managed to distinguish Talia from the character she's based on. "Bruise" - nice metaphor.
The models are looking good so far though it's a little hard to see the detail on the metal parts (not that that's what you're done yourself). One minor criticism I have is that Talia's tail looks way, way too big. If I were modelling her I'd maybe halve the length AND the girth to make her look more lithe and stealthy. Right now it's about the same thickness as her arms and if you look at pictures of the character she's based on, his is about an inch thick or so.
Hope you don't mind my offer of advice!

This looks promising~now lets see some paint on these beauties!

_Tim?

Oooh, nice fluff! Looking forward to another dose of =I=munda goodness!

@jackanory - Yea... I actually was thinking the same thing. If these guys are going to be pinnacle pieces, then I'd better try and do it right the first time- I had the feeling I was "on a roll" when doing it.

@Tim - Thank you very much! Tonight, I'm planning a re-do of Veran's hair, and a redo of Talia's tail- that ish is waaaay too thick/big. Time to take it easy and take my time on it. Painting is coming a bit later... I'm trying to finish up the conversions on the team first- I'm at this point with these two, and at a similar point for 2 more characters- Talon and one more to be revealed with another installment of origin fluff.

If I have the time, I'll either post the new ones tonight or Wed afternoon. I should have some work done on "23/Talon" to go along with it too, so you know I'm not just recycling old material!

Thanks again for stopping by!

I'm exactly the same. I'm always reluctant to go back and rework stuff I'm not entirely happy with though with me it's more about laziness haha!

That inquisitor is looking very nice!

Thanks! He's about half-done, so stay tuned for the additions (and subtractions) that go into him, as well as the rest of the team!

@ Vitruvian- Holy crap. Just saw your Ad Mech Necro guys. Friggin' sweet! Really digging the paint job on those!

And here comes the next installment, continuing the origin adventures of Inq. Veran and Agent Wagner- Enjoy!

The Fangs of Jucha

The sweltering jungles of Jucha bowed to the Raven's Claw's wake before its flora swallowed the craft whole. Darius' experience landed the craft smoothly, his hands and eyes darting over the control console with mechanical precision.

"Ambient temp... hot." Darius said disgustedly as he read the displays and reviewed the prospective recruit's file one last time. "This is her last known location. The Inquisitor's encrypted data updated via comlink... 5 hours ago. "

Rising up from the cockpit seat, he eyed his current outfit. His fur-lined coat, while comfortable in the cold of space, would hinder him in the thick jungle. He stripped down to his armored flight-suit and removed all of his hanging weaponry. Meanwhile, he spied Talia in the main compartment. She held out her sword with one hand, tying her trailing scarf round her shoulders in a figure-eight with the other and her teeth in an unbelievable few seconds- the scarf held up the loose folds of her gear, making it the equivalent of his own armor. It reminded him of the ancient terran warrior caste from a place the records referred to as Nippon, where being able to tie off the sleeves of their clothing in such a manner was a very good indication of the quality of their swordplay. If that were true, she was as quick and as deadly as Falk claimed.

Finishing his armor preparation, Darius moved back to the command console and entered in a few commands. "Firing probe." he said absently as he continued to work, the clacking and whizzing of the keys and dials absorbing his thoughts. The probe fired off with a hiss, forcing its way through the canopy and stayed in the sky momentarily, pulsing its invisible feelers to absorb the information from the surrounding area. It came back down a moment later and relayed the data to the ship.

-------------------------------------

Talia was finishing her preparations in the main compartment when she heard hysterical laughter from the cockpit. She tore her sword from its sheath and bound into the cockpit, only to find Darius laughing or crying into his hands. Looking up and seeing her, he composed himself, then proceeded to fill the cockpit with a stream of colorful curses, beautifully strung together.

"Inquisitor? Is everything alright?" Agent Wagner drew closer, sword held in reverse grip, the blade running up the back of her arm.

"... in a word. No- look at these 'thermal' scans." Darius said as he moved over, "very informative, wouldn't you say?"

The scans were a bright orange and yellow, the natural heat of the planet and the life inhabiting destorting any sort of information that could be gleaned from what should have been a useful scan. In addition, Darius had put in parameters for the probe to note, particularly anything fitting a certain shape, weight, and build ratio- aka a human running/walking or loping on two or four limbs. What came back were various scans of different animals that matched several of the parameters, but otherwise useless thermal images in purple of what they were not in search for.

Talia looked the scans over, cocked her head thoughtfully, but then left to find her sword sheath. "Looks like we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way." she said dejectedly as she sauntered back to the main compartment.

--------------------------------------------

The side panel of the Raven's Claw hissed open into a canopy and launch ramp. Darius strode down, taking a moment to absorb the radical change in temperature from the inside of the ship to the dense humidity of Jucha. Talia came down a moment later, and after a brief consultation with Darius' wrist-mounted hologrid, they ventured towards their prey's location. "There shouldn't be anyone here within 300 clicks, so weapons free." Darius said. Immediately, his agent leapt up one of the trees, rapidly scaling up the tree in an almost spiral pattern. She tapped at her comlink to test, and Darius tapped back indicating he was recieving.

After about an hour of searching, Talia broke silence, although she wouldn't have been surprised if her leader hadn't already noticed. "Inquisitor, hold. Clearing up ahead... no signs of life." Talia strode through the trees, flipping gracefully and utilizing her tail as another gripping appendage to sail in the air to the target with speed.

Darius too, had smelled what Talia was noting. The unmistakeable smell of rotting flesh- and burning. As he came into the clearing, Talia landed beside him, the two having a pre-decided plan to circle the encampment to survey before entering.

"Mercs. About 8 of them... I recognize several of the patterns of lasrifle they have- they were definitely from Joura." Darius said as he picked up a forlorn weapon- it had been sectioned into three pieces. "Good guns... didn't do them any good though." It was a massacre. Shots had been fired wildly, decimating the leaves and tree trunks surrounding the camp, as well as the supply boxes and tents. Darius looked over at his agent, who was striding over in a different area. A sudden groan and she had literally disappeared, vaulting behind cover and pulling out her silenced autopistol. Darius instinctively went to ground, and heard a faint shuffle and moan.

"Survivor." Darius whispered into his comlink. He heard a double-tap into his receiver, and at that moment, slipped out, readying his wrist-mounted blaster. The hunt turned out to be a disappointment, the target whimpered and crawled out slowly. Darius immediately went to work.

Kneeling and bringing the man face to face by his collar, Darius noted the man was burned from the waist down and had several deep gouges in his chest, almost would have certainly been cut apart if not for his armor. "Who are you?" he growled, "And who did this to you?"

"Gu-hnnnngh!" The man's eyes flung wide open, despite his wounds, he flailed about, and tried to further himself, "No! NO! Please!! I'm finished!" he pleaded to no one in particular. His backwards movement was stopped when his reaching gauntlet contacted the flat of Agent Wagner's sword. Looking back, the surprise flung him 90 degrees, in between both agents. "Not... not it..." he gasped, "animal... claws..." Talia gave an imperceptible nod to Darius, confirming their direction.

"Who? What did you see?" Darius continued as he moved slowly and knelt beside the man once again. At this point, the man was beyond incoherent. He was delirius.

"Inquisitor, he's done." Agent Wagner said as she drew up beside him.

"No. Not yet. He's a witness." he said. The mercenary seemed to understand the final passing conversation, and looked towards Darius, wide-eyed. The Inquisitor removed his targeting recticle and instantly sent a wide shaft of pure, incandescent energy into the man cradled in his arm. Talia took a step back as the world seemed to darken around the intense light and heat projected from Darius' eyes. As quickly it had begun, the light cut off, leaving the blackened bottom-half of the man, arms fallen to the floor. Behind Darius' arm was a lined crater of scorched and tossed earth, shimmering and sizzling.

Darius looked up at his agent, her eyes cold and unemotional. At that moment, a flicker passed her eyes and the two dove away from the remains of the dead mercenary. Right where Darius had been a second before, a blur landed with a heavy thud. Darius and Talia gathered themselves, instinctively brandishing their weapons. Darius' eyes were glowing once again, and his hand was raised, blaster at the ready. The blur threw off a canvas to reveal a young woman, tanned dark from the sun with platinum blond hair.

"Finally. We've been looking for you." Darius said, weapons still trained on the target. He immediately thought of the sectioned- lasrifle and regarded her hands, each dripping with blood and ending with twin blades the size of stilettos- She had done that. The woman smiled, spat on the ground, and again blurred into motion, a whirling dervish of steel heading straight for Talia. Smart girl, Darius thought. It made him absolutely useless, unless he thought decimating both his current and potential teammates were acceptible losses. Talia quickly threw away her pistol, preparing to take on the incoming storm.

Talia was not without her defenses, parrying lightning fast strikes with parries of her own. Her blade had reach, and her mastery insured that they maintained a safe distance. The other was also fast and brutal, the opposite of the woman- and scored a shallow tag in the agent's unarmored shoulder. The woman's frenzy was stopped as she locked claws with Talia's blade, the agent taking the advantage by using her tail to grasp the woman's leg and toss her on her back with a flick and smashing the hilt of her sword into 23's temple.

The woman fell on her back, and spun back up like a helicopter immediately. "Fething assassin... you'll pay for that." she growled, her temple a red ruin. "Try that tail-thing again... I dare you..." she baited, as more blades viciously cut out from her shins, her legging armor falling away.

In the lull, Darius let off three quick blasts in succession, creating a triangle of small smoking craters around the woman. "No... you try that again, and I'll make sure there won't be enough of you left to put into a med-vial." Darius countered, "we're not here to fight, Talon... 23... which is it?"

"Hah! You could have fooled me." the woman snorted derisively, not coming out of her defensive crouch. "So talk."

"We represent the Inquisition- someone out there has been bleeding resources to 'protect' people like us. And he wants you to join us. In exchange, we'll protect you from prying eyes, stop any debts or crimes from following you, and you become like us- kill whoever gets in our way. Our benefactor is looking for something, and will pay anything to have you on our team." Darius explained. "I'm not unreasonable, but you're wasting my time. Join us. Help us. And you'll get whatever you want. Or I can ash you right here, right now."

"So... that's it?" the woman questioned, "I join your team and all of this disappears?" she gestured.

"Or die." Talia interjected. The woman shot back knives to the agent, the agent's sword in return lifting into a relaxed but ready position.

"Enough.. The choice is yours. Make it now." Darius stated. He lowered his arm, but kept his glowing eyes on her.

The woman thought for a moment, standing upright and her claws retracting back into her arms and shins, leaving a trail of gore- hers mixed with a bit of Talia's. "Alright.. Count me in. But if this deal sinks, I'm going after both of you... then I'm going after whoever it is sent you." the woman said non-chalantly.

"Fair enough." Darius replied with a smirk, "You'll probably have a partner in me if that happens..." He liked the clawed fiend's attitude. It reminded him of his first years in academy before it was beaten out of him. "First off. Names. I'm Inquisitor Darius Veran. " he paused, this being the first time he had ever used his title in any formal situation. "Any of those words in any combination is fine when referring to or addressing me. We represent the Ordo Hereticus, but we're not hunting so much as recruiting. And you know my agent, Talia Wagner."

Talia nodded curtly, keeping her injured shoulder visible to their new team-member. "Ah, my name is Lara. Kinsi. Call me 23. Or Talon... did I do that?" the woman said in greeting, cocking her head insultingly towards the other agent.

"Agent... 23. That'll do. Welcome to the team." Darius continued, "We have others to find. Let's go. Is there anything you need before we depart?"

"No, all I own is- FETHING HELL! YOU SHOT ME!!!" 23 screamed suddenly as she gripped her shoulder. She turned back a murderous glare to the other agent.

Talia smiled, "Now we're even. I was under orders to take you in. Alive..." she looked over with genuine curiosity at the flesh wound she had given. "What, can't heal that?"

"No, you idiot!! This is what makes me a mutant!" she said, twin claws shooting up once again from between her knuckles. "It takes time to heal!! This hurts EVERY SINGLE TIME!!!" she seethed as Talia cocked her head in mock innocence.

"MOVE OUT!" Darius commanded. As he began his trek back to the Claw he mused to himself, "Throne, why did they have to be women...?"


FIN

I'll try to get some pictures of Agent 23 tonight. If not, tomorrow afternoon.

WOW awesome stuff, here, but I agree with the others, the tail needs to be less thick.

Hehe, its nice to be appreciated! I wish my group would take the plunge into inquisimunda, maybe some day...

I absolutely love the fluff, feels like reading a Dan Abnett novel! Keep up the great work!

This is very well written. Kudos on your mastery of Fluff-Fu sir !!!! You have some true talent with the pen, well, keyboard in this case.

@Vitruvian/BtMask - Thank you both! I don't think I'd have the stamina to write an entire novel, but the story is what's driving these characters to look like as they do- without it, I might as well use standard minis. I'm glad you're enjoying it!

New pics... VERY SOON. Revised Cyclo... er... Inquisitor Veran, Talia's tail, and introducing... X-23.

The fluff is good, but you need some more practise with greenstuff! The models have potential though...

@Malika- Thank you for the visit- very true about the GS. I've gone through half a tape from GW fixing some of my stuff. Check out the newest picture update, I hope they meet with your approval!

As promised to current readers (and myself ) I did more work instead of more important issues, like my MBA homework. Following the written fluff yesterday, I decided to work/complete Talon aka 23, re-do the the hair, and redo the agent's tail.

Ladies and gentlemen, the amazing =][=Men progess-

Here is the revised-tail in the works. It won't be as long, but that was about as thin as I could get it without using bare copper wire... in my experience, the transition from the putty to the bare copper is never smooth, no matter how much filing/sanding I do... and filing/sanding is still to be done, as well as a smaller spade tail.



Before Talon was Talon, she was known as Agent Libra. This is her, on top of her "crazy base". Yes, before you all start flaming, it was the first base I had created... and immediately after, felt like I went overboard. But I'm keeping it... I've grown to like it, actually. Makes the model feel like it's going to jump and swoop off, like a certain assassin from an awesome Ubisoft franchise...


[b]Talon- Freelance Assassin, now sworn Agent to Inquisitor Veran[/b]

Agent Talon- pretty much complete. I greenstuffed two holstered-pistols to make her a gunslinger when she's not ripping into people with her claws. I also GS'd two '][' symbols- one on her gauntlet, and one on her abdomen plate. That was a to do...


Talon Side View- If you look back at the original miniature, there's a chain that wraps around the char's shoulders and snakes down the arms. I cut/filed that down as best I could. I also felt like giving the model some motion, so I modeled a GS scarf... yea, I was playing a bit of that Ubisoft franchise yesterday, I'm sorry.



Another Side View



Front View- Clear view of her '][' symbols on the gauntlet and abdomen armor. This model is pretty much finished... I just need to finish the base and file down some GS...



And finally, here is a little bit more work on Inq. Veran. As I said before, I despised the franken-haircut I gave him previously. Here he is with his new "shorter" 'do.


Front-shot of his new hair, plus work on his Force Spear. Still needs the GS for detailing and sealing the wire. LOL... he looks like a member of a boyband... a nice tribute to his straight-laced counterpart in the comic universe...


One final shot- If you look at the original miniature, his other hand is splayed open- I currently have a wrist-mounted blaster a la Boba Fett on it, but I had an idea yesterday to lay some sort of long/flat debris (tank trap part, broken lamp post/sign,) on top of the junk he's got his foot on... kinda like he's making his way through the ruins... any thoughts and suggestions?


Anyways, that's the newest on my end. If anything, anyone have any suggestions on Agent 23's base (I really gotta figure out what to call her- 23 or Talon...) to improve it- too busy? MORE debris? I'm not going to change it to something else, despite the fact I've now put her a full head over cover, I like the swooping feel to it... but any critiques for improvement to the base itself are most welcome. Oh yea, and Veran's base... moving through the junk, or should I have him pointing his wrist-blaster?

As always, thanks for stopping by! Want more? Check out more images that didn't make the "cut" in my gallery! And like before, constructive comments and critiques are always welcome!

Loving the bases!

The new hair on Darius looks great, sort of unkempt.

Talon is wicked cool as well, really good work.

Thanks man! I dig the new hair much more too! And sadly, I think Talon is my favorite as well... aha ha ha hah... she was and continues to be inspired work. She's pretty much done, and will probably be the first one to be painted...

Alright... another installment of =I= Munda fluffy goodness! Enjoy! If I can get to it, I'll be doing pics this afternoon as well of the new character, among other new developments.


Coming Together

Darius awoke to the sounds of singing metal, immediately jumping out of his bunk. Wearing only his sleeping robe, he strode out of his quarters, eyes glowing and ready.

It had been a tense two days, his newly-inducted agent having few words or even hostile glares towards his first. Agent Talia responded in turn with her cold and arrogant fashion. Finally, it had come to blows. Darius half-considered blowing a hole through the wall and sending them both into the depths of space, then starting over in recruitment. Darius decided to stand by and watch the exchange.

The two women circled and darted in and out of each other's perspective ranges, feral cats aiming to draw blood. Agent Talia struck first, using her tail to throw the end of her scarf towards her opponent in a feint- one that 23 didn't fall for. She responded in turn by jumping back, and using the wall to immediately spring forward, her claws scissoring in a fierce double-slash. Talia fell to her knees and went on the flat of her back, looking almost like crude oil spilled from a raised position. As 23 passed over, she kicked out with both of her legs, sending 23 flying into the opposite wall. 23 responded quickly by twisting her body in mid-air, landing on the ground and dashing forward to lock blades with Talia.

Darius smiled at the exciting exchange of blows- the two radical styles complimenting themselves perfectly. He had seen holovids in Academy of Astartes fighting greenskins, eldar... at first, it reminded him of a classic Astartes and greenskin confrontation, but he quickly rescinded that thought. There was no doubt that greenskins were furious opponents, but compared with these two women, their dance of war was power wielded in an almost clumsy fashion. No, he thought, this was more akin to Astartes making war with their own traitor bretheren. The Astartes were raw speed and power combined and sharpened of centuries of warfare. Like the previous empires of Ancient Terra, they had many different names for the basic slashing/stabbing weapon known commonly as a sword- estoc, katana, khanda, kris, rapier, zweihander... all of these were masterfully refined weapons for the purpose of spilling blood in their own special ways. Darius' smile and thoughts ended abruptly, his smile ending when he noticed that 23 had stopped her backslide using her claws on the deck floor- scarring it deeply in 4 different places.

"You... you're good assassin..." Talia grunted as she threw her weight into breaking the blade-lock, "but not good enough to take me down." Expertly, she transformed the parry into a flourish into a strike within a blink of an eye, aimed at Agent 23's thigh. However, at the last second, she turned the edge and struck with the flat of the blade, rewarded with a meaty thwack.

"FETH!!" 23 cursed as she gripped her thigh. Her hands were bloody, though it was not from any attacks today. 23 was born with sharp bone-like extrusions that, when mentally commanded, would come ripping from between her knuckles in a bloody explosion. Sometime in her past, she had them sheathed in a quality alloy and turned them into deadly, concealable punching daggers. "One of these days..." she panted in a half-hearted threat. Tucking both claws to her sides, they readied for another round.

Darius broke their concentration with his clapping, the sound echoing around the metal hold. The two women immediately lowered their weapons and casually saluted the Inquisitor before dipping both of their heads to each other in a shallow bow.

"Apologies, Inquisitor, for waking you." Talia immediatly started. Darius cut her off with a wave of his hand.

"No apology necessary. I'm thorougly impressed." Darius said with a curt return bow. "I'm glad to see you two are getting along."

Agent 23 immediatly grimaced, "I wouldn't call it that..." she motioned with her thumb to Talia, who had sheathed her blade and leaned against the nearest bulkhead. "Just staving off boredom, more like. Care to join us?" 23 suddenly lunged forward with a skipping side-kick, quickly covering two body-lengths of distance, aiming straight for Darius' stomach.

With a quick movement, Darius accepted the rib-shattering blow. 23's smile died on her face when she saw that he had rolled with the blow on purpose. His hands were on the ball and heel of her foot- he had remembered her foot blades. With a violent twist, he sent her spinning in the air and falling to the ground in a push-up position. "Only if we agree on NOT using our powers.. You're at a decided advantage in this enclosed area, whereas if I miss, I'll kill us all." he smiled wryly.

Unexpectedly, 23 found the sheath of Talia's sword near her head. Begrudgingly, she accepted it and pulled herself to her feet. "Alright... perhaps another time..." she said, "besides, I've already gone a round with Blue over here." motioning with her head to Talia.

At that moment, the overhead auto-pilot chimed in, "Alert: Approaching Urdesh industrial district coordinates. ETA, 30 minutes."

Darius nodded, "Agents, prepare yourselves. Meet in the cockpit in 10 minutes." he ordered. The two saluted sharply and dispersed to their own personal chambers to prepare.

-----------------------------------------------------

"This time we have two people we're looking for." Darius stated as he pointed to a flickering beacon on the hologrid of the planet Urdesh. "Good news is, these two work with each other, so our presence is minimized on the planet." The flickering beacon pulsed for a last time before dying, the entire map reconfiguring into a 3-d wire model that represented the factory sector they were to enter. "We'll be landing here. I want coverage, here and here." Darius continued as he pointed to several areas, those areas lighting up.

"Targets?" 23 questioned. Above the neon-green layout, a picture of two men came up. Shortly after, information began listing off underneath each photo.

"Solomon Dyer. Known aliases 'Solomon the Eye', 'Dirty Solomon', and 'the Professor'. Was a prominent local iterator, strong focuses on promoting Ordo Hereticus' ideals." Darius explained. "Unlike you, 23, our benefactor has provided some information about his powers- variation Beast Wyrd. Limited mental domination, except on humans. Telepath, and limited psychokinesis.... interesting."

Darius continued with the second picture. "Jean Phourus. No known aliases. Amazing- this one can create fire..." he wondered at this target, "I'm surprised he's never been caught- when we meet, we'll have to be sure to ask how he trained his talents..." he mused. "Computer. Hack local PDF and open Inquisitorial channels using authorization Sigma, Sigma, Delta, Zero, Eight, Eight. Confirm."

Immediately, the photos of the men disappeared, and several radiowave monitors appeared, some dead, some bursting with activity. Darius touched a particular channel of the PDF displaying heavy activity.

...**SKRSHHHSH** " I repeat! Back-up requested! PDF badge# 76503, we have officers down- in pursuit of two... subjects! Using fire... consider armed and da-**SKA-TSSSHH** Requesting Ordo support!" the radioband transmitted choppily. Darius immediately went into action and called out a counter order to the computer.

"Jamming. NOW. Authorization code 'Benefactor'." Darius commanded the machine. Immediately, the smooth waves became jagged and narrow. Nothing was coming through now. "Team, prepare to descend! I want those two!! ALIVE!" he yelled as he jumped into the cockpit.

-------------------------------------------

Swooping down, the Raven's Claw cracked into range before slowing down to cruising speed. Both side hatches opened, filling the vehicle with violent intake.

"GO! GO! GO! Protect them!" Darius yelled over the wind as both Agents jumped from either side of the plane. Darius closed the portals, placed the cutter into direction and programmed the auto-pilot to lead the way. As the vehicle careened, he saw both of his agents open their break-chutes to cut the descent before slipping out and making their way into the abandoned and ruined area of the factory sector. The targets were still running, no doubt thinking the airship was another pursuing vehicle. Slipping his own break-chute on, he took one last look at the magnified displays. A small column of troops and an APC were making their way through the district to barricade the targets' escape.

Quickly, he rearranged the coordinates and had the computer acknowledge them. "Intercept course. Acknowledged." the computer confirmed.

-----------------------------------------------

23 stole a quick glance at Talia as they dropped. The other Agent's break-chute opened for a split second before she slipped it off, making use of jutting portions of rebar sticking out from the ruined plascrete structures. See-sawing down using her hands, feet, and tail, she quietly slipped into what was the 3rd floor walkway of an old refinery. 23 herself was headed to the opposite factory, a toppled, but solid smokestack from a larger furnace facility. She broke away from her chute, and slid down the chute to ground level, using the claws in her hands to slow her descent. As she hit the ground, she looked up to see their cutter release one more passenger before circling around. She saw Darius plummeting to the ground, before seeing an explosion of light slice through the shadowed interiors of the skeletal building frames- their leader was using the force of energy to slow his descent.

The mission was on.

-------------------------------------

"Move! Move! Move!" the PDF captain barked as the detachment made its way through the rubble. Information was scarce at this point, but if they required this many men to take out two hostiles, something was very wrong. He sent a squad through the remains of the administorum building several moments ago.

"Squad Alpha, Squad Beta, report position. Captain, long-range comms still down." his man on the comms called out and reported.

Alpha sounded off first. "Alpha, no signs of-hold. We- *thwip* *thwip* *thwip*". The communication died suddenly, but the captain knew the distinct sound of silencers. Whoever these two were, they had help.

Beta yelled out after, "SCATTER! We're under attack! Multiple hostiles!" the soldier yelled before cutting off the vox.

The captain had his detachment group closer to the APC, weapons at the ready. As they prepared to funnel into wide valley of rubble between two ruins, a man in a long coat stepped out from the opposite side. The captain threw up a fist, and in one swift wave, the entire detachment stopped.

"Identify yourself!" the PDF captain cried out. "This is a restricted area! Leave now or we will use hostile force!" Several men took cover behind larger chunks of rubble and twisted steel. The APC's autocannon swung and aimed in the lone man's direction.

Darius smiled. He flourished his force spear, ending it in the crook of his arm. "DIIIIIEEEE!!!" he screamed. In that moment, the chatter of the autoguns and the APC's larger caliber shells filled the air with stacatto cracks. The inquisitor's eyes lit up, sending an unstoppable wave of incandescent power down the alley. The bullets were stopped and tore away before the torrent. The concrete and armor of the APC stripped away like sand in a desert storm before the APC could no longer hold its weight- the charred carcass of the machine flinging off behind the men. Men who stood their ground screamed as they shrank to blackened parodies of themselves before cracking and dusting away into ash.

The landscape that the detachment funnelled into looked as though a miniature sun had been rolled through, creating scorched concave indentations in the ground and ruined walls. Darius fell to one knee and heaved in exertion. "Agents. The rest is up to you." he breathed heavily into his com.

---------------------------------------------------

"Run, Jean, RUN!!" Solomon gasped as he threw his hand back absently, a wave of debris following it to slow their pursuers. For some reason, he hit the leaner, more athletic man, and stumbled to the ground. Looking up, he was surrounded by a group of angry PDF soldiers, who had hidden in the rubble, trapping them. And his final move had cut off their only way out.

"Mutant scum. Your time is up.." one of the lead soldiers growled. The soldiers closed the circle, as the man known as Jean immediately set his hands on fire while his older companion lifted a small laspistol and stave in his hands.

As if by magic, one of the soldiers flew apart, his head and one arm flying towards the trapped duo and his legs sent off into the distance. The spray of blood caught some of the soldiers, who shook their heads, as if their spell-bound trance had been broken. On the opposite side of the circle, a man fell to his knees, his head missing. The confusion was building as yet another soldier screamed in pain, his arms bloody stumps fountaining a ground-staining red.

Without the order, the PDF opened fire at the two frightened men. The man with the flaming hands stood in front of the older man, taking the brunt of the lasfire, crumpling to the floor in a sizzling heap. The chaos and carnage continued as more men stood dead before knowing it. The captain, last to fall, uttered a cry of despair before he his body fell apart into several neatly sliced chunks, sided by two young women with gore-stained bladed weaponry.

"Solomon. Professor." Darius yelled out as he joined his teammates. He hid bitter disappointment at seeing the scorched and punctured corpse of the pyrokinetic he had hoped to recruit. "Stand down. We're here to talk."

Solomon ogled the women obviously before turning his gaze to Darius. "Your ladies-in-waiting saved me, boy. My thanks!" he cried jovially, "What's this about talking?"

Darius was about to speak when he noticed Agent 23, her eyes closing in and out, as if she were drowsy. "We want you to join us," Darius said, as he kept his eyes on the man, but watched from the corner of his eye as his newest agent seemed to look at her hands as if for the first time. His agent seemed to compose herself, gritting her teeth before running her claws over her arm in two bright lines of red, seemingly regaining 100% of her faculties. At that very moment, Talia dashed behind the man, blade at his throat.

"Inquisitor- this man used the other as a bullet shield. I saw it. He's a coward. And he'll do the same to us." Talia growled. The man was sweating profusely as he slowly turned to meet the gaze of 23.

"You filthy sump-rat..." 23 said as she stepped close, running her two blades caressing the man's lined face. "It won't work anymore. Pain... keeps you out of my head." she said, as she ran her other bladed hand around his crotch. "And maybe, pain'll keep you in your own head... yea?" She suddenly tapped the blades against his robed pants, red fury in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Solomon. I have to agree with my agents... your powers are a liability." Darius said as he shook his head.

The man should have wet himself, but he began laughing hysterically. "Aha... hah... hah... I'm sorry! I just had to try!!" he whooped between laughs. 'You're not here to kill me, I assume you're here to hire me? DEFEND THE EMPIRE? Ahaha ha ha ha a!!" the man, gently removed the sword at his throat and pushed 23 away in an equally gingerly way.

"I am known as the Professor. I am at your service. You know my powers, this is yet another- I have linked us all together, through me. They think, and you can hear them. I swear my life to you and your two agents that I will not work my powers against you again." the man said a serious tone, a clear message that could be heard by all of them.

"My name is Inquisitor Darius Veran, Ordo Hereticus. Mark my words, Professor. If I find that you have had your way with any of my agents, against their will, this 'boy' will visit upon you such exquisite pain that you'd think I had taken private lessons from the Dark Prince of Pleasure himself. If you speak to, look at, or even breathe in a way that displeases them, or myself... we will destroy you." Darius sent back in a mental wave of blackish purple energy. At that moment, he felt a glowing golden throb pulse subtly in both of his female wards, before their mental images grew reddish-black and menacing.

"I hear, and obey..." Solomon bowed back.

"And one more thing... don't you ever call me 'boy' again." Darius shot before breaking the connection with a mental shove to the Professor.

FIN

Cool stuff.

I like the story so far and the models are good. Bases I quite like the ruffled hair on Darius. To me it screams I've spent years at a military academy and now this....so sod the parade ground appearance.

The ladies are looking good too. I agree the tail was a bit cumbersome. The new one looks better already.

I'm looking forward to seeing them painted.

Cheers

Peter

Whoo hoo!! 600 views in the course of what, 3 days?? Amazing! Thank you all for stopping by! I'm happy people come by and look... you know what'd make me even happier? If people commented on what they saw and read... you like it? Please say so! It drives myself and the other contributing members to greater heights. (of insanity) What you read and see displeases you? Tell me why!
I can't promise I'll change it, but I'd like to know.

Anyways, without further ado, I present the latest pics (in a lull at work) of Solomon Dyer, Inq. Veran, and the gang!

Solomon Dyer AKA The Professor, unregistered psyker/wyrd in service to Inq. Veran

Side View 1 - The guy is still missing a hand, and I personally think this is the most put-together base I have, while Veran's is decidedly lower on the scale. I snapped an SM Rhino kit side door in two, scarred it a bit, and put it as a landform for one foot while using a pewter armor plate from an old 90s Predator kit for his other foot. Yes, that's a shaved down 'Nid head by his feet.. think sump monster with no real bearing...



Front View- I'm thinking he needs an =][= symbol somewhere, maybe hanging from his belt. Oh yea, and he's missing his hand, I'll be doing that once I know I'm done with my greenstuff work



Back View- For his gun to represent a lascarbine, I sawed off the front nub and drilled a hole, making it something akin to a Bullpup style rifle, lacking the shorter barrel protrusion of classic assault rifles. I also stuck some grenades to his folds and greenstuffed a rope to have them dangling there.



Yesterday, while staring at Veran's wrist-blaster hand, I had an idea. I wasn't pleased with the stiff hand at his side like some sort of soldier, and I really wasn't sold on the idea of him crawling through ruins, his hand being used to guide his way through. So, I tore off the original blaster, gs, and wiring, and chopped the arm in two... and before I knew it... OPTIC BLAST!!


Being cut, the proportions of the arm were totally off, so after filing a lot of the arm off, I actually started by gluing the fingers/forearm portion to Veran's temple before gluing the arm. Now all it needs is greenstuff to remodel the lost detail... I'm actually thinking of using greenstuff to simulate small waves to either side of dust as he releases a deadly blast... we'll see. Or maybe he'll just be prepping a shot. Haven't decided yet.


And because I've got a good set going now... I decided it was a perfect time to do a group picture... It came out so-so, exactly how a macro pic would come out (foremost object focused)... any idea how to take a better group pic- setting, background, etc? Let me know! Presenting... the AMAZING =I= MEN!!!


Note- only the original =][= Men will have the large bases- should I decide to hire a tech or merc, they'll be on the standard bases. Well, enjoy the fluff, and enjoy the pics! And please, write me down something! (and the others, when they start posting!) It's good to hear feedback- it helps us improve what we're trying to do here!

Awsome, like your take on the lascarbine, whenever i make one, i just cut the middle out of a las rifle and make it shorter. I have to say it the fluff is just awsomesauce!

Thank ye kindly, Eagle! Enjoy your stay, and stay tuned for even more.. aha ha ha... how did you say it? "Awesomesauce?" I like that! Cheers!

The gang looks real good altogether!! Wheres that solomon mini from?

Love the fluff again Im liking the different layers of background and stuff. You've got a knack for this writing lark!

Something about =I= is just so awesome, i really need to think about doing my own campaign. What rules are you using? Anything in particular or are you just making it up on the fly?!!

Solomon is from the Warmachine line. Something-or-other Midwinter- he's from the red Khador faction. My cousin and I decided to veer away from pure GW minis ( HERESY!!! ) and use what we thought looked cool, as long as A) You can still pull a WYSIWYG without getting burned and B) they don't look like giants or dwarves next to the rest of the gang. Aside from Talia (if she stood up straight, she'd be a huge ) the rest of the gang is relatively 28mm. Check out the WM line, they have really good Inq-esque figures, on the Blue Cygnar side, Khador, and the uh... undead guys. I don't remember their names.

Yea, after reading the rest of the I-Munda blogs, the stuff they have out is fantastic. I'm using standard Necro rules, plus things I gleaned from Migs' and Xan's blogs. Xan had a whole campaign book written out, which was impressive. You might give him a ring. Migs had new Inq-based gear, as well as standard Inq retinue building rules- 1500 cred start, around 6 guys, Inq Leaders start w/ 3 wounds and 3 skill/stat upgrades, if I remember correctly. And 2 gangers start as Agents, and have 2 free skill/stat upgrades to split between them or use 2 on one guy.

Hmm... haven't gone too deeply into that aspect yet though, to be truthful. Once we get to the nitty gritty, if we come up with anything good, I'll let you know!

The fluff and modelling is brilliant, Im really looking forward to the next installment!

Hey guys,

Wow... turn my head for a second and this happens... awesome... and I didn't even have to do anything yet...

Just wanted to introduce myself as part of this... madness... and thank everyone for stopping by.

“The warrior who acts out of honor cannot fail. His duty is honor itself. Even his death – if it is honorable – is a reward and can be no failure, for it has come through duty. Seek honor as you act, therefore, and you will know no fear.”
-From the 183rd Ritual of Devotion

I am Inquisitor Leon Bertram.

I represent a more Puritan stock of the Inquisition, member of Ordo Malleus, following Amalanthianism (yes, I had to look that up)...Therefore I hunt daemons and chaos primarily and believe in order and "getting along" with each other.

Currently I employ 4 operatives:
Cadian Imperial Guard Veteran ?* (no name yet)... his backstory will be revealed through my fluff. Essentially he is my oldest and truest companion, supporting me even before I was part of the Inquisition. He acts as my Heavy, covering my every move as I work the enemy from up close.

The twins, Aria and Elia (still working on names, bear with me). Aria was born a psychic blank, an Untouchable. Older of the two, she acts as my sniper and hunts down dangerous psykers. Elia, her younger sister, is a psyker. Naturally repulsed by her sister's blank nature, she reminds herself every day that she has no truer ally.

Engiseer - Again, no name for her as of yet, but she will be more revealed with fluff. Young and eager to prove herself, convinced me that she should join my party due to... overlapping interests.

Yes, my team is also female heavy. With the lack of "attractive" female figures in the GW line, I was starved by painting only testosterone driven tanks and rambo-esque men.... (not that this is a bad thing... everything oozes bad ass in the GW line, but isn't there more to life than biceps and big guns?).

Anyway!

This is what I have for now. I'll get my fluff out as soon as possible, just can't guarantee the quality of esteemed colleague.

Welcome Z!! You like what I did with the place??? Aha ha ha ha ha... don't worry. I'm sure your writing will be up to snuff as well. You helped form the seedling imagery for the ][ Men in the first place, remember?

...totally didn't know your Engiseer was a "she". Hmm... guess we'll have to take pictures of everything this Saturday!

Great Fluff HF, I liked the fuff but the professor model, I don't like it (not because its non GW) but becase it goes against what I think of as a professor, somebody standing tall, not hunced down, but hey he's a psyker and looks good as if he is fireing a blast from his staff.

@ zakennaya123, I can't wait to see how your inquisitor turns out and his people.

I love these kind of blogs they have so much flavour to them!

Cant wait to see some paint on these. Looking awesome

Thanks Agro and Chrono! Stay tuned. Z is closer than I am to painting, methinks. I'll let you know all after this weekend's hobby meeting..

@Agro-Originally, I wanted to shave the model bald and make him... y'know... more like that certain Professor. But I think his original name "Dirty Solomon" or "Solomon the Eye" fits the model better without any of the filing/clipping work done on him. Thanks for the feedback though! Appreciate it all!

yes. I see what you mean there. Its your models, so make them look how you like!

@ Izanagi: Yeah if you do use any of your own rules i would appreciate any kind of breakdown of them. The more ideas dakka gets flowing the better atm! Also, its a handy place to store them!

Have you got a link to Xans blog??

@zakennaya: Sounds interesting! Will be looking forward to models and fluff Already liking the twins, such a great narrative hook between them. Born with a bond, yet repulsed by one anothers very nature, genius!!

Very cool team, so far. And superb fluff. I look forward to reading more (and reading/seeing what the rest of the players are working on). Maybe I'll finally work up some proper fluff of my own.

PS: love the nod to warhammer fantasy battles.

Holy cow! 1090 hits... and I just posted hitting 600 yesterday... simply amazing! Thanks everyone for stopping by! And for those of you stopping by multiple times, if we were a store, you would have bought something already!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

@Vitruvian - http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/218690.page That's the link to Xan's =I=Munda blog. Some of his teammates have friggin' sweet Kroot!

If I find anything else- I'll let you know- I've seen a few other I-Munda blogs with rules. People have different sets, but I might be heading in Migs' way- his is the most basic/broad (aka, leaves the most open to interpretation). I also know off the top of my head that we're going to use the Witchhunter Codex, and look through the GW big-mini (54mm??) Inquisitor books for ideas- we still need rules on Psyker powers (Wyrds in Necro were cool, but not exactly what we need), Daemonhosts stat lines and play rules, new weaponry if and when we think of it, and how we're going to choose our stats- do we stick with a particular gang-build- aka Delaque w/ focus on Stealth and Shooting? Or any table we want, because we're Inquisitors, and we don't need no stinkin' badges?

Thanks all for the support and comments, and for you ninjas/lurkers out there... come out, come out... wherever you are...

Those bases are pretty extreme

Cheers for the link Inazagi!

You might want to consider Dark Millenium (the 40k Roleplay game) for lots of cool ideas and maybe some rules for tech/ pyschic powers. I dunno how easy it would be to convert the d10 system to one based on 40k but its great for fluff at least. Just some food for thought.

Also, you're welcome!

@Silver- EXTREME!!! Thanks for stopping by!

@Vitruvian- No problem! Those guys that Xan is with have some serious talent for this stuff. It's inspiring! And definitely, we're starting with the old Inquisitor rulebook to see what we can gleam, but we're looking for anything we can get our grubby meathooks into!

The Parting Gift

Three days had already passed on their transport to the next location, yet Darius still smarted from the newest set of orders they recieved. It was strange, in that the data packet did not include a target photo and information, only a set of coordinates that had already linked itself into the ship's AI navigation. What was even more peculiar was that the data was more akin to a virus- locking the manual controls and darkening the control panels. The ship was effectively stuck in their plotted course, and should any pursuers or raiders attempt to take their ship, they would have no options for defense nor escape.

The communique had come suddenly, soon after the Claw had broken orbit from Urdesh. While Darius' team had escaped detection and identification by the planet's defense forces, their ship had no Astropath to assist with warp travel. The ship was swift, but definitely not meant for deep-space travel. If they were required to travel to another segment of the known universe, it might have taken months to arrive at the destination. The inquisitor's point of contention had two facets- the first and foremost was his supposed "exclusive" relationship with Inquisitor Falk. As team leader, he was to be the voice of the operation- the team answered to him, and he answered in turn to their mastermind. But that was ended the moment the new orders came. A less important matter, if not for his pride should come first, would be the cryptic nature of the message- coordinates, and an appointment time.

"If he wanted clockwork machines, he might have wanted to purchase combat servitors instead..." Darius mumbled to no one in particular.

Their newest member, and unlicensed psyker and outcast intellectual by the name of Solomon chimed in, "Throne, bo-Veran. I thought you said that Inquisitors answer to no one! BWAH HA HA HA HAHA!!" Solomon's howling laughter could be heard throughout the length of the sleek cruiser. Darius half-considered taking skewering the man to his seat with his spear.

"I jest, Inquisitor. You should lighten up. You don't want to end up looking like me- when I was your age, I was so uptight, I could turn plascrete to dust, my arse was so uptight... HA HAHA HA...." the balding old man continued "Ah, but I ask- what is it that disturbs you so, young master? I haven't seen that dark a look on your face since you were considering me for part of the bodycount we left planetside." Solomon's lined smile lessened slightly, another serious side of the man Darius had come to know in their time on the ship.

Despite his previous thoughts, Darius and the rest of the crew had found Solomon to be amiable. The old man had made good on Darius' mental threats. Around his female agents, he reverted to his iterator manner, speaking like a kindly old gentleman- no sign of the lecherous pervert he had previously displayed. Despite his occasional slips into calling his named-leader "boy", he acted like a carefree old man around Darius, and was full of stories and at times, valuable insight.

"This current venture worries me." Darius said as he spun the cockpit seat around to face his companion.

"Aye, sir. What of it exactly? I haven't been with you long enough to know." the Professor said, solemnly. "Between us, well, not really between us, the whole crew feels your mood, sir. I'm not stupid enough to probe the ladies' thoughts. But if those two cats haven't been at each other's throats, which is how I imagine that fiery young lass and that colder blue devil..."

"That colder blue devil and the fiery lass have better ears than you think, Professor." Talia said, swinging down from the rafters and hanging by her prehensile tail like the old Terran myth of a Vampyr. "But we have to agree, Inquisitor. Your anxiety becomes ours. And, forgive me for speaking out of turn, but we deserve to know what is coming."

Darius leaned forward and steepled his hands before his face. "That's the point. I don't know. This is my first encounter with this... protocol. Since coming into our possession, this ship has never locked up on us, and the AI has never gone silent." Darius said as he looked up towards his team. Talia swung down, and behind her came Agent 23, Lara.

23's hands were wrapped in brown-stained medical bandages. Two days earlier, the Professor, Darius, and Talia, had helped do surgery on her hands to implant auto-sanitizing shutters between her knuckles. These were created from modifying simple metal components off of spare parts found within the ship. In effect, they were a crude measure to reduce bloodloss when she used her claws to fight. Despite what should have been agonizing pain due to their almost-primitive methods -Talia's steady hands to cut and insert components, Darius' vision to cauterize the wounds, and the Professor to monitor the operation and provide support: Agent 23 seemed not to notice the painful changes.

"It feels like a trap." 23 interrupted. "We're flying in the dark, being towed to a place where we have no information, and we're no longer in control... isn't that right, Captain?" The crew turned back to acknowledge her, but returned their gaze to Darius.

"Exactly, 23. Something doesn't seem 'right' about all of this, but we can't help ourselves." Darius answered with a nod, speaking to his crew, but his eyes drifted off as he considered their current state.

"Darius is right." Talia said. Darius noted that this was the first time his agent had ever called him by his first name, as well as the first time she had walked freely around ship without her mask and scarf. "During my time as Falk's guard, he was always forthcoming about information- You could say his meticulousness was almost part of his personality. My targets, their habits, their schedules. This is the first time he's ever sent me...us blind- although, I'm almost certain this is not a trap- a strike force waiting to apprehend and execute us to further his reputation in the Inquisition." she explained. "Doing all of this? He has considerable resources, but he would have been more efficient to take on a week-long tour to purge our sector and come back with heads, instead of trying to protect a group of specific individuals, then hiring before obliterating them."

Darius nodded. "Agent Wagner speaks true. He gave me everything I needed to know, even before I agreed to his proposal."

"And if our young captain was honest, he'd add that Talia is quite the beauty under the mask, and would like to thank her for opening up to him and his teammates! Bwah har har har!!" Solomon said, his cheery voice cutting into the melancholy, "And get this!" nudging Agent 23 playfully, "I didn't even have to read his mind to know that! It's all in his eyes, ladies! Hooo hoo!"

Agent 23, closed her eyes and shook her head in resignation, mirrored by Darius, who coughed and replied, "Erm... Talia. Good to see you being more casual with our crew.."

"Is it just me, or is our fearless, blazing-laser-eyed captain going a shade red?" 23 commented, "Feth, I don't know- in space, my vision and senses are not as good, but I don't know, I might just throw that in there." she continued to jab with a smile.

"Aye, Lara. I do believe Talia's normally blue tint has gone a bit purple as well! Ahar har har!" Solomon said.

Talia turned on her heel and strode out... silencing the playful jests in the cockpit. She stopped at the bulkhead entry. "Looking the way I do, I can't jest about something like that. It sounds like ridicule to me... Just let me know when we're there."

Silence loomed in the cockpit, the light energy gone and replaced with emptiness. Darius stood and followed Talia, followed by the other two agents. "It wasn't an insult. We've never seen you without your armor, Talia. Even without this fool saying anything," jerking a thumb back at Solomon, " I'd have no choice but to agree- I am stunned by the woman I see before me."

"Agent Wagner, if I may say, we're all freaks here - it seems to me that you're most normal of all of us- even compared with Captain Tight-Arse here." Solomon grinned widely, "I can't relieve myself without having to concentrate on NOT sending 'it' all over my clothes with a thought... aha ha ha ha ha!"

"Hell, I don't want to really want to be close to else so much as gut them... present company excluded... but I don't know anything else, Talia." Agent 23 said gruffly, "But the minute I stop thinking, these things in my hands and shins could cause a world of hurt for myself and whoever I happen to be with." she continued with a quick shot and return of her claws.

Talia had stopped, her back turned to the crew. "Thank you, all. This is all new to me. But thank you for your compliments." she said softly.

"Er, shouldn't we do something... group hug, perhaps? Eh? Ey??" Solomon said, again destroying the moment. A simultaneous groan escaped the rest of the team as they left Solomon by himself in the hold.

--------------------------------------------------

The coordinates were not a planet, as it turned out. It had been a derlict transport deemed clean- the only signs of life were minor, indicating one or at most, two humanoids aboard.

"Alright. We're here." Darius said, "Stay together. Talia, 23, scout ahead. Professor, link us up and put out your own feelers. The moment you feel something wrong, send it to us. I'll cover the rear before moving up to meet you." Solomon's eyes rolled up to show white, as he began the meld to keep them all in contact. The two agents swiftly darted ahead, 23 slinking about and using all available cover, while Talia snaked through the open grate ducts above the passageway.

"Inquisitor, this transport is dead. I smell perfume... and sweat, up ahead." 23 toned in.

"I have a visual from here... it's Inquisitor Falk" Talia confirmed.

"Understood. See you there." Darius responded in thought. He sheathed his spear on his back and jogged towards his agents' current location with the Professor in tow.

"No need to hide, all of you." Falk said, his low voice echoing off the walls. "I can feel you all. A shame that we are missing the pyro."

The team walked into view, Darius in the lead and his agents landing on either side. Solomon stood slightly behind and to one side, leaning on his staff. "Milord Falk. We've come."

"I can see that, young Inquisitor. This is quite the team you've assembled. I trust they've served you well?" Falk asked, turning his head to get a look at the assembled mutants. "I apologize for this abrupt and awkward meeting. However, please believe, this utmost secrecy was required."

"This is the guy who's gonna make everything disappear?" 23 said as she looked the Inquisitor up and down. "Not impressed.", she smirked as she took a step forward.

Darius immediately threw a hand out. "No. He's part of the Order. And he's also different... like Solomon."

Solomon looked to Darius' back, "I... I'm not getting anything, sir. He's not." he said with uncertainty.

The team looked back at Solomon then back at Falk. "Explain." Darius said tersely. "He spoke to me as you do, with his mind."

With that, Falk began a slow, rumbling laugh. "I'm afraid he's right, boy. You don't mind if I call you 'boy', do you?" Falk mocked. "Falk hasn't been himself in oh, say 5 years now? I've been doing his job for him."

The team took several steps back and spread out, weapons at the ready. "Who are you? And what have you done with the Inquisitor?!" Darius said, alarmed.

"Oh, there's no need for that. I am not Falk, but you may call me 'The Benefactor'. I too, am like you... a wyrd, witch, mutant..." the entity explained. "Falk is my puppet. He is high enough to access and purge records, but not so high that eyes are upon his every step."

"And our deal?!" Darius asked angrily, "I made that with Falk! Will you keep your promises?! Team, prepare to leave. This coward isn't worth our time."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Inquisitor. I'd expect better manners from my pets... In fact, I'd expect them... TO OBEY!" the voice commanded, echoing off the walls like thunder.

At that moment, the air seemed to buzz like hundreds of thousands of winged insects taking flight. Darius felt as though he had hot coals being dragged across his brain. He fell to the floor, writhing in pain. 23 had lost control of her blades, and with the command, the claws shot from her hands and ripped out of her shins in a spray of bloody ichor. Solomon fell to his knees, heaving out white foam like a rabid animal. Talia fell from her perch, convulsing as if she had been hit with a high-voltage taser. The team was writhing on the floor, incapacitated and in agony. Moments later, the buzzing and the pain stopped.

"I could have you all on the floor, squirming as you are now... or I could have you at each other's throats." the voice said as Talia and Darius both shot up and threw themselves, body first at each other. Stopping mere inches from each other's face, both of their weapons were at a position- Talia's at her leader's neck, ready to decapitate him with a clockwise twirl; Darius' spear angled to pierce his Agent's heart during the rotation. A moment later, they were released and both fell to the ground.

"But I didn't come to punish you... NO.... I will reward you for your service. Everything promised by this face," the voice said as the Falk-body stroked it's own face, "I will honor. In fact, I didn't ask you here to punish you... I came to give you a gift."

"A... a gift...?" Darius managed to hack out while bringing himself to his knees.

"Yes, a gift." the entity continued, "Behold." the Inquisitor flourished to a large metal container next to him. At his signal, the colors on the magnetic locks changed green to red, and the vault door disengaged with a hiss, disgorging cold, cryogenic mist.

"This is Subject Greysin. Former name Rashel." he said, as a figure slid into view. It was a bound and blinded woman, floating several feet off the air. Her body was covered in wasted and dirty leather, her face a leather mask reinforced with metal cage. Her arms and neck had heavy locks and manacles, the type used by the Inquisition to subdue captured Carnifexes or constructs when study called for it. The restraints were branded with purity symbols and other symbols Darius could not discern.

"Daemonhost? This is blasphemy..." Talia said, stepping farther back, sword at the ready. Darius' other agent also crouched, claws at the ready.

"Yes, says the raven to the blackbird... This is another tool I bestow upon you, Darius, in your commission to me." the voice said through Falk. Falk raised a hand, the heavy chained necklace and =][= symbol in his hand.

The symbol began to emit a silvery-gold glow, and a deep rumbling mixed with whatever incantation the Inquisitor's shell was performing. The inquisitor turned to the group, "This one is now bound to YOU, Darius. It will be your protector, your warhound and your link to me..."

"This... thing, is under my command...?" Darius retorted, repulsed by the sight.

"No... you're practically married to it. Now... get out of my sight." Falk's body said. At that moment, the man's body fell to it's knees before toppling to the side.

As the team turned and strode out of the meeting hall, the crumpled Falk-corpse opened it's eyes one last time and spoke.

"And remember... I'm watching you..."

FIN

Have a great weekend everybody! Stay tuned for Sunday/Monday's updates from myself, Zakkennaya, and Evynir after our Saturday Hobby bonanza!!

... Wow!

Creepy but cool.

awesome!

is it the Phoenix?

Sweet fluff, and a nice twist!!

Now this is getting more interesting every time I look.

Peter

Really love this fluff, and it's so awesome to read about a character before seeing the actual model you've made for them! Really original use of parts too - I don't think I would have ever thought of cutting down an eldar like that. Will deffo be following this thread

Great start - I like both the models you've selected and what you've done with them

More!

Thank you all, new and old for stopping by!

We just had our hobby/drinking day yesterday, and today, Zakkennaya is out at an auction for cheap semi-used minis... hopefully he picks up an Ork Trukk of some sort for me, as I need some sort of transport for my guys (later in the campaign).

I've just sent him his pictures of his work , so hopefully he'll be able to post something tonight or tomorrow.

As for myself, I've got a midterm and HW due for my MBA program... but I'll try to get some of my own work done late tonight.

Thanks again, and stay tuned, everyone!

Oh dear... you're building quite the wall for me to get over... I might just have to roar, run, jump and see what happens... Either way, it should be entertaining...

I have some mini pics that should be forthcoming. Shortly I should introducing two of my lovely ladies, my Mech Adept and psyker, Elia. The other three are nearing completion and will be presented once Forgeworld decides to deliver my stuff (I need weapons and Inquisitor themed brass etchings... by GS-foo is not so hot... :-/).

Thanks!

Excellent stuff so far, really enjoying the fluff you´re coming up with.
The character building is good, a few twists and turns, and a good/bad character dilemma. Top notch!

Your choice of models is excellent too, great to see that you´re going outside GW´s established range, and choosing models based on their design and usefulness, rather than the stamp on the package.

I must say, your GS skills seem to be growing with this project as well. Can´t believe I have seen nothing of this until today. That just shows how little Dakka-time I have at the moment. Hoping that it will change soon.

Until then, at least I can enjoy the work of this group, will be good to see some paint on the models as well, and more stuff!

Hello guys, not sure if you saw Molotov's blog but it is very inspirational. http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/240062.page
Can't wait to see your stuff zakennaya123.

@ Xan - Thanks for stopping by! I can't tell you how many times I've gone over your ][- Blog for inspiration! Stay tuned, my grad HW is kicking me all over the place, but I'm hoping Z updates pretty soon...

And yes, I used to confine myself to the GW stamp, but with so many other beauties out there, it's a travesty for for someone to confine themselves like that.

@ Agro- Thanks for the link! I was reading that yesterday in between studies... the man is making that special Creed assassin- he's my hero already!

Quick update guys (kinda in the middle of work... ):
I present to you, Elia, Sanctioned Imperial Psyker(WIP):







Just need to clean up the gs work and base her... What can I say, I have a thing for angels...

Cheers!

Nicely done, Coz. Diggin' the angel wings as well... she belongs on MY TEAM!!

Jus playin'. Good stuff, and waiting for even MOAR!!

I was kinda hurt by your friend saying I took bit off a lot from *ahem*, Veran's model character from the very popular comic, cartoon and movie series. Actually, if you look at the model, it's just a guy w/ short spikey hair holding a spear, wading through rubble, and holding his fingers up to his temple... It's not my fault that people see something different just because I mention my Inquisitor in the same sentence as the laser-eyed leader of mutants. Oh the powers of suggestion...

Talia = Ninja with a spade tail and katana sword

23 = Crazy elf-lady with twin claw daggers on her hands...

See what I'm getting at?

Greetings all. Figured I should finally make my appearance. I wanted to wait until I had my fluff worked out, but someone *cough*Izanagi*cough* had to set the bar really high.

My squad is a Rogue Trader and his Retinue.

All of my work is WIP, but Izanagi demanded updates, so updates here we go. This is also my first time really doing conversions and writing on forums. I swear, I'll work hard on trying to compete with Izanagi's stuff.

Thanks for visiting.

Hey man! Thanks for posting! I didn't get to see Cid before! Nice choice!

Everyone, please welcome Eyvinr as a new member to Dakka and to the hobby!

I've also just finished my midterms, giving myself a 2-week window for stuff. I'm sure I'll be able to put down some.. *gasp*... painted models this week??

Stay tuned!

Welcome!!

Those models are cool Eyvnir, especially the Mek, great character!

Although i cant help but feel that the Rogue Trader could do with being a bit more grimdark (this is not meant in a bad way btw!)


Thanks for starting this blog Inazagi, you made me find my =][=munda fire again. After reading the Jade Vessel again i need to start penning my own campaign Now wheres that paper........

Alright! Round 2 for me... Sadly my FW order has yet to come in (so no Brass Etchings of Elysian fancey weapon goodness) so a little delayed on my end... BUT! I've been basing! Here's the gallery for my AdMech Adept and Psyker Base pics!

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-34351-11476_The%20Iron%20Saints%20-%20An%20%3Di%3Dmunda%20Gang%20-%20Psyker%20And%20Admech%20Adept.html

Would have posted individually... but I am at work, so this is the best I could do... and these were taken with phone camera, so not that great (please don't zoom in too close... :( )

Thanks!

Good stuff so far!! I said it before, and I'll say it again, (begrudgingly ) - I think I like your bases more than mine!! They look awesome!

Whenever you get the time, post the individual pictures here via individual links- they're your posts, so I can't tamper with them.

Keep 'em coming, guys! They're looking great!

Oh mah god we're back ageeeyaaaan.. No? No 'Backstreet's Back (Alright)' fans?... Nevermind then.

My deepest apologies for being absent except through small remarks here and there. Ugh... work, school, and family life (well, more like the first two, I'm starting to get heat from the last one for lack thereof) are really kicking the out of me.

I took a break from homework and work to do a bit of action with Inquisitor Veran's base. I realize that when you've been so far from the brushes, it's pretty stupid to start with a "prize" miniature for getting back into it.

Let me start by saying 1) it's been a while since I put some paint down and 2) it's been even longer since I tried a humanoid figure. I'm lucky in that my 'Nids are relatively easy- once I get a scheme going, I can churn them out relatively easily. Actually, I lie. I think it's the fact that these singles are under much more scrutiny than a mass of equally cool, scythed death-machines. Well enough excuses... have at it!

Front View - This is one of the first takes I did- I wanted everything to look like it was a battlezone, but somewhat old, dirty and rusty.. think "Midgar" from the Final Fantasy series- that's what Necro says to me whenever I see pics of it...


Sideview - A better look at the thing he's got his foot on. I actually wanted the part to be much more... ivory-ish in color. I also wanted to make a bloating-rusting effect by using heavily PVA'd sand on strategic areas. That was my first and probably last attempt at it. I'm pleased with how it looks, but I need a finer grain... a pumpice or something.


Front View 2 - Finished the sign. I didn't know what to put on it- so I put some sort of a cross-walk/railway (I have no idea what I'm talking about right now, so I'll shut up) on it- it would have been hell trying to do some sort of letters, so I decided just to do something simple and rust it away from there. Voila!


As this base was done before we went our plasticard product binge, I felt that the chopped CD as a smooth grey surface just wouldn't cut it. So I tried my hand at traffic lines, filled it in, then reversed the colors and damage to make it look worn. The final touch is going to be a greenish black slime using a mixture of Water Effects and enamel paint coming from the pipe... hopefully that turns out ok...


Anyways, this is just a small part. Now that I'm finished with a good bunch of homework for my up-coming final classes and finals, I'll be able to work more on this guy. The scheme I've chosen for him and MAYBE Nightc...er, Talia, is going to be a take on the colors of X-treme series- primarily black leather with red secondary and yellow/gold highlights. I'm also thinking that because the scheme is so simple, I might have to try out some freehand on the flowing sleeveless mantle-coat that Darius has on there.

Thank you for your patience everyone! Enjoy!

That looks fantastic! Wow, if that's your base I can't wait to see HIM painted!

Great work.

Progress on Inq. Veran! As I said yesterday, I'm trying to do a play on the X-treme style costumes. No idea how it will play from the comic to the figure with more "realistic"-looking background. I'm pretty burnt out from trying to make time for this in between my studies, but this is what I came up with. Enjoy!

40% complete- As I said, the basic plan was a primary black, secondary red, and tertiary yellow/leather and gold. Painting black is my equivalent to kryptonite (that, or bitter melon.. or grapefruits)- I read a couple of tutorials on how to do black armor and leather, but here's what I got-


After going at the model for a bit, I found out that the model would be boring being heavily black. I decided I'd try a bit of freehand design on the cloak. At first, I was thinking one large =I= symbol with angels, etc... his entire trench a canvas. But then I thought... who the hell goes into battle wearing the Last Supper on their battle cloak?


In order to get to the sides, I took off the spear-arm. For the 'I' symbols, I decided to do a single slash- it's a play on the Japanese kanji symbol for "King/Leader". (for those in the know, it's only missing a small mark on the top almost like a right-leaning apostrophe) And on the corners, I decided to try a 'V', for his family name Veran. (also MORE trivia- Veran is Galician/Spanish for 'Summer') Ah yes, don't mind the crappy paint-job on the yellow arm-scarf. It'll be cleaned up later.


The back- The cloak itself I feel is a bit boring... Again, my first idea was to put a large =I= symbol... but I'm not sure I could pull it off convincingly with the angle, and two, who the hell goes into a battlefield wearing that?? So maybe not. I might shorten the two center -I-s and put a larger -V- there instead. Just a thought.


Side View- Just a look at the hand/arm and leg armor detail.



Anyways, I'm not sure how "well" I'm doing right now. I'm feeling that the model is LESS inspired than the base... any ideas anyone? Maybe I'm feeling that way because it's not fully painted...? It's a first for me, though. Let me know- any tips and tricks to make the armor/cloak look nicer, I'm all ears!

Comments? Questions? Let me know! And as always, thanks for stopping by!

Hopefully tomorrow night, I can present all of you with a finished product!

Looks awesome. Cant wait

That base is jsut beautiful!

The black looks pretty good as it is, for the back of the cloak you could just leave it. It rather depends on his background, is he flamboyant and egotistical, or does he do things simply, using only what he needs to get things done?

I do think he would benefit with some more red, perhaps the inner cloak to break up the blackness and define the legs a bit more..

Anyway, keep up the good work!!

@ Green - Thanks man! I appreciate it. This is the first time I've tried the rust/rot as well as freehand. I'm glad you like them!

@ Kenshin- Love that anime (assuming the name is from Rurouni Kenshin)! Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned!

@Vitruvian- Thanks! I'm glad it turned out the way it did, although I have a feeling it's overshadowing the mini now. And in regards to the cloak, I'm thinking of his background right now... it could go either way- rich and influential family could turn out an arrogant killer mutant... but I do feel he's practical too. Hmm... I think I'll keep it as the current I's and V's.... OR... I just thought of this now (forgive me if it's a horrible spur-of-the-moment idea) but maybe redo the I-freehand. I mean instead of the entire -I- there, maybe just half of it, going in the same direction... so -] followed by the gold lining.. so maybe something like this-

|_/\_| (space) |_/\_| (and repeat around the trench-cloak) ... just a thought.

Anyways, I've got one final this coming weekend and another next weekend, so I don't know how much painting I'll get done... definitely want to continue if it doesn't make my grades suffer.

Thank you all viewers and posters for stopping by! Like what you see? Let us know! It's nice to know you're not the only one who thinks something looks nice... or that there are people who actually think your masterful painting looks like a product of their booze and buffet binge the night before! <- like that, but there isn't much of an idea coming out at that point.

nice job dude.
Really liking this.

@Asherian- Thanks a lot! I appreciate it! The other guys are hard at work on their own creations, and from what I've seen, they won't disappoint either! Stay tuned!

Oh yea, my coz Zakkennaya123 actually asked me a question about the traffic lines via PM, and I might as well share it here, in case anyone was wondering- and if you have any other questions about anything else I did, let me know. I'll try to explain it as best I can!


The trafic line was a to do, but nothing special. Part of it was technique, and the other was "seeing it" and the last part of it was just plain ol' serendipity. But good news is, it's achievable.

Technique- you gotta have a straight eye for this crap, imagine having one half of the damn bar come out 3cm to the right or left of where it came from behind the miniature's legs. A big ol' to that action. So if you can mark out the outline of base color (to clean up several times over), congrats, you just finished 75% of it.

-Start w/ Desert Yellow 1:1 water and paint to have a smooth coat (although if you were steady, a heavy coat might look nicer to raise it and make it look like actual paint on the road) to outline the lines and fill it in. Clean up with whatever base colors you had around it- my case, GW Charadon Granite and Codex Gray HL.

-Desert Yellow w/ Skull White (1:1 or 1:0.75 ratio)- this is to "raise it up" to the viewer eyes. paint a smaller square with a drybrush (that's right, use a small drybrush to paint it on there) - this is where the "seeing it" and serendipity come in - Know how faded and cracked traffic lines look on any given road- in this case, I didn't use a reference pic but used what I saw in my head. A good idea would be to look at your parking lot at work- think of the cracks and imperfections in the paint. It's bumpy so the light won't reflect it as perfect yellow unless it was a straight slab of yellow paint that was raised up evenly- which it's not. Drybrush enough until you think you have it faded nicely.

- The serendipity comes in when doing the cracks. Use half badab black wash with water, fine detail brush, and line cracks (your ideas here) on it to your heart's content. If your brush slips or goes someplace else, roll with it as long as it's still a formation and not a wakked out swirl or something. And after that, use straight badab/chaos black mix 1:1 with some water, and use the very tip of your fine detail brush to line it in the middle of your black-wash stuff. So the wash should be thicker in terms of width (not color) than the line you put on for the actual crack in MOST places. Wipe off and reapply paint often, as that crap tends to glob up on the tip. And if your brush jumps a bit, (see it at the area closest to the model's legs?) go with it. It'll be controlled chaos. Best of luck, cuz (and reading Dakkites!)

Those sound like some good ideas, what about something like this:

Hey! That's not bad! I might actually have to use that! Looking over my pics, I've used a lot of yellow and gold to offset the black, but not enough red... and that's a great way to add it in there and add some variation... Thanks for the ideas!

Hey no problem Inazagi! Always glad to help out

(Sorry for the primitive paint art!! )

Whew... finally figured out a way to introduce my fluff... I apologize if my stuff isn't as gritty as it should be, but my ideas and inspiration have led me to make my team a particular way. This is also my first attempt and writing a story, especially one seen by others... Without adding more to this post than there already will be....


Hamish McCullun sat on a rock watching his flock on some distant agri-world. “This sucks. I can’t believe my father died and I got stuck on this nowhere planet watching his… animals…” Quickly pulling his laspistol out of its holster and twirling it before taking aim at some invisible target. “At least he left me with something to keep me from boring my brains out.” Taking several shots at random rocks, startling the animals grazing. “I knew I should have joined the Imperial guard while I had the chance….” Laying back onto the grass giving a big sigh.

Suddenly a low rumbling is heard, “What is that? We’ve never had earthquakes here…” As a ship comes lowering out of the clouds, the animals panic and start scattering. “Oh hell…” Hamish watches the ship come down for a brief moment, the hatch opening and a truck drive out from it, and then the ship takes off again. Hamish watches as the truck drives in his general direction, the ship flying off out of sight. “What the hell is going on?” As quietly as he can, Hamish follows the general direction of the truck.

When Hamish finally catches up to the truck, it has stopped in a small valley, and met up with another truck. Hamish ducks behind a rock and watches. The two groups of people get out of their respective trucks and begin talking. Hamish swears under his breath, “I can’t hear a word they are saying…” Hamish works his way slowly trying to get within ear shot of the groups…

As Hamish gets closer, he’s able to make out more details about the two groups. The group that he followed was made up of three people that he could see. The main one that seemed to be their leader had a feeling of authority, and was the only one on that side talking. He had reddish blonde long hair and a goatee, wearing a long coat and a large rifle on his back. It was one that Hamish did not recognize. The other guy was in a short black coat with deep brown hair. He seemed more on edge, but tried hiding it by leaning against the truck. He kept running one hand along his pistol holster. The girl had long golden blonde hair and a skin tight grey jumpsuit, also having a long-las casually on her shoulder. She was standing next to the leader.

The other group was four guys, the leader was in rich elegant clothing of the noble class, with a round belly and a growing bald spot on the top of his head. He looked relaxed and used to getting his way. His three male companions wore carapace armor and wore the insignia of the noble’s house. They each had las-rifles. Hamish new nothing of the nobility, so he didn’t know what family this group belonged to. He finally found a rock to hide behind that he could hear the conversation.

The man in the long coat seemed to get annoyed, “That was not the agreed upon price. These are not goods you can just buy at the local market. They were not the easiest items to procure.” The noble smiled, “Well I have changed the price of our agreement. You can take it or leave it.” The girl leaned over to the man in the coat and whispered something into his ear, then stepped back in behind him. He stroked his beard, “I hope you know what you are doing. We can still walk out of this both happy if you’ll just pay the agreed upon price and you will have your goods. It is merely the fair way to go about this.” With this the noble laughed, “Fair? Boy, I’ve never lost a deal in my life. This is why I’m a true noble, and you’re backwater trash that for some reason the Senatorum Imperialis thought should get a Trader’s contract.”

With a rising of his hand, suddenly four more soldiers appeared on the hill above them, all with their weapons trained on the group of three. “I think I’ve just won both the money and the goods. Don’t you?” As the noble laughs out loud. The Trader scans the newcomers and the other guards who have raised their rifles. “It seems you have bested me. I hope that you are happy with your decision.” The noble laughed again, “Happy? I’m extatic.” Suddenly, the loud sounds of bolter fire are heard, the guards on the hill being torn into by the barrage of explosive rounds tearing through their armor. The Trader and girl leap back, using the confusion to get behind cover, as the guy on leaning on the truck quick draws his las-pistol and takes one of the guards in the shoulder, making him lose his rifle.

The noble cries out and leaps back as his guards return fire. Hamish ducks lower behind the rock, “Oh hell! What did I get myself into?” Drawing his las-pistol and hearing the gunfire behind him. The Trader having unstrapped his rifle blasts back, taking out one of the guards through the helmet with a powerful shot of his rifle. One of the guards gets a shot that takes the black coat in the stomach, as he falls back. The girl retaliates by blasting through the guards face with a las round of her own. The Trader calls out, “Aelia, see what you can do for Benj. I’m going to show our noble what it’s like to lose a deal.” Aelia rushes over to Benj, as the Trader gets up with his rifle aimed, at where the noble leapt back to, and gradually advances.

As the Trader moves around the noble’s truck a pair of las-blasts come out. The Trader dodges one, but the other hits his shoulder, and he is knocked back a bit, but he apparently had armor under that long coat. The Trader growls and leaps around the corner firing off a shot through the noble’s leg, making him fall back and drop his two pistols. The Trader advances and kicks the pistols out of reach. “Are you still sure you know what you are doing?” The noble holding his leg, spits at the Trader, “You trash! You planned this ambush from the start!” The Trader shook his head, “No, I planned for your betrayal and hoped we could have made this deal without bloodshed. Now you’ve lost your guards and have a gaping hole in your leg to show for your disloyalty to fair trade.”

Hamish watched as the guard who got shot in the arm, came up behind the Trader fixing his rifle on his head. The noble smiled up at the Trader, “Fair trade? The only fair trade is when I win.” Hamish quickly made a decision and shot the guard with his las-pistol, but the guard’s armor protected him. The guard quickly turned around as a las-shot came from the other truck and took that guard in the face, his head exploding into Hamish’s face. The Trader leveled his rifle on the Noble, “This is the last time you ever trade.” Firing a round through the Noble’s face, then turning around to face Hamish. “It seems that you have saved my life, lad.”

Aelia came running to them, her rifle at the ready. “I’m sorry, Luh. Benj died, and I barely caught that guard.” Luh turned from her to Hamish. “Well, this has been a horrible trade. You can have any of the money that the noble actually brought with him.” He sighed and turned to Aelia. “Let’s get off this rock and see where we can sell that junk. It has been more trouble than it’s worth.”

Hamish stared at them as they started walking away. Hamish thought to himself, this could be it. “Hey, umm… Sir Trader? Can I come with you?” They both stopped and turned around, Luh looked at Hamish, “Well we could use another hand around the ship, especially with Benj gone. And you did save my life. What’s your opinion of the lad, Aelia?” She scanned him up and down, he felt a bit of a tingle in his brain. “He seems overall honest. A little fresh, but he can learn. It’s your decision, Luh. He can’t replace Benj.” The Trader sighed, “No one can ever replace Benj or any of my crew. You know that.”

After a pause, “Well, lad, what’s your name so I can give you your due respect.” “H..Hamish, Hamish McCullun, sir.” “Well, Hamish, I’m Luhvar Venord, and my lovely companion is Aelia Novrye. I hope you know how to drive.” As they turn around and head back to their truck, Hamish stares for a moment. “Well are you coming, or should we leave you on this grassball?” Startled back into reality Hamish trots after them, “No, no… I’m coming.”

Thats some pretty cool fluff, i like where this whole project is heading!!

Whoo hoo! Diggin' the fluff for these guys! And I'm pretty happy that we're not all turning out to be Inquisitors made from the same cookie-cutter, either. Keep it coming, guys!

Whaddup guys! Been awhile, but just a quick update. I started writing a primer to focus myself on helping write a coherent campaign. Low and behold, the following doc pretty much wrote itself. It sets the stage pretty well for what our campaign will be about, so I hope you guys enjoy:

P.S., FINALLY got my FW stuff (Elysian Spec Weapons and Grey Knights/Inquisitorial Brass Etchings). Hopefully I'll be able to finish and post updates of my last three team members, including the Inquisitor himself, Leon Bertram.

The Promethean Hammer - An =I=Munda Campaign

* Primer:
o What would you do for absolute power?
o A conspiracy that threatens the sector at the very least is about to unfold. Everyone wants it; from the agents of Chaos to the mysterious Eldar, to other xenos filth flitting towards the prize like moths to a flame. But such a prize is not coveted by the threats without alone. The Imperium of Man is vast and far from perfect, for the Emperor may watch, but it is the hands of humanity that move the empire. And as wise men such as yourselves may know, in all men's' hearts lies the potential for sin. Ambition begets desire, desire begets greed, greed begets corruption and soon, soon enough, corruption begets heresy. Blame not only the seductive whispers of the Dark Gods, look into the heart of man and, with no external influence necessary, lies the seeds of his unmaking.
o The prize:
+ STC - Standard Template Construct
+ The Imperium of man has grown stagnant. Technological advancement is a forgotten legend of bygone times, millenia dead. The Machine Cult of Mars, the Adeptus Mechanicum, worships the machines as Gods, spirits that must be mollified in order to for them to serve the Imperium's whims. And man does not create Gods. All technology in existence today is the product of existing plans, created when man first advanced towards the stars. Without these templates, without STC technology, the Empire of man would crumble and succumb to the pressures of existing in such a war torn and dangerous galaxy.
+ Even before the Emperor launched the Great Crusades to reunify man, STC was exceedingly rare and incredibly valuable. Any intact constructs held untold wealth. They could be anything from orbital solar power collectors to ship designs. Or weapons. In any case, whole planets would be sacrificed, entire ways of life extinguished, but for a single piece of STC tech. There is no greater prize that exists in the Imperium today, no greater catalyst to ignite the greed that burns in the heart of man, no greater weakness for our enemies to exploit.
+ Currently, the nature of the STC in question is unknown. For thousands, possible tens of thousands of years, the prize has lain dormant and unknown, right under the noses of man and xenos alike. Perhaps it was a defense mechanism, a piece of STC so dangerous, it was hidden away by its creators, never again to be unsealed. Perhaps it is sentient, tainted, hiding itself away with malevolent intent, revealing itself when it could cause the most havoc, pain, and misery with its unveiling. In any case, various groups have caught the scent, including yours.
o Dramatis Personae:
+ What you know you've gleaned from months, possibly years of investigation, rumors leading to clues leading to a rapidly solidifying possibility that you are getting close to something monumental. Something that may shake the Imperium down to its core.
+ You must ask yourself this: why do you desire this prize? Be you Inquisitor, Adeptus Mechanicus Adept, Rogue Trader or other, what would you do with one of the most coveted piece of treasure in the galaxy as we know it?
+ Inquisitor - presumably you hunt the prize to keep it from the hands of the numerous enemies of man, indeed, to help arm them against the ever darkening night. Armed with your "faith" and the authority of the Emperor himself, there is no one better equipped to deal with this threat. But tread carefully, Inquisitor, for though defenders of the Imperium and servants of the Throne of Terra you may be, you are not immune to corruption, and neither are your fellow Inquisitors. At best, to most effectively fight an enemy, be they Xenos or the Dark Gods themselves, you must expose yourself to them. Understand them, learn from them so that you may better dismantle and destroy them and their dastardous plans. But in doing so, you walk a fine line. Where does the pursuit of knowledge in service of the Emperor end and heresy begin? Those marked as malleus diabolus may even believe they are still serving the Emperor, but their actions are perverted by the will of the enemies of man. Reflect often and deeply on your actions, Inquisitor, for if you are the defender of the souls of the entire Imperium, who defends yours?Oh, and at worst, your fellow Inquisitors will embrace the will of the Dark Gods or lend their support to Xeno factions. Seduced by the great and terrible powers they attempted to defend against, they use it for their own means and succumb to corruption.
+ Rogue Trader - Your authority lies in your Warrant of Trade, a carte blanch to act in commerce as you see fit, so long as it is in the interest of the Imperium that you do so. You've not only traveled vast swathes of the Imperium, but have gone to and across the very fringes of Imperial space.You've dealt with fringe cultures where the Emperor's light is but a story, where xenos and man coexist. Free Trade, an idea that has had you jumping between Imperial law and heresy "for the Emperor". What better prize than STC? What greater venture than tracking down the most valuable cargo in the galaxy? The risks? Measurable, cost effective, for only the mortal fate of you and your crew can balance the possible gain that is Standard Template Construct technology. The question now stands, who are you really doing this for? Will you deliver this precious cargo directly into the hands of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who covet the technology beyond mortal desire? Or will your prize be for the highest bidder, be it ambitious Sector or SubSector Lords, or even the agents of Chaos, hastening the end that may indeed be nigh? The choice is yours, Trader, for it is your life and your fortune on the line.

Later!

Awesome!

Base is absolutely lovely and your blacks are very nicely highlighted. The slight blue hue really adds to the model. Are you planning pale or dark skin and hair?

@ Vitruvian - Sorry bout the wait, man! Welcome back!

@Ifalna - Thank you for the visit! I'm a big fan of your PM Blog on this website too (I coulda sworn it was commission...?)! I think for his skin, I was going for something in between, definitely not swarthy, buy not a pale greyish face either. Probably bordering on pale, but with a bit of a flush- now how to execute it...? For his hair, I'm thinking brown with (tasteful) frosted bleached tips.

@both of you- any idea how to change the title? I usually change the title on the first message to update the title of the PM Blog... can I do it from a new message? (check it- the first message has been edited about 8 times or something...) My dakka interface-skills suck. Hard.

My apologies, again to all posters and viewers, for my long absence. I just finished my first finals for my concentrated MBA course… 2 finals… after two and a half months of intensive weekend lecture courses… now… I have 13 days… yes, 13 unfettered days I intend to devote to videogames and painting miniatures… my wife agreed reluctantly , and the price I paid was having to host one of her girls-only parties (or two) with no complaint… and create dinners that look like I actually tried (no CRAM or Dandy Boy Snack Cakes washed down with a bit of Rad-juice and dirty water) for these “free” days. I accept those terms, my dear.

My cousin Zakkennaya put up the primer, which I feel captures the feeling of The Promethean Hammer campaign- fantastic writing, brother. You seeded that bad-boy in ways I couldn’t… In essence, Z will be the driving force in the creation of this campaign’s ideas and scenarios, while Evinyr and myself provide the space to bounce ideas around.

In lieu of being the main writer for the Promethean, I get to focus on my painting… and our NEXT campaign. YES, folks. You heard right. Spacing out at work yet again, I came up with a fantastic idea that I can’t share at the moment, but I promise will be filled with NEW gangs and models, an entirely new premise… and exciting scenarios… and best of all, I think we’re gonna share it for everyone so YOU all can get your game on with our finished product!! But for now… a mini-update on the Amazing =I=-Men team.

I realize that I wrote the story for the Daemonhost code-named Greysin, but I never put up pictures. I present those to you now! Still very much WIP, please enjoy, and as always- critiques good or bad and tips on how to improve my techniques is ALWAYS appreciated. I apologize for my long absence yet again… and welcome back to the site, everyone!

Daemonhost Rashel Greysin - DH bound to Inq. Veran, and link to the enigmatic "Benefactor" / Falk Puppeteer

I looked at the line of hosts for the WH40K line and just wasn't impressed. I loved Cherubael and the 40K size one they made, but the newest ones are kinda... meh...

I used a Cryx Warwitch as a base, and just love the flying look to her. I imagine the power being barely restrained in the frail body, and thought a large mechanism with chains pulling back her arms and neck would be a good conversion. However, her neck is just way too small without taking it away, so while walking my dog, I thought about his harness... and decided to model it after that. Thanks, little buddy, for being my muse!



Sideview of one arm with the heavy-duty manacle and GS-hair. The hair may have an extensions added to widen it and make it more wild, haven't decided yet. And the manacles, providing my hands are steady enough, will get some GS purity seals and symbols added...



Back-view: The chains and machine are already there set up, all I need to do is attach them properly with glue and greenstuff. The back harness isn't done yet, the model comes with little blade-wings (imagine a dragonfly that had its wings crisped into little wispy nubs) that I still need to add.



Side-view... the hair was a bit hard to do, but I was actually pleased this morning. (drank orange juiceand vodka while doing it- very bad idea, and a mistake that I won't repeat for the rest of this 13 day break) Again, I'll probably be strategically adding greenstuff to add volume and flair to it.



One last one: Again... like the 'flow' of the hair... it's just missing that... that... "YES! THAT'S WHAT I WAS GOING FOR!!" moment. Perhaps tonight?


Anyways, I apologize to all of you on behalf of our trio letting this PM Blog slip to 4th page. I'm pleased to announce I inched a C+ on the accounting with a horribly lackadaisical teacher and an A- on Business Stats, mathematics being even more of a bane on my existence than painting black on a model could ever be... that A- tells me that I can do anything given enough effort, and I've just proved it to myself! HUZZAH!!

Looking good. Veran's coat looks great, and the host is coming along well. I like the restraining device/smoke launcher bit. It looks convincing even at this point. I cant wait to see the harness.

As promised, another update for today! I plan to have updates everyday if possible, with 12 days until I start my next MBA class and my hobby time is taken away by schoolwork. To believe I have 2 more years of this… But as said by my favorite character in The Predator, Pancho, (with a grueling squeal) “I can make it… I CAN MAKE IT!” (minus the plasmacaster shot to the back of the skull)

Yesterday, I did a bit of painting on Veran, but nothing substantial enough to warrant pictures. That’s for tomorrow. Today, I present my finished Daemonhost. At first, I had larger plans for her- a GS “firebird” emerging from her chest, extensions and larger “ropes” of hair to add definition, I was stopped in my tracks by the “That’s enough.” moment after configuring the rest of the model.

Front View: I was watching a bit of the movies that inspired this gang yesterday with the wife over dinner, and thought about how those mutants with the “area manipulation” powers would affect the terrain. For instance, Magnet-Gandalf would bend and twist steel to suit his purpose, while others would use energy blasts and intense heat waves to melt those same pieces of rebar and metal. That’s what I tried to do with the base of this particular model. I imagine her radiating intense heat at will, and however the ruined metal was before, it became even more deformed as her barely-checked fury both deformed and melted it at the same time. OSL anyone?



Side View: I realize that these pieces will make the model quite hard to hold and paint, but yea, I’m up for the challenge. I added a bit of cork punctuated by copper wire (that I use for pinning) and copper piping (that I bought to cut into bolter shells). The GS serves two purposes in this case- as melted material, as well as a protecting agent, as my wire cutters suck and leave an angled edge to everything.



Rear View: Attaching the chains to the GS was not difficult, it adhered fairly quickly. But the main chain to the back harness was an absolute nightmare. The chain was perfect in length- fully extended, the last link touched the harness blades on her back. But for some odd reason, despite the amount of superglue I put, it just wouldn’t stick for the better part of a half hour or more.



Rear-Side View: This was a shot I took with the chains attached. Remember how I said I would add stuff to the hair? I thought about it after the initial construction was complete, but decided against anything major- the chains, the hands, the hair… that’d be a lot of interference and heartache that I just won’t be dealing with.



Rear-Side View (finished): And one final shot with the GS on the broken rebar.


That’s it for now. With this post ends the construction-stage of my Amazing =][= Men. From here on out, it’ll be painting pictures of the team! Thanks all for stopping by! Leave a comment, leave a critique! Leave a tip on how to improve the work! We love hearing from all of you!

Whoa... Impressive dude... O.o Hmmmm... I really gotta start kickin some ass on my models now...

Mmm, very good! Love the melting metal effect!

Cuz, you're telling me you didn't see it coming..? Wait... nevermind. I'm usually very candid about the formation of the models, but I don't think I went into much detail about Greysin... my bad, man. If you need help or wanna bounce ideas, let me know! That's what we're here for!

@ Vitruvian- Thanks man, and sorry for the long absence! Welcome back!

Sidenote: We broke 4000 views! Whoo hoo!

If the chains are made for restraning the the host, she wouldent be moving? So shouldn`t the hair be limp and not flying out behind the Daemon?

@EagleArk- Hey, welcome back! Good question- when making it, I was influenced by several references- those of "floating rocks chained to a source" used in Jade Empire, James Cameron's Avatar (not that debauchery by M. Night Shalamana-na-na)... And you're right. If she's still and not in motion, yea, she'd float in midair and perhaps move around a bit, or change height slightly; her hair long and straight down her back. But I imagined her after the dynamics of the model, imagining it to be seconds after a blast of power- the metal and rubble blown back and melted, her hair also moving with the wave as it's let off all around her.

In other news, I thought about trying to finish Veran, but I'm not about to rush the work- his face is done, and I've restarted the freehand on his cloak. Unfortunately, it looks like the earliest I can add more will probably be tomorrow night!

She looks great. Your team and Migs have inspired me to add a human team to my already addled workbench.

Ah clears thinsg up, thanks!

nice i like the gothic feel

I like the use of multi-company figs.
All converted to 'fit' in. Very nice.
Keep it up!

awesome, just awesome

@EagleArk- No problem!

@Niel - Thanks a lot! Inquisitor + Necromunda = Awesome in epic proportions!

@Sanctjud - GW is good, but there are so many cool makers out there that it's a shame to limit one's self to the label!

@Tyrael - Thanks! Appreciate the visit!

Welcome all, old and new! And thank you all for your visits! And come on, ninja warriors... stop lurking... you know you wanna say something...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ Good Green- LOL... dude, I saw your workbench! Quite a queue you have lining up, sir! We're pleased that we inspire you so! I think it works both ways, even if people aren't working on figurines or subjects that appeal to me, something always catches my eye- the basing, the painting styles, the themes, etc. There's always something to learn, so thank YOU... for inspiring me... to inspire you... to... inspire...

Alright everyone! Sorry for the almost-two-day absence- I tried getting some work in before one of the promised girl-parties I had promised to help with . I also tried during, but the feigned interest and constant request for refills and just general manners as a good host stopped me from continuing.

Anyways, here’s what I have down- Inquisitor Veran is almost complete- the only thing left to do is do final clean-up on the freehand for the cloak, and his spear hand… For the spear, I’m looking for examples of crystalline weaponry: I want to make it a purplish crystal blade and for the haft, I was thinking some sort of marble freehand (greenish/black) design. I still need references, as I’ve not tried it before, but I’m hoping everything will come together alright.

Front-View: I tried doing some sort of an ‘X’ crystal earlier on his chest, but it didn’t come out all that well. I decided on a green crystal insteadl as a focal point… and soon after decided on doing his eyes with a green glow as well. As I didn’t want to paint him in full blast, I decided only on a slight tinge to his immediate eye-area to simulate the gathering energy that I thought came out pretty well. I'll review it once again tonight and decide to keep it or not. I also said I would do frosted tips for his hair, but decided against that, as it would look like his cloak... how about 'no'? Also, I'll be sure to capture it for the final pics, but the inside of the cloak is actually red as well... just doesn't come out too well with overhead lighting.



Back-View: A look at some freehand. I borrowed some of the elements from the mock-up produced graciously by one of our major thread followers, Vitruvian. Cheers, mate! I loved the idea of the red to break up the black, that if his coat were to close on his armor, would produce an =][= design… in stark red. I changed the golden swirls recommended into extended ‘V’s (or ‘L’s, depending on how you look at them) as I wasn’t confident in pulling of the swirlies of the original design. I also introduced a star-figure in the gold/yellow to draw out the red V on the center-back of the cloak. And yes, the center 'V' will be cleaned up tonight.



3/4s View: One last shot from the side. Again, I wasn’t really sure on the freehand but had a “learning” experience along the way. The original Desert Yellow outlines I mixed with several paints- Burnished Gold, a yellow that escapes my mind at the moment… and this evening, I’ll try to clean it up even more- I have an idea of how it’ll work out… now for execution...



Anyways, that’s it for now. I’m hoping to finish his spear-hand tonight and have a complete figure that will be put into a true =][= Munda gallery to vote and comment on. Next in line, Agent Talia!

Thanks for the mention!

Looks very nice, top work on the free-hand!!

"What pretty green eyes you have," said the heretic scum of the Imperium.
"The better to VAPORIZE you with, my dear!" said the lone wolf Inquisitor, releasing a torrent of green warp energy from his eyes. When finally the light faded, only ash, dust, and destruction remained, as if the Emperor himself took his finger and wiped it against the surface of Terra. Slowly the Inquisitor turned as if to address an audience.
"Kids," he began, "don't do heresy." He took out an Iho stick and lit it with his eyes. "Become an Inquisitor and you can play with it for free!" Screams echoed through the night as the "Coven of the Eight" was gleefully wiped from existence.

...Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Anyway, good times dude. It's coming together really well. The glowing eyes are a nice touch (I call blue!) and I like the freehand pattern you chose for your coat. I look forward to the work on the spear.

Anyway, back to work for me!.... :(

LOL... what the ??? Aha ha ha ha... I spit up my coffee reading that!

The above message by Z has been approved by black ops Ord Hereticus cell leader, Inquisitor Veran, and Co.

LOL ... I was going to comment on the awesome model, but how can I not give props to Z .... that was awesome man. I didn't spit up coffee, but I did laugh extremely loud. Keep up the good work HF Iz.

Sweet mother ... He's finished... He's finally finished... I don't know what more to say for an intro, except this guy exhausted me... Lots of new techniques tried on this guy - crystal spear-head, marble spear-haft, more freehand than I actually anticipated... I'm tired... but pleased to present the final product of Inquisitor Darius Veran: Leader of the Ordo Hereticus' covert mutant task force!!!


Front View: Here he is, and all his glory. Nothing much new on the body that we haven't already seen- the black was a mix of techniques I took from a bunch of tutorials found via search engine... armor concept is a play on the X-treme-era costumes. And yes... will get to the spear in a second...


Side View Left: Detail of inner-coat... told you it was red... it had been red since the beginning, but again, my lighting sucked.


Side View Left 2: Closer look at the freehand =][= -half and the marble on the haft. All I need to do is put a layer of 'ard coat/equivalent, and he's ready to rock. Marbling technique was also taken from several reference pictures and search-engine found tutorials. What do you think?


Back View: Even better look at the marbling effect. I'll give it to the tutorials, at first, I thought it was coming out like junk. But with a bit of modification to what they were asking... and again, the "chaos" effect that went along with the traffic lines... it came out pretty nice, I thought.


Side View Right: A view of the spear, and his gauntlet. This has got to be the busiest weapon I've ever tried to make- crystal on the head, freehand on the wire, and marbling on the haft. The spear-head was actually inspired by FantasyBob's dark angel... he used a spray gun and various hues from black-to-purple-to-white, and I thought it was one of the prettiest weapons I've ever seen. I tried to emulate it... and yea. This is what came out. It was either this, or freehand some demonic faces (trapped spirits) into his weapon's blade... I'll stick with the crystal, thanks.


Side View Right 2: A view of the cleaned-up coat and freehand design. I added a bit more highlight to follow with the blue/grey highlights I already put on the leather, to add some depth to the black of the coat. I was also half-heartedly thinking of doctoring this picture in particular to have him sending out a laser blast from his eyes... perhaps later, when the team is fully assembled? (er, painted?)


Well, that's it. If you have the time, I'd appreciate a comment or critique on this PM Blog, as well as my personal gallery for these guys... I think most of the pictures are worth voting for- I'd really appreciate it. It'll help me improve the next ones I do! Thank you all for stopping by, and stick around for the next update on Sunday, after the close to another Hobby(Drinking) Day with Evynir and Z!

Freaking awesome!!

Really looks good all pulled together. The marble is boss, but i think the purple could do with a bit of a smoother blend, or a glaze on the purple bits to smooth the trnsition. Otherwise:

Amazing, Izanagi.... I feel so far behind on my own work... Can't wait for more hobby time tomorrow.

I think it came out really well. I like the Dynamic pose that you chose. A job well done sir ...

Great pose great character, great modeling , great paintjob!
i think he looks really human , and very handsome, in a grimdark anime type way. if your gonna get executed , you would want it to be by him! oh and the marble effect green and black staff with purple blade ,

Veran looks fantastic. The only gripe I have is the power cord on the spear. A crystal blade and a marble shaft call for something a bit more ornate than a utility cord, IMO.

I don't really have any suggestions though, so take it with a grain of salt.

All of the other details... and I don't think I have quite found them all yet, are amazing. The base, the coat rock!

I go away for a couple of days and this thead just gets better and beter. Awesome paint job on the inquisitor. I really like the daemonhost. Great work!

@ Everyone- thanks for the kind words! I'm hoping the next miniatures meet meet with your approval as well!

Yesterday, Nov 13, we had our hobby day at Evynir's apartment... or should I say warforge? I should have taken pictures of his personal armory (no, seriously, helmets, made his own chainmail. DEAD serious. ), but I'm afraid you'll all just have have to settle for some of the scenery construction pics I took while we drank, talked hobby, and... drank more.

Good times, Evynir, thank you for hosting us! Thank you all for your visits and comments! Stay tuned, I'll have some scenario pics tomorrow! (and Talia WIP, as soon I pick up my paints from Evynir's house... whoops)

Thanks for waiting, everyone! We’re back in action after our hobby day with a few new things. It was a great day to relax, talk shop, work on some scenery (working from zero-necromunda scenery, remember?), and drink the day/night away. I present to you my umm… work. This is actually my first attempt at building stuff, so bear with me. Good news is, there’s a bunch of other pieces to make that haven’t even been planned yet, so chances are, they’re going to get better with time.

Whoo hoo! A corner-ruin made of foam-core. For our work, we’re trying to do it as cheaply as possible using stuff we already had around the house/ in our combined possession… and a few key items bought from a home improvement store. The foam-core stuff is actually refuse from my workplace, for presentations years past. My idea for this one was a rundown building with very little left, and piles of garbage around. My cousin Z asked for part of it to be functional...



… so I added a floor and cut some windows for a sniper perch. The rebar is made from copper wire and galvanized steel material that Evinyr uses to forge jewelry/chainmail…



Added two pink insulation foam (courtesy of stock by Evinyr) for buttresses. They’re not perfectly even, but I’m going to cutting into them anyways to make them fit the terrain better.



Turned View. I realize that it is quite empty… so I’m working on cover junk and debris to fill it up. And if I was being more faithful to it and taking pictures of everything, you'd be able to see my small glass slowly becoming drained of its alcoholic contents...



One last shot of added resins and pcs (more to come) before I finished for the night. I might have to relent and add a bit more foam-core walls, I was thinking the building might be ‘L’ shaped (or whatever is left of it)… Yes, that’s right. I actually didn’t think of it all the way through- no plans, no sketches… I realize it’s not such a good idea , but hey, that’s how I work. For larger “more involved” pieces, I’ll be sure to create concept sketches. But for now, that’s what we have.



I’ll be picking up my paints so hopefully Wed night, I’ll have my start on Talia then! As always, thanks for stopping by everyone, and stay tuned for the other guys’ stuff!

Oh yea! If any of you have terrain-building expertise, tips, advice, to help us with it... it's our first time trying this, and any help making them awesome would be appreciated!

Well, I was hoping to have an painting update on Talia last night/this morning, but unfortunately, my progress met with catastrophic failure trying to add water effects... and my own personal oversight (READ- stupidity).

I had finished the base in a rusted green and tried to pour colored water into the the base... what resulted due to the fact that the base was not "plugged" was that it overflowed, the pour was an absolute mess- getting it all over Talia's leg and the base itself... and about 2-3 hours of painting work went down the drain.

I apologize for the wait and hope to fix this debacle by tonight...

Hello again and sorry for the wait, everyone! I started a new crunch class for the MBA this week, but good news is, it’s not all that demanding, so I’ll be able to devote a bit more time to the hobby!

Today, I’d like to present my progress (after the water effects epic FAIL ) on Talia Wagner! Still very much a work-in-progress/salvage, but here goes!

When I first decided to plan the model, I decided on a rusty tank turret of army green. When I botched the water, I tried to clean the base as well as I could… and lost some of the details on Talia (foot and drapping leg armor area) and figured the best way to retain the detail on the base without losing even more of it in layers of paint. Came out a coppery-rusty grey in the end… meh. Not as inspired as Veran’s. That’s for sure.

For Talia’s armor, I had to decide if they would be a rag-tag band as in the fluff with different colors, or somewhat unified in color scheme. I decided for Talia and Veran that they would have similar scheme of the black/red/yellow motif- seeing as how they both came from Falk’s command. I also decided against the original fluff… (er, veered away from it, more-like) and added color to her scarf. Her armor supposed to be primarily black… A yellow scarf… would look cool for an assassin… but I decided on a classic Strider/Shinobi red scarf.




Blurry Back View 1 of the new tail. Still a bit long, but I think the diameter of the tail is much better.




Profile Shot with more of the detail filled in- the leather I did in the same fashion as Veran’s. Her straps will be yellow, and fear not, the skin will not be as dark as the base. I’m planning to start from the dark and practice wet-blending up to a light blue/aqua color for the tints, resulting in a much lighter skin-tone.




Back View 2 with the details filled in. The studs I’m going to color for sure, but I have a question and need some feedback- I think the gold is a bit too flashy for an assassin… what do you think? Dirtied/rusted metal/silver instead?




Front View- I’ll fix that =I= symbol… probably try some freehand or something on it but haven’t decided anything aside from the fact that it’ll be primarily red… or silver..?




Profile Shot 2… yea… I’m thinking that gold is a bit much, especially if it’s going to be on her head and arm…




Anyways, sorry for the wait. Any critique/advice on how to improve this model would be greatly appreciated- especially ideas on the armor/plating, as well as that =I= symbol on her shin! (freehand? freehand what, exactly??) Still a lot of work to be done on her, and my fire was robbed after messing up that base... But I've got 4 days for Thanksgiving and I'm definitely going to try and finish her and maybe one other guy... I'm thinking Agent 23.

I think you're being too hard on yourself, she's coming along nicely!!

Perhaps keep the gold trim, but go for a dulled silver in the midlle of the plates...

He looks terrific.

His base looks amazing as does hers.

Looking forward to seeing her complete too.

Peter

Hey guys! Thanks for the kind words... it's feeling more like a chore than a joy to paint this lady at the moment. But while I was at home for Thanksgiving holiday, I got to do a bit more work on her. The plates are now a dull silvery-blue, and the studs are finished. Looking much better, I think.

I removed her sword-arm so I could get to the detail as well. I'll be putting up updated pictures of her tonight. I was also promised pictures by Zakkennaya123, so we'll see if he pulls through...

Stay tuned...

nice stuff

Hey Skotter! Thanks for stopping by and welcome to the madness!

Really awsome

Hey Inazagi, thanks for the befriending!

Eager to see what both you and Zakkennaya come up with next!

Are you going to be blogging any of the campaign itself??

Not a problem, man! It's waaaay past time I made friends with the people looking and contributing! Appreciate all the support!

As for the campaign, definitely- this is just the tip of the iceberg. While we're honestly nowhere near that stage yet... we've already prepared for the style of the battle reports we'll create. In order to prevent any of our prized minis go down like a punk in battle, we've decided to have the battles in story/fluff form with lots of pics to go with it. They'll have the basic events, and not every single OOA, Wounded, Flesh Wound, etc. result, but the general gist of it in an exciting narrative... the result is that even if, say, Talia goes down on Turn 1 with a lucky one-in-a-million bank shot from half-the-board away... the story will give it up in a slightly less ego-stinging way.

One more time! I’m a bit more pleased with the color scheme, but I think it’s still not quite “unified” in terms of color scheme. I tore off the arm to get at the extra details, and I was totally unaware that she had a bare midriff. Whoo hoo! More blue!! Here’s the recent progress in between the Thanksgiving drinking binges and videogames with my older brother.


I restarted some of the major details to dull down the color on the miniature- mainly the metal armor she’s wearing. Said it before, but the gold was bit too ‘bling’ for an stealthy killer. In that mindset, I’m also eying the red scarf for possible termination… but want to keep it… for now. The armor was redone in a base of oldskool GW Polished Blue and various hue mixes with other metallics. It’s not entirely finished, and still needs the final highlights and a bit of darkening agent/rusting in the recesses.





I also started trying a new technique (for me, anyway) for the flesh- wet-blending. I’m halfway decent at the layering stuff, and even saying that is going a bit too far. I wanted to see the effect for myself and see if I could emulate some of the tutorials. The blue is about mid-stage right now… I want it even lighter than it is now, or at least add more highlights to differentiate it from the leather armor. Not sure if I’ll go with the original near-sky-blue, but it doesn’t hurt to try.




You can see the gaping hole of her missing arm, and the start of the shoulder-armor with the Polished Blue- nothing too much, but I hope to get to more this week.




Progress on the tail… I’m thinking the colors are successfully blending and making smooth transitions, but I need a bit more brush control, and by that, I mean adjusting the water-content (no flowtex!! GAAAGH!! ) and amount on the brush so I’m not just slopping on colored water on the miniature.



That’s about it for now, this model is being a pain in the butt to paint with so many setbacks. I have another midterm coming this Saturday and work travel in between, so painting time will probably go to the sidelines until this weekend.

Thanks for stopping by! Any tips on how to wetblend or improve the model? Like I said, we love hearing from you, and we like seeing how we can make it all better! Also, thinking about maybe looking into buying a real airbrush- any suggestions and estimates on prices? Any models to gravitate towards or avoid?

Thanks again!

Looking good bro! Hopefully by the end of the week, I'll have something good to show as well.... If anything, campaign events and rules are coming out smoothly and we should have a working(ish) campaign in a little bit.... whether or not we have the minis, well.... >.> Thanks everyone for stopping by!

liking yyour work so far! whenever i see these things i want to make my =I=Munda group

Updates, Z!!! I NEED... UPDATES!!!

Man, it's been a while since I've been back... might have to put Talia on the backburner for a little bit and get my groove on. WIP pics of 23 coming soon... like, tonight, soon.

UPDATES Z!!!

Wow... it's been WAAAAY too long since ANYONE updated... Seeing as how the other two aren't stepping up with their busy schedules and all, I took some time from my work and studies to show what I've been working on. I felt like I wasn't getting results or even inspiration to paint Talia, so I gave her a rest and decided to give Agent 23 a try. In addition, I wanted to try a new painting style, hoping to step-up my game and make something competition-worthy... I don't have any "crap" miniatures to practice on, so I'm hoping X-23 will come out well, and I'll have learned something new. Enough of that though, enjoy the pics!

The start to the process... for Agent 23 I knew she was a "pick-up" character, so I wanted her colors to be something earthy, and something a merc would put together... and match, because that's how she rolls. (oh yea, and a tribute to the original character's first costume of yellow and brown)


Results after a few more hours... I can say one thing, this painting style is not as crisp-looking as Veran's.. but that's probably because I'm not proficient at it... yet.


For her, I was thinking about what to color her skin... both the original and the clone character a caucasian skin variation, but I wanted to try something different. In the fluff, she was deep-tanned... so I figured I wanted to copy someone's skin- found a good picture of Halle Berry, and figured I wanted to try to copy her skin color, or at least get close. It definitely comes out when put next to Veran, but I did find one thing- I need supplementary paints. Lookin' at the P3 series or Vallejo... any recommendations from users of both/either kinds?


Back View-... GS-fu, painting... so many things to work on, so little time... and yes, those are handles in her hands, as the original model carried a manriki-gusari kinda weapon...


Side View- For her hair, I was thinking of going with the standard black... but then I decided to do be truthful to the fluff and try out a sun-bleached color. Didn't come out, and will probably be redone.



Well, that's it for me for now. I'm sure I'll have more work done on this lady very soon- while the practice-style is really time-consuming (I'm ashamed to say how much time has already passed working on her... and that's all I have done) If anyone has any painting tips- control, etc... I want her to look crisp, but the blending to be smooth and bright... not happening right now while it's in practice... any ideas or tips?

Thanks for tuning in, and sorry for the long absence!

Looking good. That pipe sticking way out is great... I wonder how many models you can line up along it and count as touching bases? `,;~P Seriously though, looking good, and I love your bases.

Nice model! If you! want the hair to be sunbleached, you'll need a browner basecoat instead of the yellow. And bleached bone foe the highlights, obviously.

@ Good Green- Thanks! LOL... I heard about "modelling for cover" but yea.. that pipe is going to make transport hell, and doesn't serve much except for back attacks... Not that I modelled her that way on purpose... of course.

@ C-Khaine- thanks for the tip! I'll probably give it a shot if I don't try to salvage the hair paint as it stands... yep... probably gonna give it a shot!

@Sageheart- Give it a go! You never know unless you try! These guys (sorry to say) are first for everything- cracked-out bases, extreme GS work, new painting styles... I'm probably gonna put my head through a wall after I finish for forcing myself to use them for "practice"... but meh, I regret nothing!!

And more progress for you! I would have liked to have completed more, but the next set will probably feature Talon finished- base and all. I originally painted her straps that attach to the leather armor and wrap around her arm a shade of orange-ish brown, but then I decided to try for a more unifying look. The original looked ok... this is also looking 'OK', which was not the fantastic that I wanted, but I'll settle because I'm not down to slap down any more layers of paint.

Almost finished- all she requires is the NNM (which is kicking my at the moment... anyone have a formula or something? I'm trying to copy tutorials, but I need a bit more studying... definitely not while attempting it) on her claws, as well as finishing touches on her armor such as the =I= symbols and scarf.



Semi-Side View: I like the smoothness of it (probably overdid it with the primer too), but not a big fan of the loss of crispness. Just takes more practice I guess...


Back View: Hmm... if I were to do it again, I'd definitely try to hide the carving scars when I removed her chain weapon with greenstuff... Some of it I could pull off as armor (like on her shoulder) but that thing under the scarf looks like one huge, disgusting scar... egh...


Side View: The hair is actually much more yellow-bone colored... just my set-up I guess. And if you look closely, I'm not finished with her leg- the previous orange-brown I spoke about is still there. Dammit.


And that's about it for now! As it stands, my current half-painted Nids, WHQ models for cousins and self, extra stuff, and =I= Men, currently 44 miniatures of varying sizes awaiting paintjobs... engh... Not bad, but not that good either. I'm not picking up anything until AFTER I finish, but the next =I= campaign (and because I relish the grimdark universe and making unique models w/ greenstuff) will be an anime-inspired team of Rogue Traders or Ad Mech!

Thoughts currently are Ed and Alphonse Elric of Full Metal Alchemist (as the leader and his bodyguard), with several half-daemon hunters known as Claymores (quite possibly with their "man-in-black" handler) from the series with that same name... and perhaps... PERHAPS... Cloud Strife in his Advent Children outfit... As always, thanks for stopping by and any comments and constructive critique is always welcome!!

Looking good! And don' t mind the gs work that much; since you've made the model, you'll know every little flaw. To us, it's just a cool model that's nicely converted

@ Khaine- thanks for the words of encouragement... we'll see if I can improve the level of GS-work for my future gang(s).

My final is coming up this weekend, then I'm free for the holidays and new year. I'll try to get some work done before then, as my parents' house doesn't have lights bright enough to paint with, and lugging all my gear to and fro is a real pain. I'm almost positive I can do two back to back entries of X-23 finished up and Talia... and that'll be 42 minis left before I can pick up new ones... *groan*...

Wow... broke the 8000 view mark, but only one reply? OUCH...

If you like what you see? Say so! You absolutely detest my(our) work? I'd like to know why! It helps us improve and we love to hear from ALL of you!

Thanks for stopping by!

I like how agent 23 turns out... Not really 40k in its overall appearance, but it's still WIP, so the painting & base will probably help...

Thanks Yggdrasil- I've seen some of your stuff... Sweet mother of everything holy... I'm in awe.

I agree with you- she's cool, but is missing something 40K about her.. I was thinking if I should do the same black/red/yellow to link her to the currently in-progress Talia and finished Veran, but yea, decided against that to be more in-line with the fluff. Any suggestions on how to bring her back to the fold?

Thanks for the feedback though! I appreciate it!

Izanagi, your stuff sucks! Only because it will make mine not look as good... but whatever. I've finally come to accept this... I'm finally tossing some pictures out of where I've been...

LOL.. thanks, I think...?

That team looks awesome! Hamish reminds me of Rolento from Final fight! Good lookin' man! And thanks for showin' me where you're at!

- The female's railing base looks fantastic... you're going to have to teach me how to do that when we start getting harder into the terrain~!

Hello again! These next two weeks are packed to the brim, and unfortunately, painting will probably take a backseat to most of it. Drinking and merry-making with family, getting ready for New Years Eve, and making plans to visit one of my best friends, who is back from Japan for a short while… but before I do, I’m trying to get in as much hobby as I can after work.


I took a break from X-23 and Talia (slowly working away at both of them… so the first update in 2011 may be a big one with two completed models… or possibly three) to do another miniature languishing on my bench. It was originally just meant as a piece I wanted to paint… then became a possible character in our WHQ group of anime/not-fantasy inspired team… and finally, has also found a place in our I-Munda Campaign… GW uses Lictors as the invisible stalkers… and while awesome… I prefer the armed skull-hunting Predator, myself. I know that most of them (from movies/toys/comics) go up to being almost bone-yellow in skin color. I did a similar take, but didn’t go quite as far up, starting at a lower range and ending a few shades lower. Actually, I lied. I started up at a lower range, then looked up reference pics and found they go much lighter… maybe from the offhand-colored comics I used to read in the 90s?? Ah well, I’m stickin’ with it. Without further ado, my WIP for Heresy Mini’s Hurn (AKA Predator) Warrior. **WANT SOME CANDY?**



I started off with the skin, and I knew I always wanted to try their weird scaly, speckled skin tone. I didn’t have any real technique ideas going in there, just went in with the mindset to “replicate” what I remember from the movies.While it isn’t perfect, I’m pleased with the effect on his head, and the base designs for the rest of his body. I’m going to go over it several times to provide a bit of depth to the spots. They really aren’t speckled like that… the only things “true to form” are the head crest and hands, and MAYBE legs. Their arms are supposed to be fully black with yellow sticking out at the biceps… and their chests… well, that’s covered with armor and netting, so I’m fudging that too.




My only gripe in the design is that the armor (and to a certain extent, body) is lacking in detail- the netting, or the flatness of the armor. In many instances, the Predators’ armor (while varied) is relatively smooth, and comes in a grey or brownish in color. (Darkhorse AVP, AvP by Capcom, the movies) In recent movies, they have textures such as pitting or striations like exposed muscle. I don’t intend to use pure metallic paints, nor do I think NMM would fit this one, as their armor is usually semi-matte in finish… the only thing I’ll be doing in NMM will be the claws and spear blades.




One last close-up. My idea for his armor will be to do freehand designs based on the Aliens vs. Predator movie symbols. The symbols, cool. The movies, a disappointment. There is a classic black/blue/grey/silver stylization of almost a ying-yang predator and alien, as well as one where an alien and predator’s stylized bodies make a circle (but they’re both upright). I’ll be drawing inspiration from those two sources and creating the texture on the flat surfaces using those ideas, and then furthering it by adding battle damage. (aka, on that chest plate) And sorry, that was a crap explanation. I'll just show it to you when I finish...

Also, while you can’t see it, there were some small casting mistakes such as areas not completely filled (or perhaps they’re on purpose?) but they’ve left some small “cuts” on his back and right bicep… I’ll probably be incorporating some battle damage on his skin as a battle scar, but probably won’t be putting any blood… or any of his, anyway.

Anyways, as always, thanks for stopping by. Comments and critiques are always welcome! Like that we have viewers, LOVE comments even more.

If we don’t hit the blog up again before the start of the new year, Merry Christmas and Happy New Years to all of you in the Dakka Community from Evynir , Zakkenaya123 , and myself !!

Side Note: Just turned into a Ravenor! LEVEL UP!! Whoo hoo!

Looking very good, love the mottled effect! I like the idea of the symbols, will be interesting to see how you pull them off. Have you thought of making a mask that you can slip on him? I prefer masked predators myself!

Merry Christmas an Happy New Year to you as well, keep up the awesome work, all of you!

Hey Vitruvian! Yea, I'd have to agree with you there- the masks in "most" variations are much cooler than their faces. I unfortunately didn't mould a mask for him... HOWEVER... I do have another copy of the mini (it was limited print to 1000 units) for some yet-unknown project. I could mould the mask on there with vaseline underneath, then pop it off later... hmm... I may just do that!

Thanks for stopping by, as always, and happy holidays man!

Still looking for a NMM tutorial? This is the best one I have found so far.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/291528.page

Nice work as usual!

Hey Cain! Thanks a bunch! I'll give it a shot- it makes it seem a bit less complicated.

Happy holidays!

That is Awesome !! I'm a HUGE fan of the Predator Movies/comics/novels/games/EVERYTHING. Awesome to see you using one in your warband. The model looks pretty awesome too.

Thanks BtMask! He's not in our warbands persay... more like... hunting them for a scenario... or two. But I feel you on the Preds- Arnie was awesome with his, Danny Glover was "meh", especially since that character was supposed to be Arnie's character's brother... but YES. Awesome, awesome creature. The preds themselves are fantastic in every movie , just can't say the same about the movies themselves.

Don't mean to do a shameless plug, but if they're still available, check out Heresy Minis Hurn Warrior. That's the model if you're interested in one of your own! I'm eyeing the Delaque-esque/Matrix guys for our NEXT campaign on their product line... for what role, I'm not at liberty to say, but yea.

Happy holidays to ya!

Wow, haven't been here in awhile. Talk about life coming at you fast... >.<

Don't have any Inq retinue specific updates, but I'd like to present some more of the Dramatis Personae for this campaign: I present, the local PDF forces.







Which, incidentally, are minis from an Imperial Guard Army I've been putting together (~1500 pts worth).

Expect some Eldar to show up, as well as some Kroot, Nids (courtesy of Izanagi) and of course, the insidious forces of Chaos to show up for the party eventually. Like I said in the primer, everyone wants a piece of this STC...

Thanks for viewing!

Love those old Stormtroopers...

Hey bro! Welcome back!! I hope you're feeling better... and yes, it's been one month since we updated- thanks for starting us off!

School projects and presentations are killing me, but I'm going to have an update this weekend-

Scenery - WIP pretty much done

Talia - try to slug through her and finish that cursed model

X-23 - basework and scarf painting



Btw, did you repaint your storm troopers?? They look... different.

Alright… sorry to keep you all waiting. And doubly sorry for this post not really having anything to do with I-Munda.

My MBA program in concert with work and home life is really taking a toll into my hobby time. As this week promises to have the most activity, I’m hoping I can ease back into the seat and churn out more painted figures and inch our way closer to the games.

This time, however, I want to highlight some work I’ve been doing for Smurfwedge’s Space Marine Conclave, a project that will go entirely to charity. As a painter, I don’t have much in the way to offer like Doctors/Nurses Without Borders, but I thought it was a pretty cool idea on From the Warp, several top-notch painters created a charity chapter called the Storm Wardens.

Now, I don’t consider myself to be in that same caliber, but I think it’s a pretty cool concept, seeing all of them together… aka Gitsplitta’s Inquisitorial Squad from his Rebuilding the Mantis Warriors Thread.

So I’m trying to make one that I, personally, would actually pay money for. Without further ado, my contribution: Brother Ardeth, Sons of the Scorpion Chapter.

Body WIP - After sketching out the initial guy, and finding what I had in my bitz box (played SMs... nearly a decade ago...) I used an Assault Marine body and shaved off the aquila and x-harness centerlock's face. I also chopped Jet-pack Assault marine legs and repositioned them with wire for a more static pose.




Head WIP - I decided to do something like the crests the Ultramarine veterans had, but in the scorpion theme... backbone wire inserted and shaped.



Body WIP 2 - Here's the body again with the scorpion symbol (one variant), and the wiring put into his arm and leg spaces.



Body WIP 3 - Same thing, close up of the chest symbol which still needs a bit of fine-tuning and filing.



Head WIP 2 - The scorpion tail ended up being a bit big... I'll go over it tonight to see if I can slim it down. My initial sketches weren't with me last night when I made him, but it came out fairly true-to-vision.

Full Body WIP 1 - Brother Ardeth nearing completion. For his other hand, I wanted to arm him with some sort of Power-Khopesh, but I have neither the time nor the materials to go through with that course of action. I'm actually using an oldschool powerfist that I'll be putting the scorpion symbol on for more iconography.


Full Body WIP 2 - One final shot.


Comments and critiques always welcome!

If you want to participate in the project, deadline is April 1st, April Fools' Day! The Huge Space Marine Chapter Conclave!
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/333851.page

And for those of you not in the know, Gitsplitta is one of the most prolific modeller/contributors to this site- check out the Mantis Warriors risen from the dead! Absolutely fantastic modelling and dedication to a project! Rebuilding the Mantis Warriors http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/2670/289929.page

That looks awesome! I think the crest looks boss, and if 'you can pull it off a khopesh would be sweet as well!

Keep it up

Thanks! You should join us! I've seen your work, and I'm sure you'd come up with something equally, if not more impressive than this guy!

Dude, wish i could find the time! Just got so much on my plate (in and out of gaming). Its a great idea and im all for charity but not this time im afraid :(

And i doubt it, your sculpting and painting skills are impressive!

Bah! Flatterer!! When I see stuff that isn't mine that I wish WAS mine, that says something about the painter/modeller's goods.

I WISH I had your admech guys... I also WISH I had your Oroboros guys... and finally, I WISH I could have your Admech Knight when it's finished, because I have a feeling it's going to be epic. LOL. Don't knock your stuff. It's really good and keeps me on my toes!

Perhaps we can collaborate next time, as I believe this SM Charity isn't going to be a one-off project. Someone else will dust it off and continue it for sure!

Or, barring that, we can do a Marine Swap on that other thread that slips my mind at the moment...

Lol, you call me a flatterer

Do you mean the Great Marine Swap? Kind of an odd title dont you think?

Id be up for that, i want one of those scorpion badasses though!! What chapter would you like? I collect Raven Guard, Imperial fists, Dark Angels, but id be willing to paint any chapter tbh.

Aha ha ha ha ha ha... your sarcasm does not escape me sir...

Yea, that Great Marine Swap... thingy.

Lemme survive this academic quarter, and we'll get into this subject again for SM trade- whatever happens, it's gonna be good. In the meantime, I look forward to your production on your blogs, as I'm pretty bogged down with school at the moment.

Sarcasm?......Me?.......

Cool, no worries dude, school comes first :( no matter how boring it may be

Yeah, school's important guys, it allows you to get jobs that garner enough money every month to spend on your favourite minis, at the cost of free time!!!

On a more serious note, that Scorpion'ead Marine looks awesome, I think it might be interesting to push the concept further by sculpting the "forward claws" of the scorpion from the cables on each side of the Marine's jaws, but it could prove to be too much...

Can't wait to see it painted!!

Yggs, thanks for stopping by! LOL... yes, working towards those jobs that'll give me more financial freedom but will probably crush my soul. Vitruvian had it right... some of these books are concentrated and dry... like trying to chew through a mummy... Not that I've ever tried that, in any case.

Anyways, thanks for the stop by!!

And... you were saying something about claws on his face? I also intially considered it, but I thought they'd be too much like Striking Scorps, but I decided that it was too good to pass up. I hope they meet with your approval!


Helmet View/ Powerfist Detail- yup. Those are scorpion claws, or my version of them without trying to overtake the marine helmet's face. Thanks for pushing, Yggs. I'm glad I did it. And I'll definitely have a better pic of the stylized scorpion on his fist.



Front View- Sorry about the ancient powerfist... that sucker is an old one from a Space Wolf kit I purchased at the age of... 14 or 15? Maybe younger?? It spent time in a Pine-sol/water bath for the better part of 3 days, and occasional brushings to get as much of the black primer and original paintjob... aka red fingers. Only.


Again, if anyone wants to join the charity project, where Brother Ardesh of the Scorpions is going, hit it up- P&M Blogs, The Huge Space Marine Conclave: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/333851.page Deadline is April 1st! Join us!


In other news... 10,000 views!! Many thanks to you all from Zakkenaya, Evinyr and myself!!

Very nice! Love the fist. What kind of tools do you do GS work with??

Hey Vitruvian- Thanks! I think the scorpion insignia on the fist was particularly inspired. I tried it first on the shoulderpad, got something pretty awesome, but had no way of holding down the pad and screwed it up (then tossed it ) This was actually a second attempt on a much easier surface.

For GS work, I didn't believe it but it's all 1) planning/clear vision and 2) practice. Doesn't really matter what you use. I'm currently using an all metal set of 12 clay shaping tools... bought off Amazon for about $3.00USD. Seriously. And a healthy dab of vaseline on the tool before I start stabbing into the GS. Out of all 12 tools, I use a grand total of 1... maybe 2 of them. The others have never seen action. I can take a picture of my shaper if you like, it looks like a dental tool with one arrowhead on one side (never used) and sharp, 45 degree-angled "pick" on the other... Bottom line, practice, I think.

Was thinking of changing to rubber-tipped shapers, but I think these metal ones will do for now.

Hey yourself! (Nice avatar btw, love that game)

I was just curious, ive got metal dental tools and extra firm rubber clay shapers. I tend to use the shapers for organic stuff and the dental tools for everything else. I always find it a bit tricky with the shapers, seems like i cant get enough pressure down to shape the gs. Meh, anyway,keep it up!!

@HF: That's a sweet marine. He's got some serious sideburns and a stylin' topknot...

Your GS are very nice, and the concept is well done. Very cool.

@Vitruvian - Thanks about the avatar- love the whole 1001 Arabian Nights mystique, and PoP doesn't fall short. Still need to hit up the Sands and Warrior Within games... someday. I'll probably have to get some feedback for the soft-head shapers- defintelly want to invest in some, but need to research what I want to do first and what's out there for purchase.

@ Good Green- Thanks! You know Scorpion Brother Ardesh means business when his sideburns have sideburns. He's probably the most thought-out model I own... and that was definitely a factor in the quality of GS work. But thanks for the feedback!

He's done! Next pics will be his finished paintjob. I need to look back at the Conclave thread to see which knee the twin dum-dum bullet campaign badge goes on before I paint it on there.

I'm glad you made it, the side claws are great!!!

Can't wait to see him painted!

Oh~ Ii ne...
Very cool dude... so wanna do Space Marines now... Very inspiring... been in a rut creatively for awhile... I'll see if I can get something out to post by this weekend.

@Yggs- Thanks! It probably wouldn't have happened if you didn't bring it up! But I'm glad it happened as well!

@ Zakken - Finally came down to see it, eh? Glad you approve!

I just finished a major presentation for one of my classes, turning the rest of the quarter into an exercise in busy work. I'm hoping I have more time with only one more class to focus on...

For my B-day this March, my younger cousins, brother, and Zakken are going to be playing WH Quest. I recently picked up Anima Tactics' Marchosias for my Barbarian while Z is working with a Reaper (?) female duellist/Imperial Noble class. I took the time to primer that model along with Brother Ardesh... in the snow... (for those of you who don't know, Illinois was hit by about 2-3 ft of snow) Got it done though with no sacrifice in quality! And seeing as how I probably don't want to start another thread, I'll post stuff here along with work on X-23...

X-23 is currently having a minor color overhall. The yellow on her outfit is going out for more red and grey, and I think it's a major improvement, bringing her back to the grimdark.

I might have something here tonight... or tomorrow afternoon. Stay tuned!

Greetings yet again, with ANOTHER post that isn't =I= Munda related.. Earlier on my time here on Dakka, I posted up a character I made for a younger cousin's custom Monk class in WHQ. That character has been languishing in my model case for months now... mayhaps a year?? However, it happens to be a little over 1 month before my birthday, and my older brother and Zakken's younger brothers (my beloved relatives all!) decided to nerd out this year by playing WHQ again with new classes, and then follow up by going to Medieval Times, or something equally ridiculous. I'm such a dork, but I can't possibly describe how excited I am!!

SO... to mark this new set of adventurers, I finished the Monk for Z's youngest brother, I owe the middle cousin a Wizard, and my brother has asked to use my original Samurai character. Oh, and a standard Barbarian for myself... My cousin Z is painting a Rackham model to represent his female Imperial Noble, I believe.. I have no idea what model it is, actaully. All figures being painted by yours truly are from the Anima Tactics line.

Barbarian- Marchosias
Wizard- The Colonel - minute hair conversion
Samurai- Tsubasa Kurokami (aka Wing Black-Hair, or Wing Black/Dark God for the most common kanji translations) - heavy hair conversion

To mark the incoming occasion, I have my Barbarian PIP for you today!


Barbarian PIP 1 - For this model, I decided to go complete opposite from the original black-fade-to-deep-red on the skirt, dark metal gauntlets/boots, and gold/purple-blue glowing swords... I'm going for silver-white hair, and a crusader cream, steel, leather and red theme. Oh... and dark skin... this is before I realize I went a bit too brown-red.



Barbarian PIP 2 - I'm quite pleased with the new skin color- a swarthier look that compliments the iconic crusader knight colors. The hair... needs a few more shades of white to get it up to the color I really want it at... although, I do have to admit, the blue hair looks kinda cool in an anime-sort of way.



Barbarian PIP 2 - Back View- The back, I'm not so pleased with. Because this guy's most detailed components are the belt cross and arms, the torso is a huge canvas. My ideas are for a red stripe going down the cream skirt- torn remnants of the red cross garment. Also, for his muscled but dark torso, I'm planning a play on the original tattoo found on the artwork/model... as to how it'll look, not quite sure yet- but definitely a monotone black/blue/green cross of some sort.



Anyways, sorry about non-related post. We're all pretty busy, and the WHQ game day (and Charity Marine) are my immediate concerns! Enjoy, and any comments/critiques are always welcome! All of these PIPs and final pics can be found in my gallery titled "The Hall of Heroes"!

Wow! I love the skin color you got on him! Would you mind me asking how you did it? It's fantastic! I like the look of this model. Keen to see it complete.

HF Izanagi wrote:Alright… sorry to keep you all waiting. And doubly sorry for this post not really having anything to do with I-Munda.

My MBA program in concert with work and home life is really taking a toll into my hobby time. As this week promises to have the most activity, I’m hoping I can ease back into the seat and churn out more painted figures and inch our way closer to the games.

This time, however, I want to highlight some work I’ve been doing for Smurfwedge’s Space Marine Conclave, a project that will go entirely to charity. As a painter, I don’t have much in the way to offer like Doctors/Nurses Without Borders, but I thought it was a pretty cool idea on From the Warp, several top-notch painters created a charity chapter called the Storm Wardens.

Now, I don’t consider myself to be in that same caliber, but I think it’s a pretty cool concept, seeing all of them together… aka Gitsplitta’s Inquisitorial Squad from his Rebuilding the Mantis Warriors Thread.

So I’m trying to make one that I, personally, would actually pay money for. Without further ado, my contribution: Brother Ardeth, Sons of the Scorpion Chapter.

Body WIP - After sketching out the initial guy, and finding what I had in my bitz box (played SMs... nearly a decade ago...) I used an Assault Marine body and shaved off the aquila and x-harness centerlock's face. I also chopped Jet-pack Assault marine legs and repositioned them with wire for a more static pose.




Head WIP - I decided to do something like the crests the Ultramarine veterans had, but in the scorpion theme... backbone wire inserted and shaped.



Body WIP 2 - Here's the body again with the scorpion symbol (one variant), and the wiring put into his arm and leg spaces.



Body WIP 3 - Same thing, close up of the chest symbol which still needs a bit of fine-tuning and filing.



Head WIP 2 - The scorpion tail ended up being a bit big... I'll go over it tonight to see if I can slim it down. My initial sketches weren't with me last night when I made him, but it came out fairly true-to-vision.

Full Body WIP 1 - Brother Ardeth nearing completion. For his other hand, I wanted to arm him with some sort of Power-Khopesh, but I have neither the time nor the materials to go through with that course of action. I'm actually using an oldschool powerfist that I'll be putting the scorpion symbol on for more iconography.


Full Body WIP 2 - One final shot.


Comments and critiques always welcome!

If you want to participate in the project, deadline is April 1st, April Fools' Day! The Huge Space Marine Chapter Conclave!
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/333851.page

And for those of you not in the know, Gitsplitta is one of the most prolific modeller/contributors to this site- check out the Mantis Warriors risen from the dead! Absolutely fantastic modelling and dedication to a project! Rebuilding the Mantis Warriors http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/2670/289929.page

Its cool to see one of my models on a blog that isnt Gitz, or the marine swap! That marine you are making is very very very cool! im sure a lot of people would be down to trade marines with you if everything you make is that beautiful XD

@Bunnygurl – Hey, welcome to the blog and thanks for stopping by! You sure you want the skin formula for this guy?? It was a mistake, actually.. I’m practicing really watered down paint layers for all of my single minis. I used 5 colors in total- all GW paints (old and new- though I don’t see the color formula changing… only obsolescence of certain colors). Old Vermin Fur mixed with a bit of Scorched Brown as a base color. Then that batch mixed with a little bit of Graveyard Earth… I watered the batch down even more and “washed” the entire skin area, as I realized I went too far with the initial color. New batch of Graveyard Earth mixed w/ a bit of Elf Flesh for gen highlights. Several more additions of Elf Flesh, depending on the gradation you’re looking for, each on a slightly smaller area, several times over respectively. Final highlights were that same batch of Graveyard Earth/Elf Flesh mixed with Bleached Bone.

That’s the long and short of it… I don’t think that helped much. At all. LOL… How about this- skip the first step, because that was messed up, including the “wash” step. Find a darker brown color that doesn’t have a red-tint in it at all… more of a neutral flat/gray/blue tint. Use that for the base color, then follow the rest of the steps. It’ll get you better results than mine without the jolting color transition seen on the guy’s back… unless you actually liked that.



@Sageheart- Welcome back! And wait… that badass in the middle back row is yours??!? Friggin’ awesome man! Congrats! The concept and color theme on the guy looks great! That, and the assembled squad ALL look really good together! Tell me about the helmet- Where’d you get it from?

Wait, i did the blue one, not the badass haha, the one third from the left. i dont want to claim too much! haha

Yea man! I'm talking about the blue one in the back row, hooded guy w/ the SW bolter, no? THAT badass.

The head- where's it from? Or is it GS conversion work?

So we are talking about the sameone haha, thank you!

its from a DA vet squad set. They have some very cool heads in that set, and i got a kick having SW and DA parts together on a marine!

@ Sageheart- Good stuff man… although DA and SW on the same guy … smells like heresy, but I’m not one to complain! It’s a great model, and I look forward to more of your work! I’ve got a promise going on w/ Vitruvian to swap a marine at some point after my MBA workload dies down, and I hope to interest others in my work as well… here’s hoping my work isn’t a one-trick pony. The Scorpion Marine is just one of my ideas… when I have the time, I might have to test a few others I’ve been thinking about... Stay tuned!

Well, I’ve got another non-=I=Munda update for you all… More PIP on my WHQ Barbarian. Overall, I’m extremely pleased with how he’s turning out- definitely not one of my “masterpiece” minis (and it’s in quotations, because compared to other peoples’ models- Migsula, PDH, CMDante, Behind_The_Mask, etc. their standards blow my crap out of the water) , but I’d say it’s pretty inspired without going all the way with busted attempts at NMM due to school and fulltime work constraints. All in all, he’s about 70% done- he needs his gauntlets finished up in a suitably rusted and dirtied metal and something similar with his swords. The swords won’t be “special” crystal/daemon-filled/glowing weapons… I imagine him to be a seasoned fighter used to relying more on his skills than the innate capabilities of his blades… that funky cross-hatched weapon will need something a bit more though, I think… no current ideas.


Front View – I’m pleased with the direction for his eyes. I’m not sure about everyone else, but I’m always afraid of making “dead” eyes, or worse- blobs, cross-eyed, etc… my hands shake every single time I try eyes, but these ones were done with watered down paint, and touched up in one go. I think they’re pretty good and convey some expression- intended or not. Makes him look like the strong-silent, extremely arrogant type…




3/4 Back View – I originally had his leather straps and belt done up with Snakebite Leather, but it just didn’t look right. I ended up mixing a few batches to get a darker purple-brown for those parts, which was more of what I envisioned.




Back View – To fit the crusader theme, I decided to do red for all of his cross-like symbols to contrast his cream-ish robes. It doesn’t quite show on his belt, so I may revert that one cross to metal, or chip it to give it age and bring attention to it. I also haven’t started on his tattoo… that’ll probably take the better part of a day to conceive and apply… so I’m in no hurry. Yet.




Closs-Up of Elbow Armor- I don’t even remember what colors I used for it, but I’m chipping them and giving his clothing/armor that battle-worn feel… and the look like he doesn’t take a bath. Any tips to help improve the look of it…? Without going into NMM?




Side View – Damn, he’s muscular… because I have no other viable commentary for this one.



On one final note, I’ll be separating the PIPs from the actual Hall of Heroes Gallery- makes no sense mixing finished guys with PIPs- hence, you can find the older PIPs and all other chars from here on in in the aptly-named Hall of Heroes WIP/PIP Gallery. After that… I think that about wraps it up. I think Z is supposed to have an actual =I= Munda-related update soon, but in the meantime, I’m going to be doing WHQ updates up until mid-march. Thanks for stopping by, and as always, critiques? Tips? Anything you’d like to see done? Let us know!

HF Izanagi wrote:@ Sageheart- Good stuff man… although DA and SW on the same guy … smells like heresy, but I’m not one to complain! It’s a great model, and I look forward to more of your work! I’ve got a promise going on w/ Vitruvian to swap a marine at some point after my MBA workload dies down, and I hope to interest others in my work as well… here’s hoping my work isn’t a one-trick pony. The Scorpion Marine is just one of my ideas… when I have the time, I might have to test a few others I’ve been thinking about... Stay tuned!

I would be down to trade a model with you! and I am going to start a P&M blog once I get my classwork together and find a camera. I woudl be honored if you would look it over, but then again it wont be ready for another week or so.


not only do i love that model but the skin is very well done. I always have trouble with skin, and seeing the skin on your model is really amaizng to me.


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im not feeling the belt thou, it seems too dull when placed up against the skin, cloth and that vibrant hair

LOL, sounds good for trading! For sure, I’ll start up a collection of various Chapters as well- you’ll probably end up seeing the group as a DWatch group in our =I= Munda adventures.

And that’s a given about your new P&M- I make it a point to visit this blog’s visitors’ own pages and comment whenever I can. I really can’t get enough of all the stuff I see on this website- orks, SMs, eldar, DA, DE, Nids, IGs… hell, and that’s just GW products and not the Warmachine/Horde blogs that sometimes pop up. It really does help improve what we do here seeing what everyone else makes. What’re you planning on putting on there? Army/Single Minis/Random assortment? Either way, I’ll be stopping by to say hello!

I just gotta say though… I said the same thing about the leather when it was the brighter yellow-brown Snakebite Leather. I’ll finish the model soon, and see how I feel about it… I’ve got 2 more heroes waiting for paintjobs before March 13 (WHQ playdate w/ the fam). Thanks for the critique!

For the skin, it’s all watered down painting/blending- LOL… I’m named after the dutch artist Rembrandt (Van Rijn- no joke) and I do charcoal/pencil, but I’m zero for color theory and paintbrush techniques… Name-Destiny FAIL. I’m still learning it, so I’m hoping in later months there’ll be a marked improvement… goal is to try and get it to GW/Masterclass standard.

P&M blogs are the best, i try to look through as many as possible, as you put it there really is a great amount of stuff on this website to drool over. I def like them when they get chatty and watching what types of discussions evolve out of the models shown and the collection of the various individuals involved in the DakkaDakka community.

Yeah I don't really know what to do with that belt, maybe give it a more powerful look, maybe darker? Its really the front that im not feeling. Maybe paint the star a different color?


Really? Rembrandt is one of my dad's favorite artists! he loves the dutch form of painting and tries to use it in his own art form. I know some forms just from watching my dad work but yeah i have issues with color theory at times. I'm sure you'll have no trouble getting to the GW masterclass standard.

have you ever fooled around with Army Painter's Quickshade? I am planning on maybe picking some up since I saw a friend's friend's SoB army and he painted just simple base of colors then washed it and it looked awesome after he highlighted a bit.


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I'll def trade up a marine with you! I'll get one set up, anything in particular you would like? I am tryingto make a whole army of marines painted by other people! So assemble any marine you want, its kinda a game for me, to see what kinda army i end up with just traded marines.

So far I have a 5 man tactical, 3 assault marines, and three honor guard with odd weapon layouts. its all fun!

sorry to take over your P&M blog with simple talk

Agreed. WIN for Gits' Brother Inushi spawning a discussion over the katana's nuances. That was really interesting.

Ah... I see what you're saying. The belt's red-cross is going to go quite a few shades brighter, much like the elbow/knee armor.

I've seen Quickshade before- kinda like dipping, yea? I've thought about it, as I don't wanna slog through an entire army... but I dunno- never really thought of it as a viable option. I'm of a thought that if I paid money for my figures, I'm going to try and do them up nicely, I guess? And I could always use the practice... on 50+ termagaunts...

But if you like the results your friend got from it, I think it'd be worth looking into.

And yes, I'll let you know when I'm ready to start trading up. It's on the back-burner for a bit, but I'll remember to bring it up again as soon as I've got the time to invest!

And no problem about the small-talk, if not that, what use does this hobby forum serve??

haha word!


yeah i am unsure about the quickshade since it is dipping which does seem lik cutting corners sometimes, but i see it as something that can be used a bit more carefully as an ink and in that way can be used to wash models. Idk i had been thinking that could be an interesting thing to think about doing.

i think if the cross is brighter it should make the belt look much nicer


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what are you going to do withthe weapons?

Wow, it's been awhile.

My update this time around is really two things: one, I've finished basing my Inquisitor and finished up the base concept for my Untouchable/Sniper, two, due to a request from Izanagi, I am posting one of my choices for my next WQ character (though it looks like absolute crap compared to his.... >.&gt. Without further delay:

Here's the group together as they stand:


My Untouchable/Sniper Aria Trutina:

Her base still requires a bit of work: sand and murky water effects, the lip of the crater the barrel is sitting in, etc etc.

My Inquisitor Leon Bertram:

Think Imperial Base/Fuel Dump. Rusty metal and water effect fuel spill.

And now, my Warhammer Quest Charcter Choice #!:






One thing that makes me hesitate to choose this character immediately (despite loving the model) is that the noble seemed lackluster in our last campaign in terms of performance AND Upkeep. The other two choices I have will be a Ranger (represented by a converted Privateer Press - Hordes mini Lanyssa) or a Witch Hunter (from Avatars of War). Once I get these primered and a basic coating of colors added, I'll post these too.

Thanks for stopping by! Comments are welcome.

Your team looks good altogether, Z! You guys are only 4-strong?? I guess one extra half-armed guy doesn't make much of a difference to start, but still... The bases are very-well put together. I can't wait to see the paintjob on the crew!

And thanks for posting your Noble. In regards to your assessment, I've gotta disagree. Your brother used the Noble fairly well in terms of effectiveness- in terms of killing power, I'd put him up at the top for potential, even if it is dice-rolling luck-based... for which he was pretty damn lucky, I'd say. Cursed by the dice gods... well, that's a different story... Not sure what you mean by upkeep, aside from his ridiculous penchant for shopping at Salvator Ferragamo or whatever those bloodthirsty leeches named their store.

Questions- How close to completion is she? Her skin, hair and skirt look to be base-coated... shade and highlight still?

And I saw the Ranger mini- very cool. The witch hunter... not my cup of tea, but the company's reputation speaks for itself in terms of quality minis.

Thanks for posting, bro!

Bah... I need some help... I tried going to the Painting and Modelling section... but no bites for any suggestions on the guy. I'm stuck and need help getting this guy finished so I can move on to the other 2 heroes awaiting their paint-jobs.

Here is the barbarian as he stands-





The tattoo may be done later, as I'm somewhat pressed for time. My questions are as follows-

1) Any ideas for the gauntlets without going NMM iron/steel? I don't have time for that.

2) Any painting tips/formulas for making knicks and dents?

3) I had an idea to paint the forearms and shins white and chip the paint from them to expose the metal underneath... any other ideas?

Thanks in advance? ANY advice would be welcome, it might be something I've not considered yet, so let it rip with whatever you have!

I like the idea of painting them white and having the metal underside shine through here and there.

Honestly I'm not sure what else you can do, Maybe wash the weapons with a light brown or black ink and see how that looks? I am still trying to figure out how to paint metal.

gauntlets: I'm a fan of aged bronze - looks functional and worn in, and not necessarily 'clean'.
base of Dwarf Bronze; wash of black; very thin washes of Hawks turquoise in the rescesses; judicious highlighting with bronze.

Chips and dents: not entirely sure if this would work on a minature, but I've thought about giving it a go. A method I've used before on illustrations is to use guache, and build up a few thin-ish layers, and then you put Scotch tape over it and rip it off, and it distresses/ages the paint. Maybe give it a go, and have different colours underneath the top layer? Might work, might not. I'd guess it wouldn't work with acrylics, guache worked because it was quite chalky.

@ Sageheart- Yea, that was the one thing I was thinking of as an alternative, but I'm worried that the white, no matter how chipped/dirted will sway him less from crusader-inspired, to muscle-bound, shirtless-crusader...

@Finnan- Hey! Thanks for stopping by and thanks for the advice. I might take a bit of that- maybe bronze parts of (the plate over the wrist, for example) to break up the color, and that might be enough for it. (or somehow mesh it with the white, iron/steel, and bronze...?)

Thanks guys! Still looking for more ideas in case that "Holy ! That's it!!" comes along! Good stuff, and again, thanks for stopping by!

Imaginative stuff -loved the painted inquisitor and I will just have to stick around to see how the others pan out

@Weety- Thanks for stopping by! I'll probably be switching the WHQ stuff onto another thread at some point if I do decide to do an army-type P&M for an Eldar/Dark Eldar project I'm currrently formulating... but yea, I'm also looking forward to the paint jobs and finished projects of my friends Zakkennaya123 and Evinyr. Hopefully we can build scenery in a timely fashion and get to some battle reports (early) this year... and it makes me sad to say "this year" because that's a friggin' long time to wait...

maybe instead of a white then go for a grey? or maybe a dark blue?

LOL… you trying to inch me closer to NMM, Sageheart? … I might as well just do it and totally it up already… I'll take the grey into consideration... blue... might clash with the red crosses... or make him a walking advert for the USA...

I'm sorry to say but I think The P-Hammer has run out of steam. The rest of the =I= Men will be on display in my personal galleries, but I can't speak for the other guys.

Thanks all watchers and commenters!

MODS: Could I have one of you lock this thread?

In before the lock...

Noooo! Never mind, gotta do what keeps you motivated!