There are a lot of minor races mentioned in the 40k background material but few rarely get much attention. Rather than have a go at one of the existing races I figured I'd have a bash at making my own original minor race as a bit of fun and see if I can make them into an army along with rules.

The Tarrassi

So to get the ball rolling here is the main trooper for the race, a Tarrassi Shrine Warrior. The idea is that they were in a fairly remote region of space on the edge of the southern galactic rim and whilst not capable of warp travel they had mastered interstellar travel and had spread to several planets in systems neighbouring their home world.
Their home world of Dra'varn was covered almost entirely with water with the amphibious Tarrassi living in vast under water cities that stretched around the sea beds of the great oceans.
When the fleet of the Imperial Talons chapter arrived on the edge of the system the Tarrassi despatched an envoy vessel to greet them only to witness it's destruction. With no real war fleet to protect them the smaller trade vessels proved to be easy targets for the Imperial warships and put up little defence.
Upon making orbit the fleet began to reign destruction down on the major population centres to little effect, eventually deploying modified boarding torpedoes to transport assault squads directly into the heart of the cities whilst terminators made their way across the sea beds protected by their Land Raider transports to attack the thermal generators that drew power from the mantle of the planet for the limited defences of the Tarrassi.
Having never faced such a ferocious and xenophobic race as the Astartes the Tarrissi put up a valiant yet futile defence of their cities. The Shrine Warriors chose to stand their ground in order to allow the transport vessels to evacuate the civilian population, a gesture that was to prove futile as the strike cruisers hunted and destroyed the escaping vessels with ease.

With in the space of a month with their defences shattered and their thermal reactors going critical the bottom of the oceans began to splinter and and crack as the planet began to tear itself apart. As the Astartes withdrew their forces to a safe distance the planet atmosphere erupted into fire scorching what little land existed clean of life and boiling the oceans in a matter of days. Had it not been for the colonies then the the race would have been extinguished there and then, it was on this day that the Tarrassi learned to both fear and despise the forces of the Imperium.

Tarrassi Shrine Warrior





This first model is basically something that I have been putting together out of left over bits from other sculpts that I have been working on and hasn't really had much planning to be honest and I still need to add some detailing and shaping to his main halberd weapon which will also function as a ranged weapon.
I'm thinking maybe have it as a heavy 1 strength six or seven weapon weapon with a wrist mounted pistol type weapon for short ranged attacks with something along the lines of an Ogryn profile. Might increase the leadership and give him a 4+ save but I'll worry about that later.
The rough idea initially is to have Shrine Warriors as all rounders with the force lacking in the areas of specialist troops. What I may do is put together a small confederation of lesser races that have come together for mutual protection or just have them supported by robots or machines designed to strengthen their weaknesses. I may make the head separate so that I can make a bare head that I can swap with the helmet.

Wow. That's suprisingly good. Really good. Keep it up!

really cool looking model, as it is 1:00 in the morning i couldn´t concentrate enough to read your fluff about your race, will do that the next day...
what model did you use for base? i like your sculpt.

what paint scheme do you thought up with it? waht other plans do you have?
really looking forward to some new concepts in this downtrodden modelsphere^^...

godd work , greetings vik

That is really cool looking so far. The only thing is I think the rifle looks a little....out of place, kindda bulky or something, not too sure what exactly. Ill be watching this one for sure. Are they going to be a bigger sized race? That mini looks terminator sized

Nice Fluff, stunning model.
The Feet remind me of Tau, though...

My first thought was "wow, monstrous creatures as standard troopers... but nothing like Tyranids".
Do NOT mix various races into one army list.... we already have this with Tau,Kroot,Vespid...
Add Amphibic Vehicles.
I would like to see an army in "deathwing-style & beefed up Tyranid-Warriors": Few multi-wound "almost" monstrous creatures with balanced melee/ranged skills.

Looking really nice, can't wait to see where this goes.

those looks awesome

now that i ´ve read your fluff all i can say please complete this awsome model^^
i like the tragic underdog story of ther apparent destruction. it shows what kind of race humans are and i think since this cruelty to foreigners is their day to day life style the deserve to be erased by nids or orcs one day.
your model reminds me of something i must have seen in an animated series or possibly a comic book but i can´t tell for sure...
this is truly a model i would love to have a small force of on my own... but since i have alot on my hands to do for the time being i am happy to follow your development in this goodlooking new race.

good luck with your work, vik

cool fluff and i like the look of your shrine warrior, the only thing that sticks out for me is that the halberd thing is too bulky, looks like it needs making thinner more elegant looking imo. cant wait to see more

Your fluff is amazing, it really tells the other side of the story of conquest. I would tend to agree with Motorhead45 not to create another Tau style army as advanced weaponry really doesn't correlate with your fluff well.

Again I agree that multi wounds would be a good way to compensate for lack of specialised troops and wargear. Another route would be to modify the fluff slightly to allow adaptation to a craftworld Eldar list, ie different aspects or echelons with the Shine warriors number.

On the modelling side of things the sculpt is looking very good, the weapon in my opinion could be a little more slender, but only fractionally. In regards to the removable/swappable helmet I would stay clear for the time being, the fluff accounts for it well.

Cheers guys.

Lennysmash: Yeah I thought it'd make a pleasant change to do an army of underdogs given their size and I definitely don't want to create another Tau style army. I totally agree with you there mate, multi-wound is probably the best route to go as it's always tempting to give something like this 2+ invulnerable saves, assault four plasma guns that don't over heat, etc, but I think the key is to tone it all down. I was seriously tempted with adding FNP at one point.
The eldar list idea is quite a good one as it'd give me a solid starting point.
I'll have to play around with the weapon a bit, I like the bulk but it does seem a little too thick probably because I was concerned about how to get the resin to flow into the area when I get around to casting him so I can make the rest of the army.
I do have some ideas for bare headed models but it's more of a need to visualise them in the flesh beyond the armour so I know who they are if that makes any sense?

Viktor von Domm: Totally agree with you there mate. I think it's fairly easy to create the all conquering, singing tales of their glory for generations to come style army and I thought it'd make a nice change to have a race that has taken a kicking and not really recovered. There is a sort of innocence behind the story with the Tarrassi welcoming the Imperium with open arms as friends only to get absolutely obliterated in return.
Not sure what I'll do paint scheme wise, maybe quite bold colours once I get one finished I'll post up a test colour scheme. The model itself is completely sculpted from scratch over a wire frame armature. I may have to knock up a dolly for it to speed things up if I make other similar sized Tassarri models.

motorhead1945: Yeah definitely trying to avoid Tau influences where ever possible. The feet to be honest were a bit of a cop out, I tried a couple of different variations but settled for a hoof sort of look in the end. I tried clawed bare feet but it made them look too aggressive, I think if I 'd sat down and planned this guy from scratch I may have come up with something more original looking but as I was just adding bits as I was working on other stuff he kind of evolved this way.
We seem to be on the same page as far as the army list is concerned. I was initially toying around with adding other races but only so that I could have a bash at making some more races. As I progressed this seemed more like you say the Tau and put me off a bit.
I think the best route to go would be to have less armoured models filling in other roles but as slight lesser variations of the Shrine Warrior to give the look of the army some variety. I want to avoid giving one two close combat weapons as an assault squad or giving them a heavier weapon to make a heavy support squad as that will make the concept of the Shrine Warriors redundant. The idea I have is that the Shrine Warriors is that they are the Astartes of their race, basically by their racial standards seriously hard elite troops that are used to fending off the creatures that threaten their cities. I was thinking that because they are completely unprepared for the sheer ferocity and hatred of the Imperial attack they were totally unprepared and caught off guard. I can see the idea of having space vessels that are dedicated to war being a totally alien concept to them.
As a rough outline I'm thinking having them with an incredibly long life span with a slow reproductive cycle to those that are left are experienced but they have never had to replace loses from a protracted war.

Vehicle wise it's a little trickier but it'd make sense to give them something limited to deal with heavier armoured leviathan type creatures of their home world. Amphibious skimmers would make sense but may swing them back to the likes of the Tau. I was toying with large domesticated creatures but that may make them a little too much like the Kroot.

I like it

Very nice fluff , your a writer alright!! your green stuff skills are very impressive a mate, also like your cadian ig type guy next to him. have you thought about writing up a few stories and posting them in the fiction section , doesnt get many hits but i bet your stories prove popular. the tarrasi got owned by the xenomorphic imperium. love to see a come back story and a bit of rightfull vengence!!! oh yeh!
regards

A nice start, stick with it, (unless i've missed it) any plans for what they count as yet? would be interested to know!

Keep going!!

Colour scheme-wise why don't you play around with an aquatic palette, hawk turquoise and the like. Maybe even offer a little homage to DC's aquaman .

Cool creature looks like a cross between a tau and a big daddy. With regards to feet what about something elephant like? Or perhaps a four pointed symetrical arrangement like a Dreadnought foot, i don't think something like that has been done. Not sure 'bout the whole waterbased thing i think they would have flippers and the like if they lived underwater. As for face i personally would avoid a Kilowog style face go more with obese abe sapien.

just had a thought , you could make your actual race really tall and skinny and thease suits are just , like diving bell suits huge and clunky!

looks amazing I love the model!!!!

Cheers guys.

neil101: Cheers mate, I may add a few bits of story in the log as I go. I had considered that they could be tall and thin actually because as like you say it could be mostly armour that allows them to move about in a waterless or air rich environment. Not sure what to do the actual creatures in the suit like just yet, been batting a few ideas about from everything from squids to reptiles at the moment. I was thinking about something completely alien for the face but will play around and see what I can come up with.

Perkustin: Yeah the dread foot idea would be pretty unique to be honest, I'll play around with that idea and see how it goes. As they're amphibious I could probably get away with maybe a humanoid with gills and smallish fins that are concealed by the suit so it shouldn't be too much of a problem in regards to them being water dwellers.

Lennysmash: Yeah that's a cool idea mate, I'll have to play around a bit and see what works. Maybe a marble or mottled effect in those colours might be nice.

Tortured-Robot: I'm planning on making them a unique race so they'll have their own codex and rules. Hopefully I won't go too crazy with them though.

subscribed keep it up

Subscribing, looking forward to seeing how this develops, looks promising. A great start, stick with it

It looks amasing so far Doghouse. Maybe you could give them webbed feet and hands i don't think that has been done before. Keep up the good work.

hi again doghouse.

i have a few suggestions as i read again the whole thread:

i strongly support your idea to go boldly where now one has gone colorwise before:
this is an aquatic lifeform so you have to imagine that when they use colors they have to make them to compete with murky dephts of deep water. so i recommend to you use brilliant colors instead of the suggested aquatic colors like green and turquoise. instead use red and yellow in striking stripes. i imagine this elite warriors to be proud of their position in this culture and tehrefore they would dress with elite taste in clothing...
also i suggest you rethink that idea of the fragile alien in a big suit. why not do a big alien? with a very thin suit? they are living in deep sea, the pressure was there before they developed suits, so they had to live there without them suits...^^
also i think about sea-cows, they are big and heavy at land but beautiful in the sea and can swim with grace...maybe the suits are for landdwelling instead for deep sea pressure...

big living trasport might work, but i would suggest you use more artificial means of support.
the abdomen and shoulders show a striking pattern of stripes of armor. i really like that look. now imagine a vessel as shown in episode I of the new starwars films. the one where quigon and obiwan use to get to naboo city. and now take this vessel and armor it in your used style as discribed above. would look tremendous.

a further thought of mine was about weapons and warfare. this is a very (former) peaceful race. the lived in deep sea and there thy for sure commnunicated. they built a complex society which thought them to get along peacful with strangers... i would imagine that they would perhaps use a form of communications like our whales or something like that. not quite understandable by human standards, which might get them the doubt of telepathy and thus getting them the undeserved wraith of the imoerial angst. that lead to their genocide...
speaking of this quasi telepathy you could base a complete set of warfare based on that. like skriptors or other examples of magical orientated characters you could give the Tarrassi more magical abilities and thus holding the model count relativly small. big hitters .

pheew... that was a bit more of my two cents...^^

have fun doing your race, cheers vik

Nice fluff, nice concept, nice mini

Subscribed!

Also, why not just have the warrior elements of the race significantly larger than the civilian elements. As if the biggest and strongest of the species are chosen at birth to be warriors, whereas the rest are consigned to more domesticated lives; only joining the fight as a last resort.

S_P

Great fluff, original design and nice sculpt.

Subscribed!

Thanks guys.

Space_Potato: Yeah that's definitely a possibility. One thing that I'm considering is that because they aren't likely to be going on the offensive is making the objective markers small groups of civilians that the Shrine Warriors need to protect. If I do this route it I can make them slightly smaller, it'd also show what they look like without armour as well.

Viktor von Domm: I'm always open to suggestions mate.
I think I'm probably going to wait till I have a test model before settling on a paint scheme, might knock up sketches in the meantime though.
Now that I have some ideas I think that I need to start planning ahead as to what they should really look like in the suits, I think maybe something in between might work so have then big but fairly toned so that they look like they could fit in the armoured suits.

Yeah now you mention it something like that star wars might look really cool actually.

Some sort of sonar speech might work well, the vespid have to have a communications device in order to communicate with the tau because their speech is so alien so it wouldn't be much of a stretch to assume the same of these guys.
I'm not sure what to do in regards to psychics at the moment. I could see them having a mystical side I guess though that could be worked in.

oaktree: Yeah something like that may work, maybe residual fins as well. All depends on whether I go reptile, fish or mammal based for them I guess.

Something very big daddy'ish about it. So cool!

I love it, must have more.

Some ideas I had about expanding the Tarassi:

Perhaps the Tarrassi evolved in a similar way to most races, but had a strong evolutionary link to the Oceans of their Planet.
Early Civilisation evolved on land, technology developed to an advanced state and the Tarrassi became interested in the vastness of the void surrounding their world. Tarrassi scientists discover their position within the solar system, over the centuries they realise that they are more likely to suffer devastating planetary strikes from universal debris entering the galaxy (Large asteriods etc).
It is generally predicted that the best course of survival is to live below the Oceans or to develop Space technology on a gigantic scale. The Tarassi opt to go down the 'Simple' route of colossal ocean cities. As the first few Colossal cities are finished (enoughto house 30% of the Population sustainably) the world is struck by an Asteroid. The impact force scourges 90% of life from the surface of the planet, most aquatic species are left uneffected.
The ensuing winter that envolpes that Planet forces the remaining Tarassi to stay within their cities. As generations come to live in these hyper-sterile environments they become unable to venture on to the surface of their world without the protection of bio-suits... etc etc etc

Cheers guys.

Some nice suggestions there thanks mate.

I think the route they are going to take is rather than being forced under water by something like an asteroid strike it'll just be part of their natural evolution. The rough idea will be to make their development as painless as possible with very few hardships so when they are introduced to the grim dark races of the 40k universe they have absolutely no idea what has hit them and barely survive their first encounter with one of the races.
Up until that point they have had no contact with alien races and have remained isolated. So there probably was a certain amount of excitement when the Imperials were first spotted with much pomp and ceremony involved, basically a massive event in their history which they embraced enthusiastically only to be swept aside like a troublesome insect.
So without any real wars amongst themselves they have only really had to deal with natural death world type predators that lurk in the depths of their oceans and the idea of fighting another sentient race purely because they are different was an alien concept.
Had it been someone less hostile like perhaps the Tau or Eldar then things may have gone differently. The Tau would have probably convinced them to join the greater good and subjugated their world via political means or the Eldar would have limited their contact depending on what the future held for their race. As it was they met one of the bad boys on the block and are extremely distrustful of aliens as a result.

I've been playing around with vehicle ideas and have dug out an old concept that I made a few years ago that might be a nice starting point for the basis of a light tank.



What I'm thinking is either modify this design just slightly or go whole hog and add crew mounted on the outside in side pintle mounts. The idea behind it is an attack vehicle used to fend off armoured predators that crawl along their sea beds so mabye give it missile launchers along the sides rather than rely on energy weapons that might dissipate in water.
So basically it can drive along the sea bed and straight up onto land with maybe some sort of energy prow to part the water as it moves.

Looks cool, are you ever planning on casting a few for sale?

Thanks mate.

I could do but I'd have to drop the 40k background material and sell them as a generic alien race and vehicles rather than something specific to 40k.

I'll see how the casting goes and take it from there.

SHeesh this is lookin goood

Very interesting - will be keeping an eye on this.

More!

Very cool! Looks to be the start of a very good army.

the concept tank looks cool indeed!
as this is a former peaceful race they probably would have vehicles for shifting around masses to heavy to carry or like you said for fending of predatory animal life. so i would expect in vehicles a bit like the alien heavy lifters, claws to carry stuff , maybe drills and lasers more for cutting than shooting...

we definitly need more of your sketches, they will be great, always like sketches of concept art^^

keep up the good worke mate, vik

Wow bud its really good to see something original, and i think the fluff goes very nicely with the look of the model..

I agree with "viktor von domm" they should have alot of multi lasers and drills...

Also you could add that because they were peaceful they didnt really have many different types of weapons so they had to capture imperial weapons and adapt them into weapons they could use...

jim.

jimmy72nd wrote: they should have alot of multi lasers and drills...

Hmm, a possible route but the last thing I think you want to create is underwater squats.

Cheers guys, glad they are going down so well so far.

As far as the weapons are concerned I may go the route of crystal based weapons but not sure, I think I'll play around with a few ideas and see what works. Maybe some sort dart weapons or something.

Its nice to see original stuff. , could go the dune route and have amplified weapons , sound or water, ice steam maybe. good luck

Very cool armoured suit. I am looking forward to seeing what else you come up with.

I don't think you need to worry about the design of the alien because..."no one has ever seen what they look like because when an attempt to open the suit is made, the bodies incinerate..."

That way, people can come up with their own ideas while you focus on getting more variety.

later on, you can worry what they look like.

I don't think a mono wheel suits your fluff...it is not the best vehicle for undersea use and I would suggest that they would have multi-environment kit because of the limits to their tech...

Really cool warrior! Can't wait to see more!

Doghouse when you say dart weapons are you thinking blow pipes or more along the lines of a harpoon based weapon?

neil101's idea of sonic weapons could be quite sweet.

In regards to crystal based weapons I think you may be straying a little too close to Eldritch tech, however I was thinking Coral Blades sound kind of cool, counts as relic blade maybe.

for sonic weapons i would suggest some lego parts to use, the have some nice dishes and so forth that could be quite good for that...

Cheers guys.

I think there are a number of different ways I could go as to what weapons they use at this point so I'll try and play around a bit to see what works. Ideally I'm after something that looks cool that I can make stuff up about afterwards.

Inso: Yeah the thing in the suit isn't really as important as what you can actually see I guess. I really want to make some smaller civilians at a later date so I think I'll address it then.

I've got to finish a model for a mate first but as soon as he's finished I'll be getting this guy finished and see about casting some up for a group shot.

Before I even clicked on this thread I thought "Oh here we go, another dude trying his hand at making his own race".
Then I looked at that first green and was blown away! I read the fluff and then thought "My goodness, this is pretty awesome, and that's a cool model for a 30mm base... Holy gak it's on a 40mm base! That's awesomesauce!!"

Seriously good stuff man. I'd like to imagine the suit is a full of pressurised water, and allows this aquatic race to walk on dry land unencumbered. I'd love to see some more stuff from you. Is it too much to want giant crabs?

Woot since i am currently on a sculpting rampage im stealing your idea(its beautiful)

Cheers guys.

Tek: I was seriously hoping I'd get that reaction.

Thank you very much for the compliment.

In hindsight I guess I should have put a little more thought into the project title. Yeah some sort of pressurised suit would be really cool, mabye they are immersed in some sort of fluid within the suit or something like that.
Not sure about a giant crab but maybe a large alien crab like creature might work.
I'm glad the bigger than people are used to model works though, I honestly can't wait to get the first squad made and start adding all the individual touches and details to flesh them out. I think that because there will be less models in my army (and probably get creamed as a result...) there is a larger scope for making them individuals, so stuff like helmet and minor paint scheme variations should make for an interesting looking force.

foor301: Aw don't go stealing my idea mate.

For the big alien I've removed the loin cloth and helmet, drilled out the torso and added a head. Nothing set in stone as yet and I may alter it but for the time being it serves my purposes.
I've also hollowed out the helmet so that I can fit it over the head rather than have a hollowed out neck area with a separate head and helmet.

Thats some wicked badass sculpting!
Having just stumbled upon this, i have to say, with the helmet off.. the feet and face look very tau to me. at least there's a proper nose
For an amphibian race, i was expecting gills or something?
maybe i'm just crazy.

I agree, some gills would look good one the face.
I just thought of this, but to make it look less like Tau, what if they had mouths like cats, like a split lip on the top, or something.

I was thinking about something like a cthulu type face. Gills are a possibility but the main problem is that the neck line is below armour so you wouldn't be able to see it anyway.

I'll play around with it a bit more and see what works.

I like everything but the rifle. Atm, it looks somewhat like a civil war era musket.
The Sculpt itself looks pretty awesome. Looks to me like you used sprue bits for some of the parts, right?

What about gills on the concave area on the sides of each cheek

Cthulu face would be cool (so that Cthulu can spread insanity throughout the 40k universe as well) and would help to detract from them "looking like Tau".

However, another (better IMHO) idea would be to sculpt some cool respirator thing onto the mouth area. As it would help to detract away from "Tau-ishness", it would look really cool and, if you changed the fluff, then it could be that the Tarrassi cannot breath oxygen from the atmosphere, only from water. This would make them even more unique, because practically every 40k race breathes atmospheric gases (mostly oxygen).

doghouse wrote:I was thinking about something like a cthulu type face. Gills are a possibility but the main problem is that the neck line is below armour so you wouldn't be able to see it anyway.

I'll play around with it a bit more and see what works.

How about holes in the head... cetacea style.

FTL

Wow, i'm subscribed! They strike me as some kind of kroot mercenary with the humanoid finesse of marines. Awesome!!

I would buy it. I am also not sure about the rifle, doesnt really look straight and I think a sort if power glaive would look better.

Alright, love this idea. Love seeing new ideas. Lot of suggestions incoming.

1. If they're totally alien, why make them so human analogous? I like their design but under the mask, think outside the box. Maybe make them eyeless and they can navigate entirely by some other means. That or multiple eyes. Possibly multiple mouths or something. Go crazy. Make some sketches.

2. Without a lot of weapons themselves they could instead herd many semi-aquatic monstrous creatures to help them fight. They could have crab or octopus like (or possibly some combination of Crab, Shark and Octopus) big creatures that they either ride or herd into the enemy to help them fight.

3. Many of their vehicles can be modified fishing/mining vehicles. Probably many of them smaller and since they're from deep underwater, probably filled with water and pressurized as well as being pretty tough. I want to suggest hover technology because that seems like the most logical but there are a lot of hover vehicles in 40k. Maybe a mixture of vehicle types.
Smaller hovering "fishing vessels" with mounted weapons and a special ability that they can fly overhead and drop nets filled with crude bombs on the enemy.
Larger vehicles that are modified crawlers. Either big walkers like defilers or a slug like walker which is a modified Harvester type thing that moves slow but it tough as nails and carries troops.

4. Sonic Weaponry. It's unique and so much stuff can be done with it. They could have laser/crystal weaponry mixed in for some of their heavier weapons (I personally think their close combat weapons could all be diamond). Their basic weapons could be sonic assault weapons with 2 shots, Average strength and little AP but all of them should have pinning. Then their bigger sonic weapons would be Blast or Big Blast weapons with pinning and better AP.

5. Given the existence of shrine warriors you could make a natural assumption that the Tarrassi aren't entirely peaceful and they probably have some weaponry. I could see the race, having finally reached new worlds and became more of a merchant group, began moving further and further away from large scale conflict and more towards smaller "police action" type fights where small conflicts or disputes might break out between different merchant guilds. This could cause many of the fighters being smaller, more elite, mercenary forces that work either for the guilds themselves or for the overall hierarchy of the race that act as arbiters for these conflicts.
The shrine warriors themselves though could be a throwback to the days of open warfare, similar to Japanese Warrior Monks, who would offer their services to a warlord as an elite fighting force. In recent times they act mostly as spiritual leaders who practice fighting as a form a discipline and safeguard many of the races ancient and powerful weapons just to keep them out of general use. During the recent extermination though, they are forced to open up the vaults.
I can see many of their basic troops being conscripted civilians, brought in recently to try and create an actual army to fight off similar threats. (sorry if I am throwing too much out here, I am not trying to make this for you, The idea just kind of excited me)

6. Stat wise. They seem like, as big as they are, they could be like weaker Nobs. Off the top of my head, this is what I would make their basic, civilian type troops:
WS 3 BS 3 S4 T4 W2 I3 A 1 or 2 LD7 4+ Save (above water life support suit) This would make them weak enough to be about 16-18 pts.making them a decent cost for big powerful troops.
I figure their elite troops would be quite a bit better, stronger/tougher More attacks. Better armor and weapons.

Anyway, these are just my suggestions, you don't have to use any of them. I like where this is going though. Good luck with how everything works out. I am looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

Rook wrote:2. Without a lot of weapons themselves they could instead herd many semi-aquatic monstrous creatures to help them fight. They could have crab or octopus like (or possibly some combination of Crab, Shark and Octopus) big creatures that they either ride or herd into the enemy to help them fight.

Did somebody say Sharktopus?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SO_JYKtl9A8/S8eRg5xw76I/AAAAAAAAFUg/SI-jQvFCAds/s1600/sharktopus.jpg

In all seriousness, excellent sculpting work and its great to see the combination of respect for existing fluff and desire to create ones own. They have a sort of Volus-from-mass effect-look about them but a more traditional feel.

I do agree with Rook in the sense that perhaps a less humanoid look would be more appropriate. The existing head, although fantastically done, does have a very tauish look about it, and seems a little TOO large for the mounting. It is entirely possible that they do not have a bipedal structure at all, like the Daleks from Doctor Who, and are a smaller, weaker body controlling a larger robotic host to survive in the hostile undersea environment.

Keep up the good work

Damn, beaten to the sharktopus link

Outstanding work on these guys, will be following for sure.

Cheers guys!

Archmagos_Amadeus: Yeah less humanoid would be cool. Main problem with this guy is that I made him up as I went and never really intended anything like this, in hindsight something like that would be good to do and I may have to have a bash at something like that further down the line.

Rook:

2: Yeah possible that they'd use large sea creatures I guess. I think it'll depend on how far I go in terms of whether they are going to have a tribal theme or whether I go pure high tech.

3: Yeah given that they don't seem to be overly military in design that sounds about right.

4: I've thought about sonic weapons and was thinking maybe something that goes against the grain and turns the armour of the target into something that works against them. So lighter armoured troops are harder to kill but the heavier armoured stuff gets turned to slush.

5: Yeah there definitely needs to be some purpose for the shrine warriors. Depends on whether the shrine is a religious site or a habitat I guess.

6: Sounds about right.

Gathering Storm: That's a good idea mate, if the tentacles don't work I'll try that.

Irdiumstern: Yeah the rifle needs some work still. There weren't any sprue bits used with this guy but I did use some plastic rod for the gun.

battle Brother Lucifer: I could try that if I go the rebreather route actually and work it into the design.

Bit of a an update.

Tried the cthulu face idea to see if it works.

Yes, yes it does.

I am seriously interested in buying one if ever you were to sell them.

hey Doghouse He has a Face Now! yay! he looks Just right ! aquatic and brutish , i can see you have Advanced moddeling techniques, i think i like were this is headed mate! Whats Next?

Same. That sculpting is amazing.

I like the Cthulu head. I think that is the best one (a re-breather wouldn't look as good IMHO).

That new face makes him much less tau, very impressed with all your work!

Glad I found this plog again. Looking very good.

Having the army Cthuluesque (just caught that whilst scanning) would certainly open it out into some interesting areas...for instance you could have human cultists or great fish/dragon/octupus demons....

Going to go back and read the fluff....

Wow, I read the title of the thread and was all "meeehhhh". I was very pleasantly suprised!

Ok couple of comments:

On the vehicle; um, if they live underwater they would not need wheels IMHO. I would suggest some form of jet engine device which was based on the cephalopod.

Luckily you have already sculpted a squid like face. Face/Race...thinking of the fluff of 40k, where would these guys fit in? Where they created by the Slann to work on water based planets, just as humans were for land?Are they latently pyschic (like zoats) able to commune with all manner of sea creatures/monsters....


Also, logically speaking their vehicles would probably be extremely heavily armoured (to survive under large amounts of water pressure ) but fairly slow moving on land. Submarines are quick underwater and slow on land. Vice versa with a car. Saying that, it depends how you see them technologically. They may have simply adapted the jet engine to use on land/air...in which case they would be quick and light...


Weaponry, sound waves and a type of depth charge device seem to be logical. You could also have adapted homing torpedoes.

The sculpt is really good. How would the rest of the population look? Do they have different castes? (There are lots of different types of cephalopods)...fishers/politicians/warriors/land raiders (as in hardened warriors who visit the land) What do the castes do?

How are they ruled and what is their religion...?

Is this guy both?:




The reason I am asking these questions is because I think with the skill you have shown so far, and the kernel of an idea you have you are on to something.

Ps. I think you would do well to look at Cthulu, not least as you could find exisiting minis to harvest, and it has a lot of info for you to build on. Also, it is something other than chaos and order...something older...


Manok.

Fantastic work as always DH, I can't wait to see these guys painted up! For some reason I am picturing bright colors mostly, like a reef fish of some kind.

Excellent work Doghouse. That's a very impressive piece! I think the tentacles look great, but I did like the face before hand as well, reminiscent of a manatee... actually it reminded me of Dr. Dugong from an episode of 'The Venture Brothers' entitled: "tears of a sea cow.
(http://www.venturefans.org/vbwiki/Dr._Dugong)

How about an aquatic war machine similar to a sentinel? I thought it could be some sort of heavy construction machinery that looks as though it has been hurriedly refitted for combat... it could be enclosed like the IG sentinel or more like the powered loader from Aliens. Either way, the kind of thing you would slap together in an emergency situation, like say, oh I don't know... surprise space marines!?

Chees guys!

Ma55ter_fett: Well I may be making these into a generic sci-fi race that I can sell rather than making my own 40k race for personal use. I do have a game system lined up that I can use but may just sell them for people to use whatever way they wish.

neil101: Next up is going to be a Lore Keeper. The idea that I have forming is that the Tarrassi have found evidence to suggest that they come from another part of the galaxy, the shrine warriors will be the guardians of their colonies which are for what ever reason known as shrines. The job of the Lore Keeper will be to identify evidence to help them locate this supposed lost home world which in game terms will probably give them something like 1d3 additional objective markers in games where they are used. The more important reason for this guy is that I can do an unarmoured to show off their anatomy a little better. I have a few ideas but want to add a set of additional limbs on the torso so that as they shrine warriors are wandering about doing their thing they can make modifications to their suit systems using these limbs inside the torso of the suit rather than have something like marine autosenses.

Gathering Storm: Yeah a rebreather is still on the cards as I may give one of the Lore Keepers one.

manoknok: Yeah there certainly is plenty of room for scope with something like this, some sort of aquatic beast would certainly fit the rule of cool.

agroszkiewicz: Sorry about that mate. I was a bit concerned no-one would pop in to see what was going on with that title but am glad people are liking what they are seeing.

Manok: The wheels thing would be for when they come up onto the limited dry land. The idea would be that once it enters the water it sort of flips onto it's side and behaves like a conventional sub sort of thing. It's mainly for the rule of cool rather than anything else though, I do have plans for a walker that has octopus like legs so it looks more like an upright squid in design.

I'm not sure where they fit into the greater scheme of things but really don't want to imply that they have any real effect on the universe. They are more of a foot note in an obscure history book that is sat on the back of a dusty shelf of the administratium. I think that it would make sense that they are the off shoot of a Slann created species though, not sure about psychics but if they were one of their offspring it would make sense to give them powers.

Jet engines or hover tech would probably fit in quite well and like you say this leaves it open for further expansion into where they are going technology wise.

As for weaponry I'm considering a resonance weapon where it fires a concentrated energy beam that causes the molecules of the target's armour to vibrate liquidising the contents. The rough idea is a strength 3 weapon that uses the armour save as the target's toughness value, so the more armour the target has the greater the risk of it being turned into soup. Whether or not this means they wouldn't get a save I'm not sure but it would mean that they are less effective against the likes of lightly armoured guard which might be fun.

Like I say I hope to explore the look of the race with the Lore Keeper. I think that a divide in command might make for an interesting concept, with the destruction of their homeworld and their ruling council the colonies are very much on their own. What I'm thinking is a divide, one lot think that the warriors should lead where as the other think that the Lore Keepers should lead them to their original world.
The idea being that the Lore Keepers were a minor presence in the old way of thinking basically they were book keepers that made records of old artefacts. With the change of events the balance has now swung in their favour however with many believing them to be the salvation of their people. So you have this quasi sort of religion forming around them and they are loving the attention, the warriors on the other hand are more practically minded and are more concerned with survival of the species rather than chasing what they see as fairy tales.

MajorTom11: Yeah so can I actually. I should be casting the first test model soon with any luck so I can play around with colours then.

Imperator ltraexercitus: Yeah I do like the first face as well to be honest for the reasons you gave. The squid face thing does make them look more alien though.
I do have a few ideas concerning a walker funnily enough, the top half sort of has a shrine warrior pilot build in with sort of squid like legs from the waist down. With any luck it should look pretty freaky.

.

I really like the newest face sculpt - very aquatic and alien looking! Also, the idea of pressurized, water-filled transports and war machines being blasted away and emptying like a pool with a busted liner puts quite the smile on my face

If your going to sell them at some point I'd buy at least five of the Shrine Warriors for use in necromunda-ish games. Maybe more if I wanted a Cthulu army of dark insanity.

Looking awesome, dude

As for the weapon, how about using the armour save as the toughness and the gun counting as strength 4 (so 2+ save is toughness 2) with no save (cover and invulnerable is still okay), but if they survive they act with 1 less Bs, Ws and I due to the intense vibrations?

This would make them good against heavy infantry, but not great against say, Ork boys, but lessens the chance of them being minced on the subsequent turn.

S_P

I think negating the Armor save would make them a bit too strong for the average rifle but the idea of wounding based on armor save sounds cool.

I figure the idea could be that, the weaker, average weapons could not be strong enough to totally disintegrate armor but instead, rattles and melts parts of the armor. Hence, the more armor they wear, the easier they are to wound but it would take concentrated fire to completely eradicate the armor. It should still have an AP of 5 though because I figure, even though they have less armor to vibrate, weaker troops just have less armor to liquefy, leaving them more open to the weapons attacks.

Conversely I think simply saying the enemy has -1 to their armor save from these weapons would work well, if similar to WHF.

Then I figure a lot of their more powerful weapons would be low AP weapons with average stregnth

The cthulu head rocks my socks!!!

Are you going to cast this one or make some more?

Rocks my socks.

Possibly the greatest line I've heard for a while.

Could you have their leaders cause insanity/fear?

Just like in the Cthulhu games, the key is to keep your marbles....

Should count them as Pan Fo make that one guys dreams come true. Great stuff though.

qoute " Next up is going to be a Lore Keeper. The idea that I have forming is that the Tarrassi have found evidence to suggest that they come from another part of the galaxy, the shrine warriors will be the guardians of their colonies which are for what ever reason known as shrines. The job of the Lore Keeper will be to identify evidence to help them locate this supposed lost home world which in game terms will probably give them something like 1d3 additional objective markers in games where they are used. The more important reason for this guy is that I can do an unarmoured to show off their anatomy a little better. I have a few ideas but want to add a set of additional limbs on the torso so that as they shrine warriors are wandering about doing their thing they can make modifications to their suit systems using these limbs inside the torso of the suit rather than have something like marine autosenses. "

Sounds like fun! its really taking shape now, the whole fluff and characters ,its nice to be able to see the progression as well!

2nd attempt at the head is gold for me.

I cant see the picture?

WOW!! I love the tentacle face
can't wait to see more!

Those face tentacles look pretty neat. If you want to try something else, you could model a beak, possibly behind the tentacles.

Nice work, I'm SO glad you're back sculpting again. You're right up there on the list of people that got me back into the hobby with your work.

You have some excellent definition and shape with your GS.. just out of curiosity (and blatant assistance required), what blend do you use to get it that crisp?

The cthullu face is very good. I really hope you put these up for sale!

I'm definately a fan of the sculpt.

If you need any help getting this made I'll do what I can to help out as I love the piece and I'd like to see it available.

The idea for a disruptor style wepaon is pretty cool, reminds me a bit of the sonic weapons in dune. Sonic weaponry would be very powerful underwater as sonic compression works much better. Makes a lot of sense from development perspective as dolphins can blast fish unconcious with sonar or concussion from tail slapping against the surface so there's already real wolrd natural weapons it can draw on.

If they can tune their disruptor or sonic weapon to their harmonic resonance of the opponent it'd shatter even the super dense stuff like power armor.

Looks almost "Tau'ish" to me, but that's not bad at all! Amazing sculpting, keep up the good work.

I take that back! The one with the helmet did, that helmetless one looks fantastic. (Not that the other one didnt.)

Do you have access to the Call of Cthulu Roleplay book? In it there is a bestiary...which might be useful...

I like the idea of Lore Keeper...would it be a psychic model?

Perhaps a third eye....

Awesome sculpt work, But I also wonder why would an amphibious race have hoof like boots? I imagines clawed webbed feet, maybe some sort of propulsion impellers in the calves of the suit along with a similar idea for the back armor?

Wheeled vehicle may work for land attack? But I see undersea dwellers mimicking what works underwater as well Hydro-dynamic water jet vehicles and or crustacean mimicking walkers?

I also like how the shrine warriors are Ogryn sized. so many of the armies are built along human sized.

With regards to his feet, maybe these guys don't actually swim but walk along the water bed. They could be super dense so as to remain sunken. It would make sense given his size.
Love this sculpt.

jackanory wrote:With regards to his feet, maybe these guys don't actually swim but walk along the water bed. They could be super dense so as to remain sunken. It would make sense given his size.
Love this sculpt.

You mean like the old deep sea divers.

What about feet similar to deep dwelling crustaceans and bottom feeders?

They obviously developed those for a reason...

Anyway, just saw this and thought of you:

http://www.reapermini.com/graphics/gallery/4/50062_w_1.jpg

shasolenzabi wrote:

jackanory wrote:With regards to his feet, maybe these guys don't actually swim but walk along the water bed. They could be super dense so as to remain sunken. It would make sense given his size.
Love this sculpt.

You mean like the old deep sea divers.

Big Daddies.
EDIT:
That's what these guys need. Big Daddy helmets.
Do eeeet.

I'm really liking the tentacle face.

For underwater propulsion how about some sort of thrusters on the feet? Maybe like an intake fan on top of the toe?

If you are looking for ideas on what vehicles to give them, I imagine boats of a similar design to the "fishy" submarine off star wars episode one. The propellers on the back would be a good source of inspiration as they are exotic and very aquatic.

(four pages of comments and you have only sculpted one figure, I think you are on to something! )

Keep up the good work!