Hello all. I'm new to dakka, long time lurker, first time contributer. This army project has something of a staggered start. A while ago, I decided I simply had to have some of the forgeworld renegades. I didn't think about actually creating an army of any kind with them, they were just too awesome to not have. When I recieved them, my interest had already shifted to other things (yes, thats how quickly I lose interest in things) so the bits sat collecting dust for a few months. Then one day I discovered Dave Taylors blood pact. I noticed two things: they were composed of pure mansauce and awesome, and that they used the forgeworld renegades. This could work, I thought. I would make some sort of renegade guard army. However, I remembered the savlar. They've long been one of my alltime favourite pieces of canon. Full savlar army projects are few and far between, and thus my new army project had begun. I had all sorts of ideas for conversions in making these scum, and I finally had an excuse to use my renegade bits! With some minor modifications, they would be perfect, and their rebreather tanks could represent the bulky chem inhalers the savlar are famous for.
Anyway, enough of my blathering, heres some pics.
These first guys are examples of using forgeworld torsos, the second lot are some of the converted troops. I'm confident that having a mix of these two types throughout squads will give a nice disorganised feel. (They do steal most of their gear anyway)
The chem inhalers are made using styrene tube and rods, with added details (Dave Taylor's guide)

I saw this conversion done somewhere and I had to give it a go, making an RPG out of heavy weapon team bits

Comments and critiques welcome
[EDIT] Sorry, minor balls up with the pictures. All good now.

The pictures. They are broken.
They probably look pretty good though...
I like the 4th one especially.
Keep up the good work.

Pics aren't working

pics work for me, try puting them to the gallery and post them here...

any ways i like the look you pulled there man!

Having seen the pictures i really like the missile team...

I really like those converted guys.., can you do a tutorial on how you made those?

keep it up

The converted guys are made like this:
1. start with cadian legs. I added the occaisional armour plates with plasticard.
2. its easier to convert the torso not glued to the body so keep it seperate.
3. First thing is to alter the armour on the cadian torso if you want variety. I usually shave and file bits off, and occaisionally use green stuff. You can see filed down chest armour on the guy in the middle of those three.
4. Next bit is the backpacks. As I said above, the idea for these came from Dave Taylor, they are simple to make. Glue a piece of plastic rod into the plastic tube, the best size is 4.0 mm tube and any plastic rod that fits into it. Another piece of rod is glued underneath, the details can be made as you see fit, I just used bits of plasticard and various plasic bits. Trim down the little raised bit on the back of the torso to glue the backpack on.
5. The heads I made in a variety of ways. The simplest way is to use tactical space marine respirator heads, though any similar head will do. The other method is to get as many plain heads as you can (I used flagellants and the ones from the cadian command squad). Then use the respirators from the cadian command and glue them on the face. Or just use thin plasticard to make the respirators yourself. The tubes and pipes are just guitar string.

6. Lastly the arms are just a mixture of forgeworld renegades and cadians.

To get all the head bits and respirators I recommend thewarstore.com or thecombatcompany.com. They sell individual bits and this saves buttloads from buying kits for the few bits you need.

A bit long winded but I hope that explains it enough!

Like the pics. Really like the RPG. Nice job with the breathers as well. Keep up the good work

Excellent, stuff....you've done exactly what I planned on doing with FW Renegades. I'm really looking forward to seeing how your project pans out and seeing some paint will be great too.

I will be stealing the missile launcher idea....its great.

Peter

Well I would have an update but I have one small problem. I am a bit stuck for a colour scheme.
I was thinking maybe something like a dull orange or orangey brown for the fatigues and a dark maybe rusty metal colour for armour plates.
The chem inhaler tanks will likely be a dirty chipped yellow. These are just ideas, I dont know what colour I'm going to do the hoods on the renegade torsos, or the weapons.
Any ideas and suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for the tut! now i have a way of making my Necromunda gang realy awsome!

Your thread is of to a great start!

*A LURKER EMERGES*

These look amazing so far! Love the armour variation and I'm a big fan of the packs. I think this might help you out - I'm trying to spread word out about it! Really invaluable to sort out complimentary colours and the like for designing my colour schemes. You might know colour theory already, but hope it helps

Nice going so far! Check out this thread for inspiration: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/288926.page

Looking really good! I am wacthing this.

Not sure about the first ones, they look too chaos-y. The others look great though!

Great start!

I'm particularly impressed with the metaltube lasgun. Great design.

Nice work. The rpg team looks great, as do the rebreathers.

Cool although surely Chem Dog and Uniform is a contradiction in terms. Their armour and gear should be a half dozen different schemes based on other regiments in the warzone.

Scarper - Thanks mate that will be a great help! I'm a bit rusty on colour theory
CadianXV - Thanks! Some nice ideas there
Imperial Monkey - I'm inclined to agree. I may have to do a bit of work on them. Thanks for the reply
migsula - Its actually a forgeworld piece I accidently broke while scrubbing. I had to rebuild the barrel. Stupid super-fragile resin!

I should have some painting pics soon. Thanks for all the kind words!

..... wating for more.....

First painting pictures. These are very preliminary, just basecoats, I was mainly playing around with the chem inhaler tank. I was originally going to paint it as chipped yellow, but I am rather taken by the bare metal look.




What do you think? Should I just leave the backpack as is? Also do you think the brown looks alright (keep in mind its only a basecoat)

They look great, love the use of the autoguns.

love that rpg launcher, how did you make it?

the paint scheme looks pretty good from this stage,mabe try some rust on the back pack?

Keep it up! oyur off to a great start!

I like the colour scheme, looks good. As you said it is just the base coats but I'd suggest darkening it all down. Eg the metal: Maybe a watered down 50/50 chaos black/badab black wash, highlight with base coat. Then using a very watered down, perhaps beastal, brown make the joints/recesses look greasy/dirty.

Peter

Sageheart - the rpg tube is made from the missile in the cadian heavy weapon set. The rpg round is made from the missile tip glued to the back half of a mortar shell, with the fins cut off. The exhaust end is made from the front tip of the mortar shell. The sight bits on top are made from plasticard.

First troop done. I promise the rest won't take this long, most of the time spent on this guy was just deciding on colours and techniques. The rest should come along quicker now.





Feedback welcome as always

Looking good dude! love the brown fatigues and the modelling! I had a small idea that may look o.k? on the metal parts you have now have you considered perhaps using some masking fluid sponged on and then painting black and yellow hazard stripes and then peeling off the mask and weathering and adding rust effect? would look great with the feel of the models, chemicals and toxic lands, and thrown together armor! can't wait to see more of your work, i've subscribed! :-)

Stuff's looking great. I like the paint sheme.

Consider me subscribed.

Looking good, I haven't seen anyone make the Chem Dogs as accurately as you have, will keep an eye on this

Looks great man, really like the rebreathers.

nerdfest09 - Thanks for the tip. I hadn't considered masking. I might give that a go on a few guys.

NICE MATE! thats a realy good model!

Sup.
Apologies for severe slowness of progress, but sometimes life spares no thought for the needs of our little plastic friends, namely paint.
Well, that and I have a terrible habit of fiddling and spending too much time on everything I do.
Anyway.

Feedback welcome as always.

Nice job. That Lasgun looks even better painted.

The heads are great. The pale gas hood makes a nice contrast to the fatigues, which are a nice colour too.

The chipped yellow paint on the back packs

Peter

Really nice! Is the head on the left-most one from that Australian company that made the Drookian Fen Guard? They're really hard to paint up nicely! (Or maybe mine were just miscast...)

I really like your colour scheme - it's understated and above all natural. The variety of equipment suits the Chem Dogs to a T. Fantastic work

Scarper - Actually the head is out of the empire flagellants. I just converted it. You can see it in one of the unpainted pictures at the start of this thread. Thanks for the kind words.

The more I see the more i like what you're doing! great painting, this is going to be one to watch!

Really nice, loving the paint job and the chem-inhalers.

Great work , they do look exactly like the fluff. well as far as i can remeber from the top of my head

love the kinda happhasserd nature, youve really hit the mark well done.

My favorite type of IG, Savlars. Great!
Very cool conversions and a fitting paintjob.
You got me waiting for more.
Subscribed.

Finally finished a few more guys.
You're probably all sick of waiting so long between updates. Terribly sorry, I'll try and keep production at a steadier rate.
Anywho

Brilliant mate! naa the waitings worth it!

agreed, they look fantastic. I look forward to seeing you do some scavenged HWT

Real nice to see some more and that you're back on track

Looks nuts! i'm happy to wait for coolness!

I...NEED...MOOOOOORRREEE

RPG team done.
Lots of fun to paint.

I love the resin models from forgeworld, ive got a bunch myself and i like the drabness of the colorscheme too. Keep up the good work.

Nice- the guy with the launcher looks extremely unhealthy (a desirable effect). Keep it up!

I never seen anyone done Savlar Chem dogs before an interesting read! can't wait to see the armored units

Great stuff - with the benefits that you can run it as a loyalist or chaos IG army!

I shall further express my enthusiasm for these models by voting in your gallery. A tip of the hat to you sir!

this looks great!

love the RPG

Like the backpacks on those hws guys.

Thank you all for the support!
darkkt - speaking of which, maybe I should continue with those steel legion I bought ages ago to use as allies...

Steel legion are awesome looking models, fire it up

Awesome work ! First time ive seen a Chem Dogs army you've defiantly done them justice those yellow packs really bring them out.

Keep up the great work.

This looks like a potentially great project. Seen a couple of chemdog armies before but i quite like the way it still has some uniformity rather than all out scavvy gang look. U seem to be able to churn them out at a good pace! Keep up the good work

I love the Chem Dogs and these are great. Subbed!

I'm always happy when you update this thread. You Savlar models are always a reliable treat.

I like the missile launcher....good choice. Personally I would have added a bit more to the base, but it works for waste land.

these are awesome!

they look awsome they poop all over mine lol

I love your muted colour scheme - the yellow was in inspired choice! Your skin tones too are awesome. Wonderful sense of ramshackle yet uniform!

Do you mind if I ask how you did that RPG? I'd really like to replicate one for something that I'm working on

brilliant. absolutely brilliant.

Really look great!

Great work so far. I love the yellow spot color on the rebreather packs. Reminded me instantly of Dave Taylors Blood Pact army. That use of a splash of color in and chipping always makes me happy to see.

Fantastic work all around from modeling them to the finished pieces. Will be watching this one for sure

Scarper - I posted a how-to on the rpg on the first page of this thread. The rpg is not actually my idea. I can't really remember where I saw it though...

Thank you everyone for your support. I really appreciate all the encouragement.
I do have a small announcement to make. My love for the steel legion has been recently inflamed and I've been painting a few.
Seeing as the Savlar fought alongside the steel legion on armageddon, I'll be turning this thread into a Savlar/steel legion Armageddon project. I'll have some more updates soon.
Thanks again.

Arg, how embarrassing! I was kind of skim-reading the posts to make sure I didn't miss any of your awesome pictures. Looking forward to the new direction, just hope the Savlar don't get left at the wayside!

Oh I'll make sure they aren't. This thread's named after them anyway!

Hokay.
Some of the steel legion I've been doing, plus another dog to show that I haven't stopped doing them

Awesome stuff in this thread. The models are very crisp and look great.

Looks super. I like the paintjob on the rockets.

Hey hey
I'm not dead, sorry for lack of progress, very busy lately
Anyways, made some slight progress, heres a sergeant and two more dogs:

I've decided to add some dead grass to the bases because they were a bit boring, makes it look more like a wasteland anyway
All the troops so far:

As always, let me know what you think

amazing as always, glad your back because i love the character in this army

Ah finally something worth watching. These are very nice. I can see Dave Taylors influence.

I look forward to seeing more. How do you plan to expand the force. Did the Savlar have tanks?

Terrific!

Bit of progress


As a side note, I've decided I'm going to enter Armies on Parade in August. This will give me a deadline so I should start painting a lot faster. Well, one hopes

Lovely guard mate, the mix of FW and conventions has created a really unique force, and you're painting them brilliantly.

Look forward to more.

Love these guy!

I've done som Chemdogs in the past using the FW Renegades as well. Great minds I guess.

Looking forward to progress...this year!

Looking really good i remember these guys from the last codex, shame they had any proper rules, looking forward to seeing more

Young Logan

These are really looking brilliant how are you planning to use them an army with a Steel Legion core and Savlar Penal Squads would be one way to go......

Wonderful to more updates on these guys , they really are something special .

Llamahead - Yeah, I was originally going to make them a joint force with the Steel legion, but I love these guys so much that I think I'll just make a whole army of them

Thanks again everyone for the compliments

Oh man. This is thread necromancy. I'm pretty sure that's heresy.
As well as new troops, I'm about halfway through painting a leman russ, and the display board for armies on parade is well underway. Who knows, maybe I'll actually have it finished in time.



Feedback appreciated as always, If anyone who remembers when I started this thread is actually still alive

glad you updated! great work as usual, especialy like the head choice on the bottom picture middle figure (where is this from?) and the poses throughout are very nice!

NICE !!!!!

Glad fresh work is appearing, I believe the head is from the Empire Flagellants range with a GS mask

You called it, dirty dog

I see the beard now, I thought that was torn cloth

Nice, good to see an update!

This was starting to look like one of my Plogs. Which I'm sure nobody can remember...lol

How come I missed this thread.
Especially since I saw you Chem-Dogs at wiki.

Excellent work, not much I can add to this. A nice mix of kitbashing and scratchbuilding, and a solid paint job. I like your color scheme, though I personally think that bare metal looks a bit oop on regular guard troops, more fitting renegades with their improvized gear. Still, this is one of the most inspiring Savlar armies out there, and an example I keep before my eyes ^^ Looking forward to seeing more of them!

I love them. Really nice stuff.

Hey all.
I managed to finish enough of the army to enter armies on parade the other day at my local GW. Didn't win, but I recieved the second highest count of votes, so I'm happy with that
The well deserved winner had built a rather awesome leviathan vehicle for his cadians, as well as a damn impressive display board.

Anyway, here are some pics of my army from the parade day at the store






This last pic is of the commander and his retinue. It was meant to have a standard bearer, but I couldn't get him done in time.

I'll post some more pics soon, when I can get my camera fixed.

Looking very nice, I've been wanting to do an army on parade for some time now!

Great infantry! The RPG team is awesome. Great use of renegade bits as well.

Not liking the tank. Of course, I really dislike the russ, but it also suffers from not looking very "savlar". It is too clean, both in paint and modelling. I think adding rust, chipped paint, graffiti and a lot of loot would help tie it in with the savlars.

They're looking very good. Lots of character in these guys, and I love seeing their numbers increase.

I love this army, but is your sergeant / colonel not wearing a mask? Is he saying, "Flakk it all, just follow me damnit?" like Iron hand Straken or something?

Anyways, epic work, I hope this army only ever expands. Chem Dogs need more rep, and you are worthy to bring it to them. Great Job.

They look really good! Nice work there mate!
Next time hope you win cause I like the paint scheme.
Make them renegades though.
IG sucks

Ace update again

The army looks so good coming together. Roll on two more squads from what I can make out? What/what other elite, fast attack, heavy support options will you be taking?

The board is so good, the collapsed bridge is such a cool touch. Will you be using this board as an actual gaming board? (as in will you have the road continuing along other board sections?)

Illumini: Yeah, I was thinking of adding some graffiti, but I didn't really have a lot of time to spend on the russ doing much detail. I might go back and do it now though
DemetriDominov: Actually now that you mention it, he does have a bit of a Straken look about him, doesn't he?
PDH: I'm thinking of adding a totally looted basilisk, and maybe a sentinel. Most likely more infantry too.

Thanks everyone for both the kind praise and helpful critiques, I really appreciate it.

Cheers