Hails to all that read this. Welcome to the start of my 40K Cultist blog. After some consideration I decided that I’m not going to call it a Chaos Cultist or Traitor Guard because the application for most of these miniatures could cover a wider range than that, and I don't want the direction of my vision and creativity dictated by a definition of what this is “supposed” to be (although I'm quite certain that most of the troops I'll be building would gain the unwelcome attention of the local Arbites, if not the Inquisition). You may choose to call them Lost and the Damned, or Slaves to Darkness. I prefer to think of them as maligned freedom fighters standing against the tyranny of the Imperium. In any case, if they aren’t fit for duty in the Imperial Guard, they belong here (Penal Legions don’t count…ha).

If you are familiar with Rogue Trader or Necromunda you'll see where a lot of my inspiration comes from. The variety of things you will find here (over time) will be interesting and eclectic, if not always "list legal". Expect things like a WFB Zombie w/ a Lasgun to a Necromunda Juve w/ a Shuriken Catapult. I've been thinking about this project for a very long time and have finally decided to start doing it. If you have a chance, please check out my Death Guard Plague Marines blog because that's where this truly started.

Sometime within my next few posts I'll be creating a list of links to people on Dakka that have distinctly inspired me. In some instances I will create my own versions of their ideas. It is my hope that imitation is seen as the most sincere form of flattery.

I decided to get some work done before starting this thread to help get it off the ground. Initially I started this Cult idea when I ordered some gas mask heads from Pig Iron Productions (hereafter referred to as PIP)



The scale seemed just a bit off to use with my Plague Marines, but was perfect for Guardsmen models. Below is a pic of the first models I converted. Granted not a lot of work went into the first models. It was for test purposes.



But it did get me thinking that I wanted to start this as an individual project instead of a side distraction. I waited a while to finish up a few things with my Death Guard and ran into a few issues that eventually led to me taking a break from all this. When I started back up I just wasn’t feeling the drive to paint more Plague Marines. Then one day I was surfing around eBay and scored a sweet deal on some half-painted WFB Zombies. I need more Zombies like I need a hole in the head, I have over 500 of them already painted for WFB (and that’s no exaggeration, anyone that knows me IRL can verify that) but these were different, I had an idea running through my head and was going to try it. I didn’t give them the most attentive paint jobs ever, but I was happy with the results. Specifically, I converted WFB Zombies into Plague Zombies for the 40K universe.



That got things rolling for me, but I still waited a few weeks before really jumping into this. That brings us up-to-date with where I am right now. The following is where I am starting. Not a lot of difficult conversions yet, and you don’t have to pay a lot of attention to see where most of the parts I’m using came from. This is the foundation that I’ll be building on in the weeks (months?) to come. More complex and varied conversions are coming, I have a lot of ideas of my own, plus quite a few that I am going to borrow (with credit, of course) from elsewhere.





I’ve split the Cult up into groups of 3 for easier narration. The first group consists of old Heavies from the Necromunda Cawdor range. The left and right models carried Heavy Bolters, and the middle had a Grenade Launcher. The Heavy on the far left I converted way back in the day, was going to use him as a “low cost” Heavy that eventually would get an actual Heavy Weapon. The other two models were scrap from a friend that bought them for the weapons (doing conversions of his own) and gave me the bodies. The ease that these came together was a bit weird, the middle Heavy needed no conversion at all, just slapped a Lasgun onto him and it fit perfectly. The Heavy w/ the Flamer was almost as easy, just a little work to add a hand. The Heavy with the Flamer is going to get painted up in Redemptionist colors.



The next group consists of two old Necromunda Orlock plastics (left and middle) and the Cadian Autocannon assistant gunner model from the old metal range. They are all sporting PIP heads.



Here are two of the old Chaos Cultist model (left and right) and a Bloodbowl Quarterback. I did a bit of converting on each of them. Left and middle have PIP heads.



The WFB Zombies and W40K Cadians plastic sets are going to be used a lot in this force. Other bits are from the original Necromunda set and even the original Imperial Guard plastics.



More Zombie / Guard bashes. These all have PIP heads. Model in the middle has an old Squat plastic arm.



Next group is pretty straightforward- Zombie legs, Zombie or Cadian torso, Cadian Lasguns, and PIP heads.



This group I changed up a bit, and have one of my more ridiculous models. I added Catachan bits to the mix of parts used along with the Cadian and Zombies, but also decided to “make up” for some of the very basic models I’d done so far (model in the middle)



This guy gets his very own photo. This is an old Necromunda Goliath model with a slight bit of converting, but I think it came out awesome! It was supposed to be just another rank / file tropps with some character, but as I started chopping things up and looking at what was coming out of it all it turned into this. He’s without a doubt in charge of something somewhere. He has a Power Axe and a Bolter! He’s freakin’ HUGE! And he has that awesome helmet! He absolutely HAS to be in charge of something somewhere!



And here they are all together again (minus a few that are already primed) getting ready for my painting table.



I’ve already started working on things, and have made a bit of progress. These are all WIP and have a long way to go. I’m looking for feedback on colors, contrast, etc. I know I don't suck for tabletop quality models but I'm far from a "good" painter, so recommendations like “paint better” aren’t going to help much.







Hmm. Looking at this last photo, I guess it could be called “chaos” after all. Ha.





Again, thanks for taking the time to check this out. I appreciate any feedback and I hope you'll come back soon as I'll have more stuff up to share before long.

Looks like a promising start. Not much I can advise you, not terribly experience painting wise

Wow. I really like the individual character of each model. That's what lured me to the Chaos side of things. Great conversions and individualization of troops is my forte'

great work on the guy with all of the grenades and the Necromunda Goliath model is definitely in charge of looking freakin awesome.

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:

That old Necromunda Cawdor Heavy is one of my favorite models. His face alone has so much character and he looks so boss with that Heavy Bolter. I've actually cut one of those mini's up and have attached that head to a Nurgle Termi that I'm currently working on.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/204096-Nurgle%20Terminator%20WIP.html?m=2

I'm glad to see you back in the painting game, Skalk, and I look forward to seeing where you take these cultists. They're looking great so far.

@ kenshin620- Thanks for the confidence. I'm always sketchy about first posts. Dakka is a cruel place sometimes.

@ Brotheralexos- Hails and thanks for checking this out. Once I get the time to really sit down and dedicate some time I'll start coming up with some truly horrific and chaotic conversions. Glad you're digging on what I have so far.

@ Lord of Death Mountain- Once I have him painted I think I'll have a "name that warlord" contest. I'm already rethinking the Power Axe because as awesome as it looks, I *suck* at painting the whole "looks like an activated power weapon" thing. Maybe if I just say it is "off"... ha

@ Moltar- I love that model. I have a couple more of them that are complete and it's quite likely one of them will wind up in this list as a stock model. It's just that cool. I'm not limiting my modeling to current rules. One of the motivating factors for me in this project is to create for the sake of creation without a specific application to consider. I can run anything "counts as" with the guys I game with, and if I ever talk anyone into playing Necromunda again I'll have the ever-annoying Arbitrator NPC gang ready to mess things up. And thanks, I'm glad to be back.




As stated in my last post, here's a list of threads I have found on Dakka that inspired me in some way. Please check them out of you are into Traitor Guard, Chaos Cults, or alternate Guard armies. I do have a specific request, though. Some of these threads are old, so PLEASE check the date of the last post before responding to them. Mods will lock thread necromancy. If you're digging the stuff you see and the thread is old, send them a PM.

I think this is in reverse order, oldest thread to most recent. I know this isn't everything I've seen, it's everything I could find before posting today. I'll add more as I find them.

BigBadWolf37
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/332033.page

elotsip
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/329837.page

BigBadWolf37
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/273059.page

Yggdrasil
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/293824.page

Rabid Ferret
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/315066.page

Anung Un Rama
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/235233.page

Cadaver
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/324921.page

Hyenajoe
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/296459.page

weetyskemian44
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/315548.page

Fattimus_maximus
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/331169.page

I'm listing these because I really believe in the whole "community" thing on Dakka and always appreciate it when someone that is into my work shares it with other people. There is so much amazing work around here that gets minimal attention because it gets buried or passed over. There's a lot of inspiration out there, and the above threads all caught my attention in one way or another.

I've gotten some painting done and I'll have more to share in a few days. Thanks for checking this out and I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes.


*edit edit edit... man it's been a while since I've done this. Gotta get the rust out of the joints. Ha. *

I really like the different threads you posted. I've done a LOT of searching for cults and traitors around the Interweb, and found a few threads you may like:

Nurgley Guard, along with Vile ratmen:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/292739.page#1572175

LARGE LatD army, tons of mutants:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/302773.page#1791734

TANKS, TANKS, TANKS!!
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/226902.page

The Reimagining, a very large log, with a staggering amount of conversion work.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/246515.page

I hope you can find further inspiration and ideas from those threads, I sure did. I hope to be getting a start on my Traitor Guard soon, I'll post a link when I do.

@ Brotheralexos- Thanks for posting those links, that's exactly what I am talking about. Some of that stuff was really intense. I'll be trying that "Lasgun Lite" (cutting down a Lasgun by about 1/3) conversion this weekend. Looking forward to seeing your work once it gets started. If you ever needed the motivation, here you go! All sorts of it!



Nothing says "yes I am working on it!" like a few random WIP shots. The "overalll group" shots are cool because you can see models changing that haven't really been profiled yet.

This is what I've got done. It's not a lot, but it's progress.















That's it until the weekend, the rest of my week is booked out solid and I won't have time to get anything else done. But I'll be around this weekend for sure. Thanks for checking this out, more coming soon!

Nice trators!

@ bigmek35- Thanks for checking them out! A lot more to come.



Decent update for the weekend. I'll be working more after I post this, but figured now would be a good time to stop using sharp tools and sit in front of a nice safe keyboard instead.

As before, a "group shot" of the absolute madness this project has turned my work space into. It shows everything I'm working on right now, plus a few surprises for later.



Every model from the original batch has at least some paint on it now. The color scheme in this has been a lot of browns and greens with some blues here and there to break it up. I think I'll be staying with that as I move forward, I like the darker and dirtier / grittier look for the Cultists. Here's a quick series of shots without narration to bring everything up to date:





Things are going well for the Cult. So well, in fact, that word of the new cult is starting to spread and the disenfranchised are starting to arrive. Here's the most recent group of Imperial society outcasts:



This squad would make an excellent Necromunda gang. As I was putting these together I had the storyline play out in my head. Almost every model in this squad is a mutant of some kind, and the few that are not are wanted for horrific crimes. Here they are in groups of 3.

My first genuine Chaos influence in the Cult so far. The Beastmen heads were from leftovers I had from a bitz auction on eBay. The WFB Zombie bodies (left and right) were donated by a friend of mine. They are pretty stock except an old Bolt Pistol (left, counts as Autopistol as far as I am concerned) and the new laspistol / chain sword from the current IG plastics. The Beastman in the middle is on a Catachan torso / legs. He has an Orlock Bolt Pistol and his left arm is from the WFB Chaos Marauders set. The knife is an old Space Marine accessory.



All bodies are WFB Zombies donated by same friend. Lots of current IG kit bitz on these models. Heads are from (L to R) Chaos Marauders, WFB Empire, and WFB Zombie accessories. Chopping hands to add new weapons and swapping heads is my usual conversion work w/ models like these, but I did something tonight I'd never done- used direct heat to soften the plastic and reposition the model. Check the model on the right, see his stance? I really liked how it looked like he's sighting in for a shot but he was bent / hunched over like all the other Zombies on that set of legs. I used open flame to soften his legs, stood him up straight, and I'm loving that particular model now.



More WFB Zombie bodies donated to the cause, plus another old Chaos Cultist. Model in the middle has a tentacle arm, another indication that there might be more to this uprising than originally thought. The heads are (L to R) from an old set of models based on the movie Lawnmower Man, WFB Empire, and PIP. Weapons are Necromunda, except right which is from a Chaos Cultist I converted into something else.



Leader of my most recent squad. This model took a lot of work. The body is an old plastic Fimir taken from the HeroQuest expansions. The bitz are all from the Catachan and Cadian IG plastic sets. The left arm is old WFB Chaos Warriors, the right arm from the Necromunda plastic Goliath model, but I made a combat shotgun (similar to a Ripper Gun) out of the rear of a Bolt Pistol, an inverted Grenade Launcher, grooved and drilled the magazine drum to make it look like a cylinder, and added a forward handle for easier 2-hand use. I really like this model.



The new Cultists has a few Plague Zombies follow them into camp (WFB Zombies, all donated by my friend) . This brings my total number of Plague Zombies to 20 once these are done.



You may have noticed a model missing from the original squad. You know, the big guy with the Flamer? Apparently he saw the light of the Emperor and reconsidered his path in life. He donned red robes and is hanging out with new friends. He hopes to revisit his old comrades someday soon and bring the "light" of the Emperor to them as well.



That's it for this one. It's bedtime, I'm tired. Well... maybe I'll run those Plague Zombies out for a quick base of black before I go. But that's it! Of course... I could clean up the bench. I might do that while waiting for the Plague Zombies to dry. And once they are dry I may as well do a quick flesh drybrush, right? Just picking out a few details here and there isn't that much work, I can get that done quic.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Great stuff, skalk. The heroquest fimir dude rules. I like his combat shotty

good looking stuff you have they're. keep up the good work

Nice. I love the idea of zombie guard

My only comment would be to zombify their skin up more...

@ Moltar- Thank you, I appreciate the compliment. I have a bunch of those old plastics (Orcs, Goblins, Fimirs, Mummies, etc) and until now I've only used the Zombies and Mummies in any army I was building. I was digging through my box of stuff I'll never paint but keep around just in case... and decided to give the Fimir model a go. I really like how it is turning out, though I changed it again, will show new conversion after I get some more paint on it. The Combat Shotgun was my inspiration for the evening for sure. When I was a League Arbitrator I made a few "house rules" and the Combat Shotgun was one of my favorites. It was available at the Trading Post as a standard weapon so anyone could buy one. It allowed a player to (if they chose to) roll a Sustained Fire die instead of taking a single shot. It was very popular in the League. I ran a gang called Blaster's Blasters, and every one of my Gangers had one. We sucked at long ranger, but once (if?) we got up close it was pretty brutal. So yeah... anyway, that's where the idea comes from and I'll be converting a few more over time.

@ moonshine- Thanks! Keep checking back from time to time, there's a lot more of this coming. Once I get started on a project like this I run it into the ground to the point that I never want to paint another miniature that even reminds me of whatever project I was on for so long. It passes of course, but that's the only "off" switch I have. Ha.

@ risewiththefallen- I'm merely standing on the shoulders of giants. Check one of my earlier posts for links to people that have inspired me. There's a lot of really good stuff on Dakka that I'm drawing inspiration from.

@ Imperial Monkey- Not sure what you mean, the Plague Zombies I've already done of the ones I'm still working on? Keep in mind that Plague Zombies are not technically "dead", they are still alive but have a horrid disease (think "13 Days Later"). In any case share your thoughts and I'll check it out.



Last update for the weekend, and things will likely slow down for a while after this as I have an insane week coming up and I won't be online next weekend at all (well maybe Friday night unless I wind up going somewhere). I'll see if I can get any work done maybe Wednesday night.

Anyway.

To start things off, I'm pretty excited that I finally got around to a backdrop for my photos. I've been working on a lot of terrain lately and this came together pretty easily once I figured out what I wanted. It's similar to what I was using earlier, but it's much cooler, and it's permanent. This is what I'll be taking most of my Dakka pics on from now on:



I still have to play around with lighting and focus (have been meaning to build a light box for over a year now, just keeps falling lower and lower on the "to do" list) but I'm really happy with how this came out and you'll be seeing a lot of it from here on out.

I got quite a bit of work done today. I had a hard time concentrating on any one thing for very long, but luckily I have so much going on at once even my scattered attention span was no match for the sheer volume of choices I had. Here's most of the stuff I got done. I'm not taking pics of models I just dotted eyes on, and almost everyone has their bases done now but nothing else that is worthy of a photo.




I also found myself running a storyline through my head all day as I was working on each model in turn. I'm approaching this more from a Necromunda or Rogue Trader point of view than 40K because rather than the horde of nameless characters, I have unique individuals who all have a reason for being in the Cult. Credit goes to Yggdrasil for the inspiration. I was going to wait until each group / individual was done before offering a story for them, but I'm going to skip ahead and share a bit of this. Not every model has a story behind it yet, and some may not ever. These are the models that jumped out at me and wrote their own story. The others... if there is a story there, it hasn't come yet. I'll be posting pics of the nameless masses after I profile the models that have inspired me to prose. Admittedly these are raw ideas instead of edited and complete stories, but I still think someone may enjoy them.

Sylas Orman, Zombie Hunter



Sylas Orman was once a Sergeant of the Watch for a large settlement called Northern Reach. A few years ago a massive outbreak of Zombie Plague overtook the lower Hive and the number of Plague Zombies coming up for the Underhive threatened to overwhelm the already sparse Watch and the detachment of PDF that had been deployed to assess the situation. Sylas was a key figure during the Purge and he was decorated for his heroism. Victory was not without a price however, and after returning home it became evident that Sylas had contracted the Zombie Plague. Inexplicably he retained his intellect even as his body deteriorated. As his physical condition worsened he was approached by the very same Watch he once led. Threats were made and orders issued. Heated tempers drew guns, and after a short exchange of gunfire three Watchmen were dead and Sylas Orman was a wanted man. Disgusted and disillusioned he wandered through the Wastes until happening upon a band of outcasts, and they welcomed him into their ranks. He lives now only to seek revenge against the society he "lost" his life defending.

"Gramps" Thuston, M60849, and M80850 "The Deserters"



Johan Thurston (a.k.a. "Gramps") was once part of a top secret bio-genetic research project that was attempting to create genetically enhanced humans similar to Space Marines, but on a mass-production level. Early tests met with horrific results and it quickly became apparent that genetic enhancement of the average specimen at that level was not possible. The project scaled it's scope back and began focusing on creating a robust human clone with programmable intelligence. Thurston and his team created the first successful prototypes, M60849 and M80851. They were stronger and more hardy than an average human but displayed a base intelligence and relied on direction instead of initiative. Months of rigorous military training ensued and the prototypes were completing their tasks with ease. It appeared that the project was a complete success, but tragedy struck when M80851 exploded in rage and killed 3 training officers with his bare hands during a field exercise. The project was put on suspension and both prototypes were scheduled to be dissected for investigation. No one knows exactly what happened next, but it is suspected that Thurston set fire to the lab, destroyed all data files on the project, and fled with prototypes M60849 and M80851. On the run and in hiding since that day, "Gramps" watches after "his boys" M60 and M80. He has been part of the Cult for some time now.

"Brothers of the Beast"- Darkrox, Ulgor, and Moontooth



You know... I had a storyline here and for whatever reason (probably because I was working on the stuff above) *poof* it's gone. Gone. All I remember is Brothers of the Beast. Hmm. I'll come back to this one. Maybe.

Ok, enough of that. Here's some more pics. These are just of work I've gotten done on the Cult:





Again, there's more, it just wasn't dramatic enough to post. Like I said earlier almost everything has been based. Part of the reason for that is I spilled a pot of Codex Gray so I had to use up as much of it as I could w/o it going to waste. Usually I finish the base last, kind of a symbolic last step before calling a model "done". But it all worked out.

Speaking of bases, I changed the bases to all of the following models to make them look more like the same project but in fact are from my original Necromunda days. I have more coming that I'm going to re-base. I think all of these will fit in rather well with the Cult.

Group shot


Hired Guns / Scum


Scavvies


Beastman / Bounty Hunter


I have been digging through my IG, Necromunda, and Genestealer Cult collections and have found quite a few models that will find a home in the new Cult. Those models along with the ones I am working on right now will put together a decent sized force in no time. Which means before long I'm going to start working on ... yes, you guessed it... ARMOR!

But not tonight. I'm done for now. Thanks for reading, comments welcomed, I'll be back.

Great work! I like the individuality of the models... so unique!

Very inspirational, it shows how regular people get sucked into a cult.

Yay zombies I like Zombies alot, the entire idea of "slay us and there is another hundred to take our place" really appeals to me. Are you going to use the Ig codex and max out on troops ?

Love the mods and the Zombie hoarde idea. Stoked to see some vehicles! Zombie Walkers? Zombie orks? Zombie ogryn? Will be waiting anxiously.
DrG

Nice back drop. What are those wall peices from? my uncle got me some and i have no idea where there from.

I think they're from the scenery/buildings that came with the Necromunda box set

Awesome work. I like your mindset regard the project; how you know where all the bitz are from and linking inspiration. That's love there man.

And I like how you can use them for ... anything. They aren't just a Necromunda gang or just CSM Cultists (counts as Lesser Daemons) or any one thing, they are too individual. It's a fine line to ride because you can end up with a mash of nothing gelling, but I think you're doing well.

"The heads are (L to R) from an old set of models based on the movie Lawnmower Man" That guy on the left looks like he has a mask on, kind of like "The Man in The Iron Mask" or one of the BBEGs in Elder Scrolls Morrowind.

@ djphranq- Thanks, I really appreciate that people are digging what I am doing here. The modeling opportunities are endless.

@ Brotheralexos- If I can serve as an inspiration, that's awesome! My opinion of any Cult in 40K is that is the vast majority of the people in it are just your average everyday Jane and Joe.

@ moonshine- As far as gaming goes I'm going to look at my options. The current IG list is the easiest way to go, but it's too vanilla. There is a 4th Ed Codex called Eye Of Terror and it specifically profiles a Chaos Cult. It looks like a lot of fun and reminds more of 2nd Ed than anything else I've seen since. The guys I play with are very cool and and while WYSIWYG is the preferred standard, "counts as" is used in every person's army.

@ doktor_g- I am nearly shaking w/ anticipation to get started on vehicles. I have a few vehicles from my Genestealer Cult that I am going to overhaul and add to this list. Ahhh... Cults. I can take ANY vehicle from the Imperial list and add it to my ranks. Rhinos and Hellhounds and Griffons, oh my! Ha.

@ risewiththefallen- Moltar is correct, they are bulkheads from the original Necromunda set. The coolest thing about them as my backdrop is they are connected in the back w/ coffee stir sticks (the same ones I -steal- take from Starbucks when my wife gets a coffee. No harsh glue or anything like that. If I ever get sick of this I'll simply pull it apart and everything is fine.

@ Moltar- Thanks for the save, I should have noted that in my original post.

@ Chomo-Uri- Wow, thank you. I'm taken back a bit. You *really* get what I'm going for here, and you obviously appreciate what I am doing. Keep checking in, things are going to change a lot here over the next few weeks. And the Lawnmower Man head... well, see.... I was looking at that model over and over and over... something just wasn't right, so I popped the head off and swapped it out AGAIN, this is the 3rd time in this thread so far and is actually head #5 (counting the original). I think I'm going to take that model outside and turn it into tinfoil with my 10lb hammer before much longer, I'm really starting to hate it. See below for photo update.



No new work tonight on the Cult, but I did do some work on terrain / objective markers. I also a noticed a blurry pic from my last series so I took a new one, and I took a pic of the head swap I did on that old Chaos Cultist model.

I'm really tired so I'm going to make this quick. Here's a pic of the terrain / objective markers. It has relevance to the Cult because this is the stuff they steal so they have equipment like Imperial canteens and bayonets and grenades. Model included for scale:



Here's a "replacement shot" for the blurry photo of the same models I posted the other night:



And finally, here's Head #5:



Story behind it is that he asked the Chaos Gods for a sign that they truly exist. Apparently they do. Ha.

That's it for tonight. Thanks to everyone that posted a comment, it's really validating to know that people appreciate my work. Granted, I'd do this if I had no one to show it to. Being able to share this with my contemporaries and know that what I am doing is enjoyed by other people is a decent feeling and is a motivational drive for sure. Much more is coming, check back soon!

Cool terrain. Zombies stepping out from behind that stuff, classic horror film...

The models are great aswell

@ moonshine- Thanks, I've been meaning to put some objective markers together for some time, decided it was time, and they went together pretty quick. I've done more work on them since but I won't be posting them here again, I might do a terrain thread after a while but not until I have more stuff done, it'll be in the P&M Showcase because it's a "one off" thing, not going to do a blog on it because I have too many other things going on where I'm not focusing on terrains specifically anymore. It comes and goes.



I wasn't expecting to have time to get much done this week but some plans I had didn't turn out so I put some work into the Cult. These models are done. I'm not aiming to win any painting contests, I'm just putting together decent tabletop quality miniatures that I will have fun with gaming.

Group shot of what's done:



And individual shots of 3:

Plague Zombies are done, for now. This brings me up to 20.



I'm really happy how the middle model came out w/ the new head.



So happy with it that I decided to post a pic of just it. If you've ever seen Johnny Quest, this model reminds me of the invisible monster:



Perfect Cultists. I'll be doing more like these in the near future:



Laspistol in the middle inspired by weetyskemian44:



Blurry pic. Sorry. Will fix later, to much of a hassle to do it right now:



And finally, group shot of the rest that are left. 20 to go, then I'm going to start working on some armor!!!



Short update but way more than I was expecting this week. More coming as soon as I have something to share. Thanks for reading!

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:

Skalk,
This dude totally rules. I'm really diggin' him. Although, I do get a little bit of "Hey you, Guys!!!!!!" from him. Other zombies look really good for gnarly Table-top zombies and Weety's inspired laspistol guy looks good too. And I'm growing more fond of that old, shirtless hobo. Keep up the good work!

some of those are really good.

as for bad painting, I dont think you are, realy all you need to do is

-use a color
-hit the color with a wash to darken it
-drybrush the original color over top

and you have plenty of depth for tabletop!

Looking great. You could use the ork codex

@ Moltar- Glad you like him. I forced myself to paint and finish that model. It is one of those models that just throws a wrench into an entire project because every time you look at it you hate it and it sucks the life out of your motivation. I have a couple of those in this batch, will be hammering through them as best I can. I think that "Gramps" is one of my favorite models from this whole project so far.

@ Grundz- Thanks for the compliment. I harsh on my painting style / ability because I'm insecure and would rather be humble and understated than to present something as being awesome and then have my ego handed to me by someone that truly is an artist. I paint because I enjoy it, have learned a few tricks here and there (basecoat everything black, paint by numbers inside the lines, drybrush for fake highlights, wash / shadow, drybrush again if necessary, flock base, done) and it's done pretty well for me as far as personal satisfaction and for general acceptance / interest amongst my peers. Sometimes I get caught slacking or cutting corners, and those are fair criticisms. For the most part I'll put a reasonable amount of time into some detail and make a model look good from 3 feet away, sometimes even less! Ha.

@ moonshine- Actually considered that but decided to let the Orks keep their own thunder and draw my lines within Imperial boundaries for better or worse.



Last night I was surfing photo galleries and saw THIS in Brotheralexos image page. As you might imagine my head exploded and instead of going to bed and getting a few hrs of sleep, I did this instead:



It is a cut down and slightly converted Flamer. See side-by-side comparison:



Then today while surfing Dakka I saw a thread asking about shotgun conversions. Ha. Ok. I did a few more when I got home. From top to bottom we have IG Cadian Flamer, IG Cadian Flamer, IG Catachan Flamer (L) and IG Cadian Grenade Launcher (R).



After cobbing those together, I had to find new models to put them on. So here you go, two new Cult members displaying my newest shotgun conversions:

Original shotgun conversion completed w/ drum. Model is old Necromunda Orlock plastic body and (very) old MK VI Imperial Space Marine Sergeant head.





Shotgun made from Catachan IG Flamer. Model is Cadian body with CSM head and original Imperial Guard plastics for left arm. I like how this model turned out even if it is not very dynamic:



My friend Fionn stopped over tonight for a bit and checked out the Cult in person, he's really happy for me that I'm this excited about a project again and have been cranking out work on it. Especially likes how there's really no two models alike, and also says I need to buy a lot more PIP heads and put them on IG bodies. Also gave me a beat up and ragged looking Chaos Giant and told me to give it a good home. Hmm.

Hmmmmmmmmmm.

Yeah, the gears are spinning but for now I need to liet it go. Now I have 22 models to complete before I can get started on armor. I already have a Leman Russ waiting. 22 more troops...

Thanks for reading, comments on the shotgun conversions especially appreciated because I want to do more stuff like that.

Awesome conversions! Really! Those shotguns are just perfect and consider these ideas stolen for my PDF force for Refuge's End (although I'll change them into Auto-stubbers for my force (think SAW machineguns))

And I definately like the look of that old plastic Goliath ganger! I've been looking for ways to use them and that conversion of yours is just perfect!

Consider this thread subbed!

The top right and bottom left shotties are my favs. The bottom right one kind of looks like a bean bag gun to me. I also like the guy with the CSM head. I think his pose is fine. There aren't too many practical ways to dynamically wield a shotgun anyway.

Absolutely love these models. My modelling skills are awful, so I can definately appreciate the good work here. Keep it up, really nice work so far.

@ Phoenikuz- Thanks for the compliments. I know what you mean about the Stubber idea, when I first cut that Flamer down I was looking at it and all I could really think of was a B.A.R. I'd seen once at a gun show, it had been converted into a much shorter weapon and was being used for VIP Limo security (w/ the understanding that that the BAR turns "bullet-proof" glass and body armor into confetti). But then I looked again and saw a SPAS-12 variant, so I'm still calling it a shotgun. The old Goliath is likely the best conversion I've ever done w/ one of them. I used to have a few dozen of them, not sure where they all wound up, the mysteries of the Warp are many. I really think the bit that made the entire piece is the Chaos Warrior helm. Very soon I'm going to sit down and put some genuine work on that model, finish him up, and have a "name that Warlord" contest.

@ Moltar- Yeah, bottom right is my least fave of the batch as well, but I'm going w/ it. Top right was pretty easy to make and I have a lot of Flamers (thank you eBay bitz auctions) so I'll be putting together more shotguns. I was surprised that the CSM head was as good a fit (scale wise). Of course almost every model in this army has scale issues because there's so many bitz from so many kits from so many time periods... but of course I prefer to think of them as physical aberration and genetic mutation.

@ Sioni The Chin- I appreciate the compliment and am glad you are liking what I am doing here. Knowing that other people are digging on the things I am doing is a real motivator to push through the flat spots, and adds another layer of fun to all of this for me. I have literally said "wait 'til the guys see this" before when I've been doing a conversion or finishing up a model. Thanks for being part of that, and there's a lot more coming!



One thing I've never really explained in any detail is the "behind the scenes" intent on this project, which is to use what I already have in my collection and buy as little as possible. Every model in this force so far has either been in my collection for some time or has been given to me. Quite a few of them have been rescued from the Shelf of Shame. Ever since I started the Death Guard blog my intent has been to paint old models and finally get them on a tabletop. I got a bit carried away w/ the Death Guard and wound up buying quite a few things to fill it out. I have more unpainted Terminators now than I did when I started the project! I'm not doing that with this project. I'm digging deep in my storage cases and finding models 1/2 done from 15 years ago. I'm digging through junk boxes and finding miniatures I would have never even considered using for anything, but now they are absolutely perfect. I'm sorting through my bitz boxes looking for things that will help give each model an individual personality. I know at some point I will wind up buying some troops for this project because I really like the gas mask look. Absolutely perfect for any Cult. Pig Iron Productions has two different kinds that I like a lot and already have some of ( HD.1 Kolony Rebel head sprues and HD.3 Kolony Inner guard head sprues ), but there's also some other companies that have really good stuff that I'd like to try out, like Maxmini ( Tox Guardsman heads and Biohazard Heads) and West Wind Productions ( US Gas Mask Heads and German Gas Mask Heads ) and really I could buy most of the head set at MM and WWP because they are so awesome. I'll be buying heads from those companies directly, but the rest of my future purchases (IG, Zombies, etc) will be from eBay.


Going to start off the photo updates with yet another group shot. You'll see some new faces in the crowd again, and some old faces with new arms / weapons. And of course you'll see some of the same faces you've seen from the beginning that haven't changed since the very first photo was taken of them. They'll get there eventually, but I have no idea when because they keep getting passed over for other models. Sometimes I think about why I start a model but then paint and finish 20 others before I go back to it, and the only thing that keeps coming to mind is that it reminds me of the same situation as that last kid picked to be on the kickball teams at recess.




See them wayyyy in the back? They look so sad. Can I get a collective "Awwwwwwww " ? Maybe someday they'll get to play with the "cool kids". Until then.... whatever.

Here's a gallery of new faces and a bit of work I've done on things. I have only 1 model finished for this update, and the funniest thing (to me anyway, re: above) is that I hadn't profiled it here yet, just painted it and *done*.



Model on the left is the "new" model, but w/ exception to the left arm chainsword, it's a complete RT Imperial Guard plastic. I probably should have gone with 100% RT plastic, but for some reason when I was building it I thought it would be cool to span the decades and connect the earliest release with the latest release. Model on the right is nothing more than an old plastic WFB Chaos Warrior with a Necromunda Goliath Autogun, but here's the coolest part of it- I put this together and painted it in 2008, long before I got back into wargaming or modeling. Story for that guy is that one day I was bored, and for no apparent reason decided I was going to build some terrain. Terrain for a game I haven't played in years and have no intention of playing again. But I felt like it, so I did. Along the way I decided to use a miniature for scale purposes and most of my stuff was buried in a closet or in storage or who knows where, but I had this guy kicking around in a drawer, he'd been converted back when I was running my Necromunda League in the late 90's and had never been painted, so I painted it up a bit to give it contrast etc and then finished the terrain piece. I saw him again on my shelf last night when I was looking for miniatures to add my new shotguns onto. I'm going to leave him "as is" except for flocking the base.



Model on the left is an old metal Cadian from the Mortar crew, has a RT Imperial Guard plastic arm and Laspistol. Going to paint him up in the same colors as my regular IG because he could have a home there as well at some point. Model on the left is from a friend of mine, was part of his attempt to put together a WFB Chaos Marauders army but wanted all of his models to have a bizarre mutated look about them. He lost interest in it after a while and end result is that model made it over to me w/ instructions to do whatever I wanted with it. Legs are Ork, body is plastic Marauders, left arm I have no idea, and he's carrying on of my newly converted / created shotguns.



Brother Immolatius has been out recruiting (and got a bit more paint on him). The left and right models are from the old Imperial Militia set. I have them all here somewhere, a couple are painted already and likely hiding in Necromunda case, I'll be dragging them out soon.



L to R- Shotgun I made a few days ago on Cadian body and CSM head. I'm liking this model more and more. Next is a model that keeps showing up with changes. This is likely the last one. I gave him the "bean bag" shotgun, hopefully it'll work out. If not, I'll rip it off and he'll be back later. Last model had a WFB zombie are and a Lazpistol. Tore that off and replaced w/ a Necromunda Orlock Stub Pistol arm. I like this a lot better and I'm glad I took a closer look at that model for continuing on.

And finally, a series of pics for "Gramps" Thuston.





Yes, I did his eyes like that on purpose.

That's it for this one, won't be back today and likely not tomorrow, but we'll see how my plans work out. As always, thanks for checking this out and I'll be back with more Cult madness soon!


*edit edit edit... geez, you'd think I'd have gotten back on track w/ this by now*

Great work,your putting together a really unique looking force.

Skalk loving on how your making each cultist different with it's own personality. This give the viewer lots of eye candy to look at and see each model is unique.
Keep up the great work as usual and good to see you back on the boards.

Cheers I'd been wondering what that Fiir model was. I'd painted one up recently to bung in my Beastmen. Lots of iinteresting rando bits and bobs and I'm jealous of you forowning those old chaos cultists. Lovely characterful models indeed.

Great work your 40k zombies look Awesome.

@ shingouki- Thanks for the compliment, that's exactly what I'm shooting for and it's been a lot of fun so far!

@ GreyDeathOne- I have enough bitz in my collection that there's no excuse to NOT have everything look different. Running low on the basics (legs and torsos) but I've got a lifetime of heads, arms, weapons, and misc stuff. I haven't really started "converting" much yet. Once I get the GS out and focus on this project a bit you'll see what I mean. And thank you, I like being back.

@ Llamahead- Have my buddy Fionn to thank for those old Cultist models. Part of me feels a bit guilty for chopping them up w/o painting a single one "stock", but I'll get over it for sure.

@ Flying Pooo- Thank you, I really like the idea of Plague Zombies a lot. When I was Arbitrator for the Necromunda League I ran back in the day I had a massive Zombie Plague break out and it was a pretty frequent "random event" for Plague Zombies to shuffle onto the board. More will be coming w/o a doubt, I'm planning on having at least 50 of them before they are done.



It's been a while since my last update. I've been working on stuff, just haven't been posting my work. I have a handful of distractions going on right now. But I'm back tonight, and there's more coming.

Staring out with a "Skalk... dude, clean up your desk!" shot, bunch of WIP there, and the crates / barrels you see in the background is one of my current distractions, have been going nuts on making more terrain. I have dozens and dozens of terrain bits that never see the table because no one wants to fiddle around with a handful of loose barrels when setting up terrain / scenery. So I have been basing them on plasticard and making them more usable.



And a group shot of everyone that has graduated from WIP status to "done". One thing I won't be doing much of anymore is drybrushing after a couple beers. These looked a lot better at the time, if you catch my drift. Not completely happy w/ them but it is what it is and I don't hate them enough to repaint them. I might wash them a couple more times, not sure yet. In any case, they are playable.



I really like these, I'll be making more of them. It's pretty basic, just WFB Zombies, W40K Cadians, and PIP gas masks. I could do an entire army just like this.



Something else I expect I'll be doing more of- Beastmen heads:



The model on the left is from the original batch of models I converted back hen the PIP heads arrived. Not a bad use of an old Blood Bowl Empire Quarterback. The middle and right models have no conversion whatsoever, they are from the old Imperial Militia pack.



Posting this because I finally got someone to play Necromunda w/ me the other day and I'm starting to get excited about my Redemptionists again. The big guy w/ the Flamer was from the 2nd batch of miniatures I converted for the Cult.



And finishing up this update w/ a group shot of the rest of what's left. I notice this bunch seems to grow every now and then.



I found my WFB Chaos Marauders and Ghouls earlier tonight. The temptation to spend the next few hours converting them is pretty strong, but I'm going to hold off on that. No more new additions to the Cult until I paint what's on deck.

That's it for this one. As always, many thanks for the compliments. I really appreciate knowing that people are checking this out and enjoying what I am doing. More coming soon.

Barrels and crates look good and I like your beastmen-headed dudes. There are def some dudes in your WiP shot that I want to see finished. Keep up the good work, Skalk!

@ Moltar- Thanks, I pride myself on hosting a decent table. Which miniatures are you looking fwd to specifically? Those will get moved to the top of the list.



Short update: I've been working on stuff, just haven't been posting.

Overall desktop WIP shot. You'll see a few new faces in the group on the right.



Here's the batch of models getting attention right now. Nothing is done but a few are close and everything has more work done on it. Once again, changes to color schemes. I really do just make all this up as I go along, I have only the most basic general outline of an idea in my head when I start something like this.



And in groups of three, closeups of where things are at:









And here's two conversions I threw together the other night when I was sick of painting but didn't want to go to bed yet:


(Necromunda plastic Goliath head taken from the body I'm using for the Warlord, plastic Beastman body, plastic Necromunda Orlock laspistol, current IG chainsword arm, tubing is from CMS Plasma rifle, bits are from current IG plastics. GS is supposed to be a cowled cloak that is ripped up / worn)


(head from current CSM set, not sure which one as I bought this in a bitz lot on eBay, plastic Beatmen body, current IG Lasgun and backpack. GS is supposed to be a frock / tabatd / whatever.)

That's it for this one. Thanks for reading.

That's a nice assortment of muties and cultists. Really nice kit-bashing and conversion work.

Those 3 dudes with that Heroquest femur looking guy in the middle of that previous wip pic and now your two new dudes. All of it's looking good, though.

nice conversions

Going well I see the first guys cloak is excellent.

@ The Good Green- Thanks, I appreciate the compliment! I'm making an effort to have a very unique force and trying to avoid uniformity. I have a pretty decent bitz collection so I have a lot to draw from. I've been making as best use of it as I can so far, and there's a lot more to come.

@ Moltar- Noted and moved (closer) to the top. I've been lost in conversions since my last post. Staying focused on task is not working out so well for me. So I'm making sure to do "something", even it is with a hack saw and a bitz box.

@ xXH0LYCRUSAD3Xx- Thanks for checking this out.

@ Llamahead- Thank you. My GS "skills" consist of the following process- mix / splat / spread / hope for the best. I've had some very fortunate accidents and better-than-expected results from things I have done. I cannot think of many instances where what I envisioned actually wound up on the model. I go with whatever I get for results. In this case I'm mostly happy. We'll see what it looks like when it is painted before much longer.



It's been a while since my last update. I've been working on this project but not getting anything "done" so the satisfying feeling of accomplishment is eluding me once again. Sometimes I forget that I am doing this simply for fun with no specific goal in mind. When I start feeling that I move around, do terrain or convert models. Or I just don't do it. I've sat at my desk for hours just trying to figure out what I want to do. I generally make a huge mess and have very little work to show for it when I finally decide I'm done, and that is the perfect segue into tonight's first photo, the overall "WIP shot":



There's a lot going on there but not a lot getting accomplished. I did get a few things done since the last time I posted, though. Namely I have some pretty decent conversions done. I did these over the last week or so, but the heads all went on today (unless otherwise noted) because I just picked them up at the PO this morning. I took individual pictures to make my update look bigger.



This has "Necromunda" all over it to me. I enjoyed doing this and I was pretty excited at having found my Chaos Marauders set in storage. I was going to convert up the entire box, but as I kept working on this one it became obvious that wasn't going to happen because of scale between bitz and the main model. I put a set of Space Marine arms on him and they looked perfect. Closest I could come to that was Catachan arms. The rope around his waist is real string. Rest of the bits are a combination of Catachan and Cadian sets.



Easiest kind of conversion- head swap. Orlock plastic ganger from Necromunda and Ghoul head from current WFB Ghouls box set.



This was a brutal conversion and was a lot of work. I won't go into all the details because it's just a "rank and file" loser, but the bits are Orlock plastic torso / legs from old Necromunda set, head from current WFB Ghoul set, right arm from original IG plastic set, left arm from current Cadian IG set, and Autogun from Orlock Necromunda set. He'll likely wind up a Scavvy.



Easiest conversion ever- just use a different head. Entire model is Current Cadian IG plastic except head which is current WFB Ghouls.

This next bit is a series of shots taken during the process of converting a WFB Ghoul from hunched over to standing upright. I got the idea from Lord of Death Mountain and his Crypt Ghouls thread. I like the models a lot but they are (to me) worthless in WFB and they aren't exactly 40K ready unless you count them as generic Summoned Daemons in the CSM list. But as Plague Zombies, maybe a different strain of the virus... anyway, whatever the fluff, I made mine stand up and offer me more options to work with. Here are the "before", "conversion", and "after" photos.


Original model


Chopped In Half


Torn To Pieces


Standing tall. Let me know what you think of the "tall ghoul" idea and if you thin it translates into Plague Zombie or does it look too weird for that? I'm thinking Ghoul arms are going to start showing up on some new conversions but not so sure about the legs. Also not sure about giving them guns. Still have a lot of options, need to think them through. Feedback appreciated.



I really like the converted Flamer into a Combat Shotgun thing. Here's another version of it, head is from Wargames Factory and the rest is current IG Cadian plastic set w/ conversion to the Flamer.



Another convert of the Redemption. He used to be this guy:



... but I saw that "chainsword into chainsaw" idea on another thread that I'm not going to bother to link back to because that idea was the only reason to go there and I think I did it better anyway so I'll save you the time. Anyway, I saw the conversion and HAD to try it. Could not find the right model. Then I had 2 ideas at once- my Redemptionists do not have a Zealot w/ an Eviscerater because I cannot find my model, and I have a perfectly good model for this project being wasted on a Laspistol and lame CC weapon. I am loving this model.

This next bit is a series of light conversion but very strong theme, is the "highlight" of this update.







Heads are from Wargames Factory (Greatcloaks) and bodies / everything else is current IG plastic except for officer, his sword is from the original Citadel plastic skeleton set, right arm from original IG plastic set, and Bolt Pistol from the 2nd Ed Space Marine weapons sprue.

I'm going to paint them in a different style. Not part of my current IG look, but not so far out that I could not put them on the same table as my Loyalists.

Still no vehicles.

That's it for this one. I'll be back. Thanks for reading.

*edited because I forgot to include picture for "easiest conversion ever" in original post*

Check these mutants out, might be a nice expansion to your force.

Will you also be added vehicles?

Some awesome, ragtag band here Skalk!!!

I love how you manage to get this RT/2nd Ed Chaos-y feel, with the sheer number of references / ranges...

Yet each mini seems to belong in here, that's a nice feat!!

My favourite so far are the *humble* zombies with Beastmen heads, terrific!!!

Nice job, the cadian heads seem a little off size IMHO.

New additions look great, skalk. I am jealous of the amount of "workspace" you have. I dig the new conversions you've busted out. I think the upright ghoul looks good, he kind of reminds me of Pumpkin Head, but I don't think you should give him any weapons.

@ Malika2- Thanks for the link. Right now I'm absolutely swamped w/ this project but when I get to the point where I'm ready to buy something new I'll be looking very closely at those models again because they are very cool. I expect to be adding some vehicles to the force but it won't be for quite some time.

@ Yggdrasil- Hey Yggs, thanks for stopping by! I am really enjoying this project, it's the perfect companion for my Death Guard (or any CSM) army. I'm looking forward to the day when these models are cut down like bananas on the beach and are removed in handfuls each turn. Ha. Thanks for the compliment. I'm really trying for that old RT / 2nd Ed / Necromunda feel and it's really cool to get positive feedback that I'm actually hitting that goal. There will be more Beasties coming as soon as I can convince a buddy of mine that he will never paint all the Beastmen he has.

@ Haonn- I agree, but the scale is just off enough where I think it'll work. I put the same heads on a few CSM bodies I have and they were just off in a "too small" way. Scale is such a subjective issue in this game anyway, I'm ok w/ the heads being a bit large because it is a helm and a gas mask. I know the PIP gas masks I have are much better in scale, but I can't seem to find the "gas mask and helmet" combination I want other than Forge World and there's no way I'm doing that unless I find a deal on eBay or something.

@ Moltar- I should send you a picture of the room. Yes, I have an entire room. Behind my workspace is a 4X8 gametable and shelves of terrain. My wife is amazingly awesome and I say that every opportunity I get (on that note- honey, if you're reading this- YOU ARE AWESOME!). She gave me the largest room in the house for a game / hobby room. She's completely supportive of all of this, understands why I like it so much, gets along with all my friends... I'm the luckiest man I know. And thanks for the feedback on the Ghoul. I'll be doing more of them in the future but for now I'm going to clean up the mess of a project I already have.



It's been a while since my last update. Couple of reasons behind that, none the least of which is that the warm season has returned (be that as it may) and I've been spending as much time as possible with my 2nd favorite distraction:



Yes, I'm bragging. I used to ride many years ago but stopped for a bunch of reasons. This spring I decided it was time to get back in the saddle, and I've been making up for lost time since then. It has drastically cut into my eBay funds, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing because I already own more models than 5 people would ever paint in their lifetime so I don't "need" anything new. But since I bounce between projects I'm always looking for bits and troops and whatnot so I buy more stuff. Which is a great segue into the other reason I've been gone for a while.

I've been completely overwhelmed. There is just too much. Too many new models, too many ideas, too many distractions within the same project. I do this every time I start a new project- have an idea, get all excited, and crank on building those ideas. The problem is that I lose focus because it becomes so much so fast. I've sat down at my desk before and spent an hour just looking at the chaos (no pun intended) and no matter how hard I tried I could not get motivated. In fact the harder I tried the less I wanted to even be there, and ultimately walk away from it all because I'm sick of it.

To rectify this issue I have split up my models into groups and put the majority of them away. I'm keeping my focus on what is left, and I've been able to get a lot of work done as a result.

For now, this is what is left of what still needs to be done. If it's not in this picture, you won't be seeing it for a while because it's been cut from the project until the next round of miniatures comes up:



Yup, only 10 of them. That's how I'm going to be doing batches. I've gotten some work done on this batch today and I'll be doing more later, taking a break for now and updating Dakka because it's been a while.

I also have some things complete finished and ready to join the ranks of the Cult. I'm really psyched on a couple of these so I took a few extra photos. Here's the group shot of what's done:



Groups of three:




Another angle:



And a profile of my favorite models from this batch. First up is my Scavvy Leader. I bought this model when it first came out, slapped a basecoat and a couple colors on it to meet League rules of 3 color minimum for a playable WIP, and meant to finish it up "someday". Someday was today. I put a bit more work into this than I have in my recent models, and while I know I could have labored over it more I'm happy where it is and I'm looking forward to seeing him on a tabletop very soon.


Next up is my Warlord. Of all the conversions I've done for this project so far, this is (in my opinion) is the most epic and powerful one yet and will be difficult to top. From such simple beginnings it turned into such a massive and imposing figure. Painting this wasn't as much fun as I had hoped because the pressure to give it the paint job it deserved was more than I wanted to deal with, especially the Power Axe. After really looking at the model and going over all the options, this is where he wound up. I went for a more simplistic look, but I don't feel I "settled". I feel the basic color schemes really tie the model together and add to the imposing presence this model projects.


I'll be working on this as time allows, and I'll be back when I have something new to share. Your comments are appreciated, and thanks for looking.

Looking good!

***Transmission*** Planet is lost my lord. Request for exterminatus of the infectious populace. ***End Transmission***

Looking good Skalk and nice hog!! you will make Fasteddiexx1 jealous! He use to ride also.
You gotta move out to the west coast buddy!

Skalk, good looking stuff, man. The scavvy leader is pretty awesome and such a fun model. I remember when I painted mine and went more towards the 'eavy metal style with red jacket over green robes. However, I like the colors you've chosen better. That other dude with the WoC helm is just awesome. Imposing indeed. If you were to do anything else, it should be to make his pants blue and white striped. I think that would make him pop without being OTT and pay a little homage to GW.

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:
I've been completely overwhelmed. There is just too much. Too many new models, too many ideas, too many distractions within the same project. I do this every time I start a new project- have an idea, get all excited, and crank on building those ideas. The problem is that I lose focus because it becomes so much so fast. I've sat down at my desk before and spent an hour just looking at the chaos (no pun intended) and no matter how hard I tried I could not get motivated. In fact the harder I tried the less I wanted to even be there, and ultimately walk away from it all because I'm sick of it.

Glad to see I'm not the only one! I think you really need a break, and you've got the perfect 2nd hobby for that (mine is cooking, which mean that I gain weight every time I'm trying to get away from modeling ).

You've got some really nice conversions (and an impressive bitz box!).

Scavvy boss looks right...
Good luck getting back into the groove. A bit of a break often helps. Its not as if you've got a deadline so relax and enjoy it!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Just thought of something for gas mask helms you have checked out these guys haven't you http://www.westwindproductions.co.uk/

I am really liking this!! Thanks for letting me know about this, Ilook forward to seeing more of your work!

Loving what you've done so far Skalk and as always looking forward to seeing what else you come up with.

Really great work. I fully admit that every model I create ends up with a backstory (at least in my mind). I love to have an army of individuals rather than a faceless horde of nobodies. I appreciate your vision and applaud your work.

@ kenshiro620- Thanks for the compliment, and thanks for following this thread. It’s nice knowing people are enjoying my work.

@ GreyDeathOne- Exterminatus? You’re making me blush! By the time the Imperial Fleet shows up I’ll have ripped open a new Eye of Terror on this planet. And don’t start talking about CA, my wife is from there and you can believe she’s had just about enough of VT winters. Maybe when I’m older and creakier I’ll think about moving. Maybe.

@ Moltar- I appreciate the compliment. I was never a fan of the color schemes or “neon sign” highlights that most GW models were sporting in WD back in the day. I like the dirty gritty look. Or maybe it’s just my excuse to not paint bright and clean because my fast and dirty painting style is more suited towards Chaos and Undead. Ha. Overall I have been feeling more and more drawn to painting my old Necromunda stuff lately. I’ve recently picked up a 4 X 4 piece of plywood and have started building Necromunda-specific terrain for it. I will likely do a project blog on it once I get everything together. So many ideas, so little time…

@ Hyenajoe- I’m so torn, I want to model and paint, I want my time spent with something tangible and have a finished project to show for my efforts. But at the same time I want to turn my brain off and kill a few hundred people in GTA. When I first got back into the hobby I traded out a lot of time-eaters (video games, surfing online, watching TV, etc) and was really happy with the payoff. Now I’m just feeling the burnout of too much too many etc. Right now I do what I can when I feel the inspiration hit me. I don’t have a lot “finished”, but I have a LOT of little achievements and progress that will come together later. Even 30 minutes sitting at the bench helps move everything along that little bit more. I’ll take a pic of the bitz bins I have. It’s obsessive and ridiculous. Ha.

@ Llamahead- I’m reminding myself of that. No deadline, no expectation, this is for fun. Once I have the current batches done I’m thinking about pushing limits with conversions, break out the GS and the bitz box and create models that would never be “legal” in current game rules just to enjoy the modeling aspect. And thanks for the link, I’ve been interested in their stuff for a while but have never bought anything from them. It will likely be winter before I buy anything new because all my summer $$$ is being spent on gas and beer.

@ aidangunn- Thanks for checking this out, I really like your work (especially the Zombies for your VC and the converted Servitor, really good stuff!) and I appreciate the compliment on my work. Stay tuned because more is coming!

@ FITZZ- Hey man, glad to see you again. I am still creeped out by your avatar. Ha. I have some decent stuff on the way but I’m holding back a bit trying to get some stuff done before I start hammering out more conversions. Trying to clean up the mess I’ve already started.

@ The Faded- Thanks for checking this out, and for the highest compliment. You really “get” what I’m going for here. I really enjoy the “story” aspect of all this, and would sooner roleplay my army to a crushing defeat than “min / max” stats and ignore 25 years of fluff. More is coming, and I’ll likely include backstories again soon because of the inspiration I felt to create the models in the first place.



Ok, finally time for another update. I’ve been really distracted recently for all of the reasons I’ve stated in previous posts and for general lack of attention. I want to model, I want to paint, but I can’t focus for any amount of time. I made some progress towards resolving that at least to a degree by reducing the overall amount of work out in the open; keep my areas clean and clear, etc. But one of the things I’ve learned over time about how I model is that I can’t “force” myself to do something, I have to go with what works when it works. One major accomplishment is I’ve based almost all my miniatures of this project. I still have a few left to do but I’m really happy to have gotten that done.

Anyway… remember that grand declaration of “I’m working on this batch of models and only this batch of models”? Yeah. Well, I started working on the batch again the other day, and I noticed these guys in the front:



They are the old RT IG, so old in fact that they used to be part of the Imperial Army (before the name was changed to Imperial Guard. The tags on them simply say “ARMY”.). I really like the look of these older models a lot, and I have a *lot* of them. Most of them wound up in my Genestealer Cult that I was raging across countless battlefields with in the late 90’s. The three in the picture came with a batch of other RT stuff I picked up on eBay a year or so ago and I decided to put them into my current Cult project because they are so very cool and look distinctly different from the current range. I started painting them up initially because they looked easiest to finish and I’m really into the color scheme (credit to Rabid Ferret for inspiration on the colors) but as I kept working w/ them more and more one thing lead to another and a staggering idea hit me that would not go away. I had to follow through on it. I dug through my Genestealer Cult and IG until I found the right models, and this is what has happened so far:





Oh yeah. I am so completely loving this one. I have a decent idea for the backstory for them, and while I haven’t worked out all the details yet, the inspiration for this step of the project is that the Guardsmen are Enforcers (similar in concept to the law enforcement provided by Arbites / Watchmen) and the “Commissar” is a Judge that leads the Enforcers (sort of in a Judge Dredd kind of way, except with more backup and doesn’t have a really cool bike). The Enforcers have the full IG kit, and I'm thinking about coming up with stats for the book the Judge is holding for a "counts as" Power Weapon or a "one shot" ST 4 AP 1 12" ranged weapon (literal application of "throwing the book at them").

Their job, simply put, is to hunt down bad guys. I’ve noticed this theme has been coming back again and again during this project (like when models wind up in my Redemptionist gang instead of the Cult). I’m really looking forward to playing a Necromunda scenario where they figure prominently, like a Purge w/ Enforcers and Redemptionists hunting down Scavvies and / or Plague Zombies. Good times are coming.

But not everything is a WIP. Here is a pic of the Enforcers I have finished:



And a little credit to my original plan, here’s two models from the original batch that are done as well. I’m not happy with the photo, I’ll take a better one and repost later:



That’s it for this one. More is coming, I just don’t know when. The weather has been miserable here lately, so while that affords more opportunity to sit inside and work on this stuff it also messes with my mood so it’s a wash as far as getting things done goes. I’ve been trying to get things done at night after the family has gone to bed but I’ve been beat tired so even that isn’t as productive as it normally is. Bottom line is I’m still digging this project and will return to it as often as I can. Thanks for reading and I always appreciate your feedback

These are great!I love mutants and freaks. One of these days I really want to do some!!

Those Rogue Trader Commissar's are lovely models. I really was happy to pick up three to use with my Zulus.

Those RT Imperial Army minis are great! Your first 3 enforcers look awesome, skalk. I think the guy in the middle may have the best, non-mutant, face you've ever painted. I look forward to seeing them all get new treatment, especially the commisar. Get to them when you can. We'll be waiting.

On a side note, I noticed they all have those gold badges on their chests. Any plans to fancy those up?

@ weetyskemian44- Thank you You know I love all the RT / 2nd Ed stuff you have in your photo gallery and you've been an inspiration for me during this project. Thanks for checking this out!

@ Llamahead- That is likely my favorite Commissar GW ever produced. Close 2nd was the one that almost made it into this unit, the one with the gas mask. I'll post a pic for ref. later. Also, I checked out your Zulus a couple days ago, there's some really great stuff in there! Your conversions are inspired and original. That you like my work is a high compliment.

@ Moltar- I hate saying this, but his face is from the original paint job in 1997 when he was a Brood Brother. All I did was use a diluted Devlin Mud wash. *sigh* I want GW to re-release Bronzed Flesh. And yes, the bronze badges will have something on them. Once again I get caught presenting unfinished models as "finished". Gah. I'm so impatient. I've been looking online for something I can print off and apply like a transfer, have also been going through my box of old GW transfers but haven't found anything I like yet. I'll finish them up and really make sure they are "finished" next time. Nice eye for detail, though.

Thanks a lot Skalk. I'm lucky I stocked up on Bronze Flesh when they stopped making it, Vallejo's Tan Yellow is a bit paler but a very nice flesh colour as well.

The Imp. Army blokes are cool, but I noticed there are zippers on the front of their armour plates? Come on old school GW, really?

Lovely to see so many different models done so cohesively, especially the imperial army ones - so rare to see them painted well! Fantastic project all round

Great work, the only real complaint I have is some of the zombie arms & legs look a bit out of proportion with the Cadian torsos, but that's just me. To be honest it makes them look a lot less human, which is good.

Awesome stuff Skalk, I like what you have done with the Ghoul standing up with his guts hanging out and the Enforcers are looking great. I am pretty sure that I have seen Ghouls used as snipers somewhere before (they left them hunched over and put sniper rifles in their hands with the rifles leaning against bits of rock etc). Maybe another idea to muck about with when converting your Ghouls. Can't wait to see more.

@ Llamahead- I'll check that out. Always looking for things that help round out my painting style.

@ Lord Kaesar II- The zippers are made of Adamantite. If they get hit in the zipper it's an automatic 3+ save on 2D6 with 1 re-roll.

@ Scarper- Thanks for checking this out and thank you for the compliment. For most of the models I'm trying for a connected thread that ties them all together. I really enjoy this project and I'm looking forward to playing them in a Necromunda or 40K scenario that focuses on the Cult. Classic "good guys vs. bad guys" ("good and bad subject to personal interpretation).

@ Trollpie- I don't disagree, scale is always an issue when bashing GW miniatures. But as you pointed out, in this application (weird mutie hive scum) the disparity lends a more authentic look to the dregs of Imperial society.

@ Lord of Death Mountain- 100% credit to you for the idea. There are more coming eventually. I'll br trying out some of them as Mutants, maybe IG legs and Ghoul torso, or Ghoul legs and Zombie torso. I've even been thinking about using the "upright" Ghouls as the vanilla "one size fits all" generic Lesser Daemons in 5th Ed. for my "Black Crusade" CSM list. Bottom line is you really lit up my imagination on the Ghouls and I'm grateful for that. And just becasue I think it really is that awesome, here's another link back to your thread again. Folks, go check out his Ghouls thread. It's inspiring.



Well, as some of you already know, I've started work on my Death Guard Plague Marines again, finally finished my Land Raider. I'm not giving up on this project, but it is sharing time and space w/ my Death Guard now. I have 5 models that are almost finished, I'll be posting them up as soon as I can. Stay tuned because more is coming!

Quick update tonight because I am beat tired and have to go do something tomorrow morning I wish I had not volunteered to do... gahhh. Anyway, finally finished a couple more miniatures for the Cult. As finished as they are going to get anyway. I'm not feeling very Master Class with this right now so I know I'm slacking on some work. But all in all not a bad job and it's good enough for me to be ok w/ it. Nothing stunning, but it's not horrible by any means.



I took more pictures but they came out badly. Will take more later.

Also started another distraction. Decided to add a Standard Bearer and a Pit Fighter sort of guy. Model on the left is a Necromunda plastic Orlock w/ a WoC Chaos Marauder's right arm w/ standard. Legs are filed down from a Chaos Marauder model. Top of standard / icon / etc is from a Defiler kit. Model on the right is a Necromunda plastic Goliath w/ old release plastic Chaos Warriors helm, left arm is 2nd ed Chaos Power Fist, right arm is most recent plastic Power Fist.




Again, doing the best with what I have, trying to not buy a lot of new stuff for this project.

More is coming just not sure when. Going to be a weird weekend but at the end of it I hope to have something awesome to share. If not here then on my Death Guard Plague Marines thread. Yes, another shameless crossref of my own threads. But hey, it's all about me. Me me me!!! Pay attention to meeeeeeeee!!!! Hahahaa.

Dude those last two guys are sick. I really dig the broken defiler plate as the banner. I think it suits your cultists look and feel perfectly and that Goliath/Chaos dude is just menacing. Love it.

Your Cultists are looking great Skalk. (an idea for that wicked looking banner = maybe drill some holes on the bottom part of the banner and tie some thread through the holes with a variety of heads hanging from the thread).
Looking forward to seeing more of this Cult evolve.

The banners looking good and I really like the gun on the guy on the far right. I'm nt sure on the shoulder pads on the pit fighter although the concepts one to consider for me.

Nice kitbashing. I'm gonna steal a few of your shotgun ideas for my veteran squad.

Ha..for some odd reason the cultist at the far right in the first picture reminds me of a crazed Aqua-Man...
Great stuff Skalk, as always, looking forward to seeing more.

Damn skalk these are looking good! Although having my thread at the top of your links on page one makes me feel horribly guilty about the lack of progress I've made with mine in the last couple of months!!

@ Moltar- I figured you'd like the Goliath / Chaos conversion. He's part of an accidental backstory now. Can't share at the moment because it's fresh in my mind and I have some things to do w/ this first (research being one of them to make sure I'm getting the fluff 100% correct) but I think you'll dig where this winds up.

@ Lord of Death Mountain- I had thought about adorning the banner with a number of things but decided against it as the story behind it (everything in this army has a story behind it) is that this is a holy relic from a time long past and it has been maintained in it's most pure form. It'll make more sense later.

@ Llamahead- I made that gun from an IG Flamer (basic inst w/ pics a few posts back). It was pretty easy to make and looks decent. The pauldrons are going to have to stay, but you'll appreciate it more when the story comes out.

@ Anung Un Rama- I'm really digging that I can inspire you. The corrupted Guardsmen in your Triple Nurgle army Blog of Doom! thread was one of the main reasons I finally got this project going (PIP heads on Catachan Guard models). I've said before that walk amongst gods here at Dakka. You are one of them.

@ FITZZ- Aqua-Man? I really tried to see that but couldn't. Maybe you had to be there? Or maybe it was just too many retro cartoons lately? ha.

@ BigBadWolf37- Hey, thanks for checking this out! And actually reading it. It would be *AWESOME* to see new work for your Chaos Renegade Militia but I completely understand having to step back from something you've been so intense on. I burned myself out on my Death Guard and have only recently revisited them. But yeah, I'm still subbed on that thread and looking forward to the day it gets updated. No pressure or anything. I'll just wait patiently. Yup, just wait it out... (checks watch)... just waiting away... (taps foot)...



It might sound fanboy or geeky, but I really want to offer a genuine "thank you" to everyone reading and commenting on my threads. I spend a lot of time on Dakka and I've spent a lot of that time in the galleries. There have been times where I've been reading a comment someone left on my thread, checked out their gallery, and it was full of amazing stuff that I'd been voting and commenting on months earlier. There's a lot of skill and talent on Dakka, genuine artists. I'm a hobbyist that just does what I do. Knowing that my work has gained the attention and provided inspiration for people adds an element to the hobby for me that I can't directly explain but I enjoy it a lot. Thanks for making this even more fun for me.

Alright, group hug over. I spent most of Saturday riding the bike and have the sunburn to prove it. And on top of that I have the most ridiculous tan line I have ever seen. There is a space on both of my arms between where my leather jacket ends and my gloves begin. I have a dark stripe on both arms just above my wrist, think the exact opposite of a "watch tan", where the skin under your watchband is lighter. Yup. It's completely stupid. And my face hurts. But it was awesome.

This morning it was thunder and brutality so I did some housework today, part of which involved cleaning up my desk for the first time in a couple weeks. It really needed it. And not only did I clean up the desk, I re-organized my bitz and paint bins! A while back I said I'd show some "closeup" pics of the bitz bin. Behold, for it is mighty indeed and the result of 30+ years worth of hoarding:

The new, improved "clean desk" look for July 2011!


The mighty Bitz Bins. It started way back before I was wargaming w/ GW stuff, I have parts in those bins (specifically the larger tray bins on the far bottom left) from old military models, model cars, etc. I just kept it. A sprue with a manifold cover for a 1/24 Chevy Impala? Of course I'm keeping that. Why? I had no idea. I just knew i needed to. So I did. The bins on the far bottom left are all non-gw things, like old tracks for a Soviet T-64, engine block from a CHiPS motorcycle, random 1/32 military diorama bits, you get the idea. The bin directly next to it is 100% GW. Top two are Imperial bitz, mostly IG vehicles but some SM as well. 3rd drawer is Chaos. 4th is everything I have left from Gorkamorka. 5th is assorted Orc / Goblin bitz and for some reason a Crayola marker. Huh. Ok. Last tray is of OLD GW plastics. Like the first set ever I think. I have a lot of those for some reason. The yellow tray is more of an overflow (used to be my primary box) for weird things I don't have a home for, like tacks, water transfers, Enigma and Demonforge bits, etc. The center racks (black top / gray bottom) are the meat and potatoes of my collection and where most of the magic comes from. I'm not going to go itno detail becasue it would take hours but suffice to say it's brutal, it's extensive, and it has a little bit of probably everything. The blue bins are for tools. I have all sorts of pliers, snips, wire cutters, screwdrivers, clamps, etc in there. The top two bins also store some hydrocal cast stuff I have that hasn't found a home yet and I want to keep safe. The wite tray bins on the side are projects. Bottom tray is the Death Guard. Two trays up from that are my Khorne Berzerkers. Just above that are my Cultists. Above that, my RT collection. Terminators, Battlefleet Gothic, etc are all in those bins.





On to paints. Top row is obvious. The three main armies I played had thier own set, I kept those paints out of the general population. I still do. The rest in the black tray are assorted by shade (browns, greens, blues, reds, etc). The paints in the blue tray are overflow, paints that I am keeping but have no room in the correct bin. The rest of the blue tray is bases, glues, scenery bits, and a selection of projects that I want to keep handy but out of the way.

If anyone has specific questions I'll answer them.

Ok, so once I got all that done I decided to reward myself by messing my desk up again and getting some work done. Now technically this isn't exactly "Cult" but I figured it would go well here because this is fun thread for interesting things and while not specifically "cult" it fits in well enough.

I'm thinking Necromunda Trading Post:







... and surrounding outbuildings:





...everything together:



And a couple closeup shots of the cool stuff:





I hate to post and run but it's almost 1:15am and I have to work tomorrow. Not usually a big deal but I'm beat tired. I explain the rest of this tomorrow. I'll be back. Thanks for reading!!

Yeah..Aqua man...


...Ok , maybe it's just me.

...I really like the trading post and outbuildings a lot, how'd you make them?

Wow That's like a mountain of tiny drawers you have there. I just have a margarine tub full. I can well imagine the fun you must have with that many bits at your disposal.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The trading post is special - I like it. I can imagine the necromundans completely ignoring the health and safety notices though

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:@ Anung Un Rama- I'm really digging that I can inspire you. The corrupted Guardsmen in your Triple Nurgle army Blog of Doom! thread was one of the main reasons I finally got this project going (PIP heads on Catachan Guard models). I've said before that walk amongst gods here at Dakka. You are one of them.

Hello, my new signature!

Wow I really love your army ive always been a big fan of traitor guard and zombies ever since I read the tandaris outbreak in white dwarf a few years back.

Every one of your models has a character of its on its a nice touch, they really look like a bunch of soldiers, civilians, zombies and daemons thrown together to exact revenge on the Imperium.

@ FITZZ- Ohhhhhh... ok. I was thinking THIS guy:

You can understand the "HUH?" now. Regarding the buildings, info follows in update below.

@ weetyskemian44- The most awesome part of the awesome awesomeness is that I know where everything is and have a pretty good memory of what I have so when I'm doing a project I can have a flash of brilliance and not spend 3 hours looking for the one Eldar Power Fist I own. It's in my RT IG bits box. And yes, I imagine the Underhivers ignored the signs as well. At least they shouldn't trip on the steps going up to the door.

@ Anung Un Rama- I've been sigged! I have arrived on Dakka!!! Next step is DCM and 2,000 posts in a month.

@ Paranoia_Agent- Glad you found this thread, and thank you for the compliment. I'm really enjoying this project and hearing feedback that the idea is working (creating a mismatched ragtag band of individual models that fuse together to form a cohesively mismatched ragtag army)



The buildings are an O-Scale (O as in the letter, not zero) model train kit from Bachmann Trains (which makes some really awesome stuff for 40K / Necromunda terrain). This is the "Hobo Jungle" set. They have a lot of cool stuff, and for things where scale isn't so much of an issue (water towers, gas tanks, etc) even HO scale works fine.

More coming later, I was going to write more but time ran out. Back later!

I like its so much easier to tell if they ar on chaos side instead of just regular types of cadians with no chaos signs YEAH! I like

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:@ Anung Un Rama- I've been sigged! I have arrived on Dakka!!! Next step is DCM and 2,000 posts in a month.

Nah! I'm just a narcist.

Seriously though, as far as compliments go, yours is pretty high on my list.

Congrats on your slums/cabins Skalk!

They have a cool underhive mood.

@ Asherian Command- Thanks, I'm glad you like it! More is coming, and the Chaos influence is going to become more apparent over time.

@ Anung Un Rama- It's deserved, but I'm going to stop now before your head explodes.

@ Hyenajoe- There's more of the same coming as soon as I figure out how to fix the scale on some other model railroad houses I scored in the same lot (eBay lot of 10 different O-scale houses for $19!!!) and of course they need to be Grimdarked quite a bit.



Short update tonight since I don't have a lot to show. I have been bitten by the terrain bug again so I'm jamming on that, but while I was waiting for something to dry I decided to give this a try and I think it came out pretty cool. Yes, another conversion to add to the pile of unpainted miniatures for this project.

Direct credit to BigBadWolf37 for the inspiration on this one. There will be more like it coming, and they will become more horrific as I get the gears grinding. This was the first shot at Undead Guardsmen. Let me know what you think? (yes I'm going to fix the mold lines):







The next few I do will be a lot more brutalized. I like zombies.

A lot.

Wheeyy more zombie guardsmen for chaos!! Careful though, they are horrendously addictive to make once you start as the possibilities are almost endless.

I feel almost apologetic for setting you on this path.. almost

... Think I might go make a few more now..

The new zombie guardsmen looks awesome, although in the first pic I thought he was holding a limp chain axe Man, that is a swarm of zombies. Look forward to seeing what you can do with the O-scale terrain.

The zombie guardsman looks pretty cool. The holes in the chest and clothes really sell it. Details like that are cool, but don't forget that we're talking Zombie Guardsmen here. You're already up to your knees in those guys. Don't want you get sick of converting them.

@ BigBadWolf37- You make it sound like addiction is a bad thing. I have over 500 zombies for WFB (blocks of 200+ zombies = tarpit). If I had the financial resources I would do the same thing for 40K right now. As it stands I can crank out a handful of them every now and then for this project. I'm really enjoying where this has gone so far.

@ Moltar- Yeah, I see it now that you mention it. Ha! Glad it finally looked like a lasgun being dragged. I really, really, really like zombies. A lot. I want to play a Death Guard force with an advance unit of Plague Zombies.

@ Anung Un Rama- Thanks for the compliment! And I appreciate the concern about burnout. I know after a while I'll steer towards something else but so long as the bottom line is that I am doing something, I'm making progress. And speaking of progress...



It took me about 30 minutes to paint this after the basecoat dried. I finished it up with a Griffon Sepia wash. It's not Golden Demon material but I'd put it on any table:





I really really enjoyed doing this. I want to make more of them. A lot more. 20 at least, preferably 50 or more.

That said, while I was waiting for him to dry, I made a friend for him:



Oh yeah. The Cult just took a turn for the worse.

My next few updates will likely be over on my Death Guard thread, I've been working on a few models at work this week and have them almost finished. Running 2 active threads hasn't been too much yet. Going to keep this going for as long as I can.

I'll be back!

As a huge fan of anything having to do with zombies, I whole heartedly support these ( and many more) additions...
Look great Skalk, can't wait to see more.

@ FITZZ- You didn't have to wait long, Brother.



A decided departure from all the other projects I have started on this and haven't finished (because we all know how awesome it is to have 8 sub-projects and 60 unpainted miniatures when you're working on a project) but something that fits in with the overall direction of this project and has application in my Death Guard should we ever get around to playing APOC. In fact, I'd run these as is w/ current IG rules just to really mess w/ my opponents. My buddy Dwarf will likely be horrified when he sees what I have done here, and it's possible he'll come to purge my heresy in person. It's a risk worth taking. Zombies have always been near and dear to me. The conversion possibilities are nearly endless (especially in the Grimdark), the painting schemes are dark and dirty (a style I excel at) and I absolutely love doing it. Added bonus to this particular foray into the world of gritty gut-spilling undeath is that unlike my WFB Zombies which I try to have as much diversity as possible in blocked units, these are intentionally and supposed to be the same- olive drab BDUs, black armor, black / Boltgun Metal Lasguns, and then whatever various rotten corruption / death damage I apply. The paint jobs on these will go very quick and they will look awesome.

Here's some pics of stuff I did earlier tonight. Update is they are already based black and one has been drybrushed olive drab, so progress above and beyond what I'm posting here has already occurred.

Group shot:


Model from last night, now with new improved battle damage!


... side view for Lasgun-dragging action!


New Recruits!



And one more shot of the happy family:


I'm going to fly through these. The time-intensive part is the conversions, but even then it's a lot quicker because I'm staying within a pretty narrow range of options (majority IG plastics, some Skeleton and Zombie plastics, and misc bits here and there). The theme here is "newly dead", straight off the battlefield and ready to nom on their former brothers-in-arms.

I'd like to see about a hundred of these on the tabletop shambling towards my enemy and soaking up multiple shooting phases. I would LOVE to run a Necromunda-themed game with PDF / IG vs. the endless horde of death. I ran a game like that about a year ago and it was madly fun. We used my WFB Zombies for that. This would be even cooler.

Anyway, that's it for tonight. C&C welcomed and requested, I aleays appreciate feedback. Thanks for looking, I'll be back with more very soon.

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:@ Anung Un Rama- Thanks for the compliment! And I appreciate the concern about burnout. I know after a while I'll steer towards something else but so long as the bottom line is that I am doing something, I'm making progress. And speaking of progress...

...

I really really enjoyed doing this. I want to make more of them. A lot more. 20 at least, preferably 50 or more.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

@ Anung Un Rama- Burnout is something I've experienced numerous times. I had to walk away from my Death Guard completely for a while, and took a break from miniatures completely. But during that time I made a lot of terrain, so I remained in the hobby. After I finished my 500th odd Zombie for WFB I never wanted to see another Zombie ever again. But I'm back. Best example- I quit gaming in 1999 and modeling in 2001, but I'm back. I'll always come back.

Looking great! Love zombies something fierce. There's a great thread on IG and necromunda themed zombies over here if you're looking for some inspiration

EDIT: Ballsed up the hyperlink. Whoops!

@ Scarper- That is awesome! I assure you I'll be getting to that point (kitbash 8 different parts into 1 model) much like I have w/ the "living" Cultists I have already. I laughed out loud when I saw the Inquisitor zombie! Ha! Thanks for sharing that. Inspiration for sure!

I love the chap with the scar across his chest, and the gun chopped in half, nice touch very cool zombies.

No worries, Skalk, just thought you'd be interested!

Got no doubts at all that yours'll be just as awesome too

Nice work on the Zombies. The battle damage is great. How did you get the torn fabric look?

@ tipios- Thanks! I was laughing when I made that one. The cut in the plastic looks a bit OTT but once it has paint on it it will look more like a split. I'm psyched you go the "split weapon" part. I envision him having tried to block a cutting weapon like a Power Sword or Chain Sword. More is coming!

@ Scarper- Man I really love that blog. All I want to do right now is go to eBay and dump $$$ into zombie and IG bitz. I'm getting really (really) low on legs and torsos. If I keep this up I might actually run out! I have no more zombie legs at all, no spare IG legs... oh woe and misery! Ha.

@ Llamahead- It was so easy it's almost wrong that it comes out looking so good. I took and old xacto blade (I keep mine long, long after they should have been thrown away) that has the tip broken off a bit, set it into the plastic around the knee, and pushed the plastic back in a circle until it looked like blown-out fabric from the BDUs. For the rest (using the same blade) I cut small chunks, triangles, gouges out of the plastic.



I'm working on various projects tonight. I'm going to try to finish painting the zombies I have right now (I am NOT... NOT going to make any more until these 5 are completely painted!) but I'm also working w/ GS on my Possessed Plague Marines. My plan is to work on one project first and work on the other while something dries, etc. I have beer and Metal and a lot to do. No work tomorrow, no responsibility or obligation this weekend except get paid to stay home and wait for a pager to go off so I can get paid even more. Ha. I'm going to log off here in about another 20 minutes and get to work on my projects.

I'll be back later with pics of... something. But I'll be back for sure!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Progress!!!



I'm noticing the model w/ the sword and laspistol is looking kind of boring. I mean really all it has going for it is a skull. I need to do something to it that will show why it is in my Undead Guard.

I'm really enjoying this. Back with more updates when I have something more to share.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I hate Automatically Appended Next Post.

I think the guy with the las pistol and sword looks pretty good actually, maybe add a single obvious "killing" wound...but other than that he looks good to go.
Really love what your doing here Skalk and as always I'll be waiting to see what else your twisted imagination comes up with.

I think that guy looks grim and badass. He just looks like stalking death in fatigues. I wouldn't change him, but if you do, go with fitzz, and just do the one kill shot/wound.

He looks good I'd leave him as he is as a victim of the Zombie plague myself......

@ FITZZ / Moltar / Llamahead- Ok, ok, I get it. Ha. He remains unchanged. I supposed the fact he is missing his jaw and most of his neck could be considered his "killing wound", it's just not obvious. The more skeletal models I didn't want to have a lot of blood and gore, just ripped, rotted away, and tattered. Maybe they got eaten by Buzz Squigs. Who knows? They look cool, that is all that really matters.



The first batch of Undead Guardsmen is DONE! Yes, I could have done a bit more w/ the fiddly bits but seeing how these will spend maybe 2 shooting turns on the table and be removed in huge handfuls, I'm thinking I did a decent enough job w/ what I have. If anyone sees a glaring oversight, please mention it. I want my models to look at least like I spent some time and gave them moderate effort.

Here they are in their newly found glory:







I have no idea at all what I am doing next. I'd really low on spare parts for any more conversions (yes, I know I have a bazillion bitz... I'm out of the things I specifically need for this project) and while I know I have other things that need to be painted, gaahhhh... I really really really want to keep making Undead Guardsmen!!!

I'll figure somehting out and be back soon with more Cult goodness. Death to the False Emperor!

They look good, bud! Especially since you're not expecting them to "live" long. Would you have any need for 3 necromunda plague zombies? I have 3 unpainted I don't think I'll ever have a use for.

They turned out real nice.

Love that last bunch of Guardzombies, the colours are really nice!!

@ Moltar / tipios / Yggs- Thanks all, those are my favorite models in this project to date. I've got plans for more of them.



Not much for an update, but enough to get back into things. I was digging through a box of Chaos Marauders I rescued from eBay about 2 years ago looking for something completely different and found 2 models that inspired me to do a bit of converting. I have played a couple "Plague Zombie in the Underhive" scenario games recently (will post for your reading pleasure if anyone is interested) and in the Hiver table I had model options that I could not find appropriate models for. Yeah, I was stunned by that as well. So, after a chop/hack here and a splop of glue there, I've got some new additions to my Cult.


I didn't realize how horrible this pic was until I just saw it close-up now, and of course I'm posting it anyway. It will look better in the followup pics. It's a Chaos Maurader head on a VC Zombie torso (I think?) and the rest is current IG plastics. He's armed with a single CC weapon in the scenario.



This model was my true inspiration, the other just sort of came together. I really like this. A lot. It was a simple conversion as far as my conversions go but the results are striking (to me anyway). I had an option for single 2-handed CC weapon. I enjoyed putting this together and I'm going to put some decent effort into the paint job. Most of the current colors are from the original paint job, I added some basics to pull out a bit of detail from the conversions I did. I'll clean all of this up later and repaint it. Head is from an unknown model (anyone recognize it?), torso is from the old (original) Chaos Warriors plastic set, legs are Chaos Marauders, left arm is from the Catachan IG plastics, and weapon is a combination of VC Zombies spear and (original) Chaos Warriors axe head.




I added a bit sprue to the base to balance out the miniature. I usually don't do that because I am not a fan of "action-bases" because it seems silly to drag a pipe or rock around the game table w/ your model, but it fits a utilitarian purpose for me here and doesn't look bad overall.

I've also been working on my PDF. I have a bunch of IG models w/ the same paint scheme that I got off eBay a couple years ago but they didn't have any Grenade Launchers. I built a few of those and decided to round out for another complete 10-man squad so now I have 3 full squads w/ Flamer or Grenade Launcher options.



And finally, I took a really beat up IG model I had in a junk box and decided that my Undead IG needed a commander. Paint coming soon because I absolutely love these undead IG models:



And that's it. But more is coming. Summer is long dead here and cold weather is creeping back to the mountains. I'll be back soon. Thanks for looking, C&C always appreciated.

Nice to see you back !

I like the pose of 2nd zombie w/ large axe !

Also, the commander doesn't really look like an Undead... I hope the paint will show !

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote:

Charles Bronson anyone?
I just read through all of this blog, and I loved it, well done man! Such an interesting read.

@ Yggs- I was hoping the bayonet sticking out of his neck would convey the fact that he isn't doing so well, and went with the classic "arms outstretched" look. But yes, he will look much more dead once I get some paint on him. With most of my Undead IG I'm going for the "newly dead" look, as if they have been recently killed and then risen again to feast upon their former comrades. The other 2 models are actually not supposed to look like zombies, they are Hivers with lower-income status so the hit people with sticks instead of shoot at them. Again, paint will more clearly define the models. And just to be clear, the PDF in blue uniforms are *not* done. I know I'm lazy w/ detail sometimes, but I'm not quite that bad about things yet.

@ WaaaaghLord- Thanks for checking this out and reading the entire thread! I'm always appreciative to know someone is enjoying what I'm doing here. More is coming sooner than later, this seems to be my primary focus these days (besides terrain).

Some of the poses on your guardsmen remind me of Starship troopers 2 (crap sequal to a film that didn't really need one btw), they look awesome none the less and some of the wounds really make it obvious they are zombies (or whatever your calling them)

@ moonshine- Never saw that movie, so if the poses are lame it's 100% organic on my part.



Speaking of lame, not much work done but posting new pics of old stuff, plus an upcoming project. Not a lot of time to be online tonight so I'm making this quick.

Here's some group shots of the Cult models I have finished.

Hivers:





Mutants:



Plague Zombies:




And here's a shot of the project that just arrived today- more Plague Zombies. 40 in all in this batch. I removed the square bases, glued round bases, and after this post I'm heading back to do some converting.





They will look quite different the next time you see them.

That's all for now, thanks for looking, C&C always appreciated.

Skalk man you are a busy man with your nurgle legion and now these cultist man can't wait to see them all painted up. Keep up the great work.

Lookin' good, Skalk. I wanna see some paint on those zombies.

great stuff ... another full army picture

This entire thread is awesome! Im pretty new to dakka so im constantly discovering new and awesome threads! Also, as stated above, the backdrop is especially cool.

@ GreyDeathOne- That and more, my friend. Wait until next week.

@ Moltar- Your command is my comm... uh... hmm. Yeah. Anyway, check the pics.

@ dakkagrot187- I have plans for a full army picture similar to the one I took for my Death Guard, I just haven't gotten to it yet.

@ bebopdrums2424- Thank you! The backdrop was really easy to make but has really changed the atmosphere for my pics. Keep checking back, there's a lot more coming.



I went insane today. First, a quick update on the current life and times of Skalk Bloodaxe to put all of this into perspective. My in-laws came to VT for a visit, and while it was nice to see them, my mother-in-law brought some horrific Nurgle-esque disease with her and it hit me hard last night. I stayed up most of the night drowning in snot and feeling like someone had punched powdered glass down my throat. I saw them off today. It was absolutely beautiful so I took the Harley out for a ride, I didn't care how bad I felt. I got in about 150 before I had to give in. I came home, heavily medicated myself, spent countless hazed hours at my bench, and now I'm here on Dakka.

You know, I should have posted that on my Death Guard thread as well. Maybe I'll update later.

Anyway, I went into crazy-person conversion mode today. I ripped apart some models I've done before now and recycled them into some of the things I'm about to post. Others were painstakingly measured and calculated before I simply hacked and slashed like I usually do.

One thing that I keep coming back to time and again is that truly, I am not a very good modeler. That's not fishing for compliments to the contrary, it's absolutely true from this perspective- with *very* rare and infrequent exceptions, I cannot form an idea in my head and then crate it as a model. All of my models are happenstance, fortunate accidents, or "evolution" as the model starts to build itself instead of being built in my vision.

That said, I did pull a rabbit out of the hat once today, I'll mention it when I get there.

Enough whining! On to the good stuff- new recruits for the Cult! First up are my Zombies.



23 in all, the other 17 either need work or have been provisioned elsewhere. It may not look it but a LOT of conversion work went into these. Notice that not one of them is carrying a WFB weapon. I was cutting arms and moving hands and fabricating new limbs from old models and etc etc... so now I have 23 new "tear at you with teeth and claws only" Plague Zombies. Well... 21 actually. There's these 2 guys here that have a little extra:



I'm not going to be making a lot of these because I want them to retain their individual character, but I thought it was funny to include some mutants that contracted the Zombie Plague. I mean really... talk about not ever catching one single break, eh? Ha.

The remaining zombies not pictures are going to have to wait a while because I am completely out of right arms and things I can make right arms with. If anyone has some spare right arms for Zombies kicking around, I know a guy that is looking for some. There's a possibility that I'm going to "swap" with some of my WFB Zombies, just paint these up to replace them and take some "no weapon" Zombies from my WFB collection and swap out.

The paint on the zombies will be going on in stages, browns here, reds there, blues, etc. When I paint Zombies I have a very solid "assembly line" method that works out very well. I've painted hundreds of these things. I'm looking forward to this.

Next is an update for my Undead Commander, and introducing two new troops to keep him company:



I know he still looks "alive". That will change when I paint his face and blood all over the place. His new troops are Stub "Lefty" Smith and John "two heads are better than one" Johnson. I had a lot of fun doing these, but here we go with a great example of what I was talking about earlier- I didn't intend on, plan for, or even specifically "want" to build these models, it just happened when i was working on other stuff, the ideas came in and left, I tore things apart and re-glued, cut hack slash slap ... and all of a sudden I was working on Undead Guardsmen. Ok, cool, whatever. It came out awesome I think. The damage on Stub needs a bit more detail, and the head on John might get swapped out because it is so ruined by glue (thanks to the kid that owned these models before I did, more examples of eBay saves) but overall I think they make great additions to my Undead Guard. I don't know what they have to do w/ the Cult exactly, but whatever. It's fun and if nothing else they can shamble along w/ my Plague Zombies... just more unfortunates that have succumbed to the ravages of Papa Nurgle.

And now the flagship of this update- new Cultists! And here we have my very rare example of an idea that I wanted to try and actually did it the way I envisioned it.



L to R- Missile Launcher / Grenade Launcher / Plasma Rifle / Assault Shotgun / Big Dude w/ a Bolter and a huge choppy weapon.

The Missile Launcher worked out perfectly. I wanted to use one of the old plastic RT Chaos Missile Launchers. I also had an idea how to make it work. I cut a Grenade Launcher arm at the elbow, repositioned it, used a bayonet as a shim / filler, and kept the hand w/ the trigger to make it look like a firing mechanism on the Missile Launcher. Here's how it all turned out:



Check the face from the front view. It's one of the 2 heads that are twisted together by their hair (from the WFB zombie set) and it worked out pretty well I think. I was going to go w/ a gas mask but no amount of changing things around would have allowed that and still looked good. I don't know why I thought of this, I just did. I like the results:



The legs are from one of my re-provisioned zombies. I'm still building up the leg so it doesn't look like a skeleton. It will look better soon. I'm going to build an AG for him w/ missiles later.

Next up is my Assault Shotgun, which I suppose could be used for any other weapon type (HB, HS, etc) but I really like the idea of belt-fed shotguns. A simple conversion as far as my conversions go, hardest part was getting the arms to line up on the weapon correctly.



I also decided that my Cult needs a bit more "squad" firepower, or at least the option for it. Right now the heaviest weapon they have is a Bolt Gun. That has changed with the Plasma Gun and the Grenade Launcher! Not exactly what anyone would consider heavy firepower, but both can do damage to a vehicle and insta-kill some models. The Plasma Gun is from the RT (or was it 2nd Ed) plastic Ork weapon sprue, and the Grenade Launcher is current IG.





Last is a model I will likely tear apart and you'll never see again, but maybe not. It's sort of cool. Sort of cool enough to build, but the test is if he'll be around in a few days.





I have work to do on him if he's going to stay. What do you all think?

That's it for now, I'm off to guzzle NyQuil and hopefully pass out. But I'll probably just model some more. Ha.

I'll be back!

The Commander is very funny with that knife sticking out of his neck. You think it was his comms officers knife?

@ The Good Green- Now that you mention it, I am absolutely certain of it.



Lot of fiddly work done today but nothing from the Cult was finished (or even done enough to bother with pics). Maybe tomorrow I'll take a "what's done so far" pic, and possibly a "WIP" group shot as well.

Speaking of tomorrow, I'm not going to work. But don't worry, I won't be lonely or bored. Papa Nurgle sent a few Nurglings to keep me company.

Ugh. I'm going to go stare at my work bench and not do anything.

.

Man, it has already been said, but your cadian zombies are fething good!

The belt-fed shotgun is pretty cool and unique.
Nice to see some older parts integrated into this army.

@ Joe- Thank you. I can't take any credit for the general idea ( BigBadWolf37 was my inspiration there) but the concept and work on these models is all mine. MINE, I tell you!

@ Anung Un Rama- Thank you for the compliment. I've been a huge fan of shotguns for Necromunda becasue I really like them IRL and have always wants a belt-fed 12 gauge. I can't have one, but my Gangers / Hivers can. In the old rules that would be considered a Combat (or Assault) Shotgun and use a single Sustained Fire die (1-3 shots, or Jam). In the current 40K rules, it's just another Lasgun.



I was still feeling icky yesterday so I stayed home. I got a few things done, most notably was I added 13 more completed Plague Zombies to the growing horde. This brings the current total to 33. No, I do not know how many will be "enough".


...





Well, ok. Looks like I never actually uploaded the new pictures I took. That's just awesome.

I took some other pics I was going to post later, I guess "later" is "now".

Here's my project to date. I may be missing a few models here and there, but overall this is a very fair representation of what's been done so far. A quick edit of one of my photos... and there you go, a reference:



1- completed Plague Zombies. 33 total.

2- completed Undead IG. 6 total.

3- completed Mutants. 16 total.

4- completed Hivers. 32 total.

5- Hive PDF. With only 2 exceptions I did *not* paint these, they were picked up on eBay specifically for this purpose. They have also filled in w/ my IG a few times.

6- unfinished Plague Zombies. 10 total right now, but there's no doubt that I'm going to make more.

7- unfinished Undead IG. 3 total right now. I have no idea at all how many of these I'll eventually wind up with. I need at least 1 more to make it a "legal" squad.

8- Unfinished Mutants. 8 total right now. There's really no difference between Mutants and Hivers unless I play a scenario game. They all fit into the Cult quite well together.

9- unfinished Cultists. 19 total here, likely more that I didn't find elsewhere. No end in sight on these. Eventually every IG / Necromunda / RT / etc model I own that isn't assigned to a specific Necromunda gang / House or IG unit is going to wind up in the Cult in one way or another.

10- unfinished PDF. These are all models I've painted myself so far. The color match is pretty close. I wanted to give the PDF some specific firepower upgrades. I've added Grenade Launchers, will likely add Plasma or Melta as well.

11- Hellhound. Not sure if the Cult or PDF are getting this one.

12- Demolisher. Cult is definitely getting this.

13- Chimera. This is for the PDF, will have "riot control" accessories when finished.

There you go. An overview of (almost?) everything. Here's some other pics of the same stuff:















Thanks for looking, more coming soon.

Looking good Skalk!! Now lets battle !

Ok, roll for scenario...

I concede.

I'm liking the individuality and randomness of your guys. Good effort!

@ troy_tempest- Thank you for the compliment and for checking things out! I really enjoy this project because there's no limits, no boundaries, I can do whatever I want how I want when I want. Would that the rest of my life be such.



Ok, sort of lame update because nothing new has happened since the last time I posted, but I did find those pics I took of my new Plague Zombies, so... here's those pics I took of my new Plague Zombies.





Notice that they are all "reach out and grab you" Zombies, not the "Clonk you in the head w/ a pipe" Zombies. I don't like the idea of Zombies (Plague or otherwise) carrying weapons. Dragging a Lasgun because it's "important" (the intensity military training transcends death) is one thing, but picking it up and shooting someone with it is quite another.

More later. Not sure when I'll have a decent update because I've started a terrain project and I'm going to ride that wave until it crashes on the rocks like everything else I do. I'll need a break from it before too long, and I love painting up Plague Zombies, so I'll be back before too long. Until then, thanks for looking, comments appreciated.

Those zombies are so cool and funny. Totally awesome. They really have a lot of character. They look like they are straightout of a movie or tv show.

at first i was a bit disturbed by the sheer randomness of what minis you cobbled together...but then after loking (sorry reading was too much^^) of your complete thread i saw the greater picture and the great development your skills made... your latest undead guardmodels look very good and i think prportion and poses are really great! my main issue was that in game you might get complications with the many different and not overall unifom looking minis... but i now see you have bunched them up in somewhat resembling a "unifoming" looking squads and i think this army not only works but would be a rotting wave of entrails and gore that could tackle any army^^ i am now pretty sold on your style and will look extremly interrested what you will come up in the next time...

by the way... your scenic photomaking setup i really like... i think one day i will like to try that out to be built from srcatch...


vik

@ Radiation- Thank you, that's really what I was going for. When you have literally hundreds of similar models made from a handful of different bitz it is a task to give them significant differences (re: personalities) and it's always nice to hear that I'm still hitting that mark. More Zombies to come, apparently I'm getting some in the mail next week.

@ Vik- "at first i was a bit disturbed by the sheer randomness of what minis you cobbled together"...ha! Yeah, I've been told that. But it is awesome that you saw it all tie together. It is an incredibly fun collection to build and paint, but it is a horrible army to field and I have been crushed twice. One game I played I had every IG / Necromunda / Traitor model I owned on the table. My IG opponent had mostly armor, a MOO, and a Psycher Battle Squad. The battle went so badly that I conceded in turn 2 but we kept playing to see if he could table me in 4 turns. He did. l had a great time and resolved that if I ever intend to play this are a genuine 40K army I need to beef up my anti-tank and AP killing aspects.



No photos for this update, just stopping by to offer a heads up about the terrain thread I started up a couple days ago. It's not Cult, but the Cult will live and fight there. I've got some solid inspiration and I'm getting some really good looking work done. Stop by there if you get a chance. I'll be back this way soon with more Cult awesomeness, but my focus right now is to hammer out some awesome looking terrain and get the guys back over here for a game soon.

tell you the truth... i too thought once about making zombie guardsmen...something in this scheme just seems so obvious when thinking IG... maybe it is just a step further in the total sacrificing of humans... now they can fight bexond their grave and to the point of someone others death^^

i think you need a stout personality to ply a game through a tabled ending... i think this would heve been a pretty bad day afterwards for me^^

@ Vik- The first army I got serious about in 40K was RT (and then 2nd Ed) Orks. I really enjoyed the random hilarity of Orky weapons, and if I lost a game because of a spectacular random failure I couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. It's also one reason I can't play Tourneys, I strongly dislike WAAC players. I play for fun. The only time I play with a genuine attempt to win is when I pull out my CSM force w/ 2 Land Raiders full of Terminators. That's when I'm not kidding around.

ouch that is a force i wouldn´t want to face^^

and i am quite used to loose^^ chess for instance is something i like but i always play for high wins or high losses^^

and i totally see the spirit of your RT orkies in your death IGs...there is a pattern^^ i guess when i one future day will be sitting in fornt of my victorian army there might be too such a delicious randomness to be seen^^

So long as I am having fun that is all I am really concerned with. This force was never *really* intended to be on th4 5th Edition 40K battlefield anyway, it's more of an expression of my own version of the general population living in the grim darkness of the far far future. Mutants and outcasts and heretics. Not so different than society today, just less tentacles and Beastmen heads.

yup... tho it depends on the neighberhood your living in^^

@ Vik- I live in the sticks and host most of the games I play. The guys I play with are pretty cool. I'm lucky in that sense.



Not really an "update", just showing off what 20 minutes of being bored comes up with. It's a head swap but there's a bit of conversion beyond that. The spear arm was leveled down to give the model a more dynamic and involved look. I have some more Mutants on the way. No idea when they will see paint, but that's ok. I'll get to them eventually. My main focus has been Cult-related stuff, the Plague Marines are taking a back seat for a while. The terrain thread is coming along and I'm creating quite an awesome world for the Cult to fight in.

Anyway, I digress. Here's the newest addition to the growing Cult.



I really enjoy this project. I wish I had a little more time to really work on it. Winter is right around the corner though, so before long I'll have all that time and more. Ugh.

he sure does look promising^^ is that a cutting mark under his head or a detail? sorry lights are so that i can´t tell for sure...

I enjoy the beastman tremendously. Nice little Conversion.

@ Vik- it's an artifact from the conversion, it's already been cleaned up a bit more. I think I'm going to do some Cult modeling this weekend, I'm getting fried on doing terrain flat out.

@ Perkustin- Thanks for checking this thread out and I appreciate the compliment. More is coming for sure. This is an "open ended" project, I have no specific plans for it. I coud end where it is now, or I could build a Titan and play APOC with it. It's a modeling project that has a possible application in some of the GW games I enjoy.



I'm not sure where the Cult is going at the moment. I have been working on Mutants, seems to be where my interest is right now. Could make an awesome Scavvy gang, and really defines the Chaos look for the Cult.

I probably won't be painting much for a while because it is really time-consuming and I'm trying to hammer out a bunch of things at once. But how I feel on a Thursday morning and a Saturday night are usually 2 different things and I might break out the paints anyway.

Bottom line here is I have no idea what I am doing next. Let the winds of Chaos blow.

Ahhhhhh a shooting gallery for my Dark Angels .

+++Burn the heretic+++

Get in line. I already have an IG force, Space Wolves, and an Inquisitor force looking to hand it to me. Let me get a few more AP weapons in my force and I'll think about it.

Short update. Picked up some Zombies off an eBay auction for almost nothing ($11 for 27 of them) and amazingly the paint job is not as bad as I would normally expect, so I did a couple washes to tone things down and picked out a few details. This is the result:



Not too bad. Unfortunately these are the only ones w/o hand weapons, so I'm back to where I was before they showed up- I need arms. I'll stop by my favorite "buy it now" bitz seller before much longer I imagine.

For those of you that haven't seen my terrain thread, here's an idea of what's going on. The Cult looks AWESOME on this stuff!



Is that cool or what? Yes, I built that walkway / bridge / whatever it is.

Every shot counts:



That's it for this one, I'll be back again this weekend, likely w/ more zombies.

Funny and creepy. Ah! Zombies! The ones on the bridge are rather sinister. The poses remind me of the feral ghouls in Fallout 3, like they're about to charge. You are good at creating dynamic undead poses. They look rather animated for static models.

Looking forward to more.

@ Radiation- Thank you for the compliment. I really enjoy building and painting zombies. My collection of them surpassed "obsession" long ago, I likely have 600+ of them now (most are WFB). These zombies, being specific to a round base / 40K universe are more special because of the unique application. In the girm darkness of the far future there is still the threat of a zombie outbreak. I have a scenario written up for using Necromunda rules. It's not very "fluffy" right now but I think the rule set works well. Have play tested 3 times, and it seems pretty balanced in who has a chance to win, but so far it is Zombies 2 Hivers 1, and in each case the games were absolutely devastating to the losing force.

Haven't posted it yet but likely will before long, just need to "fluff" it up first to make it an interesting read.



Speaking of zombies, I went insane this weekend and put many, many hours into going for the final push to create the ultimate horde of zombies for the 40K universe, will likely use them in Necromunda and 40K "special scenario" games. In 40K I'd like to do a scenario similar to the Rorke's Drift scenario they did in WD long, long ago w/ an Imperial outpost being attacked by wave after endless wave of Orks. I'd like to do the same but use zombies. Or whatever. I just like zombies a lot.

Pics coming soon, just wanted to drop a line here and let you know I'm still working on stuff, just a bit distracted by other projects.

he it is always nice to hear from someone massproducing zombies...lets face it... our world would be that much easier to live in if we would be invaded by lots of zombies... i bet all those small conflicts between man would than loose their power in a short amount of time...and the struggle for life would be your main goal...

@ Vik- I'm almost ready to unveil my most recent (and ultimately last) Plague Zombie project. It is insane and I'm quite proud of the progress. I'd post a WIP but this time I want to just drop the hammer with a completely finished product for the factor.



Nothing to update right now, except that everyone that enjoys this thread should go check out the absolute awesome that is omgitsduane's blog. It is excellent and deserves to get some more attention.

oki will have to sit this out it seems...till the fat hammer strikes^^

Opps, posted on wrong thread!

Ok, shocker... I'm posting a "finished" project before it is finished. I simply ran out of time and since they are going to be showing up in a BatRep today anyway, figured I'd unveil them here now. This is what I have been working on, and I can say without a doubt that I will not add another model like this to the Cult. This is it for this part of the project, enough is enough. I am never doing any of these again.

Without further adieu, 100 Plague Zombies:



Some of these are Plague Zombies I'd already put in the Cult, but notice that not one Zombie is carrying a weapon, This is 100% "teeth and claws". I did a lot of converting here, and after I've completely totally finished everything I'll go back and take better individual pics. But for now, here's a few shots. I put some genuine effort into this project. And remember, they look a LOT better from a foot away. Macro photography is very unforgiving.







I know the closeup pics show a lot of mistakes and just clumpy mess, but look at the attempt at detail. I really put some work into these and I'm happy with the results.

The lapdogs of the Corpse Emperor draw near. Space Wolves are making planetfall soon. We'll be waiting for them...

Skalk nasty looking army there . Also a batrep on these guys gotta be tons of fun!! Great job on the zombies keep us posted

THE EYES... er... look actually quite cool^^ wow what a massive force... and for me they look quite good! i hope they stand a chance against the space puppies...how many points will be the game? and all these zombies is just one giant power blob for C&C? holy... if they get into CC then someone soon is wishing he was far away^^

by the way...i hope you are not getting bad dreams from all these gory gits^^


vik

I want to see pictures of them. You should swarm this thread with a bunch of pictures to give us the full effect of 100 fully painted and converted teeth and nail zombies. Kind of like a comic book. They look great.

Really nice army there! I like the way your models get better all the time (compare the first page paintjobs to your more recent ones and youll know what i mean). Theyre really art now!

Great work skalk. NOW i see what has been distracting you from your death gaurd. LOve the zombies. Maybe you already answered this but what rules set are you using to field these.
On a seperate note. I used to live in waitsfield, Vt, Beautiful state that you live in. That new motorbike you have is only going to be a distraction in 3 out of 5 of your seasons, though you might be able to squeeze in mudseason.

I would also love to see multiple shots of the grisly horde of undead - I dont think I've ever seen 100 zombies all in one place b4. The models have a lot of humour in them - and don't feel bad if they aren't your bestest painting - there are 100 of them!

I had not seen the 100 zombie pic yet congrats for finishing the whole bunch!

A 100 zombies thats impressive. Great for the last stand Roukes Drift inspired scenario. It's always nice to get that many figures completed and put together.

@ GD1- Thanks, I always appreciate you stopping by and checking things out.

@ Vik- Yeah, the closeups of the faces do create too much emphasis on the staredown. I've always done eyes like that, I guess all of my miniatures are really surprised all the time.

@ Radiation- As soon as my life slows down a bit and I don't have much going on in the modeling dept (both of which are likely to happen soon) I really want to do a photo session w/ 5 zombies per shot. I put a lot of work into them and would like to do a post of "Plague Zombies on Parade" sort of thing.

@ MrMerlin- I think you're mistaking some of my WIP for finished product, but thank you for the compliment and for checking this out!

@ sennacherib- Yeah, doing those Plague Zombies really took the fire out of my other projects and even still I have a few to completely finish. I've been distracted from doing anything w/ my Death Guard since I finished the Vindicator (even though I have a few dozen more models to finish). And sadly, the Harley is put away for the season. I don't have any cold-weather gear yet and as hard core as I am, riding in 30 degree weather just doesn't do it for me. Sending PM to you as well.

@ weetyskemian44- I really do intend to do that. It'll be an easy post for me (no real work to be done, just take pics of stuff I've already completed) and I think it will be a fun time. Regarding my paint jobs, some of them are pretty decent, some aren't... it's just how it goes. Anything on Macro is subject to scrutiny. But to the standard I have reached they look awesome on the game table. A while ago I was really bothered by my painting ability and my seeming inability to improve. When I accepted the truth of it all I found a more comfotable place and I'm ok w/ things. I'm not going to practice highlights and wet blending techniques, I'm not going to watch hours of YouTube tutorials, and I'm not going to rag on myself anymore. I'm just going to continue on

creating and gaming with my above-average tabletop quality approach and enjoy doing it.

@ Hyenajoe- Thanks! I really enjoyed this project right up until it was almost done, then I hated it and wanted to dump my entire collection into a wood chipper. Ha. But it's wicked cool now and the looks my IRL friends have given them have been worth the time and effort.

@ Llamahead- Welcome back! It's decent seeing on Dakka again. Your work has been missed. And I understand what you mean by the Rouke's Drift idea. I have a scenario written up (will post here or PM on request if anyone is interested) that is similar to that already, and I wanted to replay the GW 'Massacre at Big Toof River' that came in WD 218, except this time replace the Orks w/ Plague Zombies. The Plague Zombies cannot shoot of course, but they can swarm and overwhelm.



Small update, not too much to share considering the time I've been away. I took a "brain break" a bit this weekend, did some very mellow converting with no real idea of what I was doing other than a general idea of how I would like to use the models in my army eventually. When I was playing Planetstrike (a game that is going to be quite popular here it seems) running my Chaos Cultists I had a mob of Mutants. Now the Mutants I have are indeed mutated in some way, but the mutants they describe in the book are more, well, "mutated". Most of my Mutants could easily double in as an Underhive Ganger. I was looking to try for something powerful and overwhelming. First up are my "brute force" mutants. I don't know if I'm going to make more of these or not, but these were fun:







Torso are all from the current Ork plastics range (thanks to Feldenglas for the Ork models) and 2 sets of legs. The "power armor" legs are from an old Enigma model. Arms are combination of converted Orks arms and bitz from my Chaos Spawn bitz boxes. Two heads are also from the Chaos Spawn range, and the helm is from the current WoC range. And once again keeping with the philosophy of "reuse and recycle" every part of these models were somehting I had left over or got 2nd hand from someone else.

The next set of models are inspired by Llamahead. I decided that I would celebrate his triumphant return to Dakka by trying his conversion technique. For those of you that haven't ever checked out his stuff, Llamahead does amazing conversions with the most bizarre combination of bitz. You really should check his Nurgle Chaos Beastmen, and his 24th Islandlwanda Regiment. The ideas he comes up with are truly inspired to me and I've learned a few things from reading his blogs. I decided to give his approach a try on a few models in this update.





Not a lot of work done on them paint-wise, and needs more work on filling / filing, but I wanted to share these "just because". Each model has 6 different parts from various model ranges. I think the model on the right is most like what I was trying for, the other two models came out different than I had envisioned but I still like them.

Also decided to make 2 new Cultists. I have 2 more of these kicking around on my table but I couldn't find them when i was taking opictures so they are going to have to wait until next time. The torsos are Kroot. Ha. I might get my hands on more of them, they really work fort this. Other bits are current IG (Catachan and Cadian), WFB Zombie legs and head on model on right, old plastic Chaos Warrior head on left, Necromunda Orlock Autogun, unknown arm (I forgot what it came from) and a WFB Zombie farm tool thingy.



And last, just because it is fun, aerial shots of a lot of the Cult right now:





That's it for this one. My updates are going to be slower until I get a few things taken care of, and I'm playing games again so that's a slowdown as well because I concentrate on terrain.

Looking forward to catching up w/ folks again soon. I'll be back!

i like those brute force mutans here... they look like you are aiming for a bit of comical look with zombies which is in fact a wonderful way to do zombies in my opinion! the poses look even a bit afraid^^ and remind me a bit of the gorgonites from the movie small soldiers . friendly, frightened but brutal looking^^

Brilliant to see these thanks a lot. I think my favourite is the feral brute on the left.

Skalk, those aerial shots are awesome. They really give the "horde" feel to the zomb's. Glad to see you got 100 of them done. Hopefully, I'll have something to share soon. But, I'm happy to see your still cranking at full speed.

Oh it is always good to see a cultist player!

Likin' the gas masks

What a vile looking bunch of the most verminus of villainy the galaxy could dredge up to command!

@ Vik- I have to say that it is just how they came out. Sometimes I go for a specific look but in this case it was merely happenstance created by the combination of parts used and the pose they were modeled in.

@ Llamahead- That particular Mutant seems to be the "pick of the litter"... and the only one I haven't started working on. Go figure.

@ Moltar- Man that was a project and a half. Glad it's over and I'll never do that again. I think. I've been slowing down a bit due to social obligations and fragmented attention span, but I'm trying to do a little bit here and there enough to keep everything rolling along. Looking forward to seeing your next project.

@ Capitansolstice- Always good to be a Cultist player! I like your Commissar. If he ever decides to join the winning team, let me know.

@ TheUndertaker- Thanks for checking this out. The "gas mask" heads are from Pig Iron Productions and I like them a lot. Might get my hands on more if this project keeps going.

@ shasolenzabi- Aww shucks! I'm blushing!!



Short update, sort of lame but not completely. As some of you may have noticed I've found my way back to my Death Guard blog and I've been cranking things out there. Problem (if that can be considered a "problem") is that there's only so much time in the day and an hour on the Death Guard is an hour away from the Cult. However,I have been getting a few things done. This is work I've been doing while I'm waiting for something on my Plague Marines to dry or set:



Granted it isn't much, and nothing is finished, but it had been a while since I shared anything here and wanted folks to know that I'm still on board w/ the Cult, just not #1 on the list right now.

Remember a while back when i was in a converting mood and came up with this guy?:



I decided I liked him and have been working on him more and more when I'm not doing much of anything at my desk. I expect he'll be finished in a couple more sessions:





Have been surfing around Dakka a bit as well, and found another incredible Traitor Guard thread. If you want to see some amazing work please check out genom.cor and his very excellent Traitors, Daemons and Renegades thread. Tell him your ol' buddy Skalk sent you, because I get bonus Dakka points for every referral*.

That's it for this one. More coming soon so check back every now and then. Slow progress is still progress. Until next time, thanks for looking!












* I'm kidding.

commissar? What Commissar?

This guy:



Or maybe he's just an Officer? Doesn't matter. He'd be an Agitator at minimum, possibly a Demagogue. Leadership positions are always opening up in the Cult! Join today!

haha! that? Thanks!
That was from way back when I wanted to play IG as normal! I actually think I might re paint him, I dont know...

I'd say keep him as is. It's dirty, gritty, and dark. Perfect for any 40K army.

Now this is proper horde of mutants and galactic scum! and thanks for the shout +1

Love your mutant zombie horde Bloodaxe, very inspirational!

More fantastic stuff, your horde looks amazing on the board. you really do hit the choas nail on the head!

@ genom.cor- Thanks for the compliment and thanks for checking this out! More coming for sure. Way more. Almost too much more.

@ LordofMuck- I really enjoy building and painting Zombies, so it was a decent time and I had fun. Won't be doing that again though. 100 is enough!!!

@ Tortured-Robot- Thank you, that's a high compliment considering I think your concept and creation of Chaos is a step above and beyond. One great thing I enjoy about Dakka is so many like-minded people getting to see each others work and draw inspiration from it. It's a good community.



Update at last! First off, no painting has been done since the last update. I've been so busy w/ my Death Guard that the only attention the Cult has been getting is when I'm waiting for a Plague Marine to dry. But I have got some work done on building more models. Yes, MORE models. Because we all know that I need MORE models for the Cult right now.



This is ridicilous. I know that the models in the pic aren't the only unflished models I have. There's another batch almost as large as this in a box I hid away because I was sick of looking at them. I have great ideas, work on them, and then.... nothing. I haven't completed anythng on this project in a long time.

My motivation for doign this project remains the same as it was when I first started it- an expression of modeling with the hopeful possibility of game application. 5th Edition doesn't even acknowledge the existance of Traitor Guard or Cults except in occational vague reference in the fluff here and there. That is absurd to me. There are literally MILLIONS of Cultists in the 40K universe, far more than the entirety of the Adeptus Astartes, Sisters of Battle, Ordo Malleus, and the Eldar combined.

Feh.

Whatever. Rumors of 6th Edition abound and from what I have read, there will be a solid Cult addition. When that happens, I'll be ready.

To that end, here are my latest additions to the Cult:



Some could be counted as Mutants but all are considered Cultists in the most general sense. I really enjoy building stuff like this because there's no "wrong" way to do it, I can use anything I want, and the results usually have whatever application I choose.

Here's a "step-by-step" to explain exactly how the new recruits came to be and what they are made out of.



(L to R) Cadian torso and legs, Chaos Space Marine head, chopped Chaos Spawn right arm w/ axe, and Cadian left arm. Could be used as an Agitator or a regular troop. Middle is Kroot torso, WFB Zombie legs, Kings of War Zombie head, plastic Orlock right arm (which will have a pistol when complete) and WFB Zombie left arm. Could be a Mutant or a regular troop. Last model is Wargames Factory Persian Infantry legs, Zombie torso, Kings of War Zombie head, WFB Zombie right arm w/ old Space Marine Laspistol, WFB Zombie left arm into WoC axe.



(L to R) Catachan torso, Wargames Factory Persian Infantry legs, IG Laspistol right arm, WFB Zombie left arm. Middle is WFB Zombie legs, Cadian flak vest torso, Kings of War Zombie head, WFB Zombie right arm converted spear w/ severed head, plastic Orlock left arm w/ old Ork Bolt Pistol. Last model is Wargames Factory Persian Infantry legs, IG Flak Vest torso, Kings of War Zombie head, IG L & R arms for Lasgun.





You can probably guess that I like this one a lot because I took 2 pics of it and it's by itself. I literally laughed out loud when I had the idea for this because it is so absurd. Old Skaven plastic legs, current Ork torso, CSM Possessed head, plastic Goliath right arm w/ Stub Pistol, and left arm from a very old plastic Fimir model.

This project is still a lot of fun and I'm going to keep going on it. Eventually the Death Guard will slow down again and I'll start working on this project as my primary focus instead of an aside while I'm waiting for something else to dry so I can get back to work on it.

That's it for this one. As always, C&C appreciated, and thanks for looking.

Also, a thought- a lot of you that pass through here come from other similar threads. If any of you come across another Cult / Traitor thread, feel free to post a link to it here, even if it is on another site. I've seen a lot of them but by no means all of them. I'm always interested in seeing new stuff and meeting new people.

Unfortunately I'm on my mobile and the pictures are playing up. I'd like to fully agree with you about the lack of rules for cultists, using the guard codex just doesn't do it for me. Anyone who has read the gaunts ghosts novels must want to see bloodpact, rebel PDFs and cultists on the table top!

I'll comment on your updates when I can see the pics.

Rumors are rumors, but there's some hope. Read this thread: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/410529.page

Aw Yes! now thats what a called a cultist horde, they look fantastic in a group.

Really like your favourite with the Goliath right arm, it seems a stand out model and fits the brainless muscle type.

I'm sure its nothing but i always worry about none gw parts, I think I over worry, I've never really done the tournament thing before but I'd like to in the future - I always think some angry GW official will kick me out of the competition because my marine has an illegal leg haha. Like I said, sure I over worry!

I guess it is difficult when dealing with making so many models, but I would still try to make sure you deal with the modeling flash, it can be a bit unsightly!!

That said, I really like your horde, looks a lot of fun to make. Cant wait for more!

I try to work each model individually so the flash and mold lines are minimized, but the camera really brings it out.

As far as "non-GW" stuff in a Tourney, just put it on the table and wait for someone to complain. I'm not a Tourney player for a bunch of reasons, that being one of them.

If I get painting on the Cult again soon that brawny brute will likely be at the top of the list. My attentions are stuck w/ the Death Guard currently. But no worries, I can't stay away for too long. Chaos is Chaos, and my dream is to one day put all these miniatures on the same table at once w/ a huge contingent of Death Guard right behind them. Operation "Meat Shield".

Skalk Bloodaxe wrote: If I get painting on the Cult again soon that brawny brute will likely be at the top of the list. My attentions are stuck w/ the Death Guard currently. But no worries, I can't stay away for too long. Chaos is Chaos, and my dream is to one day put all these miniatures on the same table at once w/ a huge contingent of Death Guard right behind them. Operation "Meat Shield".

Now that would be a sight to behold! I hear what your saying about tourneys, I personally dont take the game that seriously, I just like the idea of travelling about to play a few games, tho that seems sometime off yet as I dont have an army

Holy cow this is fantastic. I checked this out from your nurgle thread, and I'm thoroughly impressed by your work.

@ Tortured-Robot- Sometimes the game seems to be an afterthought for me. A lot of the models I have in the Cult aren't even "legal" anymore (dual PF, Plasma Cannons, etc). I model becasue I enjoy it and if it has a game application all the better but not the primary focus for what I am doing. Undead Guardsmen and Beastmen Cultists seem to be missing from the current rules. In fact, I'm not sure Undead Guardsmen have ever been in the rules. But they are so wicked awesome to model and paint it's hard to not make them. Your force is building up nicely and your work is very well done. You'll get there for sure, and you'll have one of the most interesting forces on the tabletop anyone has seen in years.

@ Samus_aran115- Thanks for checking this out and for the compliment! I'm doing this for the fun of it, and while it is taking a break right now, there's a bit of work being done here and there behind the scenes and I expect once I have a few more things done w/ my Death Guard I'll be back on the Cult with my full attention. I have 11 Marines, 4 Lascannon Havocs, 8 Chosen, a Defiler, and a Land Raider on deck. The Marines will go pretty quick I imagine, and the Defiler is my primary focus right now. I have to get my hands on a few more Rhinos... I might make a squad of Bikers and Raptors, who knows what else. But I'll be coming back to the Cult. There are so many weird and bizarre conversions I want to make, horrific mutations and nightmarish disfigurement. I have read rumors of 6th Ed and Cultists may figure prominently. Fingers crossed.

Love your cults man very good !Its very rare for cult armys and even rareer for decent ones!And I think that you sir are in that rare margain!

Subcribed

HAZZER

Thanks HAZZER!



Not so much an "update" as a affirmation- I started painting Cultists again last night between coats on the Defiler. I'm pretty happy with what I'm doing all around. New pics in a week or less.

Have to say I really like the last gormless brute. The lack of a Chaos Cult codex is probably the worst hole in the GW Code range (along with Adeptus Mechanicus) Although I wouldn't blaim it on the edition. I prefer fifth on balance to the earlier editions mainly as it removes the irritating ability for my opponent to position models so my characters can't fight. Also the current king mech whinge still dsn't irritate me as much as Rhino rushs of 3rd........

@ Llamahead- No, I'm going to blame it on the Edition. 4th had an excellent list in the Eye of Terror. I hate 5th. I've been biased against is since I got back into gaming and I'm looking forward to it taking it's place in history next to Windows Vista and the Boston Red Sox 2011 season.



An update! Like a REAL update with pictures and everything! I've been working a lot on the Death Guard so this project has taken a pretty significant back seat, but now and then I grab a Cultist and work on it between washes and other things I'm doing w/ the Death Guard. This the the result so far- 8 new models to join the Cult:





Some of those models have been around for a while, others I just put together recently. Where they came or how long ago is less important than the fact that they are done and ready to fight the good fight against the tyranny of Imperial oppression.

Normally I'd do a full "part list" but I'm tired, need to go to bed, and not in the mood to list off a bunch of stuff. If anyone has a question please ask, I'll answer as best I can.







Gah. Just noticed I missed the studs on the guy w/ the bolter. I'll do that later.

Hope you like these! The Cult is suffering from lack of attention but this project is far from over. I have dozens of models built for it that I haven't painted yet, and don't forget the armor I've got slotted for this force. Mobility and firepower!

That's it for this one. More updates as I can get them done!

Good stuff man! The Beastman and the standard bearer are my favorites. Awesome to see such quick turn around on some of your muties! Death to the false Emperor!

@ genom.cor- Thanks! I'm going to do an inventory / points list / "family photo" for the Cultists (like I did w/ my Death Guard) in the next few weeks. I have a couple projects I want to finish before doing the tally, and my friend that helped me do the Death Guard won't be back over until Jan 14th at the earliest. But I expect I'm going to be surprised at what I have. The Plague Zombies by themselves are 100 models! I'll bet I have at least 200 fully painted models for the Cult by now. We'll see in about a month.

Man I am sooooooo hoping the 6th Ed rumors are true. I would be so happy to have a Cult listed as a supported army again. I really think they deserve their own Codex. There are BILLIONS of Cultists across the Imperium. Compare that to a handful of Inquisitors, SoB, etc. Feh.

Liking the stuf those guys look great!

HAZZER

I hope the rumors are true too!

@ HAZZER- Thank, I appreciate the compliment and that you're digging what I'm trying to do here.

@ Capitansolstice- The more read about it the more I keep seeing the same stuff copy / pasted... I'm waiting for something new to "leak". But until then I'll keep high hopes and *especially* hope that the new edition doesn't make my work obsolete.



Today I decided to tally up what I don't have done yet, to get a full scope of what new wonders may find themselves on the Shelf of Shame someday. This is what I found, and I know this isn't all of it because I have some PDF models in my IG case that I remembered after I took these pics.





In total there are 44 models in various stages. Some are from the very first batch I made for this project. Why I haven't finished those yet I have no idea.

So there they are, 44 potential candidates for the Shelf of Shame. Yup. Just waiting to be painted and added to the Cult. You'd think that I'd simply pull out my paints and get to work on them, slow and steady wins the race... and so I did. I started painting and was really enjoying it until I saw a set of legs in my pile of bitz that I hadn't cleaned up yet.

This is what happened next:



9 new faces for the Cult. All but 2 of these models have a mutation of some kind. One significant fact here is that I'm officially out of legs now. I am hoping that means I am done making models for the Cult, at least for a few months. I am so behind on painting them that I could likely spend a full week doing nothing but painting and still come up short on results.

But it is a small matter in the end. I'll at least play these once they have a base coat and initial colors. I have no idea what game I'll play them in, but I have enough now that I could run them as a full sized IG "counts as" force with no problem.

Here's my usual "close up" shots. Again, jumping the parts list because I'm tired and if anyone has questions they can ask, I'll be happy to answer.



The empty hands on all the models are where pistols are going once I have the model painted, trying something new.



Yes, I'll clean up the mold lines.



Really excited about the Heavy Bolter. It came out very close to what I had envisioned and it was a lot of work to get it to look this way. Here's a couple more shots because I really like this model a lot.







I have no idea at all when it will see any paint. But when it does I'll be sure to put a bit more work into it.

So there you go. 53 unfinished models for the Cult. The really good news is that I'm wicked short on bits like arms and torsos, and I'm completely out of legs. I've bought a few things for this project already (pack of heads, legs, and torsos) so it stops there. Part of this project was to use what I already have, and for the most part I've done that, I haven't bought any arms or guns or whatnot. Now that I'm almost completely out of the parts I'd need to build complete models I'm hoping I can take a break from building and just focus on painting.

Thanks for looking. I'll be back when I have something painted to share.

Heavy Bolter is great.

I Love the Hordey-ness of your errr horde.

I maybe temptted to try making some of these dudes, but since I do nothing quickly I'd prefer to see what GW comes up for us long suffering Chaos players!

Nice new guys man!

Just a general update to say "hi" and let you know I'm still working on this project, just rreaalllyyy slowly. I have 3 finished models to show, but I'm holding off until I have a decent-sized bunch and a genuine update. The Death Guard has really been dragging me away from everything else.

But I'll be back, and I have some really neat stuff to share when I am.

A fellow heretic,Excellent wip! exalted, love the invisible monster.

zariart wrote: love the invisible monster.

Thanks for the compliment, but I'm confused. What invisible monster?

More!! more updates, more pictures, more! More cultist interviews!!

Heavy Bolters great! Planning to use him as Sergeant Harker?

he asked for a sign,this guy: although hes not really invisible.

Everything looks badass. The mutants kind of remind me of the movie Heavy Metal.

@ Tortured-Robot- Man I really want to, I'm just so out of the Cultist loops right now. I have a few miniatures I haven't shared yet that I've finished up between other projects, but it's not worth posting here yet. Will get a few other things done w/ my Death Guard and then get back to work on this.

@ Llamahead- Hadn't considered that. Not playing my Cultists again unless it's Planetstrike (waiting for 6th Ed to see if rumors are true). Playing my Cult as "Guard" isn't as much fun for me.

@ zariart- Ah! Ok, got it. Sorry, it's been a while.

@ Baldsmug- Thanks for the compliment! Never heard that one before, and it's been so long I'd have to go back through it. In most cases what I'm going for is an old GW Confrontation / Necromunda feel w/ heavy influence from the old Judge Dredd comics.



Man I haven't posted here in a while. But there is an update of sorts, even through I have no pics to share. My buddy Kalt hooked me up w/ some new heads this weekend and I really like the look of them. It's quite likely that I'm going to be doing a few head swaps on models I've already finished simply to reduce the recurrence of the "same" model over and over. I'm also looking at armor (specifically Chimeras and Leman Russ) for transport and firepower. My paint scheme will remain the same I've been using for my PDF (Shadows Grey w/ Space Wolf Grey) because I figure it would be easier to steal from and / or turn them to the cause.

One of these days I'm going to at least inventory what I have painted and what I have in total that is dedicated to join the Cult once I have it painted.

I'm still active on this project and it is still a relevant thread, I'm just really busy w/ other things right now but I'll try to at least throw a bone by posting the few models I have finished in the last few weeks.

I'll be back soon!

Death Guard... Cultists.... Eithers good! haha

There is just too much too look in one go, but thanks to your creativity ( and probably madness?) I made It.
Thanks for the trip in the Cultist Realm!

Subscribed!

@ Tortured-Robot- In the end, all things are Chaos

@ SelvaggioSaky- Thanks for checking this out and thanks for leaving a comment! I promise more will be coming, just not anytime soon.



I'm posting this on all of my active threads (Plague Marines, Cult, and Terrain). I'm not going to be posting any updates for a while. Nothing is wrong so no worries there, but I have some things that I need to manage and it is going to cut into some of my modeling time. That coupled with the fact that I'm really needing to take a modeling "break" has brought me to this. So rather than just disappear like I did last time I figured I'd at least offer an explanation up front so folks know that things are ok and also know that I'm not being lazy w/ updates, I'm simply not doing anything right now.

I will be back, hopefully sooner than later, but in case some time passes I have a specific request:

Please do not post on this thread until I update it next.

I do not want the thread to be locked by Mods and have to go the whole "please unlock my thread" thing w/ them. If you're digging on what I'm doing here, send me a PM. I expect I'll still be surfing Dakka when I'm at work now and then and will try to stay up w/ the threads I am actively following, I just won't be posting any new stuff here for a while.

And again, just to verify- nothing harsh or bad going on here, I just have some stuff that requires more attention than I have been giving them and I'm going to see a pretty genuine decrease in my modeling / online time at home. I will be back, and w/ any luck I'll have some new stuff to share.

SUBSCRIBED. These are soooo cool. The metal heads on the models are fantastic. They look like silent hill people.
Peace

dsteingass wrote:If he would have just looked back somewhere in Vik's Thread, Skalk would have realized that he was ASKED to be part of the -=[_,=- In the beginning, but unfortunately, because of his heresy, now all he sees is this:

Will check back to see what you did with the new heads you got...

GUYS CAN YOU READ? Stop posting!

Your models are amazing, and you have some very creative and cool conversions, but it does make me wonder how big your bitz box is!

Thread is not dead, and I'll be back as soon as the new Chaos Codex is released. Until then, yeah, please stop posting.

Ok, some good news for people still interested in this thread. My work schedule has changed for the next couple months (swing shift instead of days) and if all goes well I may be able to start painting at work 'after hrs' again. I'll be focusing on the models I've already built before anything new gets started, my next offerings here will be 100% painting for some time to come.

Initially I'm going to go back to the original spirit of this thread and do whatever I feel like doing, but once I get my hands on the new Chaos Codex I'll likely focus on the playability of my force.

Thanks for staying subbed and for checking this out. I'm looking forward to getting back into this.

*happydance*

Welcome back. I love getting paid to hold the floor down while I read or paint!

Glad to hear you're ready to go again

Look forward to whatever comes our way until the cultists rise again.

Me want ze chaos codex

@ Scarper- That actually cracked me up. I'll put in a little extra effort to make your happydance worthwhile.

@ MeatShield- Me too. My job gives me hurtybrain way too often and it'll be nice to be able to do something productive while I wait for someone to figure out how to turn on their computer.

@ monkeytroll- Glad to see you're still following this thread. You can expect the Cult to rise when the moment is right. They have already infiltrated the Planetary Governor's office (they scrub toilets and take out the trash) and once the orders come from Command they will strike with efficient quickness.

@ progreen10- Me too. My FLGS says it will be out very soon. My wallet is going to feel the squeeze with the box set and the Codex coming out so close together, but it's just money. I can make more later.



Man it's been a while since I used that divider.

First step in getting back into this was to get organized and see what I have to work with. I'm not building any new models until I see the Codex, and honestly I think I have enough Cultists built to run a sizable army already.

Here's everything I have left to finish up. Look closely and you'll see models from the *very first batch* I built when I first started this thread in April 2011. Yeah. I know. But I'm really going to finish them this time!

Here's a group shot of everything I have built and slotted to join the Cult:



38 models in all. The guys in the green robes won't be part of this batch and somehow a Plague Zombie made it into the shot. Please disregard both.

Here are the models grouped in batches:



Original Chaos Cultists. I thought about selling them on eBay because they were fetching a decent price but I think I missed that boat since the new plastics are flooding in for sale. Maybe a collector would be interested, but I'm thinking I should just keep them to add a bit of retro to my force.



Undead Guardsmen. More whimsical than practical, but I really enjoy working on these. Eventually I want a full squad of them (10) and may run them in my games, but right now they are simply for the fun of modeling / painting.



CCW Mutants. Originally these were slotted to be the generic 'Lesser Daemons' of 5th Ed but thankfully that trainwreck of an Edition is over so I'm looking how to re-purpose these models. I'll hold off on these until I see the new Codex. If nothing else they are cool for the modeling experience.



Big Muscly Guys. The first two are definitely going to be Cultists, hopefully there are rules for Great Weapons. If not, they will still find a place. The Chaos Marauder is something very specific that I'll share later. The guy on the right was fun to build and I'll likely run him w/ the rest of my regular Mutants (if there's even a distinction, likely they will all simply be Cultists)



Mostly Human w/ Heavy / Special Weapons. These models are the last of the reasonably Human models I have left and they could easily find a place in any Necromunda gang. I feel pretty confidant they will have a place in the new Cult rules.



Mostly Done- These models are the ones I have that need the least amount of work to be called 'finished' and join the swelling ranks of my Cult. Again, the Chaos Marauder will get a special post later.



Mutants. None of these models would ever pass for human. They could fill a few different roles in the Grimdark but in this case they are Freedom Fighters standing against Imperial Tyranny. Sorry for the fuzzy pic, I was in a hurry this morning when I was taking pics because I had to load them to Dakka before leaving for work. As they get more paint on them you'll get better shots of them.

I'm going to get set up and start painting tonight. I have no specific interest or idea so if there's a particular model anyone is interested in I'll give it consideration and probably bump it to the top of the list.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the Cultist list. I've heard some ridiculous rumors that Cultists might be Elites, but I can't see how they would possibly pull that off. If absolute worst comes to worst then I'll have a very weird looking IG force.

I'm very interested in seeing if the Cult is going to get their hands on Imperial Armor (Leman Russ, Chimera, etc) because if they do, that's my next project after I finish the troops.

Thanks for looking! I'm going to do my best to put a little progress into something every day. It's been months since I've focused on miniatures. This will be a nice change of pace I think.

I'll be back soon.

Text update- put a lot of paint on the Mutants yesterday, also got some work done on one of my 'almost done' models. Will post pics in a few days when I have something completed.

I may have missed your terrain blog, but these and the death guard are always on my radar........ when I'm about that is

Hopefully those'll all find a home. I'm hoping there's some room for muties in the codex, that might get me interested in mine again.

Given the contents of Dark Vengeance I'd say there has to be as theres. 20 cultists in the box.

gosh... one of these days i should really go down the z´road too... with a good sorted bitzbox like mine... i bet i could go quite far ...you have so many cool looking minis...


but seeing how many i already have waiting to get their paintjob already....argh^^

@ monkeytroll- Glad to know you're on the list. I'm really hoping that as well, but if not I'm still going to find a list I can stuff these miniatures into. If the absolute worst comes and I can only run a handful of them as Elites I'll put together a 'blob' list from the IG Codex. I'm really hoping that's not what happens, but bottom line is I want these on the table.

@ Llamahead- Hey, good to hear from you! How are things going? I'm going to go check your threads for an update after I post this. I agree that there's a good chance they are a troop choice since there are so many of them and they don't look particularly special (an Elite carrying an Autogun seems a bit silly). But this is GW we're talking about. Fingers crossed.

@ Vik- Cultists are awesome becasue (in my mind) they are limited only by your imagination. The grimdark fluff has so much background and history about different Cults, and Necromunda is another great example of what people can dig up and arm themselves with. The only real 'problem' with Cultists is that there are so many of them in an army so the building and painting can take a very long time.



Nothing to share right now except to say that I don't have anything to share right now. I've been trying to get work done but my plans have been thwarted at every turn. I'll work on getting something out to you all soon. I'm really interested in this again and am frustrated by the limited time I can dedicate to gaming in general, let alone an extensive painting project.

More will come, that you can count on.

Well this 'paint after hrs' thing isn't working. Too much going on at work (new modems, new platform, backend stuff that isn't working) so I'm done. I'm literally packing up my toys and going home. Sorry, Cultist fans. I really tried to make this happen. Maybe I'll get some work done at home in the mornings.

I'm certain that some of you might be wondering what the mighty Skalk Bloodaxe would use for his portable paintset. A military ammo can? A stainless steel security briefcase? The hollow skull of a frothing maniac I killed with my bare hands? All good answers, but you'd be wrong. I use something SO grim, SO dark, SO bitter.... the Mods may actually ban me for posting such a graphic and disturbing picture.

Proceed at your own risk. I assume no responsibility whatsoever for the amount of alcohol and therapy you'll need afterwards. You have been warned.





I'll be back (unless I'm banned for life).

Lucky I've been hardened to chaos incursions otherwise so much grimpink in one shot could have been nasty

Sorry to hear the 'after-hours' plan didn't work out, but if you're going to be constantly interrupted it's not going to be useful.

That's a proof of courage to use this box to carry your stuff...I wouldn't dare myself since showing this kind of blasphematory iconography at home would instantly set Little Miss Hyena on "berzerk rampage" mode and I don' want to think of what would happen to my models

awesome

Thats as good as my macho pink glue gun......

@ monkeytroll- It is a bit Slaaneshi.

@ Hyenajoe- Wow. Really? They have meds for that sort of thing nowadays.

@ The Good Green- I really like that box a lot. Practical, functional, and messes w/ people a lot.

@ Llamahead- You have got to post a pic of that!



Not really an update, but it's cool nonetheless. I'm playing my first game of 6th Ed tonight w/ the new CSM Codex, and I'm running 2 full squads of Cultists w/ 3 Heavy Stubbers each and a Dark Apostle leading the horde as my Warlord. I'm bringing some Plague Marines as support, and the obligatory Havocs to lay down a field of intensely brutal firepower. But most of the force is Cultists, and I'm interested to see how it goes. Playing against Orks tonight and Grey Knights tomorrow afternoon w/ same 1,250 list.

I'm expecting to be crushed in both games, but you never know. I'll follow up here on Sunday or Monday. Also, I'll be doing a bit of work on my Cult again soon as I know the composition for 6th Ed now and need a few specific things to kit out my Cult.

Given it was about £5 and of the size and type I wanted it got picked up.

It's manufactured for Cardstock work.