Children of the Emperor! Death to his foes!


To be kept brief; I started up 40k again last August as the months grew colder after dipping in and out for years [as children are wont to do]. This time however, it was serious bizniz... I pulled out my old Eldar, contributed some new units and began flexing my painting hand again. The efforts of that can be seen here in this thread. However, something terrible happened to me slight before the beginning of December of 2011. Slaanesh came to me and she corrupted my very soul. Not content any more with the whimsical nature of the Eldar, I became one in debt to the Dark Prince.

I am aiming to place the Emperor's Children legion here in the time span shortly [in 40k terms] after the heresy and their retreat into the Eye of Terror. There will be a mix of Mk V, Mk IV, possibly some Mk III, new[er] Chaos Marine parts and Space Marines as I attempt to give the models some life and feeling - battlefield scavenging has never been so fun for the heretics. I've never much enjoyed the spikes-and-skulls overload that GW love doing for Chaos.

As always, all constructive comments and criticisms are welcomed. I will take on board all thoughts and processes. Painting power-armour, especially purple power-armour, is something completely new for me. I'll be aiming to pick up a squad of FW Marines [IE, 5 suits] once a month, maybe a little more depending on finances. I am hoping that, as this plog progresses, I'll be better able to see my own improvement in modeling, painting and sculpting.

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Now, to the purpose of this!

Here are three Marines in a state of near-completion. I have a fourth almost done and a fifth awaiting. They're using a mix-up of FW parts, SM shoulder pads and backpacks. Chaos bolters [with spikes removed] are almost ready to add...



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And a little something special...



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Thanks!

Looking good so far. The purple looks great.

Those guys look great. Im all in, waiting for more.

Really like the colors you've gone for looking gud! ,

How where the marines for mold lines etc? I've been thinking of getting some, but my Contemptor from FW had really bad ones and kind of put me off from getting anything else

Keep up gud work!

T-M

The Marines were OK! A few lines but managed to scrape them off fine... I will say though that the armour on the lower legs was [and still is] quite 'lumpy', for lack of better words. I'm willing to let them slide though given the overall superior quality [IMO] of the FW Marines. They stand a little taller than GW figures also, as well as being a little more proportionally correct.

Cheers!

I'm liking the start of this thread and it is also striking a chord with me as I am just starting a Pre-Heresy Death Guard army myself, all Forge World too. Looking forward to how this develops!

Finished off the first five-man squad. I know where I can improve; namely the eye lens and the highlighting... Please, any comments and criticisms - please give them!

Looks great! What do you plan for an HQ? Maybe Lucius before he started body-hopping?

I have a few ideas floating around... For the moment, I'm going to be rolling with a Termie Chaos Lord. Hacked apart some Loyalist Terminators last night, defiled the Aquila and so on, so forth. It'll be a temporary solution for quite some, I suppose.

Commander Culln may be a fine candidate for a HQ.

I like them so far. You are right the lenses need more work, I did a quick tutorial on page nine of my Emperor's wings blog. The bases also need more attention they look like one flat colour, a bit of washing and then wet brushed highlights should do the trick. I'm not feeling it for the bolters, they aren't up to the standard of the rest of the mini. I would suggest painting the hand grips black and have some panels painted in the colour of the armour. A bit of washing to tidy up the metallics too would be good. Like I said I like them but that is my C&C so far hope it is helpful and not taken as a negative.

Ah yes; I forgot about the bases. You are correct, I gave them a quick one colour coat for the photo. They'll definitely see due attention later on tonight...

As for the bolters; I think you are right. I usually give them a quick watery black coat, followed by a rough silver and then washed in Badab. It's quick and dirty and gives reasonable detail but probably not enough to blend in with the models. I'll see what I can do with the bolters and the metallics tomorrow.

As for C&C, don't worry about it! Negative, positive, it's all the same. I'm still relatively new to the hobby in terms of painted figures and years spent actually doing it [rather than dreaming of it ] - any criticism and comment is a good one.

Looking good mate. For your HQ make a Lucius-Carab Culln minie perhaps? Mix parts together from the two models? Maybe have him standing triumphantly atop a pire of fallen loyalists, termies perhaps, to further exude his power.

Oh forgot to ask, are you putting some chapter symbols on them?

These are looking great. I like the purple, niiice shade.

crimsonfist832 wrote:Looking good mate. For your HQ make a Lucius-Carab Culln minie perhaps? Mix parts together from the two models? Maybe have him standing triumphantly atop a pire of fallen loyalists, termies perhaps, to further exude his power.

Sounds good, I'll keep it in mind.

Reaper Man 2020 wrote:Oh forgot to ask, are you putting some chapter symbols on them?

I haz the ol' decals ready but... I also want to obtain some of the proper GW Emperor's Children shoulder pads.

Double post, apologies.

Here's a little work in progress shot of the Dreadnought. I am wholly satisfied with the rear workings and machinations of the lower half. I have a few more bits to touch up there but nothing major [as far as I am concerned]

Now, I am split over the trim and ornamentation for the 'nought as a whole, especially the sarcophogus. I don't want too much flash in my Legion, any gold must be dullened, oxidised and // or simply not present. Yet I do not want the typical traitor-legion black trim that GW paint up for the Emperor's Children.

Gave the sarcophogus a coat of brassy brass however, I am thinking now that it may be too much, especially on the [model's] left hand side. The Slaaneshi icon would look great in a tarnished gold state and the trim in black. Still time to revert this error. But I cannot come to any definite decision over it. Hrm! Should I keep it as it is? Revert both sides of the sarcophogus to black or just the left hand side [model's side]? A mixture perhaps? Hrm! Hrm!

Please excuse the rough finishings for much of the model. Any purple and gold you do see is still the base-layer and has not yet been highlighted up and//or shaded down properly, as well as tidied up.



[No rear exhaust yet!]







Edit: May even tarnish all of the gold trim to resemble the top-plates on each leg. If you look at the last image in particular, I used a mix of brassy brass, gunmetal and black to create a very, very dark brassy colour. Looks rather nice with a sepia wash over the top.

paint the main start of the body an off-ish white (nearer to grey) with the trimming as purple, that would look good!

And it's your P&M blog, you can double post, thats the idea, you can keep updating even if you don't get anyone else posting (this generally doesn't happen though - we're a nice bunch here on dakka)!

Hope this all helps, It looks good though!

Moving a little closer to completing my first dreadnought. I'm generally very happy with him, although I must admit some niggling issues.

No matter how hard I try, or the effort I put into it, I can never make my models seem 'tidy'. I don't particularly mean painting 'within the lines' either, they just always seem to have some kind of messy grungy quality to them. -shrug

Anywho; I wanted the gold trim and plating on this dreadnought to be weathered, beaten and slowly degenerating. Whether or not I pulled that off is up to debate, reckon it needs some more work personally.

Small bumpity bump...

Hopefully a new group of Mk.IV Marines will arrive on my doorstep tomorrow. They will push my grand total of FW Marines to... 10! However, I have been dwelling a little on my plan of action. I'll be aiming to acquire a good few number of FW Marines and weapons, mixing them in with the chest pieces of the current-SM [Aquila sign to be defiled] given that they are the Emperor's Children. I'll most likely also be adding in the proper EC shoulder pads for most of the Marines. I want to portray a 'relic-type' army, especially in the case of the EC, whilst yet pushing them slightly towards Chaos defilement. Noise Marines are some way off yet but I have been giving them much thought already.

Dreadnought is coming along. I have the blastmaster and chainfist to finish, along with general tidying up. I've also got large plans for converting the AoBR Dreadnought that is floating around my desk...

As for the second picture, it's a tester. Let's just say that I plan to heavily defile, gak on and tear up some ol' Chapter favourites for my Icon carriers. Scribbling Chaos runes over the tapestry and generally being an arse to those relics of the Imperial lapdogs. Melding those Slaanesh icons into the banner work shall be fun!

Wow, these look great.
I've always liked Emperor's Children, and I very much like their pre-heresy colour scheme, and using the Forgeworld kits is working very effectively.

Love your purple!

Very looking forward to seeing a lot more, the dread is coming up a treat too!

Also, great idea on defiling some loyalist banners, very cool

Man, these guys are epic. Subscribed.

Thank you!

The gold trim on the Dreadnaught. It looks great, you can tell that it is goldy/brassy but has tarnished. I believe you have achieved what you hoped for. The purple looks great, I love purple in any army

Love how they look. I made a Preheresy EC army ill be watching this closely good luck !

Worked a little more on the Dreadnought. The sarcophogus is nearing closer to being 'OK' in my books and thus a state that I can leave it for a little while... Still needs work and tidying up some more though. Both weapon arms have seen their first passes in basecoat and primary colourings. Highlighting, washing and detail-picking are still to be done. Also; an extra picture of the next group! Once I have finished the Mk.IV Marines, I will truely begin with the Emperor's Children and the amalgamation project!

Edit: Damn! I really need to purchase a proper lightbox. There are details missing in his rear.

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Coming on well. As for the light box I have one and rarely use it, I now stick a background or white sheet to the wall behind it and use some lamps to light it. Works fine.

The dread's brass is looking better now, really good work on that.

Apologies for the lack of updates over the past three weeks. I've been busy chasing up photographic studies as my degree.

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Picked up the Space Marine Command Squad box at the end of February. Had some fun with modifications and altering the Imperials to become the bastardised sons of Chaos. I don't think I'll be using the models in the future on the tabletop ; these have been a pure exercise in painting and well - to have some fun. Still debating whether to pursue a full FW Marine list or whether it would be fine to throw in some Mk.VII armour varients.

Currently working on an Apothecarian for my EC. Pictures to arrive later this evening hopefully.

Emperor's Children Sonic Dreadnought is verging on 'complete'. Really tempted to blow some money on a loyalist Contemptor next month and bastardise it.

Everything right now is hanging on the release of the new Chaos Codex. I don't want to commit any large sums of money until I know what is coming.

Bumpity Bump!

Small update; Working on the Apothecary yesterday and the Champion today. Really happy with the way they turned out, I feel like I am progressing well with my painting - particularly highlighting.

Picked up a Venerable Dreadnought which I will be hopefully sorting out this afternoon! T'will try and get a picture up later on early evening with a build-status.

Sonic Dreadnought t'was done, I thought. But upon taking pictures I had some errors revealed to me [cursed camera!] so... nothing yet to be shown here on that.

Next month, as part of my monthly allowance for 40k, I shall be purchasing a Relic Contemptor with dual auto-cannons. That will keep me readily busy till late July which, hopefully, will tide into the release of 6th Edition.

As always, I am looking for all comments and criticism! I would much appreciate your own techniques for edge-highlighting. I currently seem to flip-flop between using the side of my brush and using the point.

Those two are looking sweet! For edge lighting I always decide on where the light sorce is coming from and then fade up towards white in that direction and for the final edge I use the edge of the brush if it is nicely defined other wise like you I use the point. I know exactly what you meen about finishing and then photographing only to see how much you have missed!

Feeling pretty peeved off with painting figures right now...

I'm not sure if I should be 'shading' the purple in some form, or if I even know how to do it right. I am slowly tightening up my highlights [evident if you look at my Eldar from last August!] and I am comfortable with it. Hell, even my lenses are slowly improving. What really irks me though is that my models feel untidy and just not ... neat? There's always something really uneven about them, maybe it's the application of paint, my primer, my burning self-flagellation? I posted some of my concerns here, it's really a bone of contention for me.

Here is a comparison shot, if indeed anything can be pulled from the image. I always suspect that I am doubly harsh upon myself when I probably shouldn't be.

From left to right;
Mk.V painted up a couple of months ago. Nothing fancy, just the purple painted up and roughly highlighted.

Mk.V//Mk.IV Assault is the most recent. I've hit the dead-end with these. My method for painting is in the link above, I wonder if I am making it too arduous and complicated? Currently washing the model with a mix of vallejo black wash, vallejo black and water at a ratio of 2:1:2. Can't really say that it gives me the desired effect. [What effect do I want? feth me!]

Mk.IV from a couple of weeks back. Again, simple paintjob.



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The Apothecary and Champion that i posted above two weeks back were given a quick and light pure black wash after the first coat of my personal purple mix. The purple was then carefully reapplied over the top in two layers, leaving some shadowed recesses. I can't help but think that that quick method is probably the most effective?

Please, any criticisms, comments and gribbles are wildly appreciated! I'm pretty frustrated right now and feel like sticking them all in a microwave for sweet revenge. "HAR HAR! CHAOS SPAWN FOR YOU!

Edit; Also, does anyone have a hint as to how to stop washes pooling on flat surfaces? I read that the new GW washes are pretty damned good, is there some trick to using Vallejo wash?

I think washes are a useful tool and I do use them quite a lot now. I haven't used the Vallejo paints and washes so I can't comment on them but I find that if you are getting the pooling on flat surfaces then it needs a bit of watering down and take a bit more time and pull it to the edges with a brush. Highlighting over the top again will also cover pools. I think your top highlight is too big a colour change and a little blocky, there is no blending going on there. My favourite of the three is the guy on the left. Try another darker layer before that top highlight and then use the top highlight really thin, probably using the edge of the brush rather than the tip just to pick out the edges.

Hope that is helpful!


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Oh and I always find that the models look better in the flesh rather than in these pics where it is blown up over size so we might be worrying about nothing!

Thanks, Reaper, for taking the time to comment.

I've often wondered about the top highlight too, it does seem a little stark - especially when I've been less than careful in application. I'm currently using a ratio of 1:1 bonewhite:purplemix for the highlight, s'pose I should drop it down and skew the ratio towards purple again. Apologies over the Vallejo terms, I prefer them over GW for most things.
I'm still waiting on some replacement parts to arrive from Forgeworld. They'll hopefully land tomorrow, then I can build my first Assault squad and really think about my shading and highlighting.

Again, thank you for the comments Reaper! They are always most helpful.

Looks good eiríkr, may I suggest going a lighter gold color, it might just be te photos but it would really make the purple pop.

On a side note, are you still interested in all those bits you asked me for?

Keep it up, consider me subscribed.

Eirikr, this is some great work dude. Can't wait to see them on the table top in december!

Ach, thanks geordie! I am still wrestling with the damnable purple, hoping to 'crack it' soon and in time for the 'hopeful' Chaos Codex release. Then I can lay down money for the army in one pop.

I'll have a new picture up later tonight, hopefully. Been working and playing around painting these differently.

Very nice painting. And anything with this much FW in has to be good

After following the advice of finnan in his wonderful Golden Demon thread, I decided to try out a new method of painting on a spare Marine. I think I could apply a few more layers of purple in consecutively smaller areas, especially upon the shoulders, the helmet and so on, just to really 'pop' that purple. As always, any and all criticisms, comments and biscuits are appreciated!

The eyes are so cool... very nice!

i don't think that they look untidy or unfinished, but I know what you mean when you get that vague feeling that something more needs to be done to a piece. Having said that, stuff can be overworked that way too... simple is often the best.
I like these, I really do. Hard highlighting is tricky because it does look good, but at the same time you kind of want it to look subtle too... I tend to go for tip of the brush and stroke up and out of the area, fading from the mid tone to the last highlight...
Thumbs up form this lad

Much better than the previous models! The fade upto highlighting is much smoother and it just looks better all round. Once you put the markings on the shoulder pads it will look much more complete!

Still playing with the purple...

Still need to work on lenses and have a tidy up buuuut eh... It came out possibly a tad shade too light, especially compared to the chap whom I posted up last week here. It's the same purple, believe it or not, I just didn't apply as many layers to this one. What do you think? I kind of like it, not sure yet. POST EDIT: I would have preferred a little darker, most definitely. Bummer...

Also noted: My finishes on FW stuff always seems so rough compared to Citadel plastics. WHY?!

I approve of the Sonic Dready. I always loved that model, but never kept my Emperor's Children long enough to purchase one. You find Forgeworld's Resin harder to paint? I ask entirely out of curiosity. As I plan on getting one of their dreadnoughts the moment I have a sizable marine army. I always liked the regular purple and gold scheme and you've delivered.

Also what do you coat your models with? It looks like Nuln Oil, but I could be wrong.

I always find FW more pleasurable to paint, though thats generally due to the increased detail level.

As long as you wash the resin first, paint behaves exactly the same as on plastic.

i really like the purple you've used and your painting skills are really impressive - consider me subscribed!

out of curiousity are these guys going to be made more unique or are they going to be just purple and gold? i only ask because i have always imagined the EC to be an army of individuals.

@Shadowbrand

I give them a wash with the 'new' Druchii Violet from GW. Must say, their new washes are excellent.

@Vitruvian XVII

I wash and soak the models for an hour or so then scrub them off with a toothbrush!.

@Bores

I have full intention towards the individual customisation. Pretty much everything you see in this thread has been done for testing purposes, colours, techniques, blah blah blah. I really want to give some pop and flair to these with good time and practice.

I found the same with all my FW stuff other than the Decimator I recently painted. I wash everything but gave that a much more intense tooth brushing!

Its a great colour scheme you've got going on even if it is still testing!

Ah, maybe i should have read abit more...

Anyway, as far as test schemes go i think these are better than anything i've painted

I look forward to seeing some nice unique EC as they should be

P.s. it has just occured to me that my first post seemed rather rude; so i apologise if i've offended you, i think that your test models are great even as they are.

Not a problem, Bores! You didn't come over rude at all, in anyway.

I'm always on the edge of going "feth it all!" and shelving the lot. Currently deciding between the following two differing applications:

Black undercoat, lots and lots and lots of thin layers to build up the colour. Problem therein lies with the shading, I either need to learn to do it properly fast or I scrap it.



White undercoat, roughly same applications of purple and washed rather heavily with Druchii Violet for the shading.



As a side note, I actually have my own mix of purple [magenta & dark violet] that creates a slightly-later-varient of royal purple. It's actually my favourite but I worry about running out of the mix and never quite matching the tones again. Has anyone else experienced this and//or has advice? These two were painted with said mix.

Personally i really like your own mix, although i understand what you mean with your concern about not matching the recipe.

As a side note, the legs on the black basecoated marine; what set are they from?

Either Death Company or Sanguinary Guard from the BA.

Feel comfortable enough painting now... Spent the afternoon whacking together various parts from various purchases from various... Yeah, well...

Okay thanks. I like your new models, especially the 4th guy along who looks like he's giving a thumbs up from this angle. Hopefully you'll get some paint on these guys soon

First Assault done.

Be harsh. Give it to me hard...

Awsome man keep these coming

Eiríkr wrote:
Be harsh. Give it to me hard...

Haha, i think you may have the wrong forum bud....



Theres not much i can critique to be honest! I love it. The inside of the jet pack looks a bit dull/ unfinished though.

Vitruvian XVII wrote:

Eiríkr wrote:
Be harsh. Give it to me hard...

Haha, i think you may have the wrong forum bud....



Theres not much i can critique to be honest! I love it. The inside of the jet pack looks a bit dull/ unfinished though.

In total honesty; I've been playing ARMA:II for awhile, the frustration that it generates is immense.

If you mean the inside of the jets, I agree. Not sure what to do or how to approach them.

Looks ace man.

For the jet efflux maybe a simple Regal Blue base, Drybrush enchanted blue, drybrush ice blue then edge Skull white! It's just an easy way of adding colour to the inside... I've used it, its not bad.

Good choice of helmet too, fits the individual style choices some dude mentioned earlier in the thread too.

Bit of an update!

Made progress on a few more Assault Marines. Aside from the one I showed earlier in the week, they are all in varying stages of finishing. I've again wrestled with the purple, it's come out slightly darker/lighter on varying models. It's not a huge difference and probably not one worth noticing on the tabletop but, for my own eye, it's noticeable. However, I don't find it terribly annoying and even perhaps re-conciliating it with the fact that they are Chaos Marines after all. I want each Marine to be different, whether it be armour choice, slight colour variation through natural application or other factors. Hell, some of these Mk.V Assault shoulder pads from FW that I have are knocked around and 'corroded' along the rims. Works for me...

Latest work may be found in this thread here!

This is some cool stuff I think the smooth color scheme is really good. But where'd you get the power sword for the assault marine?


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This is some cool stuff I think the smooth color scheme is really good. But where'd you get the power sword for the assault marine?

It looks like the sword from the generic chaos marine kit, the upgrade sprue that comes with the 10 man tactical squad.

It is indeed from the generic Chaos Marine kit.

Last night's link has been updated with some more pictures of a slightly better quality.

Oh that would explain it. Never seen those sprues before

P.S. sorry for the double post.... computers these days -__-

Working on this chap today. Wondering whether to equip a jetpack or not...

[Dakka Gallery is down... Uploaded elsewhere, sorry!]

I'd say no to the jet pack as his pose is very command squad/ordering others to fly in rather than himself!

Still loving the purple... this one reminds me of blackcurrant chewits! Showing my age maybe. (Anybody else remember the godzilla rip off ad?)

Mmmmm chewits.

Very cool banner.

Pretty much finished the Icon Bearer. Really happy with the purple and the highlighting, definitely going to keep it a tad lighter like this. I just need to get the shading done properly, although I suspect that will come with practice and time.

Sick icon! Might have to steal the idea for my own EC.

Feel free!

Right then...

I should have some more Marines up in the next day or so based around the Mk.V Heresy armour, as well as a chance of a Dreadnought appearing. I'm feeling happy enough with my painting now to strip back the old old models and redo them with a fitting scheme!

Long been looking at ForgeWorld for ideas. If the rumour mill is true and that Chaos Chosen are now allowed only power-armour, then I think Sevrin Loth will do just fine for that role.

He looks suitably fancy enough to work. Like the purple you got on that last one and the banner is quite nice as well. Only slight problem was the lens, though they sort of glow as they are so they work anyway.

Squad Menelaus

Finally, the first squad comes together. Kit bashed from various FW Mk.IV and Mk.V pieces, Sanguinary Guard, Death Company and Command Squad pieces. Some more cleaning up and scraping needs to be done. The Icon-Bearer that appeared in the posts above will join this squad.

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Great looking squad and I really like the purple you have come up with. I too think the lenses need a little something extra to make them pop.

Cheers Reaper!

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Started work on two of the members last night. Still need to work on various bits and pieces, highlighting will follow when the backpacks have been attached. Icon Bearer has been included for... well, six is the number of the Dark Prince. He's also slightly brighter than the other two due to camera flash, couldn't be arsed to fetch out the light stands. It's a Sunday... One of those days...

Can you please give us a stage-by-stage of how you painted the purple? I'm beginning a Pre-Heresy campaign this month, and I've picked EC to go with my Slaanesh marines. Help! It looks so good! How?!

I never thought I would see the day where someone asks me how I did something. It means a lot, even if it's something small. Let's see...

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Colours used;

Vallejo Royal Purple [Model Range]
Vallejo Purple [Model Range]
Vallejo Skull White


I thin my paints down to 1:4 paint:water, or thereabouts. It requires a few more layers and some patience but the outcome is much smoother, far deeper and more vibrant than applying minimal layers with minimal thinning of paints. I think in total these Marines had roughly twelve coats applied, washing not included. So, always assume that I've thinned my paint down to the above ratio, I'll say otherwise.

- Prime white

- Apply even coats of thinned Vallejo Royal Purple across all areas. It will appear terribly weak on the model but it will build up beautifully. I work under a lamp most of the day, the water will dry very quickly upon the model. Between coats, ensure you're not overlapping any paint or pushing it around too much into one spot, it will build up too quickly and concentrate the colour - especially problematic on areas where you don't want it to occur. Be quick with the brush but be precise, the water will really help with coverage so it ain't too much of a problem anyway. You want a nice even coat with each layer.

- After four or five coats the colour should really be starting to pop. I apply a wash of the new Druchii Violet at this stage over the entire model.

- Reapply the Vallejo Royal Purple over the areas where light hits, basically just bring out the 'pop' again slightly. One coat should do enough...

- Grab the Vallejo Purple this time. I thin this down to 2:1 as I will be edge highlighting and like some... stiffness[?] to my paints for this stage. I can't vouch how steady your hand is, you should know the procedure for highlighting. Apply the Vallejo Purple on the edges, then mix in a little white and continue until it is bright enough // to your tastes.

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Can't really give you much more than this, it's all I did. Hope it helps, let me know how things turn out and good luck!

Eiríkr wrote:

I never thought I would see the day where someone asks me how I did something. It means a lot, even if it's something small. Let's see...

Well, get used to it, because I too have a query. I would like to start by saying I like this thread of yours (just read it last night) and also looked through your Eldar thread which has been unfortunately forgotten. My query actually deals with the Eldar, namely the black you achieved on your fire dragons. What was going on here? I'm doing a little (barely 2 squads worth so far) derivation into the Ulthwe, a dour and black friendly group of Eldar. Words of advice? Not black at all but start up with grey? What is it?

Otherwise, I like your Emperor's Children, though sticking them with groupings of one MK always sticks at me. I like the variation you're now introducing. Gonna build my own little (read: less than 10, but for good reason) group of them soonish and only going to use MK IV (talked about in Horus Rising how they only use it when it comes in), but I like how yours take on other stuff as needed, especially since they are after the Heresy. By the way, what sort of timeline after the Heresy are we talking here, anyway? 5 years, 100, M 33?

Kaesar II

The Fire Dragons were primed white originally.
I then used Vallejo Black (Model Colour) and applied to base the model. Vallejo Black is inherently 'smoky' in colour anyway, it doesn't shine like Chaos Black, at least in my experience, so we're on to a good start.
I then mix in a little purple, just enough to turn the black off, use this base as your first highlight and apply where you see fit. Then, for each successive highlight, I added in a drop of bleached bone. The resultant colours is a smoky grey that builds up slowly yet never turns into the terribly bright and poppy edge highlighting that GW typically do with black figures. I hope this helps. One day I will personally revive my Altansar Craftworld, I feel I could do them all so much more now that I've got a year or so back under my belt painting. But that will be some long way off...

Regarding timeline, I haven't given much thought to it. I suppose, if you really want to know, they're being placed before fleeing into the Eye of Terror. The withdrawal from Terra, the mismatched, dulled armour and the grisly trophies of skin and heads haven't quite yet moved into daemonic territory. Like I said in the OP; GW's Chaos aren't for me, I can't stand the spikes, skulls and otherwise OTT bits on them - prefer something a little more subtle.

Regarding Squad Menelaus; I shall be continuing on with the painting of them tomorrow night. I'm going to aim for half of the squad done by Friday evening.

Cheers!

Looking forward too it

Are you planning on any special characters or noise marine squads?

Oui! Although I am waiting on the Chaos Codex to land before commiting anything towards special troops and HQ... I have lots in mind for the Noise Marines, as well as any possible Chaos Chosen. Noise Marines will be fun, allowing me to take things to the extreme within the confines I have set. Lots of body bits, lots of flesh and skin, hooks, doom sirens and heavy-duty wiring all based upon the same mix-up of armour parts.

Regarding special characters, I'd really like to turn my hand to Lucius the Eternal but again, the model GW produce is absolute gak so I'll have to whip around some magic on that one.

Maybe mess around with Sigvald a bit.

Damn! He would work as a really nice basis for Lucius. I am unfamiliar with Fantasy, I'll take a look though the range to see if there is anything else.

Cheers.

Using Sanguinary Guard pieces you'd be able to knock up a Marine version of Sigvald pretty easily, I'm making that ssumption that you'd want to keep the muscled torso look!

Thank you very much!

I like your razorwire. Your painting is good too, lol, I didn't mean to dismiss that, but I figure you have enough praise already for that. Is your razorwire made from pipe cleaners with the fuzz burned off? Or did you buy it that way? If not, how did you do it?

Army Painter Store

Army Painter razorwire. 250cm worth for around £3, it's damn good.

I'll pop up a couple of progress shots later tonight//tomorrow morning regarding Squad Menelaus.

Squad Menelaus need to have their aquilas defiled more, infact, I think alot more of your marines have aquilas that are to pristine (icon bearers belt), but that's just my opinion.

Got nothing else to say other than great job, looking forward to more!

You, good Sir, may be quite right. Will take necessary actions! Thank you.

Quick update, made some more progress on the squad. I've been busy with the outside and the heat, inclination to sit inside and paint has been sat a nil. I have another Marine in the stages of receiving first coats of purple and four more waiting to be started. These Marines are either finished or in the throes of being finished; highlighting still needs to be applied to most of these, waiting until they receive backpacks///power-plants before highlighting.

Look awesome dude.

Got to go and develop my vocabulary before i run out of superlatives!

Small update. All of the squad members have now received basic block colourings... All without powerplants are yet to be highlighted, plus a couple others. I have some bits arriving shortly to build the twelfth and final member of the squad [because the Dark Prince enjoys all things in multiples of six!] - going to try out a different way of painting//construction on him. It irritates me that I was foolish enough to put most of these models together without consideration of primer and inaccessible areas. White shows up very clearly; a product of being unable to reach behind helmets, shoulder pads etc etc... From now on, I think I'll be leaving helmets and, if too large, powerplants off until all areas have been coated and painted up. A little more effort but it'll pay off. As a side note; I think the Mk.IV has now become my favourite suit. I was always a fan of the Mk.V but ... well, the Maximus has slowly pulled me over.




Also received some fancy things in the mail two days back! Not sure if I'll be incorporating all of the models or just scavenge the blastmasters//sonic weapons and doom siren for other models. I think the torsos would stand out too much, the sculpts are looking kinda out of place amongst FW Marines. I'll see what can be done, though.

The Squad looks great! I too am suffering under the "paint and then assemble" cosh at the moment, Just added an update on my Pre Heresy Death Guard blog, I haven't even finished the first one and you are nearly finished with the entire first squad! (though to be fair I have painted an entire 1500pts Necron army as well!)

I've never been too fussed about painting before assembly, its probably one of the many reasons that my stuff will never each levels like this.

I've got patience, just not enough...

Have you thought about the doom siren backpack for a commander... its an imposing piece of kit and whislt it may not be 5th ed legal on an hq, it'd look cool as f***!

@ Reaper; thank you. I had a look last night actually, your whites are looking superb! Can't wait to see a squad finished.

@ Geordie09; Yes, I'll be saving the doom siren backing for a special figure - probably either the commander of the army or the honour guard//chosen.

Small update! Squad Menelaus have received armaments // scavenged from the fields of Istvaan V. I am sorry for the slightly darker images; I don't have enough lighting power for a whole squad. I also need to figure out what to do with the shoulder pads. A couple of the Marines have the III Legio marking, although I am not a fan. Probably need to practice my freehand some more... The question is whether I roll with Legio marking [III], individual squad markings or stick with the Emperor's Children wing.





And the twelfth and final member of the squad was compiled today. He shall be the fanciest of the lot!

Thats a good pose for 12. Red Scorp head is pretty cool too.

Lovely shade of pink/purple as ever!

This may seem like an odd suggestion but how about edging the bases in black instead of brown? I find it makes the model stand out better.

Interesting. I've seen it done on quite a few armies, I'll try it out on the next squad//few figures I do.

Since I am waiting on the Chaos Codex to land before pushing funds into anything else substantial, I think I need to find a few small side projects to do. Considering picking up the ForgeWorld Rogue Psykers or some daemonettes. Hrm! Any suggestions?

It'd be somewhat predictable if I said Daemonettes.
Though it would be interesting to see what you could do with them and who knows next codex may even have them for some reason.

I like the running pose of the last one. As for base colour, I feel it depends on the base colour at times. They seem alright as is, but it's probably easy to see what they look like as black before adding the brown if you change your mind.

Some cheap daemonettes on ebay right now!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warhammer-40k-Chaos-Daemons-Daemonettes-/251074064976?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item3a752e3250

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warhammer-Fantasy-Warhammer-40k-Chaos-Daemonettes-/251074049445?pt=UK_Toys_Wargames_RL&hash=item3a752df5a5

Not that I'm in any way involved with the sale of these items...

(If you want I have two full boxes not yet on auction)

What a bad man you are, geordie.

I saw an oppurtunity...

May have just found an alternative...

ForgeWorld MK.IV Command Set

Thats sweet! FW have some awesome sculpts!

Worked on the power sword this evening, taking it slow. Needs some more layering still, I want the white to be more pronounced and the blue a little darker towards the hilt. Speaking of; any suggestions for the pommel, crossguard and hilt wrapping? Gold would be the easy step but meh...

There are some models in the squad to be highlighted still. There are a lot of small problems that will need addressing over time... Most of these have stemmed from my own laziness//inept ability to pick up the brush when it is not four in the morning. If you are not familiar with my plog, I have been working on this squad for a few weeks, possibly err'ing into two months. The models that I started in this squad are most definitely of a poorer quality than the Captain [with power sword] whom is the latest and last to be done. Lessons have definitely been learned over the course of this squad, namely; don't rush, ever. Heads and shoulder pads kept off until the last moment possible for access, relax and paint one at a time. During the mid-phase of painting this squad, I panicked somewhat and did a little bit of batch painting. Well; the models that were subjected to this were of an infinitely worse standard than any other. It works for some people, works for hordes, it doesn't really work for me. Oh well, lesson learned right?

I must also apologise for the lighting. It's OK but it is not great... I can stand to light half a squad or singular models fine - anything over and the light isn't enough. I'll be seeking to rectify this in a month or so.

First, the squad split into two halves.



And some individual shots.



These two following miniatures came out the best of the twelve. Why? I spent two days on each one, spending a little time every day instead of blitzing in one painting session.


I am really happy with the power sword. It took quite some time to do but patience paid off. Lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of very watery layers came out great. There's only one man I can thank for the inspiration to continually persevere, his work is found here. I'm going to put these to bed for awhile and take a short break until more details regarding the Chaos Codex emerge. For those whom do read this plog, you'll probably be thankful that I'll stop posting pictures of the same figures. Haha.

As always, any and all criticism and comments are welcomed. I've learned a lot with what is my first complete squad in CSM, I can only hope that my next unit[s] continue to improve a little on these.

A few words, really.

Things have dive-bombed in terms of money, time and will-power to crack on with these in recent weeks. In England it's quite a fun hobby to break into people's cars and break the steering column to gak. The gakkers who did this also happened to have done it on the day my grandfather was in for heart surgery. Plus an old school acquaintance hung himself last week. Needless to say; it's been a real fething gakky week. I've done literally nil work spare a lightly converted AoBR Dreadnought whom was in the process of being primed but the primer ran out. That was a real kick in the balls... Now that the rulebook and 6th Ed. have finally been announced, I can start to properly plan out the army, the models and the conversions - hopefully save myself some money. I'm going to crack on with the Dreadnought today, I think, and put something up here later tonight.

Death to the False Emperor!
Glory to the Dark Prince!

Damn, that's a really sucky week. Guess that means you get a kick ass week somewhere else. Power sword one came out rather nicely as well.

Stay strong!
6th edition will be interesting, the latest white dwarf have given many hints to new mechanics and changes to the rules, and I think the allies forces will be great for heresy era armies like yours. Since your marines havn't fully given themselfs to slaanesh yet, a mix of regular space marines and C:SM could reperesent your army being in the transission between emperor and chaos. Also, when you decide to go full chaos space marine, you can use real slaanesh daemons and not "lesser daemons".

The power sword marine looks great, alittle to many blood angels icons on him thought

Sorry to hear you have had such a bad week. Keep your chin up! I always find painting some models takes my mind off things and allows me to relax. Looking forward to the dreadnought.

Not had such a great week myself. Hope everything sorts itself for the best dude.

Still loving the purple/pink

Give me a shout if you fancy putting your Emperors Children into the field once or twice before Animosity!

Cheers, all! It was a troubling week but the waters have calmed out well.

I am going to go down to Maelstrom tonight to watch a few games and start relearning the rule set again. Can't wait! I believe it'll be the first gaming night for the chaps down there on 6th, so I shouldn't be too far behind.

Mildly related; I'm desperate to get my EC off the ground. My original intent was to wait for the Chaos Codex to pop out but that could be some months yet. I think, instead, I'll build an EC army around the Codex: Space Marine and aim for small 1,000 pt army. I can still run the same conversion//kit-bash process, s'pose it'll just mean that I'll have to focus on the more mundane troops and vehicles [as opposed to Noise Marines etc]. The special grubbins and troops can come later, once the Chaos codex drops.

Thoughts?

This is brilliant, subbed i love the colour and the fact that it's all heresy based armour and the dread looks so pretty. Looking forward to seeing more of the army as it progresses

Young Logan

Thoughts? I hope you still have enough dudes for December, but it sounds like the C:CSM will be out before then (rumours eh, pff)

If you go down there can you try to drum up some interest in the Campaign Weekend please mate. It'd be good to get some more Maelstrom Regulars involved in order to fill out the task forces.

I can't imagine Noise Marines being dropped from the next codex but you are probably better off waiting to see if they get a kit if nothing else. (Still got a box or two of Daemonettes if you need them, ha).

I went against the grain and against all previous knowledge. I was in a rush. I bought some Skull White 'primer'... Guess I now have 5 Mk.IV Assaults with a light dusting of fething SNOW. Damn it; weather is OK if a little humid. I knew I should have bought the Halfords car primer again, it's never failed me, ever. God damn, such a fool.

Haha! Well; I bought a bag of Mk.IV Assault Marines two days back at Warhammer World. It was clearly a slow day as the chap who served me sold them to me at £20 [retail £32?], couldn't be arsed to check the price. Whatever, I'll take my girlfriend in with me next time again as that seemed to do the trick. Anyway... I'll scrub them clean again later tonight and fetch some REAL EFFIN' PRIMER tomorrow.

And now you an excuse to do snow bases for your army

Hey Eirikr, threads been quiet for a month now, hows things progressing?

Geordie! I have to say, I came to a stand-still as university overtook things for a little while. I've decided to wait until the Chaos Codex is out in September [October?] so that I can plan properly and save money on buying troops! Things will be quiet here until the pre-order arrives at my FLGS.

Hopefully it won't be too long a wait before the dex hits the shops!

Codex Chaos Space Marines!

Looking forward to the revival of your thread Eirikr.

(remember animosity too!)

You need the first Horus Heresy book, it has the army list for pre heresy Emperors Children including the rules for Fulgrim!

Or you could got to Tempus Fugitives and get a download that covers all the legions from the Age of the Emperor! May not be as comprehensive, but since FW have "borrowed" a gak load of TF ideas in the recent past I reckon you could find their pretty similar compositions!

We need Necrons for Animosity Reaper! Check the banner in my sig!

Bumpity Bumpy!

Reaper Man; I picked up the new HH book, I couldn't resist. Oh God, it's blown my mind! So much choice! I'm definitely going to be kickstarting things again towards Christmas. University has blown my wallet quite hard, as it has with my time. I'm itching to crack open my painting box again.

geordie09 wrote:Or you could got to Tempus Fugitives and get a download that covers all the legions from the Age of the Emperor! May not be as comprehensive, but since FW have "borrowed" a gak load of TF ideas in the recent past I reckon you could find their pretty similar compositions!

We need Necrons for Animosity Reaper! Check the banner in my sig!

I am afraid I won't be bale to make that as my daughter is due 7th Dec and my leave pass has been revoked!

Eiríkr wrote:Bumpity Bumpy!

Reaper Man; I picked up the new HH book, I couldn't resist. Oh God, it's blown my mind! So much choice! I'm definitely going to be kickstarting things again towards Christmas. University has blown my wallet quite hard, as it has with my time. I'm itching to crack open my painting box again.

I think after the post on my blog you need to get some painting done yourself!

Feel free to Paypal through money for the Cataphracti, please.