EDIT: decided to consolidate all things chaos-y GW that I worked on in one thread.

Loose table of contents
Thousand Sons final group shot link
Juggernauts, Night Lords test, Fallen test link
Hellstriders link
Astral Claws, starting page 2 Link

(umm, sorry, gotta update this at some point...)



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Starting this off with a test model:



some explanation on my choices here

That is a really good looking TS. I really like the scarabs on the base, it adds something nice.

Solid work dude. Maybe weather it a bit since 1ksons are all like 10'000 yrs old but its a matter of opinion.
I look forward to viewing the squad and the sorcerer..

Thanks!

@ Novelist47, I may do some weathering on bigger pieces, but, doing this for a full army just isn't worth the work, I feel, since 40k armies are a lot bigger than I'm used to painting, these days.

Also, Tzeentch is, like, the god of OCD. Maybe all of the sorcs in the army get all twitchy when their followers are dusty, or they have a cleaning spell or something.

another update (more words here)

Squads 2&3 down!

Wow, awesome painting! I love it!

One nitpick though: Thousand Sons have gold trim, not silver. I know, it's a really petty thing to get hung up about, but I just couldn't help but notice.

Still, good work!

I really really love your blue. It's so.. vibrant! And honestly whether it is gold or silver trim, as long as it looks good it's perfectly fine! I've seen purple-gold thousand sons that looked amazing.
The powerswords(?) on the sorcerers look a little plain though.

@Squigsquasher, thanks! Yeah, the client wanted something a little non-standard, so I did bone instead of yellow and silver instead of gold...

@Know No Pear, cool, purple and gold seems like it would work nicely (though could be confused with emp's children)

And, yeah, for some reason, the power swords are photographing terribly... for whatever reason, I can't get my digital camera to register the gradient I have there... it's not strong, but way stronger than the pics make it look. The third sword is probably the closest.

Some termies (and more words):

Obliterator conversions, and some explanation

Next update, with yet more words.

And the pics:

Really clean and well painted models man, looks nice. The blue feeling you gave them is also really nice, really rich you could say, looks good man!

Inside of the Rhino is looking nice, well done on the interior.

Looking forward to see more from you!

What can we wait to see next?

Oops, didn't see the response. Thanks, and, umm, here's what you can see next.

(And after this are the Predators)


Rhinos with some more description here.

And the pics:

Ooooh these are pretty, i shall be hanging around to see more of these (apologies for not having anything more productive to add, you seem to have it sorted)

Young Logan

I feel like painting my Sorceror now.. Good job!

@Logan, haha, thanks! Yeah, I'm pretty much on auto-pilot now, with Ahriman (spoiler alert!) as the only mini that took some more color choices.

@Know No Pear, cool- yeah, love the look of chaos sorcs- not many others can pull off a manly dress.





Again, more words.

First some description.

I really like your landraider and dreadnought basing well done sir! id be interested in knowing where the chest came from though, nice touch. I was thinking you could have sand swirls or sand that was in the recesses of the landraiders front assault ramp to give it more of an ancient look or Egyptian.

Thanks! The casket is from the Tomb Kings line (I think it's Rare or a Lord?)

Re: the assault ramp, probably not sand (b/c it'd move too much for much to get lodged in there), but I could definitely see adding just a little more dusty look to match the rest. Thanks for the idea.

Those Obliterators are the best I've ever seen. Amazing work, and great painting. I like the blue and silver a lot more than the usual blue and gold.

Thanks! Those Oblits were a lot of fun to make. My old chaos army was Nurgle, so most of the conversions were pretty straightforward nurgly things, and the Oblits needed a little more finesse than "add more guts!"

Also, yeah, I was a little nervous about the silver instead of gold, but I think it gives them a more sombre feel.


Also the final post (I think)

That's a great looking army. I like that you didn't go "too Chaos" on the vehicles.

Love it! Great choices to make them really stand out!

Thanks

Vet Sgt, yeah, I definitely believe in subtle chaos or completely demonic chaos, not a fan of most of the middling "throw more spikes on it" chaos.



Also, reposted because I decided to consolidate my 40k stuff together:

Test schemes starting off two chaos armies: warriors of chaos, which is a commission, and the first of many Night Lords for my personal collection. (And before anyone asks, no, the bases won't have silly edges like that when they're done)





And, as usual, thoughts on the models here.

Another test mini, with some thoughts.

Also, I'd welcome any suggestions on unit composition?

And they're done!

Next up,a few thoughts on my weird retro-colored cav dude test.

...and the full unit, with a few thoughts, as usual.



Also, the mounts can be fielded separately:

A quick one today, a test model for Oglah Khan's wolf riders, minus strong highlights. Words in the link, as usual.

Damn, this is nice stuff. Love the thousand sons work! Keen to see more.

Thanks!

Yeah, the TSons were a fun re-entry to 40k, though I might have been going a little crazy by the time I finished all of that trim...


Automatically Appended Next Post:
All the bugs! (some notes on painting my space hulk Genestealers here)

Thoughts on the Monkey Tractor.

Back to my roots, with Death Guard- I had around 4,000 points of Nurgle-themed Lost and the Damned at one point... beginning again.

A Chimera today:

Those genestealers are fantastic. Those dark hues evoke images of alien and the highlights are great. Do you have a full set of space hulk?

The nurgle marine is a nice blend of colours, I'm not as fond of the chimera. Not sure what it is, but maybe the dragon head could do with another highlight? It doesn't stand out to me compared to the other two.

Very nice work overall though

Oops- sorry, forgot to respond.

Thanks, re: genestealers! Still working on the Marines- have the red done and a couple finished, but stalled out because of all their heraldry...

Thanks, re: death guard- took a few tries before getting that right.

Yeah, the dragon head is my least favorite, but I'm still happy with the end result, and my client's happy with that one (this whole blog is a mix of personal and commission work).

Thanks for the comments!


Also, finished the wolfriders. Notes, as usual.

Probably my favorite big WHFB beastie, the Mutalith Vortex Beast. (Notes, as usual)

A Manticore today. Notes, as usual.

Nice work man, keep it up!

One question: do you make those TS bases yourself or do you buy them somewhere?

Thanks! Those bases are from Scibor Minis IIRC- no way I'd be able to make an army's worth of those and keep my sanity!

Nice work!

Thanks!

Today, the chaos Warshrine, with notes as usual.

Bile Trolls! (Notes as usual)

A new addition: the oversized Hellcannon. Notes.

Notes, as usual.

My first Alpha Legionaire, with some notes.

Just finished some gross obliterators (notes, as usual):

Good stuff as usual!

Thanks!

Really nice stuff you've got going here!

Great colours on the Alpha Legionnaire, I personally prefer the blue - green transition colour scheme to the plain navy blue that is also quite prevalent.

Overall the model is well blended ("bare" shoulder pad in particular) but I feel I should point out the abrupt highlights on the elbow and foremost foot, which could use sorting out if you want.

Still, good job!

Thanks!

Feral, thanks, didn't notice that bit.

First, forgot to post this one

Notes, as usual.



Second, a Javelin Land speeder (with notes, too)

The Caestus is one of my favorite sci-fi vehicles ever- this one got a fun photoshopped FX shot, because of it, too. (Notes)

Ok, that seals it - am defo going to have to start a DG army. Great work on the ram and Javelin

Beuteeful painting it must be slightly hard to let such craftmanship go, but money does help lol :-)

Thanks! I'm actually looking at trying out my plague marine Death Guard in the same colors. First time I tried, they looked barfy (in the muddled way, not the good way), but doing this pre-h stuff has made me think twice about those colors.

jhe90, yeah, that was one of the harder commission pieces to let go. The caestus is easily my favorite GW vehicle, but it's just so damn expensive that I'm not sure I could justify buying one, and I'm really happy w/ the paint scheme... at least I got to paint up my favorite well.

 spiralingcadaver wrote:
Thanks! I'm actually looking at trying out my plague marine Death Guard in the same colors. First time I tried, they looked barfy (in the muddled way, not the good way), but doing this pre-h stuff has made me think twice about those colors.

jhe90, yeah, that was one of the harder commission pieces to let go. The caestus is easily my favorite GW vehicle, but it's just so damn expensive that I'm not sure I could justify buying one, and I'm really happy w/ the paint scheme... at least I got to paint up my favorite well.

If you ever do get a assult ram, you have had a practice run on it and got paid for it too :-)
You could call that a win win scenario

Hehe, definitely. I jumped at the chance to paint one up, because like you said, either way pay, and practice if I ever get one for myself and the opportunity to paint one if I don't.

So, my first (of many) Astral Claws squad, beginning an army which I'd been meaning to start for ages. (Notes)

Great use of the classic captain model as the Sergeant!

Funny how many of the old Captain figures barely rate Sergeant status these days - given how blinged-out marines have gotten...

Thanks, yeah, he's easily one of my top 10 from the edition. Also, yeah, without his cape, he definitely looks pretty regular. I was originally thinking he'd be a Sternguard sergeant, but agree that with all the modern bling, he fits in fine as a slightly decked out regular sergeant even.

My version of Corien Sumatris (the Astral Claws special character captain), with a link to more notes, and analysis of the character's rules and use.

Sumatris's command squad, notes:

Man, converting a Skullz promo, that's commitment. Looks good though.

Heh, I actually chopped off the ultramarines bits back when I was a teen (or w/e, forget exactly when the program was) and both inexperienced and loaded with disposable income... probably wouldn't have done that if I had the unconverted model today. To work on him, I stripped the mini and cleaned up the conversion (since I was still a bit of a newb back then...)

So, next up, a drop pod (notes, as usual)

Some more Marines, this time, of a rather older variety. (Notes on the Tiger Claws)

Man, these old sculpts look real goofy. Your great paint and little additions make them seem better, though I think the current style are still lightyears ahead. You should do a side by sede of the old next to the new.

Heh, yeah, while I really like some of their old sculpts (like the guy in his own image), I'd agree that they're more miss than hit. Also, the plastic kit has a pretty weak amount of detail...

If you mix in the sternguard bits, you can really make them pop. In this case, FW makes some nice pads as well.

I was trying to keep pretty consistent on this stuff and not mix it around.

I've already scored a reasonable supply of FW armor (mostly Iron, wish I had some maximus), and want to get a sternguard pack and start mixing those bits into everything, because, like you said, there's some good stuff there.

A few more retro marines (notes)

Still old, but substantially less so...

My storm trooper test mini (with notes)

Oh, wow. That glow looks amazing.

Thanks, yeah, I was pleasantly surprised how well it popped (now to see if I can repeat it on a squad level)

My first Daemon of Chaos in ages... (notes)

You and your old models. What is (was) that, a bloodletter?

Heh, yeah, I guess there are just a number of old lines that I still like better than the current ones... He was the bloodletter champ, released around the same time as the the 3.5 codex: CSM. Fielding him as a Herald, since he's different enough.

Just a little bump, all the above editing is getting my photos in Dakka's galleries.

Another retro piece, with notes on the conversion here.

My Space Hulk captain (with notes)

Your painting style has really evolved and improved since I've "known" you here on dakka (not that it wasn't good before). It's really awesome to see.

This gak looks superb, brother.

Thanks a lot! Since I've been more actively doing commission stuff, I've been really pushing myself to get faster and better... while my space hulk set certainly isn't exactly "faster," I'm glad about my work improving.

...Of course, now I'm tempted to touch up my genestealers to the same levels.

My jetbike MOTF, and original non-bike form (notes)

Next up: The first couple (living) Blood Angels (notes)

Those SH termies are just...awesome..
Great work Spirallingcadaver.
Keep up the great work
Regards
Mark

Loving the retro marines and SH mini's! Fantastic stuff!

Thanks! Yeah, I've really enjoyed both sets, even though those Space Hulk minis have taken ages...

And more termies (notes):



And the full squad together:

So, some freehand, with few notes.

Really digging those Blood Angels and the glow effect on the Storm Trooper is very well done indeed.

Thanks, yeah, had a lot of fun with both of those. I'm hoping to have the time to complete the storm trooper unit soon...

Also, another land raider:

Continuing the Astral Claws (notes)...

Fantastic work! I really like your Astral Claws

Thanks! Yeah, ever since getting back into 40k, they've been my slow-growing pet project...

So, it's been a while, but beginning a 30k Salamanders set. (notes)

So, finished the Firedrake unit (a few notes):

Finally got some more space hulk guys done (notes)

A display base for someone "special" (notes)

One last thousand son (link).
 
The guy whose TSons army I painted on the first page of this thread needed to sell the army to cover medical expenses, and I really felt for him, having had scary medical/financial stuff, so I painted this guy up for him as a surprise during a recent trade.

So, up next, Vulkan, the first primarch I've painted. (notes)

So, some more creepypasta freehand (notes):

So, some time back I did a test for these guys, but now they're up to a playable squad. (A few notes, and their first mini-battle report...)

Oh freaky stuff.

lol those creepy pasta ones.

So, back to my Astral Claws, with some assault terminators (notes):

My Night Lords... erm... Lord. (some notes)

So, this was quite the project- basically covered in textured freehand, though I think my favorite parts were the fire and crown. (Notes)

So, a hybrid razorback this time (notes)

Back to Space Hulk! (notes)

My Night Lords now ride in (kinda' flimsy) style (notes):

That rhino is pretty much the perfect CSM rhino. Not overly spiky to the point of silliness.

Wow, thanks

Yeah, I guess I find most chaos tanks way too spiky, and with Night Lords being relatively understated, there was no reason to go the demonic direction, so I tried for subtle.

Next up, my test Lamenter to join the Badab Buddies Maelstrom Warders (notes):

I think your rhino/razorback is great. Just the right colours and shading. To be honest, I think your terminators are a touch too dark.

How did you do the yellow for your Lamenter? My next plan is to try a Cassandora wash, off white highlights then a Lamenters glaze.

Thanks! The terminators are a bit drak, though I also pushed the contrast too far in that pic.

On the yellow, bubonic brown or w/e it's called now, with a warm brown. Repeat, more brown, for the shade. Straight Bubonic brown to bring back the midtone. bubonic and a thin yellow for the highlights. Straight yellow for the edges.

And my Astral Claws finally get some wheels (notes)

Obliterators with some little conversions (notes)

Back to salamanders (notes)

I thought the storm talon was derpy as hell, so, my conversion. (Notes)

Filling out the Flamers with the full unit (notes)

A little old combat squad today (notes)

More power armor, alternating back to the green variety. (Notes)

Rounding out the current wave of Salamanders (more notes)

Awesome Sallies. Really nice looking.

Love the black and gold weapons.

D

Thanks! Yeah, they're a lot of fun to work on.

My first Dreadnought in at least a couple years... (notes)

Been a while, some devastators (more for variety than actually using them as a squad...) and the usual notes

Nice dread and Devs, although you might find the devs have a confused role if using them as a single squad due to the mixed weapons loadout.

EDC

Heh, yeah, spamming is pretty obviously the best dev choice- I just took making a squad as a fun incentive for putting together extra gun options at once. The only squad I can actually pull together is 4 missile launchers, though that assault/dev formation is a pretty decent incentive for getting some bolters/heavy bolters together for loading up some anti-infantry.

So, this was a rather unusual one I got asked to work on, I think he came out pretty well (notes & green)

Oh wow.... im getting navi flashbacks.

Hehe, wouldn't be a Zelda game if you didn't have a helper fairy/boat/sword/guy who knows more than you do pestering you every few minutes

Rounding out the SH collection, done with everything except a few duplicates and maybe conversions down the line... (notes)

Really happy with how this guy came out. Notes + WIP shots.

Next up, my first big push on Night Lords in a long time (notes)

I really like the Salamanders, that skin color is what I envision when I think of Salamanders. The Daemon prince is beautiful, very elaborate and a lot of depth. That mace is gorgeous. I like the blue cultists robes.

Well... thanks, sorry for the super-late thanks!

So, after a long break, getting back into 40k, starting with some revisions as i rebase and clean up, and adding a squad of marines (more notes)

So, just finished a beastmen set (notes, as usual)

That's rather striking.

Thanks!

Haven't checked your blog for awhile. Great work on those Night Lords. You've managed to impress me with a Legion I don't ordinarily like, so that's a good thing.

Magnus (I presume it's Magnus) also looks amazing. And at risk of repeating myself, the beastman collection looks fantastic, and the purple colour study beastman looks amazing as well. So very impressive.

Thanks!

The Night Lords collection is actually for my wife (she liked the background, and we both like 40k as a light-weight competitive option), so I took it on as a bit of a challenge since I also thought NLs look pretty silly. I feel like most of it was cutting down on saturation and pretty carefully picking the amount of baroque crap CSMs tend to be covered in.

Starting my Astral Claws project back up with a cleaned up command squad for the new edition (notes):












(edit: dbl post)

Grinding down the banner on the Skulls banner dude. Brave man.

Hehe, more like "dumb kid" ...back when I got it, it was the only model in that style. Today, I'd just use a command squad one, but since I'd already attacked it as a yoof, thought it would be worth more to me, salvaging it over selling a pretty thoroughly attacked model

I feel ya. Looks good though. He is so much smaller than normal marines (not to mention the Primarus marines) it just didn't fit in with most armies now. I just painted mine up as a bronze statue objective marker.

Hmm, yeah, I could see that.

My AC's fit the timeline for Primaris, so they're not getting any unless they shanghai them, so I don't think I have to worry about giant marines! But yeah, he is a little small. I have a handful of my favorite older sculpts mixed in with the army (plus tacticals from everywhere from late 2nd through 6th), though, so I'm not horribly concerned with the exact scale. I also kinda' like a hodgepodge of armor types and ages since the Maelstrom guys were canonically never that well supplied. The SB would look a bit sad and tiny if he were the only old guy, though.

Catching up with some Overkill Marines I forgot to post:

Beautiful work, as always!

Looking awesome dude.

EDC

Thanks!

Next up, a quick one, with my Carnac conversion, and a few thoughts on the new Astral Claws rules.

I like him. Well, other than the dead Red Scorp. I don't recognize the torso, what is that from?

Heh, glad that read without the chapter badge

The head/torso/legs are from some Legion of the Damned model I got part of in trade, I remember sculpting the collar, can't remember if I filed off any details.

Been a while since I've added to this... some Night Lords (with usual notes)

The first of many Mandrakes, with some quick thoughts.

Back to some Deathwatch (notes)

Two giants, converted for an Ironjawz army (plus notes)

So, getting back into my ACs after a while... (notes)

And my Astral Claws force continues to get sporadic updates (and have finally hit the field in 8th... a few notes)

A mix of updated and new Tactical marines, and my first 8th edition model in my interpretation of a Lieutenant.

I like that your first model for 8th is the captain from the starter set for 5th. Seems fitting lol. Painting is pretty good too I guess. Love the freehand on the cape.

Haha, yeah, not playing Death Guard with my Chaos (since 4th) and not playing Primaris (the fluff doesn't fit; I might consider it if my Deathwatch ever gets past the DW:OK squad), I haven't had a reason to get any 8th edition models.

Been tempted by Eisenhorn and the retro noise marine, but I'm avoiding anything that will have me starting another army bigger than a detachment...

I always encourage plenty of Badab marines.

I love the use of the Assault on Black Reach model. I have a few of tbose guys I am modifying too.

Thanks! Yeah, I think so many GW simple/snap fit models' really static feeling poses can be salvaged with really minor cutting. It may be an unpopular opinion, but I think that probably 80%+ of 40k infantry, the way most people interact with them, would be as good as their full kits if they made them simple monopose models with head swap options. I mean, it assumes GW was more interested than they seem to be in simple kits, but even as an experienced modeler, I don't really miss the extra detail simple molds prevent, on all but the nicest characters. (As a CSM player, though, I'm certainly not going to complain about the kitbashing potential of my power armor library, though.)

I've got another one, too; I'm trying to figure out which chest piece will fit to change his sensibility.

Pretty damn happy with my Wraithknight. (Notes and WIPs)

As well you should be. That's a great job there. I like the understated diamond effects. Harlequins often get overly festooned with the things and they give me a headache, but I prefer the subtle approach you have taken

Thanks! Yeah, I didn't have the patience (or client budget) to do diamonds all over; it honestly looked a bit like a Christmas sweater before I started obscuring it with the highlighting, but I agree that by the end it looked fairly subtle

Starting up my Planetary Defense Force using Death Korps models as a standard regiment (notes)

Just finished my Vindicare (guess why?). Notes.

Starting off my Blackstone dudes. (A few notes)

Really nice work on the assassin and Blackstone guys. The extreme highlighting on the Vindicare really adds some definition and drama to a mono-color model.

-Rids

Moving along, with Pious Vorne and some Ur-ghuls to incinerate. Notes

Taddeus, the other half of the Ministorum team, and some Rogue Psykers. (Notes)

My take on Huron Blackheart, with notes and WIPs

Love that Huron. His glowy hand especially.

Thanks!

Yeah, for his status, a lightning claw with a chaos star with a hole in the middle seemed really... I dunno, anticlimactic? Bland?

Like, Huron's rules are perfectly fine, but I wish he were ~50 points more expensive and better, since everything about his rules/gear/stats is just kinda boring for his position. Like, he seems like a cool captain, not one of the major players which is how he tends to be written.

Up next, my somewhat subdued Night Lords dreadnought (notes)

I love your Blackstone Fortress and nice take on the Hellbrute - otherwise they can look a little "Action Man Bad Guy Toy". Thanks for sharing!

Very very nice. With characteristic craftsmanship, and that distinct, ineffable Spiraling Cadaverous vibe....

Thanks! Yeah, honestly I find all of the dreadnoughts other than the Contemptor and maybe Leviathan styles a little dumpy looking. Sometimes with 40k guys I take it as a challenge to see if I can salvage some silly old design concepts.

My most recent, with a few notes

Pretty happy with my new additions, the Traitor Guard took forever...

([ur=https://spiralingcadaver.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-ninth-circle-blackstone-fortress.htmll]A few notes[/url])

Fab work on the latest BSF gang. The conversion work on the traitor guard is so subtle and really works to differentiate the sculpts.

Thanks for sharing!!