I also love the photoshop mockup. His pose there looks very brooding and intimidating, like a commander watching on high as his forces marshal and prepare for an incoming assault. The most defensive posture reminds us that, as the Chapter Master, he's got to be an Intelligence Commander as well as a frontline combatant.

Nice, a second True-scale Marine. I must say i like the Stormcasts' Hammer . Actually I think giving him two of those things would make him look like the Chapter Master artwork from codex Space Marines (I can't seem to find any pic of him on the net ). Care to try it?And have you considered a Grey Knight Terminator's back to replace the tack? Oh and I must say that seeing him (and reading lots of posts from Apologist's Blog http://apologentsia.blogspot.gr/ I started converting my own Cataphract Praetor into a True-scale Marine (tough probably an Ultramarine).


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Haha found him

Cheers for the feedback, guys!

 Crystal Geyser wrote:
I also love the photoshop mockup. His pose there looks very brooding and intimidating, like a commander watching on high as his forces marshal and prepare for an incoming assault. The most defensive posture reminds us that, as the Chapter Master, he's got to be an Intelligence Commander as well as a frontline combatant.

This basically perfectly sums up my concept for the character, which is why I originally chose the pose. As for the actual weapon wielded by the chapter master, swords have a huge cultural relevance for the Golden Legion - and for the entire Velsen Sector, for that matter - so a sword it is. As it happens, the bitz I had ordered arrived in the post earlier this week, so here's an update on the model:

There's still quite a bit of fine tuning to be done, but here's what I have:





As you can see, I did go with the planned Deathwing sword -- only it turned out to be a bit longer than expected, meaning I had to tweak the pose accordingly. But I am pretty happy with the result. The left hand is a placeholder for now -- I carefully dug out the original hand because I wanted to be more flexible, but maybe I shouldn't have bothered. Anyway, I think the hand will either be empty or be holding a pistol of some sort -- maybe a 30k style plasma pistol?!

Here's the model's back with the cape provisionally tacked in place:



And here it is again, without the cape and backpack, allowing you to look at the converted back: It's basically a shaved down GK Terminator torso back, which fit surprisingly well:



And here's a size comparison with Brother Auriga:



One thing you may have noticed in the pictures above is that I did try to add a stylised deathmask to the model's right pauldron. But while I did manage to make a fairly serviceable copy of a Sanguinary Guard mask using GS, the element never stopped bothering me. After taking those pictures, I ripped it off again, shaved it down a bit and tried to reattach it -- and it just didn't come together the way I wanted. For now, I have swapped in a different shoulder pad with a Crux Terminatus, and I do like it better than the alternative. It was a nice idea, but it just didn't work all that well. I have also started to add a bit more bling to the armour -- this guy's a Chapter Master, after all.

So here's what I have right now: Lord Commander Orestes Prabian of the Golden Legion:



As always, let me know what you think!

To frame his head better could you get something like the eagle behind the head of the Assault on Black Reach Captain, or Garro?

Nice - I like the pose, but I think a plasma pistol might look a bit puny - maybe a combi-weapon, or storm bolter would look good? That may just be my personal bias though, I'm not a huge fan of plasma pistols generally.

Either way, I think he'll look great with a nice coat of shiny paint

Really liking how this guy is shaping up.

Well, there's definitely no shortage of attitude on that model, lol.

Cheers, guys!

@ Dreadclaw69: Hmm, I actually think that decoration resembling wings on top of his backpack does a fairly good job as a "framing device". Besides, the way his armour is constructed and the position of the shoulder pads would make it slightly complicated to add something to the back of his collar.

Here's another small update: Prompted by DexterKong, I gave the right pauldron another try, and I am much happier with the result now. I simply grafted a plastic Sanguinary Guard faceplate to the shoulder pad, and it worked much better than the GS copy I had on there earlier:







As I have mentioned earlier, the idea behind the deathmask is that it's the stylised face of the Imperial Martyr Sabasto, Patron Saint of the Velsen Sector. The Golden Legion were his personal guard of honour when he reclaimed the sector for the Imperium about 1,500 years ago, and his ultimate demise at the very forefront of the Crusade remains a mark of shame to the chapter, and a reason for their fanatical need to protect the Velsen Sector against any enemies from without.





Now as for the left hand, I am very much open to ideas, as I am not quite happy with that part myself -- a brazier or lantern might work. Or maybe I'll just replace the entire left forearm with one of the Cataphractii lightning claws? I am a bit hesitant about adding any kind of pistol or bolter, because I feel it would kinda undermine the rest of the composition. But if you have any more ideas, I'd love to hear them!

As always, let me know what you think!

Perhaps give him a Storm Shield? That may help with the medievil vibe the Golden Legion have, especially if it were a more stylised version than the standard terminator one.

A Storm Shield would also tie in with the whole "Sworn protectors" angle - that could look great

Comm-link or Auspex maybe? Make him look like he's in the business of command. A really ornate one would work well.

Looks great

Perhaps it's just that Auriga has more basing material, but in the comparison photos Prabian looks somewhat shorter than him. The backpack crest helps mitigate this somewhat, but it seems as though he should at least have the illusion of being somewhat taller, seeing as he's the Chapter Master?

The Sanguinary Helm shoulder pad looks fantastic - great job with it. Have you considered potentially adding a helmet belted to his waist, or perhaps giving him a helm bearer like Auriga? I also wonder if there isn't a way you can use that small tabard shield as a way to showcase the chapter icon, the same way you had the idea of using Kranon the Relentless's pelvis icon as a World Eaters symbol in your Khorne thread.

I agree that a pistol isn't necessarily what he needs, but I feel as though a lightning claw would unbalance the dramatic emphasis on the sword. This may seem like a strange idea, but what about an auspex? it might help to enhance the tactical role that a Chapter Master fills on the battlefield - not least because he needs to be able to coordinate with his underlings and mark out enemy positions, but also so that he can call in an orbital bombardment!

Obviously all of these are just ideas. Looking good Kraut!

You could make him hold his helmet on his left hand. its not a bad position for it.

The Chapter Master is lookin awesome, both inspiring and intimidating. For the left hand, since his weapon is so huge, I would suppose it is two-handed and therefore eliminates the possibility of a sidearm, or off-hand weapon. Given the pose, perhaps some kind of banner could look well in there? Or Imperial laurels? Generally some symbol of conquest and victory.

Hey everyone, just a small update for today: I realised that my true scale Chaptermaster conversion was still missing a finalised left hand, so I worked on that for a bit earlier today.

I followed an excellent suggestion by EdT over at the Ammobunker to have the Chapter Master hold an amulet/rosary in his left hand, and in the end I didn't even need the Stormcast Eternals bit he linked to, but discovered a suitable part on the Sternguard sprue. Take a look:







As always, let me know what you think!

The amulet looks great! Really fits the rest of the figure

This looks awesome, and really well balanced. Nice pose too.

Love it! The crux was an excellent call

Amazing conversion. It just oozes character.

EDC

This is indeed going to be brilliant, very noble !

That hand just finishes him off nicely

Really nice

It all works really well together

Thanks for the positive feeback, everyone! I am really rather happy with the model myself, and I do think the small chain was the right call, especially given the more narrative and less battle-oriented nature of INQ28!

So here's another update: Some of you might remember my work on something that will eventually become an Ordo Scriptorum warband. The last model I was working on was a member of the Guild of Parchment Scroteners, tasked with destroying heretical texts -- or simply those texts that the Inquisition would rather suppress. I wanted to base the model on the tried and true plastic Nurgle Lord, with quite a bit of inspiration taken from models by PDH and Jeff Vader -- which is why the model took quite a while to come together, I suppose: While I wanted to use the things I liked about the other guys' models, I was also a bit too proud to merely copy their work. But I think I may finally be on to something here. Take a look:





There's quite a bit of cleanup still to be performed on the model -- for instance, all of those Nurglote boils and lesions (as well as the huge gap in the model's belly) need to be filled in and smoothed over with GS, but I think I am finally getting somewhere.

Which leaves the entire - WIP - warband looking like this, for now:



As always, let me know what you think!

Are you planning on GSing his belly up? Hit 2 birds with 1 stone, put his guts away and get rid of the fold where the original weapon went.

Oh yeah, definitely! The belly will - hopefully - end up looking quite smooth and unblemished, giving the guy a bit of a harem eunuch look, if that makes any sense.

I really like the dynamic of the warband, with the two fast fighters, the big, bulky fellow, and the less combative Inquisitor and Lexmechanic models.
They look like a believable group, rather than a disparate band of unrelated characters - really nicely done!

very nice, it is very much your own as well, I have not seen him posed like that before

Cheers, guys!

@ Dark Apostle 666: That is great to hear, even moreso because the assassin, for instance, was built quite a bit earlier and was only added to this particular warband after the fact But yeah, I really hope that the finished warband will have a very organic, for lack of a better word, feel to it, like an actual group of operatives working for an Inquisitor.

So here's another update on that Parchment Scrotener: DexterKong pointed out that the axe looked a bit awkward due to the cable on the grip actually rsting against the left shoulder pad. So I got rid of the cable, and it did indeed free up the space for a more natural pose -- to the point where I don't even feel I need to reattach it. Now regarding the flamer, while it was a nice idea, I realised that adding yet another weapon to the model was a bit too "standard 40k" in concept, and it really only diluted the original character concept ("Fat guy with a huge, two handed-axe used to shred heretical writings): Why would he be using both weapons? That axe looks serviceable enough. And the guys using flamers during the hallowed task of parchment scrotening are probably an entirely different sub-sect/bureau-cult!

So in the end I went with a large, arguably augmetic, arm and hand that underlines the impression that the huge axe is wielded using both arms. Take a look:





And I am really much happier with the whole setup now, because it makes for a more streamlined character.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

very cool man! looks better im really digging that shoulder pad on the power fist arm makes him look like hes part of the retinue even further can't wait to see paint on the big guy!

that's a grey knight shoulder pad correct?

Gnarly warband with great thematic cohesion

Loving the big axe guy. The axe works really well and fits his scale perfectly. His helmet/faceplate is lush - where';s it from?

Nice. Yeah I think I prefer the fist over the flamer for the axe wielding dude.

EDC

Thanks a lot for the positive feedback, everyone! I am much happier with the model now, both because it seems more focused around a clearly defined archetype, and because I was able to take lots of inspiration from two specific models from PDH and Jeff Vader without simply copying them wholesale

@ alabamaheretic: Correct! The shoulder pad is from the GK Terminators

@ Januine: That's actually the Nurgle Lord's original faceplate with an Inquisitorial =][= grafted on -- the symbol was shaved off a Nemesis Dreadknight part, IIRC.

And while we are on the subject, I finally got around to closing up those lesions and the gaping belly wound earlier today, GS'ing in an impressive beer gut instead:







I am probably going to add some doodads here and there, but the biggest part of the conversion is complete now. Here's a look of the Parchment Scrotener next to his employer, Inquisitor Orlanth:

The GSing appears to have come out reasonably well - will you be filling in the pockmarks on the armour too?

Nice GSing the belly looks much better now he's had his surgery.

EDC

Thanks, guys!

@ Brother Payne: I am actually not yet sure about what to do with the pockmarks: I've filled in most of them on the right shoulder pad, but I'm asking myself whether going the same route on the leg armour would be worth it. After all, the armour definitely could have suffered some wear and tear along the way, and I think I've taken quite a few steps to de-Nurglify the overall look of the model...

I agree wear and tear is not unlikely, but imo he'd look better of at least with less of them (I'd be incline to smooth them all over with liquid GS).

Alternatively if you wanted to maintain the battered armour look, you could smooth over just some of them and take a hobby knife to the rest, making them look more like chips / chinks in his armour, rather than plague induced pockmarks. The back of his legs in particular I think should be filled in as imo it's rather unlikely he would have that much, if any, wear and tear there - certainly not more than is displayed on his shoulder guard!

Maybe an icon to cover the Nurgle symbol on his loin cloth too? Wouldn't want any accidental worshipping of the chaos gods going on in your inquisitorial warband would we
(For reference, both PDH and Jeff Vader covered this up)

Apologies for being so critical! Make no mistake, I really like the composition so far. Like you said previously: very well inspired without managing to outright copy

Hey everyone,

whoa, it's been ages since I last posted on this thread, and I decided it was time to change that, so here goes!

So why the delay? Well, for one, 2016 was very much given over to adding stuff to my World Eaters army and participating in community events over at The Bolter & Chainsword, which has been a lot of fun. There's also the fact that, given the frantic pace of the INQ28 scene, it all started to feel a bit too much like an arms race for me for a while there, so I thought it best to take a step back and catch my breath, so to speak.

But the fact remains that INQ28 and the world explored by it is still one of my favourite parts of this hobby, so consider this my return to the fold

First, in order to bring you all up to speed, here's a small recap of my INQ28 completions from 2016:



Not a massive output, to be sure, but still a bunch of models I am really happy with! I managed to basically finis Inquisitor Gotthardt's retinue, started years ago: Just one female psyker left to go, really. But the warband already works pretty well, if you ask me:



The idea was to channel some of the classic archetypes from the INQ rulebook and put my own spin on them where possible. I rather like the classic, swashbuckling charm of the original 54mm models, and wanted to capture some of that with Gotthardt and his followers.

I also finished another mini-warband, Praetor Janus Auriga of the Golden Legion and his retainers:



Janus was my first succesful true scale conversion, and his retainers provided me with the perfect chance to both explore the monastic and knightly angles of the Adeptus Astartes and make the model look even more massive by comparison

And let's not forget Neil101, who very kindly sent me a wonderfully gritty and grimdark Khornate champion last year:



In honour of this model, I have actually come up with a Khornate cult for the Velsen Sector - the Duelists. Think the grimdark version of "Fight Club", and you're not far off

Oh, and there was "The Road Crew", an attempt at building and painting a gang of former pitslaves, mutants and other undesirables that had begun to assemble on the world of St. Sabasto's Reach. A very entertaining project, both from a painting and from a modeling perspective, and I actually have a completely new model fpr them to share with you, completed only yesterday. Here's Solon Antonov, called "the Doktor":











The idea behind Antonov is that he originally served as a low to mid-tier member of the Adeptus Mechanicus, stationed on St. Sabasto's Reach to select suitable slaves for modification and being transported off-world, to spend the rest of their sad lives toiling away in one of the AdMech's mines or forges. But, surprising enough for a man mostly made from metal by this point, Antonov discovered he still had a heart after all, and absconded with a group of slaves. Ever since, he has been the brains behind the "Road Crew", tasked both with planning their activities and with the "maintenance" of its various members.

What I am really happy with is how the paintjob really makes Antonov look like he belongs to the group, in spite of being so very different from a modeling standpoint:



So yeah, it's good to be back! Please feel free to let me know what you think!

Awesome new model! I love that you used the clawed glove from the DV cultist. I have been waiting to find an appropriate use for it, myself. As always, love your work.

Cheers, mate! True story: I've had that clawed gauntlet arm knocking about in my bitzbox for ages - ever since Dark Vengeance was first released, really - so I am glad to have found a use for it as well

So here's another update regarding my "Road Crew" project, as I am already hard at work on the next member of the warband, a twist witch doctor. Take a look:









He's still a little rough around the edges, to be sure, but I do like how the character serves to expand the scope of the warband beyond a mere pit slave gang, even if this guy may initally seem a bit far out.

So here’s the entire gang so far. Meet the Road Crew:



From left to right: Crusher Vexx, Tiny (the Road Crew’s battle captain), Doktor Antonov, Grimspyke, Chopper and the PIP twist witch doctor (if anyone has a cool idea for a name, I’d love to hear it).

All in all, this project is a lot of fun, because it allows for some very organic kitbashing and painting. It’s also a nice vehicle for telling a somewhat more intimate story: These guys aren’t part of the fight for the Emperor’s soul, they just want to get by. That being said, it’s kinda interesting to explore the dichotomy between their humanity and their somewhat distressed, grotesque outer appearances.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

A really funky looking group of dudes. Loving the 'Doktor'.

EDC

These conversions are awesome!
Also just read your Custodes blog from a while back; will be borrowing some of the cataphract conversion ideas for my wolves

Hey everyone,

so, once again, it has been a while since my last proper INQ28 update, but at last I have something new to share with you:

As those of you who follow my World Eaters thread may already know, I recently received a bitz drop from fellow hobbyist Aasfresser,...



...and one particular part of this bitz drop really kicked my INQ28 mojo into overdrive: As I discovered to my delight, Aasfresser had included one of those creepy embryonic rats that come with the Skaven Stormfiends kit. Having one of those things in my hands made me remember my half-buried thoughts about a possible conversion project, and then things just started falling into place: I recalled a certain John Blanche sketch from the 4th edition 40k rulebook, Aasfresser told me about his own plans for those via PM and ‘doesn’t that new 40k objectives kit contain a pretty cool incubation tank…?’

Anyway, here’s what I had when I came to



As you can see, I basically added that incubation tank from the Sector Imperialis Objectives to the undercarriage of a Kataphron Destroyer, and I think it works pretty well. A word of warning to those of you who are considering a purchase of the objectives kit, however: While it contains many excellent parts, the cast seems to be plagued with the same gooey texture and loss of detail we have already seen on some of the basing kits. The components are still serviceable, but they are not as sharp and crisp as the stuff you get when you purchase a 40k squad (or AoS unit).

Those problems notwithstanding, the combined parts made a rather convincing new home for that creepy little embryo: I love the idea of the Adeptus Mechanicus keeping strange and creepy experiments inside incubation tanks and vats and maybe taking them along for expeditions and battles to field-test them. Or maybe this is a particularly degenerate member of the Adeptus itself?

In any case, I did my best to make the small creature inside the tank as creepy as I could: All signs of its ratty progeny (the face and tail) were carefully shaved away, and a new face was spliced in. I also added some more cabling and some injectors and vials for that extra bit of AdMech madness. Here’s a closer look:





Given the enlarged brain, I thought it would be cool to go for a face with the eyes and mouth sewn shut, so I used one of the trophy heads from the Plaguebearer kit. Yeah, pretty unhinged — I know

Now the back of the tank is fully detailed as well, with a pretty nifty array of cogitator banks, so I wanted to have some kind of Magos or tech thrall on there, monitoring the vital signs, collecting readings and stuff like that. Now my original plan was to have the operator as an actual, separate individual, but comments from fellow hobbyists over at the B&C made me reconsider — and realise that there’s actually nothing more AdMech than having a hardwired servitor on there for just that one purpose, is there?

So here’s a mockup for the operator/servitor:





And here’s a view from the front, without the tank in the way:





The servitor itself looks pretty faceless, but that’s arguably the point of such a creature, right?

All in all, I think the model is really starting to come together — and the cradle for the servitor also goes some way towards making the whole ensemble look more believable as an actual AdMech machine.

So the model should be a pretty cool addition to the small AdMech freakshow I have already built and painted for my INQ28 collection:



Sawing through all of those Kataphron Destroyer bitz also led to another conversion: I recently purchased a box of three snapfit Primaris Marines, so I could experiment on the new Space Marine models at some point. Say what you will about the way the bigger Marines have been shoehorned into the setting (personally, I hate it!), but the models are pretty cool and provide the perfect go-to template for building true scale Astartes for use in INQ28, among other things. So I returned to yet another conversion I had been planning for a while — although having the Primaris Marines to work from certainly made this project quite a bit easier!





As you can probably tell from looking at the model, this is supposed to be an Iron Hands (Tech-) Marine. I carefully sawed away most of the Primaris torso front and replaced it with a Kataphron Destroyer breastplate. The bionic left arm also came from the Kataphron Destroyers. The backpack and head are from the Deathwatch:Overkill Iron Hands character, and the bionic left hand and axe are from a Master of the Forge.

For the right arm, I tried just tacking on the stock arm, but this highlighted the fact that the new, elongated bolters don’t really work all that well when held in one hand — the arm just seemed ever so slightly unbalanced to me. So I carefully reposed the arm from aforementioned Deathwatch:Overkill model, and I think it works far better:







Funnnily enough, the new gun isn’t really that much shorter, but it still looks quite a bit more balanced, wouldn’t you agree? It probably has something to do with the front of the weapon having a stockier build and looking less “elongated”, for lack of a better word. Plus the cabling also adds a bit of extra visual “counterweight”, as it were.

As always, let me know what you think!

The tank is delightfully detailed and weird.

Glad to see these guys getting some more love, KS. Well done removing the rat bits off that vermin!

Cheers, guys!

So here's another update for you to check out: I have returned to something that I had been planning to do for a long time, indeed. So what is this about?

Back when the first plastic AdMech kits were released, the Kastelan Robots were one of my first purchases. One of them was turned into a counts-as Contemptor for my 40k World Eaters. The other one was was saved for future use, although my idea of what to do with the model actually went through several revisions.

The plan I finally settled on was to turn the model into some kind of patched up, ancient servitor/former war machine as another colourful addition to my Pit Slave/Underhive project, The Road Crew:



But while I really liked that idea, it never really materialised either, apart from some early kitbashing. But then two things happened. One, I got my hands on one of the old Forgeworld World Eaters Dreadnoughts, and the head of the machine just turned out to be perfect for this project. Two, I recently saw what WarbossKurgan did with his rather beat-up Kastelans, and that provided the inspiration I needed to wade back into the fray. So here’s what I have now:







As you can see, I have gone for a really ragtag appearance so far, with many tacked on armour plates and strange bits and bobs that suggest all kinds of field repairs — only fitting for the underhive, really. The rounded, 50s retro-futuristic SciFi look is still there, but it’s covered by layers and layers of later additions or replacements: In fact, I really love the idea of making the machine’s origins even more ambiguous: Is it a refurbished heavy duty servitor? An AdMech construct or an ancient warmachine? Or could it be even older…?

There were also several pieces of inspiration for the model: There’s quite a bit of Mad Max and Fallout going on there, but probably the biggest influence was the ABC Warrior Robot, possibly the best thing about the old Judge Dredd film:



And while we are on the subject of influences, using part of a barrel as one of the model’s shoulder pads is actually a bit of a shout out to The Road to Jove, Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s and David Sondered’s graphic novel project:



This also ties into something else I was actually pushing for: A general look of asymmetry: the pauldrons are one example of this, but there are also the arms: The gun arm is massive and beefy, the other one is strangely skeletal, probably due to having been replaced or repaired at some point.

Anyway, after getting nowhere with this model for ages, I am actually pretty happy with the progress I have made. The next step will be to add more details, like cabling and a bit more battle damage. And then, painting the model should be rather enjoyable. I think I’ll be going for a mix of darkened, oily metal and the Road Crew’s trademark, heavily weathered yellow armour I also want to pick a collection of decals that may or may not hint at the machine’s past — in any case, it should make the model even more interesting! And it’ll make for a cool addition to the project:



As always, let me know what you think!

I had missed your pit slave force. Let me say, that they look great. Excellent use of skaven blood bowl legs/skirt with the ghoul. That looks fantastic.
The kastellan robot thing also looks great. That head option looks really good atop the build you have. Excited to see the cabling and details added.

Hard not to love the 'bot. Tons of character. The chest piece in particular is a great touch. Makes him look like some kind of ancient war totem come to life.

Cheers, guys! I really appreciate the kind words!

So here's another update on the Underhive Robot, now basically ready for painting after another round of cleanup and detailing:









As always, let me know what you think!

Great stuff as always

Totally with you on the Primaries front models great but fluff poor thinking of the their better and bigger as either a imperial propaganda or complete litteral interpretation from the mechanics (they are taller by 5mm on average and are stronger by 0.01% on average)

makes it a little easier to swallow for me

keep up the good work dude

 JoeRugby wrote:
Great stuff as always

Totally with you on the Primaries front models great but fluff poor thinking of the their better and bigger as either a imperial propaganda or complete litteral interpretation from the mechanics (they are taller by 5mm on average and are stronger by 0.01% on average)

makes it a little easier to swallow for me

keep up the good work dude

The way I justify it is it isn't their capabilities that are being glossed by propaganda, it's their stability. Based on the idea that Cawl didn't actually really invent anything, he just discovered the recipe for creating Thunder Warriors en masse again.

So, Guilliman is happily disseminating warriors all over the Imperium that are known to be fantastically unstable. How long before reports start filtering in of them wigging out and butchering their own forces in a pique of rage? How long before the officials start getting suspicious of this mighty boon they have been granted for free? How will the Primaris Marines themselves feel when they realise they've been lied to about the stability of their upgrades? Some might embrace their new hyper-violent nature. Some might be wracked with guilt over the uncontrollable bouts of rage they feel.

There's absolutely potential in their fluff, and with a little nudging to make them a little more grimdark could actually add their own flavour of depth to the 40k universe. It just needs someone to offer some hints that not all is well in the world of Primaris...

Oh, and love the war-totem Kraut I've never been a fan of the big bots but between Kurgan and yourself I may just be warming to them

Khornebot is awesome. Very static pose will really set it apart from the rest of your army, but there is still brutality in his presence.

*blows dust off this thread*

Hey everyone -- phew, I realise it's been a rather long time since the last update! That being said, INQ28 is always on my mind in some shape or form, and blazing through "Carrion Throne" this weekend (a brilliant read, but then I am probably preaching to the choir here) has given me the appetite to share some of my recent creations with you:

I've been spending a lot of time over at The Bolter & Chainsword, and everybody's been doing Death Guard for a while now, for fairly obvious reasons. I have been swept along by the tide for a bit, and while any proper army project - beyond kitbashing models like crazy, that is - has yet to take shape, I recently came up with the idea of connecting my Death Guard models with a shared idea DexterKong and I have had for a Nurglite cult for our shared setting, the Velsen Sector:

Now the basic idea is basically connected to a bit of a freak gardening accident, as it were: Scientists on an agri-world sought to improve the quality of their crops by tempering with the gentic makeup of the plants. And either by a heretical agent introducing some kind of warp taint into the formulae, or merely by Grandfather Nurgle taking an interest because the universe has some kind of humor, the result was a strain of plants that carried a virulent taint, turning the plantlife of any given planet into a hellscape of violent growth and decay -- and basically into a slice of Nurgle's Garden in the material universe. So the cult is basically obsessed with introducing the tainted seeds into as many ecosystems as they can. Anyway, this seemed like a pretty cool take on the cultist/Poxwalker side of a Death Guard army, but it would also allow for fairly easy crossover into the INQ28 scale of things. So here are some early kitbashes:



I realised how many of the Poxwalker models seem to be wearing the remains of hazmat suits, so maybe those were the original scientists working on the tainted plants? Or the remains of cleanup crews sent to deal with the initial outbreak? Anyway, I tried to make some of my Poxwalker models look even more creepy and spastic (compare the middle guy) by tweaking their poses. The guy on the left received a rebreather, both because I didn't like the original face and because the proboscis-like breathing tube dangling from his mask really fits his flie-like mutations. I also gave him the grimdark version of a garden rake

I also spliced some dryad branches into a regular Plaguebearer and tweaked his pose, to pick up on both the Poxwalkers' poses and the idea of daemonic plantlife: My idea was that cultists, Poxwalkers and Plaguebearers in this force/warband are just at different stages of the mutation/daemonisation process: They are all caretakers of Nurgle's Eternal Garden, with warp tainted growths and plantlife slowly breaking out of their diseased bodies. Seeing some of the absolutely stunning models from the Lesotho 2-12 project has given me even more ideas and inspiration to pursue these ideas! Anyway, this will probably be a longer, slow-burn project, but I am pretty happy about having found this angle for the project, instead of merely doing "just another" Death Guard army.

I also finished my second Primaris-based truescale Marine a while ago: I really wanted to build the kind of clean-cut, iconic 2nd edition style Space Marine we probably all remember from the early to mid-90s. Artemis' original 54mm model was also a huge inspiration, hence the decision to turn him into a Deathwatch Marine (together with the Iron Hands guy posted above, there's probably an entire killteam in there somewhere):







As for actually getting something finished (you know, with paint and all), I've returned to an older warband of mine: Inquisitor Arslan and his followers, of the Ordo Hereticus. I must have returned to these guys half a dozen times over the years, making a small addition here and a tweak there, but prompted by my reading of Carrion Throne, I've now prepared them for their day in the spotlight and should finally get around to painting them soon.

Inquisitor Arslan finally got a small promethium tank feeding his hand flamer, complete with a hose running from his hip to his fist:





There's also this old Van Saar model I received in a bitz swap a while ago. I always felt that, with his bulky stillsuit and aiming pose, he'd make for a great Inquisitorial operative:



Now in another shout out to Dexter's and my shared setting, I wanted him to be a veteran of the Saarthen Draughr, a regiment invented by DexterKong. The Draughr use helmets that are basically Necron heads with spliced-on rebreathers, so I added a similar helmet to the model's belt:



This is such a small thing, really, but it just made me stupidly happy when finished: Dexter and I spent quite a bit of time discussing back and forth about what kind of helmet the Draughr should wear: He wanted sinister, but not Traitor Guard-sinister, so we settled on the Necron head in the end, seeing how it had this smooth, prefab look. Anyway, being able to call back to that shared element on my own model now is pretty sweet, even if it's such a minuscule detail.

Next in line on the painting desk is his interrogator here:



She was originally sent to me as a footless, headless Seraphim by PDH, ages ago. I've been thinking about the paintjob for a long time now, so it should be really cool to finally see her finished (keep your fingers crossed for me).

In fact, I have already made a proper start on her paintjob:



She might just be turning out a bit more painterly than I am strictly comfortable with, but I do think I am on to something here

As always, let me know what you think!

So here's another update on that Ordo Hereticus Interrogator: I've actually managed to wrap up the paintjob, at least for the most part:







The painting felt a bit freeform at times, but I am actually really happy with the way the model turned out! That being said, I know now why I kept putting this off, as the metal model had lots of weird nooks and crannies and dodgy areas. Anyway, just some minor touchups, and I think she'll be finished. Meanwhile, I am already at work on the second member of the retinue, a redemptionist (sorry, no pictures yet ).

In other news, seeing how I am currently in an INQ28 state of mind, I grabbed some of my (semi-finished) retinues, some props and had a bit of fun. No new models here, just a fun little diversion:

Inquisitor Antrecht and his retinue:





Inquisitor Gotthardt and his retinue:



Servants of the Emperor:



The Magi of Korhold:



As always, let me know what you think!

What I think? I think they rule.

Cheers, man!

So here's another update, as I am currently working on the next model for Inquisitor Arslan's retinue: Brother Goderich the Pure, of the Church of Redemption:







Goderich is, of course, a callback to the old Necromunda Redemptionists -- although he was converted before the new Necromunda was even announced. Even so, I decided to include some shout outs to the classic Necromunda look, such as the hazard striped eviscerator

Between the two (mostly) finished models, you can basically see the colours I want to use for the warband: a very classic Ordo Hereticus approach, sinister and regal at the same time: the ostentatiousness of those who are perfectly assured of their righteousness

Here are both the Interrogator and the PIP redemptionist:



As always, let me know what you think!

He's a perfect Redemptionist loony. Love that fire-hat.

Looks pretty awesome, I love the blue 'gas' flame, it really adds realism.

Great reds, how do you get them so bright?

Cheers, guys! So someone does read this stuff, after all! That's good to know!

@ youwashock: Come to think of it, it was actually the cover artwork for one of the old Redeemer comics that inspired this conversion, and he had the fire hat, so...

@ cheiflibrarian: Cheers, man! I am so stupidly happy with that detail, to be honest. It came to me in a moment of inspiration, and it has the added benefit of adding a visual flourish to that rather boring flamer nozzle

@ Kid_Kyoto: Hm, in this particular case, I used Mephiston Red, washed heavily with Army Painter Dark Tone, then layered it back up to bright red. It worked so well because the sculpts really allowed for it, though, with lots of folds and raised areas. Wouldn't have worked nearly as well on a Space Marine, for instance


So here's the finished Redemtpionist:

Brother Goderich the Pure, of the Church of Redemption







One thing I am really not sure about is whether or not I should add some Imperial/Inquisitorial decals to his shoulder pads (in white): Would that improve the model, or would it detract from it? Happy to hear your feedback on that!

I also took the time to apply the finishing touches to Interrogator Chastity -- I still need a suitable last name for her, by the way: Feel free to provide me with some suggestions:







Here she is with my older, kitbashed Sister of Battle, Euphrati Eisen -- possibly her former Sister...?!



And here are Chastity and Goderich again:



One thing I really wanted to achieve was for them to share the same palette, but to give the redemptionist a grubbier, dustier feel, which I believe worked out rather nicely.

Anyway, let me know what you think!

Great work on them, agree on the fact that, even if they have the same palette, interrogator Chastity has a more noble look, while Brother Goderich seems the one who gets his hand dirty (despite his nickname).

Thanks a lot, b-tone! That was exactly the look I was going for, so I am really glad to hear that it seems to have worked as intended!

In fact, I am really having a blast with these latest Hereticus models, and I hope it shows!

Here's another update on the retinue: Next in line was the OOP Van Saar turned Inquisitorial Operative: Tybalt Renner, formerly of the Saarthen Draugr:





As you can see, I chose a far more subdued approach this time around, as I wanted him to actually look a bit more like a black ops soldier who is great at infiltration and stealth missions as well as regular shootouts, hence the grey stillsuit with the glossy black armour plates. I did add the suggestion of woodgrain to the casing of his longlas, though, both to hint at the fact that it's a keepsake weapon and to recall the medieval look that is so common for the Ordo Hereticus.

I also wanted to feature the red that is so prominent elsewhere in the warband, so I added the red lenses, the red field on his left shoulder (with the "S" as a callback to Renner's former regiment, the Saarthen Draugr) and half an Inquisitorial symbol in red on his facemask:





At first I wasn't sure whether I liked the outcome, but I have grown rather fond of the model: I think the slightly more lowkey appearance really works for the model (in my mind, there's a fair bit of "Venom Snake/Big Boss" from Metal Gear Solid V to this character -- make of that what you will). He still needs a proper base, though.

Meanwhile, I have been hard at work at this old chestnut:



A classic GW Imperial Missionary that came into my possession as part of a job lot. I made some slight tweaks -- the chainsword was missing, and I replaced it with a trusty autopistol. And the book standard was great, but didn't tell the story I wanted, so I replaced it with a slightly more angular Inquisition symbol/reliquary.

Here's what the model looks like right now:



And here's the current state of the warband:



As always, let me know what you think!

Hello? Anybody alive in here?

Anyway, I'm chipping away on the missionary, and most of the basic paintjob is in place right now:



Finally tackled his backpack as well -- with all the carefully stowed gear, it's a little work of art in and of itself, although painting it took a bit of time:



Just missing some finishing touches, and then he's ready to finally join Inquisitor Arslan's retinue for good. Speaking of which, another day, another family picture:



In other news, my blog - Eternal Hunt - recently turned six, and it has become customary for me to post my own old models from my first years in the hobby on blog birthdays -- only I've basically shown all of them at this point. So I thought I'd try something a bit different - but still retro - for this year, and have begun to paint this guy Drone21c sent me a couple of years ago, in preparation of my birthday post:





Of course the model's dodgy as heck by modern standards, but trying to get the Oldhammer look just right has been a lot of fun so far

As always, let me know what you think!

Oh, my. Look at that Guardsman. Such an awesome box set that was. The retinue looks great. The classic models give at an older GW vibe. I really like them.

At first I thought Tybalt Renner was a bit different in style, but in the group pic he really fits in perfectly, even adding more character to the band. Amazing paint job on the missionary.

Thanks, guys!

@ t-bone: Yeah, he actually does work fairly well as a part of the group, doesn't he? I mean Inquisitorial retinues are fairly well known for a bit of eclecticism, so a low key soldier amdist all the fire and brimstone loonies seems like a pretty tame choice, all things considered

So here's the finished retro Guardsman, in celebration of my blog's sixth birthday , and as a shout out to Drone21c, who originally sent me the model -

Trooper Gibbson Rikkert of the 5th Arcadian Rifles









I actually worked from some actual vintage reference material to get the look just right:



As always, let me know what you think!

Hrm, seems like the retro guardsman didn't exactly turn any heads. Oh well...

Anyway, time for an update, as work on Inquisitor Arslan's retinue continues apace. For one, Tybalt Renner now has his base, and I have also added the last finishing touches to the Missionary (actually a Brian Nelson sculpt, by the way: Eric Wier cleared that up for me):









I also have some new models to show you, though: One of the parts that really embodies the Inquisition (and, by extension, the 40k look) for me are the many servo-skulls, cherubim and familiars appearing in the artwork. This is especially true of most pieces of art depicting the Ordo Hereticus, so I knew Inquisitor Arslan would need some suitably grimdark families. Hence these guys:



The servo-skull was actually inspired by a small illustration from the old Codex Witch Hunters:







Of course he has a small promethium tank to fuel that fire



The Angel of Death familiar came about as the consequence of wanting to do something with some Vampire Counts Coven Throne bitz I got via ebay (in an attempt to get my hands on the female vampires that come with the kit). Anyway, I thought a floating skeleton with a scythe seemed suitably menacing for a Hereticus warband





So here's the entire warband so far, just missing the good Inquisitor himself and a female Death Cult Assassin:



As always, let me know what you think!

Nice work on the guardsman. I’ve got a shelf of those guys, unfortunately painted by a much younger me. Glad to see you adhering to the classic scheme.

Retenue looking good as well!

So cool gang. Great adds with the servo skulls, very characterfull (and I think it's the first time I see one with fire hair!)

That's a great looking team... Love your take on some of the old metal minis in particular

Inspirational as always. Always so impressed by your conversion work.

Those little guys are just PRECIOUS. So much added character. The flaming skull is magnificent. The script, the tank, the whole thing just works.

Female DCA, you say?

Thanks a lot for the kind words, everyone!

@ youwashock: Indeed. This is the lady in question:




However, I have decided to focus on Inquisitor Arslan himself for now -- if only to prevent myself for making yet another half-dozen tweaks to the model and keeping it unpainted for yet another year

Anyway, I had a massive painting session scheduled for tonight, and here are the results:

Inquisitor Arslan after a short while, with just the base colours in place:



A while later -- and quite a bit further along:



And finally, when we packed up for the night:





Still quite a bit of detail work left, but feel free to let me know what you think so far!

Oooh, I like her. Those pistols are such good bitz.

=][= is looking real good. The face, sword, and symbol on the hood are my favorite touches right now.

Many thanks, youwashock!


So here's another update on Inquisitor Arslan: The pictures aren't perfect, for which I apologise, but they should still serve to illustrate what I am talking about. So here's Arslan right now:





One thing you may notice is that I went back to black on his left shoulder pad. This might seem like a dubious choice, seeing how well the red shoulder pad worked in the last couple of pictures, right? Only, in a weird development, it didn't really work in real life: It kept drawing the view away from more important parts of the model, and I kept glancing back at it, so in the end, I repainted it. Annoyingly enough, it may not look as cool in the photos as the red pad did. So you'll have to trust me on this: It didn't work in red

The other unexpected change was that I actually swapped in a new shield. I originally had the shield with the stylised battle scene from the Nemesis Dreadknight kit on there, but my colour choices for the model meant that I had boxed myself in regarding the shield: The warrior on the shield would obviously have to represent Arslan himself, so I would have needed to paint him in black. That would have left only gold and red for the daemon, with red being the obvious choice. That, in turn, would have left me with a golden shield, which wouldn't exactly have gelled with the rest of the model. Anyway, to make a long story short, I decided to try a different shield and create the inconography on it from scratch (or rather, via decals):



The idea here was to go for a medieval-style seal that would fit Arslan's very medieval overall look. I also thought that this design might be his actual Inquisitorial seal, the one he uses to sign Exterminatus orders, and other jolly missives like that The "A" stands for "Arslan", and the "V" for "Velsen", the name of the sector. The whole thing was also ever so slightly influenced by designs like the Chi Rho.

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts!

I think the changes work fine. With the shield in place you don't miss the red shoulder at all, and the clean iconography ties back in with the symbols on the hood and cape.

He looks very menacing. I think the shoulder pad looks good in black, it helps make the hood and cape stand out more as cloth.

I must also add that love your inquisitor photo setup with the cards and keys. It really helps the Grimdark

Cheers, guys! I'm glad I seem to have made the right call with the shoulder pad and shield!

So here are the additional pictures I promised:















I also took a picture of Arslan and the Lady Chastity, his interrogator, to show you how they basically use the same palette with one inverted key colour:



And here's a snapshot of the finished retinue so far. Just one last member to go



As always, let me know what you think!

They are lovely. Black/red is always a winner, and these guys wear it well.

I agree. The red and black really works on the inquisitor. The gold trim really goes well with it, while still setting him apart from the rest of the group just slightly.

Really nice little band coming together.

Cheers, guys!

So I sat down yesterday and finished the last member for the Ordo Hereticus warband: A female Death Cult Assassin very much inspired by the Severina and Sevora models released for INQ 54mm:









She still needs a name, so if anyone can come up with something suitably medieval and slightly sinister, let me know

And that means that Inquisitor Arslan's retinue is now complete, at long last. It's weird to realise that I've had most of this retinue for years now, and now I've finally manage to finish the models in very short order. Anyway, take a look:



As always, let me know what you think!

Loove the new additions, thanks for sharing, much inspiration for all of our INQ28 efforts!

Excellent stuff the scroll on the Servoskull is especially good and the Lava power blade is something I haven't seen before but love.

Thanks a lot, guys! I really appreciate the kind words!

You sir, are an inspiration.

The] [ symbol on the cloak and shield is very impressive .

Very nice. I love seeing people re-imagining the old Inquisitor models as 28mm figures.

Beautiful work. DCA really looks like she means business.

Cheers, guys!

Since I posted a pretty massive writeup about the entire warband over on my blog just now, I took some additional photos showing off every member of the warband. I hope sharing them here as well won't be overkill?


The Warband of Inquisitor Nabreus Arslan, Ordo Hereticus Velsen:



Inquisitor Nabreus Arslan, a powerful Witch Hunter of the Ordo Hereticus, known among the devout as “The Lion of Velsen”.



The Lady Chastity, a former Sister of Battle from the Order of the Martyred Blade, now serving as Arslan’s Interrogator.



Inquisitorial Operative Tybalt Renner, a veteran of the Saarthen Draugr, and an operative specialising in infiltration and stealth missions.



Brother Goderich the Pure, a member of the Church of Redemption, serving Arslan as a vicious, albeit utterly loyal, attack dog.



Father Ravion Ishmael, a veteran of the Astra Militarum turned intinerant priest of the Imperial Cult, currently serving as personal confessor to Inquisitor Arslan.



A mysterious, mute assassin from the Order of the Blade Unsheathed.



The Angel of Penance, a cyber-familiar cast in the shape of an avenging angel in order to strike terror into the hearts of heretics and instill fearful respect in the devout.



Horatio, a servo-skull.


As always, let me know what you think!

Horatio. I love it. Again, brilliant stuff.

Cheers, mate!

So here's a small update about the next INQ28 projects on my desk: With the Ordo Hereticus warband finished, I really want to make the most of my current spell of motivation and inspiration while it lasts

First up, I managed to grab one of these:



I've read all of the Eisenhorn (and Ravenor) novels, obviously, and seeing how Eisenhorn has been such a big part of Inquisitor from the start, it felt like this was the one limited model I needed to own -- after all, I already failed in picking up a 54mm Eisenhorn while he was still available...

So far, I have only managed to clean and partially assemble the model -- as cool as the sculpt itself is, the casting was a terrible throwback to the worst ages of Failcast, with lots and lots of flash, a brittle resin that easily snaps, a warped psi-staff and other lovely stuff like that. No major air bubbles, fortunately, so the model did clean up well enough in the end. But it's very much a model for the experienced hobbyist, if you ask me.

For once, I think I'll resist the temptation to convert the model -- with one small caveat: I am looking at different options for building two different heads for Eisenhorn, so I can switch between young Eisenhorn and old Eisenhorn as desired []

As for what's next on the painting table, I really want to finish the last model for Inquisitor Gotthardt's retinue (posted on the previous page). If there are any long time readers of this plog still around, they may remember this dame:





This is Elisha Gorgo, the daughter of a planetary governor (or at least a powerful Imperial noble), hidden away from the world for most of her life, due to her psyker powers. Inquisitor Gotthardt discovered her and made her a part of his retinue, arguably saving her from the far more dire fate that might have awaited her, had she encountered one of his more hardline colleagues, such as Inquisitor Arslan, first.


And I also really want to get some paint on my archetypal, 2nd edition-ish true scale Deathwatch Marine:





I think I have mentioned before how he was very much inspired by the clean retro-look of the 2nd edition Space Marines, as well as by the 54mm model for Brother Artemis in particular. It only seems fitting, therefore, that I'll be painting him as an Ultramarine (well, his right pauldron, that is) -- it seems I owe the chapter a bit of slack after draping dead or dying Ultramarines all over the bases for my 30k World Eaters

My long-term INQ28 goal for 2018 is to finish at least another Inquisitorial retinue, namely the warband of Redactor Tiberias Orlanth, of the Ordo Scriptorum:



The warband was built last yeah, I think, around the model for Redactor Orlanth who is basically a tribute to the late, great Wayne England: The model is directly based on a Wayne England sketch:



So yeah, just a couple of impressions from my current INQ28 projects. As always, let me know what you think!

Very exciting to see those guys up for painting. Those are some glorious models.

 KrautScientist wrote:

I think I have mentioned before how he was very much inspired by the clean retro-look of the 2nd edition Space Marines, as well as by the 54mm model for Brother Artemis in particular. It only seems fitting, therefore, that I'll be painting him as an Ultramarine (well, his right pauldron, that is) -- it seems I owe the chapter a bit of slack after draping dead or dying Ultramarines all over the bases for my 30k World Eaters

Courage and Honour!

Going to put some dead World Eaters on his base?

Amazing work on the inquisitors/retinues. So much unique character on every model.

Cheers for the comments, guys!

 Nevelon wrote:

Going to put some dead World Eaters on his base? .

Aw man, you really are impossible to please, are you? I give you one Ultramarine, and you ask for the entire demi-company, so to speak


So here's another update for you: I am currently painting the model for Elisha Gorgo, something I had been putting off for years:









I was actually apprehensive enough about this paintjob to mock up a colour scheme in Photoshop beforehand, something I rarely do. It has worked out pretty well so far, though: Something that doesn't really come across in the photos is how both the corsage as well as the pants have a slight metallic sheen, in order to hint at different materials used for her dress.

Apart from that, I wish I had managed a better job on the face: It's nice enough, and probably the best I can do, but one can always dream...

One question I could use some help with is whether or not I should go with a blue OSL effect in the palms of her hands to hint at her channeling her powers: It would explain her pose a bit better, but the hands are very small, and I don't really want it to end up looking tacky. Opinions?

As always, let me know what you think!

I say go for it.

 KrautScientist wrote:
Cheers for the comments, guys!

 Nevelon wrote:

Going to put some dead World Eaters on his base? .

Aw man, you really are impossible to please, are you? I give you one Ultramarine, and you ask for the entire demi-company, so to speak


So here's another update for you: I am currently painting the model for Elisha Gorgo, something I had been putting off for years:


I was actually apprehensive enough about this paintjob to mock up a colour scheme in Photoshop beforehand, something I rarely do. It has worked out pretty well so far, though: Something that doesn't really come across in the photos is how both the corsage as well as the pants have a slight metallic sheen, in order to hint at different materials used for her dress.

Apart from that, I wish I had managed a better job on the face: It's nice enough, and probably the best I can do, but one can always dream...

One question I could use some help with is whether or not I should go with a blue OSL effect in the palms of her hands to hint at her channeling her powers: It would explain her pose a bit better, but the hands are very small, and I don't really want it to end up looking tacky. Opinions?

As always, let me know what you think!

Actually, if you do go with an Ultramarine demi-co, you should add some chapter-level assets as well as support from the 1st and 10th.

I kid. Just thought it might be some fun turn-about for all the Ultras you’ve butchered. When I get around to painting my Guiliman, you’ve decided for me how to paint the dead chaos marine on his base.

Some glow on the hands would really cement the fact that she’s a psycher. But as you point out, OSL if not done right, can look quite tacky. I do have faith in your ability to pull it off though, so I vote to add it.

Love the rescued girl / witch. And I can't wait to see your paint job on your death watch

Beautiful work as always.

I really love the way you've painted the flames on Brother Goderich & the servo skull.

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Nevelon: You know what, I actually would add a dead World Eater to the Marine's base, if just to even things out a bit, but seeing how he's Deathwatch, it just doesn't really seem appropriate. Thumbs up on your choice regarding the guy on Robbie G's base, though! Don't forget to add some bunny ears

So anyway, I did take the plunge and added some SFX to Elisha. I tried to keep the effect fairly subtle, though:



Elisha Gorgo
born Countess Elisha Haxta di Colasante Mordina-Gorgo


Elisha Gorgo is the eldest daughter of the influential Imperial House Mordina-Gorgo. The girl started displaying psykana powers at a very young age. Under normal circumstances, this would have meant a dreary and possibly short life aboard one of the Blackships, but her influential father used every ounce of his authority to keep her “affliction” a secret. Due to her powers, she has been sequestered away from other people for most of her life and has grown up very shy and demure as a consequence.

Her secret was only uncovered when Inquisitor Gotthardt visited her homeworld as part of an investigation. And, for an undisclosed reason, he chose to make her a member of his retinue, arguably saving her from the far more dire fate that might have awaited her, had she encountered one of his more hardline colleagues.









When all is said and done, I am pretty happy with the way Elisha has turned out: Painting a model after such a long time always means you have to compromise — to settle on one definite way the model will look over all the possibilities you have been pondering in the back of your head. All technical gripes notwithstanding, I do think she makes for a rather stunnig addition to Inquisitor Gotthardt’s warband — because let’s not forget that the retinue is now actually finished. Take a look:



Inquisitor Erasmus Gotthardt and retinue
Ordo Hereticus Velsen



And here's another look at the members of the retinue in turn:



Inquisitor Erasmus Gotthardt, an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus Velsen in uneasy pursuit of his former friend, Inquisitor Lazarus Antrecht.



Cpt. Esteban Revas, former Regimental Champion of the 126th Haaruthian Dragoons, publicly dishonoured for an honourable deed.



Trooper Salvador ‘Sal’ Koltz, also formerly of the 126th Haaruthian Dragoons. An unashamedly lowbrow, yet surprisingly resourceful, individual. Bound by a debt of gratitude, he serves as personal retainer to Esteban Revas.



Iskander Gagarin, flamboyant Rogue Trader and merchant-prince. Claims to be a scion of one of the very first families to have sailed out into the Great Void Sea, even predating the Age of Unification.



PeeDee the Monkey, a priceless cyber-familiar and exotic pet to Iskander Gagarin.



Elisha Gorgo, of House Mordina-Gorgo, an imperial debutante, possessing strange psykana powers.



Father Endric Harlan, a Schola Progenium Drill-Abbot and survivor of the Quelling of St. Berthold, a highly classified Inquisitorial operation.



Remus Ingram, a former member of the Riftyr Hiveguard turned inquisitorial investigator, and Balzepho, his cyber-mastiff.


As always, let me know what you think!

Beautiful work. That is a stunning warband!

Great looking band. There are some real choice pieces in this one. The drill-abbot, the rogue trader, Revas. Pure 40K.

Your whole warband is fantastic! Great kitbashes and conversions too.

Love the glow on your witch girl. I tried something similar in red on my 30k DA Librarian

Those are all really great. Thematic and well executed. If i may iffer an opinion on the psykers hands, the OSL looks good on the hands but i think it would benefit from a bloom of reflected light on the purity seal parchment and maybe her hair?

@ Appolilinaire, youwashock & Master Azalle: Cheers, everyone! Really appreciate the kind words!

@ Flinty: While you are probably right about the OSL, I just cannot bring myself to make any more additions to the model: It feels like I only barely managed not to ruin her during the painting stage, and going back to the model now and making any changes to the paintjob would just feel like I was pushing my luck...

In other news, I had another sizeable painting session yesterday, so today I get to share a bit of a surprise WIP with you guys: This little fella here:







This is Worker # 9, a robot I built last year (as some of you may remember), taking inspiration from all kinds of sources, chief among them the robot from the old Judge Dredd film (and comics) and the world of Fallout. I wanted to invoke the impression of a machine that was either an old AdMech automaton or possibly even a warmachine predating imperial time, and that had been crudely repaired and updated with underhive technology -- hence the many improvised armour plates and the overall asymmetrical, cobbled-together look. There's still a lot of work to be done on this guy, but I am pretty happy with the progress I have made so far.

Incidentally, Worker # 9 was conceived as part of my "Road Crew" warband, a project that actually serves as a bit of a crossover between the settings of INQ28 and Necromunda, now that there's an updated version of Necromunda available:



Back row, from left to right:

“Crusher” Vex, also known as “Old Man Claw”, a former pitfigthing champion

"Doktor" Solon Antonov, formerly a low-ranking Magos of the Velsian Adeptus Mechanicus, Solon Antonov disappeared from his posting as a workforce and slave prospector on the world of St. Sabasto’s Reach, only to emerge as the Road Crew's leading figure.

Papa Anjevin, a particularly unhinged mutant who seems to fulfill the role of a shaman or priest for the Road Crew. Whether his rituals are merely make believe and parlour tricks, or carry some actual, unsanctioned psykana power has yet to be ascertained.

Front row, from left to right:

Grimspyke "the Impaler", yet another pitfighting champion who won his title by defeating Crusher Vex. Both fighters disappeared shortly afterwards.

Tiny the Brute, the Road Crew's war-captain.

Chopper, a diminuitive mutant (or “twist”) from the undehive of St. Sabasto’s Reach.


St. Sabasto's Reach -- an extremely rich hive world grown fat and depraved through slave trade and the exploitation of its mutant lower class. The world originally earned its name when the Imperial Saint Sabasto rested here after his great victory on the fields of Belzifer, before engaging in the last stage of his holy crusade for the defense of Velsen against the forces of the Arch-enemy. While Sabasto’s crusade army was still magnificent at this point, it had also suffered heavy losses (a fact, it is argued by some contemporary Velsian historians, that contributed to Sabasto’s eventual defeat within that treacherous region of space known as the Veil of Impurity).

When the Saint contemplated the price in blood that had been paid so far for the reclamation of Velsen, he decreed that the entire world of St. Sabasto’s Reach would be given to the orphans of the slain and that the Imperium would see to it that the children of martyrs would never need to go hungry. This spurred the planetary populace into religious fervor, and countless orphanages and scholae were opened in the saint’s name, earning the world bynames like “The Planet of Orphans”.

However, with a slow decline in piety and a general economic recession, many of the world’s orphanages have had to close over the centuries, while others have turned to a far darker trade, giving the world’s epithet a new, sinister meaning. It is true that Imperial organisations like the Schola Progenium, the Ecclesiarchy and even the Inquisition still maintain a presence on St. Sabasto’s Reach and recruit from the ranks of the homeless orphans, choosing the most talented or devout to serve in their respective organisations. And in the deeper levels of the world’s hives, missions and orphanages still offer a real, if meagre, chance for survival to this day. Yet that is only one face of St. Sabasto’s Reach. For at the same time, the world has also become the biggest fleshmarket in the entire Velsen Sector, providing human resources in a very literal sense, from mutant workers to household servants. Moreover, it is rumoured that there exists a slave for every kind of service in the almshouses and slave pits of St. Sabasto’s Reach, and the masters of the world have long prided themselves on being able to cater to every taste and desire, no matter how “eccentric” it may be.

Another mainstay of the world’s culture, the countless circuses and fighting arenas, are also fueled by a constant influx of “material” from the slave pits. At one point, the world’s renowned Circus Imperialis served as a front for a cult of chaos worshippers and was purged by the hand of Inquisitor Antrecht. But even after this upheaval, the remaining slavelords and ringmasters of St. Sabasto’s Reach quickly regained their step, slightly realigning themselves in the resulting power struggle and carving out a new pecking order among themselves. Since the Inquisition’s issue was never with the slave trade itself, but with the presence of heretics, places like the House of Blossoms, the Angelflesh Lodge and countless other establishments like them continue to ply their dark trade to this day…


The deeper levels of the world’s primary hive cluster – colloquially known as „The Orphans‘ Cradle“ are crisscrossed by a network of tansportation tunnels originally created – and mostly still used – to move the vast amounts of goods necessary to keep the world’s overly bloated population alive. Ranging from cramped maintenance shafts that are mere crawlspaces to multi-laned transportways allowing for vehicle traffic, the warren of tunnels and substations has become a living space for many underhivers, from the indentured personnel manning the various installations and the maintenance workers to gatherings of escaped slaves and convicts seeking something resembling a life in freedom, even if it should be a life in squalor and darkness.

The so-called „Road Crew“ is one such group and has begun to attract former pit slaves, soldiers of fortune, twists and other malcontents from the hive’s lower reaches, trying to eke out an existence between the underhive fighting pits and minor raids on the biggest transport thoroughfares.


The Road Crew was originally started in order to explore some of the old, classic Necromunda archetypes -- back when a re-release of Necromunda wasn't even a rumour yet. Funnily enough, these guys may yet see the table as some kind of Necromunda at some point, though. The universe must have a sense of humor, after all

As always, let me know what you think!

Genius. Sheer genius.

The rusted barrel really sells the make-shift repaired aspect of the character.

Great stuff and I want to second the bit about the rusty barrel. not only is he down to using barrels as replacement armor, he can only find rusty ones!

Cheers, guys! To be perfectly honest with you, I was pretty sure even while converting this guy that the barrel shoulder pad would be one of the elements that would sell the model

So here's another update on Worker #9: He seems to have aged another by another millennium since we last saw him









I am pretty happy with how the model is coming along. If there is one - minor - problem, it's that the yellow used (Averland Sunset) is slightly different from the one I've used for the Road Crew so far (Yriel Yellow), but when push comes to shove, that could easily be explained away by the slightly darker colour being the machine's original coat of paint.



Anyway, as always, let me know what you think!

No new update on Worker #9, save for this additional picture that arguably shows off his colour and the amount of weathering a bit better (and also gives you a glimpse of my favourite 80s comfy blanket in the background):



I am currently missing one particular paint I need to finish him up -- plus I also still need to come up with a suitably elaborate base. The model's size automatically makes it into a centre piece, so I want the base to match that.

That's no excuse not to paint anything, though, so I had a go at painting my Primaris-based true scale Deathwatch Marine this weekend. Meet Watch-Brother Arcturus Diomedes of the Ultramarines:











This was my first experience with painting a Primaris, and I have to agree with the opinions I've seen online: These guys are pretty fun to paint! I am also really chuffed with how the model has turned out -- just add a base now, and Diomedes is ready to rock!

Here he is next to my first truescale Marine, Praetor Janus Auriga of the Golden Legion:



As you can see, Janus is a fair bit bulkier and also slightly taller -- in all fairness, I had little to work from in pre-Primaris times, so the model was really a bit of a proof of concept. He still holds up rather well, though, if I do say so myself -- I'll just need to go with the old "tall, even for an Astartes" cliché

As always, let me know what you think!

Mmmmmm Ultramarine.

Looking very nice.

Haha, I would actually have been slightly miffed if you hadn't been the first to reply, mate!

Seriously, though: Glad you like him!

He looks ready to cleanse n' purge. The bits of red break up all the black nicely and make for a good contrast to the blue details.

Cheers, man!

Here's another update on the Deathwatch Marine: The model itself was basically finished, but it still needed a base, of course. I decided to go with something pretty simple that would fit the lion’s share of my INQ28 collection (i.e. brownish and slightly underhive-y). I also wanted to include some Xenos related touches. Now for an Ultramarine, what would be more appropriate than some Tyranid remains, right? Good thing the new Citadel Skulls kit features lots and lots of beautiful gaunt skulls, among others — I may not be all that interested in Tyranids as a faction (the creepy awesomeness of Genestealer Cults notwithstanding), but I do love those gaunt skulls! The tip of a Termagaunt weapon was also added to the base to represent something glistening and Gigeresque.

So, without further ado, here’s the finished Watch-Brother:

Arcturus Diomedes
Brother of the Deathwatch
originally of the Ultramarines















Though he may be smaller than my previous true scale Marine, Brother Diomedes certainly reads as a true scale Astartes when placed next to a model of “regular” human size:



As always, let me know what you think!

Excellent finish. The 'nid skull is a nice touch.

Cheers, mate! I just love those gaunt skulls from the skulls set! Bit of the year

So my original plan was to take a bit of a break after all the frantic activity, but before I knew what I was doing, I was already back at the painting table. The model I chose to work on is an Inquisitor for yet another retinue. This is the model that was inspired by that Wayne England illustration I've posted previously:



And here are some WIP pictures of the model based on the illustration, Redactor Tiberias Orlant of the Ordo Scriptorum:







I decided to go with glossy black armour again, since I felt it would support his already slightly sinister look. The scripture on the parchment hanging from his belt actually spells "Redactor Orlant", although you may have to take my word for it. I even tried to make it resemble Wayne England's lettering style a bit, but there was very little space, and it was all so small. I actually re-did this part several times, and I think this is as good as it's going to get

The one thing I am not perfectly happy with are the books: I didn't go with red for their covers because I wanted to keep the palette very limited and rather cold, but I cannot help feeling that they aren't quite there yet...

Anyway, as always, let me know what you think!

Good gracious, your building and painting skills are off the charts. Your models look stunning!

He looks great. Love the books slung on his hips like a couple of pistols.

Nice work basing the marines. Always nice to see some dead 'nids.

While I understand your desire to keep the palette restricted, I feel the books blend in too much with the robes. Not sure what a good answer would be though. The execution on them is fine, it’s just hard to stand out when so close to the base colors.

IMHO, YMMV, etc.

Looks awesome, perhaps go for a purple for the books, that way they will stand out from the robes, but still keep the colour palette fairly limited.

Cheers for the feedback, everyone!

@ Lum: Aw, man, that is high praise indeed! Danke vielmals!

@ youwashock: Haha, cheers, mate! I am so glad the "revolver" impression works as intended -- I was really careful not to give him a single "normal" weapon, so you'd get the impression that his weapons were different in nature

@ Nevelon & cheiflibrarian: I agree completely, the books needed to change! Under normal circumstances, purple would indeed have been an excellent suggestion -- but then my plan is too keep the palette focused on the colours and hues appearing in the series of Wayne England illustrations that have inspired the project so far:



Now I am pretty sure that I won't be able to match this requirement 100% of the time, but even then, purple seemed a bit too strong a colour to introduce into the mix. So in the end, I went with a more neutral tone and repainted the books grey -- not an exciting choice, certainly, but it keeps the palette suitably narrow. Take a look:









I am not sure whether or not to repaint the cane in the same colour -- it would make for a tigther look, probably, but I also think the wood cane makes him look a bit more sophisticated, which I like

I've also made an eleventh-hour addition when I realised that there was an odd little gap at his belt that ended up looking slightly distracting, so I carefully added some additional keys to his belt.

As always, let me know what you think!

I think the grey looks good. If you are still concerned with them blending in you could go a shade or so lighter in some spots, but it works either way.

I second (third?) the grey, as you are drawn in rather than blown away by too many colours.

Just my two cents.

I think it is a really great translation into mini if that makes any sense

Probably a bit too late to really change anything, but if you want the books to stand out just a wee bit more but keep the palette reserved, you could do an in between of the blue of the robes and the red-brown of the cane. This would also help to tie the colour of the cane into the rest of the model.

However, I think it already looks great, so there's no real need to follow this suggestion.

Cheers, guys!

@ tarar2d2: The thing I actually didn't realise until I repainted the books was how much visual real estate they take up, so I think the neutral grey may actually be the best compromise. Otherwise, there would suddenly be this massive part of the model in a different colour. Does that make sense?!

So anyway, Orlant was only missing a base really, so I whipped something up yesterday: I used a piece from one of the 40k basing kits, mostly for the pretty cool relief:



The piece was cut down to fit a round base, the gaps were filled with GS. I also liberally stippled on Liquid GS for added texture and to counteract the very soft and artificial looking quality of the stock piece. Ironically enough, most of the relief actually ended up being covered by Orlant:



Oh well, if nothing else, it still provides some texture and structure, making the base look more like a part of some long-deserted Imperial archive.

So here's the finished model:

=][=

Redactor Tiberias Orlant
Ordo Scriptorum



A long serving member of the Ordo Scriptorum Terra, Inquisitor Orlant has discovered many ancient documents and hidden truths during his long years of trawling the bibliocathedra and sunken data vaults of Holy Terra. Moreover, his rank as a Redactor of the Ordo means that not only does he endeavour to find records from the Imperium's past, but he also gets to decide which truths are revealed to the masses and which are suppressed with every tool at the Holy Ordos' disposal.

Orlant has recently embarked upon a mission known only to himself, making his way to the Velsen Sector, situated far away from the Throneworld in the Ultima Segmentum. His colleagues consider this most recent endeavour a fool's errand at best, yet Orlant is not known as a soul given to flights of fancy -- what could he have discovered in the vaults of Terra to inspire his latest investigation?









I did end up making one last colour adjustment after all, repainting the wax of the purity seal in a slightly colder tone than before. It's really a small detail, but it ties back to Orlant's skin tone (see above) and it also doesn't use up much visual estate, so I think it's an improvement.

As you can see, I have decided to add two books to Orlant's base:



-- I wanted to hint at the fact that he probably spends most of his work scouring ancient vaults and sunken archives for lost data and hidden secrets. It's an idea I want to explore with the rest of the warband, albeit in slightly different ways. We'll see...

I also found out, by sheer coincidence, that Orlant has a nice kind of "Red Oni, Blue Oni" thing going with Inquisitor Arslan. Take a look:



In closing, here's a comparison shot putting Wayne England's illustration that inspired the model and Orlant himself next to each other:



Maybe not a perfect match, but I am reasonably happy with the resemblance, to tell you the truth.

As always, let me know what you think!

A fine homage.

Now you need to make an Inquisitor who wears black and yellow.

You say not a perfect match but I'm struggling to find any differences. He looks awesome.

Oh man, so many things going on here! Inquisitor Nabreus Arslan warband came out great, and it is nice to see a project's end when you followed it since the beginning! Also the Road Crew band is one of my favourites, for the characters of models and the paint scheme. Nice their little new toy! But maybe my fav so far is Redactor Tiberias Orlant, as i love non-warrior models, and he has that perfect grim feeling and the gloss black armour is perfect. I get your point about the books, have you considered a kind of skin.like colour?

Cheers for the feedback, guys!

@ youwashock: Haha, Sentai Inquisitors FTW!

@ cheiflibrarian: Thanknks, mate! That is very nice of you to say!

@: b-tone: Yeah, I may take years, occasionally, but I always get there in the end! As for the books, it turned out the main problem was that they are really big, so going with a brighter colour would have dominated the model. Which is why grey seems like a pretty sensible choice, in hindsight. Skin-coloured books would add another pretty creepy angle, though, so maybe it's something I can do on one of the other members of the retinue...


So working with Wayne England's excellent artwork for reference once again actually led to me frantically trawling the internet for more artwork of his from around the same time. Unfortunately, his work seems to be much less well documented than, say, John Blanche's, and many images are only available via that abominable hellpit called Pinterest It's also really hard to find out where many of those illustrations first appeared, particularly the ones mainly coloured in turquoise hues -- they could be from the Dark Heresy books, but I have no way to check. Can anyone corroborate that theory?

I also kept looking back at one piece of art in particular. This one:



It seems to portray an underhive ganger of some sort, and I really like the style of the character. So much so, in fact, that I started to create another conversion based on a Wayne England illustration earlier today:



Still a bit rough around the edges, certainly, but I think the resemblance should already be obvious. I think I'll be adding this character as a bureaucultist, a member of a clan of former Administratum scribes gone feral (and tribal) when their particular vault/bibliocathedra was sealed off from the world or forgotten by the Imperium of Man.

As always, let me know what you think!

Awesome stuff as always dude

Cheers, mate!

Just to give credit where credit is due, the Bureaucultist idea wasn't really mine, originally, but rather came from the excellent fan-made Dark Magenta supplement on Holy Terra as an adventurescape. I really love the concept, though: There's something incredibly grimdark about the thought of clerks and librarians going feral after their archives and bibliocathedra have been sealed off, forming gangs and fighting for their respective "section" of the archive, maybe for resources like electricity, memory units, clean paper or dry shelf space).

Anyway, after another round of tweaks and the addition of more messy GS fur, I think I can call the Bureaucultist ganger finished:





Here's a picture with Redactor Orlant for comparison. It also shows you the latest model in all its different colours, warts and all



As always, let me know what you think!

Very much has a savage element to him. Looking good so far.

Great work on Arslan's retinue, they look stunning, plus they really feel like the more uncompromising, unforgiving agents of the Inquisition you made them to be. Also nice work on Inquisitor Orlant. Seing him with inquisitor Arslan, they form an interesting duo, the intensity and ruthlessness of Arslan (mirrored on his red robes and burning sword) contrasting with the cold calculativeness of Orlant mirrored in his blue. They almost feel like Hellboy and Abe Sapien translated as Inquisitors, if that makes any sense
On a sidenote, for Orlant, although you have called him finished, have you considered a very light, almost white, grey for the covers of the books? One so light that it might make the pages inside look dark in comparison. I think it might look good and it could work well with the almost white skull on the breastplate.

Cheers for the feedback, guys!

@ Legio Ultra: Thanks a lot! Happy to hear you like Arslan and crew, as they really came together like a dream...erm, after I'd left them unpainted for years, that is

As for Orlant, the thing about those books is that they are actually pretty huge, and going with a very bright colour for them would introduce a pretty massive element to the model and throw the colour balance a bit out of whack -- which is why, ultimately, I feel that the grey I have on there right now is really the most robust choice, both for the model and the larger warband.


In other news, the bureaucultist ganger is just about finished:







The model was painted to match Redactor Orlant's palette, using a slightly grubbier, dirtier version of the colour scheme, as it were -- and as befits the character:



And of course I couldn't help myself and had to mock up a comparison with the model, the artwork that inspired it, and some tweaked colour settings:



As always, let me know what you think!

Awesome! The side by side really shows off your attention to detail.

Cheers for the feedback, mate! As it happens, I have another side-by-side for you to take a look at -- we'll be getting to that in a second

I am still working on Ordo Scriptorum related models, and my head is on fire with possible ideas, tidbitz of lore and possible narrative arcs. First of all, though, I've made some additional - small - tweaks to the bureaucultist:











Really just minor stuff, like tweaking the glow on the red areas a bit and cleaning up some minor mistakes.

Seeing how I've been taking so much inspiration from PDH's Ordo Scriptorum warband, and given the fact that we agreed ages ago that Peter's Inquisitor Inson had been Redactor Orlant's interrogator at one point, I really couldn't resist trying to build a younger version of Inson. Thanks to direct feedback from PDH, I think I've come up with a pretty cool younger version of his original model. Take a look:



On the left is Peter's original model for Inquisitor Inson, on the right is my take on Inson as an interrogator. Here's a closer look at the conversion:









As always, let me know what you think!

That totally works. Sweet idea. Reminds me of the 3-stage D&D sets that followed the character from novice to veteran.

Cheers, mate! It's good to see that there's one guy who keeps commenting, at least

Thanks a lot, Ynneadwraith! Building different versions of the same character during different moments in their life OR building models to resemble artwork can actually be pretty addictive

So let's look at something slightly different for today:

Last year, fellow hobbyist BubblesMcBub was amazingly generous enough to let me have most of the Death Guard models from the Dark Imperium boxed set, and as a way of paying him back for that great kindness, I promised to convert some models for him. I already sent him a converted Iron Warriors champ late last year (I think...?!), and Bubbles also wanted me to build him an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor.

Now it did take me a while to do this, both because I wanted to come up with something cool, but also because I couldn't quite decide which general approach I wanted to go with: A massive, towering monodominant Inquisitor of the "Suffer Not The Alien To Live!" school of thought? Or a rather more subtle, sneaky and shadowy Inquisitor who is not above using the odd Xenos artifact himself? Both are pretty cool angles, and I realised in the end that the only right way was to actually build both

So here are the - mostly finished - Inquisitors I built for Bubbles:

First up, the hulking monodominant Inquisitor:







Now this guy is actually a refurbished model of sorts: He began his existence as a champion for my old, kitbashed Legio Custodes army, but with official Custodes models now available, he wasn't likely to be used for his intended role anytime soon. I rather liked the kitbash, however, which is why I made some changes to him (adding a different sidearm, backpack and shoulder pad) to make him look even less Space Marine-y. And I think that, after a final round of minor cleanups, he should work as a fine puritan Inquisitor for Bubbles' collection.

The second guy, on the other hand, was built completely from the ground up, and represents the more subdued (and maybe ever so slightly radical) side of the Ordo Xenos. Take a look:







The Inquisitor uses a Genestealer Hybrid body, because I felt the retro-futuristic spaceman vibe of the suit fits the Ordo Xenos rather nicely (it is also heavily reminiscent of the kind of industrial design you see in the Alien films, which is another great match. I gave the Inquisitor an AdMech sword, because its very sleek, modernist look seemed like a good fit. And he's also wielding a Harlequin's kiss, to show how he's definitely not above making use of Xenos artifacts.

So here are both models:



I am pretty sure they would have a lot to discuss, should they meet during their work...

So I think I'll be shipping these off to Bubbles soon, and then their stories will be for him to tell. Until then, as always, let me know what you think!

What can I say. I'm a fan.

Sweet models, both. Love that gun. The GS models slot so well into anything =][= related. The contrast between the two in bearing and gear is great. And when I see hulking, all I can think is, "What are you gonna do, brother, when the Ordo Xenos runs wild over you?"

That's a fantastic pair of Inquisitors! Especially love the head on the radical, but great work all round.

That sneaky inquisitor is something else, realy love that head, are you going to be painting them or are you leaving that for the recipient?

Cheers for the feedback, everyone!

@ cheiflibrarian: I shall be leaving the painting to BubblesMcBub, so he gets to choose the look he wants for the models and has a better chance at making them match their future retinue(s).


Today I have two things I would like to share with you. First up is the mostly finished paintjob for Interrogator Klien Inson:







While the aim was not to perfectly match PDH's paintjob for the older version of Inson, I did take care to take some cues from his model (such as the general dark look, the metallic scales on the cape,...) and go for a similar overall look and feel. Here's a side by side with both PDH's and my treatment of the character:



At the same time, it was also clear that the younger Inson had to match the colour palette of his master, Inquisitor Orlant, to some degree, so I tried to stay within the parameters I had set for myself and use a similar palette:







The other thing I want to show you is a model I am pretty excited about -- and it has also been a bit of a pleasant surprise for myself, because I didn't expect to be able to tackle this particular project quite so soon:

Back when DexterKong and me came up with the Velsen Sector as an asventuredscape, I realised that I wanted a Banking House as one of the political players in the sector. The inspiration for this came from Joe Abercrombie's First Law series (and from his other books set in the same universe), where the banking house of Valint & Balk has a finger in each and every pie, and happens to be one of the most insidious influences present in the entire setting, always playing both sides, so the bank always wins. So I came up with House Mandelholtz, or The Mandelholtz House of Imperial Finance, to quote the full title, Velsen's own banking house. I see them as one of the sector's big movers and shakers, and like any good evil banking house from history's great dark hall of fame, they get to throw around their weight a lot. If you've seen the series Taboo and remember the way the East Indian Company gets protrayed in that series, THAT'S what I want House Mandelholtz to feel like

Anyway, the Mandelholtz board of directors is a shadowy assembly, and very few people in the sector actually know who holds a stake in the house's businesses. Which lends itself rather beautifully to all kinds of Inquisitorial dabblings. But I did want one character to serve as a chairman or speaker of the board for House Mandelholtz, and I realised pretty quickly that I wanted this character to be female. Dexter and me kept exchanging ideas on the matter, and he basically suggested to base the character on a grimdark version of Maggie Smith in her role in Downton Abbey:



Which seemed like a pretty brilliant idea to me. There was only one problem: I kept drawing blanks when it came to figuring out how to actually build a model for her -- especially given the lack of proper female modeling options in GW's catalogue. So the idea went back on the shelf.

However, when the Triumvirate of Ynnead was released, I knew I had my base model for the conversion: Yvraine. But picking up the entire boxed set just to get my hands on the model seemed a bit extreme, even for my standards.

But then fate intervened: Last week, I was given the chance to snap up an Yvraine model from ebay for a pretty okay price (much, much less than a Triumvirate of Ynnead would have cost me, in any case), and when the model arrived on my doorstep, I got to work right away.

Now the problem was that the model was in a really rough condition. Just take a look at the base Yvraine came on, and you can probably guess what I was looking at here:



That's right, the previous owner used LOTS of glue to assemble the model. At the same time, the different parts had been put together really poorly, and mould lines abounded -- but that's what explained the price, obviously. And if nothing else, the model's deplorable condition actually made it easier to start cutting. So I carefully sawed through all the glue and did my best to separate the parts once again. And when I was finished with that part, I got creative. And here's what I have now. Meet the Baroness Mandelholtz:













"Grimdark Maggie Smith" remained my basic design outline, although the character grew a bit more grotesque during the conversion process: I wanted to make her look like rejuvenat treatments had really taken her as far as possible, but had also taken their toll on her physiology. I don't even want to add too much to the model anymore, so as not to overclutter her. I think there'll be some subtle cabling here and there, in other to hint at her augmetics. I also want to add one or two syringes/plungers from the Dark Eldar Wracks to her hunched back, although I cannot seem to find the small bag with the bitz in the depths of my bitz repository...



Apart from that, it seems like she would really have personal retainers for all kinds of menial tasks, such as carrying ledgers and petitions -- this seems like such a cool angle for adding some further members of House Mandelholtz.



As always, let me know what you think!

That is pretty fabulous. She looks like she doesn't take to back talk from anybody. Also looks sort of like an extra classy Meg Mucklebones.

Great character, impressive job on her head, if you've put it together like I think you have. Excited to see how this one paints up, lots of details to give life to - ghoulish spine and all

- Salvage

Thanks a lot, guys! To be fair, it might be quite some time before I actually work up the courage to get the Baroness painted

For now, here's a small update: Interrogator Klien Inson, now with his finished base:









When it came to designing his base, I tried to channel the same "abandoned" library look I had already gone with for Inquisitor Orlant. I also experimented with some kitchen tissue paper, trying to create torn pages and parchments, something I would like to take even further on some of the future models for this retinue:



For now, here are Redactor Orlant and his interrogator again, and the beginnings of my Ordo Scriptorum warband so far. Enjoy!





And, as always, let me know what you think!

Awesome group shot. Surprisingly vivid characters given the subdued color scheme. You have those nice punches of red on each model to play off the blues. Looks great.

inspiring and amazing dude, please keep it up

These guys have a ton of character, I like the old woman. Will she get any ranged weapons?

Beautiful work. Nice job on the younger Inson.

Cheers, guys!

@ ph34r: Chances are, she won't be getting any weapons at all - at least not obvious ones. At her level of influence, that's what retainers are for

Speaking of which, Cheers, I spent some highly enjoyable time sitting in the garden and putting the finishing touches on Baroness Mandelholtz today. Take a look:







To be fair, the conversion was already mostly finished before, so this was all about the fine tuning, really. I added some vials to the Baroness' back, trying to keep the effect noticeable but subtle:







I also carefully added some cabling here and there, to at least hint at some kind of physical augmentation:







Of course there was the temptation to go farther still, adding weird insectile limbs emerging from beneath her skirts (like the legs you see on the AdMech Tech-Priest Dominus, for instance), but in the end I decided to keep her more human, both to suitably differentiate her from the weirdness of the AdMech models and because it's arguably more fun to make the observer wonder what her body looks like underneath her stately dress.

Anyway, as always, let me know what you think!

Love the Sepulturum warband - such a good colour scheme!
And "Grimdark Maggie Smith" is one of the more unusual concepts I've heard, but the model hits the concept well! I'm interested to see her painted

Very nice. I agree that keeping most of the augmentation hidden strikes the right note for a shadowy chair/spikes person.

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Dark Apostle666: Just to clarify, because both Ordos actually exist in the fluff: Mine isn't an Ordo Sepultrum, but an Ordo Scriptorum warband.


So in addition to yesterday's kitbash, I also have a new finished model to share with you, as I finally put the finishing touches and completed the base on my yellow underhive killer robot last week











When it came to building and painting the base, I tried to match the muddy, rusty underhive look I had chosen for the rest of the Road Crew.



This is such a small detail, but I am actually pretty happy with the faded symbol on the rusty tank I made by combining a couple of old Space Marine decals:



So here’s the entire Road Crew so far, complete with its newest member:



If I have one small regret about the model, it’s that I realised too late that Averland Sunset was a bit different in tone from the Yriel Yellow I had used on the rest of the Road Crew models. Ultimately, however, it’s something I can live with — using yellow spray paint made the experience of painting the big guy much more enjoyable, and the difference in colour could easily be explained away as the robot’s original colour simply being slightly different from the yellow used by the Road Crew.

I am also pleasantly surprised that, given GW's recent hint at something called an "Ambot", there might actually be a fitting ruleset to get this big guy into games of Necromunda at some point -- just sayin'...

So yeah, it seems like, after a couple of years, I was finally able to finish both of those Kastelans I bought, back when the AdMech models were first released:



Plus it’s also cool how much mileage I seem to be getting out of that old Forgeworld Dreadnought head I received courtesy of fellow hobbyist Augustus b'Raass:



As always, let me know what you think!

I haven’t enough superlatives to explain how awesome these models are. The road crew especially pleases me with the gritty yellow and the new robot who is not in a moving pose, but conveys a sense of just how brutal it could be at any moment.i do love the tank tread crotch guard on a robot , just in case robots had reproductive elements this guy would be prepared to save his. I’m sure it’s just because there’s so many joints and less protection there, but one could think that the creator was trying to protect future generations.

Edit: that black base with the blue swirl to it is wonderful.

Without a doubt, completely awesome.

Big old killer robot...yes

Love the whole road crew, had to go back and check the build shots of them, very nice.

Stunning work as always. The road crew look brilliant.

Brilliant, I love the way you've managed to get him too look like he has had to be rebuilt a couple of times with a box of scraps, but by someone who knows what they are doing.

The difference in the shade of yellow is only slight and doesn't, in my opinion, detract from the group looking awesome together , nice work mate !

Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys! I am glad you like the big yellow guy -- I am really fond of him, and of the entire Road Crew project, which serves to scratch serveral itches at the same time, so to speak (doing something that's very Necromunda in style, going for a bit of a Mad Max look, creating lots of unhinged and crudely augmented characters, painting scuffed yellow,...).

@ Theophony: Which black base with a swirl are you referring to, mate? The one Yvraine came on? If so, that's just the massive amount of glue left over from the previous owner and has nothing to do with my painting prowess (or the lack thereof), unfortunately

Anyway, in the meantime, I have started painting the next member for Inquisitor Orlant's Ordo Scriptorum retinue, the Clockword Assassin:





And here's a look at how he matches the overall colour scheme of the group so far:



As always, let me know what you think!

Looks great so far, perfect complement to the group.

What a difference a head and some creativity make.
I want to like the kastellan but the head ruins it.
Yours is outstanding.

Thanks a lot, people!

I've had a pretty productive weekend, managing to finish the paintjob for the Clockword Assassin...





...as well as mostly finishing the next member for the warband as well. Meet Alizebeth Selandrine, a voidborn former AdMech vassal who now puts her noospheric dive capabilities to use in Redactor Orlant's retinue (i.e. she's basically the 40k version of a hacker ):







Unfortunately, the bases on these two will have to wait for a bit, as I've run out of Chaos Black spray. Here's another look at the warband as it currently stands, though:



As always, let me know what you think!

Clockwork assassin looks boss as does the hacker addition to the warband.

it was just glue on the base, but the colors and swirl looked really arcane and different.

Lovely Really love the look of the blue-black parts on these guys.

Does she have a tattoo of a void-dragon?

Cheers for the feedback!

@ monkeytroll: Haha, I cannot tell you how happy I am that somebody got the shout out (I actually think it's rather obvious). Fun fact, the model was originally built before I had even seen the Millennium films, but once I had seen them, it was clear that the model would be perfect as a 40k-i-fied verson of Lisbeth

Love the yellow warband, very inspiring.

Very nice. The play between the blue and the gold is fabulous. Hacker girl is also looking good. Loving the plugs in the scalp.

Thanks a lot, guys!

So I was finally able to go out and grab some new Chaos Black spray earlier this week, which allowed me to finally finish the bases for Inquisitor Orlant's newest followers.

First up, Alizebeth Selandrine: Her base turned out to be fairly standard, with the exception of one added detail, a small portable Cogitator:



As monkeytroll pointed out - and as most of you will probably have picked up on - Alizebeth is a - very - thinly veiled reference to Noomi Rapace's protrayal of literary character Lisbeth Salander from the Millennium series, so this accessory seemed pretty obvious The fun fact is that the model wasn't originally built to resemble Lisbeth Salander at all (but rather as a homage to Johannus' fantastic "40k punkette"), but after I saw the Swedish Millennium films, I realised that the model I already had was a dead ringer for Lisbeth, plus a character like that would fit into Inquisitor Orlant's retinue really well, so I made some tweaks to make the resemblance even bigger (and also took some cues from the character for the paintjob, to the point where I actually used from a specific costume from the third film for reference:



Anyway, here's the finished model:

=][=
Alizebeth Selandrine



Born on the orbital shipyards that hang in the void above the forge world Korhold Ultima, Alizebeth's life was to be spent as a serf to the Tech-Priests of Korhold, although her gift at operating and manipulating machinery marked her out as a candidate for a more exalted position, maybe even for an eventual introduction into the Priesthood. Selandrine shunned that fate, however, falling in with a tech-gang and becoming a nuisance for her masters: The implants she had received as a preparation for her future training allowed her to conduct noospheric dives and manipulate datastreams and machinery from her hiding place deep within the crawlspaces and maintenance tunnels of the orbital installations. That is where Redactor Orlant found her, during his dealings with the distrustful Tech-Lords of Korhold, and he decided to induct her into his retinue.







And a closer look at the base...



As for the Clockwork Assassin, I wanted to come up with something a little more elaborate -- and I really needed to, too, because the base was substantially bigger than Alizebeth's. So I decided to pick up the "abandoned library" look yet again. A piece of rubble from the 40k basing kit for large bases formed the start of the design, then I added the remains of torn books on top of that:



I had already tried to use a paper towel to create torn pages on Interrogator Inson's base, but while the end result worked out well enough, the pages were too thin. So I went for a slightly sturdier paper placemat this time around, which ended up working much better.

Here's a look at the finished model:

=][=
The Clockwork Assassin



This strange and utterly deadly automaton was engineered by the Tech-Priests of Korhold and given to Redactor Orlant as a gift. Clockwork Assassins are normally used as terror weapons by the paranoid masters of Korhold, but they can also become a much sought-after piece of merchandise. Why exactly the Tech-Lords would choose to present a member of the Emperor's Inquisition with one of these priced weapons remains a mystery at present...











Again, here's a closer look at the base:



And last but not least, here's another family photo of Redactor Orlant's retinue so far:



As always, let me know what you think!

Lovely work on the bases, makes for a beautiful group shot. I really like how the bases are basically very simple, with the detail being in the little additions that create the story and bring them to life, rather than overcrowding them with lots of details.

The scattered pages on the assassin's base really turned out well. How many more characters do you think will be in this band?

Thanks, guys!

@youwashock: Hm, there are three more planned members, and then PDH also pointed out to me that an Astropath might be a cool idea, and I have an idea that will allow me to channel yet another piece of Wayne England artwork, so at the moment, I'd say: four more members

Speaking of which, I am already hard at work on the next member for my Ordo Scriptorum warband, an autoquill servitor:





A stock model, for once, from one of the old GW Inquisition releases. It makes such a fitting addition to an Ordo Scriptorum warband, however, that I didn't feel the need to tweak it in any way. I did my best with the script on the parchment, though

As always, let me know what you think!

And, a short time later, here's the finished Autoquill Servitor:





As a fun side note, PDH actually uses the same model in his Ordo Scriptorum warband, and it's kinda fun to think that Inquisitor Inson "inherited" the servitor from his master:





In closing, here's another look at how the warband is coming along:



As always, let me know what you think!

Always a fabulous model. I love the growing narrative between the two bands.

Cheers, mate!

So here's another small update regarding the Ordo Scriptorum warband: PDH pointed out to me a while ago that the warband should have an Astropath, as many Inquisitors from the Ordo make frequent use of Astropaths to relay information (and secrets) among one another. I also felt this might be a cool opportunity to channel yet another piece of Wayne England artwork I liked. This one:



So here's my interpretation. It's not a perfect fit, but I think you'll be able to see a certain resemblance:









The process of adding that GS bandage across his eyes actually had me on the verge of a screaming fit, as it just wouldn't stick to the darn face. Really glad it worked out in the end

So here's an angle that matched the artwork a bit more closely:



Regarding the overall warband, after this guy, there'll be a masked bodyguad and a member of the Guild of Parchment Scroteners to complete,...



...then maybe a servo-skull servitor -- and then the Ordo Scriptorum warband should be finished, after several years of procrastination

As always, let me know what you think!

For the quill servitor: Do the scrolls he’s holding spool out of scroll cases, or are they wrapped around them? Hard to tell from the pic. But if they are wrapped, you should put some scribbles on the back of the parts in his hands.

Excellent work all around.

I really like the pose on the Astropath. Combined with the expression you really get the tension in the character.

Cheers, guys!

@ Nevelon: Hmm, not sure I agree on that. See, if we basically see the servitor as a walking office printer, he does have those
rolls of (empty) parchment to write on, which I think would leave one side of the parchment empty -- at least until one side has been completely filled, then they could possibly be turned around to provide some extra mileage. At least that's how I interpreted the model.

@ youwashock: Thanks, mate!


So, another update: Started painting the Astropath today. Here's what he looks like right now:



Still quite a bit of fine tuning left to be done, but I think you can already get a fairly good idea of what the finished model will look like.

As always, let me know what you think!

Like it

Good job on capturing the vibe of the artwork.

Cheers, monkeytroll!

And here's the finished Astropath:









And here's a - slightly tweaked - comparison picture showing the artwork and the actual model side by side:



Next up on the painting table, these two:



As always, let me know what you think!

Screaming into the void again, eh? Oh well...

I only have a servo-skull to share with y'all today, because most of my painting time has been consumed by a non-GW project. But servo-skulls are a fun, quintessental part of 40k, so here goes:





As always, let me know what you think!

Just cuz we aren't talking doesn't mean we aren't watching. We are just all creeps.

Astropath is neat, like the comparison pic Not sure if the blindfold should be a little closer to parchment in colouring? Certainly not a big thing either way.

Tidy little servo-skull too, really like the colour of the skull, has that old, but well treated feeling.

Nice Servo skull, really like the sweeping scanner on it and the sheen on the skull itself. :-)

If I was to offer a tiny bit of constructive criticism, the halo seems a bit flat. This may be the images fooling me but it seems to have less depth than the rest of your colors.

Really love the Astropath too, and looking forward to seeing where you go with the swordswoman!

Your stuff has a nice blanchesque vibe to it. Good job!

I do love that side-by-side. Great job!

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

@ whalemusic360: Hm, it is kinda nice to hear you guys talking at least once in a while, though, to make sure that there'll still be something to look at in the future

@ monkeytroll: My original plan was to add some lettering to the blindfold (to match the artwork). When it became clear, however, that there was simply not enough room to do that, I thought it might work better to have the blindfold actually contrast with the face, hence the darker colour.

@ Xanthos: Hmm, that halo does look a little flatter than the gold on the other models, doesn't it? Might have to take another look at that. Cheers for pointing it out!

@ youwashock: Cheers, mate!


No Ordo Scriptorum related updates for today, as I am still working on the next model for the retinue. I do, however, have something to share you, as I've started messing around with a Tech-Priest Dominus and some bitz in order to create a model for my AdMech warband for INQ28. Now this guy is still mostly a bit of a thought-experiment at this point, and it may be quite a while before you see him again, but here's what I have so far:





As always, let me know what you think!

That astropath is particularly awesome.

That tech-preist looks bizarre. Proper mental as mechanicus should be.

Cheers, guys!

So, after the short Adeptus Mechanicus intermezzo, here's an update on Inquisitor Orlant's masked bodyguard:









And here's another look at Inquisitor Orlant's - nearly finished - retinue:



As always, let me know what you think!

Brilliant stuff really like the creeper feet on the techpriest

The tech priest really reminds me of Zurg from Toy Story. Big fan.

Cheers, guys!

So for today's update, we have a bit of a potpourri, for lack of a better word. The reason for this is that I was able to pick up some very cool models from a fellow hobbyist that should be useful for several different projects:

Of particular note are a couple of pieces from the old 40k Inquisition releases, especially the fat scribe I have been trying to get my hands on for ages, along with his slimmer colleague:



So after a relaxing soak in my paint stripper bath, here they are, almost as good as new:



I cannot begin to tell you how much I love that fat scribe -- such a delightful looking little model! And while these two would work perfectly in just about any INQ28 retinue, I feel they would make particularly good retainers for Countess Mandelholtz, wouldn't you agree?

I also picked up some OOP servo-skulls from around the same time:



Sigh, those early 2000s Inquisition releases certainly had their high points -- a shame GW never followed them up with a proper Ordo Xenos Codex and an accompanying model release... :(

Speaking of Xenos, as part of the same bitz drop, I was also able to get my hands on some Space Hulk Genestealer models: Building a small Genestealer cult retinue at one point has been a plan of mine for a long time, and it was always clear to me that a) I would want to include some Genestealers to serve as possible mini-bosses and Xenomorph-style horrors and B) those Genestealers would have to come from the Space Hulk boxed set, as those are just the best Genestealers available, in my opinion. Now I was only able to get four of them, but this should be enough, plus some of my favourites were part of the deal:



Possibly the best part of the Space Hulk Genestealers is how they interact with their surroundings, Xenomorph-style, which also seems absolutely perfect when using them in INQ28 and/or Necromunda underhive-style affairs: The guy climbing down a wall is just freaking brilliant!

I was also able to pick up this guy, the Space Hulk Broodlord:



A personal favourite of mine, this one: He's so massive and monstrous, and the composition and pose are just delightful: Both the current plastic Broodlord and the Genestealer Patriarch are clearly based on this model, yet both of them seem like inferior, dumbed-down spin-off versions to me. So this creature will serve as the Patriarch for my cult, whenever the project happens. I just had to change one thing about him: He was clutching a Terminator helmet in one of his claws, which really doesn't fit the scope of INQ28, so I carefully dug out the helmet and replaced it with a human ribcage bit:



After a bit of cleanup, this element should work rather well, as the Broodlord has a human skull in another one of his claws -- this should make him look as though he were just pulling the remains of a victim limb from limb...

There's also half a dozen additional Terminator helmets on his base, but those should be easy enough to cover up with MOAR SKULLZ

And finally, I am also working on the next member for the Road Crew:



He may not be super spectacular, but he already works fairly well with the rest of the gang:



As always, let me know what you think!

Huzzah for cool Genestealer models. That Ork choppa makes a marvelous souped-up chainsaw.

Cheers, mate!

So here's another look at that chainsaw wielding maniac:





I can't quite make up my mind as to whether or not to add a blood effect to his chainsaw (and also to the skull peaking from the bag o' bones on his back): On the one hand, I think it would fit the character rather nicely, on the other hand - and due to the way a chainsaw works - it would have to go all around the blade and be quite a bit of blood, which I am usually not a great fan of: Blood effects can end up looking silly really quickly, after all. Any thoughts?

Love coming back and checking up on all your work brother!

What's your paint stripping solution you use? I'm looking to strip some models myself.

Are you planning on any modelling for the scribes, or using as is? They do indeed have character.

Totally agree with the stealer comments, the Space Hulk ones far outclassed the usual suspects.

Nice job on the chainsaw wielding loony. Tough call on the blood, but I feel with chain weapons, rule of cool often over-rides realism when it comes to gore - a few splatters and some dripping blood are more effective than total carnage. Most of the time.

Cheers, guys!

@ Master Azalle: I mostly use a - fairly mellow - type of floor cleaner. It's not a perfect solution, however, because while it works really well for metal models, It's a bit hit and miss on plastic models. In any case, I've found that recommending paint stripping tips across borders is often an exercise in frustration, as solutions that are household names in one country might not be available at all in another...

@ monkeytroll: Nah, I think I'll be leaving the scribes as they are -- I've already had to convert the slim guy once, however, due to a miscast face

Cheers for the comments, guys! It turns out I've found a pretty good compromise for the blood -- more on that in a second:


So anyway, thanks to a fairly successful painting session yesterday, here are the next three - mostly - finished members of the Road Crew:



Cirque (the guy in the middle) actually turned out to be a much better fit for a blood effect on the weapon, mostly because the circular saw makes it easier to keep the effect somewhat contained That being said, I did add some BftBG to the left guy's "bag o'bones"



As always, let me know what you think!

They look awesome.

Cheers, mate!

So here's a proper round of pictures of the finished models:

First up, the dude with the chainsaw -- codenamed "Sawtooth" for now:







Then there's the Road Crew member called "Sarge", a former career soldier in the Astra Militarum who has chosen life in the underhive, seemingly to get away from something he experienced during his former life. He supports the Road Crew with his trusty longlas:







And, finally, very much my favourite, Cirque, a heavily muscled brute who's at the forefront of every raid and gang fight, with his trusty eviscerator:







Like I said, Cirque basically provided me with the opportunity to experiment with a blood effect that nevertheless didn't completely drown out the rest of the model:



And with that, I have basically managed to finish all the models I had planned for the Road Crew, at least for now. There's only their ride left to paint, and old Gorkamorka trukk, but apart from that, here's the entire Road Crew:



=][=
The Road Crew



The deeper levels of St.Sabasto’s Reach’s primary hive cluster - colloquially known as „The Orphans‘ Cradle“ - is crisscrossed by a network of tansportation tunnels originally created – and mostly still used – to move the vast amounts of goods necessary to keep the world’s overly bloated population alive. Ranging from cramped maintenance shafts that are mere crawlspaces to multi-laned transport ways allowing for vehicle traffic, the warren of tunnels and substations has become a living space for many underhivers, from the indentured personnel manning the various installations and the maintenance workers to gatherings of escaped slaves and convicts seeking something resembling a life in freedom, even if it should be a life in squalor and darkness.

The so-called „Road Crew“ is one such group and has begun to attract former pit slaves, soldiers of fortune, twists and other malcontents from the hive’s lower reaches, trying to eke out an existence between the underhive fighting pits and minor raids on the biggest transport thoroughfares.

From left to right:

Crusher Vex, also know as "Old Man Claw", a former pitfigthing champion

Grimspyke “the Impaler”, another champion in the fighting pits and former enemy of Crusher Vex

Sawtooth, a mute and slightly unhinged manufactorium worker

Tiny the Brute, a member of the mutant underclass of St. Sabasto's Reach and current war-captain of the Road Crew

"Doktor" Solon Antonov, a former, low-ranking Magos of the Velsian Adeptus Mechanicus who disappeared from his posting as a workforce and slave prospector on the world of St. Sabasto’s Reach, only to emerge as the leading figure of the Road Crew

Cirque, a physically imposing mutant and one of the Road Crew's fiercest fighters

Sarge, a veteran of the Astra Militarum with a dark past

"Papa Anjevin", a particularly unhinged mutant styling himself the Road Crew's shaman-priest

Chopper, a diminutive mutant wielding a massive chainblade.

Back row:

Worker #9, an ancient automaton of ambiguous origin


As always, let me know what you think!

Excellent work as always. All distinct models, yet undeniably part of the same crew, what more could you ask of a little warband?

Do look forward to seeing their ride though.

Yeah, a trukk done up to fit with those guys promises to be great.

Thanks a lot, guys!

Don't expect too much regarding the trukkle, though -- it's just one of the old Gorkamorka vehicles.


So, with two warband projects mostly finished in a short while, and the next bigger endeavours already looming on the horizon, I fancied a bit of kitbashing this past weekend. Now back when the Primaris Marines were released, I got some of the snapfit ones with the eventual goal of making a truescale Killteam for INQ28. Now while I have already finished the first member of the Killteam, progress has been slow, mostly due to the somewhat weird poses of those snapfit Primaris -- and I've also had difficulties to choose which chapters to go with, as just combining first founding chapters seems a tad unlikely and lazy.

Anyway, I've already shared this guy with you before, I presume: A Watch Brother from the Iron Hands (and possibly the Killteam's squad leader):





I am actually still pretty happy with this guy -- I just added some extra gear to his belt, as it feels like members of the Deathwatch need all the grenades and extra ammunition they can get

And then I had an idea -- how about going for a Crimson Fist, and building him as an homage to this particular piece of artwork:



So I made this guy:







Granted, I've had to simplify some parts of the illustration - mostly due to the fact that, funnily enough, even the Primaris' bigger scale does not allow for all the detail present in the art - and I've also made some minor adaptations, allowing for the fact that my version is intended as a member of the Deatwatch, but I am pretty happy with the kitbash -- it definitely does mitigate the stock model's super weird pose

So here are all three of them so far -- and you'll see why I've gone with black and white pictures above:



Of course then I couldn't stop myself and had to paint almost the entire Sunday painting. Meet - an almost completed - Watch-Brother Vargo Diaz:







And here he is, next to his already completed squad mate, Brother Diomedes:



As always, let me know what you think!

You don't fool around.

I love the script on all the parchment and the way you have weathered the power fist.

Nice work.

Will normal sized marine powerfists/arms work on primaris? Or did you work you conversion magic to get it the right size? Or use something like a terminator fist?

Thanks, guys!

@ youwashock: Haha, cheers, mate -- investing in a 0.05 mm pigment liner was such a brilliant choice: The act of adding script on parchment no longer holds any secrets to me

@ Nevelon: That's actually a regular Space Marine power first arm: I just attached it a bit lower and used the shoulder pad to camouflage that fact. This actually works really well with a power fist, as the regular proportions are already thrown off by the sheer size of the fist. It would arguably work less well with any other kind of arm.

So here's another small update, as I've managed to complete the last tweaks on my second Deathwatch Marine:











As you can see, he does have the one ...erm crimson fist, at least There's also another little element I wanted to include: In the original Inquisitor rulebook, the 54mm model for Brother Artemis (basically the forefather of all Deathwatch Marines) had those little rectangles on his bolter painted as the displays/buttons for the different kinds of ammunition stored in the weapon, so I thought it might be fun to include this in a bit of a shout out to the classic model and its paintjob. So I put some Roman numerals on the panels: This side has 'I' and 'II', the other one has 'III' and 'IV':





When it came to basing Brother Diaz, I went for the same basic look I had already used on my first Deathwatch Marine. I included an ork skull this time around, however -- I think it's an entertaining little meta touch to feature an alien skull from the respective chapter's nemesis Xenos race, so Tyranids for Ultramarines, Orks for Crimson Fists and a Necron head for the Iron Hand, presumably?

Anyway, here's the finished Brother Diaz next to Brother Arcturus Diomedes again:



As always, let me know what you think!

Dude looks fantastic. though shouldn't the fist still be red?

Cheers! I did consider painting the power fist red, but then the arm would have ended up being predominantly not-silver, when a silver arm is such an integral part of the Deathwatch livery, so I decided to limit the red to the right hand.

I am currently working on the next two members of the Killteam. First up, the Iron Hands Watch-Brother (and provisional squad leader):





Carrying on with the skull-idea outlined above, his base features the remains of a fallen Necron:



And here he is, complete with mocked up arms -- I am pretty confident I'll be able to finish the model this weekend:



And here's another WIP of a possible next member of the Killteam, provisionally from the Celestial Lions, wearing a suit of Recon armour:



Yeah, I know: Technically, it's basically a Primaris Reiver. But after seeing a particularly nice Reiver-based Deathwatch Marine converted and painted by Jeff Vader, I realised that the stripped-down, sleeker armour matches the "Special Ops" look of the Deathwatch rather nicely -- I also think it makes sense for the Killteam to have a recon expert.

As for his chapter, I basically chose the Celestial Lions because they have a bit of an African influence, and I originally picked up the Marine's face for its decidedly non-caucasian features: I like the idea of using the killteam as a means of introducing some much needed ethnic diversity into the 41st millenium, plus having slightly different skin tones on the members of the killteam also seems like a great way to push the impression that they are all from different chapters. That being said, I realised too late that the Lions have a bit of a history with the Inquisition -- oh well, I'll find some kind of explanation for it, I am sure...

As always, let me know what you think!

Liking them both. The Iron Hands dude feels particularly at home in his slightly worn armour.

I've had occasion to mention in a few blogs recently all the new stuff I've been seeing in GW land -I've been out of the hobby for a few years so there's lot that's 'new'. I'm guessing that reivers are 'true-scale' scouts in the way that primaris seem to be.

Neat idea with the Reiver. Breaks up the armor looks more, too. Makes the squad more visually interesting. Iron Hand is shaping up nicely. After another look at him between the gold and the eyepiece he really reminds me of Cmdr. Stargazer from Silverhaeks.

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ monkeytroll: You're basically right on the Reivers -- only they are also dedicated terror troops, which somehow doesn't seem very Space Marine-y to me, apart from a couple of select chapters/legions. Still, their armour does look pretty cool!

@ youwashock: I'll admit I did have to Google the reference, but the resemblance is definitely there!


So, time for the next update: I've tweaked the pose on the Celestial Lion a bit, thanks to some very helpful feedback from fellow hobbyist euansmith: I think he looks a bit sneakier and more agile with his head turned this way:




Also, here's the - basically finished - Iron Hand. Meet Brother Vorlik Ulrach of the Iron Tenth:















And here's Killteam Ulrach so far:



As always, let me know what you think!

As always you're doing outstanding work here. Definitely a source of inspiration for all of us out there.
I absolutely love the way you treat each model as an individual piece and manage to create characters out of every single one.

Keep up your great work! And any chance your chaos side will get some love again soon?

Totally awesome. He's a great piece all around, but I absolutely love the glowing cable connections on the power axe.

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Pneumo: I have actually vowed a Chaos Armiger as part of The Bolter & Chainsword's current ETL event, so the answer to your question is yes, I believe

@ youwashock: Haha, those blue highlights were actually added to make the slightly dicy axe look a bit more interesting -- but now I am pretty fond of them myself


So I have a longer painting session scheduled up for tomorrow, which should allow me to paint the Celestial Lion. However, I couldn't resist painting one of the parts I knew would make or break the model in advance. And I am pretty happy with the result. Take a look:



Of course I didn't see the huge splodge of wash towards the lower rim of the pauldron until I was looking at it blown up by several hundred percent on a screen -- the area has been cleaned up since. Oh, and 'Aren' will be the name of the battle-brother, by the way.

Here's the chapter badge I used as reference material:



As always, let me know what you think!

Good job on Brother Ulrach. The blue on the axe was definitely a good call.

Nice pad - betting it looks great at normal size. Freelancing chapter symbols is always a risk, so massive kudos for even attempting it, let alone pulling it off well

Enjoying seeing your solid paintwork pull these blue-n-grey conversions together. Plus makes for a suitably hulking, very characterful DW team

- Salvage

Cheers, guys!

He's still missing his base and some finishing touches, but I just have to share him with you: Meet Watch-Brother Rudisha Aren of the Celestial Lions:











Here's a closer look at the left shoulder pad, now finally in its intended place:



And, finally, a look at how Brother Aren works next to the rest of the killteam:



As always, let me know what you think!

Snazzy looking killteam I like the skin tones a lot

Love the Lion. The primary color scheme set against the black armor gets more striking with each new member.

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ youwashock: Haha, yeah -- maybe these guys are almost a bit too vibrant and 2nd edition style, but it was really fun to try how striking I could make a squad in all black armour

Speaking of which, after a final round of tweaks and cleanup, here's the team:

Rudisha Aren
Brother of the Deathwatch
originally of the Celestial Lions















So regarding the base, if you look closely, you can make out the barrel of a - suspiciously Imperial - sniper rifle, but there's also part of an Ork jaw -- Ork snipers, anyone?



I have also taken the opportunity to add some final tweaks to brother Ulrach and give him the proper photo treatment, playing cards, keys and all

Vorlik Ulrach
Brother of the Deathwatch
originally of the Iron Hands

















And here's Killteam Ulrach again, now completely based and ready for some Xenos slaying:



Any future additions to the killteam will have to wait for a while, however, as I have basically used up all of my Deathwatch bitz and, just as important, all the regular Primaris Marines I had. So I'll need some new supplies to make additional members.

But still, I am really happy with the way the killteam looks:



As always, let me know what you think!

Very awesome like I said I'm jealous of how awesome those skintones came out. everybody looks great. need a sgt and some fluff kidding of course. but I do love your work man tops as always. My personal favorite is the celestial lion.

Ork snipers for the win!

Ready and rarin' to purge. Lovely stuff. I hope you decide to add at least one more battle-brother.

Kill Team look awesome and very killy dude

Thanks a lot, guys! There will be more members for the killteam -- I have a Lamenter with a frag cannon mostly planned out in my head and am merely waiting for the parts. And at a later point, there'll be a Castigator and a Carcharodon, I believe.

Indeed, while waiting for the bitz intended for my next Deathwatch Marine, I thought it was time for a fun little distraction, and fondly remembering my Boba Fett repaint from a while back, I decided to delve back into the wider nerd culture for a bit -- when I worked with the Primaris Reiver bodies, I felt acutely reminded of Solid Snake, of Metal Gear Solid fame, and when I saw Adam Wier's very cool Metal Gear-inspired model just the other day, I realised I wanted my own model inspired by the Metal Gear series.

Here’s what I came up with:



On the face of it, it’s a really simple kitbash, merely using one of the Easy to Build Primaris Reivers and a handful of bitz: Like I said, the Reiver armour is already suspiciously similar to a bulkier version of Solid Snake’s sneaking suit anyway, so I only added an extra pouch here and there and shaved off any parts that were too 40k — like purity seals. I also tweaked the gun a bit, to make it resemble the iconic SOCOM pistol wielded by Snake in the games.

The most involved part of the conversion was actually to transform a fairly standard Space Marine head (from the old Dark Angels Veterans, I believe) into a suitable representation of Snake, complete with bandana and Snake’s glorious mullet haircut. I achieved the former by using a paper place mat (having already made some very good experiences with the material while designing the bases for my Ordo Scriptorum warband). The latter was sculpted with a bit of GS.

So here's the finished model:









And while this project was intended as a mere fun distraction, or a gaiden project, to remain true to the subject, I decided I might as well use it to teach myself a new technique. Now Metal Gear Solid is set in a military base in Alaska, and parts of the game actually play out during a snowstorm, so I thought it might be fun to include some snow on the base — which meant I had to experiment with making my own model snow — definitely a first for me!

Here's the painted base:



Here’s the same base with the snow applied on top:



I was even able to tease out some singular “flakes” and add smaller clumps of the stuff to Snake’s left leg, to tie him into the base a bit better — seriously, all of this basically took about five minutes and ended up looking so convincing that I was pretty much blown away!

Here's a closer look at the model on its base:



I also got a bit of a chuckle out of staging a classic Metal Gear Solid scene like this…



…with my new model. Take a look:



As always, let me know what you think!



METAL...GEAR?!

Pretty damn good! Love your projects and cross overs

Pretty cool! As you say, simple yet effective. It definitely captures Snake.

With your photo-shoot I thought for a second you were going to but a cardboard box over him

Awesome Work you got here! These models are all soo unique.

!

Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys! Glad to hear you seem to like Grimdark Solid Snake!

I don't have any massive new developments to report, but I've recently collected all the models I have painted so far in 2018, and I am fairly pleased with my hobby output so far this year:



I have managed to (mostly) finish three different INQ28 retinues, start a fourth one and partially finish it as well (my Deathwatch killteam), which means I've made a pretty big dent in my backlog of unpainted stuff!

I have also recently painted one of my favourite models of the recent past, which I just have to share with you, even if it's technically beyond the scope of this forum.

My friend Annie recently gave me some of the Ork balls from the new version of Blood Bowl. First, let’s take a look at the painted balls:



Now the two leather balls on the left are pretty standard fare, obviously, but that ball-squig just has to be one of my favourite models of all time. I decided to go for an archetypal squig-red instead of the more leathery official paintjob, and I am just in love with this little guy:



Maxime Pastourel, bless his heart, even made sure the squig was...anatomically correct when he sculpted it:



And seriously, isn’t that the best facial expression you have ever seen?



Anyway, you can find my entire round-up for the first half of 2018 over here, in case you are interested.



Another small update: One of the bitz drops I am waiting for in order to be able to build the next members for my killteam finally came through, so here are some WIP pictures for a Battle-Brother of the Castigators, Commissar Molotov's DIY chapter. Since a whip does appear as the chapter's icon, and the Deathwatch seems to be all about crazy weapons nowadays, I decided I was free to have a little fun with this guy's equipment:







As always, let me know what you think!

That is a lot of awesome in one place. Nicely done.

That squig-ball is beyond brilliant. Keep the good stuff coming.

Snake looks very awesome and that new marine is shaping up nicely

I think the whip looks brilliant on the primariswatch, much more in scale than on the Escher chick it came from

Awesome progress so far this year!

- Salvage