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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

Many and lots of clapped no dude

Look awesome love snake

Cheers for the feedback, guys!

Thanks to a recent supply drop from fellow hobbyist Augustus b'Raass, I was able to convert the next member of my Deathwatch killteam. Take a look at the (slightly cleaned up) Castigator and the brand new Lamenter, respectively:





I am still experimenting with the perfect look for the Lamenter, though: Do you guys think he works better looking straight ahead?





I also have another WIP to share with you: I'm not sure inhowfar you guys keep following the Age of Sigmar releases, but the one model that doesn't get nearly enough love, in my opinion, is that one female Easy To Build Stormcast Sequitor -- the one that now allows me to finally build my first Inquisitrix, something I have wanted to do for quite a while:





I really love this model, especially the pose and face, which is why I decided to keep the conversion fairly subtle: I merely replaced that weird He-Man-style weapon with something a little more 40k, added a holstered pistol at the hip and an Inquisitorial rosette and replaced the design on the shield with an Ordo Malleus-style heraldic device (quite a bit of work, that last one):



As always, let me know what you think!

You have started an interest for Inq28 in me , the work you do is quality mate, particularly like the Inquisitrix, I may well steal some inspiration from that one !

Oooh...pretty. I had not seen that model before. You are right, it has a certain something. She will be marvelous. The work involved in fitting that symbol to the shield has paid off in spades. It is a lovely detail