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Quick question mate.

Are you using regular marine arms for these guys or are they converted in anyway? They look really good and to a nice scale, not a fan of the usual terminator arms on true-scale marines but I thought that might have been because standard arms would be too small.

YetiSchool wrote:

I know you've probably been asked this before, but I've not been able to find it in your posts....What are the yellow components you use for your bases?

They are parts from 1/35 military kits. I've used them extensively in my bases for 2+ years. The ones on these are from a German WW2 "Vindicator"

CMDante wrote:Quick question mate.

Are you using regular marine arms for these guys or are they converted in anyway? They look really good and to a nice scale, not a fan of the usual terminator arms on true-scale marines but I thought that might have been because standard arms would be too small.

Both. I've picked the standard marine arms that are too "big", such as those carrying the banner poles for example or some of the pointing swords. I also use Terminator arms.

Thanks for all the good comments guys! While I certainly have a strong vision and seem to be going at it at will, your comments are great for the process and make me push to new directions and consider new perceptions. Well, it's the reason I share, so keep it coming

oooooooh wow thats awesome. could you tell me how you make the space marines else then plasticcard what gw parts do you use

GW produce is excellent, but are taking it and producing things that are simply awe inspiring. Pretty much every part of the hobby you have taken to the next level and beyond. Its like you've taken the hobby from a plain dark room into outdoors and shown us the plethora of... everything we have been missing.

Its got to the stage that I go onto the internet for primarily two things; to see if there is anything new on BOLS, and to see if there are any new Legion posts.

Thank you so much Migs for giving us an insight into your take on the hobby, and I wish you all the best.

just wondering if you ever saw this? I give credit to word bearer for this drawing. its helped me alot. ignore the weapons which i tried to paint....

Mohaniker wrote:

Thank you so much Migs for giving us an insight into your take on the hobby, and I wish you all the best.

Thank you good sir! I am flattered and very happy to hear your comments.

lolzman wrote:just wondering if you ever saw this? I give credit to word bearer for this drawing. its helped me alot. ignore the weapons which i tried to paint....

I haven't. It's a nice drawing. The arms are a little short IMO, but otherwise, great bulk and volumes!

Not sure about that drawing for sizing, the torso and legs look a little thick compared to the head to my eye.

Mig's this log, particularly your true-scale marines had me hunting for marine terminators at conflict today, unfortunately they didnt have any otherwise I would be working on TS marines right now too!

Looking forward to the next updates.

Cheers,

Dante

Fantastic stuff – the Bedouin-style shawl on Alpharius is a fantastic touch, and the pose is great. I especially like how clean his right hip is, with all the equipment on the left. Not entirely sure why that jumped out at me, but there you go!

The agent is also very spiffy, though the sleeve of his left arm seems a little awkward at the moment. Perhaps it's the angle of the camera, but it seems a touch off. I really like the head – particularly the extension of the hood – and the addition of the grenade makes a nice balance between the low- and high-tech elements.

What I'm really looking forward to is the mutants. I think the heads of these guys are really going to make or break them – too feral-looking, and you'll lose the impact of them being mutants rather than monsters; and too normal looking will not hang well with the basic body. I'm not sure how I'd tackle it, but I have every faith that these are going to look like the best bits of the sand people from Star Wars and the muties from 2000AD.

Looking at the agent again, I really think the sharpness of his face works wonderfully to suggest a slightly sneaky quality. Have you had any thoughts about skintone etc? If the robes are pale, a darker or ruddier skintone would look great.

Apologist wrote:

What I'm really looking forward to is the mutants. I think the heads of these guys are really going to make or break them – too feral-looking, and you'll lose the impact of them being mutants rather than monsters; and too normal looking will not hang well with the basic body.

Looking at the agent again, I really think the sharpness of his face works wonderfully to suggest a slightly sneaky quality. Have you had any thoughts about skintone etc? If the robes are pale, a darker or ruddier skintone would look great.

Exactly. That's going to be really tricky to get right. I want to push quite far towards the mutant aspect. I will be giving them shawls too and maybe one or two will get goggles. I'll also hint the Imperium or Legion resources have armed them fairly recently with some modern lasguns etc, while a few still carry their own kit.

I will keep the skin tones very unsaturated through the army! Even if I use color generously elsewhere - the whole moonlight feel and suggestion these guys operate at night is important. That's not to say there won't be darker skin tones, just that they be low in saturation The agent will get fairly dark fatigues to go with mostly black (which I'll paint as very organically highlighted dark grey...black should never be 100% black unless in total shadow, an important lesson I've come to see fairly recently.)

Thanks for the comments.

I will post one more update tonight or tomorrow, then will be in Milan the rest of the week.

Great progress Migs, really digging the newest group, mutants and all. As usual, you're inspiring me to go mess with 40k stuff, when I've got squarebasers demanding some paint

- Salvage

I really love the operative, and he is probably the favorite model of mine from this project. For the moment, at least
I don't know about the head cloth on the marine, but I think once it has some paint it will work better for me. I do wonder if a basic hood with a cloth over the face if needed would have been better. Still, it wouldn't be the first time I didn't like something made of GS and plastic, and then found it made of win after some paint.

I like the Bedouin-style shawl, especially since...well it gives me flashbacks to my anthropology classes on gender and such in which we had many case studies dealing with the Bedouin!

I'm only concerned that the Bedouin style head looks smaller than the other Alpharius heads. Or am I mistaken?

great looking force so far! out of curiosity, what range of paints do you use?
thanks,
-Jason

Malika2 wrote:

I'm only concerned that the Bedouin style head looks smaller than the other Alpharius heads. Or am I mistaken?

You are Well, in the sense I've sculpted the gs on the same head Alpharius "1" has.

D3str0y3r wrote:great looking force so far! out of curiosity, what range of paints do you use?
thanks,
-Jason

Vallejo Model Color mostly! The only GW I use is metallics, washes and inks. All the rest is Vellejo Model or Game.

Quick update. See you next week. I think I'll paint something when I get back for a change. I think Alpharius with the heavy bolter.

Alpharius looks great mate, can't wait to see the finished, painted version.

For the agent, not sure having the rail in front of him in the base is a good idea, kind of gets in the way of being able to see the whole mini. Could just be the pic though.

For the twists, are you planning on using that ghoul head as is or will it get any special treatment?

Cheers,

Dante

What, 3ple post???

_

What just happened with the triple posting is quite funky, All ghoul heads get treatment

As for the base, that's what you get It'd look silly for him to stand on the rail with that pose and with the flowing tabard he wouldn't fit in the front. I wanted both "specialists" on the rail bases to tie them with the mutants.

I am really impressed with the shawl! I think the imprint of the "ear piece" (I know not what to call it) already helps tie it back into 40K.

I also like the GS work on extending their loin clothes, that's something I need to work on myself and your pictures will provide a helpful reference point!

One request Migs, when they are all finished can we have a group photo with the tracks all connected up to create the scene?! (One or Two rows, it's up to you) p:

Great stuff I like the Alpharius's pose. If you've got the tracks are you planning on the train?

Bac from Milan - buried with work, but full of new ideas, both work and hobby.

Llamahead wrote:Great stuff I like the Alpharius's pose. If you've got the tracks are you planning on the train?

I sort of am...or at least themed terrain

Go for it Migs. I don't I've seen any of your terrain work, aside from a couple of display bases.

I love the progress on the mob. I love the idea of the upright, titanic Alparius with the sly Advisor, leading the gibbering bunch of Twists through the desert. As with all your work -- cinematic. Something tangible in the imagery.

Is that polyfiller on the bases?

Peace.

sA

smiling Assassin wrote:
I love the progress on the mob. I love the idea of the upright, titanic Alparius with the sly Advisor, leading the gibbering bunch of Twists through the desert. As with all your work -- cinematic. Something tangible in the imagery.

Is that polyfiller on the bases?

Thanks man! Lovely description.

It's actually Vallejo "Sandy paste" a great modeling "goo" that dries like sand and can be shaped while drying.

27/April/09 IG Toys, and dex are here!

At the brink of hobby hibernation after super interesting times at work, I am pulled back by the arrival of new IG toys. The first project is obviously going to be working up a custom Vendetta for the Legion cell.

The 1st of May festives are fast approaching and since in finland it includes dangerous consumption of booze and little else, I am going to spend mine working on the project and relaxing after hectic times.

Stay tuned!

yay!!!!!

Some great pieces in those new IG kits, I´m looking forward to seeing what you make of them. Any favorites so far?

Also, I actually decided against the Valkyrie for price reasons.. Haven´t done so in a long time (heck I even buy stuff from Forgeworld ), but Ijust felt that the price was a bit too steep. For now.

I may chage my mind after seeing the (no doubt wonderful) work you´ll do on yours. I am weak willed when it comes to new models...

I picked up the new codex and a cadian command set, not found a use for it yet though with my current project so they are sitting waiting for use.

Looking forward to your take on the valkyrie mate, I'm sure I'll be blown away as always. Is it going to be a camo affair or will we see some cool hyrda patterning like on the cloaks of some of your first cell's specialists?

Cheers,

Dante

The Vendetta scheme will be "military" with freehand hints befitting of the theme and also not just paint, but 3d texture and symbols where it adds to the design. I also need to find a way to convert atleast 3 valks to Vendettas. I like the concept much more and rules wise it's a win win. One of them can be very different. The Legion can ride in custom fitted style

Going through the Codex - VERY IMPRESSED btw -, Colonel Straken could well stand in for an Alpha legionnaire, if I go to a tournament! So I'm thinking of swapping the latest Alpharius's gear just for those occasions. With our group, it will be house rules.

30/April/09 Task at hand.

Quick update before a meeting. I did a little bit of work yesterday and the task at hand is becoming quite distinctly “insane” in it’s scale. So much thought goes into each and every model, unit and thus the whole army. With this much converting action going, painting might time wise be at a right balance and something I hope to do this weekend. I’m starting to view this more and more as an art project, an outlet for my artistic whims and enjoyment, where gaming brings a nice social outlet and the rules another set of possible inspirations rather than limits.

Reading about Colonel Straken’s rules, it was clear, he was going to be the Alpharius that goes into tournaments, so I re-equipped accordingly. I lost the bulk of the boltgun, but the addition of slung shotgun, really adds to the guerilla operator feel that I look for with this Alpharius. I also dry-fitted a lot of arms for the Raging Bulldons Captain and ended up with a smug combination to highlight his bravado. I added a cigar to underline this. The Agent is also ready for prming and I’ve begun adding detail and “characters” into the the dune twists, which will take an eternity to build, to flesh the concept out. One of them is a shaman for example.