Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Well hello there,

I've been looking for a new modelling project for this summer.
I absolutly love pre-heresy armys and I've been very impressed by the awesome work the people here have done.

The 'Tales of Heresy'-novel featured a short story that got me interested in another period, however. The tale 'The Last Church' featured a valuable insight into the Unification Wars era and I was instantly hooked.

So I knew my next modelling project would feature some MK1 Thunder Warrior goodness.

So, here goes my MK1 Armour project WIP:

Phase 1: Heads



Phase 2: Legs and Torsos









They're very WIP but I want as much feedback as possible during the modelling and painting process.
Ah yeah, did I mention they're truescale ??

Well, thats all for now. I still have to order some shoulderpads (from Chapterhouse), some resin bases (undicided as to which) and some terminator arms (I tried to use normal marine arms but it really didnt work out).

Pssst: hate to rain on your parade, because you've got some great work going, but it's "phase". Not "fase".

Edited

Leuk!

Will definetely keep an eye on this thread.

Thats really good for what you got now, i also haven't seen any other Mk 1 attempts, so keep up the kick ass job.

love the idea, no idea why it isnt done more often.

What Legion will it be?

Just thought I'd drop in some info; during the unifcation wars the main troops besides Imperial Army to be used were the Thunder Warriors; crude astartes (see A Thousand Sons novel). The astartes were an inspired by the Thunder Warriors and were only present for about the last quarter or so of the unification wars.

Anything Pre-Heresy, and I am there!

These are off to a great start!

Looking forward to more, and to the painted versions, eventually!

Oo I sare say I am rather excited to see these come to fruition!

Not a fan of the heads. Then again, that's just the look of the actual art. And do note, that in the case of Thunder Armour, there is no standard template, they were built on an individual basis. So use that as a basis to make every single marine look individual.

Fafnir wrote:Not a fan of the heads. Then again, that's just the look of the actual art. And do note, that in the case of Thunder Armour, there is no standard template, they were built on an individual basis. So use that as a basis to make every single marine look individual.

True, this is because the Thunder Warriors were.... iconsistent to say the least. The primitive modifcations given to them made their appearances rather across the board and it also made them slightly mad...... I guess you could say they were the Emperor's own personal weregald/wulfen; albeit more stable. By the way, my source once again would be A Thousand Sons novel.

Fafnir wrote:Not a fan of the heads. Then again, that's just the look of the actual art. And do note, that in the case of Thunder Armour, there is no standard template, they were built on an individual basis. So use that as a basis to make every single marine look individual.

Sorry to disappoint you, they will all have individual poses and heraldry but their gear and size will be standarised.

Malika2 wrote:What Legion will it be?

I'm open for any suggestions. As far as background (and thus painting, since I always want my painting to tie into my armies background) goes, I don't really have a set idea. I've been gathering some Unification Era fluff and so far have established the following:

- The original 20 Regiments (as the Legions were known back in the Terran days) all took part in the Unifications Wars.
- They probably all had different names then they have today (except for the Imperial Fists maybe).
- The only confirmed names I could find were 'The First Regiment' (Dark Angels), the War Hounds (World Eaters) and the Dusk Raiders (Death Guard).

Now I don't want these guys to be the epic, knightly heroes the way 40K (or 30K) space marines are, but they're not bad guys either. I also don't wanna hang my sci-fi soldiers with animal pelts and canine teeth as I've always viewed this as a bit slowed if you're not an ork. I also don't wanna paint black. And the army has to tie in to the existing background. Based on this I have ruled out the following Legions:

- Dark Angels (black)
- Emperor's Children (background)
- Iron Warriors (too evil, even when they where not really evil yet)
- White Scars (too feral)
- Space wolves (same as above)
- Night Lords (too evil)
- Iron Hands (black)
- Thousand Sons (background)
- Raven Guard (black)

Oh, and I'm not gonna do the Lost Legions either.

So my question is: Please post which of the remaining Legion you would best like to see and come up with a Regimental name for em (if there isnt a known one).

IIRC War Hounds (World Eaters) were white and blue. Hope that helps

I dont like these heads >

I do like these heads>

This is great!
I know it's not with fluff, but I like the image for thunder armor toting Heavy Stubbers. They just have a brutal street-sweeper appeal.
I'd go with Ultramarines if their colors were blue. I think blue against a Terran wasteland basing style would be pleasantly striking.

Looking good. I'll keep my eye on this thread too.

Do note that the White Scars and Space Wolves might not have been that crude before they got reunited with Leman Russ and Khan.

Dusk Raiders might be the way to go instead?

Well the Dusk Raiders' armor was marble colored with a crimson right arm and shoulder (from Flight of the Eisenstein I believe). So, that would look cool and be fairly painless to achieve, I say go for them.

All the original regiments of "Thunder Warriors" the proto space marines were incredibly brutal and vicious, they're described as techno barbarians at several turns.

The Thunder Warriors of "The Last Church" arn't from a space marine legion. The legions were created as a new force at the very end of the terran unification. Astartes did fight in the unification wars torward the end, and yes they did wear thunder armor but you have to make the distinction between the two geneticly modified super humans here.

As it seems to read from watching the Terran Veterans of the legions when compared to their later brothers, the legions seem to have been pretty similar all around before they gained their primarchs. You distinctly see this in Iacton Qruze, Nathanael Garro, Commander Astelan, And Captain Kharn. They all seem to share a core sense of nobility and seem more like paragons of the regular imperial army in mindset rather than the doctrine and dogmatic attitudes marines seem to have gained after the discovery of the primarchs.

So I figure if you look at the the primarch's past you'll see how influenced the legion was by it. Angron on the War Hounds, Corax on the Raven Guard, Khan on the white scars, Leman Russ on the Space Wolves and Magnus on the Thousand sons.

But if you're looking for a Legion with only some backround and that's basicly open, I'd go with the Dusk Warriors (Death Guard), War Hounds (World Eaters) or Imperial Fists as they were the Praetorians of Terra pulling most of their recruits from there even after Dorn was found.

This project is looking really good, off to a nice start. I think the War Hounds (World Eaters) would be a good chapter to do.

Looking good, Although i see you used the terminator backs. You could use the space marine backs, this way they will fit the back pack better and you wont have the gaps in the back. they fit well onto the front chest plate of the terminator well, as long as you trim them down a bit, and add some GS or plasti-card to the bottom to fit the legs better. Little bit more work but more efficient in lines of a true scale space marine.

Looking good .

Word Bearers, Luna Wolves or Blood Angels maybe? I would say Alpha's but they preobably weren't around at that time.

brush_slip wrote:Looking good, Although i see you used the terminator backs. You could use the space marine backs, this way they will fit the back pack better and you wont have the gaps in the back.

I used terminator backs intentionally to make the armour look more blocky and 'low' tech, since thunder armour only offered power to a warrior's chest and arms and the chest-area had to be substancially bigger then the non-powered legs (and since I used terminator legs, those where quite massive even after trimming them down a fair bit).

I decided to go with Imperial Fists or Dusk Raiders (not 100% sure yet, but I have some time left, since my arms got delayed further >.< ), as both are mentioned as actually participating in the Uni-Wars. Currently I'm leaning to the Fists as painting yellow is something new for me.

Looking great so far

i'd say go with the Luna Wolves, seeing as that was their unification name until Horus renamed them after he became warmaster

Awesome. I love the GS work on the legs.

Try to give them that post-apocalyptic with lots of leather and whatnot, after all before the emperor unifyed earth it was a nuclear wasteland mostly. look at horus rising when it talks about the chronicles of ursh it describes cities being regualarly nuked and the nuclear desert being everywhere, is also says that the techno barbarians were a seperate fighting force than the astartes and stuff like that

give it a mad max look within the grimdark

edited for spelling

Dusk Raiders... Marble + red seems quite nice uh...

Quick updat to prove I'm not dead yet. I havn't gotten alot done while waiting for the arms, but i had the time to come up with some dynamic poses.
Meet brother <insert random name here> who just got shot in the helmet and took the damaged thing off. I thought it would be cool to leave the goggles as a seperate part and not part of the helmet, to show the armour isn't as technically advanced yet (Since we are talking M28 here). I still need to do some greenstuffing on the arm (chainmail) and the hand (he needs a thumb). The shoulder pad is not final and will be replaced with a MK1 pad.