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I am in awe. Your fluff is terrific and your models are beautiful to say the least. Good job and keep it up!

Great fluff - and just to prove I read it all here is a typo I found
"a barely perceptable nob "
Made me laugh a bit!
But really great idea! And I reckon that is exactly what and evil genius geneticist would do in the 41st millennium - make his own army of super-humans.

I love the minis - particullarly the jump pack guy killing the diseased looking civillian (I reckon he just looks ill rather than like a zombie - so you are on the right track). But why did you leave the purity seals on? surely they are too cool and mercenary to be into piousness.

Lunahound - Well it is halloween soon. Its the reason I left them all helmeted rather than using spacewolves and having them look like just barbarian SM. I think not seeing their faces makes them look more menacing.

King Pariah - Thanks alot, Im glad people are liking the fluff, I wanted to keep it going but it wasnt getting much reaction for a while.

Weetyskemian44 - Haha, thanks for pointing that typo out its adds a whole new dimension to their relationship! i've edited it out now. The fluff will continue and Im looking forward to writing Varlacks entry as it will expand on his background. Yeah its the look I had to go for eventually just a dirty civillian (maybe ill). The other zombie heads aren't as bed. I wish I had more spare marine bodies to use so they could all be fighting blood angels. I did consider removing the Purity seals for that reason but it seemed like alot of work. Maybe I will go back and remove them at a later date.

Really great stories. Looking forward to more! I agree with keeping them helmeted. They are faceless killers. The only humanity their enemies see is the corpse face of the beheaded loyalist marine victim that once wore the armor now used for mockery as the new chapter badge. Good theme.

Radiation - Thanks for the feedback. I think Im going to stick with the helmets, I was toying with the idea of having some assault marines helmetless but I've now decided against it.

Here is the next assault marine in pieces ready to start painting. I always paint my marines in separate pieces before assembling them at the end. This marine will be landing on the legs of a fleeing civillian whilst de-capitating him with his axe (hopefully).

Alright update, I've finished another Assault marine and I think it may be my favourite model to date. I've tried to pose the marine as if he is landing on a civillian and breaking his leg whilst at the same time de-capitating him with his power axe. I bent the zombies legs and green stuffed sleaves on to try to reduce the strange proportions of the zombies. I tried a lightening effect on the power axe that I will also do on the power fist for the sergeant. The pose took a while to get balnaced but i currently balances without any added weights. It is however very fragile! Unfortunately by the time I've finished it here in Vietnam the light has gone so I couldn't get good picture so I'll post a preview and post better pics tomorrow.
C & C welcome guys.

Here are better pics of the Assault marine, Hope you like them.

incredibly awesome all around

How do you keep the assault marines from tipping over? They seem like they would be rather top heavy. They look freaking fantastic though!!

I want more fluff!! its great dude, but I am to assume that the tyranids lost that battle that was described?

Dajobe - Thanks, glad you like them.

baneofmorgoth - Its just a case of balancing the model when posing them. The civillian is posed as close to the front of the base as possible to counter balance the marine behind him. However I think when I start gaming with the army I might glue something under the base for added stability. Cheers for the positive feedback!

Nira - More fluff will be coming dont worry. I intend to write fluff everytime I finish a squad or character. So the Assault squad will get a story, not sure whether to write a battle for them or a story of how each member joined the Collectors. Which do you think? The Tyranids were just to provide a back story of how he lost his legs, but yeah the Blood Angels defeated them. However my regular opponent is a Nids player so I will be writing more Nid stuff in the future as Varlack is very 'interested' in the genetic possibilities of the Tyranids....

well it might be best to do a battle for the entire assault unit insted of each individually because readers might lose intrest or it might be a large goal on your side and it might take away from your modeling time. but its up to you. I love tyranids so any refrance to them catches my intrest immidiatly. your models look nice to

Nira - I agree I think I'll do a battle involving the squad. At the moment I'm leaning towards Dark Eldar but don't worry the Tyranids will be back but I have plans for them in the future. Im glad you like the fluff it's fun to write.

I've finished another Assault marine, this one isn't killing anyone as I thought it would be too much to have every member of the squad killing a civillian at the exact same time so some members will be simply running. He's posed quite similarly to my Tactical sergeant but I do like the pose so it doesn't bother me too much. I've tried to add some accessories to dempnstrate movement and speed like the banner streaming from his jump pack. I've also included a group shot so far. Next up is the squad sergeant with a power fist.




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Looking at the photos I might add a body part to the base to help tie him into the rest of the squad. What do you think?

These dudes must be the coolest things anyone has ever made from vanilla marines. Im serious. They are atually so inspiring that my next army could be sm traitors, and your marines and your marines alone are the inspiration. Theyre poses are more than outstanding, mate, GREAT JOB!!

Mr Merlin - Thanks alot for those comments they mean alot Im glad you like the marines. Just shows what you can do with just a few small conversions. I've looked at your orks before and been really impressed with the painting and really characterful conversions. I think we both like to make each model a mini diorama.

Its been a long time since my last post. RL has taken oveer a bit and I've been busy settling into life in Vietnam. However I have a week off so I'm going to be painting and (hopefully) finishing my Assault squad. Here is the finished Seargent with a power fist. I did toy with the idea of having him crushing the head of a civ with his power fist but bottled it and ended up with the standard pointing pose that all power fist armoured marines in the galaxy have. I tried to add a lightening effect to the powerfist but im not sure it comes across well in photos. Im fairly happy with it but its difficult to get yellow lightening to stand out on a yellow background. The last marine will be getting converted today and he will be dispatching another helpless civillian/zombie. Its hard for me to post WIP pics becuase I usually paint my models before gluing them so WIP pics arent that inspiring but let me know if you are interested. C and C welcome as usual.

The green stuff work has been finished for the final Assault marine. The unlucky civillian is catching something and Im fairly sure its gonna hurt....Im slightly worried about balance issues for this one but hopefully it will work. I may also try OSL for the first time. I will get some painting done today and after that its onto the man himself, Varlack. WIP pics.

Wow, thats all I can say!

Your stuff just keeps getting better and better!! Do you have plans for a guy getting his face hacked off? If so, that will be amazing, lol.

Baneofmorgoth - Thanks mate, Im happy with how the army is going. I hadn't thought of that but now you mention it I will definately have to have a marine taking a scalp. Thanks for the idea.

Lots of photos today! I've finished the final Assault marine and hes one of my favourite models so far. Boom Headshot! The conversion work as mainly repositioning on the marine and green stuff on the civillian. The main challenge was gluing the model in place. It required a penny glued under the base to stabalise the model and it will be a nightmare to transport and play with but hey, its supposed to be a show army! I tried to paint an OSL effect from the plasma shot but im not sure i made it bright enough or that it comes across well on the photos.
I have included a squad shot of the Assault Marines and i think they look really dynamic as a unit. The 'flying marine' stands ouot a littel but when I expand the squad to 10 in the future I will model some other marines in similar flying poses. They are all fragile but I think it was worth it for the poses.
Finally I took an army shot so far. I always enjoy seeing other peoples army shots as the army expands so I thought I'd take one. The army looks cohesive but the units still stand out individually which im really happy with.
All this expedition needs is a leader.........

awsome look going with these guys

Love the idea of the assault marine melting the face off a guy

It looks awesome, but it must be so insanely unstable.

Rogue Wolves - Thanks they look like I imagined which doesn't happen very often. I hope the leader turns out as good for my next conversion.

Tarar2d2 - Haha thanks, I got the inspiration from the golden deamon entry with the skeleton getting shot. it was surprisingly easy to convert as I had alot of half heads from the scalps for the shoulder pads.

Ovion - Unstable isn't the word mate! these will be a nightmare to play with! Luckily im stuck here in Vietnam for the next year so I wont be playing. I have stuck coins under the bases which does help but the last one is definately the least stable, U need to position the civillian as far to the edge of the base as possible to try to counter balance the marine. Im glad you like the models.

Thanks everyone for the positive feedback it really does help and motivate me to try new things. Im trying to write some fluff for the assault marines but its not flowing at the minute. I will also start work on varlack and post WIP pics as I think Im going to need some advice. Cheers.

Might have to look for something heavier than coins.

The other thing I might suggest is take something rigid like 1mm plastic card (or heck, something heavier like a thin sheet of metal) and just make a flat extension to the base. Because it's flat it won't make the base "illegal" because you can position models on top of it, but it will also assist with balance.

Remarkable models though. The Plasma to the face is just awesome.

Veteran Sergeant - Thanks for the advice I will try something heavier when I find something suitable. Thanks for the positive comments as well.
I've started work converting Varlack Creed. Im using the Librarian model as the base as I've always really liked the model and the pose. First off I had to clean up the finecast model. there was alot of flash and due to the large amount of fine detail alot of miscasts. I had to scrape off all the imperial iconography and remove the head which would have been alot harder with metal so there are pro's and cons. I just hope they fine tune the process in the future. Im using the head from the Necromancer, as soon as I saw the model I knew the head was perfect. I've then used the sleaves ffrom the model as the base for his cape wich is going to be made of chains. They will be glued over the sleave so that it cant be seem. Im not sure about the staff at the minute. I've used an avatar hand surrounded but zombie hands which will have chains added as well. What do you think of it? Im limited for parts but any suggestions are welcome. Ive also used the staff head on the book to add more skulls. The base has a dead Blood angel on it and wil prob have severe burn damage. It would have been good to make him more like a scientist with Tech marine parts and biaonic arms but I dont have the model. SO what are your thoughts~?

that is really cool, I like how you are posing them as if they are routing an enemy. I look forward to seeing more.

That AS guy shooting the zombie(?) in the face is cool
Exactly how I imagine it would look like!

i love the plasma gun marine! great job!

Lord Dreden - Thanks that the look I was going for, over running a civillian out post with spacemarines getting killed defending them.

Forruner Mercy - Thanks, it came out better then I thought it would, the OSL doesnt come out well on the photo.

Mr Merlin- Cheers mate.

Ok so I've not had much time to paint over xmas but finally got a chance to start painting Varlack. Doing him slow and steady so painted the bottom half first to get the colours right. Im not sure about the yellow tabard what do you think? Im hoping that once the rest is painted and the arm added the black will make him look alot less yellow. I also have decided to add a face to the shoulder pad which I wasnt going to do. Hope you like it sorry its not much but just wanted to show im still alive!

Ok so that was at the start of today and this is how he looks at the end. Im really happy with how his face has turned out. I tried to be as detailed as possible and the necromancer head is really well sculpted so it gives a very natural evil expression. I think its definately the best face I've painted. I've added a stripe to the tabard and considered a more elaborate border but bottled out. A few things need minor touching up but otherwise the bottom half is finished. Just base coated the top half really but I'll hopefully get a chance to do more this week. Hope you like it.