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This Christmas, Santa Claus brought me the gift of Warhammer 40k. Many, maaaaaany years ago, I was an avid gamer - we're talking pre-2nd Edition here. I loved 40k (Rogue Trader and 2nd Ed), but played a hell of a lot of Space Hulk, Blood Bowl, Space Marine/Adeptus Titanicus/Epic40k, and stuff like Space Fleet and Advanced Heroquest.

Anyway, skip ahead to 2012 and I'm married and much much older. I've always flipped through White Dwarf in the supermarket over the years, and have amassed a lot of the Horus Heresy novels and the various Ultramarine and Space Wolf novels too... and for some reason I got a big itch to get back into the hobby. So, for Christmas the wife bought me the 40k rulebook (wow what a beautiful item!)... plus a few other items including the Chaos SM Codex. And this lot ended up on my desk.



Lord in Terminator armour, 10 standard traitor marines, 12 bezerkers, 5 Terminators are the obvious 40k choices here. The Bloodletters will be an allied detachment (I love the models and the fluff of them) with probably a big daddy Khorne daemon HQ. The Warhammer Chaos Warriors? Conversion fodder for the standard space marines, more on this in a bit.

Also got this off eBay for a fiver... which was a bit of a bargain I thought. I have the Chaos Lord from DV on the way too (£2.50 inc postage!) as the model is too good not to at least own!



All told this give me about 1200pts excluding the Bloodletters - with a Rhino to buy. A good starting point I think for me to build on in the future.

Now bear in mind that I have not picked up a model knife or paint brush in anger, in about 15yrs... so there will be lots of mistakes, things you will spot I have done incorrectly... and lots of missed mould lines to remove!

Fluff-wise (I can't get enough of the fluff...) I wanted to go for Khorne as no-nonsense army theme. Partly to give me an arse kicking force of hacky-slashy maniacs, but also to hopefully let me ease in gently to playing 40k again with something fun and not too complicated. Brute force... no subtly thanks. The idea of the army really came about from the recent Blanchitsu column in WD where he made a small warband of renegade marines that look bad ass, and avoid the usual slightly cartoony/gaudy look of the standard GW chaos marines. I wanted dark, sinister, and very weather beaten unpleasant looking armour - without going down the crusty path of Nurgle. With that in mind there will be no bright coloured armour or tinselly bling. Tarnish, rust, worn, stained are the bywords for this army.

My mind wandered and I imagined the force launching on a rampage from a windblasted, sandstorm daemonic deathworld of non-stop warfare waged across vast blasted, sun baked wildernesses. Lots of blood for the blood god, but somewhere where the frivolous niceties of armour adornment and fancy paintjobs have no place. I'll leave that for the Slaanesh sissies, and the trinkets collectors of Tzeentch. Lots of bare, tarnished steel, dull bronze, burnt red, and black.

Force wise, I had a firm idea of where I wanted it to go. I really wanted it to feel like an expanded Realm of Chaos-era warband with lots of customisation and a proper 'feel' that the various units are tied together, both within the unit and across the wider force. Radical, sculpted converions are beyond my skills right now, but lots of kitbashing and creative use of parts, and small conversions were what I wanted - an individual army that tries to avoid the cartoon character look that some of the pre-6th Edition models can fall into (GW please do more models like the DV CHosen...!) So unified colour scheme firstly, but also a couple of other features like lots of exposed faces - some of the helmeted models in the kits look really goofy to me (esp the bezerkers and terminators). The desert death world theme also meant opportunities for a future massive blob of cultists I want to do (desert raider style, masks, headwraps etc). Ambitious for a newly returned player? Yes! Am I keen though? VERY!

So I plunged in at the deep end and started with my Helbrute:



Now this model was one of the models that really got my attention as an inspiration to get back into the hobby, so I didn't want to change it too much. However the silly little screaming skull face really bugs me, so I used a horny Chaos Warrior helmet instead... the horns fit in with the generally spiney-ness of the Helbrute. And I added a skull on chain from the bezerkers to the multimelta. Why not, eh? And I added some battle damage to the armour as it looks to slick and clean for a crazed warbeast... this is a WIP as I want to do more but mulling it over right now. I'm contemplating doing something with the multimelta too... maybe convert to something else with bigger barrels.

Next! The Lord and his Terminator retinue - he will be joining this unit for deep strike mayhem in games. However my overall plan for him is to eventually just demote him to Terminator champion and get something a little more exciting to lead the army - I love the model though so he will do for the time being.




Swapped a big horned skull shoulder pad on, scarred up his face, swinging bezerker skull on the his left pad. The standard trophy rack I thought was too high and spoilt the low stance of the model, so I cut some of them down and shortened them, and made the rest up from various little trophies and spikes. I went for lots of skulls rather than helmets and heads for an overall skull-tastic theme to the model, and added to two more to the two funny stubs on the top of the cloak (they will be brass exhausts for his suit when painted). As with all the models the base is not finished.

I wanted the rest of the Terminators to fit to a theme. I HATE the standard tusked helmets. They just look totally stupid to me. So I decided to go for un-helmeted look, I always it think it looks more elite, and will give a feel of a personal bodyguard. Also modded some of the trophy racks to reduce their OTT-ness.






(Missing a base, not happy with this one so will be redone...)

I found an armless and weaponless Abaddon in a bits box in the cupboard, so pressed him into action as the unit's champion. Lords combiweapon, and converted the sorceror staff into a two handed power-axe.

Together...

...coming to a battlefield near you via deep strike soon!

Next, the bezerkers. Now the fluff for these guys is excellent, they should be absolute badass space viking maniacs... but the GW painted models (imho) don't do them justice largely due to the dull poses and some really huge heads. So I decided to see what I could do to improve on this. I bought a set of Space Wolf heads with beards and spikey hair, as to me the bezerker fluff evokes thoughts of Norse lunatics unable to control themselves in the heat of battle. Lots of weapons and jumping and screaming! I'd still use some of the standard heads, but mix in the SW heads and some skull themed others. I really like how the Raptor models and some Blood Angels are posed jumping or running.





The plated bearded guy with the chainsword and powersword is the champion (for now), he'll be painted up to look older and seasoned.

All together, another three left to assemble. I like how they look like they're running or leaping at enemies, or bracing to go wild!



Last up for now, the standard SM squad. Like the bezerker models, I think they tend to look a bit funny sometimes, a little too short and boring. So after a bit of searching found a way to use the Chaos Warrior torsos to give them fur capes and abit more evilness. Here's my first three - champion, heavybolter, and plasma gunner. Champion pointing at his future victims for challenges! The bolter marines will be harder to pose due to the arm positions but I'll give it a go! I want to mix in a couple of the fantasy warrior helmets too.







As a bonus, and for a bit of fun, I made a couple of objective markers. No use having a bunch of badboy Chaos Marines fighting over a green plastic tiddly-wink!


Made from spare bits from the Chaos Lord and marines. I've got a couple more in production...

That's all for now! Need to finish the rest of the marines and then.... PAINT!!!! Check out my nooby paint station/bits!




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Finished the last three Bezerkers... then snapped my craft knife blade and stupidly didnt buy a set of spares : so work has stopped... bugger. Used the head off an old Advanced Space Crusade scout for one of them. Middle one about to clobber some poor sod whilst stepping on a discarded terminator helmet.



Now to go back and finish the bases.

FINALLY finished the army for now, assembly-wise ;D with the rest of the CSM squad. A royal pain to do them but worth it for the look. Finished all the bases for every model too.





I love the guy with the three eyes (a bit Nurgle-y I know...) holding a grenade.

And all together:



Also went back to the Helbrute. Fancied changing him a little, love multimeltas but fancied something a bit more suited to him probably spending a lot of time Crazed... so now sports a Reaper Autocannon. Also trimmed out the mouth on the palm of the powerfist and slotted in a pair of old Ork bolter barrels to give him a combi-bolter addon for extra firepower. Bit of liquid greenstuff and a smashed Slaanesh icon on the base.

Looking good dude, the capes on the CSM are a great idea they look some what noble? in a menacing way.

Subbed and looking forward to see some paint thrown on them

Welcome back to the hobby mate. You have some fine looking stuff here. I'll be sure to keep an eye on this project.

Any idea what Legion/warband they are getting painted up as yet?

 retrovertigo wrote:
I found an armless and weaponless Abaddon

Heh... Yeah that sounds like Abaddon.

Subbed! Great stuff altogether...May I ask what you've been using for the bases?...It looks like chipboard of some sort.

Welcome back to the hobby, Retrovertigo.
Those models look great so far.
I have subscribed to this thread and will be watching your progress with great interest.

Really cool looking models there.
Also retrovertigo is a great Mr bungle song.

A good start! I love the warrior cross overs. One gripe is that the ones that use the warrior torsos don't seem to hold Boltguns with two hands. Is this an aesthetic choice, or is it because the arms don't reach over?

SargentWhiskey wrote:Looking good dude, the capes on the CSM are a great idea they look some what noble? in a menacing way.

Subbed and looking forward to see some paint thrown on them

Yeah I think so too. I wanted to just make the standard, boring marines a bit more scary and menacing... and as you say a bit more aloof.

Snrub wrote:Welcome back to the hobby mate. You have some fine looking stuff here. I'll be sure to keep an eye on this project.

Any idea what Legion/warband they are getting painted up as yet?

I'm keen to invent something rather than use an existing Legion etc. I like the Iron Warrior style and look, but the yellow/black stripes put me off. My aim is for a separate warband, I really like the John Blanche and Co. feel of grimey, dirty, grimness rather than bright candy coloured armour. So tarnished bare metal with sharp small amounts of colour. Khorne themed without fire engine red marines etc. I'm just working on some fluff at the moment! Can't beat a bit of fluff...

Drazuul wrote:Subbed! Great stuff altogether...May I ask what you've been using for the bases?...It looks like chipboard of some sort.

It was very thin cork from a pin board. I used it to give an irregular shape to the top of the base, with exposed bits to resemble bare rock with the gravel/sand around it, and then dead arid grass sparsely scattered over it. See the Helbrute below!

Chaos Legionnaire wrote:Welcome back to the hobby, Retrovertigo.
Those models look great so far.
I have subscribed to this thread and will be watching your progress with great interest.

Thanks mate

Shaletron wrote:Really cool looking models there.
Also retrovertigo is a great Mr bungle song.

Thanks California is probably in my top 3 albums of all time I think.

ghosty wrote:A good start! I love the warrior cross overs. One gripe is that the ones that use the warrior torsos don't seem to hold Boltguns with two hands. Is this an aesthetic choice, or is it because the arms don't reach over?

Yeah it was actually really difficult to get them to meet in the middle because of the shape of the torso. I did the heavy bolter and one bolter marine... but it really needs greenstuff to cover the elbow joints and I don't have the confidence at the moment... I tried to make the remaining guys as individual as I could to compensate.

----------

Well after quite a few hours of work, lots of mistakes, and far too much faffing... I have finished my first painted miniature in about 15-16yrs. I think the last thing I painted was a Catachan jungle fighter literally around 1996-7?



Defo just 'tabletop' quality as they say. But quite pleased with it considering. Biggest mistake was undercoating something as bright as this, black. As it took a lot of effort to get the skin right afterwards. But overall I'm happy! And a bit relieved... Only thing I want to do is add a scorched effect to the muzzle of the autocannon, but wasn't sure how to do it.

Wow, great start to your army and welcome back to the little plastic addiction. Your Helbrute looks great, absolutely great. I'm really looking forward to seeing that CSM squad. I've never seen a conversion like that.

Very impressive!....He looks better than the original model for sure, and that's amazing!...You could try drybrushing the muzzle with browns. Start halfway up and getting darker as it gets closer to the end of the barrel.

A stunning job for some one who hasnt painted in 15 years cant wait to see the rest of the army.

As someone who spent a similar amount of time away from the hobby, I am blown away by the quality of both your inventiveness and paintwork. If you are returning to the hobby fter a hiatus at this level then we can expect amazing stuff to follow. LMK if you need some odds and ends!

40kFSU wrote:Wow, great start to your army and welcome back to the little plastic addiction. Your Helbrute looks great, absolutely great. I'm really looking forward to seeing that CSM squad. I've never seen a conversion like that.

Thanks, I must admit seeing another Black Legion army somewhere else with the cloaks and just had to do the same. I'm not a fan of the stock CSM models...

Drazuul wrote:Very impressive!....He looks better than the original model for sure, and that's amazing!...You could try drybrushing the muzzle with browns. Start halfway up and getting darker as it gets closer to the end of the barrel.

Thanks man! I'll give it a go, someone else suggested washes though... I think the effect I want would be closer to drybrushing I think?

freakfish wrote:A stunning job for some one who hasnt painted in 15 years cant wait to see the rest of the army.

CSM squad are almost finished... but thanks!

inmygravenimage wrote:As someone who spent a similar amount of time away from the hobby, I am blown away by the quality of both your inventiveness and paintwork. If you are returning to the hobby fter a hiatus at this level then we can expect amazing stuff to follow. LMK if you need some odds and ends!

Hey thanks. My aim is just to get a decent army size painted up ASAP to game with really, then I might start some more exciting ideas for the Chaos Lord as he is a bit dull at the moment. I'm always on the lookout for some extra bits and pieces though for more conversions, my aim is to have a virtually completely converted army eventually - even if they're just little changes like the Bezerkers. Next unit (once the rest are done) is a big blob of cultists, but I'm going to use WFB beastmen... you can't have a Chaos army without beastmen can you?!?! Ha ha

Well it's been an interesting first unit after all this time... Made many, many mistakes. Changed the entire colour scheme three times... two models (inc the heavy bolter fella) at one point looked so cack I pulled them to bits and threw them in my bits box. So I'm down to a unit of just 8 models now just need two CSM lowerbodies/legs and I can remake them, but for now I'm just relieved to have finished them all as it has taken a ridiculous amount of time to finish. Very, very tabletop quality, but I'm happy with that as after the Helbrute it was quite a challenge to paint such relatively small models The original plan was a more monochrome version of the Iron Warriors, but it looked far too plain so went proper IW anyway - by far the coolest traitor legion imho. Storm of Iron is still one of my top favourite Black Library novels, and the third Ultramarine novel on Medrengard with all those lovely tanks and dreadnoughts









They started out very shiney silver, virtually Grey Knight kind of bling. The total opposite to what I had in mind. In hindsight, using a really cheap budget paintbrush to drybrush was the issue as I got a totally different result with a GW medium drybrush. Then three of them were repainted a charcoal grey... looked nice but very very boring. After then spending a day painting up a couple of 2nd Edition tactical marines as testers, I went back to the original plan of dark, dirty silver.

The photo's are washing out the colour a bit, it's a very dark iron colour, with plenty of shading (honest). Black undercoat, Leadbelcher basecoat, wash x2 with Agrax Earthshade, wash with Nuln Oil, drybrushed with Warplock Bronze, light drybrush with Leadbelcher, thin wash of Nuln, then very very light drybrush with Leadbelcher again.

Tried to tone down the hazard stripes a bit, limited them to just the chainswords and one shoulderpad - prefer the bolters to be nice and dark metal rather than plastic yellow boxes.

Next, the terminators! Hopefully should be easier with the lack of cloaks and sharper lines (anyone else think some of the sculpting on the CSM's is a bit vague?).

Sometimes a guy just likes to give a dakkabump to good lookin' miniatures. Place moves awful fast sometimes. Keep at it!

Csm are looking good im sure your next batch will be even better

freakfish wrote:Csm are looking good im sure your next batch will be even better

ssspectre wrote:Sometimes a guy just likes to give a dakkabump to good lookin' miniatures. Place moves awful fast sometimes. Keep at it!

Thanks guys! ssspectre, we Iron Warriors have to stick together!

....

Update time! I've been pretty busy. Had a slight... hiccup when I painted up my Chaos Lord, hated what I had done, and promptly broke him into his component parts and threw him in my bits box in retrospect I should have just put it to one side and come back to it another day. Lesson learnt. Really the outcome of painting way too late at night and rushing to get finished. Ho hum.

However I did complete my other Terminators, and I'm pretty happy with them. The weather here is snow and ice, and so they're not spray varnished yet... hence the lack of Iron Warrior decals and the plain looking bases. However I think I might come back to them in a week or two and just a few more little details here and there to just embelish them a little more. However the army scheme is for simplicity and to try and avoid gaudy-ness. I'm limiting the hazard strips to either close combat weapons (seems logical to have them on a chainsaw on the end of a gun...) and small details like the box on the AC; very dark silver, wrought-iron looking medieval flavour armour, and no coloured guns for bit more grittyness. I want their weapons and armour to look like it's come straight from the forge and to the battlefield.

The former-Abaddon model came out better than expected. I regret not stripping the paint off it first as some of the detail is pretty muddied up as as result. But after painting his skin I thought he looked pretty badass. I'm going to probably temporarily use him as an HQ rather than Terminator Champion until I paint my Kranon figure up (which itself will be temporary....).



























And my Berzerker squad is also almost finished. Really enjoyed painting them, as I was dreading painting the red armour, but I've gone for a very dark, burnt red rather than candy red. Also I reduced them to 10 for quick Rhino based deployment - next purchases to take to about 1200pts will be a Rhino, Forge World Heresy style Predator, and a bike squad.

These are looking really interesting.

Once again some good looking models here

Big fan of your flesh tones there. They managed to have a decent redness without going too pink.

Man, these are great. The armor looks great, kinda tarnished and dirty looking. The flesh is a perfect contrast. I read that you have tossed a few models you didn't like. Being out of the hobby a while, did you know you can soak these boys in simple green and the paint comes right off? I just found that little morsel of modeling goodness a couple years ago. Easy to fix mistakes or redo something.

15-16 years without painting my arse,
Great looking models you have there mate. Really like the Abaddon conversion simply done but very effective
Keep it up
Andy

lennymaybe wrote:These are looking really interesting.

freakfish wrote:Once again some good looking models here

Thanks chaps! Appreciate the kind words!

inmygravenimage wrote:Big fan of your flesh tones there. They managed to have a decent redness without going too pink.

Thanks! Quite easy really, I just base coated with Administrum Grey, then washed with Carroburg Crimson and re-highlighted with the grey, then did some little extra bits with the grey mixed with white. Looks more purple in person, I'd say vampire/Dark Eldar-ish but with a bit more unearthly feel to it - 10,000 year old blokes shouldn't have a tan imho ha ha ha

40kFSU wrote:Man, these are great. The armor looks great, kinda tarnished and dirty looking. The flesh is a perfect contrast. I read that you have tossed a few models you didn't like. Being out of the hobby a while, did you know you can soak these boys in simple green and the paint comes right off? I just found that little morsel of modeling goodness a couple years ago. Easy to fix mistakes or redo something.

Thanks mate! The armour looks almost black from a high angle, yeah the aim was to look a bit tarnished and unfinished. DAMN I wish I'd tried that with the stripping... I've trashed two marines and a Lord so far ha ha ha Thanks for the tip!

KhornateKiller wrote:15-16 years without painting my arse,
Great looking models you have there mate. Really like the Abaddon conversion simply done but very effective
Keep it up
Andy

Thanks Poor Abaddon had been mutilated many years ago... by me! Models must have been cheaper back then for me to be so free and easy with the craft knife!


......................

I have started plans on my next infantry unit, quite by accident!

I was rummaging through some boxes of old 'things' when I found an old mug box with these inside:



I think I painted these around 1997 for the 2nd Edition IG codex (what a vile colour scheme :s ). Just a weird load of dregs from my old Guard. Seven Rogue Trader era plastic Guardsmen, three metal command squad models (medic and Lt's I think?), a metal comms guy, a Catachan Jungle fighter Captain or sarge (?), a very odd almost ork-ish looking mercenary (unpainted) and an handless 2nd Edition Yarrick with no arms (I seem to like cutting off limbs...). Plus loads of Necromunda metal autoguns, shotguns, lasguns and other rifles.

SO I'm going to convert and build a 12 man autogun/flamer cultist/traitor guard unit, probs minus the jungle fighter and merc. Yarrick will be getting headless and turned into a traitor guard champion I think. The plastic models are quite funny in their proportions as the heads and feet are massive. It will be for a bit of nostalgia, as I remember drooling over the amazing khorne genestealer cult army in WD many years ago with similar models



Should be a fun little unit to build! Ideally I want to expand it to at least 20 strong for full on meatshield duty so I'm going to look out for more models of the same era/feel.

In addition, I also found the start of my next 40k army... but Epic scale this time! And flavour of the month Dark Angels!



Space Marine was probably my favourite game system back in the day, and I have no idea how I still have held onto six tactical squads and Rhinos (plus three DIY unpainted Vindicators) when I sold the whole lot many years ago - inc Titans, a full Deathwing company of Terminators, Predators, Landraiders, bikes, landspeeders etc... but yeah this will be the starting point for an Epic 40K army! Does anyone still play this? eBay prices seem absolutely mental for the plastic models when you could get a couple of hundred in a box for about a tenner back then!

Really nice stuff!

I myself am getting back into the hobby after a long break, making a start as soon as ebay necrons arrive! Really want to get back in to playing games, tho I have a pet hate of not playing with unfinished models, so this maybe some time!

Your models look great, I'm a massive fan of those old Cultist so I cant wait to see what you'll come up with!

 SJM wrote:
Really nice stuff!

I myself am getting back into the hobby after a long break, making a start as soon as ebay necrons arrive! Really want to get back in to playing games, tho I have a pet hate of not playing with unfinished models, so this maybe some time!

Your models look great, I'm a massive fan of those old Cultist so I cant wait to see what you'll come up with!

Thanks mate! best thing I've done in ages getting back into wargaming and model painting.

Ooooh I love the Necrons! Some really nice models! Are you in the North East of England, Newcastle area?

Space Marine was probably my favourite game system back in the day, and I have no idea how I still have held onto six tactical squads and Rhinos (plus three DIY unpainted Vindicators) when I sold the whole lot many years ago - inc Titans, a full Deathwing company of Terminators, Predators, Landraiders, bikes, landspeeders etc... but yeah this will be the starting point for an Epic 40K army! Does anyone still play this? eBay prices seem absolutely mental for the plastic models when you could get a couple of hundred in a box for about a tenner back then!

Same here - loved Space Marine and sold my giant Dark Angel army too. I found the best way to get back into it seems to be to hunt for ebay second hand bargains, often where people are selling in bulk. I've managed to rebuild my collection, mainly buy buying someone elses. The prices to buy this stuff new or even bit by bit are just crazy. There are a lot of people that still play, check out the Tactical Wargamer forums. Space Marine is still played as well in a revised form called NetEpic.

 retrovertigo wrote:

 SJM wrote:
Really nice stuff!

I myself am getting back into the hobby after a long break, making a start as soon as ebay necrons arrive! Really want to get back in to playing games, tho I have a pet hate of not playing with unfinished models, so this maybe some time!

Your models look great, I'm a massive fan of those old Cultist so I cant wait to see what you'll come up with!

Thanks mate! best thing I've done in ages getting back into wargaming and model painting.

Ooooh I love the Necrons! Some really nice models! Are you in the North East of England, Newcastle area?

Yea, - from Sunderland.

 SJM wrote:


Yea, - from Sunderland.

Ah cool, I'm just up in Newcastle myself.

...

Finished my first Berzerker. The rest are basically just little details away from being done, but I was getting fed up production-line-painting so decided to finish one before bed. Pleased with how he came out, I'm going to take some proper pic with my DSLR when they're all done as the phone camera is doing weird things with the contrast of the highlights etc... but you get the idea! Scheme is the classic Khorne blood red (mines very dark) gold/bronze trim, and the weapons as with the rest of the army are fairly simple black-silver. And that's a smashed space marine helmet he's jumping off!

Great work on the zerker classic colours well painted.
World Eaters is what i collect so always good to see Zerkers on the screen