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I have this cool idea for a slaanesh style counts as thousand sons squad but i need a few final ideas.
The basic ideas is that they took a vow of silence while they perform ongoing rituals to empower their voice with warp energy. Speaking before the rituals are finished would not only disrupt the rituals but also unleashed the stored warppower in a destructive burst that either would kill them or overtakes their body warping them into spawns and possessed. (Not everyones favored liefe-choise)

My question is now how to represent their silence. I thought on using/converting special helmets for them and maybe sculpting faces with a sewed shut mouth on their shoulders. But i can't think of a good design for the heads.
The bodies are already ordered and i will use anvil industry legs and torsos. But that doesn't mean that i'm open for different ideas or conversions that would make them special. What i need the most are ideas for the heads.

Throw your ideas at me or what you think would be cool thousand sons for a slaanesh themed army.



edit:
I've just assembled one of them. Arms and shoulders aren't glued jet and i probably have to repose the arms slightly to align them better with the weapon. But it should give you a good impression of where i am right now.

Those masks are interesting. But i have to say that i only like two of those heads.

That reminds me Sanguinary Guards had some death masks too. Maybe they are an option. Or i could try to sculpt my own masked heads.

 Badger_Bhoy wrote:
You could just green stuff over the mouths of the heads/helmets and make it smooth. That's kind of creepy.

I also though you were making a Doctor Who reference.

That also might be an option and would allow me to use more than the two i like. And i never watched Doctor Who so i couldn't make a reference even if i wanted to.

Ap0k wrote:
Dark Eldar Wracks heads with the slots in the faceplates filled in? Or if that's too costly, something similar could probably be sculpted into place. Generally the idea being a completely blank faceplate, devoid of features.

I have a box of DE wyches on my desk to be converted into slaanesh cultists. But looking at them they might be to small to look good. Or are the heads you speak of larger than those?
The idea on the other hand is a good one. I'll add it to the list.

And maybe i could add both ideas together. creating nearly featureless death masks with only a hint of human features. What do you think of that?

Ap0k wrote:
... sculpt very tiny daemonic hands growing out of the side of the helm and interlocking over the grill. Would retain the chaos theme of things, and hands covering a mouth is pretty universally recognised as the subject being silenced in some way,

This also is an interesting idea. I probably have to create an example of every idea and descide on that basis.

I also found this bit of the chaos warrior knights that might work as a blank faceplate helmet. But it's probably hard to get hold of 10 of those. And i would need to remove the horns as i don't think they would look good on them.

 Lint wrote:
You should definitely check out the WHFB WoC lines for helmets. I've used them to great effect in my own CSM army, I cut all of the horns off too - made the effect even better.

Well to be honest i think that most WoC models are way to bulky and massive. This is normally a good thing and looks amazing for most CSM but for my slaanesh themed army i prefer a more "lighter", a more sleek and agile look. That beeing said there are a few helmets in the fantasy line that are interesting. I used a few wood elf heads here and there, bitz from dark elves and a few WoC helmets here and there.
And i also have a box of chaos marauders on my desk that will be turned into a bunch of harem-guard style counts as plague marines.

But back to my thousand sons. I have grabbed my tools and GS and started to work on a few ideas you provided. They are obviously not finished and the horns will also be removed. But i think it is a starting point.

Thanks for all the reply.
I still haven't decided what to use, but at least i can exclude the hand idea as i don't like it. It doesn't fit with the rest of the model. And the small closed grill helmet is also not to my liking.

I haven't worked at the helmets themself but i set my two favorites up to get a better feel for them. The mask needs something around the neck area and the faceplate ... i don't know if i really like it or not. Maybe i need some other approaches, try out different ideas to finally decide.

Thanks for the idea.

But firstly i haven't imagined them with stiched mouths. Secondly i wanted helmets or helmet-like stuff so that you can't see the faces. I think that is better with the thousand sons "all is dust" kinda concept - a bunch of slow unified marines that are bound to the sorcerer that does the rituals for them.

Okay, i made the mask into an actual helmet. I need to redo the whole thing later as i realized the mask doesn't sit straight on the head but it is enough to show how it would look like.



What do you say?

Wow, These are nice as well. I could add something similar to the mask i made. Because i still think that the helmet is missing something.

While i'm not playing EC i' have a very similar color scheme with mostly purple and gold and decorations similar to noise marines. So referencing EC isn't that bad.
But i think that both helmets are missing something. I'll probably try to set up some more mask variants because i prefer that to the more flat faceplates. But despite that the faceplate idea is still on the table. Si i might also whip up some variations on that theme as well.

That was my idea as well once i saw the puppets war helmets Valhallan42nd posted.

What i will try out next is changing the mask design. What designs can you think of?
What i will try out is recreate the EC style mask but with added symbolized stiched over the mouth area and als make it more human propotioned as in a longer mouth and chin area as the one i already did.
Also a nearly featureless blank mask with just eyes, nose and nothing else
And another one will be a more human propotioned ones. One with more or less human features but more masklike and maybe one with overexagregated features.

I prefer a helmeted variant over just a mask over an unarmored head but i can't decide if i should recreate a helmet style similar to the normal helmets like i tried in my latest approach or change the helmet layout completely. If so, what do you think would be [code]possible helmet shapes?

And another problem - or better task - i have to keep in mind is recreating a bunch of the design i choose. So i probably have to look at resin casting or something similar. But just for 10 or so helmets ... it feels kinda strange. Is someone actually interested in the casts if i create a few designs? (This is more of a theoretical question as i never have casted something in resin and have no ideas of the quality i could create.)

An interesting idea. But i have no idea who would do something like that.

Okay, i have done a few other variations. And I'll also rework the other helmet i did before. Here are the new ones. What you you think? What is your favorite between those three and the helmet from before?

I'll try to turn them into masked helmets similar to the one i did before. Lets see how that turns out. This will probably work for the two on right but i don't know how the left one will work as a mask. Maybe i need to add some non organic stuff like cables and bolt to make the look less organic and more masklike. We'll have to see.

I didn't had the time to work on the helmets until yesterday. But here are they now. I'll probably add a few minor details on them but it should give you a good impression on how they are shaping up.



The one on the right will also get some more details like a top-vent and such but i had to cut the back of the head down and build up again as it wasn't evenly shaped.
What helmet variant do you prefer? Or what should i try out next or change up on those?

You'll probably have to wait a long time until i have them painted...
First in need to finish them, decide which one to use and replicate that 8 or 9 times either with resin casting or 2part pressmolding. Then i can finally assemble and paint them.

PleaseDontExplode wrote:http://sciborminiatures.com/en_,shop.php?art=941

Scibor anubis heads?

Kiryu Mk 3 wrote:Kromlech's heads are a bit better in my book. You also got ramshakle games heads that work pretty well too.

I've looked at a lot of helmets and only a few came close to the vague comcept i had in mind.The only ones that came close where the masked ones from puppetswar. But i want them to be uniform and don't want to buy 5 sets of helmets i started to sculpt those. So thanks for the reply but those don't have what i want.



I haven't done much on the helmet-front but i tried to press mold one of them and it worked better than i thought. I haven't cleaned them and there are also a few bubbles where the putty didn't go in but it could work. But i will probably try out resin casting once i've done my sesearch on where to start best.

Those are the pressmolded ones:

 btldoomhammer wrote:

Spoiler:

And i just want to repeat my question: which of the 4 posted are your favorite?

Solar Shock wrote:
I quite like the idea of the helmet simply being blank where the mouth should be, but ive found they havent been as striking in your models as compared with the ones with the details or clasps over their mouths.

Perhaps a more blocky style at the lower portion of the mask/helmet? have you thought of having a non-helmet head with a plate sorta bolted over the mouth? Or perhaps someone screaming but the inside being plated? like they couldn't speak if they wanted to?

I know your theme is its a vow of silence, so not sure whether you want it to look voluntary or involuntary. As they are slightly different But so far loving the helmet mods you first did.

I'm also not 100% sure what is best to do. But i think that the more cleaner mask approach would fit better to the whole model. I could add finer decorations and such but as their armor doesn't have those i think my typical chaos decorations wouldn't fit there. So i'll probably stay with the mask over helmet kinda approach. The helmetless with the bolted plate is a nice idea for their champion to further differentiate him.

This is how the champ currently looks like:


And they take the silence more or less voluntary to strengthen the potency of their voice. My warband has a strong sound and noise marine theme. I plan on building predator with noise weaponry, i have my noise terminators and a large amount of noise marines.
The background of my leader is that her voice is that strong that hearing it can already kill you, adding the souls of those killed like that to her eternal soul choir powering her armor. She speaks through the many voices of the trapped souls if she needs to adress her lower warriors. She chooses her chosen from those actually able to survive her voice. And if she sings together with the choir she can set reality itself aflame in warpflames counting as Burning Brand of Skalathrax.

Those models i'm building here are somewhat of an additional training stage and serving as elite guard of the warmongers (or dark apostles). Their training can either lead into madness and possession or a better understanding or sonic based powers. Those surviving will either join the ranks of my noise marines or the noise terminators if they are strong enough. And in some rare cases they gain a deadly voice similar to her leader. (I have no models for that planed Maybe a special honour guard of elite chosen. ). And even less gain the ability to control emotions with subtle undertones in their voices. These warmonger serve as charismatic field leaders and also are tasked to fuel the ever burning flame of conflict under the clans on their homeworld to screen out the strongest clan warriors in battle for potetntial recruitment.

 Xendarc wrote:
Concepts look good so far. Have you considered maybe incorperating Ball Gags? They would fit in with your Slaaneshi disposition and they work with your silent theme

Ball gags aren't the imagery i was going for.

The more i think about it the more i like the idea of actually using more than one design for them. I can't decide which helemt to use so why not use all or most of them?

You mean lucius (not lucifer) right? Because he was the first HQ unit i scratchbuild for my army.

Sadly i have no better shot of him than this. And i currently can't take a better one as he is now primed black and you'd probably see even less details.

I haven't worked on this project for a few weeks now but i finished the heads the last day. What do you guys think of them?

And i also made 2piece pressmolds for each head. You can see two cleaned heads and and a few who i haven't worked on yet. It isn't as bad as i thought it would be but resin casting is probably the better way to go. Getting the putty in the shapes is harder and doseing the amount of putty is essential for both sides to go together well without to much excess as you have to press it in before pushing both sides together. If you added to much the excess can't be pressed out easily and will clog up the mould.

Solar Shock wrote:
Just grabbed a chance for a quick look. I would say far left is my absolute favourite, his looks f-ing awesome! I then like most the 2nd from right, right, then 2nd from left

Has a paint scheme crossed your mind? I had a thought of flesh at the top of the head that slowly fades into a silvery metal on the lower half. like their skin simply mutates into metal flesh. Or I think an overall metallic look would look cool

Just looking on the heads itself my favorite is the 3rd from left closely followed be the 2nd and the 4th is my least favorite one. But put on those bodies the 1st actually works better then i thought as the smooth design matches quite nice with the armor. Like i said before i'll probably do a mixture of the first 3 and build a special head for the champion.

Cakie wrote:
I think a flesh head with a metal plate stitched across the mouth would look the mutts nuts

I will probably use something like that for the champion. But i wasn't in the mood for human head sculpting. But i hope that i'll find the energy to do it soon.

After a longer pause an update from me. I did my first resin casts and created a mould for the silenced heads. They have a bunch of air bubbles but they look decent.





I also started a helmetless hear for the champion of the bunch. Not the best photo but for more zoomed in shots my camera will reach it's limits.

 poda_t wrote:
I was about to register a request for a purchase of your stuff in german, when it dawned on me, i'm still trying to get rid of the stuff i have, and have forbidden myself from making any further purchases. The torsos are especially tempting.

Hehe.
And the interesting thing is, i have no idea what to do with those torsos. I just looked ad Mephiston one day and asked myself: "Can i create a torso like that?"
Those casts where the result of me answering the question.


I'm currently in the process of filling in all air bubbles and then i'll put the heads on my models. I'll either cast another set or use the best of my past press mould results and finish them in the next few days. 4 of them already have magnetized weapons and the others will get glued on ones. I need to build another bolter for them and decide what backpack to put on them and i'm finished.


Do you have an idea what backpacks to put on them? regular chaos ones? Khorne berzerker ones? Some 3rd party backpacks you think would look good? I can't decide. (Like i always do...)

While i love the aegyptian imagery of thousand sons those are still for my slaanesh army. So your ideas are not what i was looking for.

But i agree with you that those need some special backpacks that let them stand out further.

And here are a few heads now onto the models. And i'll cast another set for the rest of them.

Well it's a tricky thing and i should probably go into more details what i had in my mind for them.
While they are part of a slaanesh themed army they are somewhat of a hybrid stylewise. I wanted to make a more unified looking squad with for chaos untypical clean armor. They should look somewhat "dull" to better go with the thousand son rubic marine idea. The simple mouthless helmets fall into the same categorie.
But they are on the other hand supposed to be silence themed. The basic idea is that they are templates for further noise based powers. The sorcerer leading them is pumping warp energy into their voices. To not disrupt this ritual - what would have chaotic consequences - they have to stay silent until they either die or learn to control their new warp-voice.

I think that this concept is a good counts as representation of the thousand son rules. And the look falls into the same category i think.

But this makes choosing a backpack design difficult for me. The sorcerer isn't the biggest problem as i could just use a sorcerer style backpack. But for the regular guys it's hard.
Maybe some kind of warp energy receiver on their backpacks and additional cables and runes/ritual stuff.
This contraption could even look similar to the thousand sons hemlet style, just mounted on their backs.

What do you think of that idea?

Paintingwise i'm thinking of adding glowing runes to their armor. (should i ever paint them ... )

 poda_t wrote:
yeah, the headdress as mounted onto the power-plant sounds about right, though that suggests adding a face onto the backpack, or at least some sort of icon. Maybe just a book? How about running with the psychic hood theme, except, I'm going to guess you want to keep the heads plain, so instead, the cables just go from the power plant into the torso.

I could try to add cables running from the backpack to the back of their helmets.

to go back to the idea you quashed, i've another idea:
Maybe something along the lines of a 4-armed god, with incredibly plain-faced features holding an exhaust vent in each hand? or for the sarge, two dirge casters on top, facing forward, with the exhaust vents in the lower hands.

I always liked the 4 exhaust backpacks and i think that i'll do something like that at least for the champion/sorcerer. But the dirge casters are also a cool idea and would tie them to the noise theme i am going with. I probably have to order some backpacks to cut up and convert. And maybe casting them is an option if i convert them enough to be different.

 Xendarc wrote:
How about some converted GK Interceptor backpacks?
...

Spoiler:

Even if this idea is no good I hope it helps get the inspiration flowing.
Keep up the awesome work

While i like the idea i think getting hold of 10 of those backpacks won't be cheap. But i like this arc design. Maybe I'll try to create a hybrid and build this arc but on of a normal/csm backpack. Decissions, decissions. And you probably all know by now how hard it is for me to make them.

Not much to update here. I have cut up a loyalists backpack as a base for sculpting but i need some time and maybe a sketch to continue.

At least i put a head on the sorcerer. But he still needs some additional details to look the part.

Thank you.
knowing myself it will take a long while until i put paint on them.

And to be honest one of those guys and the sergeant/sorceror still sits on my desk unfinished. And their bolters are also not all prepared with scope and amoo drum.