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Hey guys, I've run into a conundrum and would like some feedback on the best way to add xenos trophies to my Ultramarine Captain without him looking like a base savage.
This is the model in question, as he currently stands:

He obviously still needs lots of work, but the ideas I have at the moment are to file down the ork skull from the sniper scouts box, mount it on a circle of green stuff and use it as a 'belt buckle' above the pteruges, add the genestealer skull from the same box hanging off a chain around the waist (I'll also be using chain to hand a small Crux Terminatus across the pteruges). The shoulder pad you can't see is also the Tyrannic War Veteran badge from Chaplain Cassius.
As Captain of the 3rd company, called Scourge of the Xenos, I thought he should have some trophies to signify his rank, there's two Tyranid ones to mark the Battle of Macragge and Tyrannic Wars. These trophies I'm pretty set on having, but I'm wondering if I should perhaps add more?

The character is roughly being based from this:

You can see where the Crux on the chain would be, along with the ork skull replacing the golden skull at the waist. I've been toying with replacing the dagger at his belt with a Tau bonding knife and adding some other alien trophies around.

All help/input will be greatly appreciated guys.

Cheers in advance,
Sam.

I figure smurfs would be the last chapter to collect trophies, let alone a captain, but Im not a fluff nut.

I think a simple way would be to chain it to the back pack

a ork skull belt buckle would like kinda chaosy id figure.

I can see what you mean about the buckle, do you think it would look better done in gold perhaps? More of an honour badge than an actual skull.
Ultramarines do take trophies though, many are Chapter relics, just that many are kept in the Temple of Correction by the body the Guilliman.

I think you should dry fit it with some blu tack and see how it looks because im not 100% sure (if i recall those ork skulls are a bit big.)

a tau honor blade wouldn't be too bad on the side next to the grenades.

I'll take your advice about the skull, I hadn't even thought about dry fitting the skull, when the post comes I shall put a pic of the dry fit up for general opinion. I'm glad you approve of the Tau knife idea though, I was quite proud of coming up with that.

Maybe.... the shoulder plate of an Ork Nob? I think there's a thin one for the top of their spines if I remember correctly... if you can get one without the studs it might look okay as a belt buckle!

Actually, if your model is a normal size, I'll check to see if it would fit now!

I think there where some models (tyranid war veterans?) that had tyranid armor plates bolted onto their shoulders. But i think that useing actual skulls or something similar would look strange on ultramarines. Maybe line them with gold or paint them golden entirely. But i think that a skull as a belt buckle would be to large.
The blade on the other hand sounds very reasonable. But i wouldn't overdo it.

I don't know the extend of your modeling skills but what i'd do is designing custom honour badges showing the campaigns he took part in. Something like a small golden xeno skull badge or something, maybe with a sword through it or surrounded with a wing motif. But that would require a lot of sculpting skills if you want to do it in a fitting size.

I would attach it to his Banner/Standard..

A collector of blades sounds cool though.

probably shouldn't collect chaos relics though (probably get in trouble or cause trouble)

I think back during the great crusade, legionnaires would gold plate skulls that were taken as trophies. Not sure if it was limited to specific legions or if the tradition survives in the modern astartes, but it's something to consider.

 Desubot wrote:
I figure smurfs would be the last chapter to collect trophies, let alone a captain, but Im not a fluff nut.

Thought the same too until I saw this.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space-Marine-Dreadnoughts/ULTRAMARINES-VENERABLE-DREADNOUGHT.html

Just find an official looking way to add them to the armor, with maybe a complex belt, or welded in. Just don't use green stuffed twine or nails and I think it'll look ok haha. The idea with the belt sounds cool. good luck

If you want to avoid the 'savage' look, then go for symbolic trophies, e.g. ork/nid skulls painted on armour or embroidered on a battle standard.

I would say that, especially for the more 'prim and proper' chapters like the ultramarines go for symbolic trophies, medals/etc hanging from the belt.

The problem with 'heroic' scale minis (and I found this working on my mordheim band, attempting to make a brace of pistols for a female character, and the reason why it's currently unfinished) is that because certain parts (especially guns and heads) are so out-of-proportion, other than having them impaled on trophy racks, they look rather ridiculous hanging from belts etc simply because they stick out so far from the model. If you look at the 'sculpted on' belt trophies, you usually find that either most of the skull/head/etc is hidden in the natural folds of the model or the part is smaller than the equivalent part on an actual model (again, trophy racks aside).

 heartserenade wrote:

 Desubot wrote:
I figure smurfs would be the last chapter to collect trophies, let alone a captain, but Im not a fluff nut.

Thought the same too until I saw this.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Space_Marines/Space-Marine-Dreadnoughts/ULTRAMARINES-VENERABLE-DREADNOUGHT.html

I think the only Smurfs that carry trophies like that are the Tyrannic War Veterans. The veterans are a wee bit peeved with the whole Tyranid race



Ofc the guys take small stuff. That one has a tooth/claw

I would go for something more subtle, like a chain with symbolic trophies. The sternguard combi-gunner and sgt. chronos have them of their shoulders, for example.

Something small, like a xenos dagger (tau or elder), spirit stones, and/or ork scrap I think would be fine. Hanging huge skulls and stuff is more orky/chaos.

If you want larger stuff, you might want to decorate a command rhino/razorback/LR. Or make little shrines honoring the deeds of the chapter as objective markers.

Thanks for all the input guys, very much appreciated. I'll definitely be adding some subtle trophies such as sculpted tokens. But, since he IS a Tyrannic War Veteran, shoulder pad and all, going from these images


The aforementioned Dreadnought, and the pic TheDraconicLord posted, I think I may just get away with the Tyranid skull on a chain, pass it off as a Chapter relic. I'll be using the ork skull as a base for a sculpted armour piece, not just an actual skull. I think the bonding knife idea seems to have been met well, so I'll keep scouring the net for one in stock without shipping from overseas.
I'll start working on some other designs to get on the armour (maybe Eldar/Necron related) before I do any finishing touches.
Once again, thank you for the input guys, and if there's any more ideas floating round, feel free to PM me if the thread's dying.