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Hey guys,

EDIT 2: This is gona be a WIP blog for a bit Still looking for input.

EDIT: So ive uploaded some newer and better pics for you to have a look at I've also realized that I should give a little background detail into my army and its theme, as pointed out by a comment he is looking very very fantasy still But thats how I want it

My army will be an all harlequin force, thats not to say I will be running harlequins, just that all my models will have a harlequinesque feel. I love the harle fluff. But sadly I think that the clown style idea that currently dominates harlequin looks is a little wrong (plus super time consuming to paint.....cough cough.... im a modeller who hates painting....)

Harlequins use psychoactive drugs, poisons and chemicals to induce fear and terror upon their enemies, as such that's what I want my army to give off. I want them to look like the grim harbingers of death they truly are. All the models will be converted using DE, eldar and fantasy bits as there are so many great pieces that fit together across the ranges.

Fluff:
The force is the largest harlequin force encountered, they are known as 'The Phantom Troupe' and they are playing out the story of the eldar race, both past and future across the stars. (this is how I can then justify that they are different aspects, as I can say that its a harlequin playing the role of a certain aspect warrior.) Each member of the troupe has seen their death, the laughing god has shown them the end and each harlequin plays out their role for they have no fear of that which they know.

This is the best overall shot, but obscures most detail :/ - My lens isn't designed for macro work.




And some little extras to give you an idea of what the rest of my force are looking like:
Some of my warriors:


Enjoy

Thats actually pretty cool. Can I get a closer pic on that "bike"?

 ninjafiredragon wrote:
Thats actually pretty cool. Can I get a closer pic on that "bike"?

Yeh I plan on taking some photos with my actual camera this evening but the "bike" is one of the horses from the vampire mortis engine. infact its the middle horse to be exact I was going to go with one of the outer ones (as they aren't attached to anything else), but they weren't as cool looking as the middle one, so had to cut this bad boy out and remove a couple extra legs it seemed to have

His face is downright creepy

It looks to be a good conversion.

I think the biggest issue with it, is that it is still definitely a very fantasy based model and it doesn't really gel with the 40k Universe and Harlequin stylings. I will say that if the rest of your army is similarly converted and themed, the unifying look across an army would make it make more sense.

I am interested in the base head that you used. Looks like a really cool part. Where is it from?

I'm pretty sure that head is from the plastic Battle Wizard box for Empire, meant to be used on a Lore of Metal wizard.

danny1995 wrote:
I'm pretty sure that head is from the plastic Battle Wizard box for Empire, meant to be used on a Lore of Metal wizard.

It is indeed a Lore of Metal Wizard head.

Winter wrote:
It looks to be a good conversion.

I think the biggest issue with it, is that it is still definitely a very fantasy based model and it doesn't really gel with the 40k Universe and Harlequin stylings. I will say that if the rest of your army is similarly converted and themed, the unifying look across an army would make it make more sense.

I am interested in the base head that you used. Looks like a really cool part. Where is it from?

Your right it will be the theme for my entire army. and like what everyone said its from the empire battle wizards kit (which is a frickin' awesome kit for converting!)

Thats a really great idea and I love the pics. Keep uploading wips and finished ones for us (or at least me) to have a look!

These are my Dire Avengers,







Exarch





These are my WIP Warwalkers
I apologise for hasty photos, Cba to grab my better camera

That's some impressive work. I can't wait to see more. Also, I love your idea for an all-Harlequin force, and how to justify it rule-wise.

You have my attention...

 Farseer Morlengal wrote:
That's some impressive work. I can't wait to see more. Also, I love your idea for an all-Harlequin force, and how to justify it rule-wise.

Ah thank you

Yeh I had always been in love with the harlequins fluff-wise, originally I had thought I was going to have to max out my elites slots and find a way to get my troops choices. Therefore I was going to use rangers. But I though to myself it would be much more fun to model if I had way more freedom and so evolved my design into this current state

Ive already made some more progress and its only in seeing these photos on my work monitor that I realise quite how bad they are Ive now finished up the dire avengers bases, the photos above don't show them off very well but they are using the scribor elven basing kits - which are awesome! Ive also got a third warwalker started, similar to the first with the egypitian styled body. I think possibly if I get clever with my magnets I can make it use-able as a wraithlord too (with the glaives as the ghost sword), just need to work out a way to model the flamers in a removable way.

There is so much latent awesome here waiting to be unleashed... subbed.

Awesome idea, looking forward to seeing the aspects conversions.

The scourge head looks great on the elder bodies as well.

 rohansoldier wrote:
Awesome idea, looking forward to seeing the aspects conversions.

The scourge head looks great on the elder bodies as well.

I Have a couple aspect warriors on the go atm.

Swooping hawks - ive used primarily scourge wings (as i think they are way more dynamic and aesetically pleasing compared with the swooping hawk original wings.) Im also using the large flowing dresses from the vampire counts mortis engine,
Warp Spiders - using DE wych parts mostly, scourge back packs with some modification, overall they are alot slimmer than the classic spiders, I have a few 'wraithy/ghosty' bodies that I want to try and use too. grim reaper style. Think they are also vampire count models.
Banshee - ive got the slaneesh daemon troops head (basically a giant tangle of flowing hair) that combined with some of the DE hellion glavies and a few other weapons look like really really cool banshees, but i probably wont make any as I wont really ever be running banshees.

Crimson hunter - I will be using the high elf flamespyre/frostheart bird, possibly with parts of a raider or venom mounted on its top. Either that or a hellion style DE riding it. Weapon loadout will either be twin brightlances mounted on the underside, or a modification to the head to give it a look of a breathe/beam based weapon. Again bits from the mortis engine will help there. (the mortis engine is such a beautiful kit too, so many bits and bobs, excellent for conversions)

In fact, here are a few pics of a swooping hawk (although this one is unique and its not a look they will all share)

Solar Shock wrote:
Warp Spiders - using DE wych parts mostly, scourge back packs with some modification, overall they are alot slimmer than the classic spiders, I have a few 'wraithy/ghosty' bodies that I want to try and use too. grim reaper style. Think they are also vampire count models.

They all sound awesome. I'm also liking the pictures your Swooping Hawks. Is the entire bottom half custom-sculpted? If so, I'm jealous of your skill and want it for myself. ( )
On a similar note: one of my favorite things for the opening cut scene for (the original) DoW2 is that the Warp Spider in it looks thin and Elf-like, not as "bulky" as their models make them look. I actually can't wait to see how your Warp Spiders turned out. Also, if I were you (which I'm not, You're you and I'm me) I'd speed up work on those Banshees, if rumors are true (I trust all rumors about as far as I can throw any intangible object, which is: not at all) they will come back with a vengeance in 7th Edition. I intend to touch up my old (regular) Banshee models sometime soon, for just that reason.

 Farseer Morlengal wrote:

Solar Shock wrote:
Warp Spiders - using DE wych parts mostly, scourge back packs with some modification, overall they are alot slimmer than the classic spiders, I have a few 'wraithy/ghosty' bodies that I want to try and use too. grim reaper style. Think they are also vampire count models.

They all sound awesome. I'm also liking the pictures your Swooping Hawks. Is the entire bottom half custom-sculpted? If so, I'm jealous of your skill and want it for myself. ( )
On a similar note: one of my favorite things for the opening cut scene for (the original) DoW2 is that the Warp Spider in it looks thin and Elf-like, not as "bulky" as their models make them look. I actually can't wait to see how your Warp Spiders turned out. Also, if I were you (which I'm not, You're you and I'm me) I'd speed up work on those Banshees, if rumors are true (I trust all rumors about as far as I can throw any intangible object, which is: not at all) they will come back with a vengeance in 7th Edition. I intend to touch up my old (regular) Banshee models sometime soon, for just that reason.

Ahh if only it was freehand!
I kinda cheat I press mold the front of the piece to get a rough/basic shape. This dress for example is made from two separate pieces, the upper hald and the lower. The upper was one piece, the lower I took a few molds and broke/cut/shaped them to a rough lower dress shape. I then touch it up, add in ruffles and fill out the gaps by hand. It works pretty well imo and its a trick I use quite often.

In fact here is my first warp spider prototype:

I really like the DE shredder model, and as such will be using it to represent the deathspinners, This model I wanted to give off the impression of a spider, or a very fast/nimble but in a more jumpy sense. I do like the net and dagger (even if they count as nothing), but the shoulder mounted weapon wont be a common occurance in the squad. I slightly feel the model is small :/ But I think thats just because I know what a warp spider typically looks like. I am beefing up the backpack to try and give it a bit more size.


I haven't ever played or seen any of the DoW series. But I may have a peek for reference

hmm, if that is the case.... then I will make some awesome banshees! As Fluff wise, I love banshees! The idea of a bunch of glaive wielding, wailing women gettting in peoples faces..mmm hmmm.

exarch: Hell yeh!



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GAH! I've reached a dilemma!

For my wraithknight, I either go with: The classic wraithknight kit and use the mortis engine to add some crazy flowing details.... or I go with a wood elf treeman!
I mean..... how is this not an exodite/wraithknight?!?!?

EDIT: Just seen the wraithknight costs £70.... the woodelf treeman £37...... 2x wood elf treeman and I makemyself an absolute monster...


....the more I look at that model the closer I come to buying it...

Secondly, Venoms,
I want some models for venoms, I do actually really like the DE venom, its got a really nice shape, but im afriad that wont ever sate the modelling bloodthirst I get
anyone got any ideas for venoms?
With some armour and parts from a venom possibly these dudes,


Possibly? although maybe too small?


Hmm?

This looks interesting. I look forward to seeing what happens here!

To be honest I think all those Venom ideas are just too small. For example the Eagle has one guy on it nearly taking up all the space. And it's supposed to carry at least 5 not counting the pilot and gunner.I reckon you could come up with something interesting using the venom model, they were the original Harlequin vehicle after all!

That work looks really intriguing, not seen much like that and it looks really good so far.

Im interested in seeing this as im doing the same thing only with dark eldar exclusively. Im having triuble deciphering the photos of the walkers just too much going on for me to figure out how theyll turn out. My only concern is that my melding so many model kits together youll lose the feelk of the harlequinn theme, however im still really looking forward to everything

Thanks for the reply guys!

yeh I have struggled with the size of replacements for the venom. Although I do really like the venom model, so I may just keep it in that case I could add some ghostly details or some sort of other vibe to it.

and Shauni55,
Yeh they were very quickly taken in my garage where I model. Ive also made some more progress on them since.

The overall feel of the army is that: the Harle's use psychoactive drugs to induce fear and terror in their enemies, so im going with the idea that that is what you are seeing; hallucinations, illusions etc... So for example if I used an eagle it wouldn't be that the harles are actually riding an eagle, thats what the enemies mind is distorting it to appear as.

So for the warwalkers, I wanted to keep the frames and parts so it was obvious thats what they are, so the ghostly parts from the mortis engine are like a 'mist' or illusion surrounding the warwalker. Il post some more photos tonight as I should make some good progress today

In terms of your project, I would consider perhaps a few eldar bits, that most likely would best come from a bits website. so for example:

Dire avenger heads, or the exarch back piece which I used to combine to other faces. The empire wizards kit has alot of interesting staffs and faces. the dark elf witches. they have some awesome masks and dynamic poses. infact dark elf and high elf bits are all awesome.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

UPDATE OF WARWALKER1:





Hey guys, Just an update of where im at with this dude.

The darker green lengths of GS contain paperclips and will be used to create the arms for the scatterlasers to magnetise to.
The head/torso of the tomb king thing will also be carrying its blade. Il then just have to add a few more GS bits to areas around the back and head and a little more work on the GS on the base. Then its a file/sand down and any touch ups

First off, love the idea for the Wraithknight. I agree, it fits perfect for an Exodite-flavored Wraithknight. Fluff-wise, (and even then it's BL, so don't trust it) while the Exodites can and do occasionally use wraithbone, they usually rely on more mundane building materials for their buildings. They don't have much (or anything) in the way of tanks, instead Exodites ride Dinosaurs into battle, some of which are more like Dragons. I don't think Exodites would have many Wraithknights or Lords of their own construction, but it's not beyond imaging that they have some. Also love the idea that you're using Venoms as I remember them being in the (experimental?) Harlequin Codex.

shauni55 wrote:
My only concern is that my melding so many model kits together youll lose the feelk of the harlequinn theme, however im still really looking forward to everything

I disagree. I think it's a radically different direction than you see GW doing Harlequins, but I think it fits the fluff and the general modeling concept is cool. As Solar Shock has pointed out, the Harlequins use hallucinogens in battle (though apparently they are just assault grenades now ). At first, I was skeptical about the use of all the DE or 'Evil-looking' bits. I was worried that some of the nobility or levity of the Laughing God might be lost, but after giving it some thought, I came to the conclusion that if you are on hallucinogens in battle, you're probably scared out of your mind (in the actual fighting) and seeing demons out of your enemies. For that reason, I'd advise against the Eagle and suggest using bits from the other two kits on your Venom.

Speaking of the Venom, it's been too long since I've seen the kit to remember what it looks like un-assembled, but from what I can recall, it shouldn't be too difficult to remove the wings/ vanes off of the side and add on some bug wings then blend one of the heads into the front hull (as most of the hull comes as one piece). Alternatively, I think the platform is separate enough for you to build most of it (and maybe some railing using Chaos tank bits) onto the back of one of the lizardmen models. Though the Venom can carry five models, you can fit like one Model on back of the Venom Model, so I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch to say that five space-elf interpretative dancers ( ) can fit on back, if you still use the same platform.

Edit: That is assuming you want to do the same thing with the Venom as you have been doing with the War Walkers. Which I like, by the way. It's a cool way to help keep it modeled as what it is, while going crazy with it, as well.

I just gotta toss my two sense in as a fellow fluff lover! This is awesome! Keep doing what your doing man looks great!

I'm really digging some of these conversions. Love the all-harlie army idea. The flowing-gown swooping hawk shows promise--I'd LOVE to see more of her.

If you need DE bits, hit me up and we can talk about it!

Subscribed.

Speaking of the Venom, it's been too long since I've seen the kit to remember what it looks like un-assembled, but from what I can recall, it shouldn't be too difficult to remove the wings/ vanes off of the side and add on some bug wings then blend one of the heads into the front hull (as most of the hull comes as one piece). Alternatively, I think the platform is separate enough for you to build most of it (and maybe some railing using Chaos tank bits) onto the back of one of the lizardmen models. Though the Venom can carry five models, you can fit like one Model on back of the Venom Model, so I don't think it'd be too much of a stretch to say that five space-elf interpretative dancers ( ) can fit on back, if you still use the same platform.

I think your right, but I think that im going to stick with the venom how it is i love the sleek look it has and I think its got some really nice additions. I have plenty of spikey bits kicking about to add a little extra to it Plus the crew will be suitably modified to match my army.

I'm really digging some of these conversions. Love the all-harlie army idea. The flowing-gown swooping hawk shows promise--I'd LOVE to see more of her.

If you need DE bits, hit me up and we can talk about it!

Ahaha thank you very much for the comments and the offer Sadly im Uk so postal may be a tad pricey. I buy quite a lot off bits sites and I tend to always over do it so currently swimming in an abundance of bits. Infact, I just ordered some more bits a few moments ago!
Ive ordered some wraithlord parts, basically im a little lost as to what to do for the arms/hands or even the weapon mounts in general. Ive paper clipped where I want them to generally sit but I felt that without some sort of hands the walkers might look a little odd :/

Sadly they only had left hands so I have plenty of left hands working there way through the post. I also ordered a few arms, flamers and a few other armour plate bits. I am considering having them perhaps customisable to be taken as a wraithlod. If I keep the weapons all magnetised and add some spots to add flamers I think its doable.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
A thought guys that id like some feedback on if anyone has ever done or thought about this:

Taking an LED, a water effect liquid/product, and my badger ghost tints.

Could I use a glue/water effect/ product to create the ghostly shapes of the mortis engine or some ghostly shapes in general. By modelling these around the LED I can then use the ghost tints to tint the clear plastic water effect, so when turned on the LED will illuminate the clear plastic/water, with the light tinted by the ghost tints on top?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkERGpKBwGE
In this video about 4:30 the dude has created some interesting effects that look almost ghostly.

This is awesome. Harlequins have always been my favorite army, and your ideas and realizations are good.

In building your theme and aesthetic, how familiar are you with theatrical costuming and puppetry? There are a lot of ways you could design creatures/monsters--out of solitary () performers or teams of harlequins working to manipulate some kind of construct.--drawing from global contemporary and historical performance traditions.

Purple Saturday wrote:
This is awesome. Harlequins have always been my favorite army, and your ideas and realizations are spectacular.

In building your theme and aesthetic, how familiar are you with theatrical costuming and puppetry? There are a lot of ways you could design creatures/monsters--out of solitary () performers or teams of harlequins working to manipulate some kind of construct.--drawing from global contemporary and historical performance traditions.

Hey man yeh never really thought about that, like a troupe forming a wraithlord, that I could wrap in streamers, and ghostly illusions, is that what you meant? ive currently got a killa kan in the works thats loads of grots holding up sheet metal in a tower using there bodies as a frame

Solar Shock wrote:


Hey man yeh never really thought about that, like a troupe forming a wraithlord, that I could wrap in streamers, and ghostly illusions, is that what you meant? ive currently got a killa kan in the works thats loads of grots holding up sheet metal in a tower using there bodies as a frame

Yes, something exactly like that. If you wanted to add in DE Beasts, maybe look up how they designed the animal costumes for The Lion King on Broadway. You could also do something like an up-scaled Bunraku puppet--manipulated by one or two harlequins--for DE Wracks or wraithguard, or whatever you want.