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Night Lords Kill Team

‘Fear the dark, for they have come for you...’

The Night Lords are, and have always been, my favorite Space Marine Legion. From the strong Vampire aesthetic, demeanor and Legion Culture - to their savage, brutal and overwhelming terror tactics. I also love how they Scorn the worship of Chaos despite fighting the good fight against the decaying, monolithic Imperium Of Man.

Many years ago I had a giant Night Lords army that I unfortunately had to sell off... it was my second army along with my equally large Dark Eldar Force in 4th edition. This kill team is a very small labor of love and nod to my favorite space marines and old Force.

These horrifying marines are made with the Halloween spirit, inspired by the likes of Buffalo Bill, Cenobites and the Texas Chainsaw massacre...

These are The Skin-Thieves, led by the Mad Count Zerathis Nosfearon. The Skin-Thieves raid and plunder anyone and anything they find, causing fear and destruction in their wake. This Warband Of Nostramin maniacs have carved a bloody reputation as a forward unit of saboteurs and terror raiders prior to Chaos, Ork and even Eldar pirate raids upon imperial worlds, Space Colonies and Void Ships all across the Milky Way. It is even said they their thirst for chaos and destruction has lead them to capture and unleash horrifying parasite life-forms upon countless worlds, aiding Genestealer cults to draw the hive fleets and even spitefully giving coordinates to Dark Eldar raiders to attack both chaos and imperials alike in their stead. The Skin-Thieves also have a perverse joy in flaying and collecting the flesh of their victims, often wearing it as trophies as proof of kills and number of cold-blooded murders - but most importantly to strike fear into the hearts of their prey...










































I had a blast sculpting the flayed flesh lining their armor. I decided to go with the plastic MK III power armor set to show how old these marines actually are, as well as to make sure there were no ‘Chaotic’ themed iconography anywhere. I think if I do decide to make another unit I will go with MK IV to mix things up a bit lol.

Some WIP pics:









After doing these I also came to really appreciate the change in base size lol, I think the 32mm give them a much greater presence.



Well, thank you for checking this out. As I said I may continue to expand this Force into a small HQ contingent to lead my Traitor Chem-Dog army.

"I will cast a shadow across this world. I will burn every man, woman and child so the smoke from the funeral pyres eclipses the sun. With the dust that remains, I will take the Echo of Damnation into the sacred skies above Terra, and rain the ashes of twenty million mortals down onto the Emperor's palace. Then they will remember us. Then they will remember the Legion they once feared."

-Talos Valcoran to First Claw

Cool, really nice green stuff work, they're very Texas Chainsaw Massacre and very apt for a pack of terror tactic using psychos.

Damn, these are awesome. Great work, nice paintjobs and cool greenstuff.

These look great. Great green stuff work.

Woooooow! Epic stuff, great painting and modeling also

Green stuff flesh over helmets is stroke of genius Havent seen this done before and it looks perfect combined with bat helmets.

Wow! Thanks everyone, It really means a lot!

@dubovac: I checked out your Night Lords Plog and I have to say it’s awesome!! Especially all of your vehicles, they look amazing. As for the Flesh-masks; since I’m a long time Dark Eldar fan I’ve always liked how some of the old models from the 3rd edition Dark Eldar range had some flayed skin masks - notably on the Haemonculi and Dark Eldar Lord. Those sculpts were my biggest source for inspiration in regards to the actual sculpting.

Well my Night Lords are currently lost in warp I have a lot new units to photograph but no time to do it.
Yes that 3rd ed DE lord came to mind when I saw them.

I dig 'em, proper menacing and I think the older armor mark helps keep their tone in check and not slipping into the usual bat-earred chaos nutball thing. Which is totally legit in some contexts, just not here

I think my only suggestion might be that if these lads are actually intended for Kill Team the game, you may want to consider making a heavy bolter bro. Not per se because they're amazing in KT, but because of the way CSM options - or lack there of - work. (Basically you can't take two special weapons, you can take one special weapon + one heavy bolter, or just one special weapon.) What is nice is that the 30k underslung heavy bolter is nice and meaty looking.

- Salvage

Nice, that green stuff work is really good. Well done!

Hey Savage! Thank you, I agree about the Chaos-worshipping Night Lords... I think when it comes to The VIII Legion you really need to think hard about how you want your Warband portrayed. I wanted deranged, unhinged murderers more in line with how the Legion always was - even prior to the Heresy. I think it’s an element that makes the Night Lords so appealing; They were always bad and the outbreak of the Civil war only allowed them to continue what they did. Despite that, I think there’s definitely something inherently human about them, despite being The perfect example of the worst in humanity. I think the Night Lord trilogy portrays them very well: inhuman psychos that stay mortal (well, as mortal as a transhuman demigod soldier can be lol). To that end I find having the normal Heresy-Era armor without imperial or chaos iconography suits them best. Night Lords are purely their legion and their Legion alone to me. Because of that, The Night Lords are great for making individual characters. I’d say the majority of the Skin-Theives are traditional in their philosophies, but perhaps one or two may have pledged in the service of chaos - but that’s the beauty in that flexibility I think.

As for the gear... I must admit that I kind of simply modeled them with the rule of cool lol. But for Kill teams I suppose I’ll just pick and choose either the plasma gun or melta each game (come to think of it I don’t think I can afford all 10 marines in a Kill Team game).

You've done a great job with that lighting! So often does it just look like kinked lines.


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You've done a great job with that lighting! So often does it just look like kinked lines.

Great work. I wish there was twice as much meat but you didn't want to overdo it.