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I've had this army in the works for about two years now, but I'm finally starting to get highlighted models done! I wanted to do an army that was clean and practical, making use of a lot of decal transfers and edge highlighting, which was something I've never really tackled before.
The helmets are from https://bombshellminis.com/36018-helmet-set-r8/ and consist of a clear plastic dome and pewter collar (I didn't want to paint faces, so I sprayed them with gloss black). Conversion was pretty easy, just removing part of the marine's collar. On some of the pushfit models with pre-attached shoulderpads, I had to trim the piping on the pewter collar down to fit, but its not very noticeable on the final thing.

Lore wise, I liked the idea of having an Ad Mech controlled Marine force where they function essentially as Marine Skittarii. They were orginially escorts for an Explorator Fleet, but have since been hijacked, mindwiped, and cloned by the Fleet Magos. The modified helmets are (on paper) to provide extra protection in hazardous environments, but really because the marine's heads have been horribly augmented with cybernetic shackles that they simply don't fit in Mk X helmets anymore.
Rules wise, I run them as Deathwatch to reflect their fleet's wealth of technology gizmos and total lack of regard for codex organization.

Intercessor Squad




Hellblaster



Aggressor:
I'm not a fan of the big bullet mittens, so I replaced his arms with Tartaros Terminator arms.



And bonus tagalong, my Ordo Xenos Inquisitor, who's sanctioning the whole Explorator Fleet.
The model is a Necromunda Van Saar with a Palanite Enforcer revolver.


He's very smol next to his bodyguards.

1) This belongs in the art section.

2) By the Emperor's left-most jewel that's gorgeous.

Oh whoops! I mustve had a brainfart when I made the thread.
Can one of the mods please move this to Painting and Modeling Showcase?

nah! keep it here too, otherwise I may have missed this. Fantastic army.

The terminator arm swap on those aggressors is genius.

 McGibs wrote:
Oh whoops! I mustve had a brainfart when I made the thread.
Can one of the mods please move this to Painting and Modeling Showcase?

Done

Also...love it. Great concept, beautifully executed. The bubble helmets work fantastically well and your painting is marvelous.

Yup, these look fantastic!

Beautiful.

They look fantastic! I love the "sinister astronaut" look you've got going. Especially as you've done such a great job of making such a dark and monochromatic colour scheme look cool and interesting - the pitch black but super glossy bubble is perfect!

These look more like what I'd imagine "Space Marines" actually looking like! If these had a bit of grime/battle damage, I'd give them 9/10 - Good work! The only thing I'm not super keen on is the leaders gloss varnish appearance (I only like gloss varnish on the helmets)

Do those tartaros termie hands include the storm bolter with two distinct bolter barrels? I'm trying to conceive how I want my termies to look like and I'm desperately looking for ideas how to avoid the dreaded "cross-eyed" look the reg. storm bolters get if one messes up drilling both bolter holes 100% symmetrically..

Thanks guys!

These look more like what I'd imagine "Space Marines" actually looking like! If these had a bit of grime/battle damage, I'd give them 9/10 - Good work! The only thing I'm not super keen on is the leaders gloss varnish appearance (I only like gloss varnish on the helmets)

Do those tartaros termie hands include the storm bolter with two distinct bolter barrels? I'm trying to conceive how I want my termies to look like and I'm desperately looking for ideas how to avoid the dreaded "cross-eyed" look the reg. storm bolters get if one messes up drilling both bolter holes 100% symmetrically..

I was unsure about the gloss-red as well, but leaving it matte just didnt pop enough. On tabeltop, when not getting blasted by photobooth lights, I think the effect is a lot more subdued.
I also wanted to keep the battle damage pretty low, as the theme behind them is more "research aquisition" than trench fighters. They come down from space to beat up people and steal their gizmos for the Ad Mech. I doubt they're on a planet's surface for more than a few hours at a time if they can help it.

Both the Tartaros and Cataphract terminator kits have fanstastic 30k style stormbolters with full barrels that are vastly superior to the old "pig nose" ones. If you can get your hands on some I really recommend them.
You could also try cutting off the pigsnout and using some plastic tubing (or regular bolter barrels). I did this on my own chaos terminators here:

That is one hell of a polished gloss. Thanks for sharing your light-box set up with us!

Thanks for the kind words everyone!

I'm still undecided on a chapter name for these guys (though they're not really a chapter). Something to evoke tones of their space faring nature, their goofy retro-scifi-look, their mind-wipedness, or their ties to the admech/science/exploration/ordoxenos.
-Void Watch (or Void Watchers)
-The Lacuna
-SPACE FORCE (would be perfect if it wasn't a 'real' thing.)
-Acquisitors

I'm open to any suggestions you guys might have!

Also, I posted this Executioner a while ago, but I figure I could keep all this army's progress in one thread. I hope this thing still gets some play, despite going up to almost 400pts.
I might go back and redo some of the dark-bluegreen highlights with the new recipe I learned doing the marines.

Oh lawdy!

Those Marines are great. A simple idea executed really well.

That executioner is ace as well. Love the turret scheme.

These are amazingly grimdark.

Love the inquisitor. Made me take a second look at the Van Saar kit, as I originally thought it was rather rubbish.

Turns out its just the crappy GW paint job!

Very well done.

I can't get over those bubble helmets. It's such a good idea, and it is incredibly well executed. Absolutely brilliant work.

Great job on all parts of this. I'd vote for SPACE FORCE.

Wow... just... WOW. VERY nice work. And fantastic idea!

I too think you'd be fine with Space Force - failing that, how about Star Corps? Or as it's AdMech related, what about something like the Machine Guard?

looks weird but great at the same time!

Finished another Fortis Killteam. Not much different about them, except the sergeant has a stun-baton because power-swords aren't tecnho enough.


Also finished one of six Cyberbikes! I don't want any squatmarines in this army, so I'm having to come up with convincing alternatives.

It's gotta be witchcraft. I don't see how else you could make something so damn awesome.

Many props to you on the amazing minis! Fantastic idea, executed amazingly well!

But now I'm curious. What would you do for dreadnaughts?

This is just ridiculously creative - love it. And like the above poster, I'm curious to see if you pump out a dread and your ideas for that...

As it happens, I have three dreads. This is the only finished one, though I may give him another highlight pass.

*cries in admiration*

Unbelievable, you actually had one ready to go. I'll admit though, I'm not a fan of the little... mini shield thing... shielder-pad? The yellow looks just a little out of place considering the warmer orange on the gun barrels.
The idea and execution though, as with everything else here, is incredible.

The arms on the Dreads remind of the arms from Arms-the videogame.

Not in a bad way! They look phenomenal!

Hah, I love the bendy noodle arms! Gives it that vintage sci-fi feel that's right at home with the glass dome. Kinda wish it had the "Lost In Space" robot claw hands to really go all in on the aesthetic. Well, I'm not sure if that would really look good though, just a thought.

Anyway, excellent work!

So awesome, cannot exalt enough!

 McGibs wrote:
As it happens, I have three dreads. This is the only finished one, though I may give him another highlight pass.

Oh, well played good sir, well played!

P.S. Yeah, this would be an army I'd be happy to play against.