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Fighting Tigers of Veda - A fanmade army of Space Marines, as seen on "The Jungle"  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hello there!

First off, many or almost all character ideas and designs I will show you here were heavily inspired (not to say shamelessly stolen) from a very creative gentleman named Kenton Kilgore who runs (or ran, as it has been replaced by a newer site) a website called the Jungle. There, he showed off -among many other things- his inspiring and huge collection of space Marines with accompanying, extremely interesting fluff and fiction. His website has inspired me to recreate at least a part of his homebrew chapter, the "Fighting Tigers of Veda" to start my own collection of them.

So this place is where I can, after receiving permission of Mr. Kilgore, post all of the minis that were inspired by his work. I definitely recommend you check out the original Jungle website (http://www.fightingtigersofveda.com/index.htm) if you haven't already, especially if you are interested in extremely well-written fluff (Kenton is also the author of several books), cool models and conversions and exciting battle reports. There is also a new website and a facebook page that are definitely worth checking out!


Automatically Appended Next Post:
So without further ado, let's start with some pictures!

To start things off, let me show you some basic units: A tactical squad and a basic HQ choice, Captain (Kshatriya) Sudra Patel. Patel was slightly modified by exchanging the Stormbolter the mini usually comes with with a normal Boltgun. Also, his sword and the hilt were bent in such a way to resemble an eastern scimitar. For those of you who don't know the fluff of the Fighting Tigers of Veda: they were inspired by indian/vedic culture and religion and have (as their name would suggest) got a very strong tiger theme going. For this reason, you will see marines with darker skin tones wielding eastern-looking weapons and sporting many tiger stripes on their uniforms









Next up, just a basic Tactical squad (Marines dedicated to the god Rudra).



To tell the sergeants and veterans apart from the rest of the rank-and-file troops, the Fighting tigers use a different method to that represented in the Codex Astartes. As you can see in the image above, sergeants and higher-ranking soldiers are denoted by additional tiger stripe patterns on their greaves, which lower-ranking soldiers don't have.



Looking forward to your C&C! Until next time!

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2020/09/12 12:46:05


   
Made in ca
Steadfast Grey Hunter





Toronto, Canada

Terrific that you're doing this. Kenton's original website was one of my favourites in my younger years. Excited to see what you do with this!
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hey 416_SpaceWolves! Glad to see there's other fans of the Jungle here on DakkaDakka! I really enjoy expanding this collection because I have a lot of opportunities for very flavourful conversions with this army. Also, it helps that I kept the paint scheme simple and that I can get the minis done a little quicker! Stick around, there's loads more to come and the army is still growing!

   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

That's one of my favorite sites (blogs? i guess it's a blog now) too!

They're looking nice, the power saber is a nice touch. I like the old school bases and the skin tones too. I'm looking forward to more!

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hello again!

Time for an update! This time, we’ll take a look at a command squad. In the Fighting Tigers of Veda chapter, command squads are known as Singh squads. They are led by a Kshatriya (Captain) and consist of several veteran Space Marines. Usually, they include an Apothecary, a Standard Bearer and a Company Champion, but I don’t have these minis painted up yet. I do, however, have some character models (inspired by Kenton’s Marines) ready to show you that I may either use as a command squad, or as replacement sergeants for my tactical squads.
To start off, a sergeant/veteran equipped with stormbolter and chainsword. On his left shoulder pauldron is the crux terminatus, denoting him as a veteran with terminator honors.









Next up, a special character inspired by one of Kenton’s sergeants:



This cool dude dual-wields plasma pistols and totally looks like a gunslinger imho. I liked the mini so much I had to replicate it myself. Here’s the result:









The next character was created to use up some leftover bits from an old regiment of WHFB chaos warriors. I took the legs and body, added some Space Marine bitz like a Beakie helmet, Backpack and arms, and sculpted some hose details onto the front of the body. I used a Beakie helmet because the Fighting Tigers are said to have many suits of Corvus armor left over, being an older chapter in the fluff. I tried to achieve a dynamic pose with the upper body as well, to mirror the dynamic stance of the legs. Take a look:









When I saw that the legs of the WHFB chaos warriors worked well for Marines, I decided to make another character using those. I liked the fact that the fantasy bitz, with their overlapping armor plates and chainmail areas, gave the mini an archaic, grimdark and rogue-trader-esque appearance.
The inspiration for the next miniature came from a very specific model in Kenton’s army:



To replicate this classic mini, I used the legs and body from the chaos barbarians. I added the head of a Catachan soldier, as well as regular SM arms, pauldrons, a knife and a backpack. The shuriken catapult and extra ammo are from some old Eldar sprue. Maybe this guy looted it from a defeated Eldar, or traded for it on some forbidden xenotech black market... who knows? Finally, I used greenstuff to add a gorget and a beret to the Marine to complete the look. I hope I captured the character of Kenton’s mini!



The gun was painted bronze to make it stand out from the usual weaponry, seeing as it’s a Xenos artifact.







Finally, let’s get to the Captain (Kshatriya) herself: Jirbu Ghosh! The mini was created using many bitz from various sets. The body, legs and head are actually one solid piece of white metal, so all I had to worry about were the arms and backpack. The former were taken from a Khorne berzerker set, the latter is just an older, standard Space Marine backpack. To create the weapons, I took the axe head of a WHFB chaos warrior and pinned it onto the shaft of a Khorne berzerker chainaxe. The axe head was reconfigured to look more like a historically accurate Indian battleaxe with the help of some google reference images. The bolter was taken from an older plastic Plague Marine and painted to emphasize the wood texture on the casing. Who says only Nurgle Marines can have fancy wooden decorations on their guns?



Being a female Marine (shocking, I know, but don’t complain to me ), the colour scheme on Jirbu Ghosh is different from the rest of the squad. Female Fighting Tigers are dedicated to the goddess Kali and sport different colours from the rest of the chapter to reflect that. These female soldiers are trained from the day of their initiation to become experts in close quarters combat.







So that’s all for now. I hope you like the minis in this update and I am very much looking forward to your C&C! Until next time!

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/09/13 09:14:45


   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

I'm not going to complain about female marines, that's exactly the kind of heresy i prefer.

I really like how the bearded guy with the eldar gun turned out, i think you definitely did justice to it

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks amazingturtles! Glad you like him! I still have to come up with a name for this chap

Here's another shot, the whole squad this time:




   
Made in gb
Fighter Ace





Edinburgh

This is a cool project, the tribute figures are very nicely done and it's a refreshing take on painting/ modelling GW stuff in general! I vaguely remember the original stuff back in the day, very cool that you're doing this.

   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks Ragsta! Cool that you also remember the Jungle! Yeah, I'm a little different that way... I usually don't jump on the bandwagon right away when new minis come out. I usually get used stuff off of ebay or similar sites and see what I can come up with. It's a great way to get a hold of a lot of conversion bitz, and also it's fun to see how I can salvage damaged minis and create something new from them Stay tuned, more Tigers to come

   
Made in ca
Steadfast Grey Hunter





Toronto, Canada

I'm fighting a serious urge to copy you and start a third SM army.

Kind of upset with myself that I didn't do this when I decided to get back into the hobby!

You're doing the idea great justice!
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

416_SpaceWolves wrote:
I'm fighting a serious urge to copy you and start a third SM army.

Kind of upset with myself that I didn't do this when I decided to get back into the hobby!

You're doing the idea great justice!


Thank you for the kind words! Kenton's website is very inspiring, isn't it? Hey, one can never have too many SM armies I say go for it!

   
Made in us
Omnipotent Lord of Change





Albany, NY

Unexpected return of the Fighting Tigers! But you're really doing a great job of it. I have fond memories of that army and website back in the day, excellent to see the chapter given new life

KOW BATREPS: BLOODFIRE
INSTAGRAM: @boss_salvage 
   
Made in us
Walking Dead Wraithlord






Love the homage to the old shuriken-Marine. Turned out great.
   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

Woah, that's a blast from the past.

Nice work so far. I quite like the subdued orange you've gone with.

 
   
Made in gb
Mad Gyrocopter Pilot





Northumberland

I absolutely love these, super characterful. I never realised those old chaos warrior legs would fit so perfectly. I have a few of them dotted about the place, would be perfect!

One and a half feet in the hobby


My Painting Log of various minis:
# Olthannon's Oscillating Orchard of Opportunity #

 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Wow you guys! Thanks so much for all the nice comments! I'm so glad you like them!

insaniak Hmmm I tried to make the orange vibrant but apparently I didn't succeed Unfortunately I have no way of making the orange as bright and flashy as Kentons. I think he used a very vibrant, non GW paint for that.

Olthannon go for it! I'd be interested to see what you come up with!

Yesterday I finished Chaplain Daksha Ram btw! Will post pics once I get back to my lightbox! In the mean time, what would you guys like to see? I got some dreadnoughts, more tacticals, characters, assaults, Terminators, devastators, Bikers and a few Rhinos to show you, but where to start?

   
Made in au
[MOD]
Making Stuff






Under the couch

It does look brighter in that last pic (the jungle, group shot) so it might just be the white background dulling it down in the individual shots... but it does have a very brownish tone in those.

GW's oranges did get somewhat more muted over the years. Although I found that shading with red instead of brown can help.

 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

 insaniak wrote:
It does look brighter in that last pic (the jungle, group shot) so it might just be the white background dulling it down in the individual shots... but it does have a very brownish tone in those.

GW's oranges did get somewhat more muted over the years. Although I found that shading with red instead of brown can help.


Yeah I noticed that the white background does some weird things to the photos. I'm taking pictures with my phone camera (which does have a decent resolution) in a lightbox, and somehow the phone seems to have problems with the exposure, which my older phone didn't have. Might have to fiddle around a bit with it.

Also, thanks for the suggestion, I'll try shading with Reikland Fleshshade instead! Although I do only use pinwashing techniques, it migth help the overall look.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/09/17 18:16:53


   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Time for an update! Today I want to show you various units I finished a while ago. Lets start off with tactical squad Rudra 2. I'm going for a relatively cheap army points-wise, so this squad again has a flamer/missile launcher combo as it's pretty cost effective.



The sergeant has a painted Tiger claw on his pauldron, as some of Kenton's sergeants do.



The second combat squad, with missile launcher. I chopped the damaged head off of one of the Black Reach monopose Marines and stuck a Beakie helmet on as replacement



Next up, another character: I got this one from a large collection of used minis and figured I might as well add it to the army, although I do not know who this guy might represent. For now, he's just a nameless Libby I'll have to make up fluff for



Just ignore the ugly unfinished banner for now. You might be able to see that I tried to put some freehand icons on there. I ended up overpainting them however, because I didn't like them. Now, I'm unsure what to put on there. Maybe another Tiger claw I'll have to think of something interesting that fits a Librarian.







I'll have to go back and redo the banner at some point. But there's so much other stuff to paint as well
Next up: A dreadnought! Finally something bigger than a regular Marine!



This guy, like most of my miniatures, is also from a collection of used stuff. The heavy bolter arm was already partly built by the previous owner, so I can’t take full credit for that! I thought it was a cool idea though, and, lacking any other dreadnought arm options, I decided to keep it. I did add a box magazine and some ammo belts for realism though.



I think the Tiger scheme works really well even for the dreadnoughts. I know Kenton painted his vehicles and dreadnoughts in stripes all-over, but that seemed too flashy and time consuming to me





And last but not least, the man himself: Raja Shamshir Talatra! Well, at least, one version of him. This version is supposed to depict a younger Shamshir Talatra, from before the storyline of “A Traveller of both Time and Space”, back when he is still Raja and commands half the Fighting Tigers chapter.



To recreate the mini, I decided on a head with rebreather, as that’s what Kenton used for his bike-mounted Shamshir. A chapter of the story mentions him using a plasma rifle, so I figured I’d equip him with a combi plasma.



The suit is equipped with an iron halo as well. To create the ring, I had to remove the skull that sat in the center of the icon, which was quite fiddly but I think paid off in the end.



In the other hand, Shamshir holds a power saber. This could be a generic weapon or the chapter relic called the “Ebon Blade” which he is said to wield in the story.



So that’s it for now! I’d love to hear your feedback! Until next time!





   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Update time! Today, I want to show you a Devastator Squad. This squad is actually the whole reason I started this army, about a year ago. I got some extra Space Marine miniatures in a cheap used lot and didn’t know what to do with them for a while, so they sat in a box. At some point I decided to paint them in Kenton’s Tiger scheme just for the heck of it (I was reading through his fiction and got inspired by the accompanying images). This is what the first squad looked like when I started:



After this first test squad, I quickly realized this was a fun and relatively fast paint scheme, at least compared to my previous Ultramarines army . I bought more used miniatures and hey presto, here I am, about a year later with a sizeable, already painted Tiger army, and at least 40 more Marines and several vehicles desperately awaiting their paintjob It still takes me some time to get stuff painted, but I’ve improved a lot since the time I finished about one Ultramarine per month



The great advantage of this paint scheme is that a lot of the miniature is just painted plain black and quickly drybrushed with grey. As certain areas are picked out with orange and tiger stripe details however, the eye is drawn away from the darker, sloppier areas and the paintjob appears more involved and high quality as a result. Nowadays, I rely heavily on washes, which also helps speed up the painting process.



As you can see, the whole squad is equipped with missile launchers. I used them because I have loads of them, and they are a good option in regards to cost-effectiveness. Also, I like to think that the Tigers are a very frugal chapter that does not have access to large quantities of expensive toys like lascannons or plasmacannons. Instead, they make do with what they have, and cleverly employ simple weapons like missile launchers and flamers to great effect through the use of sophisticated tactics.
The sergeant in the squad is an older metal veteran miniature from the command squad. I stuck a Devastator plastic backpack with a targeter on him which I think goes very well with the miniature and the pose.




Reading through some battle reports, I noticed that Kenton sometimes uses Autocannons in his Devastator squad. I got inspired and started converting a Marine with autocannon just for the heck of it. Take a look:



Most of the bits are from the plastic tactical squad set. The left arm is a CSM arm with some details removed.



Sorry for the blurry image, but it’s hard to get the whole thing into focus as the barrel is so long



The right arm is from a rather old plastic devastator sprue I think. The gun I converted to create the autocannon was an old OOP lascannon bit I believe. I chopped it apart (oh, the humanity!!), removing the original barrel. This was replaced with an iconic autocannon barrel from the cadian heavy weapon sprue.
I love the shoulder mounted heavy weapons for Space Marines, so I am very glad to have at least one of these classic, unconventional types of guns in my army now. I had to chop away a lot of the pauldron to get the gun to fit properly, but was very satisfied with the result. To finish the look and add some realism, I added an ammo belt/feed to the back of the gun (created by chopping up some missiles for the launchers).





Some final details were added to the back: A few grenades and a pouch for storing ammo or other items. The backpack is an older one, from 2nd edition I believe. Now let’s look at the painted dude:



A look down the barrel! I think the paintjob managed to tie in the different parts very well. Like I said, although the miniature is mostly black, it seems detailed because of the details on the orange parts.



The paintjob nicely separates the armor from the gun and hides where the parts were joined together. One final shot from the back:



I think this dude came out quite well. I will include him with my Devastators in some games and try out different playstyles. His gun could be counted as a heavy Bolter, Lascannon or whatever.

I’d be glad to hear your feedback on my Tigers! Hope you liked the update and keep coming back for more, because I still have lots to show you! Anyways, catch you later!


This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2020/10/01 10:23:06


   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Hey there! Another quick image dump incoming! This time, some transports for my tactical squads!



Rhino number 1 is a regular classic Rhino from the earlier editions. I got this vehicle in a used lot (like most of the minis in this army) and thus, some parts were broken from years of use and the ensuing transport to my house. In the case of this Rhino, I had to replace the curved exhaust pipes because most of them had broken off (as they tend to do on these older Rhinos). I decided to replace them with straight, shorter, but wider pipes I cut off from some sprues. The headlights needed fixing in some places as well. I also attached some custom smoke launchers to the top of the vehicle. These are just two halves of a chaos smoke launcher. The vehicle was then painted in the usual Tiger paint scheme.



Rhino number 2 is the same, older Rhino kit, but it proved a little trickier to repair. Again, the exhaust pipes needed replacing, but additionally, it was missing the headlights and also the smaller, round top hatches with the bolters attached to them. I had to make a mold of the piece to replicate it and create more headlights this way. Also, I made some casts of my own, custom top hatches and added them to the vehicle. Finally, I had to cut up some boltguns to fit the hatches since I didn't have the older, original boltguns the vehicle came with. I think the newer guns are an adequate substitute and they don't look too out of place on the Rhino. I added smoke launchers and a hedgerow cutter bit to the vehicle and then started painting.

I really like the way the black and the orange complement eachother and how they can be used to highlight certain details or armor panels on the vehicles. I hope you like the results as well! I'd be glad to hear your opinions down below! Until next time!


   
Made in ca
Damsel of the Lady





drinking tea in the snow

I really like that autocannon conversion! And the rhino's look very crisp. Such snazzy stripes.

realism is a lie
 
   
Made in ca
Stormin' Stompa






Ottawa, ON

This definitely feels like a space marine chapter from the rogue trader era of the hobby. Great job.

Ask yourself: have you rated a gallery image today? 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks amazingturtles and Mr Nobody! Glad you like them!

   
Made in us
Blackclad Wayfarer





Philadelphia

I haven't seen these marines since I was a kid during 3rd edition! Awesome work!

   
Made in us
Grisly Ghost Ark Driver






These are brilliant. Keep it up!

As for your Librarian, Vishnu is the 2nd member of the Hindu trinity, and is the Preserver. Alternately, Saraswati is the goddess of Learning (and an avatar of Vishnu). If there is a symbol associated with either deity, that could go on the back banner. The other two members of the trinity are Brahma, the Creator, and Shiva, the Destroyer. Not knowing what psychic powers the Fighting Tigers of Veda prefer, one of those two may be more appropriate.

Works in Progress: Many. Progress, Ha!
My Games Played 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thanks Stevefamine! I’m glad I could inspire some nostalgia in you! And thanks, Ancestral Hamster for the nice words and the suggestions! Many of the names you gave are already in use in the Tigers fluff: the Emperor is referred to as the sleeping Brahman, whose dreams shape the universe, and Shiva used to be the Chapter Master of the Fighting Tigers before he became entombed in a Dreadnought sarcophagus and became known as Shiva the Destroyer. Librarians are referred to as Tigers of Brihaspati, so I may use some of his symbology for the banner! Thanks for the great idea. Another idea I had when thinking about the banner was to add a Tiger claw like usual, but in this case add some fancy, henna-like scribbles and decorations to the “palm” of the paw, if you will. I’ll see what I can come up with!

Furthermore, I got some minis to show you: Today, I want to show you a Captain (Kshatriya) I finished a while ago, as well as some Assault Marines. Let’s start with the latter:
As I have already explained in a post above, Assault Marines in the Tigers fluff are always females (gasp) and they are dedicated to the death goddess Kali. Since the Vedic colour of mourning and the symbolic colour for death is white, the Tigers of Kali have adopted this colour for their armour instead of the usual orange found on the armour of male Tigers.



The minis were acquired from a used lot I bought cheaply from a private seller. The marines were assembled and painted, and I didn’t mess around much with them except reposition the heads on some of them if the poses looked too awkward. Also, I gave the sergeant a new head (I think this one came from a set of Ravenwing bikers) and an arm with a power fist. Other than that, I didn’t change much and got straight to painting. Like I said, this time, I replaced the orange with white. The stripes were applied with a light grey, so the contrast between the white and the stripes would not be too stark. The rest of the paint scheme stayed the same as on the regular Tigers.



A shot from the back. I decided to paint the fuselage of the jump packs in white as well, to make it pop a little more and make the unit stand out from the tactical troops. I gotta admit I really like the contrast between the white jet engines and the black of the armour. Otherwise, the paintjob is relatively simple and easy to do, with large areas simple left black with a quick grey drybrush.
I got another 9 of those in the pipeline, plus another customised miniature that will become a special character/leader. I’m looking forward to spicing up my army with more white Marines to contrast with the others However, I still have lots of other stuff to finish as well. We’ll have to see what I decide to tackle next.

Now, let’s move on to the Captain:



This guy is just a regular Captain from the Assault on Black Reach box, but with a little twist. The right arm, where the Captains power sword would usually go, was removed and a magnet was inserted in its place. I magnetized a right-handed power fist to match and so now I have a modular Captain with exchangeable armaments.



I think the power fist works well with the pose of the AoBR Captain. If I feel like it, I can still make an arm with power sword to swap out as well. For now, I have already prepared a magnetized, right-handed Lightning Claw that will fit this guy. This should prove as a very flavourful conversion appropriate for the Tigers, and hopefully might also be effective on the tabletop.



Another tiger-stripe cape to denote this guy as a leader. It took me a while but I think it paid off as it’s cooler now than just a regular, plain cape seen on many other captains.



So that’s it for this post! I hope you enjoyed and will let me know your thoughts. All C&C welcome Until next time!





   
Made in au
Alluring Mounted Daemonette





Australia

I am so in love with this army - it gives me the feel goods every time there's an update! Great job on the autocannon dude - funny how little changes that you might not even notice on first inspection can make a mini "yours"!

The jump pack guys look great - I love the little variation in the scheme and I think that picking out the jump pack vents to be striped was a really good idea.

Nice weapon swap on the captain - the power first definitely fits the pose, and he's just a cool mini. The stripe pattern looks great on the cape.

And it would be remiss of me not to mention the bases! They are a bit like baby elephants - you just have to smile when you see them.

Great work, please keep posting!

t z you are k 
   
Made in at
Bounding Assault Marine






Austria, Segmentum Solar

Thank you so much for the nice words, tzurk! I'm so happy to see there are long-time fans of the Jungle out there who enjoy seeing the Tigers given new life! I will definitely keep posting since I have a lot more stuff to show you guys!

   
Made in us
Stabbin' Skarboy



Dirty Jersey

Great stuff really brings me back to when I first started playing the game around 3rd edition!

Follow me on twitter @cerealk195

Add me on league: Cerealkiller195 
   
 
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