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Oh... I like those!

Nice looking models. I really like that you've stuck to the same couple of heads, that DA Tech head is fantastic.

Looking forward to some more!

@Lennysmash, Gitsplitta & Mohaniker- Thanks, I have bought a couple more of the heads to refit the last heavy weapon marines and bring them into line with each other.

Sorry for the lack of pics lately, I have been bogged down in casting and carving the heads off my AOBR Termies so that I could refit them with the resin "tech"terminator helmet I cast.
They were a bit of work to get out of the torso but luckily black paint hides a multitude of sins (and scratches).

I think I will do some work on washing the red on my vehicles next before I start re-helmeting my basic troops with the tri-lens helmet but I will keep casting them to get a decent stock ready .... I am looking at about 30 or so of the suckers!

Cheers

BLACKHAND

These are looking really nice. I love the look you've got on the ammo feeds of the heavy bolters...

I've gotta say I've always loved the concept of elite units operating advanced optics, ever since I first saw Final Fantasy's The Spirits Within.

Very cool Blackhand. I love the techi look. I really like the metal minis you've picked for this project, and that apothecary arm is looking great.

Wow some really cool models here and nice work on the tanks.

How are all those heads coming along bro? Don't forget to put an army shot up when you get the chance...

Thanks for the comments everyone! The head swap has taken a backseat due to extreme tiredness (partner is 4 weeks from her due date...no one tells you about the sleep lost BEFORE the birth!) and I have been helping a friend with an army build. He needs to have a painted army by the end of April for a tournament and so we have been refurbishing a bunch of 3rd ed marine terminators into chaos marines and obliterators....having a lot of fun with them, nice to have a change.

Delving into chaos has given me a few modelling ideas for the army as well. If you have read the fluff I wrote for the army you will know they definitely live on the edge of appropriate behaviour for orthodox space marines and I am thinking about having them undergo a crisis of belief. Possibly a horrific loss of their Librarian and MotF leaving them leaderless and lost...and thats when the Daemon Princes arrive....

My idea is to build two Daemon Princes based on the Inquisitor scale marine and have one as a huge version of the Librarian and the other as a huge version of the MotF, basically pretending that they are the Blackhand's lost leaders returned from the grave by the Emperor to lead the Blackhands to glory. A few weapon swaps and a couple of custome built reaper autocannons and the army will be playable as a freshly fallen chaos army...I hope!

Ideas? Thoughts? All welcome!

Cheers


BLACKHAND

I love the idea of a high tech space marine force... very cool looking. And all the heads are awesome... I think i am going to have to go look for those plague marine heads now to do a few special characters.

Yeah it just seemed to me that soldiers in the 41st millenium could do better than they are sometimes portrayed...I understand the whole"lost tech" idea that is integral to the warhammer verse but here and there I think pocvkets of hi-tech could develope.

I thoughts are that a "rogue" demi-chapter of marines like the Blackhands would be free-er to develope tech colutions than a normal chapter, and since they number only a few hundred they would need to find those solution.

Part of the idea behind creating the "imperial" Blackhands and the post-fall Blackhands was a what if scenario..

..What if a chapter was cut off from assistance, was decimated by it's enemies, had lost it's leaders and all heavy support?

When two demigods emerge from a burst of bright light and proclaim to be your lost leaders brought back from the dead what do you do?

What happens when a 20ft tall Master of the Forge offers to provide half your remaining terminators with hi-tech weapons that offer never seen before adaptability to the battlefield (oblitorators!)?

Do you say no when your Chief Librarian, reborn in a demi-gods body, gives your assault squads unparralelled mastery in combat (Khonre beserkers!)!?

I've decided that my Blackhands will embrace the lie they are told, take their new weapons to war and only gradually become aware of the darkness that is stealing over them.....

Careful dude.. your 'simplistic, non-converted' army is taking a dramatic turn towards letting you go conversion happy... be careful not to let it get out of hand (pun intended) and become just another shelf filler when you run out of time to work on your epic bloodthirster support tank (tM).

BLACKHAND wrote:Yeah it just seemed to me that soldiers in the 41st millenium could do better than they are sometimes portrayed...I understand the whole"lost tech" idea that is integral to the warhammer verse but here and there I think pocvkets of hi-tech could develope.

I thoughts are that a "rogue" demi-chapter of marines like the Blackhands would be free-er to develope tech colutions than a normal chapter, and since they number only a few hundred they would need to find those solution.

Part of the idea behind creating the "imperial" Blackhands and the post-fall Blackhands was a what if scenario..

..What if a chapter was cut off from assistance, was decimated by it's enemies, had lost it's leaders and all heavy support?

When two demigods emerge from a burst of bright light and proclaim to be your lost leaders brought back from the dead what do you do?

What happens when a 20ft tall Master of the Forge offers to provide half your remaining terminators with hi-tech weapons that offer never seen before adaptability to the battlefield (oblitorators!)?

Do you say no when your Chief Librarian, reborn in a demi-gods body, gives your assault squads unparralelled mastery in combat (Khonre beserkers!)!?

I've decided that my Blackhands will embrace the lie they are told, take their new weapons to war and only gradually become aware of the darkness that is stealing over them.....

I don't have anything constructive to add but I would like to say that the above post is great! Sums up where you're going very nicely. Are you going to have a "unit" to represent all of the different chaos groups and are they really going to be turning to chaos or just really techy? Or is that the real question! Is it chaos or is it simply advanced technology, or is it something else all together!

I demand more fluff! lol

I really, really love this fluff: it's good to see chaos being both subtle and effective!

@Monkeh - No fear bud, as it is I have a perfectly playable and moderately competitive Space Marine army! The process of converting them to chaos will be gradual and subtle....just like in the fluff!

@Ice Angel - Thanks Ice! The funny thing about space marines and chaos marines is that while they should be pretty similar they have some really weird loadout differences so I have to make the following changes...

Out -
My three beloved Rifleman Dreads! Since Chaos can't take them and I don't really like the Rage rule that chaos dreads get I am going to drop them altogether.

My Librarian and Master of the Forge. Mainly because the Chaos Sorcerer doesn't really fit with a fallen Libby and also because I want a decent modelling theme for my Daemon Princes!.

That leaves me with quite a few points to fill up so...

In -

Two Daemon Princes, I am planning on Mark of Teenzch, first because the extra initiative is great and second because Teenzch in my mind would be the chaos god who would use subtle methods to corrupt the Blackhands, they will also run warptime since re-rolls are pretty damn fun too

A unit or two of Oblitorators. I plan on modelling them as cleanly as possible with very similar Oblit weaponry so that it looks like they have been outfitted with a "super weapon" as opposed to a mechvirus that consumes weapons and regurgitates them when needed.

A unit of berserkers. I have always envied the combat prowess of these guys and will be using Space Marine Assault troops to represent them, will probably paint them in a reverse scheme to my other Blackhands, red body with a black shoulderpad.

And last but not least I will be converting up 4 heavy bolter troops so that they carry autocannons and bulding a reaper autocannon for my termie squad..with the loss of my riflemen I have to get my AC fix somehow!


The plan overall is that I can run the army as Space Marines or Chaos Marines as I want with a robust and meaningful story behind it as well. To be honest I have been getting quite jealous of Git's Mantis Warriors in that they have a real history and he is able to build totally different armies based on which time period he chooses to portray. Having that history adds a lot of fun to the army and opens up possibilities for modelling.

@Gravenimage - Thanks bud, Subtle is the key to this project, no spikes and pus!

This is shaping up into a world-class project BLACKHAND... going to be a really fun ride watching it unfold. :-)

That's some great fluff mate! I really like the way you've thought it out. Looking forward to this heaps!

Sounds like some good conversion coming our way soon

@Gitsplitta - Here's hoping bud....the marine conversions will be relatively simple, the Daemon Prince's not so much

@Perplexiti - Thanks man, The fluff has actually been a lot more work than the modelling so far.

@Whalemusic - You will have to patient my friend, new baby arriving soon and all, but I have been collecting bits and pieces all week in preparation of a weekend of casting.

Speaking of bits and pieces, I borrowed this fella of a good friend of mine on the condition I provide him with a resin cast of it (he has some crazy idea about building a primarch)

Her he is in pieces



And here he is next to my libby and a basic marine



Size comparison is a bit deceptive as he is leaning forward quite a bit but once I cast him and chop the resin cast to pieces I will be able to pose him in a more upright stance.
Of course then I will have to GS the living crap out of him to make him into a Terminator

Cheers


BLACKHAND

Hey, I had an idea for your whole ultra-tech fusion: have you thought about using Angelus boltguns? They look techy and also chime in with the whole tech fusing with the armour. I have, like, a dozen spare if you want 'em; I'd considered doing it with my Mentors, though I think I'm too far down the line to do it universally.

Hmmm...I am a bit past the point that I can use them as well for my normal troopers anyway.

Do you think they would be alight to use as bolt pistols on assault troops? I worry about WYSIWYG a lot with my conversions but the Angelus bolters are pretty small compared to a normal boltgun right?

If so they might be just the thing to set my Assault/Beserkers apart from the norm.

Well why not eh? I reckon they're more bp than bg anyway - that was a factor against them for my tactical, too.

Truly fantastic work... I have long wanted to start a more unique army that I can make my own. I love space wolves... but my creative outlets scream that i need to do something more creative still. I need to give this a lot of thought because the fluff and conversions going on in your Black hands is amazing, and i would love to have a chapter of my own done half as well.

The angelus would be good for counts as sternguard (Vanilla) or Thousand Sons (CSM) to still give them the tech feel for a reason.

Ok Graven, If the Angelus bolters are surplus to requirements I would really appreciate them.

No worries chief. You wanting techno heads too?

I'm all good for tech heads as I am casting them myself now (shhh don't tell GW!)

One thing I am looking out for and I have no real hope of finding is....

The Inquisitor scale Space Marine Helmet that was sold in an upgrade sprue for Inquisitor a while back. There are just none around on ebay that I can find but I would lve to get hold of one to save me having to sculpt it myself.

If anyone out there in Dakka-land has one in their bits box I would love to borrow it for a few weeks in order to get a cast of it. I will of course pay postage to NZ and back and will reciprocate with a favour or two

And I know I will probably get a bunch of responses along the lines of "c'mon Blackhand you can sculpt one yourself!" I realize that I can but I am already looking at a fairly involved project and would like to save the time if possible....even just converting the 54mm SM legs into termie legs is looking at taking about 3 weeks with the amount of modelling time I get at the moment, 3 weeks people! How sad is that!

It's all good Blackhand, as you well know there's not much spare time with babies around...

I'll have a look around this weekend bud, I'm back in town. I've put aside an old inq space marine (who's in parts from an old chaos based inq warband idea) for a planned tru scale primarch conversion. Pretty sure I've seen the helmet floating around, I'll have a poke around and let you know mate.

Monkeh your a legend! Would be stoked if you can find it, and if you ever get to building your primarch I am sure I will be able to help with some spare resin peices, its a lot easier to work in resin than the orginal metals thats for sure.

@Perplexiti - Yep pregnancy and babies are the best things to make you feel old and rundown! And I'm not even carrying the darn thing around in my belly!