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Only one I've got at the moment is this:


Shall get some better ones once they're painted

Basically one of the main guys in the Thorn Moons Crusade has probably the most awesome Space Wolf army I've seen, which has been a real inspiration for me. Here's one of his kickass models:



My take on the human aspect is a fleet of 'crows' that loiter around the Space Wolves fleet, scavenging from battlefields the Wolves have swept through. (That's the gribbly little guy peering under the wreckage for widgets and doodads).

However, like Odin's Ravens they act as spies of sorts so the Wolves tolerate them. They've got a scavenger's curiosity, and the cawing chatter between their ships alerts them to points of interest and enemy defences and the like...

So yeah! That's the plan


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Oh, and the head of the main guy is the front half of a Sicarian head and the spines from Kroot yeah

The raven's head did tilt and twist and quizzically it viewed him hence
Yet Pallas stayed his mighty blade, confusion gripping soul and more
"Wherefore art thou masters brave then? Tombstones 'pon which names engraven."
Yet unflinching stood it's brazen gaze that burnt through armoured core
"Hydra's heads shall reign supreme from dust to dust and Throne to Thorne."
Quoth the raven 'Nevermore."



Definitely been having fun making little scavengers

That last one may be a level-up in single-model narrative. Just sublime, really. These guys are turning out great. I can almost hear the first two chattering and whispering like Jawas to each other.

I really love the last one inspecting a power armour suit glove. Nice work, 'Wraith.

These are great! I might make some of my own...

Super characterful! Last gent with the glove (?hand!) is my favourite. Nice work!

Awesome! This thread has helped inspire me into making my own unique Blanchitsu-esq Warband!

Thanks a ton guys! Glad they're hitting the right notes

@Youwashock; 'Chattering away like jawas' is the perfect way of describing them. Exactly the same little gribbly curious scavenger types.

Similar sort of muddiness as to what species they are too. I wanted them to look like there's a possibility that they might be xenos, or at least humans who are far enough down the route of speciation as to be functionally the same. the sort of thing a puritan Ordo Xenos Inquisitor might raise his eyebrow at (and another reason to fuel the cold war with the Space Wolves).

@Goblinpaladin and Scarper; Yeah he's fast becoming one of my favourites!

@Ember; Please do! They're brilliant fun little dudes it's also quite fun to have a go at some themed non-combat poses (these guys are sifting through the wreckage of a former battlefield, picking out knicknacks and geegaws).

@Orkplayer; I'm flattered! Glad I could be a step in getting someone into the 'little characterful warband' game. Once I started I never looked back Make sure you post up what you come up with

As for my little gribbly crows...there's rather more of them now than I'd intended...



They're just too fun to make still have 2 or 3 ideas I want to try out so I'll probably end up with 10 or so. That does give me the opportunity to cherry-pick the 5 best ones for the Invitational. If I can work out how to embed polls maybe you guys can help me pick which ones you like best

Uh-oh. They are multiplying fast. That robust fellow with the fancier pistol looks like he could be in charge for the moment.

That's the thing with crows, look away once and then there's two more

Yeah big fella's definitely the warrior in this little group. I've got a different idea for who's in charge though, involving a Tech Magos and a Necromancer

Other ideas are I want to try are some sort of crow-dog or other xenos hound gribbly thing

Oh, and finished my poem works better when it's all strung together:

"pon the ruin'd moon of Hyllas, spake the legionary Pallas,
"Cast thou hence from in the shadows, lest I smite thee duly, or-
speak thy name if Thorne or craven.", 'pon which from its darkened haven
Stepped a grim and tattered raven wand'ring from the Nightly shore
"Tell me what thy wretched name is 'mongst this pale and icy hoar”
Quoth the raven "Nevermore."

"We spy thine ships by moonfall's aft, thy manifold and blackened craft
Loiter round the Rout like stormclouds, scavengers like crows of yore.
Chatter caw and bicker hasten. Ears and eyes and spies and graven-
ones the Wolves do brand 'Valravn', we have spied thine ilk before.
By what hubris think thine arms might stand afore the might of Thorne?
Speak no more of 'nevermore'."

The raven's head did tilt and twist and quizzically it viewed him hence
Yet Pallas stayed his mighty blade, confusion gripping soul and more
"Wherefore art thou masters brave then? Tombstones 'pon which names engraven."
Yet unflinching stood it's brazen gaze that burnt through armoured core
"Hydra's heads shall reign supreme from dust to dust and Throne to Thorne."
Quoth the raven 'Nevermore."

Within Pallas rose an ire as a raging inner fire
Impudence of wretch's tongue like insults flung hast brought it fore.
Sadly rage obscured unshaven brutes within said Nightly haven
Hydra's blood ran through the cave in ruddy pools along the floor.
Thence the skull of Pallas stands resplendent 'bove the raven's door.
Thorne supreme reigns nevermore."

Now I need a model for the bust of Pallas

Ravens to the Wolves was a brilliant idea - and that poem is very nice as well. I think if they are spies though they need more optics.... : ) For peering into the gloom. You should also do one with it's head cocked to one side in the class raven. Will they be black, grey, motley? SW blue grey? Keep up the good work!

Thanks man glad you like them (and the poem!).

As far as I see them, they're a bit low-rent to be dedicated spies. More curious amateur scavengers whose overheard excitable chatter provides the Wolves with a sort of basic outline of their environment and potential points of interest. Any optics or divining tools like Auspexes would be rare and valuable items, either hoarded by greedy individuals or in the possession of a religious/shaman class. Actually, that's a neat idea for my latest model*!

For colour scheme I was thinking a motley and ragtag collection of (very) dark greys, dark blues and dark greens building to an overall black-looking palette. The idea is similar to how Ravens look black, but if you look closer they're actually a mix of green, blue and purple.

Contrast that with pallid white skin and red optics and I should be done not something I've tried before though, so I'll have to do a couple of test-runs before committing paint to them :S

*Speaking of latest models:





Gribbly tech-shaman I like the idea that it's one of these shaman-class of tech-diviners. A Tech Priest -type with an Omnispex would have considerable power in a backwards scavenger society for their seemingly mystical ability to locate valuable bits of technology buried deep under rubble or otherwise hidden from view.

Oh, and it's a shame I didn't get any pics of him before he was primed. They don't seem to look right to me all in white. Not really a good indication of what they'll look like...

I'm gonna try that out. Tech priest legs, necromancer torso, skitarii head, right?

That looks insane!

Love the shaman! Great blog overall.

Shaman is the best one so far. Give it a black wash and it will look great for BW photos. Trying to duplicate the sheen of raven feathers is a great idea!

Yes, yes, yes. That's the money. Great model. Really starts to play in the bird-like aspects of the fluff. Mysterious and immediately identifiable as the tribal shaman/medicine man. The whole group has a nice cohesive feel without being uniform at all. Nicely done.

Thanks a ton guys! Glad you like him

You've got the partsmix exactly there Ember. The Necromancer torso isn't the greatest fit on the Magos 'legs' but the trick I found was to use the bits where the legs overhang as takeoff points for extra mechanical arms oh, and the neck is a Sicarian leg

Started painting now as well. Found the solution to the whole 'dozen shades of black' thing. I'm mixing up 3 blobs of Abaddon Black with an arbitrary number of blobs of each blue and green I have so each shade is different

First test paint



I can tell these guys are going to be a pain to photograph...

Looking good. The paintjob gives them a real Mad Max vibe. Nice tattoo, too.

Thanks man you're right about the Mad Max thing. Something about black ragged clothing and pallid white skin they'd fit rather nicely on a Mars-style red earth base

Actually, speaking of basing I thought of trying a bit of snow effect on patches of the base. The story is that as a sort of herald of the metaphorical winter that's falling upon the Thorne Moons the weather itself has changed, heralding winter and the coming of the Wolves

Crow number two done

Gorgeously grim, well done !

Amazing stuff.

I don’t know if it would help, and I never tried it myself, but back in the day a friend of mine had a pot of pearlizer. A paint additive that gave an opal-esque multihued sheen to things. Mixed with black it might give you that raven sheen.

Keep up the good work.

Wow those really do look like some ideas Blanche would have thought up. Love the dark tones mixed with the bright flesh, I think some snow on the base would be good.

These are excellent one thing to say when I think of crows I think of their yellow bills. Might work as a spot colour on their tubes or a glossier black for contrast?

Thanks guys! I'm glad you like them

I suppose they're more jet-black Ravens than Crows, but the latter is a word that fits their temperament better. Ravens imply at least a little regality, or at least being big birds...whereas crows imply bickering curiosity

Yellow's a good suggestion though, and for a scheme that wasn't deliberately low-contrast and murky would work really well

Shall see if I can pick up some of that pearliser. I've seen it done in car paints, and mixed with gloss and applied to their feather/barb things would help to differentiate from tye rest of the blackness

Third one done though (barring additional basing effects)

Glad you've finally started painting your bases. They really do a lot for the minis.

I don't think i've ever seen a crow with a yellow bill! is that maybe a thing like american robins and european robins being so different?

Anyways, i am loving the progress! Those robot legs really add to the whole birdlike and haunting feeling.

Really like that one. He looks nice and aggressive.

These guys would make a great wastelander Necromunda gang.