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The Shooting (Eight-Point) Star: A 40k R&H Project

I started painting miniatures around 2001 when I moved back to Europe, and I’m pretty sure the first one I messed up was one of those push-assemble Space Marine sergeants. I never really got into the gaming aspect of it though, maybe because I was too young at the time.
Over the past 18 years I’ve made some progress painting different armies: Dark Eldar and Space Marines from the 3rd Ed Box set (those marines were evidently painted as Black Templars, and I kept painting them till that particular army ballooned to ~4000 odd points), some Necron, some Tau, WFB High Elves, Dwarves, Ogres, Bretonnia, Dark Elves, and odds and ends of different armies. But I’ve never actually assembled anything the size of those initial marines again.
I moved away from my hometown for a couple of years to complete my studies, and I sold or gave away most of what I had assembled; I didn’t have space for it, and I didn’t have time. I also knew that I invariably get distracted halfway; something shiny catches my eye and I buy that to paint it, leaving whatever project I have underway half done.

So this is the way I’m trying to address that. With this project I’m committing to a force, something I’ll be able to stick to. I’ve seen it work for a lot of people on here, and I wanted somewhere I could structure my work, have it displayed for anyone that’s interested in giving feedback. And that’s how I started my Renegades & Heretics army.

The Lost and the Damned:



We know them, we love them. As long as there have been Imperial Guardsmen wearing paper-thin armor and shooting flashlights into oncoming heavy vehicles, those same Guardsmen have decided that they could also wear spikes and do the same damn thing, but have some fun while doing it.

Back when I started, I saw some of the excellent minis for the Lost and the Damned, as well as the conversions that were actively encouraged to field them. Now that I’m doing a project for myself, I didn’t want it to be just about the painting, I wanted to recapture that old DIY feel of planning out what kits to get to push out your wretched little heretics into oncoming artillery fire.


(I still love that old Chaos Spawn model)

When Codex: Eye of Terror came out in 2003 it was filled to the brim with interesting and wholesome miniatures, showcasing the righteous struggle of the heretic forces against the tyrannical Imperium. At the time, of course, I had been thoroughly indoctrinated by foul Imperial propaganda, and couldn’t appreciate the plight of the common man. Does he not deserve to ride roughshod across the stars, conquering and pillaging as he liberates the down-trodden?

Now, my eyes have been opened, all eight of them, and it’s time to make something different. Imperial Guardsmen… with spikes on.

The Sentinel

I started with an Imperial Guard Sentinel kit I’d bought some years previously. Vehicles have always been challenging for me, so I wanted to start outside my comfort zone. I did some minor conversion work on it, removing Imperial symbols and substituting them with the symbology of a much more illuminated mindset. The colour scheme I chose is meant to be reflected across all the force: Bone plating and armor, grey uniforms and surfaces, and maroon details. Maroon gets a bad rap, but it’s a nice, calming color.



Something else I wanted to try was weathering. I’ve always painted “parade armies” so to speak, freshly cleaned and unmarred. That didn’t seem to fit Renegades and Heretics, as they are upstanding people, constantly working in the field for the good of all mankind, and that brings wear and tear.




And here's how he turned out:





Any comments and criticism are welcome, both artistic and tactical.

That's some really tight NMM, and the weathering gives it real character.

But those out of focus Ogryns with what look like heavy stubbers are what have really caught my eye. Got any more pictures of them?

 Gathering Storm wrote:
That's some really tight NMM, and the weathering gives it real character.

But those out of focus Ogryns with what look like heavy stubbers are what have really caught my eye. Got any more pictures of them?

Thanks!

Yeah, the Ogryn are a WIP for a unit of Cultists. I'll be posting those as they come together

Very comprehensive, and really aesthetic. I looove the faux paint scratches on the sentinel.

A bit of fluff. In order to get myself to invest in the army, it couldn't just be a nameless force of faceless dudes; I needed something that would make me interested in them, I needed a story. Having been an Imperium stooge for most of my life, I started going through heretical tomes, trying to find the right flavour for the army. Did I want to devote them to one of the Chaos Gods? To Chaos Undivided?
In the end, I settled on making them a missmatched group of miscreants from different origins and different world, all worshipping the same warp entity. Not a god, a powerful Daemon Prince, powerful enough to reach out and twist the minds of mortals to his will. That's how they became the Cult of Barastyr.
I pulled up the 40k timeline and started searching for a place to quietly insert these guys, for my own headcanon. I'd enjoyed the recent events in the lore, the formation of the Cicatrix Maledictum, and the Imperium Nihilus, so I felt that the aftermath of the 13th Black Crusade was an ideal moment for all sort of Chaos worship to come into the light.
That only left the where, and I already had some thoughts on that.

The Unbound Planet
In the vastness of the Galaxy there are countless stars, many of them orbited by planets formed from the accretion disks drawn around them as they formed. By some accident of gavitational physics, some of these planets are ejected from the planetary system, and lurch away into the void. These are called rogue planets, and Morax is such a world. A dark world, lacking a star to light it, it roams through the interstellar void, pulled one way or another by gravitational forces. A thick, unbreathable atmosphere covers its surface, heated by geothermal energy from the planet's core. Below Morax's runied and stormswept surface lies a complex and gargantuan maze of catacombs and mausoleums, built before the Great Crusade to unify the stars under the Imperial Standard. At the heart of the maze is an alabaster sepulcher, waiting for the hand that will release the Daemon Prince Barastyr.

At the start of the new Millenium, the errant world finds its way to the Sephadollion Sector, in the Ultima Segmentum, where it twists events around itself, like metaphysical gravity. A Dark Compact is formed upon the surface of the world and Barastyr rises once more, like a foul mockery of an Imperial Saint, to lead humans and Astares who pledge themselves to his service. Tallest among these humans stood Actis, once an Imperial Admiral, now a twisted servant of the Ruinous Powers gathering an army to do the bidding of his new master.

By Lord Actis' hand, the seeds of corruption would be sown throughout Imperial world, fostering and nurturing grim cults in service of his new master, until the world could be raided for slaves and the spoils of war, whereupon the cults would be inducted into the forces of his swelling fleet. Operating from the uncharted planet, the marauding traitors would become a blight upon the truncated Imperium, looting and pillaging, even as they claimed more servants, more souls, for Barastyr. They are the Children of the Ossuary.




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 NecrusIV wrote:
Very comprehensive, and really aesthetic. I looove the faux paint scratches on the sentinel.

Thank you! As I mentioned, up to this point I really hadn't tried my hand at weathering my minis, so I took advantage of the large, flat surfaces on the Sentinel, as well as all the angles, to practice and start getting a grip on it.

Got any more lore on the Sephadollion Sector the Unbound Planet has ended up in?

I'm still looking forward to the Ogryn pictures, mainly to see how you made them in higher resolution, since I've dabbled with Ogryn conversions in the past for use as Obliterators before.

Always good to see a fellow Heretic.

Keep Calm and Renegade On.

Gathering Storm wrote:Got any more lore on the Sephadollion Sector the Unbound Planet has ended up in?

I'm still looking forward to the Ogryn pictures, mainly to see how you made them in higher resolution, since I've dabbled with Ogryn conversions in the past for use as Obliterators before.

I've already got some progress on the Ogryn, I need to take some pictures (and curate them a bit), but the WIPs on them should be going up soon(ish). As to the Sector, it's actually a fanon Sector on the Warhammer 40k fanon wikia (where I usually post my fanon stuff as Goremaw). I can link you to the Sector's page; it's quite comprehensive and the effort of a lot of users over quite a long time. Actually, the wiki staff run 40k RPGs set in the Sector! https://warhammer40kfanon.fandom.com/wiki/Sephadollion_Sector

Excommunicatus wrote:Always good to see a fellow Heretic.

Keep Calm and Renegade On.

Cheers! R&H really is a very unique faction, takes a certain mindset


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Here is a bit more on the Ogryn, and some background!

I wanted to make the Cultist blobs feel special and make them stand out from the Militia Squads, even if I'm going to convert both from (mostly) Cadian Guardsmen. Since Cultists can have Special Weapon Guys with Flamers and Heavy Stubbers, I decided to give the big weapons to Cultist Ogryn, who's blind faith in the Corpse-Emperor has been substituted by the, much more humanitarian, worship of our lord and savior Barastyr.

The first thing I did was use their Ripper Guns as a base for the Heavy Stubbers. I used ABS rods to extend the barrel and form a muzzle.


I also used GS to give him a friendly little hood, so he can fit in with his Cultist friendos all the better. Here he is with one of them now:


Really dwarfs that cultist, I'm hoping to show some progress on these boys soon.

Thanks for showing more detailed pictures. Gonna be great to see some paint on them. If the sentinel is anything to go by, they'll be something special. You've got a real gift for the NMM look.

 Gathering Storm wrote:
Thanks for showing more detailed pictures. Gonna be great to see some paint on them. If the sentinel is anything to go by, they'll be something special. You've got a real gift for the NMM look.

Thanks, I've always loved the look of NMM so it was something I really enjoyed working on, and improving upon. By the end of this I hope to have a firmer grasp of the technique.

Hey, everyone. So, the Dakka Painting Challenge for April just kicked off and I thought I'd jump in on that with the Children of the Ossuary's leader, Lord Actis.

Formerly Admiral Actis of the Imperial Navy, Captain of the Dictator-class Cruiser Sancto Solis of Battlefleet Sephadollion. Admiral Actis was a zealous and war-like man always looking to prove himself to Fleet command. So, when his Battlegroup was tasked to locate an Astares Strike Cruiser sent to inspect the anomalous Rogue Planet Morax, he had no qualms in leading his armsmen to the blighted world. When the Astares ship was found floating in orbit, deserted, Admiral Actis led five thousand voidsmen to the surface to investigate.
They would spend years in the darkness of the catacombs below Morax's surface, eating vermin and fungus, soaking condensation from walls, following the trail of the Astares and finding the grisly remains and markings left by the crazed transhumans. When his men started to turn, they ate them as well. Much like the Astares before them, they were slowly funelled to the center of the maze, where the remaining space marines, corrupted beyond recognition, labored. So it was that Actis was present when the great white sarcophagus was opened, and Barastyr arose once more.

Mechanically, Lord Actis is a Renegades & Heretics Renegade Commander; he is a nice, inexpensive, HQ choice, but nothing to write home about since the R&H index doesn't really have any relics or warlord traits, or stratagems, or anything much, really. Although the Renegade Commander is equipped with standard cardboard armor, I represented him in power armor to make him appear larger among his human servants; since it is, however, the non-primaris power armor, he does look human-sized next to the new CSMs, the primaris, and the Ogryn. The choice of giving him a brutal close combat weapon and a bolt pistol is more for fluff than tactics although, as a Leadership buffer and Covenant generator, he would do better to avoid combat anyway.

This is the image I entered for the Dakka Painting Challenge here: https://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/773576.page



Over the next few days I'll update with the WIP shots of how I built him, and the WIP shots as I paint him for this month's challenge!

Nice work! His shouder pads are stylin'. And it's nice to see more of the real good guys of 40k.

 amazingturtles wrote:
Nice work! His shouder pads are stylin'. And it's nice to see more of the real good guys of 40k.

Thank you! I felt that it would keep him much more human sized to just do away with the pauldrons and give him a nice cloak trim.

Hopefully, more people will now open their hearts, and spleens, to the warm, fuzzy feeling that is Chaos.

Now if that ain't some decent heresy.

Needs more guns though

Very cool. I remember seeing some cool nurgle guardsmen made from marauders and catachans in White Dwarf back around that time.

Great start. Looking forward to seeing you continue with this project.

Not Online!!! wrote:Now if that ain't some decent heresy.

Needs more guns though

Oh, I promise you there are guns in the works. I won't get sidetracked to long posting the Commander; after that it's headfirst into some autogun cultists (and their friendly ogryn pal!) .

Look forward to the boys:

Gael Knight wrote:Very cool. I remember seeing some cool nurgle guardsmen made from marauders and catachans in White Dwarf back around that time.

Great start. Looking forward to seeing you continue with this project.

Thanks a lot! I've also got some Plague Ogryns in pre-alpha, so to speak. I never thought I'd enjoy Nurgle so, so much!

I keep getting ideas, and thus getting sidetracked

As a rule of thumb, renegades can't get sidetracked, they just get more Personalized.

Not Online!!! wrote:
As a rule of thumb, renegades can't get sidetracked, they just get more Personalized.

Yeah, that's the Gods' own truth!
I'm really keen on this project, and I'm loving it more and more with each blob of Green Stuff.

Children of the Ossuary is a great name. Actis is a beaut, too.

Have you by any chance been to Sedlec Ossuary, in the Czech Republic?

 Excommunicatus wrote:
Children of the Ossuary is a great name. Actis is a beaut, too.

Have you by any chance been to Sedlec Ossuary, in the Czech Republic?

Thanks, I wanted something that would feel close both to the background lore and relate to their colour scheme (Bone armor/plating).

I've never been to the Czech Republic, but I'm looking up pictures of it and it looks deliciously macabre.

I'm really liking your conversion and sculpting work! Might have to try that autogun conversion sometime in the future..

 mcmattila wrote:
I'm really liking your conversion and sculpting work! Might have to try that autogun conversion sometime in the future..

Thanks! The autogun is a really convenient, quick-n-easy shift from the lasgun. I wanted to diferentiate my cultists (autoguns) from my Milita (lasguns). I'll also post some where I removed the stock, to fit it on a different right arm.

Makes for a shorter gun.



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Now, we all know that the way you find out who's in charge is by finding the guy with the biggest hat.



It ain't easy being squishy, so the big boss gets the expensive gear.



I know that it isn't exactly WYSIWYG, but he does have that 5++, so I hope people will let it slide.

Finally, you can't be the boss without some ritzy gear. At the very least, you need some fur, and a rare bolt pistol.




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Now, it isn't enough to be a well armed, well armored, and blessed by the Chaos Gods. The discriminating modern commander of a Heretical force must also have style.

Trophy racks are your go to accessory, can't live without them.


Flaying your enemies (and your friends) is the latest rage in piratical fashion. Don't leave port without yours.


Loincloths are timeless classics, and appreciated in all circles of the 42nd Millennium. Strap yours on to-day!

Ok, so more progress on the Cultist front. I came down sick yesterday, so I'm a bit out of sorts, but I still managed to get this guy mostly ready.



I really think some good ol' cultists need at least a couple of boys with festive Easter hoods. I'm still learning to sculpt, but to give him the proper lines under the hood I "sculpted" a face under it:



It is a bit Lord Voldemort meets RealDoll, but it sat nicely under the hood, and allowed me to get a good fix on what was where:



We'll see how it paints up


Oh, I'll try to properly write up the fluff on this particular cult and post it, as well.

Oyy it's an executioner.

They look extra friendly. Like they should be burning Aquila Eagle effigies. Hoods are an essential part of cultist chic.

Not Online!!! wrote:Oyy it's an executioner.

Yeah jajaja, I'm going for that oldie hooded cultist reference, and because they have a close relationship with death

Gathering Storm wrote:They look extra friendly. Like they should be burning Aquila Eagle effigies. Hoods are an essential part of cultist chic.

That's actually given me an idea. Another thing I've never done is build actual scenery. After I get my affairs in order, I think making a burned and broken down Aquila as some cover would be great. Also some ruined buildings.

Thanks for the input, guys!

I'm away from home right now, but I grabbed some pics so I could update while away!

I love my ogre boys, so they need some friends. Some very, very, wholesome friends:





Have a great weekend, everybody!

At first i thought this was a HL reference should've worn my glasses though

Nice to see you've made up the rest of his friends. Really love the heavy stubber conversions, so seeing more of them makes me happy.

That greenstuff work is top notch

Some really cool stuff going on in this thread! The old WD article really takes me back - before monopose everything was standard, and conversion was encouraged and expected.

As someone who's only just started working with GS, your skills are really inspiring - it's nice to see you tackling so many of the little things that would really scare me off, but I'll have to have a go at now.

The commander is definitely my favourite model at the moment, love the loincloth (leopard print??) and the flayed cloak. Can't wait to see more modelling and hopefully a bit of paint!