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Heya Dakka, I am returning from a fairly long Hiatus.

I have a ton of projects that are ongoing, so I'l lbe sharing some of those here. We'll start with the deathstodes, my death themed custodes army. Started in 8th when they were so so, i just needed a low model count army to be able to ocassionally play while dealing with a busy life. The basic theme is that like the Rubric Marines these fellows made a deal with a power greater than themselves to achieve some goal, and in the process got burnt out of thier armor leaving just bones and an erie daemonic flame that keeps them going on and on ... long past what thier mortal flesh could have.

While low in model count, I wanted to get far away from the very static pose of all the models. So kitbashing, conversions, and greenstuff galore occured and my unique take on the emperors guardians was the end result. This section of the army is finished for now, but I have plans to add a Telemon and some tanks at some point, as well as some terminators.

some work on dynamic posing:


Greenstuffing flames:


How to make the Guardian spear a bit more hefty:


Sword and board:


More piccies of the TT level painted figs in a bit.

Here are some pics of the painted figs. Lots of work still to do on them, there are many details to pick out, as well as lots of cleanup to do since many of the details have been brough out with quick drybrushing. It got them on the table and they look good at armslength for now.

There is also some repair work that needs to be done ... the whole lot has dropped twice now, once was even in an intersection while crossing the street at a con for an event. DOH! so some of the re-attached spears have some parts not at perfect angles to get them temporarily back in the fray.

That’s a super cool concept for your army, and exceptional execution. I like the idea that even the ultra loyal custodes can be turned

Hey mate,

I really love the direction this army is going in. Boxes are built to be stepped outside of and these guys do it in style. Colour combos are looking great, love the contrast between the dull/understated armour and the pastel ghostly bits.

Thank you for sharing and looking forward to more!

 gobert wrote:
That’s a super cool concept for your army, and exceptional execution. I like the idea that even the ultra loyal custodes can be turned

Hehe, yeah I have always been a fan of showing that the imperiums propaganda isn't quite as accurate as they would like it to seem. In my Tentacle Tide chaos army I have long used SOB as my basic chaos marines to make the cult marines stand out more.

Thanks for the comments guys! I've got some Aquilon term conversions coming up for this bunch(and at some point I'll order the Telemon I've always wanted hehe), as well as a bunch of AdMech conversions and some Iron fists that are going to get a bunch of conversions to dig in for some siege warfare.

Adding some progress photos for the basing and the rough idea of how I paint the armor across all the units in the Deathstodes. I had a lot of fun with the basing for these ... the graveyard kit has so many neat parts to it. More on that in my next post, which is the display board for these guys.

The display board for the deathstodes, which I made the size of a killteam board to for added utility.

Next up are some normal Terminators converted to be Aquilion terminators. The FW ones look nice, but their flamers seem a little wimpy for thier we-reach-further-and-hit-harder-than-most-flamers-in-the-game profile. So I'll save my FW monies for a Telemon at some point.

Simplr conversions on these three, just added power fists and the flamers from one of the mini titans kits that i bought for bits for my ad mech armym and added some flame coming out, as well as the head replacement with flaming skulls.

Thanks for the detailed progress pics; really great to see them come to life (lol) this way. The display board is absolutely brilliant mate, that is something to be proud of! The bases looked great on their own but tie in super well to the board. Looking at them all together like that gave me sudden flashbacks to levelling up in Scarlet Monastery graveyard back in vanilla wow...nostalgia is strong!

Terminators are looking suitably spoopy in the pipeline, excited to see them get some paint! The beastly flamers are great touch.

Love this army!

Thanks! Yeah i was happy with how the graveyard and the models on the board all look together. And its an alternate kill team table as well, so more variety in that department as well once I actually build the others(so far I only have deathworld forest and the main box sector imperialis and sector sanctus, oh and the rouge trader ship and the tournament ones that just had doors and such painted up. Still have mechanics, wall of martyrs, munitorium, and fronteris to go lol... and the new one that just released as well whenever i get around to getting it.

I started painting those terminators as well so will add them up soon too.

Speaking of which, might as well share the pics of the finished ones here:

Great work on the kill team boards, though your graveyard is my favourite by far!

Thanks! yeah a full board beats a "canned board" for sure. They still have a place for variety and amount of space NOT taken up though.

Other than the painting on those terminators thats it for the deathstodes until I make a FW order and get some tanks and a telemon(or even an Ares if christmas is nice, lol).

So to continue we'll switch to my Cyclothrathe Heretical Ad mech. Again lots of conversions and a mix of filthy xenos tech throughout.

Sydonian Dragoons / Ironstrider Ballistari: converted from thunder wolf base model plus bits from some titanicus kits, the official dragoon kit, and a host of other parts and greenstuff. Magnetized to be switchable so they can be either model.

Onager Dunecrawlers: The neutron Laser is one of the weapons with some of the most reliable heavy weapon damage ouut out there(ok was things have been creeping up lately) but the gun itself looks kind of underwhelming. So I wanted my neutronagers to look like a proper heavy weapon platform, and also a chance to show that they research and use xenos tech. heretics. Also I just love 4 barreled AA guns, so that had to happen as well.

Kastelan Robots: I hate the 50's sticom wanna be robots(lol, even as I make a chibi one my avatar... doh!) so I again chose to show with one unit that they disect and rebuild any xenos tech they get their hands on, and also make some robots with the kind of robust look that the 30k versions have. Made from wraiths and some titanicus kits as well as some rando bits. I still have 6 actual dakkabots as well, so look out apoc games, cus I can rock 12 of them at once.

Armiger Helverin/Warglaive: We've all seen that nifty wraith bits on the armiger to make it look a bit more organic pic on pinterest, so with that as a base I set out to give mine a posessed bound daemon look. Theres actually a deamonette trying to break through the chained up portal from the rear, but appearently I didnt snap a photo of that when i had it out on piccy day. Magnetized to be both, from before the helverin kit was actually available, so I was on my own as to what it's guns would look like at the time i built it.

More ad mechy conversions coming up as well, just need to get them out and take some pics. I kitbashed 18 sulferhouds/whatever the other half is called out of skitarri riding cold ones, space wolf wolves and genestealer cult bikes(6 of each), with the 3 models from the only actual kit i bought making the unit leaders, and I have some of the newer vehicles as well that are built or patrtially built.

Pics of my Serbyrys raiders and sulphur hounds conversions. One unit of raiders using genestealercult bikes, one unit of raiders using fenrisian wolves and one unit of sulphur hounds using cold ones.

I have enough bikes and wolves left to build another 12 to create additional units or fill out the existing ones as well.

All right, now that I have posted up some of the already done things, time to start documenting the current project, which is a sons of medusa combat engineers seige company. I'm going to be altering all the vehicles into siege/engineer versions of the models, as well as trying to make them more realistic with lots of stowage, marines with full gear, etc. I have girdd myself for all the offhand "oh i like your salamanders" comments on every social media platform, so lets begin.

The first model in the lineup is the invictor tactical warsuit. This one is getting some weapon shifting and a crane with wrecking ball. I've got all the peices of the model trimmed and ready for assembly, so the next update should be along soon.

Work has begun on the siege wrecker. Nothin special yet, just wanted to use the driver on the outside as a gunner, so had to close up the cockpit, which also makes it look more crane-y. Next come the platforms mounting the weapons and the all important crane. I think I will also give it a bit more of a wiast to sit a little higher off the legs.

Got some more work done on this bad boy. Kind of has "rifleman" vibe now, lol. I'm pretty happy with the crane as wel.. Still lots of work to do, gotsome greenstuff work on the pilot and some stowage, sandbags, boxes, gas cans, etc.

Got some work done on his base as well, still needs texture and some sand bags and such, but the general idea is roughed in now.

Also, after many years of languishing in a built but unfinished state(since 2009!!!), this display board has been waiting for the right army, and finally the siege themed sons of medusa I'm doing fit it perfectly! So i finished painting it up.

And painting begins on the invictor, the first test primaris and the invictors base.

The board and Crane Rifleman are looking good. I really ought to act on the ideas for a display board for some of my minis. I fancy something along the lines of your Sector Imperialis board, but with darker tones I think. Your stuff is a good reference, even if I don’t achieve the same results . I love the bright green you’ve achieved with the airbrush, the sons of medusa scheme is really cool! What greens are you using?

Thanks! I'm having a lot of fun jsut going off the rails with this one.

Lol, yeah my sector imperialis is painted mostly the Duncan way with some small veriations(if you find his vid it will walk you through the process and you can change the colors lsightly to match your vision).

I'm using this guys version for the green:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pdbEqJEQfY&feature=emb_logo

which is Caliban green base, Moot green, and Vallejo air light livery green highlight.

And update, Base is painted! The wound dial will be replaced with a printed version, just did a quick paint on to test the spacing and show the idea. The little skull is magnetized and there is a cut plate of thin sheet tin(thin enough to cut with regular scissors, got it from the hobby store) around that curve of the base. In retrospect I should have tested the strength of the magnet to see if it could have gone UNDER the base. But the magnet is fairly small, so it might have been to week for that.

And painting is fully in progress now. Got the base and legs mostly finished. Might do a little moredust/dirt weathering when I'm done, but wanted to not go overboard until I get the rest of the model painted and can see thw whole thing at once.

Wow! I love the trench board and the base. Exceptional work!
Makes me want to expand my display board. If only I had the space to store it...

The idea for your turned Custodes army is also really cool. Kudos.

Thanks! the board was only 11 years in the making lol, I had almost tossed it thinking I wasnt going to have an army that it would fit in with and then it just happened to be right there when i strted a siege company.

Yeah space is the enemy. Until recently I had only done a single flat board as my "display board" and in the days before frontline gaming mats, i also made some tables from thin boards, but even flat you make 5 tables from 3 2'x3' boards each and those become a pain to store even though they are completly flat, and then theres the themed terrai nin boxes that has to sit next to them ... and now add the graveyard and the trench board to that and ... yeah. Storage space is always a concern!

Thanks! I like to do different themed armies, this sons of medusa army is the first in a long time thats actually in the army's typical colors. My recent armies have been deathstodes, purple mechano-bug themed necrons(have not been updated with any of the new figs yet though), the orquisition(redemptionist themed robed orcs), etc. My ad mech is in somewhat traditional color scheme though, just the conversions there that seperate them from the norm.

Some more progress on the sons of medusa army. Built the gravis captian and worked up a cyber arm for him- The flesh is WEAK! Also converted the hellblasters to have gun shields, some extra wiring(from the ad mech electro priests kit), and some coggy backpacks, also from the priests kit.

Also made progress on painting the Invictor and the first test marine(an assault intercessor).

Still putting some final touches on the crane invictor, but here is a quick progress shot, as well as some progress on the next vehicle. I didn't like the tonka toy look of the invader, so in the combat engineers theme, it becomes an invader bobcat. Also some basic painting on the next squads of intercessors and hellblasters is coming along.

Good job on the Crane, he’s pretty awesome! Lovely comedy moment of the alpha legion(?) Terminator hanging from his magnet. Is it magnetised to match the opposing force? The bobcat is an inspired conversion too, great work!

Thanks! Yeah its alpha legion, though that was an attempt at contrast over metal and didn't quite look right, so hes being repainted. Yep it is magnetized so i could do a corpse(or even small vehicles) for every faction .. .jeez theres a youtube channel in just that, lol. The crane winch works as well so I can lower or raise the height of the magnet. It can also hold rolls of barbedwire and other les morbid things as well if I want ot show its constructive rather than destructive nature.

Thanks! Bobcat is still a WIP but i think that basic shape is nailed down. now got to clean it up and continue adding details.

Love the construction mech! Great conversion!

Thanks! I enjoy da kunversions.

Also, finished the invictor! Here are the final pics of the completed model!