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Hey.

I'm starting up a Space Marine army, and I decided, after several months of debate, that it is going to be Knight-themed. So after searching for a while, I found some bits that I think would work very well.

I was wondering if anybody knows whether or not the Bretonnian Knights heads (mainly the Heraldry helmets) would work with a Space Marine body.

If not, or you know something better, could you suggest it? I was thinking the Crusade helmets from the Black Templar range, as well as the robed bodies and helmets of the Dark Angels, but that could start to become expensive for those specific bits...

And if anyone could suggest a good color scheme. I was thinking something with Orange and Purple, cuz for some reason I'm really feeling bright colors... I'm just not quite sure how to incorporate them.

Thanks.

The knight's heads would work fine. As I remember something like this appeared in WD before. The Dragon Slayers I think was the name, Silver armor with purple robes. The biker used lances. I don't remember the issue number unfortunately.

I think it could be very cool looking.

You have to modify the heads to fit fyi. I did this years ago, after I made an Empire army and had tons of leftover knight heads.

The offical colors of Mardi Gras is green, purple, & orange. Sorry I lived in Louisiana for 2 1/2, throw me somthing mister (as I lift up my shirt)

i saw a crusader themed army not so long ago - cant find the link though.

I think white tunics / robes over silver/grey armor would look cool - with the inside of the robes painted a deep scarlet-purple color - with gold iconography / imagery painted on the robes - outlined in black.

could use that as a base / regulars color scheme

then for your vets / champ / hq - gold armor and colorful checker heraldry shields.


or red robes, scarlet-purple inner color - white/sivler armor.

The whole idea sounds cool. I would go with a silver base, blacklining, and use Enchanted Blue for the Cloaks.

Oh, did I mention the Cloaks? EVERY dude should wear one, that would look so cool.

I also thought the rider idea with the lances was pretty swish, are you going to under-sling a bolter for a sort of Grey Knights feel?


I would like to see some pics!

That is a lot like how I did Celestine and her Seraphim honor guard. I did a gun metal bas with silver highlights and gold iconography, then white cloaks with red trim. I hated it until i put the silver highlights on. Then it looked prime. I will try and remember to post some pics here tonight for you to get an idea of how it can look.

Some nice colorful heraldry shield schemes - add a shield with some of that on for your splash of bright color... maybe make each "knights" bolter or ccweapon the same major color of their heraldry shield

Stelek wrote:You have to modify the heads to fit fyi. I did this years ago, after I made an Empire army and had tons of leftover knight heads.

How much, do you think? Is it just a matter of green-stuffing the half-dome in the Space Marine so that they'll have a neck to connect to the Grail Knight heads? I'm just not quite sure how they fit together, so I'm not sure if it's extensive modifying or just something small...

Thank you guys for your ideas. They're really helping.

I'm going to try to avoid SILVER armour, though - it's the obvious choice, but since my brother is playing Grey Knights, I don't want them to look too similar. I'll try a darkish-grey color though. That could work in my opinion.

I didn't even think about the tunics, cloaks or capes. Those would look VERY cool, I totally agree. What do you think I should use for them? I'm none too great at sculpting, so I don't want too much of my army to really rely on something I'm not sure about... Scouts are easy - I'll just use the Scout sniper bodies for them, since they've already got cloaks...

Any suggestions about that? Or even guides to scuplting cloth?

Hey mate. I found it was a little trial and error making them myself.

A triangular, flat piece of GS, on a piece of Wax-paper, then sort of push the sides of paper together a bit for the ripple effect.

Once you get good at it, the sky is the limit. Also, those little cut off bits of GS to make a neat triangle can then be bunched up at 1 end to make a nice Bolter/Sword-tassle.

When you have pushed them together into a bunch at 1 end, roll a little piece around the top to finish.
Just an Idea.

PS. Fair enough about the silver/brother/grey knight call.

Maybe a Gun-metal,heavy drybrush for an 'Iron' like feel, highlighted by tin-bitz?

I am looking forward to seeing Wehrkinds' version.

i may be being a total slow here... BUT...

why not base coat them a dark brown-black mixed color - then go over it with a thin bolt-gun so you get that "ancient iron" look about them...

get a couple of the BT & DA upgrade sprues - or even just get the DA / BT tac squads - that will sort out the whole tabard / robe problem.

Or else just production line your gs tabards - get help - you cut, the other moves them into shape.

I just did a whole army of bretonnian themed space marines on commission. The bret heads fit like a champ.

But do yourself a favor and use dark angel vet bodies because they're robed and it looks alot more 'knightly'.

ironKing wrote:get a couple of the BT & DA upgrade sprues - or even just get the DA / BT tac squads - that will sort out the whole tabard / robe problem.

Do they still sell those? I thought they were a limited-release thing...

SquirrelPredator wrote:

ironKing wrote:get a couple of the BT & DA upgrade sprues - or even just get the DA / BT tac squads - that ill sort out the whole tabard / robe problem.

Do they still sell those? I thought they were a limited-release thing...

The 5-man DA "Veteran" squads are standard production, as are the BT upgrades. But the BT squads are long gone.

Personally, for "Knights" bitz, I prefer BT and GK. The DA bitz are more monastic than Knightly.

Ok, I am a very bad man and forgot that I said I was going to post pictures for you. So, here are two bad pictures from my Flickr account, and I will try to post better ones when I get home. So sorry again!

Now, the lighting is horrible, but you can see the effect I am talking about fairly well on Celestine there. It will be better demonstrated in better photos...

Well, the Seraphim didn't work out pictures wise for some reason, but I got two shots of Celestine that look pretty solid. You can see how the silver helps pick out the edges and areas that need to shine, while the darker gun metal adds the depth. I rather wish I had a few shots of them and the (unfinished) grey knights on the table; they look very nice and natural in terrain, just like girls in plate should.



Oh one quick thing to point out, I don't generally dry brush highlights anymore, but directly apply them. If metalic, I usually just feather them a bit, if standard colors I tend to thin them and blend a little. I find it is actually a lot faster than dry brushing because the color application is a one shot for the coverage I want, and I don't spend nearly as much time tidying up bits of silver from all the cloth etc.

I tried doing lances recently we Youll have to cut off the hands to make them work... Also avoid cutting the top of your finger off it doesnt hurt at first, but it kains when you bump it

Wehrkind wrote:Ok, I am a very bad man and forgot that I said I was going to post pictures for you. So, here are two bad pictures from my Flickr account, and I will try to post better ones when I get home. So sorry again!

Now, the lighting is horrible, but you can see the effect I am talking about fairly well on Celestine there. It will be better demonstrated in better photos...

Those look great. Seriously. I was a little skeptical with the poorly-lit ones, but the one of Celestine below is just amazing. I think it really looks great and Knightly. So I think I'm going to try my hand at painting them a nice, solid silver - my brother is going with a darker, Tin Bitz based silver, so I think it could still turn out differently, especially with nice, white cloth.

Thanks, Wehrkind. That was very helpful and inspiring.

So I think I'm going to go with BT, and then some Bretonnian bits to bolster out my Knightly force. It should be good...

Glad to be of service
Yea, the big downside to the color scheme is that it looks like hell until it is almost finished. I had those seraphim and celestine parked for about 8 months before I could bring myself to finish them. Until you get the light, shiny silver and some gold kicking, it just looks like you make it slightly less unpainted.

Let me tell you how I do the white, since it gave me fits for a bit (I prime black). Since I wanted to do a cloth that had some soft depth (as opposed to marined armor white) I started with the Foundation Talaran Flesh over the cloth and seals (and the skin too; convenience!) Then I went over that with a color called "parchment" which is sort of a bone/Tallaran color, and pretty much covered everything in one shot, so a little of the darker showed through. Then I did a layer of parchment and white called "linen" (I use 1$ craft paints) and left a little of the parchment in the cracks. Then I added the whites, but left the purity seals linen with just a touch of white highlight (though Celestine's came out a little too white.)

Good luck! I am interested to see how the knight's heads come out. I am thinking of trying to make a melee centered inquisitor, and I would love to see how yours work!

found that - looks like what you want to do... essentially.

perhaps sans the stupid antlers and head gear and an axe or a sword in lieu of the spears... check out my sword

Is that suposed to be Samaurai?

no :(

does it look like one?

its supposed to be a heresy mk armor marine with a powersword based loosely on the sketches for the nemesis force sword...

ironKing wrote:

found that - looks like what you want to do... essentially.

perhaps sans the stupid antlers and head gear and an axe or a sword in lieu of the spears

Ah, yes, I've seen those before! Very nice models - not a fan of the color scheme, because I don't really like blue + white, but yes, that is essentially what I'm aiming for! It's interesting how they have the bolters on the ends of the spears...I don't think that would be very sound at all...

But yes, thanks. That'll give me some idea of what to aim for.

Wehrkind, do you think you could give me some equivalent with GW paints on how to paint the white? I'm not exactly sure what I should substitute - I usually paint my white's more dirty on cloth, almost a yellow, building from a Bestial Brown - Vomit Brown base...

We are the knights who say... KNEEEE ! .....and we demand a SACRIFICE! A SHRUBBERY...
seriously I think they're great. I couldn't help the Monty Python referance.

was browsin for ideas for a marine army themed on crusading knights and this thread proved to be invaluable. was just wondering if anybody knew of any knighlyish shield sprues that are sold indivually or would it just be easier to make them out of GS?