WIP Imperial Fists Army

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Greetings, fellow B&C WIP brothers.

 

I have been gone from the game for a long time now, and have decided to get back and do up a proper army this time. I've had painted armies before, but if I'm really honest with myself, I was always too much in a rush and/or too lazy to be bothered with painting them to a decent standard, if not the best of my ability. Hopefully this post, and my fellow modeling brothers shall help with the motivation to bring me back to the light of the Emperor, so that I may lead his angels of fury and death into the teeth of His enemies once more.

 

First, a trip down memory lane!

 

In my most recent move, I decided to get rid of a lot of the junk I'd been hauling around for years, and most of which I never unpacked. I found a few old "treasures" amidst the junk, and they are partly responsible for me wanting to get back into 40k. Amazed that I still had this thing, I present to you the very first figure I ever painted for 40k!

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/SM13.jpg

 

The guy who got me interested in the game gave me some of his 2nd Ed marines, and this terrible drybrush mess is what I came up with. Scary, huh? To my credit, he originally didn't look quite this bad, but he's been banged around inside a box of loose figures for some years. This was done probably late '98 - early '99, shortly after 3rd Ed came out, but I don't remember exactly when.

 

Among the stuff I was given in that little starter group of marines was a Dante figure with a mangled upper torso and no arms. I never found out how or why he was mangled, but I figured I could use the lower half for something! I adjusted my paint scheme to a darker color, and, well, here ya go:

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/SM-Boba.jpg

 

His missing hand held, at one time, a stupidly large polearm which has been lost in my numerous moves since he was converted - I had not discovered the virtues of pinning at this point. Note the pilfered Berzerker helmet I lifted from my brother's bitz box! Also note my first horrible attempts with green stuff in those purity seals that were really there to hide the even more hideous and jagged join of the sawn-in-twain Dante legs to a plastic marine torso. Shortly after I made this guy, I decided to go with a Blood Angels army instead of a DIY chapter. Being my first "real" conversion and nearly costing me some stitches with a slip of a razor saw(it's called that for a reason, kids!), I decided not to strip him down and repaint him, and honestly, I'm glad I didn't. I think markers like this on the road of progress are a good way to feel better when that new conversion or paint job just aren't looking as good as you like.

 

Now, back in the day, I really, really wanted a Chaplain to head my BA army as well as my Death Company, and quite frankly, I didn't care for any of the Chaplain figures that were around at the time. Time for another conversion! Presenting the first incarnation of Brother Chaplain Kage!

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/BCK-Original.jpg

 

I know, the pictures suck. I got a new camera, and I'm still getting used to it, plus the lighting is bad. I plan on working on that this weekend. Anyway, I really wanted to capture a sense of action with this guy, so I grabbed some assault legs, a chest piece with no Aquila and a skull, and... oh, is that a another pilfered Berzerker helm from my brother's bitz box? *ahem* Moving on...

 

So, I wanted him to be haulin' butt, shooting on the way in to the melee party, with his custom-made Crozius beatstick held in a ready position. The gun arm was easy, as it came straight from an assault sprue. The right arm, however, was a different story. In those dark days, nowhere in all of 40k could a straight right arm be found that would fit the pose I wanted. Not a one! So, I took a mirror of his left arm, chopped out the middle section, chopped off a right hand, did some pinning, gluing, and slightly better greenstuff work, and voila!

 

Fun fact: he was nicknamed "Destro" by the guys at my LGS. The whole time I was converting and painting him, I never even thought of that. For two good years, he commanded my frothy-mouthed Blood Angels to many a local game store tournament victory. He was also the only decently painted figure in the whole army, much to my shame.

 

Fun fact part two: The gun barrel has gotten me a lot of questions over the years, and at the time, I was working at a factory and one of the things I worked on was wire couplings and harnesses, and one of the more boring things I would do for hours on end was cut wire, strip the end, and attach one of these female connectors to it. I kept a few scrap ones, hoping I could find a use for them in a conversion, and I did!

 

Eventually, I grew tired of my Bloody Angels, not caring for the way they always seemed to rage at the wrong time and never when it would have been beneficial, and I was inspired by a new chapter when I first set eyes on the Golden Demon winning Crimson Fists by no less a personage than Chris Borer. However, life intruded and it would be a few more years before I could finally get back to 40k again.

 

Retiring BCK, I decided I wanted a new marine to lead my new force, and while flipping through the shiny new 4th edition rulebook, I came across the picture of what I believed to be a Crimson Fists Captain, but I later found out was supposed to be a rendition of the Chapter Master, Pedro Kantor. I wanted THAT GUY at the head of my CF army, and I set about getting him.

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/CF1.jpg

 

He was my first "biggersized" marine, and not because I had any inclination to do "true scale"(there was no such insanity at the time), but because I wanted to reproduce the huge honking greaves from the illustration, and somewhere along the way I had acquired some of those god awful old termie plastics. You vets remember those, right? They were even worse than the metals, and with some glee, I set about hacking the legs off one and made my new Captain a bit taller. Now somewhat better with the greenstuff, I tried to duplicate the shield-shaped knee pads, the holster straps, and the litany papers hanging from the belt of the illustration. I think I did a pretty decent job, but sadly, I only have this one image of him, still WIP and never finished.

 

Fun fact: When a friend of mine saw a very early version of this guy before any paint was on him, he dubbed him "Captain Stomp Ass", and it kinda stuck. He was pretty stompy, I have to say.

 

But wait, didn't I title this an Imperial Fists WIP army?

 

Indeed.

 

I fondly remember looking into one of my first issues of White Dwarf and seeing the majestic beauty of a studio painted Imperial Fists army. I was immediately awe struck, wanting to duplicate such a magnificent looking force of my own! Sadly, yellow paints are the work of the Chaos gods, and well, every time I tried to paint a yellow marine, I wanted to slam my fists into something with such force, the Russians would have thought the US was testing nuclear weapons again.

 

So here we are, present day. Most of my old figures are soaking in a bath of chemical goodness to remove their green paint(I almost went Salamanders a little while back, and airbrushed them all green), and will soon be wearing the livery of the proud VII legion, and commanded by a new Brother Chaplain Kage. Captain Stomp Ass will also me making a return. And unlike Michael Bay, I wanted to do a sequel that didn't completely degrade the original or the source material, and have been working on this new guy for the last few weeks(I'd like it to move along a bit faster, but work and other stuff continues to keep me from my hobby desk). I would be remiss if I didn't give credit to some of my WIP board brothers for inspiring me to keep going with all manner of power armored goodness. But, enough blathering! Pictures!

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/BCK-New2.jpghttp://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/BCK-New1.jpg

 

I used the same assault legs, but I cut the lower legs away at the knees and lengthened the thighs a bit. I also thickened out the thighs and greaves, resculpted the right kneepad, and started adding the Chaplain-y bits. The arm is the same as the one from the original BCK(well, not the one from my conversion, but you know what I mean), and the head is from a chaos marine. No, not stolen my from my brother this time. He got out of the hobby some years ago, and I fancied me an Iron Warriors army a few years back, but never did anything with it, so I made use of it. The belt buckle thing and the decoration thing on this chest are from press molds, and the rest is all sculpting. The collar looked a lot better before my brother was checking out my progress and dropped the damn thing on its head, knocking the collar off, as well as the rubber tubing things I had sculpted just below the skull cheekbones, right before I took these pics. I guess it was revenge for stealing his Berzerker helms all those years ago. So the next time you see him, that should look a lot better.

 

I haven't decided what to do with the right arm yet, but I'm considering making his right hand a powerfist, holding his crozius. We'll see, but I think you guys will get a kick out of the crozius once you see it.

 

Fun fact: both my Chaplains have used Chaos helmets. O_o

 

If you made it this far, thanks for reading, and questions, comments, and criticism are certainly welcome.

 

Edit: Hmmm, looks like Photobucket shrank my original pics. Let's try this again.

[ephrael]

I really like the "Captain Stomp Ass" conversion. The picture you based him off is a personal favorite of mine and you certainly have done it the justice it deserves. Are you planning on making all of your marines "true scale?" your sculpting skills are certainly up to the task but I believe that a certain company has just released kits of bigger marine sculpts if you wanted to have all large sized marines and save some time. They are reasonably priced and I can provide a link to their stuff if you are interested. Just drop me a PM if you are as I don't want to break any forum rules if publicly posting the link is not allowed.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'm not that fanatical about true scale marines and I find just adding a little greenstuff, or in my case, greystuff riser on top of the legs does wonders for most marines and termies, but I'll drop you a pm and see what's up.

 

And thanks for the comment on the CF conversion! He's one of my favorites and also one the more simple ones and somehow, those always seem to come out the best.

[ephrael]

I'm not that fanatical about true scale marines and I find just adding a little greenstuff, or in my case, greystuff riser on top of the legs does wonders for most marines and termies, but I'll drop you a pm and see what's up.

 

And thanks for the comment on the CF conversion! He's one of my favorites and also one the more simple ones and somehow, those always seem to come out the best.

 

I would agree with your statement on simple conversions. This is a good example in my opinion of the miniature's inspiration being instantly recognizable without a lot of cluttered tiny details. It is rather difficult to scale down a piece of art from 8"x11" to 35mm and not overwhelm the mini with unnecessary distractions.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Some more progress on the chappy:

 

 

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/BCK-New1-1-1.jpg

 

 

 

I'm wanting to add a skull-shaped censer to him, but I'm wondering if he might be getting a bit too cluttered?

 

Here's a better shot at the Crozius:

 

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/BCK-New1-2.jpg

 

 

 

I'm starting to get some figures together for a Sternguard unit, and in my box of rediscovered old treasures, I found this old guy:

 

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/GD99.jpg

 

 

Sadly, the fancied-up boltgun he came with was pretty badly miscast, and I'm just going to use a plastic bolter for him. But doesn't he just scream Sternguard?

[Vulkan454]

That chappy looks great ^_^ I think the fist on the crozius should be facing you or do it double sided maybe?

Yep that old model definitely does scream sternguard and I really like the bionic eye on him as well.

Keep up the good work.

 

Vulkan

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Thanks, I'm pushing my limited sculpting skills as far as I can on this guy. Just about everything on him was re-done at least once, if not several times, especially the stuff on his legs to bulk out the plastic. You'd think getting a thin, smooth, even covering wouldn't be that hard, but it nearly made me give up before the figure was really even started.

 

The crozius is facing the right way if you mimic the pose and then imagine clobbering someone over the head with it. In that "ready" pose while he's running, it looks odd, and the original version got the same comments. ^_^ And I actually did try to do a double-sided version of it, but it just wouldn't come out right.

[Andrew J]

That chaplain is awesome. Keep it up. Cant wait to see it done.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

That chaplain is awesome. Keep it up. Cant wait to see it done.

Thanks! I can't wait to see him done either. :tu:

I've been kicking around with the marine painter and I'm considering something like this for the paint scheme:

There was no crozius option, so a power sword will have to be a stand in.

[Olis]

Really liking the chappy, however I must point out his pistol is missing any iron sights. Is that deliberate? It's my only niggle - besides that he's pretty awesome. ^_^

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Yeah, it's deliberate. I think the iron sights on most of the bolt weapons look pretty ridiculous, but especially on the pistols. I had planned on rebuilding the structure on top with a strip of plastic and then using greystuff to make a smaller, more realistic iron sight, but I kinda like the look of it the way it is. Gives it a more blocky, brutal profile.

[Olis]

Fair enough, it looks a little naked without something there though. :lol:

 

Like the colour scheme btw, it's a little like mine although I use dark red instead of an ochre yellow. :P

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Well, after making the original BCK and playing with him for a long time, more than a foot or two away, he just kinda looked like a black silhouette with a silver skull sticking out of it, and this time around, I want there to be more contrast.

I could be wrong(and I looked for a reference), but for Techmarines and Librarians, didn't the scheme used to be all but the left arm and shoulderpad was the color of their specialty, but the Chaplain was all black?

Even if it's not, I like the look of it. :D And I won't be painting my IFs exactly to the "codex" scheme because like the Chaplain paint job, I want to break up that big block of color and get some more contrast in there.

Which makes me wonder, should I paint the helm of the new Chaplain silver? I mean, it IS BCK: The Imperium Strikes Back, and any good sequel should follow in the footsteps of the original, right?

Just pretend that very, very light blue color on the helm to the right is supposed to be silver. B) I think just that little change from the original painter pic makes a big difference, yeah?

[Olis]

Hmm, I dunno, I thought chappies had bone coloured helms. Silver'd be cool though. :D

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I think most do but that always seemed strange to me, as most of them just have skull elements to the face, and only a couple have a full skull-shaped helmet. I'm not completely sure if I'll go silver again, but if not, it will probably be black like the rest of his armor.

[Grizzly_bear]

Really really liking the chaplain.....wanna do something similar to my Crimson Fists.....have u looked at the new tomb kings sprue for another optional hEad for the chappy?

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I have taken a look at the new TK stuff, but I've been wanting to use this particular Chaos helm for a Chaplain for a long time. I'm already thinking about a different Chappy conversion, so I'll look at the TK stuff for the next one. :)

[Andrew J]

I like the silver chappy helm. Did you see the Ultramarines movie? The IF Chappy had a silver helm and i love it. I am going to do mine like that.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

No, I haven't seen it, but I want to. You can't rent it, can you? I thought someone told me it could only be purchased directly from the distributor.

[Olis]

I thought someone told me it could only be purchased directly from the distributor.

 

That's the deal afaik. Saw it on the internet anyway. It was streamed by Boomer, someone who visits /tg/. It was better than I'd thought it would be but then again it was still a bit naff. ;)

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I'm not familiar with that particular slang word, but I think I get the gist of it, lol. Yeah, I've not heard spectacular things about the movie, despite being written by Dan Abnett.

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I think I'm pretty close to done with the body of the Chaplain now, with the addition of the purity seals on his greaves and snack pouches on the left side of his belt(orating takes a lot out of a guy!). There's still a little more GS clean up work from the initial cutting of the legs on the back of his right knee that I *just* noticed tonight, but I'll finish up the Crozius next and then the jump pack.

 

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/BCK-New2_1-2.jpghttp://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/BCK-New2_1.jpg

 

 

I think I'm finally shaking the rust off of my sculpting skills, limited as they are. These purity seals look much better than the ones on his belt, imho. Also note I've put that I've rebuilt that rail-thing that holds the iron sights on all the boltguns, but I dunno if I'll bother with the sights.

 

 

Next up is the Games Day '99 Captain masquerading as my future Sternguard Sgt, with a bolter blue tacked into place to test the set of it. I've also added some press-molded fist icons to his knee and left shoulderpad.

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/SGSGT1.jpghttp://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/SGSGT1-1.jpg

 

I'm gonna fancy up that shoulderpad at a later point, do some sort of decorative thing for his powerfist, and maybe add a few shiny things to bling him out a little more.

 

 

And finally, here's a peek at one of my Sternguard vets, very WIP at this point. He was inspired by the old IF/CF Captain figure from 2nd Ed, which I have somewhere, but couldn't locate him for a photo, so I snagged one from teh intarwebz.

 

http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/SG-1_1.jpghttp://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x5/Kageboshi/ifcapt.jpg

 

 

I know the bolter conversion is rough at this point, but I'm still in the mock-up phase, testing things out. I don't imagine he will have a powerfist, since the Sgt already has that covered.

[Olis]

All looking good so far. Nice use of the old Gamesday captain. I'm sure I have one banging around somewhere... :pinch:

 

Btw naff = underwhelming, not up to par, a little mediocre. :lol:

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I've had the GD captain for years. Since '99, really, lol. I got him real cheap off of a guy I knew who went to GD that year, but the casting was less than spectacular; the bolter was terrible with the mold halves being offset a fraction of an inch and causing a nightmarish mold line that wasn't even worth trying to clean up. On the figure itself, the mold line was so bad across the top of the powerfist that I had to completely file down the top finger segments and resculpt them. Thehe powerfist housing had a lot of pitting, which I have filed down and might reshape with GS. The back of the cloak is badly pitted too, but due to all the curves in the folds of it, I'll probably just thin down some Mr. Surfacer and use that to fill it in.

 

However, it's still one of my favorite marine figures of all time, and want to finally get some paint on him and into combat. :pinch:

[Olis]

See, I was thinking his powerfist fingers were looking... a little flat on top. :D