RSJake's Word Bearers 40k & 30k

[Spiritual Liege]

 How did you repose those mk3 legs? They look awesome.

[RSJake]

 How did you repose those mk3 legs? They look awesome.

Hahaha!  With an X-acto knife and ProCreate (Gray Stuff).  The arms were the hardest part.

 

Wait, are you talking about the Chaplain?  Or the Trooper?  The trooper with the different legs is an old Forge World model I've had for years.

 

Anyway, I am now trying to figure something out, and I need the help of everyone who reads this!

 

I am planning on running this army mostly as Chaos Space Marines for 40k.  I just like the look of the Heresy Era army.

 

Plus, I like the rules for the berzerkers now, I'm pretty pissed that it took this long to give them decent rules.  But I am going to add a couple of 10 man quads of berzerkers to this Word Bearers army. (I know it's not fluffy, I don't care)  I plan to model them from Mk IV armor, painted red, like they are the Gal Vorbak before they were fully possessed, but they were already hyper aggressive, and more or less on the road to possession.

 

Then of course, I'll have to make a Khârn counts-as, along the same lines as the squads.

 

So, now you know my plans, my question to you is:  How should I model them to look Berzerker-ish without using the berzerker models?  Or do I need to do anything special at all?  Just model them in aggressive posses?

 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!  I'm not doing this right away, so there is time for ideas!

 

RSJake

[Pearson73]

The transfers came out well, particularly the writing on the terminator chaplain and the smaller icons on the wrists and knees.

 

Berserker-wise, aggressive poses would definitely be a start. I think emphasising their bloodlust and desire to kill more than fight defensively would also be good, for example wearing incomplete suits of armour and wielding two handed weapons. To further create this effect, open wounds or severe battle damage could be added, this would also show how injuries that would normally slow or incapacitate are ignored; the pain overwhelmed by the need to kill. The usual coating of blood always works well and could be linked more to the Word Bearers by having it daubed into ritual symbols or sigils of summoning and possession, tying into Gal Vorbak idea - perhaps a tally of blood and souls is needed before sufficient daemonic/unholy attention is attracted to the warriors marked for elevation into daemon hosts?

[The_Stray_Idea]

Those chaplains are fantastic! Really enjoy the old skool greys on the Heresy era marines. I look forward to seeing how this all progresses.

[RSJake]

The transfers came out well, particularly the writing on the terminator chaplain and the smaller icons on the wrists and knees.

Berserker-wise, aggressive poses would definitely be a start. I think emphasising their bloodlust and desire to kill more than fight defensively would also be good, for example wearing incomplete suits of armour and wielding two handed weapons. To further create this effect, open wounds or severe battle damage could be added, this would also show how injuries that would normally slow or incapacitate are ignored; the pain overwhelmed by the need to kill. The usual coating of blood always works well and could be linked more to the Word Bearers by having it daubed into ritual symbols or sigils of summoning and possession, tying into Gal Vorbak idea - perhaps a tally of blood and souls is needed before sufficient daemonic/unholy attention is attracted to the warriors marked for elevation into daemon hosts?

Thank you!

I really like your ideas! I have started, just barely on the first one, but I didn't have enough assault arms, so I ripped off some CSM arms while I was home. I was planning on having most of them with 2 CCW arms, maybe 2 with bolt pistols, 2 with plasma pistols, but all with chain axes, and some with an extra chainsword. I like the idea of random bare arms, I have some ork arms that will work. And battle damage shouldn't be too hard. I did pick up some "Blood for the Blood God" paint a while back, that will work I think.

And the tally system to be possessed! Love it! Some of them will probably be keeping track, marking their armor, others won't care...

Those chaplains are fantastic! Really enjoy the old skool greys on the Heresy era marines. I look forward to seeing how this all progresses.

Thank you! I know a lot of people use a darker "slate" gray, but in the books, I believe they are referenced as "concrete" gray (I could be wrong, just what I remember). Either way, I like the lighter color better.

Anyway, I am back at work, and ready to hobby!

While the Counts-as Berzerkers will get some attention, as well as the last 2 of the tactical squad that I have assembled, I also want to work on some cultists.

My cultists are going to be a hodge-podge of themes. I have 20 of the official chaos cultists painted already, along with 10 female soldiers.

I also plan on a blob of around 46 pirate themed cultists, around 25 more females, and 10 or so that don't have a theme yet.

So, stick around, things could get interesting!

Thanks for stopping by,

RSJake

[Pearson73]

Glad the ideas were helpful brother. Those cultists are looking nice, especially the champion's head swap.

[RSJake]

Well, I've been getting some stuff done, but not a whole lot. But what I have done, I'm fairly pleased with.

First off, I painted my last 2 tac squad marines for my first 5-man tac squad:

Second, I have been playing around with a prototype for the counts-as berzerkers, I'm thinking of sculpting leather tie-downs to secure the skulls to the backpack, replacing the chainsword with a chain axe, and sculpting the feet into more of a running pose. I was going to go with bare arms, and I still might, but this is the mock-up so far:

Third, I am working on turning this rabble of what I was going to make into zombies, into regular cultists instead:

Here is the first cultist:

And this guy as a beefed-up heavy-stubber gunner:

Next, I got some painting done on my 40k Word Bearer Biker Lord:

And lastly, an Old School Berzerker that has been on my painting list for a few years:

Sorry for some blurry pictures.

I got some other things started, but I'll post on them next month when I get back to work.

Thank for stopping by,

RSJake

[Pearson73]

Solid pose on the berserker, OSL on the tactical sergeant's pistol came out well too.

[RSJake]

Solid pose on the berserker, OSL on the tactical sergeant's pistol came out well too.

Thanks!  I will finally be getting more done on the "Berzerkers", as the chain axes from Anvil Industries came in.

http://anvilindustry.co.uk/The-Armoury/Close-Combat-Weapons/chain-axes?limit=25

 

The OSL I left very minimal, OSL still intimidates me.

 

I am back at work again, so I have time to hobby again, I'll hopefully have some stuff to show soon.

 

Thanks,

RSJake

[RSJake]

Howdy!

I am back up at work again, and I jumped right back into painting. But the first thing I started on is this chariot that I made YEARS ago, before the Khorne Bloodthrone came out and Khorne heralds could still take a chariot. The picture shows Skulltaker in it, because I don't have the herald that goes with it with me at the moment. He's magnetized, so I can have him on foot if I want.

Still a lot to do, but it's coming along.

Also, I am working on the Champion for my "Ashen Circle" Raptors:

Base coat of red before details:

And mostly painted, still highlights to do:

Lots of stuff on the work bench, MkIII Tactical squads to put together, MkIV Assault squads to put together, Tartaros Terminators to put together, Khorne Bloodletters to paint, Squad marking decals to put on the MkIIIs I've already painted.

I'm even thinking about converting a recast of Kor Phaeron into an Abaddon proxy. We'll see how that works.

Well, thanks for stopping by,

RSJake

[hushrong]

Oh my WORD BEARER !

 

Your marines are fantastic and the amount of customization you've have done is above & beyond! The additional sculpt work and the paint jobs is shaping up for an awesome army!

[RSJake]

Oh my WORD BEARER !

 

Your marines are fantastic and the amount of customization you've have done is above & beyond! The additional sculpt work and the paint jobs is shaping up for an awesome army!

Thank you so much!  I really strive for leaving no mini un-altered.  It was close with the terminator Chaplain, because the mini was already so cool, but changing the maul made me feel better.  I think there was no modification done to Skulltaker, but what could you do really?

 

I have some more work to show, but the pictures I took were really dark, so I need to take some new ones later today.

[RSJake]

Ok, so I couldn't wait and took pictures right away.

Here's the finished "Ashen Circle" Raptors Champion:

And the next two in his squad, the flamer bearers. I used parts from their actual hand flamers to make a more substantial flamer.

And I've added a bit more stuff to my test Word Bearer Berzerker.

Face grill added to Mk V Helmet to visually tie it in with khorne berzerkers:

Adding altered feet, and Chain Axe from Anvil Industries:

And last for now, I'm going to start painting this Khorne Spawn I put together several years ago:

Well, thanks for stopping by,

RSJake

[RSJake]

Just a quick update:

I finished assembling my 40k version of the Heresy era Ashen Circle.

And I couldn't leave my 40k Chaos Biker Word Bearer Lord alone, I had to put tattered parchment on him.

I should have the parchment cleaned and painted up in the next couple days. The Ashen Circle I have to take home next week to airbrush the base paint, so those won't see paint for a while.

Thanks for stopping by,

RSJake

[RSJake]

I finished painting the parchments on the Chaos Biker Lord:

I'm pretty happy with him now.

[Pearson73]

Those parchments really help complete the model, I especially like the fact that they're nailed on, instead of the usual wax seals.

[RSJake]

Those parchments really help complete the model, I especially like the fact that they're nailed on, instead of the usual wax seals.

I agree, He would have been fine as just about any other Chaos Lord, but Word Bearers? Needs Oath (Curse?) parchments. I only have one chaos HQ with wax seals, and that is the Khornate Dark Apostle that I just recently finished painting. But he was converted from an old metal loyalist Marine Chaplain, and I didn't feel like removing them.

I have been doing other painting as well lately. Here are my first 3 Word Bearer themed cultists, not crazy, just dressed in simple grayish clothes:

(I am trying to think of ways to tie them in to the Word Bearers better, like give a few of them hoods, maybe have scripture written on their clothes, or have parchment attached to them. I'm not sure yet. Still a WIP.)

And my Khorne Spawn:

And a Khorne Chaos lord I am going to start on soon:

I also have bloodletters on my list to paint. And Marines to put together...so much to do!

Well, thanks for stopping by, all criticism is welcome, let me know what you think!

RSJake.

[Sagentus]

Liking everything you have here. Really like the simple conversion of Kranon, think i might borrow that one as I rushed to glue him together when i first got him (all that time ago) lol

[Pearson73]

Great idea with the Spawn, that simple head swap works very well for the Lord too.

 

Regarding the cultists, parchments could work well, however I think tattoos of scripture and unholy runes covering the skin would look great and match the Word Bearers' character well. Only potential issue there is that it would require a very steady hand, I know I certainly couldn't do it!

[RSJake]

Liking everything you have here. Really like the simple conversion of Kranon, think i might borrow that one as I rushed to glue him together when i first got him (all that time ago) lol

Thanks!  I literally just cut off the original horns and glued on the crest from a Fantasy Khorne Lord, and GS'd the join.  I did it after I glued it together too.  I may have had to cut a bit of the shoulder pad too.

 

Great idea with the Spawn, that simple head swap works very well for the Lord too.

 

Regarding the cultists, parchments could work well, however I think tattoos of scripture and unholy runes covering the skin would look great and match the Word Bearers' character well. Only potential issue there is that it would require a very steady hand, I know I certainly couldn't do it!

Thanks!  The Spawn idea actually came from Blog for the Blood God on Facebook.

 

I like the tattoo idea!  I think I will incorporate all of these ideas, to keep with the civilian "rabble" idea.  Steady hand?  Not really, but I'll see what I can do.  :D

[RSJake]

The cultists were from an auction I won on ebay several years ago, I think they were from a Medieval table top game, I don't remember. the bodies were ok, but the heads they came with had these super long and awkward necks, so I had to cut those down, and the arms were odd and stumpy. I recently got some bits on ebay of arms with old WWII style guns that fit the bodies pretty good. They are not "heroic" scale, so they actually compare well alongside marines, just like guard and "Art Scale" marines do, without all the extra work of up-scaling marines. The heavy stubber is a steam-punk autocannon I designed and had 3D printed a long time ago, it's cartoonishly large, but after I sculpted the guy's upper body larger, I think it gives him a Rambo look that I like. I added a stoggie too because he had an odd shape to his mouth, and it works. I added a parchment to one guys "bandoleer" thing, and gave another one a hood.

Seeing the minis zoomed in this close, there are a boat load of hairs and burrs in the paint. But you literally cannot see them on the table top. I'll try to pay closer attention to that in the future.

I also finally painted this Nurgle Spawn.

And here he is with a buddy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rsjake

[Pearson73]

Nice tattoos on 'Rambo', they indicate his allegiance but without screaming it. The cultists scale really nicely with the marines.

[RSJake]

Nice tattoos on 'Rambo', they indicate his allegiance but without screaming it. The cultists scale really nicely with the marines.

Thanks!  I don't think I've ever done tattoos before, after some practice, I may use them more often!

They do scale well with marines, but they also look puny next to actual cultists.  Maybe I'll just have to use these smaller ones all the time! :D

[Pearson73]

Don't know how I skipped over this, but the added face grill to the beserker helm makes such a difference to the aesthetic, turning it from a boring loyalist VII helmet into something a lot more recognisable.

[RSJake]

Don't know how I skipped over this, but the added face grill to the beserker helm makes such a difference to the aesthetic, turning it from a boring loyalist VII helmet into something a lot more recognisable.

Thanks!  I honestly didn't know how it would turn out when I sliced the front off of the helmet...but I like how it came out.  And I'm sure it's not difficult to miss something, I posted a lot these last 2 weeks.  

 

But, my 2 weeks at work is at an end, heading home later today for 2 weeks.  I'll airbrush my Ashen Circle and the test Word Berzerker and be back in 2 weeks or so to continue working on my hobby stuff.

 

Thanks again,

RSJake