KrautScientist

That's a really cool kitbash! The only thing I am not sold on is the circular saw hand, but that's really just a question of personal preference.

Cheers for the comments, everyone! @grailkeeper: I know, right? Time for painting -- unfortunately, knowing myself as well as I do, I can safely tell you it'll be ages before these guys are finished... Btw, that comparison picture REALLY made me chuckle -- plus it made me realise that we could take this even further, if you factor in the very first version of the model: YOU: VS THE GUY SHE TOLD YOU NOT TO WORRY ABOUT: @Volgon Cheers! It was a finicky job, to be sure, but I am happy you guys talked me into going through with it @Celtic_cauldron Thanks a lot! That MoE kitbash was actually rather simple: He mostly uses stock bitz from the Lord on Juggernaut on his upper body (except for the helmet, whch came from an AoS Skullgrinder), and the legs are from the AoS Khorgos Khul/Mighty Lord of Khorne model.

Loving the banner! As for the runes, I think the problem here might be that the glow surrounding them works well enough, but as the colour blends together with the actual runes, you lose some distinctness and definition -- I think I'd think down a *really* bright pink/purple (essentially the brighter version of the colour you've used so fat) and carefully add it to the actual runes, i.e. the recesses. Just make sure to use a thin brush, don't load it up with paint too much and just ever so carefully let it run into those recesses. I bet that would give you a rather convincing effect.

Cheers for the feedback, everyone! @Forté Haha, I guess the XII Legion has a way of endearing itself to people, eh? Seriously, though -- cheers for the kind words! @grailkeeper & @Volgon *Sigh* you guys are right, of course -- something I realised pretty quickly. The problem was that not two of those "shield gauntlets" look quite the same, and many of them wouldn't fit the Terminator's fist. But I persevered, and in the end I tweaked his second gauntlet as well. Take a look: Granted, the left gauntlet now looks slightly different from the right one, but since both gauntlets also feature different details on their backs, I don't think it's much of an issue. I'm actually happy to have gone back and fixed this. I don't think I can make any more tweaks on this guy, though, as I keep knocking off bitz and pieces whenever I go back in to change something While I was at it, I also made some tweaks to the other two World Eaters characters I've been working on: For the Master of Execution, the dangling skulls were already in place, as you know. So I wanted to add some detail to his pretty unadorned back -- luckily enough, the Jugger Lord kit comes with some excellent stock bitz that perfectly did the job: I think it's an excellent match for this character to have his armour festooned in skulls -- even moreso than your average World Eater, that is... And I also worked a bit more on my "Arena Champion": Cleaning up the arm assembly was the first order of the day, so these are no longer merely tacked together, but have been glued together, with both the shoulder pads and decorations on top carefully placed. This has allowed me to also add some additional chainmail (carefully shaved off a couple of Blood Warrior shoulder pads) to tie the arms and the rest of the model together even more: This is not a very flashy detail, but as you can see, there's quite a bit of chainmail on the front of the model, so placing some under the shoulder pads as well makes the whole thing look more like all of the model's parts belong together. And here's the three of them chilling out together ;-) As always, let me know what you think!

Cheers for the kind words, everyone! I always appreciate it! Oh, and @grailkeeper, I'll happily file away all of those material sources for later use -- cheers! So, just a small update for today: First up, remember this gent, tweaked and re-tweaked for what feels like a thousand times? When I showed him off over at a German forum, fellow hobbyist Knight-Pilgrim correctly pointed out that it looks a bit weird how his right clawed gauntlet is just so flat on the front: That little "ledge" you see on the left fist doesn't exist here, so the fingers just kinda start out of nowhere, right? Now I was a bit miffed at never having realised this, but it did, of course, call for a stylish solution. In the end, I cut off the front from one of those "claw shields" wielded by the AoS Blood Warriors. It took some doing to find the right bit, but the gauntlet now actually looks way more like a gauntlet, if you ask me: I have also created a nice little collection of trophy skulls for that Master of Executions kitbash I shared a while ago: I didn't want this element to overwhelm the entire model, so it was important to know when to stop. Might still need some cleanup, but I'd say the basic setup is there: Oh, and one more thing: Thanks to fellow hobbyist beetlemeier, I now have all the spiky Death Guard helmets I’ll be needing for a good long while! Thanks so much for your generosity! As always, let me know what you think!

I like the kitbash a lot, even though he almost reads more like a rogue Inquisitor or Traitor Guard commander to me than as an Astartes -- I think the missing "bell bottom" lower legs will do that, as they are so emblematic of the Space Marine look. The one piece of criticism I have is that I think your Rust and Sludge mix, while seeming like a very effective tool, has darkened the colours to the point where it all kinda blends together. Maybe starting with brighter colours would have worked better in this case?! Sorry if it comes across as overly nitpicky -- it still seems like a very promising model!

Looking really cool now! As for the scabbard, both could work well -- this seems less like a bitz selection issue (although I kinda prefer the kitbashed one) and more like an issue of finding a great angle for it to sit/a good position. As it is, it seems to stick out rather awkwardly from the model's hip.

Aw, man, it warms my old heart to see such a cool project! Fantastic work all around -- the Terminator Lord and the many conversions in the berzerker squad are the standouts for me so far. I'll be watching this with interest! Keep up the amazing work!

Okay, Disclaimer: I am so predisposed against that Chaos Terminator spike thingy that you should probably take my comments with a grain of salt That being said, yeah, maybe the new arrangement would work better. Even so, I still prefer the Templar bit, both because it's a cooler part, but also because it actually mirrors the banner pole to a certain degree. And even if you didn't want to have two models with skeletons on their backpacks, you could even just cut off and use that sunray-like top part?! Personally speaking, I probably wouldn't cut it up, but the option's there. Also, I could probably send one or two of those Blood Warrior fists your way if that would help.

@Volgon I think it comes down to a combination of things: One thing I don't quite like about the setup you have there is how much "overhang", if that is a word, it creates in profile. I am also not too fond of those particular trophy racks, either, mostly due to the somewhat wacky design of the spikes on top (they seem like a "safe" toy version where the designers tried to avoid any sharp points). That being said, if you do want to keep them that way, I would probably at least shave off the part at the bottom that normally marks the front of the bit, so as to obscure the fact that you have simply turned around some termie bitz. Just off the top of my head, because that would be a completely different bit, but the AoS Blood Warriors come with these weird shield-like gauntlets, right? But if you cut them apart, they make for some pretty awesome crests to go behind a character's head (I've used one of them on my Angron kitbash below, for instance). Maybe that would be worth a look?

Cheers for the comments, everyone! @grailkeeper I was very happy to hear you bringing up cordyceps infection, as my ideas for the army are definitely tapping into that, and I love how the horns on the icon bearer still seem to suggest some kind of invasive plant species somehow. Fun fact, I even have a shaved-down Plaguebearer head that I would love to turn into a Clicker-like face, inspired by The Last of Us, obviously As for the banner, you are absolutely right! I am considering a couple of options, but my working hypothesis for now is that I'll put a stylised symbol of the warband on there. I have a cool idea for it, I just have to sketch it out before I commit to anything. That being said, there's also a part of me that wants to go for a Realms of Chaos-y painting of a demonic fly head or something like that... @Naryn Thanks a lot! The orange suits really profit from a heavy wash of brown and black, which makes them seem filthy and unkempt, then a drybrush of bone on top to make them seem even more threadbare. Also, the orange itself reappears on the big Plague Marine (both on his eyelenses and the breathing tank on his back), so I kind of want to turn this into an element that ties the models together. The BftBG has been thinned down a lot, so it seems less like blood and more like some vile, serous ichor. It also makes the boils glisten in just the right way. Very happy to hear you like the bitz selection on the icon bearer! The head has not been glued in, fortunately enough, so I am still free to experiment with the ideal setup. @Forté Oh, hey Forté, great to hear from you! As for your comment, in all fairness, there were some pretty awesome World Eaters just one page back, if I do say so myself, and nobody gave a darn, so what am I to do? Also, Nurgle guys being infectious seems to be right on message, at least...

Hm, okay, so it seems those are all the reactions I am going to get for those recently posted World Eaters conversions, eh? So let's carry on with some Nurgly stuff I have been working on: First up, I was able to replace some of my gummed-up paints in the interim, so that gave me the tools I needed to tweak the paintjobs on those two Poxwalkers I posted recently. Take a look: As you can see, the boils stand out far more now, thanks to both another higlight in Yriel Yellow AND some thinned-down Blood for the Blood God on top. It's such a small detail, really, but it adds some visual punch to the models and also draws the eye: These poor creatures basically ARE their disease at this point, so it makes sense that your attention gets drawn towards the gribbly, disgusting parts of the models. Also, I do realise that these are just some throwaway Poxwalkers, but hey: They are the first proper paintjobs I have pulled off in quite a while, so bear with me here, okay? Here's the entire group of Poxwalkers I have so far: Again, the overarching idea is that these creatures are what remains of an Imperial agriculture lab, so you still see the remains of their former stations on them (white lab coats and orange hazmat suits used during their experimentation). And since their backstory includes agricultural experiments gone awry, their mutations seem treelike and plant-based. Here they are, together with a bloated member of the Death Guard: I also have a new kitbash to show you: I still had one half-converted easy-to-build Plague Marine left in my bitzbox that I was not really happy with, so I re-tweaked him into an additional icon bearer: I wanted to achieve two things with this model: 1.) Make it look quite medieval (hence the choice of bitz and the use of an old Chaos Knight standard) and 2.) subtly forest-themed, hence the twisted wooden branches atop the icon. So anyway, that's it for today's update -- as always, let me know what you think!

I'm a huge icon bearer aficionado, as I do think they offer this amazing opportunity to convert yet more imposig characters -- and in that respect, this guy is fantastic! He's regal and imposing enough, seems to tie into your warband's look and feel extremely well, and you have even manage to make the most of that particular head. I am not a great fan of it, but it just *works* here -- brilliant! The only thing I am not sold on are those repurposed Terminator trophy racks: I get what you are going for there, but I would say it kinda falls apart when seen from the side. Meanwhile, the Plague Marine backpack is definitely an inspired touch -- I would maybe try going for some kind of trophy rack/decorative crest kind of setup that frames the head and works almost like an iron halo. I think that might work even better than what you have now, plus it would be fairly easy to perfectly integrate such an element with the existing look of the backpack. Just my two cents.

Thanks a lot, guys! I really appreciate the kind words! @grailkeeper Adding a larger base is very much an option, especially since I am no longer really building/painting models with a gaming angle as my prime concern. I am a bit hesitant about a headless body, mostly because I kinda like the pile of skulls, but it's a cool idea that deserves some thought! Next in line will probably be to build up the bundle of skulls (provisional idea) he'll be holding in his left hand. Fun fact: Manacles actually already appear elsewhere in the army, so those would probably be a really cool idea. I also think they are a great visual metaphor for Angron's/the World Eaters fate... @Volgon Yeah, those legs are great -- which is why I saved them up for a special model Funnily enough, it turns out I have another pair of legs that works surprisingly well on the remains of the Khorgos Khul model, so there might be another character conversion in it... There's always a risk with non-Astartes legs to lose the Space Marine look (because the "bell bottom legs" are so iconic in shape), but I would argue these legs still kinda work well in that respect. @Firedrake Cordova Cheers, man! @Celtic_cauldron Aw, man, for my models to be named in the same sentence as Wade Pryce's -- you're being far too kind! Wade's models are a MASSIVE inspiration for my own army too (and I couldn't have been any happier that some of his coolest kitbashes have actually made it into the official codex). As for your suspected lack of talent: Take heart! Everything starts small, and looking back, I am sometimes flabbergasted at how I'm able to just bash together stuff these days that would have scared me to death back in the day. By keeping at it, you actually build not only the confidence to tackle bigger projects, but also train the imagination necessary to conceptualise those projects, so a lot of it really has more to do with getting used to a certain mode of thinking than with actual talent (which, in all fairness, is a bit of a loaded term anyhow).

Huh, I see about the flap of skin (so it IS leather, after a fashion ), but the ring does indeed look completely unpainted -- how strange...