The Disciples of the Four

[Tinweasel]

Some folks at my local GW store were nice enough to donate enough bits that I've got the beginnings of some Chaos Marines - a bit shy on backpacks, though, as I've only got two.

 

Now my understanding of the new Codex (don't have it yet, but read through it quite a bit) is that essentially remnants of any Legion could potentially be co-opted to join a force lead by independent Renegades, leaders of other Legion warbands, etc. With that in mind, I'd like to paint up a bunch of some of my favorite Chaos Legions in more or less "official" colors with the understanding that they've defected and joined forces with the offshoot of the Word Bearers that are going to be the primary focus of my troop collection...

 

This being the first time I've attempted straightforwards Chaos troops, and I'd really like some feedback as to color schemes and what you folks think works and doesn't work with these guys - I figger the crowd here at B&C are the de facto experts in Chaos Marines. (I've been a long-time lurker, but my main diversions have been Tau and now Necrons for the sake of actually getting an army together and playing, and so I've hardly posted anything.)

 

 

Here's my first test figure mostly finished. The majority of him is basecolors and shading and it's just a matter of highlighting up from here and adding some more details. (Pardon the glossiness, he won't be getting DullCote until the end...)

 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_ho4_wip.jpg

 

This is my first actual unaltered Chaos Marine - feedback would be appreciated. Too dark? Too light? Too something-or-other? Essentially it's a dark burgundy color that I'll be working up to GW Blood Red highlights - do Word Bearers traditionally have green eye lenses?

[Dz'arkoth]

Well first off the colour depth and such is great. I really like the red. How did you do it? I also like the brassy details instead of silver for the trim- makes Word Beares a whole lot cooler I think.

 

To make it more Iron Warrior like, yeah, I'd go for the black and yellow chevrons on the bolter and possibly the left shoulder pad. Or at least add some silver decorations, perhaps on the horns. Iron Warriors probably wouldn't want to share their symbol round as they are pretty stand offish with other legions so I wouldn't give these inducted warriors insignia. Maybe give some other marines shackles? Indicate that they are subservient to the true Iron Warriors? Just a thought...

 

But overall it looks awesome as a standalone piece. Give him light blue eyes. That'd look awesome. Blue gives more of an impression of a cold machine. Green is too warm in my opinion.

[Tinweasel]

So I'm on the right track color-wise for a reasonably good "stock" Word Bearers scheme?

 

I've done one Chaos figure before, it was a Word Bearers Dark Apostle. (I've got pictures of him in my CMON Gallery and on my painting website if there aren't any here somewheres - I believe I posted it here ages ago when I was trying to gether background info, like a year or so back?) While I think I could've done a number of things better on it now, the one thing I really liked was the way the armor turned out. That was very involved with about 7-8 steps in the way of highlights all the way up to GW Blazing Orange for light touches on the edges. This scheme; not so much - I'm wanting to make things much less involved so as to actually be able to finish a reasonable number of troops in a reasonable amount of time (assuming I can get my hands on more bits, that is):

 

I wanted to keep the dark burgundy color and maximize coverage (last time it took ages and I always use white undercoats) so I went with 1:1 Mechrite Red/Scorched Brown. Not nearly as dark as I would've liked so, I did a few washes of Red Gore/Black. That's about where this guy is at right now in the previous picture. I plan on leaving the armor at Red Gore > Blood Red highlights, or do you think I need to go into the orange range a hair?

 

So far as the metallics go, when I painted my Dark Apostle I used a lot of washes of brown and black over a Chainmail base, as I wanted to give the metal trim an ancient, corroded look. This here is a few thinned coats of VMC Chainmail/GW Scorched Brown over white primer - I plan on doing highlights with GW Chainmail and extreme edges with GW Silver, but with thinned down paints this basecolor ought to still show through nicely so I expect the trim will still have the ancient silver look I'm aiming for again... but with (ideally) a lot fewer steps again.

 

For his horns, I was aiming to replicate a dusky brown striated out to bone color pattern that seemed to work out well on another figure I did. I didn't really care for the little skull that originally joined the horns together, so I got rid of that. I kinda figgered that aside from the IW-patterned bolter and an "erased" WB insignia, I'd maybe do them in a bone color and kinda keep to the WB original scheme from the old Codex.

 

 

I was thinking with the shoulder pads, I'd simply do the WB icon as being painted over (kinda like the inducted troops for the Black Legion in the new Chaos Codex) and for simplicity's sake an IW icon on there - fluff-wise they're a bit more uptight than that? I haven't read any 40K novels or anything and this "including other Legions in your warband" thing is kinda brand new (at least to me) as of the new Codex.

[Tinweasel]

I've decided to move away from the Iron Warriors and make my own Warband w/ color scheme and fluff and everything. Having taken a stab at both schemes in a manner of speaking, I decided I like the Word Bearers paint scheme (and use of demons 'n' such) much better than the Iron Warriors. I'm planning for my Chaos Warband to be a "more Chaosy" offshoot of the Word Bearers that has came across the remnants of The Shriven and joined together for their mutual advantage. The Shriven bring their knowledge of warcraft, heavy machinery, and siege defenses/planning, whereas the Warband brings protection, the true power of Chaos, and a mindset that allows The Shriven free reign in their beliefs.

 

Still hammering out the details and kicking around ideas - sufficent to say, though, I'd got a tentative color scheme, tentative name, and some halfway fleshed-out backstory.

 

Here's the most recent WIP of the previous Chaos Marine - I decided to abandon the hazard stripes, overly metallic secondary colors, and fully block out the one pauldron and bolter casing in part of the new scheme:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_ho4_wip2.jpg

 

I haven't a clue what color to paint the eye lenses or what I should do for basing - the suggestion for blue is good, but I think yellow or green would make good contrasting colors as well. (Anyone know what the "official" Word Bearers lens color is?)

 

I'm thinking the red Word Bearers armor is fine but the metallic trim could do with one more edge highlight. I also need to finish up a few small details like the horns and the tubing connections on the feet and forearms. I'm also undecided whether I should do with crappy-looking silver or crappy-looking gold for the new Warband colors, so I've left both on this guy. (And yeah, the new color I overpainted with is a dark purple.)

 

Suggestions and/or comments, please - I'm getting near the end of this guy and running into a mental roadblock.

[Tinweasel]

Well, short of the base (and DullCote), here's the finished Chaos Marine:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_ho4_wip3.jpg

 

I'm stuck as to how to do the basing. I've been using simple texture dirt/ash bases for my figures thus far and I think with my Chaos guys I'd like to do something a little fancier (but still fairly straightforwards). Rubble, debris, piping, broken rock or concrete - something along those lines, but I don't really have a clear vision on what would look good, much less base color choice to go along with this figure (the primary scheme for the rest of the Warband is relatively similar color-wise). Anyone have any suggestions on the basing for this guy and the ones to follow?

 

Likewise, anyone notice anything I've missed on/with the figure? Aside from the dark purple shoulder pad and bolter casing, I was aiming for a straight-up Word Bearers scheme.

[Captain Engelhardt]

Yep, it's a WB, definately ^_^ Can't see any mistakes...

 

As for basing, you might want to try this.

[Starks333]

if your highlights were brighter itd crreate more depth

 

also when you said chainmail+scorched you didnt mean mixing them right? cuz you should avoid mixing metals with paint for shading...and if you wanna tint metals wash them with colour( paint not inks) dont mix paint in

 

for metals add mithril to highlight chaos black to shade, and whatever colour you feel, or drop the black in favour of a brown like this: http://www.coolminiornot.com/105934

 

obviously it wont be as smooth because this is for an army, but same ideas apply

 

everything looks good as is if you wanna keep time down, except the silver, it looks very, um...its less quality than the rest basicly

 

hope this helps!

 

Starks

[Tinweasel]

if your highlights were brighter itd crreate more depth

 

also when you said chainmail+scorched you didnt mean mixing them right? cuz you should avoid mixing metals with paint for shading...and if you wanna tint metals wash them with colour( paint not inks) dont mix paint in

 

everything looks good as is if you wanna keep time down, except the silver, it looks very, um...its less quality than the rest basicly

How bright do you think highlights generally ought to be in relation to the rest of the figure? Right now the upper edge highlights are pure GW Blood Red whereas the majority of the armor is GW Red Gore or darker - I could likely add Go Fasta Red, but I don't think that would make much of a difference, or I could start to work in orange, but I think that'd start to take the color away from the deep red I'm aiming for and I'd have to give it a wash to tone things back again.

 

Is there any particular reason you have for not mixing metallics with other colors? Chainmail by itself has fairly crappy coverage, so adding the brown in gives it a good base to start from. I actually used Chainmail + Scorched Brown + Brown Ink, which gives a good basecoat and instant shading as well. One of my better recipes for gold is metallic + Ink, which doesn't mix perfectly - the ink separates from the paint so when applied to highlights and such you get automatic shading (very useful for rivets). Just wondering about your reasoning for not mixing metallics with paint - I don't see it as being much different than when I mix my paints with metallic medium.

 

I'd have to disagree with your suggestion that for tinting metals you should use paints instead of inks - don't get me wrong, paints are fine, but they dull down the metallics due to the binders and carriers and other stuff in the paint, whereas inks are relatively pure pigment and don't have the same effect. If you're wanting to tint metals I would say by all means use inks over paints, whereas if you're looking to weather metallics you might choose paint. The example you posted is a good example of aged metal, which is kinda where I'm going with the trim on my figure.

 

So far as the metal trim, when you say it looks "less quality" - do you mean that from the standpoint that it doesn't look pure silver or just that it doesn't fit well compared to the rest of the figure? It's not supposed to be pure silver - I'm intentionally aiming for an old, weathered silvery look which is why I went with the brownish basecoat to start. There's mostly Chainmail in the layering and the edge highlights are pure GW Mithril Silver, though.

 

 

 

I appreciate the link to the GW bikes basing page - it was a good source of inspiration, especially the roadway stuff. I got a few suggestions over on the Relic P&M Forum, too, so I decided to go for a cracked street appearance with dust and a scrap of burned paper on the base. The white road marking was bothering me in that it didn't look patchy or weathered enough, but I think I fixed it since I took the picture by deepening the shading in the "patchy" areas and adding pure white on some of the rest as stronger highlights. The line isn't a roadway "dash," by the way, I'm intending it to be more a solid wide line like you'd find at an intersection.

 

Here's the current basing:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_ho4_wip4.jpg

 

 

I'm trying to decide on a name for the Warband - I'm thinking something along the lines of "The Harbingers of The Four" or "Harbingers of the Dark Gods" or something to represent their devotion and zealous worship of the 4 Chaos Gods, more of an active involvement with self-sacrifice and mutation than what I think the traditional Word Bearers go with. I'm open to suggestions and I'd really like feedback. Any input would be good, because I'm not really up on any of the Chaos backstories and themes and such - it's just recently that I've gotten into it. I decided against Iron Warriors because I don't really care for the color scheme and the lack of outright daemons and mutation in their army, and while I like the WB color scheme, I'm looking to portray this warband as more involved in "active" worship of the Chaos Gods than just monument building and forced religious conversion of others that traditional Word Bearers seem to follow.

[Starks333]

How bright do you think highlights generally ought to be in relation to the rest of the figure? Right now the upper edge highlights are pure GW Blood Red whereas the majority of the armor is GW Red Gore or darker - I could likely add Go Fasta Red, but I don't think that would make much of a difference, or I could start to work in orange, but I think that'd start to take the color away from the deep red I'm aiming for and I'd have to give it a wash to tone things back again.

 

with red generally to get more depth(or pop) you have to get away from strict use of reds...so adding elf flesh and a yellow to brighten the red will add enough difference to the colour that you eye can see it and understand it

 

Is there any particular reason you have for not mixing metallics with other colors? Chainmail by itself has fairly crappy coverage, so adding the brown in gives it a good base to start from. I actually used Chainmail + Scorched Brown + Brown Ink, which gives a good basecoat and instant shading as well. One of my better recipes for gold is metallic + Ink, which doesn't mix perfectly - the ink separates from the paint so when applied to highlights and such you get automatic shading (very useful for rivets). Just wondering about your reasoning for not mixing metallics with paint - I don't see it as being much different than when I mix my paints with metallic medium.

 

mixing in paints to metallics for shading(is what i was referring to, sorry if i wasnt precise) is bad because it adds metallic flakes to your shades, which you dont want(you dont want shadows reflecting) it also makes your shading look rougher(when working on more higher quality stuff) and same for inks, you dont want inks in shadows because they reflect, you want your highlights to reflect because metals require reflection, so using paint to shade metallics is best.....as for chainmail, use boltgun! boltgun is the best metallic paint out there

 

I'd have to disagree with your suggestion that for tinting metals you should use paints instead of inks - don't get me wrong, paints are fine, but they dull down the metallics due to the binders and carriers and other stuff in the paint, whereas inks are relatively pure pigment and don't have the same effect. If you're wanting to tint metals I would say by all means use inks over paints, whereas if you're looking to weather metallics you might choose paint. The example you posted is a good example of aged metal, which is kinda where I'm going with the trim on my figure.

 

thats the purpose, you want it dull, because metals dont reflect when they arent hit by light, and your eye cant convey the image of light and darkness if the shadows are reflecting so your metallics lose depth

 

might be tough to see(because of the rough photography) but heres an example:

 

the blade has been tinted turqoise by placing nuances using glazes of paint, while the shadows done by washing paint(chaos black)

 

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/Star...nt=100_3537.jpg

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/Star...nt=100_3539.jpg

 

and this is just straight chaos black shading:

 

http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y218/Star...nt=100_2850.jpg

 

and anything he does is using paints not inks, hes actually who taught the people who taught me :D

http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/allan%20c

 

So far as the metal trim, when you say it looks "less quality" - do you mean that from the standpoint that it doesn't look pure silver or just that it doesn't fit well compared to the rest of the figure? It's not supposed to be pure silver - I'm intentionally aiming for an old, weathered silvery look which is why I went with the brownish basecoat to start. There's mostly Chainmail in the layering and the edge highlights are pure GW Mithril Silver, though.

 

i was referring to the bolter, the metal looks drybrushed or something, while the trim is much cleaner and more suitable for the scheme....as for weathered silver, the problem is your colour placement tells the eye its brass not silver, you need more silver on the sides of the objects(parallel with your light source) which is why most tabletop models are distorted, because people edge highlight everything and actually change their overall colour by doing so(usuallly making it brighter)

 

hopefully that helps explain things a bit more :tu:

 

i know it may seem as a heavy critique for a TT mini, but trust me, the minor changes will result in a nicer finish

 

Starks

[Tinweasel]

with red generally to get more depth(or pop) you have to get away from strict use of reds...so adding elf flesh and a yellow to brighten the red will add enough difference to the colour that you eye can see it and understand it.

I was hoping to keep to a minimum of steps with the armor (TT figure, after all) and still have a decent amount of contrast between the shadows and highlights, but I see where you're coming from. I painted one other Chaos figure a long while back (the Word Bearers Dark Apostle I thought I posted on here, but apparently didn't) and went from dark burgundy shading all the way up to GW Blazing Orange mixed in with the reds. I was hoping to replicate the transition of color in that figure, here, with something a bit less intensive:

http://home.wowway.com/~tinweasel/gw_dark_apostle_right.jpg

Rather than a mixture of Elf Flesh and Yellow, I'm thinking I could probably get a similar appearance from mixing Bronzed Flesh in with my last step of pure Red Gore on these guys. Maybe if I use 2:1 Red Gore/Bronzed I could avoid the need for another glaze to mute things a bit?

 

mixing in paints to metallics for shading is bad because it adds metallic flakes to your shades, which you dont want(you dont want shadows reflecting) it also makes your shading look rougher(when working on more higher quality stuff) and same for inks, you dont want inks in shadows because they reflect, you want your highlights to reflect because metals require reflection, so using paint to shade metallics is best ... you want it dull, because metals dont reflect when they arent hit by light, and your eye cant convey the image of light and darkness if the shadows are reflecting so your metallics lose depth

Aha! I see your point exactly! It had never occurred to me that the metallic flakes would still be present, and I don't know why, because it seems pretty obvious now that you pointed it out. Separate glazes of paint for shading makes perfect sense...

 

referring to the bolter, the metal looks drybrushed or something, while the trim is much cleaner and more suitable for the scheme....as for weathered silver, the problem is your colour placement tells the eye its brass not silver, you need more silver on the sides of the objects(parallel with your light source) which is why most tabletop models are distorted, because people edge highlight everything and actually change their overall colour by doing so(usuallly making it brighter)

I think the bolter might be suffering from the ink vs. paint shading thing just discussed - I shaded the metal of the bolter with a wash of Chaos Black because when I originally started with the figure, I had it in mind to end up with a muted iron color a la an Iron Warriors bolter on an inducted former Word Bearers marine. I believe I only did one step of highlighting on it as well (Chainmail) and probably should add another edge highlight of maybe GW Silver or something to balance things out again and make it look a little less "flat." In hindsight, that's also probably why the dark metal color of the combi-bolter on my Dark Apostle looks so drab compared to the rest of the metallics - ah well, that's not really a figure I can easily go back to for to touch up because one of our cats knocked him off a speaker when I set him down and briefly stepped out of the room - he ended up in numerous pieces across the wooden living room floor, quite a few of which disappeared forever.

 

So far as the trim on this guy, other than the shading basecoat I just used highlighting of Chainmail and Mithril Silver, but I thin my paints down for highlights usually so they're still somewhat translucent. The sides not in shadow were just a few steps of layered (translucent) Chainmail, whereas my extreme highlights I generally do a 45° angle or so in coverage and so would've made for multiple layers lightening up the brassy metal color. I think I can live with a light brass color for trim, though, as this guy is part of a different warband now and not strictly a Word Bearer.

 

i know it may seem as a heavy critique for a TT mini, but trust me, the minor changes will result in a nicer finish

No, I definitely appreciate as much critique as I can get! I was starting to get a little frustrated, actually, since I posted this work here on B&C specifically looking for feedback regarding his Chaos Marine "validity" and to hopefully get good ideas back regarding my custom Legion/Warband and there's hardly been any response to the thread. I'm used to the discussion over on my usual painting forum, and I'm glad to get some quality responses now.

 

So far as Allan C goes, the man is definitely a master! I haven't had the opportunity to study under anyone, I'm essentially "self-taught" as it were, but I did attend Jeremie Bonamant Teboul's seminar at Games Day Chicago this year and was glad I did. I've got a work-in-progress figure going over on the Relic P&M Forum based on stuff I picked up at the seminar, but he's been on pause for a little while now as I was trying to finish up some Necrons to actually play 40K with (roughly 2 years back at painting and I haven't had a single game with my own figures) and then got sidetracked after reading the first three Gaunt's Ghosts novels by Dan Abnett, which prompted work on The Shriven, which prompted work on this guy as an accompaniment. (I think I've got too many irons in the fire!)

 

That's also some excellent work yourself, and I'd love to see/correspond more... I'd rather not derail the thread completely, though. 8^)

 

 

 

I think I've come up with a better army icon to go with my troops based on some suggestions:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/d_icon.jpg

 

It's also been suggested that army names like "The Harbingers of The Four" is a bit overdone and so I thought I'd simply call them "The Devoted." I haven't come across that name yet in scouring for names of existing Marine/Chaos Chapters and I think it properly gets across the theme I'm aiming for with my troops and planned conversions and such.

[Tinweasel]

I'd still like feedback on the army icon and name from my last post if I could get it, but I did a little bit more work tidying up the figure tonight, mostly addressing Starks333 pointed out (Thanks!) I tried GW Bronzed Flesh as an additive to the reds on him for purposes of extreme highlights, and went over a few of the previous pure Blood Red light-facing sharp edges and while it looks a bit "salmony" while wet on the palette, it dries to a reasonable shade that's not too far a variance from red.

 

Here's pics of my Chaos Marine more or less finished, except for an icon (which I'm still undecided on):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_d_wip5.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_d_wip6.jpg

 

Feedback and constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated (both on this guy and on the army icon/name from my previous post).

[Captain Engelhardt]

In my view he's great ! The lenses really give him the the final kick.

 

As for the icon, he is a Word Bearer, nothing else imo. So you should go for the standrad WB icon.

I like the icon you made up, but in my view it looks as if the marines worship one god over the others (because of the bigger circle on top)

 

So go and make him a WB :P

[Starks333]

different angles in the pic so its hard to tell, but i think it has the extra little bit of brightness now, the terminator however has darker shading with more purple, thats why the red appears to have more contrast, so darker blacklining would help you as well(so a mix of green and purple probably)

 

as for the icon i kinda like it, even with the bigger circle, one way to even it out, is make the hole in the middle of the smaller ones bigger, they will seem more even, while still keeping your sizes the same

 

as for name im not really sure

 

 

 

Starks

[Tinweasel]

In my view he's great ! The lenses really give him the the final kick.

 

As for the icon, he is a Word Bearer, nothing else imo. So you should go for the standrad WB icon.

I like the icon you made up, but in my view it looks as if the marines worship one god over the others (because of the bigger circle on top)

 

So go and make him a WB

Thanks! I guess that means I'm on the mark appearance-wise for a former Word Bearer and that the test figure for implementing colors of my own army into another established scheme is successful. The redesign of the icon was prompted by a suggestion elsewhere, and the reasoning for different-sized circles is that the larger one represents The Devoted and their inherent strength and unifying force, with smaller circles representing their allied forces and other renegades joined with them (the whole force is prompted by my wanting to convert up The Shriven from Dan Abnett's book "First and Only," after all...) whereas the four circles overall represent the four Gods of Chaos to which they hold allegiance. I definitely think the extra spikiness helps the look and the feel that it's a Chaos insignia, whereas the connected circles kinda hold everything together.

 

Much as I'd like to do a straight-up Word Bearers force, they don't strike me fluff-wise as having the amount of mutations and such as I'd really like to model in a force - but I like the scheme. So that's why I'm doing an offshoot of the WB that are more zealous and devoted to physical and not just "religious" worship and embodiment of their Gods, and with the theme that they've given themselves over to the Chaos Gods body and soul, they're much more likely to accept a wide range of followers (especially The Shriven with their perversions and mutations, idol worship, and daemon summoning). There's also the fact that (at least right now) all my Chaos troops will be coming from scavenged bitz, I've never so much as seen a WB insignia in person and don't have any decals for any Chaos forces, and interlinked circles is a bit easier to do freehand than a demon skull with flames - although I do plan on making a template of sorts once I've got a definite icon down so as to make replicating it very easy.

 

 

different angles in the pic so its hard to tell, but i think it has the extra little bit of brightness now, the terminator however has darker shading with more purple, thats why the red appears to have more contrast, so darker blacklining would help you as well(so a mix of green and purple probably)

 

as for the icon i kinda like it, even with the bigger circle, one way to even it out, is make the hole in the middle of the smaller ones bigger, they will seem more even, while still keeping your sizes the same

Thanks again for the feedback! I added a third pic to my last post showing more of the refined metal on the bolter - definitely looks a bit better IMO.

 

The basecoat I started from with the Apostle is the same shade as the wash I'm using to shade the current Marine, I guess it's just more pronounced because I used it to start from scratch with the Apostle whereas here it's applied over a pretty strong red already (I used Mechrite Red as part of the base color so as to get better coverage than the last time around). It's actually just a mixture of Red Gore/Chaos Black but I started working in Scorched Brown so that sort of skewed things as well.

 

Yeah, I'm thinking the smaller circles need larger holes as well and the one currently posted is actually a 2nd or 3rd revision where I carved more out of the middle of 'em in Paint Shop Pro each time. When I actually put one on a figure, I think I'll likely keep to an icon similar to this just for ease of painting - it seems to get a strong impression across (one way or the other) for a self-drawn unprofessional non-GW symbol, so I may as well run with it...

[Starks333]

metal looks much better about 30 times better hahaha

 

 

Starks

[Tinweasel]

*rawr*

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_asp_champ_wip.jpg

 

A first stab at an Aspiring Champion that's fully a Devoted Harbinger of the Four Chosen (still kicking around a name for these guys). It's kinda tricky putting stuff together reasonably well when you know the look you're aiming for but all you have are random bitz. He still needs GS, spikes, and likely a bolter growing out from the back of the fist. I'll call him Sammael, maybe?

 

I'd really appreciate comments on the overall appearance/presentation - he's not glued together completely so that he can't be tweaked a bit.

[Kurgan the Lurker]

I think you may want to look at some of the clawed Chaos Powerfists (assuming you have some of course). Right now I get a sense of him punching with his left hand which for some reason doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the model to me. The pointing/grasping style of the CPFs seems like it might fit this pose better.

[Bigger-than-Jesus]

I think you may want to look at some of the clawed Chaos Powerfists (assuming you have some of course). Right now I get a sense of him punching with his left hand which for some reason doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the model to me. The pointing/grasping style of the CPFs seems like it might fit this pose better.

Why? To me the pose looks like he's punching the air in triumph

[Tinweasel]

Yeah, I've gotten quite a bit of feedback (thanks for yours, guys!) regarding the pose and how his forward leg isn't counterbalanced by a backward torso. I was aiming for a "pushing off the rocks"-type pose and the only reason his Power Fist arm was so high was because of the wonky shoulder join - the shoulder pad was somewhat in the way.

 

Well, I fixed the pose and I fixed the arm with a bit of Dremeling on the interior - none of the cutting away is visible, so it's good on that end thankfully.

 

Here's essentially what he looks like now with one exception:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_asp_champ_wip2.jpg

 

Here's the one exception:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_asp_champ_wip3.jpg

 

 

While I wanted a bolter mounted on the back of the powerfist all along (and it's now game-legal with the changes in the Codex), my initial cutting and positioning of it had it sticking just a little too high from the Fist for my liking (and several others - the general consensus is that it needed some more work). I chopped it down some more, repositioned the back end, and mounted it in its own little housing now to prevent damage while the Power Fist does its thing.

 

Feedback would be appreciated! I'm unsure as to whether or not to put spikes on the fist (and/or bolter housing) now, since that was my intention from the start - any opinions?

[Kurgan the Lurker]

OK he has 2 bolters, 1 in hand and 1 on the power first, have you thought about using the Dread Stormbolter? It has a flat side and ammo belt (easily cut off) that would cover for both bolters and might look better on the powerfist.

[Tinweasel]

OK he has 2 bolters, 1 in hand and 1 on the power first, have you thought about using the Dread Stormbolter? It has a flat side and ammo belt (easily cut off) that would cover for both bolters and might look better on the powerfist.

I guess I should probably note that at present, all my Chaos stuff consists of scrounged bitz, with the exception of an impulse-buy Possessed box. Things are kinda tight financially right now, so I'm sort of making do with what I've got until I get a regular income coming in again. Unfortunately, this here is also the last of the Chaos backpacks I own. Tempting though it sounds, a Dreadnought might be waiting for quite a while. 8^(

 

Is the fact that it's a SM chest plate and Power Fist too obvious? (I'm putting the appearance of the chest somewhere between Mk. IV and Mk. VI armor, which fits fluff-wise at least.)

 

So far as the figure goes, I'm trying to model all my troops as "correct" WYSIWYG-wise so far as the new Chaos Codex. Although it's a pain, I'm trying to make sure they're all decked out with a bolter, pistol and/or CC weapon, and grenades in addition to whatever else I can cobble together. In the case of this guy, the CC weapon is covered by the Power Fist and I felt I had to include the Bolt Pistol and Bolter separately. The pistol arm has been converted in that his wrist is turned offset to allow room for the shoulder pad horn and the bolter is significantly chopped down and reshaped to fit on the Power Fist while still looking recognizable.

 

I went with an Imperial Power Fist because initially I wanted one a bit wider than the one Chaos PF I've got, since I wanted a centered bolter and spikes covering the fist. Well, the positioning of the bolter threw off the "covered in spikes" plan and I'm still trying to decide where down that road I want to go, other than definitely making a curved horn on his right knee to match his shoulder pads.

[Kurgan the Lurker]

The chest plate and fists aren't a 'problem'. I just felt a spikey fist would look better. As for the chest, the Traitor Legions had just as much (and in some cases more) Mk. IV, V and VI armor as the loyalist so chest plates aren't really an issue unless you are tossing a Mk. VIII plate in there.

 

The bolt pistol/pfist combo:

 

Speaking as if this were my mini I would model it different. I'd try and go with a more underslung variant:

 

http://store.us.games-workshop.com/storefr...&Img=254956

 

http://www.duckblindminiatures.com/images/masterfront.jpg (yeah the paint job from 7 years ago sucks but this is just for showing a way to sling the gun).

 

 

 

Overslung can work as well and would just require a little modification of how you have it now:

http://www.arjayslotd.com/abaddonOTB06.jpg

[Tinweasel]

I kinda started out intentionally avoiding the underslung look to stay away from similarities to Marneus Calgar. It wasn't until after I'd already modeled it that I noticed Abaddon has twin bolters mounted on the back of one of his Power Claws - I guess I was at a loss as to what to do with the clip and with a lack of parts to model a self-feeding loop of rounds I just kept it as-is.

 

Anyhow, I added spikes to the Fist and bolter housing as well as a horn similar to the shoulder pads on the right knee - was wondering if I could get feedback on appearances:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_asp_champ_wip4.jpg

 

I'm considering making the surface of the Power Fist look "fleshy," with the spikes and the bolter growing out of it, but I dunno if that'd be over the top. I need to do some GS work anyhow, so what do you all think?

[wolf-time-hero]

make a dark apostle lol

overall it looks sooooo nice im also doing lost and the damned but im not shore if im allowed to post it on here no power armour.... ;)

lol im using seige of vraks rules. they are nice.

 

ben

 

ps can i popst my dark apostle on this thread to save time?

[Tinweasel]

ps can i popst my dark apostle on this thread to save time?

I don't see why not, except that my Warband isn't Word Bearers. Background-wise, I'm thinking of them as an ultra-zealous splinter group from the Word Bearers. That first figure was just a test, 1) to see how an "inducted" member of another Legion would look partially in the colors of my Warband and 2) I just wanted to paint essentially a Word Bearers Marine because I like the scheme.

 

For example, this is a test of "The Cleaved"'s color scheme (well, the main armor color and the colors they use for bone, anyways) and I'm doing the blank areas (minus the Gobbo skin, of course) in the colors of my own Warband to see how they would go together (I also like the scheme for The Cleaved, minus the green "oil" oozing parts):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/bwride/gw_cleaved_gobbo.jpg

 

 

@ wolf-time-hero - I can sympathize with your feelings re: posting pics of the rest of my LatD stuff, which is why and how I got into this whole Chaos mess in the first place. I figgered it's strictly frowned-upon, so I've got it up on other Forums.

 

So far as the Siege of Vraks, do they have full rules for running renegade IG armies and such, or is it specific to the Vraksian troops? I've not so much as seen the book for it, but the ForgeWorld minis are pretty inspiring!