Raz's Word Bearers - Hell Follows With Them

[Dammeron]

I know that preconceptions of the background differ wildly; that's the joy of the 40K mythos, but for me, this army represents EXACTLY what the Word Bearers are supposed to be. In many respects, it is aesthetically the most ideal and apposite Word Bearers force I've ever seen. Everything from the paint scheme to the conversions to the iconography is spot on; the archaic, dulled feeling of the armour, the ragged banners, the scrawled litany...it's an absolute stunner of a force.

[Dosjetka]

Such a unique and beautiful army. Stellar work mate, you ougt to be proud if you aren't already :tu:

 

Ludovic

[RazakelXIII]

Wow, thanks for all the comments, guys!

@Chapter Master Onyxius: I really have no idea how to turn the fur into a step-by-step. I tried to photograph it, but my method is seriously "stab it until it looks good." I usually start with a big lump of GS and then just jab at it with the scalpel-end of a wet GW sculpting tool, drawing the GS downward a little with each stab. Rinse and repeat. As for paint, I'll edit in pics of that later, but my method is a basecoat of Rhinox Hide followed by successively smaller highlights of Mournfang Brown, Baneblade Brown, Screaming Skull and White Scar. Sometimes I drybrush it but individually picking out each hair just looks better.

@ChromeZephyr: Haha, for the Baneblade-size treads it's more of an "ooh, that stung." I'd only be worried about drawing blood if it fell on someone (or you hit someone with it...). I do have a set of LR-size Oppressor treads, though, and they don't feel nearly as sharp - just be a bit careful about how you pick it up and you should be fine. :P

@IactonQruze: I'm not actually sure what I'm going to use the Discords for, I just wanted to make some. :D Possibly just flamer dudes in Cultist squads, depends on what we can do with the new codex.

@Dammeron: Wow, thanks. There's a bit in Know No Fear that describes pretty much exactly what I've been going for - "There is something coarsely barbaric about them. They have none of the praetorian nobility of Guilliman's men. They don't even evince the passionate devotion of their misguided days. They look sullen, world-weary, as though they have seen everything it is possible to see and are tired of it... They look as though all compassion and compunction have been drained out of them. They look like they would kill without provocation." I felt like Dan Abnett had read my mind. A lot of Word Bearer armies tend to go for the robed, Chaosy Dark Angel/Black Templar look, and that's fine, but it was never how I saw them. The pic in the 3.5 codex has been my main inspiration for this army and it's always suggested to me more of a rabid, feral sort of fanaticism - more hyper-religious evil Space Wolves (without all the wolf stuff) than DA/BT.

Quick update on the Defiler, metallic highlights are done and fleshybits are GS'd, haven't done candles yet.

Tomorrow begins THE SCRIPTENING.

[ChromeZephyr]

Thank you for the information. Did you put the treads along the bottom? If so, how far did it lift the vehicle up? I'd think you would just use the regular treads along the bottom so it sat flat to the surface, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

[Bearingtheword]

Holy crap Raz!

 

Everytime I think I'm doing good on my Word Bearers I run across something new you have done...

 

Those Overseers and discords are stellar! Consider that idea nicked....

 

and those Vindictors...... I'm absolutely speechless.... literally.... words fail me.... and that doesn't happen often....

 

Haven't been playing with my Word Bearers much as I am waiting for the new dex before I do any major new units other than my cultists, which I have started painting. not even gonna get the Dark Vengeance set yet since the LE's already sold out. Only reason I woulda rushed it was for the chappy model....

~BtW

 

 

Oh and what is that horned skull you used on your Coryphaus/Word Beard and where can I get one??

Thanks :)

 

And We need some of those awesome european sculptors to move to the states, those cultists you linked are ace...Can't wait to see what you do with those..

[Skirax]

Raz, I would just like to you know, this blog alone has inspired me to create my own Word Bearer force. It wasn't helped when I read The First Heretic.

Let's pray the new Codex gives us some more toys, eh?

[RazakelXIII]

Thanks for the comments, guys. Sorry for the delay in answering, I got to playing through Thief and didn't realize a week had gone by. :P

@ChromeZephyr: Yep, tracks go all the way around. Only lifted the tank about an eighth of an inch or so in comparison to standard Baneblade treads, LR oppressor treads are even thinner.

@BtW: I think I got Word Beard's skull from a Beastmen player, it's an Ungor banner topper. And if you mean the Crowmantians Wing Wong linked, yeah, they're quite nice. I'd be sorely tempted to start Traitor Guard allies if it weren't for the incessant "CSM dex is two weeks away, yes, really, we mean it this time" nonsense that's been going on since... late July? Just been saving up for that.

Defiler's "done." I put that in quotes because it doesn't feel done. I might go back and add some stuff later. Main thing I didn't do was battle damage on the red bits but the model's got enough metal on it as it is, don't want it to be any more overwhelming. Anyway, here she is in all her Guard-shredding glory.

Her name is Dot, my other two Defilers will be named Yakko and Wakko. The FW Scorpion has been retroactively named Nurse. Dem curves. I undercoated the goresplosions with Cadian Fleshtone this time around, plus I actually couldn't get the blood to stay where I wanted it so it didn't quite cover as much. Ended up with a "meaty" sort of look, not sure if I like that or not. Again, I may retouch some bits of this in the future.

I got my Dark Vengeance set today. I'm considering demoting my current II Captain to Cohort Champion or something and replacing him with a slightly-converted Kranon - he's probably one of the best plastics GW's ever done, IMO. Helbrute's gorgeous too, I'll probably just add a few fleshybits here and there. The Chosen I really don't know what to do with. They don't fit anywhere in my army and I'm already planning on doing "command squads" as MkIV guys with chainglaives - I think I'm painting one of the bolter twins as an Alpha Legionnaire just to give myself a break from ALL RED ALL THE TIME. Anyway, I'll let them sit around being all grey-plastic-ish until my indecision dies down, Word Beard and Techmarine are up next.

[Bungicats]

As always your army remains one of my favorites. Your seemless ease of converting, sculpting and painting leaves one rather speechless yet again. Thanks for the tutorial and keep the pictures coming!

[ChromeZephyr]

+1 for the Animaniacs. I demand your Apothecary/Corpsemaster be named Dr.Scratchansniff. :P

 

I really dig the guardsman torn in half, and the apocalypse bit for the head is a nice touch, adds to the daemonic vibe.

 

The DV stuff seems like it was tailor-made for the Word Bearers to me, fits the aesthetic to a "t". I'm waiting to see what else gets released with the Codex to see if I want to add any more of the models to my collection other than the box I bought.

[Son of Carnelian]

Oh dear Emperor... You've modeled some bloodshed before, Raz, but this is a new kind of horror. AAAAHHHHH!

[Lexington]

Her name is Dot, my other two Defilers will be named Yakko and Wakko. The FW Scorpion has been retroactively named Nurse. Dem curves.

Raz, I don't think I need to tell you how great your army is again, but this killed me. Killed. Me.

[Muskie]

This is some nice work, really good red tone. I haven't been painting or playing for a long time, but will probably get a chance to try 6e and the new, new, new toys and tools.

 

Again, well done.

[Bearingtheword]

"HELLO NURSE!!!!" :lol:

 

The Animaniacs references are awesome.....When are we gonna see Chicken Boo?

 

and "Doh!" It was Wing Wong that linked them....my bad....but they are still ace looking models.

 

Between you and Tzen I am starting to feel the need to get more WB's done!!!!

 

~BtW

[RazakelXIII]

Thanks a bunch, guys. Quick update, on to Word Beard and the Techmarine, I'd say they're around the 40% mark.

The new Citadel golds are kind of awful - I find them horrifically watery no matter how much I shake them. I had a similar problem with the silvers until I recently got a newer pot of Leadbelcher, which is now fine, so it might be I just got a bad batch. Anyway, golds all need extra work and I haven't started on most of the details yet. I'm also considering two modifications to Word Beard, first I want to try sculpting in some chainmail backing behind his... loin-seals? ;) Plus I'm not happy with the cape, thinking about starting over with it - since he's the Coryphaeus I think I want something "classier" - more of a cloth look to make him fit in with the DV Lord.

[Biohazard]

Looking good here. ;) For the Coryphaeus I like the chainmail idea for his flappy bits. For his cape how about maybe adding some chain type details. Not quite as heavy or full on as the Chaos lord on manticore but just a couple of similar elements. Looking forward to what you come up with.

 

On a side note, one of the kids at my local club was chatting away to me, asking about my army etc and he asked if I had any ideas for Word Bearer conversions. I immediatly thought of this blog and recommended he had a look. I've never seen anyone look so blown away by a collection of little plastic soldiers lol. He immediatly went away and started working on converting some of his terminators trying to give them all their own little stories. :)

I was watching his face as he read through this entire thread and it was brilliant, you could actually see loads of ideas forming in his head and to me thats what the hobby is all about. You have yourself a new fan and hopefully in a couple of years that kid will be on here inspiring others the way you've inspired him. :)

 

Keep up the great work buddy. :)

[RazakelXIII]

Wow, Biohazard, thanks for relaying that. I don't know if feedback gets much better. :devil:

So I'm not dead, just got a little sidetracked, Borderlands 2 ate pretty much all my free time last week. Word Beard and Techmarine are done. Went with a cloth cape on Word Beard, tried to work in some skull-on-chain bitz I had lying around but it wasn't working out. I mainly wanted it to sort of match the DV Lord's cape.

Coryphaeus, Kol Marchosias, "Word Beard"

I am aware of how scrunched "Bearers" got on his cape - it looks better IRL but I can't seem to snag a more flattering shot. To distract you from its scrunchedness, here's a closeup on his face, which I'm really happy with:

Forgepriest (I refuse to call him a Warpsmith because that's silly), Kor Halphas

I feel like both of them are a little script-bare but they're already quite busy. I may also still be coming down from the Scripticator...

No idea what I'll be working on next - either the DV stuff (finally) or I'll get back to GS work on the Fellblade. I'm thinking I'll wait and see if we get a second wave of Chaos releases before I work on any more squads. Doesn't look like there's any bitz in this new release that I really want to apply to my unpainted CC, plasma or Raptor squads (new Raptors are gorgeous but too mutated for this army), but I don't want to be halfway through painting all of them if a second wave full of delicious bitz happens. That said, I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on a Forgefiend (or three... or five...), I absolutely love how it looks with the ectoplasma cannon head, definitely my favorite thing out of the new stuff.

[Circus Nurgling]

Every time I see this thread bumped up I think to myself 'oh cool, new wordbearers are up'. These are some good updates.

 

Great story btw, Bio!

[malika666]

Will you be getting this as well?

[Biohazard]

Credit where its due Brother, really liking the update. Great work on Word Beard, the face is fantastic. I doubt Ill be buying any of the new releases to be honest as Im really not keen on the whole mutation thing. Even the FW Angron doesnt do it for me. Its a great looking model but not what I have in mind for the Primarch of the XIIth Legion.

 

Back on topic, Id be intersted to see your take on the Helbrute maybe slightly converted.

[Vlâdvar The Destroyer]

Your Coryphaeus & Forgepriest look epic! where did you get the sword for your Coryphaeus?

[RazakelXIII]

Thanks again, guys.

@Malika - Probably not. I'm not a huge fan of the pose, the weirdly-segmented chaos stars, the parchment (I'll admit I go overboard on fleshybits sometimes but this is a bit much) or the Finecast - had my fingers crossed for more single-sprue plastics like the Aspiring Champion for this release. I do like the dirge caster thingies and the armor runes, but considering I already have my own hand-converted Apostle (two, in fact) I'm not likely to pick this up.

@Vladvar - It's the Vampire Lord's sword from the Zombie Dragon kit. I was going to go with the big daemonic axe from the 40k Khorne Lord, but when I saw the sword it instantly reminded me of this, so I wanted to use it somewhere (actually wouldn't mind converting those guys up in truescale at some point though...).

I've played around with the Helbrute a bit and I really found myself at a loss for what to do with it. I like him a lot as he is, so I didn't really want to remove anything except the multimelta, which I replaced with the barrels from a Defiler's Reaper Autocannon. Looked a bit silly left at full length so I cut 'em in half to go with the stumpy Dreadnought look.

Also added the top half of a CSM Khorne icon to give him some extra height. Tried to add one of the giant books from the Flagellant set, had it resting between the top of the sarcophagus and the Khorne icon. It wasn't working out so I took it back off. I'll be adding impurity seals after I paint him, otherwise they get in the way. He's not likely to get based until I get ahold of more Guard bitz - I'm fresh out at the moment. I tried using a wrecked Sentinel I've got lying around but it was too big, will likely go with an abandoned heavy weapons emplacement with some ripped up sandbags. Oh, and yes, I use way too much glue sometimes. :P

Not sure if I'm going to paint this guy or Kranon/replacement-Abalam next, they're both calling to me. May paint both at once.

[Biohazard]

Nice touch with the Reaper, I converted one of mine slightly just using the dragon head thingys from the CSM vehicle upgrade sprue. I cut the horn/tentacle things off his flank though. Just try and do both at once, I paint at the same rate a glacier melts but I always try to work on at least two models at the same time.

[ChromeZephyr]

Wow, that reaper conversion is nice; I agree that it would look a little silly at full length. Depending on the rules for it I just might do the same thing with mine, though I'm losing that face. I've never liked it, will replace it with a daemon head.

[RazakelXIII]

November, Update 1

Right, first Call of Chaos V post. Here's my entire pledge.

Full squad of 12 Chaos Space Marines (CC dioramas)

Full squad of 12 Chaos Raptors

8 Bolter Marines for a plasma squad

8 other Bolter Marines and 1 Icon Bearer for another squad

So 41 models total. Here they all are, primed:

The Icon Bearer in the middle-right squad actually had a coat of red on him from months ago. I've since repainted him black (the red was old-Citadel anyway so it wouldn't have been consistent with the rest of the army). If my pledge needs to be amended to drop him that's cool, but I'll be painting him alongside everyone else regardless. Anyway, will be getting started on these guys tomorrow.

On an un-Call-related note, here's what I've done with the Helbrute and DV Lord over the past month:

Was slow-going, several patches of the Helbrute's skin were re-done a number of times over. They're mostly done, but of course they're not based - I need to get ahold of some more Guard bits before I go through with that, which may be a while. Lord's cape also needs more contrast. I likely won't get around to finishing these two until after the Call's over.

Also, yes, there's a horrible blotch of paint on my lightbox's nice cloth.

[Artemid]

I just read this thread in its entirety.

 

Quite simply you've put together one of the best and most consistent armies I've ever seen. The posing and conversions are perfectly complemented by the painting - it's really something special.