DIY Chapter: Lunar Drakes WIP

[Rizara]

Hey guys, I finally got around to snapping some pics tonight of my Newest DIY chapter, Lunar Drakes.

This has been an evolution of my celtic influenced marines. This is the 4th incarnation for me, my first ones were black with green trim done back in 2000 and they were known as the Morbid Angels. Back in 2001 they got there first revamp to a jade green and bone and i think i kept the same name. Back in 2004/2005 i had finally gotten away from the angelic theme and went with a dark scaly green/black/bone scheme. I also changed there name to the Knights of Avalon, and well..at best i got less than a squad painted, but i did get a marine in a white dwarf issue for the chapter creation contest, so that was cool. But i have been looking to redo them at some point, just kept putting off the idea, was unsure of the scheme to use.

So anyways, heres my new marines. I Decided to use the name lunar drakes, as i wanted to incorporate a celtic feel to the army. I chose the dragon imagery because i was looking for a way to seperate the marines themselves from a druidic based homeworld. In the mythos the dragon was considered almost god like, a mythical creature often bringing with it wisdom or some such. so that gave me a good animal to use for imagery. I was torn on icons but i will say the salander dragon provided the easiest imagery. One it was a pre made transfer that i had lots lying around, and with one aspect of simply wanting to get an army knocked out with out hand painting every single army symbol made it an easier choice. Also i wanted to add a lunar aspect since druids and most pagan beliefs centered around the lunar cycle. Wel with no way to incorporate it into the army image like i wanted, i started thinking outside the box. In the end i opted for a quartered scheme, since the moon has phases, and they are often in quarters.

I also had to put alot of thought into the army markings, and really wanted to incorporate some knotwork rune patterns. I was torn on this and in the end, decided to make one shoulder pad trim the company marking which in this case is the 3rd company. The unit marking would be on the left knee and the unit number would be in the right shoulder but in the front corner. I decided to just add one of two knotwork runes, one is a simple trininty rune of protection the other a more elaborate version with simply a circle intertwined. I opted to use the more intricate one as a veteran marking. It helps keep it simple, and gives me an easy to paint over and over again knotwork design. The vehicles and characters might get more knotwork designes obviously as they deserve more attention.

Again these are still wip, as the bases aren't done and i still have to add a little weather(at least to the melta) and maybe add a knotwork design to the banner, but not sure what exactly. The banner still on the sergeant seems to be lacking still to me. In the end my main goal is to have a great looking table top army that doesn't take me forever to paint and one i can really enjoy paintting. Also amazing how a camera brings out the flaws and lack of details. They look much better in person, here the pics make the paint look thick and the colors not seem to blend as well.

First 5 guys

Sergeant/one battle brother close ups

Other 3 battle brothers of the unit so far.

[Khrangar]

These look pretty cool. The highlights on the black are a bit messy but overall they're quite well done. It could just be the camera, but the red pads look like they need highlighting.

 

In either case, it's a good scheme and they're quartered, nice job.

 

Khrangar

[Rizara]

Thanks Khrangar, yeah the black does look messier here, but i think alot of that is also the camera. In real life, the colors i use for highlighting my black is a two pre mixxed colors(of a different black/bleached bone mix). In real life they blend almost naturally where i have a really hard time seeing the first highlight color. The camera makes it so bright and vivid that i can see it clearly.

 

As for the shoulder pads, they are highlight but i guess i can always give them a final sharper crisp edging with a blood red/orange mix to make em pop.

 

Lately i have started developing a more water color based way of highlighting where i try to do a few layers of similar/mixxed or very close in color layers to build up to my shard highlight. It has gotten me alot of noticed on other minis that my style was a bit more distinct. Part of the style tho is due a rushed job, just simply trying to get the minis knocked out when i can squeeze in painting time between work and family and my MMO addictions.

So i am trying to just achieve a really nice table top army, not some award winning golden demon entry.

 

I do have a question to any future users. I seem to have hit a stumbling block on painting of one thing. Since this is my first quartered scheme army and they aren't seen to often, painting the vehicles generally isn't an issue for quarters, however i hit one stumbling stone.

That stone is the drop pod, i don't know how to split it into a quarter scheme due to it being 5 sided, and more upright cylinder based. So its hard to split it up..so any ideas or suggestions to maybe how i should do it. Perhaps maybe paint the doors in a quarter scheme with the rest of it being predominantly black and green insets on the fins? I am so lost on ideas, thats my only real idea. I so far only gotta paint 2 of them but i want them to match and look good with the army .