Night Lords 18th Battle Company (Treadhead)

[Dan The Deamon]

How will you deal with the Chaos aspect of the company? Note that figures like Talos from the 10th company and Zso Sahaal are more opposed to Chaos, viewing it only as a tool, whilst others such as the Exalted and Acerbus Krieg become absorbed by it. Will the commanders of the 18th retain this pragmatic view towards Chaos or become more integrated with it? Also how would they respond to corruption within their company? Would they execute those who become "too influenced" by Chaos for example?

Good queastions, i've done a great deal of thinking about it.

let me introduce a few fluff tid-bits to help my case.

the 18th commissioned the tech priests of mars to tailor specific bits of technology into three artificer helmets for them. They would be given to the company commander, it's first sergeant, and one kept with the companies relics. They were advanced helmets using irreplacable, ancient, technology, and worn with great pride. They were filled by handfuls of the companies greatest men and were a spiritual symbol to the company.

Then this guy,

The Company First Sergeant ascends to daemonhood while wearing one of the great masks. The brother sergeant they knew was gone, replaced physically and mentally by a warp beast, the company lost a great leader and spiritual relic to the gifts of chaos in one instance. Therefor they have grown very wary of it.

My guys are of the mindset that chaos is a tool, and a means to an end. However powerful an ally chaos may be to them they are pretty hesitent and avoid the warp more out of fear, then much out of principle. Those brothers who dive into worship and begin trudging foul paths are snatched up quickly and placed into a penitent detail.

The Zerks

I hope that explains most of the views from the 18th's perspectives (or mine i guess). Even though different commanders, each holding one of the last 2 bone helms, have had different perspectives, The title bestowed upon them when they reach command is one which is slighted and weakened by chaos. upon taking the mantle of the company each commander has found himself with the responsibility of leaving the company in a combat ready state. By loosing themselves to chaos they walk a tight path of loosing their spiritual "immortality" and failing those brothers who will come after.

[Dan The Deamon]

Gonna add some finished pics of the dread real quick.

I went with black legion, hawk lords, and imperial fists. I chose hawk lords because it created nice movement between the power claw and plasma cannon. I'm proud if the imp fist iconography and happy with how it looks.

Gonna go work off some steam.

C&C well appreciated.

His base is being worked on...

Dan

[MagicMan]

<3

 

 

May he slay many, many foes.

 

I can't believe you freehanded that tiny little imp fist symbol!

Edited March 11, 2011 by MagicMan

[Dinks]

Amazing work! I still think an Emperors Children helmet would have been better as it would be a richer, lighter colour. :)

[Tyrannicide]

That's an absolutely terrifying Dreadie. Your creations are hands-down my favorite of all 40k armies.

[Yogi]

cool stuff as always. Your thoughts on fluff were an interesting read.

 

I love the dread. Its head looks great with a nasty personality. The skull on the chest plate seems to be the symbol of the occupant, forever torment in his coma.. haha

 

The totem heads are great too, the IF one is magnificent.

 

My CnC for what it is worth. Is about the totem heads, the eye lenses seem a little dull (maybe cause they are 'dead'?) I think personally the Black legion helmet could possibly use some codex grey highlights to pop more? But I dont really know what Im talking about.

 

Ace as always I love coming to have a look at this thread.

 

As you vindicator/rhino has no top hatch?

[malika666]

Remember that I mentioned the Nostraman lion heads to you? Look at these. I don't know if you are a GW purist, but these might be fitting for some of the Terminators' shoulders, or any other character for that matter. If you are only using GW parts, IIRC the High Elves also had a plastic lion kit which head might be fitting...

[subtlebrush]

What did you use for the trophy racks on your dread? I see a mix of GW trophies and your home made ones. Oh by the way your dread is fantastic!

 

Mr.Malevolent

[Lexington]

I...uh...g'bleh...shaba-tbphfffff...

*dead mic*

Ah, um, ahem, yes. A truly cromulent piece of work there, Dan. The personality that wafts from this thing takes physical form, zips through the tangled web of the internet, and grabs the viewer by the short hairs. Absolutely, unbelievably stunning, even given the rest of your force here.

Also thanks for sort of inspiring some work I'll be doing on, of all things, Ork Tankbustas. Looking at a force like this gives me some cues for how to appropriately kit a unit out in order to give it a rag-tag look without destroying unit coherency. You're like magic, except also ice cream and sex. Um, you know. In a totally non-weird way that's completely not creepy.

...I like your Dreadnought.

[empty choke]

dan, you have some of the best painted models on this bored. one question and maybe a critque to go with it. do you use just a pure bronze colour, or do you work the artist magic into it?

[Dan The Deamon]

Yogi, Yeah i left the eye lenses on the helmets a little muted. I didn't put the final splash of blood red in there with the intention of it looking like a powered down helmet, I kept the little white flicker and a red lens. The Black legion helmet could have used more highlighting, i messed with the gold stars for a while trying to get them cool looking without drawing too much attention. I pretty much left out a handful of layers, colors, and other details on the helmets because i didn't want them to attract too much attention away from the dread himself. I was really worried that painting the helmets up in a wild way would draw the eyes to them, then away from the rest of the model, so i went with a little toned down version of details up top.

 

None of my rhinos have top hatches, well one does... I find the kit to be boring so i upgrade the armor as much as possible with the vindi template.

 

Malika666

Those shoulderpads are stellar, curse you for adding more projects to my laundry list of crusades!

 

Mr.Malevolent, the trophy racks on the dread are all made from paper clips or brass rod. I just drilled a whole bunch of holes in some disheveled looking WHFB skeleton heads and staked them up there.

 

Lexington, Best C&C ever.

 

empty choke, The bronze is tin bits mixed with black, followed by tin bitz, then tin bitz/drawf bronze, then maybe some washes depending on the way it comes out. For Forge world products i try and throw a wash or two in there because they have so much definition.

 

Working on some fun stuff, will have pictures in a bit!

[malika666]

Sorry about that! I'm just so curious about a lion head shoulderpad in brass color. If you are going to do this, you might want to make the lion's head look a bit more...well...evil rather than just a sweet lion. I doubt the Night Lords would carry a normal looking lion on their shoulders, it looks too royal/clean. I guess the creature would look rather frightening, and especially on a Chaos corrupted Night Lord the lion's head would almost look daemonic.

 

By the way, there is a review for Blood Reaver up. It doesn't really add any spoilers, but it does mention some interesting character pointers about Talos, and with it also the rest of the Night Lords.

 

EDIT:

 

I decided to bug you with more ideas, I don't know if this works for you, but I ended up hanging on Deviantart and see tons of inspirational pics which immediately remind me of your Night Lords...

 

Faces of Chaos II (by SDGraphics): I know the picture is meant to represent a Black Legionnaire, but the mutation in the mouth piece and human face behind the crack just look so cool. Might be a fitting mutation for one of your marines. However, the Black Legion head on the dread might also use a subtle mutation. Note that daemonic possession and mutations are very common amongst members of the Black Legion.

 

Night Lords Marine (by SDGraphics): The slight mutation of the helmet caught my attention. Could be interesting for one of the raptors perhaps?

 

Night Lords Champion (by Warp Zero): The pose and double lightening claws. Nuff said!

 

We Have Come For You (by Majesticchicken): Throne of Lies cover but then colored in. Obvious Night Lords inspiration I guess...

 

Night Haunter (by Jutami): The pose and feel of the picture has something very tragic about it. A kneeling Night Lords with the blood of his victims on his hands is too cool not to have.

 

Terror Lord (by nekhar): The weapons are a bit off, but the wings and helmet are super cool!

 

Chaos Space Marine (by anholt): I just like the armor.

Edited March 23, 2011 by malika666

[subtlebrush]

I would have never guessed paper clips. Awesome work my friend!

 

Mr.Malevolent

[empty choke]

haha wow, someone of your painting caliber using gws crap paints? hm

impressive! haha

[Whisper]

Wow, this was really inspiring to read through. It's good to see that you've followed through and created a very impressive Night Lords force. Thanks for sharing all of this!

[Dan The Deamon]

Nothing crazy to post, just finished dread base and another CSM for my tac squad.

malika666 Those are all awesome pics, I had seen some before and they are pretty motivating. As for the lion shoulder pads i'm trying to decide when to declare the 18th company officially finished. They've been a work in progress for a couple of years now and the time is coming to bring it to an end. We'll see if they make it into the final cut, if not i may use them on something else though

Empty Choke, I do a lot of mixing and paint thinning to be able to work with the GW paints. They're not spectacular, but i have just about every color and i don't want to invest in a whole new set. If i had known there were better paints out there i would have been inclined to get them, but Gw has been just fine for me. Airbrushing with them is a different story though.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Dan The Deamon

[DuskRaider]

Good lord Dan, your army just keeps getting better and better. Have you looked into the FW Pre-Heresy armor and weapons yet? Might find some stuff to use there as well.

[Dan The Deamon]

Words cannot describe just how much inspiration I get from this thread. I've been watching for quite a while, and it is just amazing what you have done. Everything from the poses to the paint job is simply amazing. Its bloody brilliant. Every model has character, and looks to ave a bit of a story to them. How do you get inspired? Is there something you read, or watch, or look at? Soul Hunter defiantly help get it started, but I am sure you need more than one book for the an entire army. No matter how freaking fantastic that book may be.

 

Cheers Dan

 

It was a stellar book, but i had been building the army before I got it. I did build my first Dreadnaught after reading the book, then subsequently a handful of marines with specific cruddy gaming wargear, aka the heavy bolter, after reading The Core. Throne of Lies led me to build a small predator detachment which i'm working on now. All the marine motivation comes from my time in the service, and how i'm coping with getting out and back into normal life.

 

DuskRaider, Yeah those heresy sets of armor look fantastic. I'm sort of worried about diving into them though because i feel they would be a real chore trying to biggerize. I'd rather have bits and pieces from each set as opposed to 5 MK 5 marines, and 5 Mk 6. I did break down and get some of the bolters though, because they are great. Depending on which army project i choose next i may go with some of them.

Edited March 28, 2011 by Dan The Deamon

[firestorm40k]

It goes without saying I'm a fan :thanks: but what next for this army Dan?

[Dan The Deamon]

Quick model finished

It goes without saying I'm a fan ;) but what next for this army Dan?

Well i'm trying to decide where to quit them. They are a blast to make, paint, and share, but I have to excercise the ability to finish them at some point, I really don't know when that will be though.

What is finished;

Raptor Lord

Daemon Prince

Terminators

Alpha Legion Dreadnought

Night Lords Dreadnought

CSM x 10 w/rhino

Plague/wraiths x7

Penitent x8 w/ rhino

Alpha Legion Havocs

I still have left to paint

1 jump pack Sorc

8 raptors

A predator

Maybe list...

Chosen + ride

Predator x 2

Land Raider

terminator chappy

Daemons?

After Night Lords, or as a side project, i'm trying to brainstorm another marine project to take up. I've been thinking Imperial Fists, an obscure successor, or making my own up.

Dan!

[Drivebybaptism]

You forgot to add a how to guide on your True Scaling :P

[Dan The Deamon]

Drivebybaptism thanks for reminding me. I got a new camera and i have a model or two planned that I can document my technique on. The past few marines have been "rescues" where I scrapped the old model and just kept the legs and chest, where most of the work goes into.

 

Tarvik, thanks for the comments. I'm thinking about how I'd do a Black Templar force and how I would be able to mix it up and add a nice theme to it. I'm not sold on any one chapter yet, or even the idea of starting a new project as big as this one, but I am excited to move on it a lot of ways.

 

Just a quick post to ask the community a question or two. I'm growing jaded to the biggerized look and my paint scheme, and progress in the army is turning into somewhat of a chore. Is there anything I'm missing on a small scale that i haven't done much of? something that I can add or any details which might be missing?

[Dez]

I don't think there is anything missing, your models are really nice and full of character, dynamic as they get.

 

I tried 'biggerizing' a few marines myself, and it's quite a chore though they do look good. It takes a few hours for me to do each one. With my work schedule and 2 kids (one being an infant) I haven't gotten very far :P I'm looking forward to seeing how you do your scaling.

[Dan The Deamon]

Tried brainstorming a fresh idea for the raptors. I went with a gargoyle scheme, similar in regards to my wraith scheme. I wanted the armor to be granite looking and very dark. I decided to keep each astartes' allegiance by keeping their chapter icon painted in their original colors. This is a Taurus Marine who has joined the raptor cult within the 18th co.

My intention was to be like deathwatch dark, with very subtle stone texture to them. Like the wraiths they turned out a bit different than i imagined, now i'm wondering if i ought to start over or keep this scheme. thoughts?

[subtlebrush]

:) What an awesome take on firestorm's Taurus scheme. Love that you chose a stone-esque look.

 

Mr.Malevolent