Night Lords 18th Battle Company (Treadhead)

[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

[Hyaenidae]

You know that I'm a huge fan of your work, and that you've helped inspire me to push myself with my MM build...with that said, honesty time. The grey looks very nice, and the gold really compliments it, but the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

[Yogi]

Have to disagree with 1000heahtens. I really like that raptor as is. Edited April 2, 2011 by Yogi

[Quixus]

You know that I'm a huge fan of your work, and that you've helped inspire me to push myself with my MM build...with that said, honesty time. The grey looks very nice, and the gold really compliments it, but the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

I don't dislike the color of the horns, but I think the horns on the helmet are superfluous and detract a bit from the raptor look. While spikes and horns are typical Chaos decorations, Raptors should look more sleek and aerodynamic.

 

Great paintjob though.

 

BTW how will you use the MM Raptor in a game? As a Havoc? Or is it just a moidel for a show case? AFAIK Raptors are not allowed to take Heavy Weapons. Come to think of it CSM don't even have Multimeltas.

[sar mikael]

great painty job on the raptor, really like it. good model too. looking forward to seeing the whole squad.

[Yogi]

You know that I'm a huge fan of your work, and that you've helped inspire me to push myself with my MM build...with that said, honesty time. The grey looks very nice, and the gold really compliments it, but the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

I don't dislike the color of the horns, but I think the horns on the helmet are superfluous and detract a bit from the raptor look. While spikes and horns are typical Chaos decorations, Raptors should look more sleek and aerodynamic.

 

Great paintjob though.

 

BTW how will you use the MM Raptor in a game? As a Havoc? Or is it just a moidel for a show case? AFAIK Raptors are not allowed to take Heavy Weapons. Come to think of it CSM don't even have Multimeltas.

 

 

Flying thru the air with red horns on my head, jumpack on my back, my weapon? Flaming death.

 

Pretty sure thats a "liberated" GK incinerator.. so flamer.

[carnosaur93]

well... i gotta say the "stone" is absolutly amazing. but given the darkness of everything else in the army, i would agree on toning the red down just a tad...

also, that incenerator made me think of something you asked a while ago; make your next army greyknights. think about it, eliteist army, loots of new plastics that you can chop and scale, endless bits everywhere, HUGE contrast. and best of all, you can make a guy like me love the new greyknights that i otherwise so awefully hate

Edited April 2, 2011 by carnosaur93

[Hyaenidae]

Oh, don't get me wrong, red horns are alright. Candy Apple red? It tears the eyes away from such a gorgeous paint scheme...

[Angel Descendant]

I love the granite idea. Evokes the image of raptors blending in as statues on a cathedral to swoop down on unsuspecting enemies.

[GooseDaMoose]

I have to agree with 1000heathens here, the granite armour is painted really well, amazingly realistic and the shock red horns just stick out as unreal and candy-like.

[Trysanna]

Dan, that is an amazing paint job you got going on! I must say I adore the stone effect you have going on. I think that seeing all the Raptors painted up like this will be really sweet. Again, fantastic idea Dan, and I can't wait to see then all done!

 

Cheers

[Wicced]

nice work again dan!

 

the gargoyle style stone colour looks really good, but i must agree the horns are too bright and draw the eyes away from the rest of the fantastic paintjob.

so i'd say, tone them down a little...

[firestorm40k]

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

I agree with Mr Malevolent :) Once again you flatter me Dan :teehee: I like your concept, I can just imagine squads of Raptors painted in granite colours, hunched motionless at the top of an Imperial Cathedral, befoer swooping on the patrol of hapless Guardsmen below... :D

 

Having said that, this model has been a tad controversial...

 

...the red horns on the helm and shoulder draw the eye too much, brother. Maybe if the shade was toned down a bit?

...i would agree on toning the red down just a tad...

Oh, don't get me wrong, red horns are alright. Candy Apple red? It tears the eyes away from such a gorgeous paint scheme...

...the shock red horns just stick out as unreal and candy-like.

Purely from the point of the effect you're trying to acheive, I must admit I would side on the point being repeated here.

 

A solution, which might work better, could be to paint horned skull on the Shoulder Pad the same way I paint them on my Legionnaires - Shadow Grey, drybrush with Bleached Bone/Blood red, then another dry brush of Bleached Bone, finsihing with a wash of very, very thinned Shadow Grey mixed with Red Gore. It creates a purpley colour, which I adopted as the colour of Tauran, the Bull-headed God that the Legion follows.

 

Personally, I think this colour won't stand too far out from the rest of the model.

 

I don't dislike the color of the horns, but I think the horns on the helmet are superfluous and detract a bit from the raptor look.

Ahh, but this guy was originally from the Legion of Taurus, and the horns are important... ;)

[Dan The Deamon]

1000heathens, Good point on the color, I will admit i wasn't paying a lot of attention to some of the details. I was really aiming for the stone look. I'm going to go back and switch the reds up soon.

Quixus, The horns being forward swept are a chapter decoration from the Legion of Taurus. I'm building the raptor squad around the idea of a cult within the 18th accepting assault troops from different allies to serve within it. The weapon he's armed with will act as a flamer, as there aren't too many cool flamer conversions I can pull off with the regular ones floating around.

Angel Descendant, that theme was exactly what i was aiming for.

This guy isn't exactly done yet, I'm stepping out of my comfort level and trying to make some exhaust burning him into a dive. We'll see how that turns out, he is done on the paint level except for that one foot sole though.

So the feeling of stone color is pretty good? what else do you guys think i can do paint wise to ensure they are viewed this way. Last thing i want is someone asking why they are stone colored, and the idea of gargoyles going completely over their heads.

[Trysanna]

I really like the stone colour. Those cracks in particular really make it come alive for me. I can't think of anything to make the gargoyle theme more obvious. The only thing I can think of is making sure you have those lovely cracks painted on. As if the stone is crumbling and cracking when they move.

 

Over all, I think this is a fantastic idea you have.

 

On a bit of a side note, to me, it looks like the second raptor looks like he has slipped and is about to fall on his butt. At the moment anyway, I am sure when put the exhaust on, it will look fantastic. Just made me chuckle.

[AlexCrute]

Quick suggestion: if the stone gargoyle look is what you're after, try to make as many of the details stone coloured as possible. Absolute bare minimum of colour. Chapter markings, metal parts, weapons all painted like stone.

 

Represent that upon joining this cult the marine repaints their armour and wargear entirely in the stone scheme. Only parts that the marine cannot have painted in this way remain conventional colours (eye lenses, plasma coils, jump pack jets, perhaps including bolt pistol clips and the like).

 

If that ends up looking too one-dimensional you might add the underlying colour through paint chips in wear-and-tear places. The necessity of this probably depends on the brightness and depth of the stone effect, they could afford to be paler if they're stone all the way.

[Dan The Deamon]

"Quick suggestion: if the stone gargoyle look is what you're after, try to make as many of the details stone colored as possible."

 

That may be the answer. When i painted my wraiths I painted their armor green and nothing else. The intention was that the armor housed the green tinge, and it wasn't paint. I went the same route with these guys, painting the same parts, with exceptions, but I'm after a different goal.

 

Do you guys think I should keep the chapter shoulder pads in their original colors? That's a big part of it. I'm thinking eye lenses, metal bits, and leather bits will be natural. Stone can be everything else. How would bronze skulls look, instead of the natural bone color?

[carnosaur93]

an idea could be to get hold on some of the oldschool gargoyle-style raptor heads? (from 2nd ed i think) you would only need a few in the squad to get the overall gargoyle-theme through

[Trysanna]

Do you guys think I should keep the chapter shoulder pads in their original colors? That's a big part of it. I'm thinking eye lenses, metal bits, and leather bits will be natural. Stone can be everything else. How would bronze skulls look, instead of the natural bone color?

 

I want to say keep the shoulder pad in the original colors, but I feel it would get away from the dulled colors and theme of the gargoyle. Have you thought about dulling down the colors of the shoulder pads? You could also do a bit of a test model, paint it up all in stone and do a nice comparison shot, get a vote going. Like what you did for the Dreadnought pose.

 

I will agree with carnosaur93, and getting some old school Raptor heads might be a good idea. I would have to see it painted up to make a solid choice, but it sounds like a solid idea.

 

Cheers, and best of luck Dan.

[AlexCrute]

It seems to me that these marines might actually pose as gargoyles - perching for days on a cathedral in a contested city with their armour powered down, waiting silently for their prey to manouevre their tank column past their position before striking.

 

To do that they need to be 95% gargoyle-coloured*

 

*Which could incorporate aged metal, verdigris, rust, different types of stone - if you get bored of the one grey.

 

Gargoyle heads are a good call - as would be the gargoyle claw-feet, but the theme will work without these.

 

Chapter badge colours are sacrosanct for loyalist chapters (at least all that I have seen, excepting some temporary camo schemes perhaps), but that's not necessarily so for traitors. Nothing is sacred for them except terror and death. Don't be shy about greyscaling legion badges (or painting over them altogether).

[Dan The Deamon]

Went for more stone and added brass and verdigris.

opinions?

[jerryrich]

that last raptor is *DROOL*!!!

[Samurai_Eduh]

Dan, first off, your work is really inspiring. So much so it has prompted me do redo my own Night Lords army that has been collecting dust since 2nd edition. I looked for the answer for this but couldn't find it. What size plasticard are you using for the leg spacers? 1mm? Thanks in advance!