The_Xander Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 I have been building this army since the start of the summer and figure that it is time to show it off and get some feedback. there is quite a bit of fluff here so please bare with me! This army is based on the ancient Greek play the Bacchae. When I first read this story over 5 years ago I at-once noticed how slaaneshian it is, with its themes of corruption and desire for revenge. Oh and also because of the orgies. In the story, Bacchus (known in Rome as Dionysus) is the product of the union of the great god Zeus and Semele, daughter of Cadmus the king of Thebes. In the story, Cadmus and his other daughters, Ino, Agave and Autonoe do not believe that Semele was the lover of Zeus and so ignore Bacchus’ claim to divinity. In revenge for this refusal to recognise his power Bacchus drives the women of Thebes insane; sending them to the mountains where they revel in their new gods power. Included within this number are his three aunts, who along with the other women have donned animal furs and carry conduits of Bacchic power in the form of sticks of ivy (a thyrsus). These maenads as they have become known resist all efforts to remove them, slaughtering men and animals alike in their orgiastic hedonism. Refusing to acknowledge Bacchus’ divinity, Pentheus, the ruler of Thebes and son of Agave (therefore cousin to Bacchus) moves against the God and attempts to imprison and kill him. For this Bacchus casts him down, making him believe that his city is destroyed and that the only way that he can end the women’s madness is to debase himself and then to go to the mountains and spy on them. It is here that Bacchus completes his revenge, his maenads discover Pentheus dressed as one of them and push him into the open, where his mother and aunts perceive him as a mighty lion and rip him apart to adorn themselves with his fur. Agave only realised what she has done much later on when she finally recognises that the lions head that she has been proudly carrying around is in fact the severed head of her own son. The way that I interpret the story to fit into the 40k universe is that the maenads are in fact a mixed sex space marine chapter, with Cadmus as their chapter master and Pentheus as one of the high ranking captains. His aunts and mother I regard as lieutenants or some similar rank. As corrupted marines I have used loyalist models for the vast majority of the force and have equipped all of them with a thyrsus which I made out of brass wire, GS and brass ivy leaves from Aber. I have used heads from hasslefree miniatures to make them all female and have then sculpted hair and patched of fur onto them. The shoulder-pads are genesis chapter, chosen simply because they are a basic pad which I had never seen anyone use before which could be interpreted as a number of potential chapters given its simplicity. The motivation behind the force is to create the army that I have been envisioning for a long time and so most of the models, (the maenads) are not WYSIWYG. Instead the models with the longer thyrsus' are special weapons troopers, which are usually melta guns. The exceptions to this are a few heavy weapon troopers that are the genuine weapon and the chorus of emperors children, who are all equipped as they are used. According to the conventions of Greek plays parts of the story are told by a chorus, which fits in with Bacchus’ cohort that accompanies him from the east and are dressed in a similarly exotic fashion. For the army I see this chorus obviously as noise marines, especially given that they ventured onto stage carrying an assortment of musical instruments. They will be painted in much the same way as the normal marines so as to fit in with the army, but will ofc stand out because of their equipment and the pink areas of their armour. Here is the 1500pt list that I use at the moment with them: Sorceress Mark of slaanesh Lash of submission Jump pack 10 marines in a extra armoured (some times possessed) rhino with 2 melta guns and the mark of chaos undivided X2 6 noise marines 1 blastmaster 4 sonic blasters 10 jump pack marines Mark of chaos undivided 2 meltas Asp champ with a power fist. 3 obliterators Pictures! (old ones, I have painted a number of these guys but may as well go from the beginning eh?) http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/235/photo0217b.jpg unfinished normal marines http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4014/photo0215b.jpg Agave, holding her sons head. severed head is from the now old space wolf sprue, hair is sculpted to look like a lions mane, but the pic aint that great, so this shall have to be revealed in the future... sorry! http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/7155/photo0225m.jpg My old build (3 years) of Bacchus, back when daemon princes could be small. http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4590/photo0254u.jpg the re-build of him along-side some of the chorus, which was composed of chopped up older figures. have started painting them now (pictures to come) and they are looking alright, the old paint isn’t obscuring any detail which is good. http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/8126/photo0278zb.jpg bad close-up on the jump pack sorceress. will be replaced by a daemon prince when they release the plastics and I have finished chopping it around :D http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5279/photo0273r.jpg both up-armoured rhinos. the smoke launchers have been repositioned so that they can be used as havok launchers if i want them to be. that’s the aim anyway. http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5267/photo0275v.jpg http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1213/photo0276.jpg first 5 raptors, note asp champ in the middle http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/7358/photo0277j.jpg other 6. have built 11 incase I don’t want to use an asp champ. http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/5338/photo0261j.jpg close-up on special weapons raptor http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6919/photo0279.jpg my 3 obliterators. I really really do not like the actual models, and they wouldn’t have fit into the army anyway, so i have built these guys. they are suspended in the air by ivy tendrils in order to show their power and to give them more presence. they are fluff-wise former devastator marines and they still have the weapon backpacks on. also note the old-style leg stabilisers that have been modelled on. a number of models, especially these guys, have dead marines on their bases. this is to illustrate their corruption and to reflect a part of the play where a group of maenads slaughter a phalanx. bodies are being painted in exactly the same way as the troops themselves. well I think that will do for now. will try to get some of the painted models uploaded later. any thoughts or suggestions are welcomed, so are any ideas for an alternative defiler- I love the stat line but the model itself would not fit the feel of the army... thanks! Xander. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlagueBearer Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 I love it!!!Love it love it!!! Great conversions and great fluff!!! I love the fact you mixed an ancient greek myth with modern sci-fi fiction!!! I hope your painting skills are half as good as your green stuffing!!! If they are then this will be a great army!!! If you paint as good as your green stuffing then this will be a kickbutt army!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morticon Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Amazing stuff dude. Keep it coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jlmb_123 Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 That's a stunning concept! I like your Agave miniature, it's got a lot of drama (did he just say that? Boo!) to it, and the army in general has a real fantasy element to it. Congratulations, Sir/Madam(e)! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terminatorinhell Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Haha the funny thing is I was just reading about Cadmus' great great great grandson, Oedipus, these are coming out nicely those and I love the hasslefree heads, so easy to customize! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Loring Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Incredible green stuffing. One MINOR comment/criticism, the back obliterator looks as if he/she is blowing a kiss or been punched in the mouth. It may just be that its a bit further away and I can't fully make it out. It just doesn't seem in character with the rest of the squad/force. One question, what did you use as a base for the special weapons prior to GSing?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyoz Devastrius Posted October 4, 2009 Share Posted October 4, 2009 Great models. I applaud you for using Bacchus as inspiration- I have tried to do the same with my take on the loyalist Libators chapter(second founding successors of Ultramarines). Amongst others I decided to use the name Maenad for their homeworld, they ritually drink and pour wine, and have decorative vine motives on their armour. The demons codex mentions six domains of slaaneshi realm and two of them are obviously connected with Bacchus- circle of Gluttony with lavish foods and wines, and circle of Vainglory -a mesmerizing garden. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Xander Posted October 4, 2009 Author Share Posted October 4, 2009 painted models! here are the 20 basic marines finished: http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/6803/photo0289c.jpg and close-ups of 2 of the marines http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/4461/photo0290a.jpg the three sisters. they will be having their names painted onto their shoulders when i get round to it. all of the models need patches of static grass adding to the bases, but that will be done once all of them are finished. http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8295/photo0288c.jpg close close-up on Pentheus' severed head, which needs bloodying then touching up. http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/2909/photo0287.jpg here is one of the almost finished noise marines, they need a bit more work, such as on their shoulder pads and leather/crests/bases, but then are done. http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/4662/photo0293n.jpg and bacchus undercoated: http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/2849/photo0296r.jpg here you go Brother Loring: close up of the back oblit. meant to be awash with hedonistic pleasure, so the kissing thing could work! http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3063/photo0295e.jpg thanks for all of your support! i hope that you enjoy this project log, cos i think that it is going to be updating for a while. keep commenting please, it does wonders for my motivation :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Business Posted October 5, 2009 Share Posted October 5, 2009 I was minoring in Greek History and Mythology while I was attending College, and I just want to say that I find your army a refreshing break from the "sex drugs and rock'n'roll" of today's Slaanesh...tis boring if I do say so myself. Congrats and you are now followed! ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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