We are Legion - Legion of the Damned

[Ein]

So I've decided to just keep a working W.I.P. thread on my Legion of the Damned stuff that I'm working on right now.

I've been working on an Ironclad Dreadnought for this army - if you want to see the WIPs of this, here's the thread.

 

I'm going to preempt this thread with my usual warning that things I work on take a long time to get built, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm slowly adding to this thread over the next couple months. Abandon all hope [of regular updates], ye who enter here!

 

So, here's the run-down. This post is a bit disorganized just because it's a collection of a bunch of stuff I've been working on, but it'll develop into a WIP as I keep going, so bear with it. :)

 

For a time, I was looking at starting up a Salamanders army. I bought a bunch of Marine stuff - Drop pods, rhinos, a Land Raider or two, some AoBR guys, some regular tactical marines, assault squads, and termies, you name it. I got all the parts ready to go.

 

Then, all of a sudden, GW ruined it for me by putting out the awesome Legion of the Damned models. The gears in my head started turning, and I had the following conversation with myself:

 

>'I really like these models, self, but they're an elites choice, and sort've impractical!'

>'When has impractical ever stopped you? You took a lumber saw to a squiggoth.'

>'Okay, yes, but how would I really get much out of these models? I love their aesthetic, but I don't quite like their rules.'

>'So what? Why don't you make a whole army out of just these guys? For whatever reason, GW's making like 30 minis for the 10-man squad, so you'd have a good amount of variation.'

>'Hm... I could see that, I guess. Make each Legionnaire the equivalent of a Tactical Marine? Just run a whole army of the guys like they're your standard marine chapter?'

>'Yeah! You could even work the Salamander rules into this - add a Vulkan He'stan-type character, and crank up the fiery death!'

>'Awesome! I have to do this!'

Meanwhile, Ein's Wallet: http://www.fusedcreations.com/adam/emot-suicide.gif

 

So, to sum up the basic idea: An entire army of Legion of the Damned. I realize they're an elites choice in the current codex. I don't care. Basically, all my 'standard' marines will be Legion troopers. I also realize that, as far as their background indicates, they're pretty limited in manpower and don't have much of an organized force. I don't care. My end goal for this is to make a 'counts-as' Vulkan He'stan and run the whole army as a sort of proxy Salamanders. Since the Legion is just as fire-themed as Salamanders, it does make a certain degree of thematic sense. The things I currently already have for Salamanders will be kept, since they're basically interchangeable - they already have flame motifs on them, so all I need to do is add skulls instead of scales and paint black. ;) This has the added bonus of preventing me from having two green armies, and as far as I'm concerned I think the Legion scheme looks a lot sharper on a table. Plus, let's be honest - black is substantially easier to paint and touch up than lime green.

 

So, the lynchpin of this whole process is obviously the Vulkan He'stan conversion. Let me show you guys what's been cooked up.

 

http://www.the-warforge.com/wp-content/gallery/legionvulkan/legionvulkan013.jpg

 

http://www.the-warforge.com/wp-content/gallery/legionvulkan/legionvulkan014.jpg

 

Now, I can't claim credit for all of this. Basically, the greenstuffed parts have been done by a good friend of mine, Zsoulless from The-Waaagh.com, because I can't sculpt worth a damn. The "Hellfire Gauntlet" (which is simply what I've decided to call it; Vulkan's has a fancy name, it's only fair) borrows a concept from Huron Blackheart and integrates a flamer design into the palm of a very large fist. I liked the idea of him just hurling balls of fire. I'm well aware he looks like he wants a hug, but I think it's really only due to the open palm, since the posture is identical to the standard Power Armor Chaplain now. Either way, I still think he looks great.

 

I'm going to add a bit of cabling hanging from the plug in the bottom of the gauntlet that runs up the arm and to the fuel tanks in the backpack... and a skull has also been added to the knee pad of the leading knee, just because it seemed an appropriate place to put it. :)

 

The scythe bit is something I figured out before I sent it over to Z. After looking around for inspiration, I actually discovered a great miniature with a very nice scythe - Reaper's Death Priest. After eyeballing the dimensions of the scythe up a bit, I ordered one, and it seems to be a pretty perfect fit. There's a paperclip running down the middle of the styrene tube in the handle that serves as a pin for the scythe's head; wraps that match the chaplain's existing handle will hopefully be sculpted up to the head of the scythe over the white styrene part. I was also thinking that it'd look great if the skull that serves as the base for the blade were lit aflame, so that'll need some attention. :) Going to have to practice some OSL if I want this model pop, I think.

 

Z's also come up with a brilliant substitute for Kesare's Mantle by making a skull press-mold cloak. Now, instead of being layered in dragonscales, the Vulkan counts-as will have souls of the damned screaming out from his tattered cloak. I think if I could paint them up to look a bit ethereal (maybe some grey-blue highlights on a black cloak, to make them look ghostly) it'd be awesome.

 

On the other end of things, I figured I'd make myself a Terminator Librarian. 've always liked the idea of a Librarian, and back when I was working on my Salamanders I was collecting parts for a nice conversion. Most of those parts are no longer helpful to me, as I've switched over to the Legion, but I still want to make a Librarian for the army, so off I go.

 

The start of this conversion is actually a Terminator Chaplain. The reason for this is really simple. I was looking at the Terminator Librarian model and thinking to myself, "That's not going to work for the Legion. The head needs to be a skull." Fortunately, before I set about trying the miserable task of dremelling out the head cavity, I remembered that the Chaplain Terminator was... well, pretty much exactly the model I'd be making, so why not use one as the base? It's one of GW's best models, anyway, covered in a ton of rich detail.

 

It just so happened that I did have a Terminator Chaplain around, so I started working on him... and this is the first few small steps.

 

http://www.the-warforge.com/wp-content/gallery/legionlibby/legionlibby008.jpg

 

http://www.the-warforge.com/wp-content/gallery/legionlibby/legionlibby009.jpg

 

http://www.the-warforge.com/wp-content/gallery/legionlibby/legionlibby010.jpg

 

I'm waiting for the greenstuff to fully harden before I set about cleaning it up by sanding it a bit, but you get the idea of what's going on here. I carved a psychic hood that'd fit right over the normal Chaplain Terminator armor, and then greenstuffed the seam over - after sanding, it should hopefully be seamless.

 

I also yoinked a rather neat sword off a fantasy model -Archaon, from WHFB's Warriors of Chaos. (Side note: I still have the entire rest of the model, horse and all, and nothing to do with it. If anyone wants to buy it, drop me a message. ;) ) It's a good-sized flaming sword that I originally intended to use for my Salamanders - but it fits the Legion just as nicely.

 

I found a cloak, courtesy of the... well, very, very, very old Von Carstein model from 4th edition WHFB. I certainly wasn't playing back then, but I picked this up off eBay on a lark, and I'm glad I did - it fits the back of Terminator armor like a glove. A little dremelling in the small of the Terminator's back was needed, right below the vents, to get the cape to sit properly, but it's just the right height and width to go there. It splays out more to one side than the other, but I think the asymmetry adds a bit of interest to his pose. I'm currently picturing the left arm swept out, like he just swung it around from the front (which would work nicely with the cape). On the base, there'll be a ring of fire encircling the front left quarter of the miniature, gaining height as it nears the cloak and his hand. It's hard to explain, but I have a pretty clear image of it in my head, so you may just have to wait. :)

 

I'm hoping this miniature firewall on the base will be acceptable to most players as a storm shield, because the pose I'm picturing wouldn't be too hospitable to me strapping a shield on the left arm. We'll see!

[War Angel]

you realise, there are rules for "Legion of the Damned" That include vehicals and all that funn stuff, More then just tactical marines, and im sure youre opponent will let you use a throwback army so long as youre not in a GW game

[dizzy-xc]

Wow that cape is bad ass!

 

So where you get these LotD rules for stuff other than the tac squad?

[Thadrash]

Looks awsome with some paints addes it would look real bad ass

 

Where did you get the metal cape on your terminator chaplin from?

[Brother Alucard]

Looks awsome with some paints addes it would look real bad ass

 

Where did you get the metal cape on your terminator chaplin from?

 

not 100%, but think they cape might be from a Vampire count.

Looking awesome dude

[Alys Dwr]

I know people just skimthrough and look at the pictures, but 8 times out of 10 the OP has probably already given the answer, as in this case...

I found a cloak, courtesy of the... well, very, very, very old Von Carstein model from 4th edition WHFB.

 

Grumpy old man aside, i think you've got a couple of great models there and i like the driving idea behind them. My one crit is that the sword on the chaplain librarian looks a little front heavy. I might try extending the hilt some or adding some cabling to balance the visual weight a but more. Or maybe cut out the small gap before his hand to make it look more like he is bareing the weight of it.

 

Al

[Asrech]

Holy cow, loving what you got going here my friend! Next time you see Zsoulless, give him a pat on the back from me, cause that cape is made of pure win (the "vulkan" one ). Make sure to give 'em lots of love when you paint them, cause these guys can turn out sah-weeeet :rolleyes:

 

Cheers!

[Haunter!]

Zsoulless never disappoints me with his greenstuff skills, the guy's a master. I love the idea of that cape and the combi-fist looks amazing. The pose looks kind of like a "Come and get me!" stance if you ask me. Cocky, yet still pretty classy. The hand could be up-turned a bit to make him look a bit more serious I think.

 

The Termie Chaplain is always a great model and the posing works perfectly with the force weapon. I'm jealous of that cape, I've actually been looking for something like that for a termie captain I have planned. It's good to know that the proper size is out there... somewhere.

 

As a fan of skull motifs, this is a project I'll be watching intently.

[Justicar Valius]

Excellent use of the Archaon sword ;)

[Midas]

^_^ you got a great army just with those two lol. paint em up good for us. :)

[Apothecary Orpheus]

Excellent idea,and even an better execution.I love chaplain minis and an army full of skull and bone motif

sounds perfect.the dread by the way looks great,a walking reliquiary.Keep it up and happy painting.