Sons of Malice, 'Batko Blacks' 7th Company - a WIP project

[Hyaenidae]

Beautiful re-make of Batko brother, but I'm gonna have to agree with GRN, the right foot seems off-kilter a bit. Great job though, man.

[subtlebrush]

Holy hell! I love it man! Cant wait to see him painted.

[Solid Zaku]

Wow, Mr. Batko's coming along well. If you want some advice, here goes:

 

1. If Batko's going to stand on that helmet like that, he should be prepared to be on Tzeentch's blooper reel very quickly. Having his foot on that helmet in that direction seems unnatural, as if all it is is that you just propped him up with a helmet. Next, his plate tabard seems a bit bare in relation to the other aspects of the model. Maybe some jewels/eyes or some spiky bitz? Speaking of which, his right shoulder seems almost 'Orky' in its spikiness, but that's just a minor quibble. Apart from that, great work!

[GooseDaMoose]

@GRN and 1000heathens Thanks for the comments guys! The foot has been fixed :ph34r:

 

@Mr. Malevolent He's still a work in progress; there is much to be done, my friend :cuss

 

@Solid Zaku Thanks for the advice! I gotta say though, I'm not entirely sure what you mean with the direction of his foot? But either way, this isn't his final pose. The helmet is just there at the moment to, indeed, prop him up for pics. How bout a hand nailed to his plate tabard? And yes, the Orky thing I've heard before, with my last rendtition of Batko. But it worked for him, so I think I'll keep it for Batko mk.II :wacko:

[S'jet]

Just wanted to say im loving the colour scheme. Still newish to 40k and havent seen anything like it before =) Will you be adding more details to the chest piece of Mr Batko?

[Brother Melice]

Glad to see you not giving up on your Sons Of Malice buddy.

[hushrong]

New Batko is looking good! I am interested in seeing more worn on the shoulder guard trophy-skeleton and what you do with the bare shin. I am going to miss the originals bare-head though.

[GooseDaMoose]

@S'jet Thanks man, I've been enjoying your Sisters of Battle, it's too rare that someone collects them! I will indeed be adding more, but not too much, I don't want it to look to look blingy.

 

@BrotherMelice Haha no sir, I'm gonna finish these badboys! Thanks for the encouragement!

 

 

And for now I present to you some further work on my Iron Warriors Auxiliaries 'Forlorn Hope'. I've finished both the Claymore-wielders, and added shnazzy packs. I figure they rely on being able to move fast and having the equipment the need. So I slimmed down the packs (I don't understand why they have so many exhausts!?) and added practical gadgets like rope. And explosives :devil: . These guys wouldn't be carrying trophies as it's extra weight and a psychological value they don't need. Here they are:

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/IronWarriors010.jpg

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/IronWarriors008.jpg

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/IronWarriors011.jpg

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/IronWarriors009.jpg

 

 

I've also been trying to think of someone to lead them. They'll need something right? First I thought Warsmith! But I wasn't terribly inspired, and a Warsmith would never help out Iron Warriors who essentially defected. So just a normal line-Sergeant will have to do. I'm working on a backstory for Xartharnassus the Invincible, an Iron Warrior who has been through so many sieges, often as part of the Forlorn Hope, and come out unscathed. Now, where his brother rush ahead beside him, he calmly walks into the breach, weathering unheard of amounts of firepower, and has never been injured seriously.

 

So this is what I came up with for him, I was inspired by the short story in Age of Darkness of the Iron Warrior Warsmith that had a mask fashioned like the Legion symbol, but I'm beginning to think I didn't pull it off so well :P :

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/IronWarriors012.jpg

"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!"

 

 

Furthermore, I've made two specialists for my Bhaghat and Kobyla Squads. First is a heavy bolter gunner. I was most inspired by Dan the Daemon and SCC's renditions of a tactical heavy bolter:

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/IronWarriors001.jpg

 

 

 

Second, a creepy flamer. This guy is an idea I've had for a loooong time:

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/IronWarriors007.jpg

 

So what do people think? Any advice or criticism? I'd gladly hear it, especially on the Iron Warriors Sergeant, since I'm pretty unsure about him so far. Sorry if I ranted at all, I'm a little buzzed B) . Anyway, thank you for looking!

[Volgon]

I like the work on them so far. A few things:

 

1.) On the second guy, I think the grenades on top of his pack look goofy and out of place. I would try to relocate them if possible (his back left hip/thigh look like it would be a decent place to stick them).

 

2.) I think I'll agree with you on the mask :lol: I can't remember if you've used them, but I really love those old IW helmets (IW Heads the one on the far left or far right are the best, imo). I've always thought they're some of the most brutal looking SM helmets out there and I think one of them would fit perfectly on this fellow. I don't think his pose is quite fitting for him either. You mention he's supposed to be sort of wading through battle, daring someone to take a shot at him. I'd suggest looking at Doghouse's gothic marines. A pair of Chaos Warrior legs are fantastic for that very battlefield image.

 

3.) The last guy; love the (what I assume is a) faux-gas mask look. That combat blade is sufficiently brutal as well :P

 

Love the work. Hope this helps!

[ephrael]

Excellent work as usual Goose. I have one small suggestion if I may. The Heavy Bolter conversion looks good with the larger barrel but I think that it would look much better with a larger ammo box. Perhaps a drum mag or something. The way it looks like the bolt rounds would fall out of the barrel not fill it properly.

[Brother Melice]

Goose, let me start with the compliments on the claymorers, beautiful... love the flamer and heavy bolter boys...

Now for the comments... Take those grenades off the top of the power pack, not practical, and looks goofy, a better position is some where close to reach.

 

I like the Iron Warriors Warsmith idea, but i don't feel it from the model. I think using a mark III Iron Armor Helm would do the trick for the head, since their legion logo is based and stylized from that helm.

 

as for the legs, right now they are dorky. You said that the idea was to have him stroll the battle field as if he owns the place, as a larger than life avatar of war. I think that a Doghouse Gothic Marines tut is the best for it... leave the power fist as it is, but adding those Chaos Warrior legs and MK III helm would bring the model to life.

 

Sorry if I sound a little harsh on the comments and opinions... but I think it will help to create yet more unique and gorgeous pieces.

 

Cheers Brother.

[Brother Melice]

AAAAAAAAAHhahhahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Goose! just realized that Volgon has said the exact same thing, but in a more delicate way...!!!!!

you should think it over brother, two can;t be wrong!!!!!!!!!!

[Volgon]

Gothic Marines are probably my favorite type of conversion. I've made two versions of one of my characters, both the Chaos Warrior legs and they look fantastic so I think they'd work very well for your Sergeant.

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

I think you should put some kind of halo or Chaos Star around the legion symbol face guy.

 

The flamer dude looks fantastic, reminds me somewhat of your Sisters of Silence flamer conversion for some reason :P Seriously, though, he's pretty awesome.

 

The sergeant has a pose that fits in with his fluff perfectly - "Come at me bro! Come at me!" ;)

[subtlebrush]

Oh my.... so awesome! One thing bothers me, the grenade on top of the back pack. I cant see him being able to efficiently grab a grenade. Now as far as the skull mask? It reminds me of the Phantom. It has a very "gorilla" like quality to it. I like it but I dont think Iron Warrior when I look at it. Could be a cool idea for a gorilla themed Space Marine Chapter..... something like "The Silverback's". My favorite has to of course be the flamer dude. I absolutely love gas masks, especially the crazy old Nazi ones and this just oozes awesomeness to me. I also give props for the shiv on his left hand, looks very nasty :tu:

[GooseDaMoose]

Okay I hear you guys on the grenades! haha good point about not being able to reach it, I don't know what I was thinking..

 

@Mr.Malevolent Yeah word, I was pretty proud of the scary crazy Nazi-flamer but I am so glad I changed to a shank instead of a knife, so much creepier ;) And holy crap you have totally set off a train of ideas with The Silverbacks thing hahah I gotta go do to the drawing board.

 

@Dark Apostle Thirst Hey man, good to hear from you again! It's been a while. I was thinking since the Iron Warriors are an Auxiliary unit to my Sons of Malice, they wouldn't be big on the whole Chaos thing, and those that are gotta tone it down. Cuz otherwise.. you know.. they get eaten :tu: Thank you bout the Sergeant, and the flamer, perhaps it's the facewear and the greenstuff tubing?

 

@Volgon Haha I hear you man, I would love to do some Gothic marines, sadly I only had one pair of the legs and I used it on my wizard/sorcerer dude. I'm gonna see what I can do with some normal legs though, I gotta get my x-acto..

 

@mikhail Ah good spot. The ammo box attached to the heavy bolter is pretty huge, you only see half of it on the pic, but the rounds should be bigger. I'm gonna file them out and sculpt some bigger rounds ^_^ thanks for the comment!

 

@Brother Melice Hahah thanks for the advice man, don't worry I needed it ;) Good spot on the Iron Helm btw! I hadn't thought of that, it's perfect of course! I'm sculpting one as we speak.

 

 

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'll finish off the flamer and another Claymore marine tomorro! :P

[hushrong]

Reaching for those grenades would be like a bear trying to scratch it's own back. :tu:

 

The auxilleries look interesting, I know for sure I wouldn't want to play hide and seek or peek-a-boo with the flamer marine. He definitely gives off a creepy vibe. Also, where did you get that sergeants name?

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

Oh, I've been watching, there just hasn't been a lot that I could productively comment on ^_^

 

I think you may be right about the flamer people. I'll have to check, which is something I don't need an excuse for :tu:

 

Hmmm. Alright, if no Star of Chaos, how about something else circular? Actually, I think my Halo idea was actually not that bad, because the Iron Warriors would happily loot a relic like that off the battlefield and use it's properties to protect them in a form of cruel irony.

[Natanael]

WOOOOOOW! Flamer dude looks AWESOME! I actually made a small wow-sound right here in my chair :rolleyes: He's gonna look super-cool when done. And, btw, I have to steal that idea. The internet is so good. Since I cant come up with stuff like that myself I can just steal your stuff =)

 

I also like the HB - stealing, probably - and the Sgt, tough I am not so sure about the mask. I mean, it looks well done but since we cant see the rest of the helmet it looks kinda flat and strange. But it might look better IRL.

 

Keep it up!

 

- Natanael

[GooseDaMoose]

@hushrong Interesting? :down: How do you mean? In Norway that's a polite way of saying "weird" lol (not always though) The name I just made up, do you like it? I think I might change it since it's a bit long-winded. I always thought double S's and X's and generally Greek-sounding names fit the Iron Warriors. Don't ask me why..

 

@Dark Apostle Thirst Hmm I'm starting to agree with you about the circular thing. Just not sure what I'm gonna do yet. If I gave him an Iron Halo wouldn't that sort of explain away his invincibility? I want it to be a sort of inexplicable thing, not cuz he has a shield-generator.

 

@Natanael Hahah thanks for the comment man! I'll have to get painting on these bad-boys soon. I've changed the mask, btw so don't worry!

[hushrong]

The name just REALLY got my attention :down: I was just wondering where it came from or if it was made up. I do believe Greek influences are best for the Iron Warriors. My own IW Champion is named Posidious. I also forgot where I heard it, but Afrikaan names are also cool too and I have used a few.

 

And by interesting, I just mean it as is. I am really curious about them. Especially their weapon choices. For Iron Warriors, I view them as non-devout marines and always with an air of paranoia about them. So for them to serve alongside with SoM just really makes me wonder what they hope to gain by taking such a risk to team up with your 7th Company.

 

I think they would be beneficial to the SoM because of their mechanical skills and all forms of siege warfare strategy. I also think tey would be helpful in adding ranged firepower. For a small group of Iron Warriors, i made my fluff squad combat engineers that look for small gaps in defense, insert, and cause enough destruction to open a breach, distract the defenders, sabotage, or mess with their prey psychologically while the big guns are hammerig away. Basically, they will speed up the inevitable.

 

Just some thoughts running around in my head :lol:

[Dark Apostle Thirst]

@Dark Apostle Thirst Hmm I'm starting to agree with you about the circular thing. Just not sure what I'm gonna do yet. If I gave him an Iron Halo wouldn't that sort of explain away his invincibility? I want it to be a sort of inexplicable thing, not cuz he has a shield-generator.

Oh. Duh ^_^

 

Hmmmmm, maybe a ring of fire around the mask? Or even dreadlocks coming out the back. The current problem it's facing right now is the face is slightly two dimensional, and the circle would help give it depth (because it would show how thick the mask/faceplate/helmet really is)

[GooseDaMoose]

@hushrong You mean like old Dutch Afrikaans names? I like your ideas for the Iron Warriors. To be perfectly honest I haven't really figured out the backstory for the Iron Warriors in the midst of Batko's Blacks but claymore-wielding marines are too cool to pass up :)

 

@Dark Apostle Thirst Well, as I say, the helmet is being changed. In fact I've replaced it with a mkIII helm from Brother Melice's suggestion already, and I'm pretty happy with it but I'm definitely liking the ring idea. I love the delicious irony of a sort of anti-halo for one of humanity's worst enemies, especially since he seems to be so blessed.

 

 

Well it's been a while guys but I have a bit of an update. Firstly my creepy flamer has been painted, cept for his skin:

 

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3008.jpg

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3009.jpg

 

 

 

And I've done more work on Batko mkII:

 

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3001.jpg

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3002.jpg

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3005.jpg

 

 

 

I decided on a whim to give him a flayed skin cloak; gotta keep up appearances you know:

 

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3004.jpg

 

 

 

I also tried to sculpt the Makhnovist symbol, also known as the Jolly Rogers out of the skull on his armour, what do you guys think?

 

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3007.jpg

 

 

Decided that taking trophies wouldn't be beneath Batko and gave him the ol' three heads. The heads are "See no evil, say no evil, hear(/smell) no evil" but sadly you can't see it very well on the picture:

 

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa480/GooseElMoose/Batko3006.jpg

 

 

Thanks for looking gents! C&C very welcome, lemme know what you think! :)

[Warsmith Aznable]

Batko "mkII" is very nice. I like the GS work, the stitching on the leather and the mail and plate is nicely detailed. His chest skull design is cool, and I dig the way he's got his trophies. He is interesting and unique.

[Natanael]

Def like Batko Mk II. He looks great, and the painting on the flamer dude makes him even more scary. Good work. A small suggestion tough - file down the GS that connects the flamer cables and the actual flamer, or dont paint them metal. Looks kinda strange now, like the metal is all soft and warped.

 

- Natanael