Shadow Force Dragomir - A Raven Guard Army

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

That is one of the most beautiful ideas I've ever seen for a missile launcher marine!

[SCC]

@Tiny Sam: I'm a big fan of flattery :) Please be sure to drop by and post your version here when it's done though, I love seeing the results of sharing the hobby through the B&C.

@CM Ignis Domus: Thanks mate, I think a lot of folks have had to idea over the years, it's just a pain to actually pull it off is all...

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Earlier this year I undertook the Librarium Painting Challenge, mostly because Sigismund Himself had absoloutely no shame about embarrassing me into participating through belittling of my abilities to actually complete a) a project of any sort at all and b ) do so at anything faster than the pace of your average glacier. Below is the vow I committed myself too:

I, SCC of the Administratum, vow on the honour of the Raven Guard to paint and present at least one combat squad and one Rhino on or before the 31st of March, 2011. I promise to provide at least two WIP updates, preferably with pictures, in that time. I vow that if I should fail, I will provide the Librarium with an article and wear the Signature of Shame until my penitence period is done.

Since I made that vow on January 5th I have indeed posted many, many picture laden updates to my LPC vow both here on my blog and on the

SFD thread in the WIP forum and I am now extremely pleased to announce I have completed my vow! Huzzah!

Below are my completed LPC miniatures - a Rhino and a Combat Squad in the guise of Raven Guard:

So, take that Sig! Ha! :woot:

And for those who want to see how that bedamned ML Marine turned out, here he is:

Battle Brother Ioan:

And this is something I posted to my blog about how I did it for those who are curious about that too:

Close CMD7, close, it's a bolt pistol arm rather than a chainsword one - the pistol grip in the hand melds better with the ML carry handle than the chainsword grip. I think it's just from the regular Assault sprue, at worst it's part of the extra gear you get in a Tac squad for the Sergeant and spec/heavy weapons so should be pretty easy to find one.

First I clipped the ML from the ML arm and added a pistol grip from a bolter. There was a little bit of GS work to smooth out and bulk up the pistol grip/trigger area but nothing too hard. Next I clipped the BP from the left arm, tidied up the hand and carefully clipped a gap in the ML carry handle to make a good tight fit. There was then a lot of faffing about with the pose, long story short Brother Argos convinced me the arm needed to be straighter than it was out of the box.

That wasn't too hard either, I used a hobby knife to cut a deep 'V' in the elbow joint (where the ribbing is), prepped some good hard GS ( a little extra blue) and then carefully straightened the arm by hand. That done I stuffed the gap with the GS, let it harden for a while and then sculpted (badly) the ribbing and tidied up the armoured bits. I also ended up removing the top of the shoulder and flattening the area where the arm joins the body to get the arm in the right place to swing and get the angles a little more natural, that kind of thing will vary from mini to mini of course.

If I did it again I'd probably cant the wrist back just a fraction but it's not a major thing, I'd also see if I could find a way to rig up the cable that normally lives on the ML arm too.

[hushrong]

Congrats on completing your Vow.

 

Your RG look great and I think I will use your ML conversion in the future. It is a very cool and unique look.

[SCC]

@Hushrong: Thanks :)

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My lighting set up simply isn't adequate for 10 Marines but below is a full squad shot of Tactical Squad Atanas (formerly Tac Squad Rhuarc but the Sgt Rhuarc figure still isn't right, so Atanas (centre) has taken over the squad):

Actually my lighting set up isn't adequate for 5 Marines either but here's the second Combat Squad for the Second of the Fourth:

.

And here's the other half of the squad completed earlier in the year:

Finally here are some decent pics of the last Marine for the squad - Battle Brother Constantin:

And one at a slight angle so you can see the RG symbol on the chest:

I'm pretty happy with Constantin, he was perhaps 4 hours work and I like the old school look I've achieved with him. For the record, plastic legs and beaky head were matched to FW Mk. V arms and shoulder pads plus an Umbra pattern bolter neatly complemented by the old style power pack. The chest is from the Red Scorpion pack - it's Sergeant Whatsisname's with the RS symbol removed with a hobby knife and replaced with an etched brass RG symbol.

For a change this is actually a pretty decent photo, the whole squad is this dark or a touch lighter at most and I also quite like my Chapter/Squad markings on the right pad. I thought about adding Tac green in there somewhere but I really liked how black he was with just stark white contrasts.

As usual a big thanks to all those who've given me advice and encouragement, I'd still be stuck on that ML pose if it wasn't for you guys, so thanks! :D

Also a big thanks to Sigismund Himself - the LPC was a huge part of my motivation for finishing the squad, so thanks for running the LPC again mate! :tu:

Next up we have Dragomir himself, though I'm nervous about painting the model, I still haven't figured out a way to do the runes, maybe the Vallejo Air metallics I've got coming will give me a solution. And if I wimp out of painting the boss-man I've just customised and undercoated my first bike. I'm considering having the bikers be weathered and beaten with the idea that they've been deployed on planet as recon for several days whilst the rest of the force has just arrived. We'll see...

[Gillyfish]

Congratulations SCC - that's a lovely looking squad. Sounds like you have been inspired to continue the approach. If so, you should ave a fantastic looking force before the year is out!

[SCC]

Fingers crossed Gilly!

 

The two Tac squads are maybe 25% of the models so year's end is still my goal, we'll see how quickly the bikes go I guess...

[SCC]

Latest WIP shots of Dragomir:

Just snap shots and still plenty left to do but coming together nicely I think. He doesn't look super-obviously Librarian-y right now, I'll be doing his right pad in blue so that should help. Not gonna win any GD but should look good on the table with the rest of the army and that's the main aim :)

[Legio Draconis]

Dragomir looks bad ass brother. It will look very on the table top.

[Dorns Padawan]

SCC - just been throughout the whole thread & man I am jealous with envy!!!!! Your RG is so clean cut & pretty!!!! Your ML guy is a quality idea (i know its been said many times previously!). I love the Rhino. Your SL conversion is great so far, not seen him painted black yet - nice touch. Look forward to more!!!!

[Dosjetka]

I agree that Dragomir (a Slavonic name, per chance?) is looking great. I'm glad you've done him before the Bikes :sick:

 

Congratulations on completing the vow too, something I've failed to achieve, second year running :lol:

 

Looking forward to seeing your progress :angry:

 

Ludovic

[SCC]

@Dorn's Padawan: Thanks man, hope you enjoy the finished Dragomir!

@Ludovic: Aye, Slavic/Balkans names are the theme I went with in the end for the RG (well, plus the names of some of my favourite fantasy novel characters just 'cos I can). I decided the finish Dragomir first because that gives me the base units for a legal army - 1 HQ, 2 Troops - if I'm inclined to find some small practice games prior to completing the whole army.

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The Sevrin Loth mini which forms the basis of this mini is a lovely bit of work and I'm hoping I've done just enough to make Dragomir distinct from Sevrin without ruining the underlying coolness of the model. Obviously he's in black rather than blue and the scheme contains fewer colours over all than most Librarians which should help 'Raven-ise' him . Together with the change of base, thanks to Argos' advice, and a few FW RG bitz I think the result is a decently RG model and one that doesn't look too much like the original Loth model.

The other FW parts are the studded left pad, something I identify strongly with my RG, and the FW RG pad on the left give him a decent Raven Guard identity swap. The RG symbol on the knee, the RG backpack and the use of white rather than yellow as my primary accent colour also help tie Dragomir to the RG and more specifically to Shadow Force Dragomir.

The conversion was very simple, I used the force staff from the =][= Eisenhorn figure with the staff top removed and replaced with a 28mm scale facsimile made from two Iron Halos and a small skull. The base change was a matter of clipping off the stone under the foot on the original model and replacing it with part of the statuary taken from the Imperial Sanctum building. I had hoped to make that statue marble-esque but that proved beyond me in any reasonable sort of time frame.

One of my normal lights died the other day and I need a new bulb for it but here are the best shots I could grab of the completed Dragomir. Note that technically I still have to do the scroll/purity seals but I'm trying to make some decals for those 'cos I suck at free hand but that oughtn't detract too much:

I decided to stop tinkering at just on 11 hours for this mini, I could've kept trying to get the staff skull right, indeed the whole staff is something of a disappointment and may be replaced with the very similar one on the new GK sprues one day in the future when the army is complete. Similarly the bird skull on the right pad is a little flat and could do with some extra work but I have to keep reminding myself that this is a tabletop army.

Tabletop. Tabletop. Tabletop. That's my mantra for this army or it'll never get finished like all my others.

That said I'm extremely happy with the blue touches on Dragomir, I think the highlights are just about spot on and the colour is the one I had in mind for the Librarian elements of the mini all along. You can see the blues nicely in this shot, complemented quite well by the Terminator Honours I think:

Just ignore the staff in that shot *shudder*

Tabletop. Tabletop. Tabletop.

All up, Dragomir won't win any Golden Daemon's but he should look good at the front of SFD and should serve nicely as my first army centrepiece :blink:

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Next up, 3 bikes, the third and final Tac squad and the Dreadnought. The Tac squad will be done concurrently with the Bikes and Dread, I can complete regular Tac Marines fairly steadily/regularly and that helps give me motivation to keep moving forward. I'm hoping that this will help me keep going now the LPC is done. I also need to start working on the vehicles soon...

[Dosjetka]

I'm blown away.. Apart from a couple of little things here and there, you've managed to paint up the model at quite a high standard (for me, at least) and make it Raven-esque enough! Great stuff, really! The blue is especially nice and adds some nice contrast B)

 

As for the purity seals, please, please don't use decals! I didn't like them on the Rhino and they won't go well on Dragomir, I don't think :)

 

Anyway, looking forward to the rest :)

 

Ludovic

 

Edit:

@Ludovic: Aye, Slavic/Balkans names are the theme I went with in the end for the RG (well, plus the names of some of my favourite fantasy novel characters just 'cos I can).

Which fantasy novel is that then? Also, why Slavonic? (just being curious :blink:)

Edited March 21, 2011 by Battle-Brother Ludovic

[SCC]

Thanks Ludovic.

 

I chose Slavic names because they sounded right for the RG and similar to the few names we already know that aren't directly Raven related. The names from books come from all over the place, stuff like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, Eddings' Elenium trilogy and Elizabeth Moon's Paksennarion books so far, stuff I've been reading during the army build really.

 

When I talk about the decals for the purity seals I'm talking about adding decals to the parchments already on the mini (leg, big one on the other leg and shoulder) and the decals I'm talking about are like the ones here on Brother Argos' ML Marine (see the inside thigh). My hands aren't steady enough to make reasonable squiggly lines so I'm hoping a simple decal like that will solve the problem, maybe with an aquila or something for the big bit of parchment too.

[Dosjetka]

When I talk about the decals for the purity seals I'm talking about adding decals to the parchments already on the mini (leg, big one on the other leg and shoulder) and the decals I'm talking about are like the ones here on Brother Argos' ML Marine (see the inside thigh). My hands aren't steady enough to make reasonable squiggly lines so I'm hoping a simple decal like that will solve the problem, maybe with an aquila or something for the big bit of parchment too.

Ah, I see. I do admit it looks quite good but I'm still a bit biased... Anyway, we'll see how it turns out ;)

 

As for the Slavonic names, I do admit they go quite well with the Raven Guard. :tu:

 

Ludovic

[Natanael]

The names from books come from all over the place, stuff like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, Eddings' Elenium trilogy and Elizabeth Moon's Paksennarion books so far, stuff I've been reading during the army build really.

 

You just named my three favourite book-series in correct order =D It was a long time since I read the Paksennarion tough.

 

Anyway - the RG Librarin looks really good. I think he has got the perfect amouth of "librarian"-blue while still being RG and not having the "shoot me"-sign on him.

 

- Natanael

[Olis]

Beautiful paintwork, SCC. Relly gotta hand it to you, man, display quality stuff here.

[Brother Nihm]

Codicier Artan Dragomir, now a completely new way to spell sexy.

[SCC]

@Natanael: Thanks, as I said, I was pretty happy with the blue myself ^_^

 

@Olisredan: Too kind, too kind, but thank you :)

 

Codicier Artan Dragomir, now a completely new way to spell sexy.

;)

 

You're making me blush Nihm! Thanks though, as I said, I'm pretty happy with Dragomir and the entire army at this point. I still can't believe that in six months I've actually painted a playable force, it's unheard of!

[Desert Eagle]

No need to blush, this is brilliant suff. Simple and clean, yet really facinating and intriguing. I love it.

 

I have ordered that librarian myself from forge world. Now that i've seen him in black i think i have to paint him up that way myself. There just is something very Darth Vader over Dragomir. :tu: Alongside the running missile marine, he's my favourite... But i'm not truly sold on his force weapon. I know the original one looks a bit tiny, so i understand why you'd want to replace it. But i think the main issue i have with yours is the colour. Looks too woody and not futuristic enough for my tase. I'd give it a metallic colour, or even black to match the rest of the mini, perhaps with the runes or whaterver it is picked out with a bright blue. Just a thought.

[malika666]

What happened to those beaky helmets with the old school shark teeth?

[The_son_of_Dorn]

That Librarian kicks ass!!!! looks so much better in full black im in love!

[SCC]

There just is something very Darth Vader over Dragomir. :) Alongside the running missile marine, he's my favourite... But i'm not truly sold on his force weapon. I know the original one looks a bit tiny, so i understand why you'd want to replace it. But i think the main issue i have with yours is the colour. Looks too woody and not futuristic enough for my tase. I'd give it a metallic colour, or even black to match the rest of the mini, perhaps with the runes or whaterver it is picked out with a bright blue. Just a thought.

I agree with the Vader comment, I can just picture Dragomir being very disturbed by someone's lack of faith ;)

 

I also actually agree with the force weapon comments. I tried a gloss black (sort of obsidian like) with glowing blue runes right at the start of the process, and blue runes on the legs too, but I just couldn't get it to look right so I went with 'play, not display' and took the simpler approach you see before you. As I've also said, when those GK sprues come out the very similar force staff might make an ideal replacement for me to try out something like that then.

 

@Malika: You mean the Corvus Corax helmets? The ones that looked like raven's beaks (hopefully)? Well, so far I've just used the one, it's in the first Tac squad, second from right. If you're talking about shark's teeth, as much as I love that idea, I wasn't planning any for this army, maybe one of the Carcharadons/Space Sharks armies out there...

 

@The_son_of_dorn: Thanks, though I actually like the mini in blue, Ravendove's Sons of Orar libby based on the Loth model has a very different, but very cool, feel compared to my version. The original FW paint scheme is pretty schmick too.

[Nomus Sardauk]

So SCC, what backpack will Codicier Dragomir get? Will he be footslogging alongside the battle-brothers of Squad Atanas or will he be taking to the skies like his Chapter's namesake?

 

If you choose jumppack please let it be a winged one... *crosses fingers*

[Dosjetka]

So SCC, what backpack will Codicier Dragomir get? Will he be footslogging alongside the battle-brothers of Squad Atanas or will he be taking to the skies like his Chapter's namesake?

 

If you choose jumppack please let it be a winged one... *crosses fingers*

He's got a backpack... :)

 

Ludovic

[Nomus Sardauk]

So SCC, what backpack will Codicier Dragomir get? Will he be footslogging alongside the battle-brothers of Squad Atanas or will he be taking to the skies like his Chapter's namesake?

 

If you choose jumppack please let it be a winged one... *crosses fingers*

He's got a backpack... :huh:

 

Ludovic

 

*headdesk* Damnit, missed those photos. I was looking at the ones towards the top of the page. Guess I need to visit the Apothecarium, my Occulobe implant seems to be on the fritz again...

Edited March 24, 2011 by SanguiniusReborn