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Strike Force Baptiste (Mortifactors)


Koyote

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It would be really cool if you magnetized them and used them as hull point counters!

Brilliant idea.  http://z6.ifrm.com/8152/110/0/e14144//e14144.gif

 

 

I've finished two more Herakli and the squad is now at min size.  Three more and I can move on to my Cataphractii conversion.

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPHerakli8_zps0143ea74.jpg

 

Deathwatch (Black Templar)

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWBT1_zps774a63c4.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWBT2_zpsfc2f3dc3.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWBT3_zpsf509a23a.jpg


For those of you unfamiliar with Black Templar markings, the red Chapter Badge indicates that this Templar is a member of his Fighting Company's Sword Brethren -the equivalent of a Codex Chapter's First Company.

The combi-melta is an OOP GW metal bit.  It's an odd design.  Long before this bit was sculpted, GW had standardized its Space Marines' two handed shooting stance as right handed.  Nevertheless, whoever sculpted this combi-melta put the winged skull design on the left side of the weapon, so when it is placed in hands of a typical Space Marine model, the design is between the weapon and the marine's chest.  I suppose this was done to balance out the ammunition canister on the right side of the weapon.  The end result, however, is an emblem obscured from sight and a relatively, large, flat, unadorned section on the opposite side of the weapon.  

As I repurpose GK stormbolters for my Herakli models, I have been removing the GK insignia on the stormbolters and replacing them with skulls. Experience has taught me that when modeling, to save anything that can possibly be reused in the future, even if I don't yet know what that future purpose is. Well here it paid off.  After painting the combi-melta, I didn't like the look of the empty space on the right side of the combi-melta, so, since the Deathwatch are part of the Ordo Xenos, I filled the blank space with an Inquisitor 'I' that I removed from a GK stormbolter.

 

Smashing work, Koyote! I'm very impressed, as usual, by your great painting and conversion skills :tu: I think that your GS skills are actually very good, especially compared to mine :P

 

 

Looking forward to the next update!

Those Deathwatch are great, how have you highlighted the black?

Thanks.

 

My recipe for black is really quite simple. I start with a black primer. Over that I put a coat of GW's Abaddon Black. Lastly, I highlight with GW's Eshin Grey.

 

 

 

And back at my hobby desk...

 

The Herakli are ready to go to war! http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/roman_zps3a679378.gif

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPHerakli9_zpsc70b8ea7.jpg

 

I fiddled around with the parts I collected to assemble my Cataphractii and it's just not working. The model is still to small and I'm thrilled with with the way it looks. Consequently, I've decided to suspend this project, indefinitely.


I really like the way the Herakli turned out, so I am going to stick with my Mortifactors/Ordo Xenos/Mechanicus theme (i.e. SMs with GK allies). Clearly, the GK Dreadknight model doesn't fit the theme and I don't have a Mechanicus stand-in, so its out of my list. This leaves me with a 200 point hole in my list.

After some discussion with my gaming buddies, I have decided to fill the hole with a rifleman Dread and some reinforcements to two existing units.


GK Dreadnought, AutoC, AutoC, psybolt ammo, searchlight = 136 points

+2 GKs, +1 psycannon = 50 points

Warrior Acolyte, plasma gun = 14 points


The Dreadnought will be a Deathwatch Dread so thus the ranking member of the Deathwatch contingent. I am going to stick with the name Roland for the pilot and I've come up with the perfect name for his Dreadnought armor: Turris Tenebris. biggrin.png

The extra two GKs bring my Strike Squad up to max size, thus giving the squad access to the second heavy weapon (i.e. psycannon)

When I ditched the plan to model a Techpriest mounted on a Cataphractii, I was left with a problem. Who is the ranking member of the Mechanicum contingent? I had considered replacing the current count-as Justicar Herakli model with a Techpriest, but then I thought, Techpriests aren't usually the sort to lead from the front. That's what their machines and biological-machine hybrids are for.

As I was trying to figure out what to do with the last of my points the solution came to me.

Embarked upon the Chimera with his retinue, Baptiste (Coteaz) is being underutilized. The range of the Henchmen Psykers' attack is 36". Embarked, the Psykers' line-of-sight is drawn from the Chimera's hatch, which is high enough to see over intervening infantry models. And finally, Chimeras have lousy side armor. When considered together, these factors have led me to the conclusion that the best place for the Chimera is back behind my lines.

Baptiste's most useful ability, his Divination powers, have either a 24" or 12" or 'self' range. So, when stuck back behind my lines, I have, at times, not had the range to best utilizing Baptiste's psychic powers. Conversely, if I put Baptiste in the thick of it, attached to my newly reinforced GK squad, he will be in a better position to use more of his powers.

This leaves an open spot in the Chimera, so I am going to use the last of my points to add a Techpriest to the Henchmen Warband. Like most Techpriests, he isn't much of a hand-to-hand fighter, so he hangs back with the rest of Baptiste's henchmen, while Baptiste and his Herakli praetorian take the fight to the enemy. The Techpriest will be represented by a Warrior Acolyte armed with a plasma gun. My plan is to use the 'Missionary with Plasma Gun' model.

http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1280309_99060108065_WHMissionaryPlasmaGunMain_445x319.jpg

I will either replace his head with a hooded head or sculpt for him a GS hood. The face will get the Mechanicum treatment. The top of the staff gets replaced with something a bit more Mechanicum-like. A GS gear will be added to the skull pendant around his neck. The model's bionic arm is good as is, as is the old school plasma gun. The backpack will be replaced by mechadendrites.

The model would be even better if I could replace its plasma gun with one of the Forgeworld Volkite weapons, but I don't want to shell out $15 + shipping for a kit when all that I need is one gun.

Actually, now that I think about it, I may have the bits to make my own Volkite Charger. Hmm...

The last two members of my Herakli cohort have been assembled, bringing the squad up to 10 models.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPHerakli10_zpsf47a96c0.jpg

The hammer, which serves as a counts-as Nemesis Daemon Hammer, comes from the Iron Hands Tactical Squad Upgrade Pack.  The hammer works brilliantly as a Mechanicum weapon.  The design is austere, clunky and mechanical.  The hammer's tubing matches the tubing on the Iron Brotherhood model's arms and body. And best of all, the Mechanicum skull-and-cog design are on both sides of the hammer's head.

One small hitch. The hammer bit is left handed. So, in addition to removing the arm from the bit, I had to cut the left hand from the shaft, careful not to damage the adjacent tubing, and then replace it with a right hand.

Deathwatch (White Scars):

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWWS1_zps96aec5c2.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWWS2_zps3c2741b9.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWWS3_zps3e5683ed.jpg

Here, I intentionally chose to use the Assault Marine 'running legs' because of the White Scars' focus on lightning raids and hit-and-run tactics.  The only other model in the Deathwatch squad with 'running legs' is the Flesh Tearer.  The head was chosen because of it's Fu Manchu mustache and tribal-style earring. The severed heads bit was added to emphasize the White Scars' practice of taking heads as trophies and their reputation for savagery. Also, you many notice that one of the heads is obviously Eldar or Dark Eldar. This rather rare bit (it comes from the OOP Dark Elves Cold One Chariot kit) symbolizes the White Scars special antipathy toward the Dark Eldar.

Tech-Priest Secutor Calixis (counts-as Warrior Acolyte w/ plasma gun):

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPTP1_zpsaaee1897.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPTP2_zpsdb5ee4f2.jpg

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPTP3_zpsd55293c2.jpg


Since Calixis' primary role in the strike force is to maintain the Herakli, which are both mechanical and biological, I wanted the model to include something that spoke to his Magos Biologis role -thus the giant syringe on his servo-arm.  

I thought about replacing the plasma gun with a Volkite Charger, but the plasma gun has so much old-school 40k character, that I just couldn't replace it.

It is difficult to see in the photo, but I removed the grenade that was on the model's right hip and replaced it with an Inquisition 'I' symbol.  Warrior Acolytes don't have access to frag or krak grenades and I wanted the model to be as WYSIWYG as possible.

Using the Nemesis Warding Stave without modifying it further was a bit of a cop-out, but I figure that it looks fairly arcane and vaguely Mechanicum-like, so eh, it stays.
 

Oh, and if you were wondering what I did with the Missionary model's head...

When a friend of mine learned that I was going to convert his "favorite 40k model of all time" he jokingly begged me not to do it. And since I am one who rarely passes on an opportunity to have some fun at the expense of a gaming buddy, I decided to put the Missonary's head to good use. I named this Objective Marker after my friend. I call it The Ignominious Death of War Cardinal Seth. biggrin.png

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPSeth1_zps77039b5a.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPSeth2_zpsa7fbf5a6.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPSeth3_zpse708f5f0.jpg

I went with "Cardinal" because the head comes from a missionary model and nobody is going to fight over the head of a mere missionary. I added "War" to the Cardinal's title to give the beheaded Ecclesiarch some gravitas. And since I didn't have a funny little pope-hat for the model, I added some bits to the base that could represent the War-Cardinal's broken badges of office.

Deathwatch (Space Wolves)

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWSW1_zps09352d31.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWSW2_zps173dbd8c.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWSW3_zpsd3ef6f75.jpg
 

Wow the conversion work you did on that old school misisonary figure is awesome, it is hard to tell what it used to be, but at the same time it works as far as the model and the look and feel of it goes!  Great work and thank you for taking the time to share it with us all.

Here are some WIP shots of my Deathwatch Dreadnought Turris Tenebris, piloted by Brother Sergeant Roland of the Crimson Fists.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPDread1_zpsd4839622.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPDread4_zps73e078fb.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPDread2_zps6888f01d.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPDread3_zpsc45076a7.jpg

I didn't do much in the way of fancy conversions or extensive kit bashing for this model. I did, however, add a few tidbits here and there to make the model my own. For starters, the Chaos smoke launcher is SO much better than the Imperial version, so I use it on all of my SM vehicle models. This model is no exception. The TLAC arms are from the Aegis Defense Line quad gun. I thought that the model should have some Inquisitor iconography on its chassis, so I shaved off the little name placard on the right side of the sarcophagus and replaced it with an Inquisitor 'I' taken from the plastic Grey Knights kit. To make the Deathwatch symbol on the Dread's right leg I used Instant Mold putty to create a green stuff casting of the Deathwatch shoulder pad icon. Lastly, since all members of the Deathwatch are seconded from Space Marine Chapters, I figured that I should indicate the pilot's Chapter of origin in some way. I decided that the Turris Tenebris is piloted by a Crimson Fist, so I added a small fist icon to the rear of the model and subtly reinforced the Crimson Fist identity by placing below the icon, on the model's base, an Ork skull.

 


'Long days and pleasant nights.'

 

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/darktower_zpsb891114f.jpg

Deathwatch (Flesh Tearer)

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWFT1_zpsbf055d49.jpg

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/DWFT2_zps69e98d3d.jpg

This model's pieces come from a variety of kits. The Flesh Tearer shoulder pad is the metal GW FT pad. I removed the pad's original blood drop and replaced it with a slightly larger one. The FT symbol on belt buckle was sculpted from GS.

I may have stated this before, but just in case I didn't...

The grey highlights on the black portions of the model appear in the photo much brighter than they do in real life. I've tried to change this by controlling the lighting that I use for photographing the model, but I haven't had much success.  If you look at the model in person, even under good light, the contrast between the grey highlight and the black base coat is more subtle than one sees in the photos.


Also...

Here's another WIP shot of the Deathwatch Dreadnought.  I have magnetized the pieces so that I may physically remove an arm or the entire model from its base in the event of a Weapon Destroyed or Explodes result.  

The mounts for the quad gun bits were made from styrene and the rear portion of a searchlight, taken from an OOP IG vehicle accessories sprue. These caps fit nicely over the Dreadnought's shoulder stubs and conceal magnets.

http://i72.photobucket.com/albums/i200/10011970/New2/WIPDread5_zpsb999eb28.jpg

Alright, back to the painting table. Two more models to paint (heavy flamer and missile launcher) and the DW squad will be done! :)

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