WIP Chapter: The Corvus Aureus

[Corvus Aureus]

Oh hey, Gonna Post up what I've got so far, including adjunct forces (Which consist of some inquisitorial/grey knight shenanigans).

This army isn't meant to be playable... yet. I'm just collecting stuff and painting it up because I really like doing it. Eventually I hope to have enough troops to be able to pick and choose a somewhat viable force. Right now...

 

Painted:

Some grey knights and inquisitorial characters, two devastator squads, some test tactical, terminator, and assault marines, a veteran sergeant, an ironclad dreadnought

 

 

Unpainted:

Tons of Stuff, including two tactical squads, the rest of the assault squad, several veteran sergeants, and a razorback.

 

And here they are... Unfortunately some squads (like the devastators) are too compressed in the preview to post... I'll need to chop them up, and I'll chop up anything else if some one wants a closer look. I might end up post dual or individual pictures redoing this post... I didn't think it would compress it so much... :sweat:

 

For better pictures, visit

(although I edited with improved pictures)

http://chimerapathogen.deviantart.com/

 

Test Tactical and Assault Marines

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220TacAssault1_zps50853e30.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220TacAssault2_zpscbb656ce.jpg

 

Test Terminator

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220FirstCataphracti_zps3ea651b8.jpg

 

 

Ironclad Dreadnought

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220Dreadnought1_zpsb781e383.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220Dreadnought2_zps25a4844c.jpg

 

Librarian in Terminator Armor

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121125_psycher_librarian_model_by_chimerapathogen-d5m7kzn_zps4b4e1747.jpeg

 

Inquisitor

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121124_inquisitor_figurine_by_chimerapathogen-d5m4uw6_zpseba6e079.jpeg

 

Grey Knight Captain in Terminator Armor

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220GreyKnightLordClose1_zps5f177920.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121127_grey_knight_lord_by_chimerapathogen-d5mha2h_zpsc453cc49.jpeg

 

Grey Knight in Terminator Armor

 

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220GreyKnightClose1_zpsced376d0.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121124_grey_knight_figurine_by_chimerapathogen-d5m43ko_zps768ac195.jpeg

 

Devastators

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220Dev1_zpsc122f702.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220Dev2_zps2ea0fa35.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220Dev3_zpsa0552cfc.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/20121220Dev4_zps6ee119b8.jpg

[Olis]

From what I can see so far, everything looks great. However, some of the pictures need to be bigger - at their current size it's a little difficult to discern details. :rolleyes:

[Corvus Aureus]

Yep uploads look a little bigger now hopefully....

 

Just finished playing around with all the bits and a new assault squad to create some sort of high powered assault sterngaurd squad with a chaplain.

 

The Squad:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/WIP%201/LastImport-1_zps99568dde.jpg

 

The Chaplain:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/WIP%201/LastImport-4_zps7b960526.jpg

 

Two Marines with power weapons and plasma pistols:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/WIP%201/LastImport-6_zps167448cd.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/WIP%201/LastImport-3_zps3d2a5031.jpg

 

Two Marines with Thunder Hammers and bolt pistols:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/WIP%201/LastImport-2_zps642b7eb1.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/WIP%201/LastImport-7_zpsb2270eaa.jpg

[Kingdom of the Emperor]

That chaplain with the salet helmet, what head is that from? As well as the skull on the jump pack? Great looking models so far, I like the colours.

[Corvus Aureus]

They're both from the Empire Greatswords sprue.

 

Thanks for the encouragement. I thought they were good before I signed up on the forum... some of the stuff here is just... jaw-droppingly awesome.

 

But I just got to keep painting.

[Razblood]

Posing is excellent and your painting style makes them look like they've jumped out of a painting :)

 

All in all, damn cool B)

[Firepower]

I can honestly say I've never seen a style quite like yours. Some things came out better than others, but overall this is quite hte showcase. The Plasma Cannon guys take the cake for me. The directional look of the glow makes it rally look as though something big and terrible and doomy is about to come out the business end of those things. B)

[Unknown Chronicler]

I love your marines so far! Just fantastic work so far in total! I mean...wow this is simply an army that will definitly get far, and kill many xenos and heretics in the future! Keep us updated brother, you have done a simply an amazing job so far!

[Sgt. Blank]

I like the conversions and - from what I can see - the painting as well. It's very gothic and suited to the 40k universe. It's neat to see an army with so many unique models.

 

I did want to comment that the assault marine with the beard looks a bit like he's been shot because he's leaning back, has both arms raised and his chin is tilted up. I think if you lower his chin and one of the arms he'd look more menacing. You probably already noticed but there is a mold line on the shaft of the thunder hammer.

[Corvus Aureus]

That's no flash... that's a misalignment of the mold! I was surprised too... and disappointed. Shame on you, forge world!

 

And thanks for the advice, fixed the head so he was less shot-ish.

 

'ways, here's some more photos... this time of the completed assault squad and some more tactical marines...

 

Completed Assault Squad:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/AssaultandTactical01_zps325c65f7.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/AssaultandTactical07_zpsb090b514.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/AssaultandTactical04_zpsdfff6a02.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/AssaultandTactical02_zps88b2df18.jpg

 

And some tactical battle brothers...

 

All together now:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/AssaultandTactical08_zpsa640827d.jpg

 

Brother Burninatoris:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/AssaultandTactical10_zps3338dbba.jpg

 

Brother Expendablus:

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/AssaultandTactical09_zps16dd736e.jpg

 

OK! I know some of these are repeats... I just wanted to make sure they were all catalogued...

 

And now with these bigger pictures you can see how messy I am... although they look bangin' from a distance. I have a pretty shaky hand, which makes those super thin-weathering lines difficult, and I'm too impatient to properly blend... so... you end up with a good concept for painting them, and a somewhat sloppy if impressive en masse paint job. *shrug* Oh well, For The Emperor!

[Razblood]

Nowt wrong with a bit of sloppiness, it adds charm :P

[Firepower]

And now with these bigger pictures you can see how messy I am... although they look bangin' from a distance. I have a pretty shaky hand, which makes those super thin-weathering lines difficult, and I'm too impatient to properly blend... so... you end up with a good concept for painting them, and a somewhat sloppy if impressive en masse paint job. *shrug* Oh well, For The Emperor!

 

I was having a hard time putting my finger on it before, but this makes sense. It's sort of like the impressionist version of model painting (if I remember my art history). Precision is secondary to vibrant colors and pretty effects. The orange-red effect on the weapons is what really brings it all together, I think.

 

Just think of your army as the Starry Night of space marines. :lol:

 

On that note of sloppiness, I'm having a hard time telling: the helms, some are halved, but others look full on silver? Or is that a lighting issue?

[Corvus Aureus]

Yeah I guess "impressionistic" is probably the kindest description. :D

 

The tactical marines have red weapons, green-blue right arms and legs, and golden torsos/helmets. Devastators have green-blue right arms, legs and weapons, while assault marines and terminators are halved. Veteran sergeants are completely green/blue/black, so will the sternguard. I was kind of going for the higher the rank/proficiency of the marine, the darker the overall color scheme. but I think it got a little confusing. I was planning on have the chapter chaplain and captain be completely black (with highlights, of course.) Any suggestions on modifying the color scheme to be more coherent are welcome... I could always make assault marine helmets red/devastators the blue/black pretty easily.

 

I was wondering: does anyone have experience with forge world etched brass? I was planning on maybe purchasing the raven guard one and use the smaller brass etchings on the shoulder pads (my marines are currently icon-less.) Or if anyone thinks they know a better icon/symbol that would fit with "Corvus Aureus"... or even just a somewhat medieval theme, please tell me (the chapter name isn't set in stone yet.) :mellow:

[Aqui]

I like them a lot, especially the Jump pack Marine with the axe. To me he looks like he's just landed and skidding slightly to a halt (the Assault Marine equivalent of drifting I suppose :mellow: )

[Firepower]

I prefer freehanding chapter symbols to brass, but there's something to be said for actual embossing of armor if you can get it to work.

 

I've used etched brass on vehicles (flat surfaces) to good effect. I only tried on a shoulder pad once, and it was barely passable. Granted, the shape was irregular -one of the little shields in the BT etching kit- but so is the Raven. More importantly though, as I said, I've only tried once. There are some folks around here who used FW etching for just that purpose and made it look wicked.

 

Molding the brass to lay flush against the shape of the shoulder without ugly folds or crooked edges is the real challenge.

[Olis]

I think, atm, the only concrete criticism I can put forward is your gun barrels; they need to be drilled. With the paintwork showing promise and the modelling being solid stuff, it is a little jarring to see that your barrels remain filled. It's not a deal breaker, don't get me wrong, but I believe that perhaps, in regards to the modelling itself, it should be a task you ensure is done (and done properly) - it only adds to the quality of the finished articles. :mellow:

[Corvus Aureus]

I love concrete criticism! Except for when someone points out the lack of gun barrel drilling... every time I try to hollow out the gun the barrel suffers a disfiguring misfire. Granted marine gear takes a lot of beating, but I don't think they go into battle with exploded barrels. I guess I better practice on spare bolters... lol I never imagined I'd go this far for a hobby.

 

As for etched symbols... the warping was what I was worried about. Oh well. I wonder if making custom decals is viable. I have photoshop. What brand of decal paper is the best? I like forgeworld, but shipping from the UK costs an arm and a leg. They ought to have Prince Harry hand deliver it for that price.

[Firepower]

I love concrete criticism! Except for when someone points out the lack of gun barrel drilling... every time I try to hollow out the gun the barrel suffers a disfiguring misfire. Granted marine gear takes a lot of beating, but I don't think they go into battle with exploded barrels. I guess I better practice on spare bolters... lol I never imagined I'd go this far for a hobby.

 

For best results, take an exacto knife and stab a very small niche into the center of the barrel before drilling, twisting ever so slightly to make a divot. It will allow you to seat the tip of the drill and make it much easier to go through the center. if you just try to drill into a flat surface, it will often slip and end up going off center or through the sides.

 

Note also that you don't need to drill all the way down the barrel for a convincing effect. A small hole, perhaps just shy of halfway down the barrel, will be enough to look good once painted black inside. This allows you to be not 100% exact with the angle of the drilling.

[Corvus Aureus]

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep trying.

 

So here's my flying chaplain... I think I'll call him Tristan. He's hanging out with his battle-buddies in the assault squad until the sternguard are finished.

 

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Chaplain1_zps0b14dc32.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Chaplain2_zpsaa9e6d62.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Chaplain5_zps0341113c.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Chaplain3_zpsfcdfb456.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Chaplain4_zpsa4d7243c.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Chaplain6_zps1d17bbcb.jpg

 

I think he turned out OK. I was trying to be a little more precise with my edging. So I started brighter and covered up the lines with darker colors to make it thinner. Yep. I'm not sure how the sternguard will be color-schemed. They might be half dark green/black and half red/orange to differentiate them from a regular assault squad. Or I could just go half gold like the assault. Or half gold and half red. If anyone has any opinions about that please tell me. I'll be working on the tactical squads in the meantime.

[Firepower]

If you want to make every sort of squad different in color, you need to keep the difference subtle. I.e., don't change the color of half the model. It will make it hard for them all to look like they belong together.

 

Changing the helmet design is fine (solid blue, solid silver, half and half, gold for bosses or the like). The Ultramarines and a lot of codex adherent chapters use symbols on the shoulder to differentiate (arrows for troops, crossed arrows for Assault, explosions for Devastators).

 

I would recommend sticking to something like a minor change in the color, particularly the helm. Even something as simple as a white stripe running down the center of the helm or a clashing color along the trim of a shoulder pad can do wonders to individualize units without ruining the coherency of the army.

 

The Chaplain looks good, though it's hard to pick him out as one without a skull helm. :)

[Corvus Aureus]

That's a great tip about the subtlety thing. I'm not a subtle thinker. I'll spend some time thinking on it.

 

And yes I was debating about the skull helmet thing myself. I figured as long as there was skull with a helmet on the figure, a crozius, and the chaplain shoulder pad, I would be OK. I mean, I could always rip the head off Tristan and put in a new skull helmet... but... I really like the salet helm myself. It fits in really well with the medieval theme of the chapter, and means I don't have to buy another figure or boxed set purely for the sake of a skull helmet (although extra bits are always welcome.) I'll definitely keep it in mind though. The blood angel chaplain Lemartes in particular has a cool head, and I could replace the relatively generic mace head with his crozius... we'll see. The salet will certainly suffice in the interim.

[Razblood]

If you want to make every sort of squad different in color, you need to keep the difference subtle. I.e., don't change the color of half the model. It will make it hard for them all to look like they belong together.

I'm pretty sure there has been a precedent to changing the colour of half the armour with the old RT Raptor Legion, I remember a guy won the UK GT back in the late 90's with just such a force, the army featured in WD 240. He had the Battle Brothers with Blue & Yellow armour and Sgt's with Blue and Red armour.

Here's a couple of pics

Raptor Legion Army '99 GT Winner - Tuomas Lähdeoja (Pictures by Games Workshop)

Firepower makes a good point, it's generally a good idea to keep things such as squad differentiation subtle. Limiting colour changes to helmets, One arm colour or even chest eagles.

But in the end it comes down to personal choice, this is the scheme you've come up with that you are happy with and as long as it's obvious to your opponents what is what then it shouldn't be a problem.

[Corvus Aureus]

Well here's some shots of the terminators I tacked a few more medieval bits onto and a new veteran sergeant I finished up. I'm going to stop updating so often... only post when something substantive is complete. But since I already took the photos, here they are. Not to late to tack on more bits or rearrange them.

 

I decided to make the Cataphracti terminators half teal-half-gold, and these ones converted from the boxed set game ( I painted them up a few summers ago... now they're sprayed over) will be completely golden. I know I'm breaking from all the suggestions. I believe gold/red/teal/black is a powerful enough color scheme that it will be able to unify all the forces in my army even if they have different armor color patterns... provided I incorporate ALL the colors into EVERY miniature. The flying sternguard will be half gold, half red/orange. Tactical and assault squads will feature different shield coloration and emblems to help differentiate them. Devastator squad mates I want to be interchangeable, so they won't have squad differentiation. I dunno. Got a good feeling about the way the chapter is headed. It's eclectic and unfocused right now but I almost sense a sort of underlying order coalescing. Kind of like designing an army backwards, I think. I feel confident a viable and presentable force will emerge from this lack of planning and foresight!

 

2nd Terminator Squad (basecoated and inked... two have few green-stuff candles on them, inspired by the Word Bearers army I saw (heresy, I know)... just a few tho, if they work well I might incorporate more onto new and existing forces.)

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies201_zpsc2b5c5f8.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies204_zps3728e04e.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies203_zpsf7b2ae92.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies205_zpsd3151040.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies206_zpsa5c1ca33.jpg

 

Tactical Squad Veteran Sergeant/Knight-Captain

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies210_zps4fdcfca2.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies209_zps6b36026d.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies208_zps301ff79f.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Snazzy%20Name/UnpaintedTermies207_zps67d8b543.jpg

 

Sorry about the lack of light quality... it's snowing here right now

[Corvus Aureus]

Well... finished the honor guard squad. And quickly photoshopped a little diorama of my chaplain and an sternguard attacking an orc dreadnought... <_<

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Dioramacopy_zps27b597bf.jpg

 

 

Anyway here they are...

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte11_zps4e4b8e03.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte01_zps0424eb06.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte05_zps8190d867.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte04_zps3ae1804e.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte02_zps5ac6f431.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte03_zps070a2b43.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte08_zps0fa17317.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte09_zps2501cfff.jpg

 

http://i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i464/jseitelm/Sternguard/Sternguardcompelte13_zps9aa26d4c.jpg

 

Gonna finish up painting the rest of the tactical squad(s) next.

 

The half-gold theme really unifies them... I might go back and make the veteran sergeants half gold as well, unlike the full-on dark teal like they are now. I think that would go a long way towards removing an discontinuity between units.

[nusphigor]

really, really cool mate

I love the high contrast you make on your miniatures

 

Keep it up! :D