Ludvos Arkhan of the Deathwatch

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

So for almost a month I've taken a hiatus from my Sons of Tyr, having gone through a bit of creative blockage in terms of painting, modelling and background. Just recently however the metaphorical floodgates have opened and I've found myself almost unable to stop coming up with ideas for writing stories, background, and cool conversions for the Chapter. Many of which haven't and may never see the light of day, but there's quite a few I want to transfer into something concrete. This is one of them; whilst rewriting the Index Astartes article for the Sons of Tyr I decided I wanted to delve a little further into the history of the leader of the Seventh Brotherhood, Brother-Captain Ludvos Arkhan, and model him at an early stage in his career. So I decided to make this incarnation of Arkhan from his younger days as a Kill-Marine in the Deathwatch.

 

The gist of his background thus far is that he passed a fairly unspectacular career as a battle-brother until an event - which I've not finished fleshing out yet - in which he came to the attention of his Brotherhood commander for remarkable tactical ingenuity and initiative. Several years later, after receiving his first command as a Tactical sergeant, he displayed unusual skill in coordinating his squad with non-Astartes allied contingents and was seconded to the Brotherhood's command squad as veteran sergeant, serving under Brother-Captain Manesh. In a disastrous action on a world named Arrex Prime, during the Chapter's subterranean campaign against the Hrud Conglomerate of nor'Korh, the Seventh Brotherhood suffered heavy casualties including the loss of Brother-Captain Manesh in a failed attempt to storm and destroy the prime Hrud warren. Arkhan rallied the remnants of the Brotherhood and led a counterattack which successfully destroyed the Hrud warren from within, bringing down the caverns in which the parasitic creatures made their nests with melta charges and fusion bombs. The action on Arrex Prime won Arkhan the attention of the Deathwatch, who were closely tracking the actions of the nor'Korh Conglomerate. Whilst command of the Seventh Brotherhood passed to another Marine of Arkhan's squad, Arkhan himself was requested to honour the Chapter's blood oaths to the Deathwatch. He did not refuse.

I'll rarely be fielding this incarnation of Arkhan in 40k games (if ever, mainly cos of the base). Instead, this will be for the odd game of Inquisitor and maybe the Deathwatch RPG if I can ever find people to play it with. I've kept his armament very simple, just bolter and chainsword, nice and old-fashioned :) He has one reload for his Mk. IV drum mag bolter, a photon flash grenade, the head of an insurrectionist leader from Tarresal III, and various pouches in which to store special ammunition should he be assigned it. His statline in Inquisitor is pretty straightforward - no special rules, no quirks, just a basic Marine statline, bolter and chainsword. That and his wits. As I said, I consider Arkhan's time in the Deathwatch to be a formative time in his career - prior to his service he was a solid commander, and the Deathwatch is the experience which will eventually shape him into the Brother-Captain of the Seventh Brotherhood he becomes on his return.

 

But you've had enough of me rambling and writing down ideas and bits of background. On to the pics!

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010073_zpscb39e7f8.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010074_zps18a446cb.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010075_zpse8e68cd9.jpg

 

Will get some WiP photos up as I'm painting him - and will take better photos too, promise. C&C welcome.

Cheers,

Arkhan

[Chronotonic]

I was looking at the first picture thinking what is that behind...ohhh chainsword....that is cool...

 

I like the drum ammo case...

 

then I saw he has another drum below his power pack...and I thought

 

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lorch18Ghf1qe01uno1_400.png

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

Thanks!

I've started the painting process, and here he is, a work-in-progress. I would really value any feedback and tips regarding the paintjob! Of course as soon as I take photos I notice a few things about him that need improvement (most obviously being thinning my paints - I thought I had done, they look much thicker in the photos than in real life). I also forgot that the Deathwatch gunmetal colour carries on from the shoulder pad down the whole left arm - this will be rectified soon. I have painted his eyes but they've faded in the photo, will have to make them a bit brighter.

I've also included a shot of him sans arms and backpack as they're being glued on after painting (so much easier to paint this way!)
 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010084_zpsf43054c1.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010087_zpsbcd76727.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010083_zps7c772b9b.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010080_zps956e57e1.jpg

 

http://i1269.photobucket.com/albums/jj598/Mjolnir771/P1010079_zps71da3bf8.jpg

[jeremy1391]

Liking it! Personally I prefer the MK4 helmet from re first pic.

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

Cheers. Yeah, I wasn't quite sure which helmet to go with. I opted for the classic Deathwatch helmet as I wanted Arkhan at this stage in his career to be fairly stock in his appearance, and as he's relatively young it's unlikely he'd have been assigned the honour of much older armour (especially as the Sons of Tyr are a relatively new Chapter, and don't have vast quantities of armour outside the MkVII range).

I suspect most people will ignore the background justifications though and just skim the pics. Which is fine