The Nine Legions - Started Dreadclaws

[Dragonlover]

Started in on the jump pack sorcerer.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0253.jpg

 

Just out of shot are the other five Chosen, awaiting my motivation levels to rise high enough to paint five lots of trim.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Done the Chosen and Sorcerer. Particular highlights for me are the Sorcerers face and the plasma Chosen with Chapter symbols scrawled over his armour.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0256.jpg

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0255.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Progress is actually being made on the Brass Scorpion, finally. Turns out flow improver works a treat on Runelord Brass.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0257.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Hooray, huzzah, I've finally painted the bloody Scorpion! Never again. If this one gets destroyed, lost, stolen or anything of that ilk, I will mourn its loss and move on.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0263.jpg

 

So, Vow 1 down. Vow 2... may happen. If it does, it'll all be Marines. I can carry them to work without worrying about breakages and there isn't 15 miles of cabling to paint.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

malisteen's DV Chosen advice:

 

Got any tips for converting DV Chosen? I'm planning on making an army out of them, so I need to do a lot of weapon swaps. Even stuff like 'don't bother using model X for a ranged weapon, the angles never work right' will help.

For bolter-sized ranged weapons (plasmagun, meltagun, etc), the standard bolter guy is the best bet. You need to replace the left hand - the one cradling the gun - but that's not too big a deal.

More generally, I recommend starting with at least two sets of the DV guys, if not three. Decide which ones you want to keep their heads, and assemble them normally. The rest, cut or dremmel the deads away until you've got a normal style socket to put other heads in first, then assemble.

Because the models are wonkily split over weird pieces, where sometimes part of the trim for one piece ends up on another or whatever, I generally find it works best to assemble the models normally (minus the backpacks, leave those separate), then saw away the arms/shoulder pads you want to mess with with a jewelers saw. For shoulder pads you want to swap out or duplicate, you'll want to separate them completely. This is generally two cuts, one separating the shoulder pad from the body, and then another, somewhat perpendicular cut separating it from the arm (particularly on the holding the bolter guys, where the arm below the pad is still attached to the body. The shoulder & arm will then need to be rebuilt with greenstuff before putting the new shoulder pad on). Take a couple of the more simple shoulder pads (the smooth ones, or with just one or two simple horns that stick more or less straight out, not the complicated ones with faces) to make re-usable molds of for various arm swaps or replacements. This is because, if you look closely at them, the chosen shoulder pads have a very distinctive shape to them, and chaos pads from other models will look wrong. The forearm and knee armour is also unique to the chosen, but this is less noticeable, so I wouldn't worry about it as much.

I recommend buying some 'magic mold' or 'instant mold' or whatever to make the press molds - those clear sticks that become soft when placed in hot water, that you then press a piece into and allow to cool to make greenstuff press molds. Take your liberated shoulder pads, and dremmel the shoulders out of them to leave just the pad - test fit on a normal marine to make sure it will fit on your arm swaps. Once the pads you want to duplicate are free and cleaned, press the soft instant mold around the outside of the pad, and allow that to dry, and then while it's still on there press a new patch to the inside. Once that dries, you should be able to pry the pieces apart and pull the original shoulder pad out.

Make several molds per pad, both to let you make more in a single batch and because it won't be clear until you start using them whether they're any good. Use grey stuff (try gale force nine) instead of green stuff when making your extra shoulder pads. It dries harder, and is easier to clean. If you're like me, you maybe get two or three usable shoulder pads out of each batch of 6 or 8, but so be it.

So you've got your extra shoulder pads, next is replacement arms and heads. I recommend using plastic raptor bits. They don't perfectly match the chosen style, but I find that, apart from the shoulder pads, they're close enough. That gets you sufficiently fancy special weapons, melee arms and helmets. The basic cSM pack can provide some extra holstered pistols or spare bolters if needed. Then just pay attention to what models already have bolters or pistols (holstered or in hand) so that you can add holstered pistols to the ones that need them, and use the chosen packs with the bolters on them for models that aren't carrying those. I mean, if you're being a stickler for wysiwyg, which I kind of am.

The backpacks are especially nice, honestly DV chosen go for pretty cheap (being a starter box unit, and not a very good one on the table), you might consider picking up extra sets just to have the backpacks to use for conversions. Or, if you go in for fancier mold making than I do, you might make molds of the packs to duplicate them as desired, but the magic mold green stuff press molding stuff isn't really sufficient for those kinds of pieces.

In the end, I find swapping the backpacks, heads, shoulder pads, and weapon arms around is enough to get the set up I want and break up the chorus line effect without trying to separate upper from lower torsos swap them around, though I've seen that done too.


As for your specific comment about ranged weapons - chosen breastplates are wider than those of basic chaos marines, and they angle differently - they're wider on bottom than on top, insead of the usual completely vertical / parallel surfaces. Because of this, arms you add from other models will stick out further than they otherwise do (often necessary given the cables that run under the arms on these models), unless you make some modifications to those arms before attaching them.

Either way, though, you're not really going to be able to get the 'two hands holding the bolter/pistol/whatever' pose going without crazy amounts of effort, apart from on the chosen that are already holding their bolters with two hands (and if you look closely, those ones are 'cheating' the cables to do it). So you either use those bodies to hold all of your bolters or special weapons, or you pretty much have to 'true grit' them on other models (ie, have the weapons held one handed like pistols, generally by arms that were otherwise carrying pistols before swapping the weapons out).

I haven't tried to do a chosen heavy weapon yet, but I imagine it would be very difficult. As a Black Legion player, I kind of want to do a couple '5 chosen with one lascannon and nothing else' squads which are... ok on the table. For black legion only. But I have no idea how I'd convert them, and have no desire to convert more of these chosen in general. I might do some alternative arm and weapon options, since several of my models are magnetized, but they were, all in all, a royal pain, and I won't be doing any more whole models this way.

 

 

That's just so I can refer back to it in my own thread.

 

So the rest of my ETL ended up being Daemonkin. I've started a separate plog for them, the intent is to use them for when I fancy building/painting something that doesn't really fit any of the Legions I haven't done yet, and to have some armies I don't feel quite so bound to a vision of.

 

I digress. Tonight, fuelled by insomnia, I dug out some built Dark Vengeance Chosen with the intent of starting on my Black Legion force. Of course, the insomnia means that the wife is asleep. This means I can't open the crate most of my stuff is in because I'll wake her up, so I cast my eyes around my hobby desk for something to convert with, and found a meltagun. Buoyed by this success, I cut the bolt pistol from this models hand:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0280.jpg

 

... and then noticed the boltgun slung over his bloody shoulder. To add insult to injury, the sprues with the basic bolter guys? Also in the crate.

 

Don't hobby while tired folks. It doesn't end well.

 

So now I have no idea what to do with this guy. I'll probably carve him up for parts, unless in a more awake state I can get rid of the bolter. Then he'll get the meltagun he was destined to wield!

 

List wise for my Black Legion, I'm thinking Daemon Prince with wings, several units of Chosen all converted from DV (minimum 1 melta unit, 1 plasma unit, 1 CC unit), Terminators and 3 Conversion Beamer Rapier Batteries. I've not worked it out points wise yet, but if I have room... dunno. More Chosen, probably.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Right. I'm now ever so slightly sleep deprived, but was able to get into the crate of stuff. Tried to fit a melta on but the canister got in the way and I'm not in the mood to swap it to elsewhere, so I grabbed a Raptor plasma gun and slapped that on instead.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0281.jpg

 

Ignoring the fact I naffed the grip hand up slightly, I'm pretty chuffed. Might GS some stuff over the gap, or just wedge some in there to help disguise it. I think the next one's getting a head swap as well.

 

Dragonlover

[BetterOffShred]

Love that England slang! :)  But seriously, I do.  And I love your plasma chosen conversions, and I really love your scorp.  What a sweetass model.  Your models all look really sweet, and the only thing I can see is that some of them need the barrels drilled.  There's a guy on here somewhere who has "Drill your barrels" in his signature, love it.  Good work all around Dragonlover, thanks for sharing

 

-Brett

[Dragonlover]

Cheers Shred! Might drill the barrels at some point, I dunno. It's always felt like one of those weird hobby thresholds, plus once I do it to one thing, I have to do it to everything.

 

I managed to salvage the insomnia guy. I carved the bolter off the strap and added the meltagun to the outstretched hand. Managed to preserve the bolter as well, which is a bit of a bonus.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0282.jpg

 

His horn is looking a bit battered, I think I knocked him off the table one too many times.

 

I need a razor saw. I want to make the lightning claw guy so he's got a melta/plasma in one hand and a sweet CCW in the other. Got some stuff coming in from Puppets War at some point as well that I'm gonna try with these guys to mix it up even further.

 

Dragonlover

[BetterOffShred]

Yes sir, a Jewelers saw goes a long way in this hobby if you're cutting arms and hands off a lot.  Plus, the DV guys have all those weird cast positions due to their design so having a smooth cut would be even nicer.  The Melta fellow looks good, one of my favorite part about the chosen models from DV is that they all have their weapons slung over shoulders and stuff, I guess I mean that they actually took the time to model them with all the weapons.  It's pretty cool.

 

-Brett

[Dragonlover]

So, this one got a touch more ambitious than the previous plasma guy. The head swap was planned, the backpack swap was a whim and the mutant hand was necessary, because I couldn't get the actual hand to work for love nor money.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0283.jpg

 

That head swap needed so much Dremel work. I did manage to save the horns from the original head though, I figure I'll keep them for when  I feel like embellishing something.

 

Did a group shot as well:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/IMG_0284.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Chaeron]

Very much like! Useful conversions too, weapon wise - awesome!

[Dragonlover]

Cheers dude!

 

Yeah, the weapons are deliberate. I've revised my list slightly, it's now two plasma squads and two melta squads backed up by at least one Rapier battery and a Land Raider full of Terminators. Modelling wise, I'm gonna try and get each Chosen to look unique. There may be some 3rd party bits involved at some point, not being able to change the limb angles is becoming annoying.

 

I've got another melta guy on the table at the moment, based on the axe guy. No modifications to him other than the weapon swap, but I'm sculpting a daemon head type thing around the muzzle.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

No progress on the Chosen as yet, I've been getting my Daemonkin up and running. Finally finished them though, so I made a start on my conversion beamers. Other than a couple of minor issues where a peg looks like flash, they're a dream to put together. I suspect the next two will be easier now I know what I'm doing.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/1449964814176-21232666.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Iron_Within]

Sweet Jesus that is amazing! Is the conversion beamer a scratch build?

[Dragonlover]

Christ no, I'm good but I'm not that good! I bought them from The Dark Works, run by our own Subtle Discord. You should check out his project log, located in the Showcase thread linked in my sig.

 

Dragonlover

[Chaeron]

Absolutely looks the part - well worth it!

[Dragonlover]

Got the other two built. Debating whether or not I should add additional corruption to them so they fit more with the Chosen, or leave them plain. Thoughts?

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/14504538478841090353490.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

So my Daemonkin distraction is finished for the moment, back to the Black Legion. Decided to work on the crew for the Rapiers, and discovered that they have a bolt pistol and naff all else.

 

This means making six guys that fit with the DV aesthetic and only have a bolt pistol as a visible weapon. A bit tricky, since the DV kits only have two guys holding pistols, so I broke out my Raptors and Possessed kits to see what I could come up with.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/20160720_151346-1.jpg

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/20160720_151237-1.jpg

 

The twin LC guy conversion was trickier than I thought it was gonna be, but other than that they've been pretty easy builds.

 

Dragonlover

[Slaanbull]

Twin lightning claw guy is the best of the bunch in my opinion!

 

For bringing the rapiers in line(unless you've finished them in the meantime!), I'd say that the paintjob alone could do it, but an easy conversion could be adding some random teeth/claws to the trim on the front of the carriers?

[Dragonlover]

Cheers dude! The Possessed kit comes with additional spines to scatter liberally around the models, so I might add those to the guns.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

So I vowed the full battery for the ETL. I figure the best to paint them is alternate between the crews and the guns, the crews are so individual I don't think trying to batch paint them will help.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/20160720_224011-1.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Skathrex]

Dude you can't just post a Dark Works link here without a Warning. Everytime I see that side I wanna reabuilt a whole Chaos army, but I would need to rob a bank first, and my Plans aren't finished yet for that.

 

In all honesty, love the Bone Color as a main color and the Rapiers look awesome. 

 

The attention to detail is also nice

[Dragonlover]

Cheers for the comment dude! Can I ask though, attention to detail where? Cause I don't really think that's a thing I do when painting beyond staying in the lines ;)

 

I've got two of the three Rapiers and their crews done. I'm keeping all the mutations for these guys to the same palette, partially to save time so I actually hit the ETL deadline and partially because I was inspired by Talon of Horus, where a bunch of characters all get possessed by the same daemon. I wanted to play with what that might actually look like.

 

First crew:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/20160729_132614-1.jpg

 

Second crew:

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/20160729_132459-1.jpg

 

You can also see the guns behind them. Nice kits, my paint jobs are nothing to really write home about though.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Got the last one done, which completes my third vow.

 

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g79/Dragonlover63/Mobile%20Uploads/20160801_010522-1.jpg

 

Dragonlover

[Skathrex]

I didn't mean your painting so much. 
I was refering mainly to you "chosen" and the conversions on the small Parts, Heads, Greenstuff for the arms etc.