++ AUGUSTUS b'RAASS ++ pre-heresy BRASS SCORPION p.247

[Augustus b'Raass]

Alright, next project. 

 

My tournament list proved highly vulnerable to Eldaeri haywire bikes, so I am thinking of replacing the big Questoris Knight with three Helverins. I don't have three Helverins, but I do have three Warglaives - one bought from a buddy for EUR20, and two more traded for -oh how Dutch I am - a bike. 

 

Here's what I have so far:

 

You might think: what are those feet? They're Greenstuff copies of the Mini Knight Wolf Feet from Shapeways, ie these things:

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Here's a closeup of the originals and the Greenstuff feet in action!

 

In addition, I couldn't restrain myself and got a copy of the Armadillo carapace for the Armiger chassis, also from Shapeways - this thing:

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Seeing as these are Warglaives, I need helverin autocannons for them. I already got a set from eBay, but that still leaves me two sets of cannons short. I'll see if I can scour them off eBay for relatively cheap. If not, I'll try to make something of my own using Blue Stuff mold and the barrels of the FireRaptor cannons I have lying around for ages now. 

 

That's it for now, Chaosification and, of course, pilots incoming!

 

Cheers

 

Replies:

 

@ Pearson73: Thanks, bud! I'm very pleased with how that relatively boring head turned out great in this particular pose :)

 

@ rednekkboss: Aiming for fun over WAAC is always the best attitude. Unless you're facing geese, of course. Then, the gloves must come off. Also sisters INDEED! I already ordered Saint Celestine!

[DuskRaider]

I always liked that carapace, I just know I'd have to destroy it if I were to use it. Not a huge fan of the feet, but they already have ornate trim so I can see you making them work quite well.

 

As for the Autocannons, why not make them out of something else? IG Autocannons could work, maybe Chaos Space Marines but I'm unsure if they even have a plastic ones these days. Or go even crazier and try Decimator Reapers. Make them unique, at this point in the timeline each Knight is going to be a character in its own right.

[Pandoras Bitz Box]

Love the Lord and Tally man! The Lord looks well creepy with his screaming face and I love a cool open chest scream pose (hence my choice of pilot!). The Tally man looks awesome too, I really like the vox caster and his list he has made... Does he check it twice? Seems appropriate for the season! Very epic paint jobs. I love the way you do nurgle stuff, I think it's one of my favourite colours schemes and quite unique in my own experience.

 

Looking forward to these Helvarines. In fact i think... it's the last thing I read last night?... and I think that I had some weird dreams about having long autocannon arms and having trouble opening doors...

[wiqid]

Great looking stuff mate and some menacing looking conversions and nurgley paint jobs. Churning them out at an impressive rate compared to my snails pace lol.

Keep up the great work!

[rednekkboss]

Between you and Duskraider, I can see me impulse buying a knight or armigers.  Such bad influences!! I'll echo wiqid on wishing I could work at your pace.  Though maybe after the first of the year, I might step things up.... depends on what is happening with our move. In the game, do you find the smaller knights (in numbers) more effective? Favorite weapon load out? I was toying with getting 2-4 to go with my army. And they look like a great target for conversions.

 

Sisters were my main army for a while in the '90s (yes, I'm old), nothing like bringing some righteous fury down on some heretics. Do you have an Order in mind for the sisters? Or are you going with your own scheme? If they do plastics, I might be doomed.  For that matter, I play my Chaos Guard with imperial rules.... so my sisters might be doomed too!

[Augustus b'Raass]

WITNESS ME! 

For those of you who enjoyed my Tournament report of the Alliance Open GT at Amsterdam, here's The Spider and Bone from TableTopTactics discussing it from their perspective.

 

They discuss my game against TTT's B-Bone from minute 25:00 (and his game against my good hobby buddy Ruben from minute mark 43:45) 

 

 

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It's funny how the internet works: these are just two dudes who have been successful in the nichest of niche markets, and now discuss something that only sideways has to do with me for seven minutes of a two-hour-plus video, and I'm like "WOOOOOO my moment of fame!".... I'm such a fanboy. Blegh

 

Fun story: My buddy Ruben also joined Lawrence and BBone at the No Retreat game in Gibraltar, this fall. He got in partially because he profiled himself as he is: one of the 8 rowers in my country's Olympic rowing team. He represented The Netherlands in the last three Olympic Summer Games so, naturally, he listed his profession as 'professional rower'. Now, after the third game ended on day one of the tournament, I was standing outside waiting for B-Bone to go have dinner with Ruben, the rest of the Amsterdam Battle Brothers Team, TTT's Lawrence, and a guy named Marc who was also at No Retreat (and who as it turns out can eat two racks of ribs in under three minutes - we almost literally blinked and they were gone -insane!). Marc started chatting with Ruben, saying something like 'I kind of avoided talking to you during No Retreat, as I didn't want to get into an argument with you'. To which Ruben replied: 'How so?'. Marc's answer was as honest as it was hilarious: 'because I thought you were a professional rower, but you actually seem like a nice guy!'.     He was serious: he thought that Ruben was paid to get into arguments with people - to have a row at them - instead of being an Olympian Rower. LOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLL

Anyway, back to the hobby itself.

 

I made some progress with the Armiger Helverin conversions. I wrote in my last post that I needed two more sets of Helverin Autocannons. I looked for them at eBay and they cost at least $18 per set  -which is way too much in my opinion. That's about as much as a Warglaive goes for on the aftermarket sales. So I had to look for an alternative. I tried recasting the base of the Helverin Cannon (so sans the barrel) with Bluestuff and putty, but that would never turn out as well as a proper bit.

 

So I turned to my quite extensive backlog of FW miniatures. And I remembered opting for a trio of Chaos Contemptor dreadnoughts with Butcher Cannons when I was slowly returning to the hobby after the hiatus I had last year, when 8th had just been released. So hey-ho I found three unpainted Butcher Cannons - and I snatched a fourth off the striped Night Lords Nurgle Contemptor I am saving for my Death Guard... 

 

The next problem to solve was the fact that the Armiger arm mounts are 1:1 mountings, while the decimator guns have the male end of a male-and-female mounting. So I cut of the male part (which sounds dirty but isn't really) and glued a red plastic ring around it. I made the rings by sawing them off  a plastic ball point in 3mm intervals. Glue in a magnet and push in and sculpt some putty, and hey presto! I fixed two sets of Decimator-Butcher-Cannons-turned-Helverin-Autocannons in under 30 minutes! An easy fix, and one that I am quite pleased with. 

 

 

Here's some pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

And the last Helverin, with the stock Autocannons (but with the Shapeways 'Armadillo' carapace:

 

I hope you like the  conversion and would love to have your feedback!
 

Cheers

 

Replies:

 

@ DuskRaider: Why destroy it? Just build on it. I'll show you what I have in mind for it in a near-future post. Thanks for your comment. It wasn't in the back of my mind when I got the idea, but I did read your post beforehand and so it must've influenced my thoughts. So thanks!

 

@ Pandoras Bitz Box: Of course he doesn't check it twice: there's no time to go back to his counting with all the bloodshed and death surrounding him (I killed quite a bit of Tau the other day Opening doors with cannons for hands would make things more difficult, yes...

 

@ wiqid: Cheers! I move fast, I know! I did post some ways to speeden up your process, maybe it's some help to you?

 

@ rednekkboss: I can totally understand this: DuskRaider's force has been a massive, massive inspiration to me this past year. He's a Nurgle demi-god, and I can only strive to reach his heigths. I do think five Helverins might be more effective than two with a Questoris Knight, but I must test this in my local meta. I played against Sisters in the 90s (I too am old). For the colour scheme, I think I'm going for white armour, with red robes and black weapons. Well see. 

Edited December 1, 2018 by Augustus b'Raass

[Pandoras Bitz Box]

Duel butcher cannon style guns look very very cool.

[DuskRaider]

Praise Nurgle, those Butcher Cannons...!

YESSSSSSS

Those are perfect! Although I think Armadillo Armiger should have gotten a pair, he screams 'character' to me.

And of course I'd have to ruin it, it would be for the Undying God. All things rot, dear friend. Some more than others, especially when in the loving embrace of our Plague Father.

Edited December 3, 2018 by DuskRaider

[Kizzdougs]

Damn! They look fantastic with the Decimator weapons :tu: 

[KrautScientist]

That's a very nice weapon graft with those Decimator cannons -- they do an excellent job of making the model look 100% more chaotic ;) Incidentally, the ectoplasm cannon from the Forgefiend also work very well, although they are just too different from the stock Helverin cannons.

 

I am really looking forward to seeing these next models take shape -- and would encourage you to get just a bit more adventurous with their faceplates, if it's not too much trouble ;)

[teku]

butcher cannons are look great! I agree that the butcher cannons should be more fitting on the Armadillo Armiger.

[Augustus b'Raass]

I've taken a slight detour from the Helverins as I realized there's only 11 days left until the end of the Call of Chaos - and I vowed to finish two Rhinos. So I set to work on building those. 

Here's the first WIP. There's still dremel damage and crackle paint to do for the plate's surfaces to go, but it's pretty much ready for paint!

 

 

 

I hope you like it!

I'll post the other one soon enough. 

 

Cheers

 

Replies:
 

@ Pandoras Bitz Box: Thanks! I like them too :)
 

@ DuskRaider: Haha glad you like them. Armaddilo Armiger already has the carapace and the wolf feet - isn't that enough? ;) Don't worry - the cannons are all magnetized so it would be easy to switch them around. :) 

 

@ Kizzdougs: Cheers!

 

@ KrautScientist: I plan on putting some Raptor chain weapons under the 'normal' cannons. The ectoplasma cannon is just too different from the autocannon, so it wouldn't be able to stand WYSIWYG scrutiny. Don't worry about the faceplates. Think C'thulhu.

 

@ teku: Oh yeah? Well I might do that then. Because magnets! :D

[Augustus b'Raass]

No takers for the last post, eh? ;) Well, perhaps this Rhino will ruffle your feathers? 

 

 

 

Again, still a lot of structural weathering to do, but this does reflect the basic outlook of the tank. 
 

Let me know what you think, and if you have any further ideas on what to do with this Death Guard transport...

[DuskRaider]

What the- NO. It's never enough. NEVER. Seriously... it looks unique now, just imagine it with those vicious Butcher Cannons (god, I love those Cannons).

 

Are you going more mutated or dark techy with these Armigers? I'm quite interested to see what you do with them.

 

The Rhino looks great, good use of the Anti-Kraut shield :D

[Augustus b'Raass]

Anti-Kraut shield? Hmmm you gotta explain that one - or do you mean that posting Rhino's shields my thread from being visited and commented upon by KrautScientist - as he dislikes Metal Bawkses so much? :D 

[Gederas]

Anti-Kraut shield? Hmmm you gotta explain that one - or do you mean that posting Rhino's shields my thread from being visited and commented upon by KrautScientist - as he dislikes Metal Bawkses so much?

I think it's because Kraut's mentioned elsewhere that he genuinely dislikes the FW Chaos Knight's super daemon shield :lol:

 

In any case, I like the two Rhinos. They're looking good, but definitely need some corrosion

[DuskRaider]

Anti-Kraut shield? Hmmm you gotta explain that one - or do you mean that posting Rhino's shields my thread from being visited and commented upon by KrautScientist - as he dislikes Metal Bawkses so much? :D

He HATES that shield. Remember when I added it to one of my Knights?

[KrautScientist]

 

Anti-Kraut shield? Hmmm you gotta explain that one - or do you mean that posting Rhino's shields my thread from being visited and commented upon by KrautScientist - as he dislikes Metal Bawkses so much?

He HATES that shield. Remember when I added it to one of my Knights?

 

 

Indeed -- here's the thing, though: I hate it when it's used on a Knight and draws all the attention away from more important areas (i.e. the face). It works much better here, where it's only a side panel -- actually a pretty brilliant way to use a slightly problematic bit The kitbashed iconography on the other shield, however, is really nice: Would have looked great on a Knight as well.

 

Great work on the Rhinos, buddy. Face it, though: They are Rhinos. Given the occasionally somewhat haphazard nature of the forum, there's far more spectacular stuff that gets even fewer reactions

Edited December 4, 2018 by KrautScientist

[DuskRaider]

IT'S CALLED VARIETY, PAL.

[KrautScientist]

Excuse me?

[DuskRaider]

Using the shield on the Knight. It's variety, it helps differentiate them in various ways :)

[KrautScientist]

Yeah, look mate, if you're happy with it, that's all that matters.

[DuskRaider]

Yeah, look mate, if you're happy with it, that's all that matters.

You know I'm only kidding around with you right?

[Augustus b'Raass]

Settle down, you two. 

 

 

I've been doing some work on the Helverin armour plates while the greenstuff on the Rhinos is drying...

 

 

 

Hope you like.

 

Reply:

 

@ KrautScientist: see, this is exactly my point: you think Rhinos aren't worth your time. I was asked two years ago by a GW store manager which GW kit was my favourite and I replied "the Rhino" - and I stand by that choice. It's the most iconic, most versatile, and most recognizable kit in the range - there's a reason there's a real scale Rhino in front of GW headquarters. The Rhino provides a canvas on which to pour inspiration. Without at least a couple Rhinos (or APCs based on its frame, like the Razorback or the Repressor) , no Power Armoured army is complete. If you have a space marine army but don't have any Rhinos to go with them: Be ashamed. Be very ashamed.

 

[gaurdian31]

I went back to lurking for awhile but I must say that I really like your rhinos, especially the first one!