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

[KrautScientist]

Excellent work on the latest two members of First Claw -- but you can always expect a couple of nitpicks from me, of course:

 

- On Mercutian, this is just a gut feeling, but not having his heavy bolter's barrel be designed as some kind of daemonic maw seems like a bit of a missed opportunity (the musical instrument from the FWB chaos knights would work splendidly for this, because you would get to keep the regular barrel underneath the decoration).

 

- regarding Variel, I think it's stated in one of the novels that his entire armour has been repainted in NL colours -- what's more, I think he would need a little something (i.e. a flayed face) stapled to his shoulder pad, which would also solve the question as to which colour the pauldron should have ;)

 

Keep up the amazing work, mate! :)

[helterskelter]

First claw look fantastic! Variel and mercutian are potentially my favourite of the bunch, slightly coloured by my opinion of them in the novels, and partially coz you've made them a right pair of badasses! Can't wait for paint oclock

[Midnightmare]

@Midnight Runner: well I can see you really like my stuff, because you just spend your entire days worth of likes on my thread.

 

Well worthy of every one of them :D

[Daemon2027]

Oh First Claw. True Scale First claw. Will have to do that myself one day. But late but Forge World do a Gladius in thier Mark III power weapon set, but yours look much better for post heresy Night Lords anyway.

[Wicced]

first claw is shaping up great mate :tu:

 

little nitpick on cyrion though, i think the crotch skulls hang a little too low. it looks like he would shatter them with his knees at the first few steps he takes

[Augustus b'Raass]

EXCELLENT IDEA by KrautScientist. You gotta love the BnC community for this kind of thing: soo many great minds coming together, working together to improve the collective awesome miniature collection. ;) Also, you gotta love the Chaos KNights box, because there's literally nothing besides the horsies that you can't use as a CSM player. Hmmm. The horsies might be used as Nurgle Biker bikes potentially. Hmmmmmm 

 

@KrautScientist: Except for the part where the muzzle could poke through (which is impossible due to the size of it) is this what you meant? :D

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Night%20Lords%20WIP/2015-02-22%2017.08.03_zps1vxfd8tj.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Night%20Lords%20WIP/2015-02-22%2017.08.09_zpsla2xv5t4.jpg

 

@helterskelter: it's almost paint o'clock mate. I'll start with Cyrion I think, but maybe Mercutian. Or Variel or Uzas, hmmm?

 

@Midnight Runner: Much appreciated, good sir!

 

@The Hydra: CHeers, yeah I totes agree.

 

@Wicced: I know what you mean, and I tried hanging the skulls higher before I glued them in place as they are now... but it looked like his, well, balls. So lower skulls it became. And Cyrion really doesn't care about broken skulls imo. INdeed, one of the skulls is already broken! :tu:

[KrautScientist]

Bautiful, simply beautiful! It's actually looking even better than what I imagined ;)

[Flint13]

Hehe, from the front, the horns kinda give your daemon bolter a soccer mom haircut :D

 

Paint Uzas first! So far he's my favorite. They're all looking pretty darn awesome, buddy. 

[Augustus b'Raass]

Oh good. Because I gave Uzas what he was missing.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Night%20Lords%20WIP/Uzas%201_zpsypfduuip.jpg

 

Although I'm not truly satisfied with the NL symbol on his reight pauldron... I might get rid of that or redo it. Whaddayafink of it?

Edited February 22, 2015 by Augustus b'Raass

[Midnightmare]

Blimey, these are going to be quite some squad when they are done (well, they are now!). Urzas' NL symbol looks fine to my eye, but if you are not happy with it then now is the time.

 

Mercutians HB looks insane btw, pure win 

[MrBear]

Now this is getting better and better. That heavy bolter is truly wicked and Uzas is mighty fine aswell.

 

Regarding the 33rd... Since I did paint quite a lot (by my standards  ) this week I've been doing next to nothing this weekend. Just some painting on the loyalist trophy. Will do some more painting and hopefully start to model 2nd Claw during next week instead.

[Red Skullz]

I'm really late to the party that is your plog. The big daemon engine reeled me in and the contemptors sunk the hook in deep.

 

I think your truescale claw is another fantastic addition to your collection. I often find truescaled miniatures on the static side but these got some great poses going. Look forward on seeing some paint on these that will tie it all together. Sorry about not having anything more constructive to add but I'm a bit overloaded at the moment.

[Kizzdougs]

The Chaos Knight piece is perfect on the heavy bolter!

 

I've only done Cyrion and Talos so far. You can see them in my WIP thread. Finished Cyrion (minus base, bionic arm and lightning tears...) and almost finished Talos. 

[Augustus b'Raass]

That's yours???!?!?!!?!?  Dude that Cyrion shows up at every google or pinterest search for 'Night Lords'. I've been admiring him for years! He's totally the inspiration for the entire squad I'm doing right now. Wow. And your Talos... hotdamn I'm almost sorry for seeing it, because now I either copy your stuff or make something that just won't do, coolness-wise. Urgh 

[Daemon2027]

Mercurial and Uzas are my favourites and they look awesome so far. Just finish those 2. The rest are filler, minor characters :p

[Kriegsmacht]

Awesome First Claw. Can't wait to see the others and painted up. :)

[Kizzdougs]

That's yours???!?!?!!?!?  Dude that Cyrion shows up at every google or pinterest search for 'Night Lords'. I've been admiring him for years! He's totally the inspiration for the entire squad I'm doing right now. Wow. And your Talos... hotdamn I'm almost sorry for seeing it, because now I either copy your stuff or make something that just won't do, coolness-wise. Urgh 

Yeah, he's mine. I started them back when Soul Hunter was first released, but lost interest/got distracted (because truescale is too much like hard work :P ). That's the thing with modelling characters that have been defined in literature and art, it's almost impossible to avoid some level of replication. I know that if I decide to continue my First Claw project I'll be borrowing your idea of the Chaos Knight piece on the heavy bolter and probably some of Variel's details too.

 

Looking forward to your next update :)

[Teetengee]

On the topic of chaos knight bit usage, I have found a couple uses for the horse bits too by snipping bits off of them, the chain tail of one I used for part of a flail, and the horns of another on the same model. (cue old man, back in my day we used every bit of the kit....)

[Augustus b'Raass]

I'm struck down by a bad case of pneumonia, caught because I was so hot during my flu last week I opened the window. It's fragged up, but has also given me some time to re-read the Night Lords trilogy. And lo and behold, on page 115 of the omnibus, there's a description where Septimus is looking at First claw in the reflection of the Blackened 's canopy. And he describes all four of their helmets in detail: origin and marks. THis gives me a great opportunity to make my rendition of first as close to the description as possible:

Talos MkV, with studs, painted skull and the Nostraman rune for Soul Hunter

Uzas MkIII, with a bloody heand smeared across the face plate by himself.

Xarl MkVII, stolen from a Dark Angel champion - giving me the opportunity to include a Dark Angel helmet wing on his trophy chain

and, a big surprise to me:

Cyrion MkII.

 

So I'm giving Uzas' a MkIII helmet and his current helmet to Cyrion. The bunny-earless Khorne helemt is as close to a MkII helmet as I can get without actually buying one, plus the WE helmet upgrade pack also features MkII helmets with a vertical slit. It also gives me a nice canvas to draw the 'lightning tears' on somewhere.

 

What do you think?

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Night%20Lords%20WIP/2015-02-24%2016.46.16_zpsbfdett46.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Night%20Lords%20WIP/2015-02-24%2016.46.29_zpsp2j2oubm.jpg

 

Replies:

 

@Midnight Runner: Thanks mate, yeah that idea by krautScientist was the one that completed Mercutian.

 

@MrBear: Looking forward to your 2nd claw in your beautfiul paint style mate.

 

@Red Skullz: Haha welcome brother! I'm happy you enjoyed everything. Take a look at my shocase (see my siggy for links) where all the painted stuff is.

 

@The Hydra: Mercutian :tu: Apologies for the pettiness, but you're dealing with a hard-core fan here. ;) And if you ever call Cyrion, Xarl, Talos and Variel filler characters again I'll come over and flay your cat. Or dog. Or canary. Whatever.

 

@Kriegsmacht: Cheers mate! Yeah still wainting on the bits to arrive!

 

@kizzdougs: Replication is irrelevant. I really enjoy scouring the books for details I haven't seen with others. Cyrion's MkII helmet for instance, I haven't seen anywhere.

 

@Teetengee: Aha! Well, I'll give that a looksee! :D

Edited February 25, 2015 by Augustus b'Raass

[Atia]

i think it looks great =) also, the world eater helmet is in fact a sub-type of the mark II:

 

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/The_Horus_Heresy/Legiones_Astartes/World_Eaters/WORLD_EATERS_MK_II_HEADS_UPGRADE_SET.html

[KrautScientist]

Hmm, I don't know. Personally, I would have stayed with the 'zerker helmet on Uzas, but I can buy into your reason for changing that. But that helmet, while definitely cool, just isn't Cyrion for me. Maybe it's due to his somewhat slaaneshi leanings, but it just feels wrong -- I think it would look like you have two versions of Uzas in the squad. The first helmet choice was much better -- I'd just ignore the books in this respect, to be honest.

 

Sorry, not very constructive of me, is it? ;)

[Chandrian]

Looking Good Augustus . would have never guessed Cyrion was wearing MkII :O.   Time for me to go back and Reread :P 

[ElDuderino]

First of all, great rendition of First Claw, great conversions! One doesn't need to look twice to recognize these guys:) As for Cyrion's helmet, the current one just looks to khornish to me, it's hard to avoid when one of every four world eaters seems to sport one:) Maybe you could fill up the slit with GS and try carving new ones like the standard mkII helms?

 

(Edit since my phone hasn't learned english yet)

Edited February 24, 2015 by ElDuderino

[Daemon2027]

@The Hydra: Mercutian :tu: Apologies for the pettiness, but you're dealing with a hard-core fan here. ;) And if you ever call Cyrion, Xarl, Talos and Variel filler characters again I'll come over and flay your cat. Or dog. Or canary. Whatever.

Lol first part was autocorrect shenanigans, and I have a Nostramo Lion, you can try flaying him if you like.

 

Maybe it cos I tend to model lot more in the 30k legion sense but I like Cyrions helm, it doesn't strike me to much as berserker helm.

Edited February 24, 2015 by The Hydra

[Augustus b'Raass]

Mercutian is finished. I figured I'd better start with him, seeing as he's the least 'controversial' of the claw. ;) I used a technique of weathering the base that was taught to me by forte: stippling powder on with a large drybrush, using different colours on different patches. I like it! What do you think of Mercutian?

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Showcase%20Night%20Lords/2015-02-25%2022.42.29_zpsnih333af.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Showcase%20Night%20Lords/2015-02-25%2022.42.35_zpsywpupjnz.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Showcase%20Night%20Lords/2015-02-25%2022.42.42_zpsq9jqnzna.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Showcase%20Night%20Lords/2015-02-25%2022.42.48_zpsswwpvklv.jpg

 

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Showcase%20Night%20Lords/2015-02-25%2022.42.53_zpsbqt27z5v.jpg

 

Now, concerning the 'helmet controversy' (please take that title with a huge grain of salt). I understand that the Khorne Berzerker helmet sans bunny ears looks 'Khornate' - but that is I believe because A. as duderino has pointed out, every one in four plastic zerkers has one, and B. the biggest 'opponent' of that helmet is himself huuuugely biased as he's about the biggest Khorne collector on the block here. No wonder mister KrautScientist sees everything through a red, Khornate haze. ;) 

 

In all serious though, the reason I went with the swap is because as both Atia and The Hydra have pointed out, that helmet is a variant MkII helmet. I'm not sure yet if I'll use that one specifically, or a 'normal' MkII helemt, or even a WE MkII variant helmet, the one with the spikes on top (both of which I've now ordered of off eBay). To be honest, that last one actually looks more Slaaneshi to me than any of the others (remember the lower half has a downward slope, which is not evident from the forge world pics)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d185/mkruijff/Night%20Lords%20WIP/Capture_zpsg5ltfmag.jpg

plus there have been plenty old Slaaneshi mini's with a helmet with a vertical slit like this, so I don't think I'll have any problems making him look not-Khornate. Also, it'll be blue! :tu:

 

Replies:

@Atia: Thanks! Those are exactly what I was talking about. :D

 

@KrautScientist: I just want to be perfectly canon. And yes, you are being constructive, I just don't agree with you on this point. I don't 'feel' the wrongness, as I just don't correlate armour types to specific legions that much, so I'm good with Night Lords in MkIII, DG in MkIV, and WE in MkVI. So to me MkII and MkIII don't look Khornate any more than MkIV or any other type does. To me it's about the rest of the model, and how it fits. Don't forget: and even though the Crusade and Heresy both still ring through your Khornate Army through their rejection of the nails, those times are closer to First Claw by eons: the Heresy was only 300 years ago to 10th company.
Don't you think that the WE MkII with the spikes would be able to pass as a slaaneshi helmet? Plus, not to worry: I figured something else to show Cyrion's allegiance ;) 

 

 

@Lord Haelim Lev: I can only engcourage (re)reading the trilogy!

 

@ElDuderino: Thanks for the reply mate. As stated above, I am looking at other variants of MkII. I like the one with the spikes :D

 

@The Hydra: I'm on the same page as you on this. All Legions use all armour types. If anything, the traitor legions where better equipped (in resources, supplies and in more modern gear) than the loyalists though Horus' usurping the supply lines of the mechanicum, and thus MkII would actually be more associated with the loyalists than with traitors like the XII legion. :tu: