From the Maelstrom: A Word Bearers Project Log

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

@Midnight - Thanks man. My Abaddon will have a Deathwing mace in his left hand to stick with the WB's theme while suitably representing his Daemon Weapon and I found an awesome cloak too, just waiting for parts to arrive now to finish it off.

I adore the knight kit. It's great fun to build and convert. I'm glad people like it as I really put a lot into it as I wanted to do such an awesome model justice :)

Thanks! Same here, i have seen some great armies where the fluff just takes it to the next level so wanted to try it myself. So I really appreciate the praise for that as it does take a while sometimes. Hardest thing with that though is making sure what I write fits the look of the model in question (be it how I modelled it or even what rules and equipment it has in game) while staying true to canon fluff.

 

@Deathspecter - Cheers, I'm glad to have got a lot of love for his new pose. I never got round to posting it but how it had been posed originally was so static and I wasn't happy with his loadout I just had to change it - that's why it's half painted.

 

I'm still so torn over what to paint though! I can't wait to see them all finished, but equally, if I paint something entirely different for now I can save all these points expensive units for Call of Chaos/ETL IV.

[Skrundle87]

Really like your terminators, particularly your counts as abaddon

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

Thanks Skrundle!
 
Quick update: Flamers and Screamers - Bought these well over a year ago while the White Dwarf update made these guys incredible. Not sure how they perform in the new edition but dug them out for a bit of variety.
The Screamers are done, however only the side you can see of the Flamer is painted - was going for the look of it is made up of living fire. These are older models so not sure if I can do better now (I'm actually considering giving my Bloodletters a repaint as my style and palette has changed so much I could significantly improve them) however I'm still happy with them and I can't think of a better way of doing it so I'll likely keep them as is.
 
   

[Skrundle87]

Screamers are nice, I like the purple highlights and you've nailed the living fire aspect on the flamer

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

Thanks mate! I had forgotten about these so it was nice to find them again. Glad the fire effect goes down well too as I wasn't sure at first but am rather happy with it

And final update on Abaddon/Grand Apostle, and I'm hoping to get an opinion. Cloak or no cloak?

Here is the cloak and from the back:

And without:

And finally, this came yesterday - but more on that later...

[deathspectersgt7]

Cloak.

[gizur]

Cloak!

[ElDuderino]

Cloak.

 

That guy is awesome btw!

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

Looks like the cloak wins! Cheers guys.

 

And thank you ElDuderino :)

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

“The Favoured son of Chaos, Our Lord and our mentor, The bearer of truth. He is with us today, And upon all the battlefields where we strive, Bringing faith to the faithless, And death to the heedless. Always he watches, and lends us his strength.”

– Unknown passage form The Epistles of Lorgar.

 

 

 

Thought I would share what was in that Horus Heresy box with you all. Behold! Lorgar, Primarch of the Word Bearers. Managed to pick him up brand new from eBay for £40 which is great as ever since seeing the model I wanted him but was put off by the high price tag and the fact that I have no interest in getting into the Heresy at this point - it is purely for a display piece for me to really test my painting skills on. But it seems a quick prayer (and a few sacrifices but we won't mention those *cough* *cough*) to the Dark Gods put off any further bidders.

Still needs his cloak but I want to paint that up separately and stick it after as it gets in the way of the back of the model. 

[GrandMagnus]

Where is the cloack from? BTW kind of inspired me, that mini (maybe I should make 2 armies!!)

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

The cloak is from the Warhammer Fantasy Chaos Lord on Manticore. Had to cut the length down a bit to fit with the rocky outcrop though.

 

Oh wow!! Thanks man, I'm glad to have inspired you, especially if it means another falling to chaos ;)

I would definitely recommend another army, I run 3 as I love the variety although they all form parts of the same big army (CSM, Daemons and Traitor Guard).

 

If you do get round to making that second army give us a shout if you want a tutorial/bits list if you want to recreate that guy - I only have him the mace as it fits my Word Bearers better but had a great idea for a Daemon Sword that could work too so I'm happy to share.

 

Thanks :)

[GrandMagnus]

Sure thing, I might make a thread showing off both a loyalist and traitor army. Ive always liked the idea of a chaos lord with a huge daemonic sword (like the bloodletters have) and a long black cloack :D And horns, dont forget the horns. 

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

That sounds awesome Anaziel!! Either that or I reckon the Dark Vengeance Lord's sword would combine nicel with the DA Terminator Command armt that is also holding the sword pointed towards the ground.
 
Anyway, back to uni now, so unfortunately I have had no time for painting in the last few weeks.
 
But i did get a chance to kitbash some new characters for my army, here they are:
 
First up, my new First Acolyte
      

My Host's Icon Bearer WIP - still need something suitable to fit the end of the pole.

 
A second Terminator Sorcerer

 
This thing, maybe a familiar of some sort maybe, haven't really decided yet

 
And the Leader of my CCW Coterie

[deathspectersgt7]

Liking the first Acolyte,How about Calgars head on the Icon Bearer.

[KrautScientist]

Love the two new models in power armour: Both the poses and kitbashes are inspired!

 

If you'll excuse the criticism, I think many of your Terminator models yet lack the flair of your models in regular power armour. What I mean by that is that you should be slightly more adventurous when it comes to building your Termies -- these guys are the true elite of any warband, veterans of a thousand wars and true personalities. I would advise you to step beyond the limits imposed by the somewhat conventional Chaos Termie kit and experiment more with an influx of external bitz: Your chaos Lord and the guy with the two handed weapons are already steps in the right direction, and I'd urge you to do more along those lines.

 

I only say this because a) I really like your growing army project and would love your Termies to be the best they could possibly be and b) I've suffered from a similar "restraint" when it comes to Terminators in the past: My first squad of Terminators seems much too conventional and cookie cutter to me nowadays, and I would be happy to spare you that experience and have you move straight into awesome territory ;)

 

Anyway, I hope you won't take this the wrong way! Keep up the great work!

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

@DeathSpecter - thanks for the compliments man! Yeah, that would be awesome, was hoping for something much bigger on the end of his weapon though however I'm now tempted to have it hanging from his armour somewhere.

 

@Kraut - Thanks mate, I was very pleased with how the Champion in particular turned out. Not at all, I appreciate it and understand where you're coming from. I am happy with how the Combi-Plasma Terminators turned out, and I have since added a load of purity seals and devotional parchment, could possibly model some flayed skin and the like as well however I think the bare heads and Combi-Plasma conversions are a step in the right direction with some alternate poses.

However, having started my second and third Terminator squads I have been trying to get some more dynamic poses as like you said, these are the Elite and I want them to look as such. 

So, I'll get some photos of my newer Terminators posted soon but in the meantime, do you have any suggestions as to how I can really make them stand out? Either to add to what I have or for any new squads. I really appreciate and respect your opinion as I love your own project and understand exactly what you mean so any suggestions would be awesome.

Hoping to get a Terminator Apothecary (Icon of Excess) unit with the Deathwing Knights Power Mauls done soon.

 

Thanks :)

[KrautScientist]

Hmm, well, I suppose there are a couple of things that have worked well for me when converting Terminators, among them...

 

- using external bitz in order to make them more interesting/imposing: that includes chaos knight or Skullcrusher pauldrons (which are brilliant for Termies) or altogether different armour plates (for instance, the Heldrake armour plates I used to create my Mk 1-ish Termie Lord). Parchments, purity seals, incense burners and the like should also be a no-brainer. And I suppose those Deathwing Knights are excellent conversion fodder for priestly Word Bearer Terminators.

 

- experimenting with the pose, cutting up arms etc. The stock chaos terminators are pretty boring, and there's quite a bit you can do to change that by working on the arms, posing the legs on rocks (or similar elements) in an interesting way and what have you. Some loyalist bitz will also come in handy for this. And I realise that most of the Terminators I am really happy with these days are based on the legs from the Termie Lord kit, rather than the standard legs (although that can get expensive fast).

 

- lastly, I think it really helps to imagine beforehand what kind of archetype you want each Terminator to embody: A fast (well, fast for a Terminator) and deadly duelist? A massive, implacable hammer wielder? A zealous priest addressing the masses of believers? Termies are really great for exploring larger than life characters and OTT archetypes, if you ask me.

 

- after my first squad of Termies turned out a bit too by the book (as I mentioned earlier), my current squad is based around the idea that they are a squad of ancient, legendary warriors that serve as bodyguards to my supreme chaos lord. I try to come up with a noticeably different equipment for each of them. While they are probably not at all WYSIWYG, each of them really reads as an individual now:

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/8/2/634810-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lord%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Doomwall%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Kitbash.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2014/4/30/608007-Cataphractii%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Conversion%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/1/4/448741-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lords%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marrines%2C%20Conversion.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2013/1/4/448735-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lords%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marrines%2C%20Conversion.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/10/24/424358-Axe%2C%20Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Lord%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Huntmaster%2C%20Khorne%2C%20Khorne%27s%20Eternal%20Hunt.JPG

 

http://images.dakkadakka.com/gallery/2012/7/18/391013-Chaos%2C%20Chaos%20Space%20Marines%2C%20Daemon%20Weapon%2C%20Huntmaster%2C%20Isgarad%2C%20Khorne.JPG

 

Anyway, sorry for rambling ;) Hope this helps!

[Dark_Apostle_XVII]

Yes, I see what you mean now - that has been a problem for me, getting every Terminator to look suitably different. I am not concerned if they are similar, but I want every one to be unique in some way and with the limited options of the kit, this is hard, especially as in the end, I hope have assembled the entirety of my Host including 32 Terminators.
 
I already have a plan for each squad so far though. 
 
1st Squad - The one you have seen. 3 Axes, 2 Mauls, all Combi-Plasma. Happy with these as they all have different heads and new weapons and are posed differently making them individual. Still got some final details to come but they will do.
 
2nd Squad - 3 Chainfists, 2 Fists, all Combi-Meltas. See photos below - fairly happy with these. each still different and I'm using some loyalist guns as the Chaos ones are all the same. However, I have now exhausted all the basic options from the kit and need to move onto more advanced poses.
  
 
3rd Squad - Power Swords and Combi-Flamers (1 Heavy Flamer). Very early stages of building these, just got some arms ready. *Not the body they will be used on* Mutated arm is for champion, other arm just a standard one. Need more swords to use as I can't really double up on those.
  
 
4th Squad - All Lightning Claws. CSM LC's are all the same! Need to replace these, probably with Warp Talon ones.
 
5th Squad - Coryphaus' Bodyguard. Power Mauls and Combi-Plasma. Uses DW Knights Maces to show position, MoS+IoE to give unit an Apothecary. Champion wields 2 Handed icon think Burias but need to find suitable icon - was thinking Marauder Horsemen Star with Plasticard Daemon Face WB's symbol on it.
From Left to Right: Normal Terminator, Champion/'Icon Bearer', Apothecary (is in fact the real Icon Bearer in game terms as champions cannot be), normal Terminator. Need new heads though?

 
6th Squad - ???
 
The last 3 members are made up of the Coryphaus, and 2 Terminator Sorcerers.

 

Need to pick up some bits like purity seals/most Dark Angels accessories to add to them all however I think it is going more in the right direction now?

 

I love some of your helmets you used by the way, where are they from?