Grey Knights Kill Team

[Brother Tyler]

I've finally gotten back around to working on my kill team, with a high probability of actually getting it finished in the next couple of weeks.

I'm using the Grey Knights rules to represent a very special team within my DIY Chapter, the Nova Hawks (the lore is still in progress, but I'm focusing on the models for now). The basic premise of this kill team is that it represents part of a force tasked with both guarding and watching a Librarian (the Chapter has only recently reinstated its Librarium and still holds Librarians in suspicion). So the members of this team are co-led by an acolyte Chaplain and a veteran squad leader recently returned from the Deathwatch and serving within the Chapter's Honour Guard. The rest of the members are also veterans and all members have been screened for purity.

I'm using the Purifiers rules.

Since my Chapter is basically a Codex Chapter, I'm avoiding the use of some of the more exotic of the Grey Knights weapons (i.e., Incinerator, Psycannon, etc.). While the squad has the gauntlet-mounted storm bolters, I'm converting the melee weapons so that they are distinct from those of the Grey Knights while remaining comparable in terms of size (for WYSIWYG).

Yes, I know they're sub-optimal (and pretty much everyone agrees that the Grey Knights rules are sub-optimal for kill team, but I'm focusing on the lore and not on a tabletop kick-ass kill team).

Note that when I get around to finishing a full army, this squad will join a Grey Knights Terminator Squad and a Grey Knights Librarian as a Nemesis Strike Force. This detachment will be a small segment of a larger Codex: Space Marines army and will be differentiated from the rest of the army by the inclusion of a special tower honour (in the case of the squads, a tower on a shield; in the case of the Librarian, a tower upon the shoulder pad). The tower honour is the mark of their role. These models will also use some Grey Knights bits (generally, the torso back and arms), but will otherwise use mostly standard Space Marine parts (with some characters using bits from special Chapters or other armies for distinction). For now, though, I'm focused solely on the kill team.

This topic is about the painting and modeling. If you'd like to offer feedback on the actual kill team army list, you can find that discussion here. You can also see the DIY Chapter lore development here.

My next steps are to re-base the models (32mm bases inbound) and to convert the weapons. I'm using some weapons from Zombie Tools LLC as a model, as seen here (I just need to model/convert them from 1:1 scale to WH40K heroic 28mm scale). After that is done, I need to finish the Nemesis warding stave conversion and then get to painting.

So here's my plan:

This is the Leader of my kill team, a Knight of the Cleansing Flame. He is equipped with a Nemesis force halberd. The chest and legs are from the Blood Angels Sanguinary Guard kit and I'm using a Mk IV helmet with transverse crest.

[/clearfloat]

This is the Acolyte Chaplain (either a newly-promoted Chaplain or a senior Chaplain-in-training - I haven't quite decided which). He is a Purifier and is equipped with a Nemesis warding stave. The helmet is the skull-helm from the Chaos Space Marines kit.

This is Veteran #1. He is a Purifier and is equipped with a Nemesis force sword. He is a specialist and has the Fleshbane rule.

This is Veteran #2. He is a Purifier and is equipped with a pair of Nemesis falchions. He is a specialist and has the Preferred Enemy rule.

This is Veteran #3. He is a Purifier and is equipped with a pair of Nemesis falchions. He is a specialist and has the Crusader rule.

This is Veteran #4. He is a Purifier and is equipped with a Nemesis force sword.

This is Veteran #5. He is a Purifier and is equipped with a Nemesis force sword.[clearfloat]

All of the above images are roughs and don't show the full amount of detail that is either sculpted or which will be painted.

I'm trying to make things a bit easier for my kill team opponents by providing a special indicator of those models with Specialist rules, giving them black loincloths. Everyone else (except the Leader) has a white loincloth, meaning they don't have any Specialist rules. The Leader has an orange loincloth to differentiate him from both black and white loincloths as he might get the Leader Trait that gives him a specialist rule.

The bases will use checkerboard tiles to represent the deck of a hive (more of the lore behind the larger army). I intend to use colors that are not on the minis, making the overall minis a bit more interesting to look at.

Now I just need to get cracking on the actual modeling/painting and will (hopefully) have some WIP images posted soon.

[Theradrussian]

Looks like a pretty cool take on the Grey Knights, and I respect seeing someone use them in a project that is less about curb-stomping opponents with their smorgasbord of filthy combos. I may nick some of the conversions you use, though!

[deathspectersgt7]

Will the Chapter Symbol be painted or Decal?

[Brother Tyler]

Will the Chapter Symbol be painted or Decal?

 

I'm using the Mentors (sculpted) shoulder pads (which no longer appear at the GW site - good thing I bought a bunch way back when).

[Brother Tyler]

D'oh! I just realized that all of the images above should show white helmets since they're veterans. I'll have to go back and fix that later.

My nifty new bases arrived today.

My work right now is to get the weapons sculpted. I'll be sizing them appropriately, then printing a stencil. I'll use the stencil to mark out silhouettes on plasticard. The plasticard will be cut out with a hobby knife, then shaped via a rotary tool. Finally, they'll be sharpened appropriately using the same rotary tool, but a different attachment (with some fine filing via an actual file). The challenge is getting the size of the weapons correct - they need to be biggerized into the heroic (mis)proportions of WH40K minis (i.e., unwieldy). They'll be attached to the Grey Knights mini hands via a combination of slotting (filing slots into the chopped off weapons) and insertion (leaving lengths of "tang" and drilling holes through the hands of the Grey Knights). So I'll probably have the blades and hilts as two separate pieces per weapon.

Another challenge, but a small one, is getting the bases right. My intent is to have the squad display on a 1'x1' board with the bases fitting into holes. Each mini will have its specific location and orientation so that there is a diorama effect. My only goal with this right now is to get the basic layout and locations/orientations planned, with the primary effort going into getting the actual minis completed. Once they're done, then I can get to the rest of the work on the display board/diorama.

[Hm74]

Topic followed!..awesome sauce!

[Vulkan454]

Very much looking forward to progress on this thread!

One thing that popped up for me though is that the Leader (Knight of the Cleansing Flame) has a halberd. However Veteran #1 has the same weapon which is a force sword... only issue I saw!

 

Anyway, good luck with progress, keep us updated

[Brother Tyler]

One thing that popped up for me though is that the Leader (Knight of the Cleansing Flame) has a halberd. However Veteran #1 has the same weapon which is a force sword... only issue I saw!

Actually, if you put the images side by side, you can see that the halberd is much larger than the sword:

You have, however, hit upon one of the challenges I face - rendering the Zombie Tools weapons as accurately as possible while hitting the WYSIWYG requirements and differences between the weapons from a rules perspective (as well as recognition upon the tabletop). The falchions are easy as they come in pairs. My solution for the swords is to also model those one-handed, with the halberd modeled two-handed. The grips are going to be a bit larger than the Zombie Tools weapons as this will facilitate using the existing bits with minimal conversion - I'll only have to create the blades and the butts (which are, for the most part, identical across all of the bladed weapons, making my job easier).

So right now I'm going through my Grey Knights bits to get the correct arms and hands (the acolyte chaplain will be pointing while the swordsmen will all have fists while aiming their weapons).

[Brother Tyler]

I created a paper stencil by taking the image of the blades (all three are on one image to preserve proportions), making the smallest slightly smaller than the Nemesis falchion (measuring the actual bits), and printing them on paper. I created three copies of the image so that I wouldn't have problems later. The lines on the stencil allowed me to adjust the size of the blade image to get the correct measurements.

I then used a hobby knife to cut each shape out. The multiple copies allowed me to avoid the problem of paper pulling when cutting shapes too close to each other. The shapes of the blades stopped right below the "guards" while I cut out two different hilt pieces. The shorter hilt piece is for the falchions while the longer hilt piece is for the swords and halberds.

I then traced out the shapes I needed on thick plasticard (.5 mm thick) that will serve as the frame for greenstuff/putty thickening.

The next steps will be:

• cutting each shape out using a hobby knife (each "blade" will probably have a straight extension "below" the hilt for pinning)
• grinding each shape down using a rotary tool
• drilling the holes in the hilts using a pin vice
• thickening each blade using greenstuff (and maybe some wire)
• affixing each piece appropriately (I'll need to drill the hands and file some slots in)

I'll have pictures along the way to show how things are progressing.

I'll probably transfer the stencil to thick plasticard for later use. Either that or I'll need to create some model masters and simply cast the bits (I really need to start using my casting materials, especially considering GW's discontinued support of the Mentors shoulder pads).

[Stormborn]

Nice colour scheme, but those blades are awesome, have you thought about getting them 3d prnted?

[Brother Tyler]

Actually, I've been considering just that (and I've begun saving up for my own 3D printer ).

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, progress has been made.

First, I worked on the bases. The first step was to magnetize the bases for storage/transportation/painting. This was accomplished by gluing small metal squares inside the bottom and then gluing small rare earth magnets at opposite corners of the squares.

After that, I glued plasticard squares to the tops, then trimmed the plasticard down.

And here's the obligatory Charlie's Angels shot of the models, 90% complete (i.e., sans nifty Zombie Tools blades).

I'd previously assembled the legs and torsos. Having done that work over a year ago, they were on 25mm bases. So I had to transfer the models to the 32mm bases. I decided that I wanted another visual cue to separate these guys from the rest of the army (whenever I get around to it), so I left them on the 25mm tile plasticard and glued them to the new larger bases. I gave the Leader and the Chaplain one or two damaged tiles, but left the tiles of the other veterans intact.

Individual images coming really really soon (i.e., I need to upload them and compose the post).

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, here are the individual shots. They're thumbnails, so click on them to see a larger image. Each mini has a left, front, and right view.

LEADER

I had originally used Sanguinary Guard pieces for the legs and chest, and a Mk IV helmet with transverse crest. I decided that this wasn't appropriate as every other model in the squad used legs from the Sternguard kit. So I'm re-purposing the other model for the larger army (he'll be a Captain or Champion) and built a new one. I used the spiky helmet and one of the chest pieces from the Blood Angels upgrade kit. His arms are for a Grey Knights model with a Nemesis force sword, but the blade will be replaced with the "halberd" blade (see above). The shoulder pads are also from the Sternguard kit. The aquila on the backpack is a visual cue to my opponent that this is the Kill Team's Leader. This is the only model that retains any Inquisition iconography (I scraped any such icons off other models) because the lore of this character is that he has recently returned from serving with the Ordo Xenos Deathwatch and has been inducted into the equivalent of this Chapter's Honour Guard.

CHAPLAIN

Evidently he's compensating for something. Actually, the intent was to make the "crozius arcanum" provide WYSIWYG recognition as a Nemesis warding stave. I used the staff for the Standard Bearer from the Space Marine Command Squad kit, trimming about 3mm off the bottom (splicing the cap back on). I also used one of the winged skull backpack toppers from that kit as the head of the "crozius arcanum," adding the scroll and purity seal to liven it up a bit. The helmet is from the Chaos Space Marine kit. If you look carefully, you can see that his left hand is pointing. He's pointing as if to say, "Go kill that traitor over there." Lore-wise, he's the co-leader of the squad (though in Kill Team games, he's not the "Leader").

In order to help differentiate the "falchion" models from the "sword" models (for my opponents), I'm probably going to make the right hand blades held in a reverse grip. I considered doing that for the left hands, but it seemed silly because the magazines of the storm bolters would render such a hold completely ineffective.

FALCHIONS A

FALCHIONS B

All of the "Nemesis force swords" are being held one-handed in order to provide a visual cue (differentiation between the "swords" and the "halberd"). The two that are aiming their storm bolters have that hand in a fist and are holding their "Nemesis force swords" down. The one that is not aiming has storm bolter has that hand open and is holding his "Nemesis force sword" at the ready, horizontally (or nearly so) across the body.

SWORD A

SWORD B

SWORD C

I've tried to give each Veteran a unique appearance during the modeling stage, and will enhance the differences when it comes to painting. One of the good things about looking at larger images on the Internet, though, is that I can see some areas that need a little more attention before I prime the models.

[Brother Tyler]

And here are the currently planned paint recipes. I'll be testing everything on a test mini, first, so these might not survive contact.

The silver portions of the armour (torso and legs) are largely unadorned. Even those decorations that appear on the armour will be silver (with a few exceptions). The intent behind the second (orange) wash is to give a bit of depth. All of the layers will be thinned down considerably, and might be done in multiple layers per color. The recesses of the armour will be kept dark.

I'm going for a reddish-orange. If there are any orange honours upon helmets, they will follow the same recipe.

This includes the helmets as well as any white markings upon the arms/shoulders (i.e., the Chapter badge, squad badge, and honours).

This is primarily the Chaplain's arm, but also includes any black honours painted upon the orange portions of the armour (as well as helmets).

This covers piping, helmet grills, soft armour, etc.

This covers eye lenses and targeters. There will also be a soft glow around the eyes using the last two colors.

The tabards will be slightly different from the corresponding metal portions, simply because of small variations in dyes and the textural differences between ceramite and cloth. Also, any white markings on orange/black tabards will follow this recipe.

This is the Leader's tabard. Maybe. I might decide to just give him a white tabard and make it extra fancy (i.e., painting on embroidery and what-not). However, any orange markings on white/black tabards will also follow this recipe.

This is the Chaplains tabard, as well as any black markings on white/orange tabards.

These guys have lots of purity seals and I want them to be noticeable upon the reddish-orange armour. There will be multiple glazes for a gloss effect.

I want the parchment of the purity seals/scrolls to stand out from the white tabards.

All of the metallic additions to the orange armour (i.e., the Leader's shoulder pad rims, some honours) will be in bronze instead of silver - I want them to be obviously metallic without breaking up the larger color scheme. This color will also be used on weapons casings/fittings.

I haven't yet decided upon the recipes for the Nemesis force weapons or the checkerboard tiles on the bases. I imagine that the power weapons will use the standard blue/white electrified scheme. The bases are anyone's guess right now.

[Brother Tyler]

Okay, I did the final round of model cleaning.

So here are images of the minis, with better lighting this time around.

LEADER

Hidden Content

CHAPLAIN

Hidden Content

FALCHIONS A

Hidden Content

FALCHIONS B

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SWORD A

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SWORD B

Hidden Content

SWORD C

Hidden Content

I also took higher angle shots of each mini, but decided that the lower angle shots should scratch everyone's itch. If anyone particularly wants to see the (slightly) higher angle shots, let me know and I'll post them here.

Now to get them primed.