Pyroclast91's Forge = Salamanders Primaris and Death Guard

[bluntblade]

I like the idea of them maintaining a Salamander-esque worldview. The Imperium likes to use monsters in the guise of angels, not so much the other way round.

[our_baz]

They look rather feral and brutal. Great progress. From my perspective the markings would look even better if you could make some of them thinner (c.f Mauri tribal markings). For Vulkan brother.

[Pyroclast91]

@ Bluntblade that's kinda what I was thinking too. That's why I tend to lean more towards the dark side in that regard. I've never been a fan of the legions, or chapters later on who think they're as you say angels. I prefer the ones who know they're the monsters made to fight the worse monsters if that makes sense :)

 

@Baz Thanks brother that's exactly the look I'm going for. As for the lines I totally agree and I've been working on it if you were to line up the entire squad you can almost see them thin out as I progressed through them. Unfortunately i didn't have the forethought to paint the sgt last.

 

 

So I actually did all this before Christmas I've just been too busy to sit down and update until now. Anywho I decided to use yellow for all the weapons as you can see. The plan with that is I want to make squad Kyros' weapons look very utilitarian and off the rack with minimal ornamentation quite the opposite of what you'd expect from the salamanders but that's kinda the idea. Sure these guys have the skill to make the most amazingly crafted weapons you've ever seen, But being a post Istvaan force I think they would be busy with killing traitors and maintaining what they have on hand instead of creating weaponized art. That's my reasoning for the yellow oooh and it goes with green pretty well I think. Thanks for checking out my work your C&C is always greatly appreciated.

[The Traitor]

The missile launcher looks specially awesome brother! About the yellow weapons I think it makes them look like if they have too many colours going on, green, white, red, black, metallic, yellow... maybe this would look better if you weathered them but for the moment it is too much for my taste (though I usually suffer from using a very reduced palette, so I may not be the best one to judge...).

Everything else looks ace though so keep on the good work.

[Pyroclast91]

Thanks brother that's actually exactly my plan because the yellow does definitely draw the eye. So tonight's painting will probably involve a few individual markings things like kill counts or random tribal markings then I plan to do some some sponge weathering followed by powder and we can't forget BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOOD

[Pyroclast91]

So the end of 2016 was absolute crap I for one am glad to be putting that year behind me. I didn't quite get as much accomplished over last couple weeks as I'd hoped but they've been insane with Xmas being hectic and stressful as always. But on top of that the day after xmas I tried to take a piece of cardboard from my 90 lb greyhound and he snapped and tried to take my arm off quite literally. Teger was one of the sweetest most loving dogs we've ever had even through the blinding pain in my arm I knew there was something wrong with him and trip to vet confirmed what I was most afraid of Teger had a brain tumor causing him a great deal of pain and causing him to have extreme aggressive outbursts. So I went with my mom and my wife and did the hardest thing any dog owner could ever imagine and we said goodbye. So needless to say I didn't get a whole lot accomplished but now the holidays are over and we're back home I did manage to get back at it last nite and put brush to plastic.

 

 

Thanks for checking out my work your C&C is always greatly appreciated

[The Traitor]

Sorry to hear abot your dog man, I know this things can hit you hard and hope that you get better soon.

Your vet squad looks great, the tribal markings give your army a unique look that, in my humble opinion, makes them look better than normal Salamanders. Also my concern about the yellow catching too much attention is gone now that you've weathered it. The only thing that I don't quite get is that you've weathered the boots in brown while the bases are grey... Are you going to change this? Everything else looks spot on though, can't wait to see what you do next!

[Pyroclast91]

@ The Traitor thanks brother you are far too kind and quite keen eyed as always ;) I will indeed be going back over the boots and bases I plan on using some new weathering powders I picked up for the grey concrete dust effect but I wanna do a test model and play with it a bit before I try it on these guys. Then if it turns out like I'm hoping it will I'll go back and do a little touch up on the models I've already "finished" That way they all look like they've been stomping through the same area.

[Pyroclast91]

REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED!!!!!

 

 

I managed to do some creative budgeting and got the somewhat reluctant ok from the misses to finally get a copy of BOP and as a bonus got lucky and my local store still had a primus medicae which contrary to how it looks in the pictures is an awesome model IMO

 

 

Now I just have to decide what to do with all that sweet sweet MKIII at least 10 of them will be breachers who's shields I'm gonna scratch build. But I'm not sure what other PA units would be best for this army. Since my goal is to be able to actually use this force once I find someone patient enough to help me re learn how to play. I could really use some input from those of you professional list builders out there if you've got any suggestions. Also I was planning on cutting up the custodes and bashing them into some kind of termis but those models are almost too beautiful for me to wanna do that on my first set. So instead the custodes and sisters will be attached to the Vipers to keep them in check like they do with so many legions it seems ;) That leaves me with Arhiman and Geigor at first I was very tempted to build and paint them as is because again these are some gorgeous sculpts but I think I'll do that on the next box fortunately Arhiman should be fairly simple since a lot of the details aren't super legion specific. Geigor tho is literally covered in wolfy bits so he's gonna take some patience and a very sharp knife. And I almost forgot the Tartaros which will become my praetor and his command squad I just really need to suck it up and order some chargers and calivers from FW the one plastic one just isn't gonna cut it ;) Anywho that's where I'm at if you've got any ideas I'd really really love to hear them thanks for checking out my work your C&C is always greatly appreciated.

[bluntblade]

Damn, Pyroclast :( sorry to hear that

[The Traitor]

Okay, lots of things to comment, so I'll go one by one:

First, the Primus Medicae model is awesome, both in person AND in pictures, I loved him from the first second!

Second, of you're going to use only ten marines to build a breacher squad, you still need another troops choice to have a legal army! I would personally go for another 10 breachers, not so much because of game efficiency (they aren't very good outside Imperial Fists or Zone Mortalis) but because they look so cool, are very fluffy for Salamanders and I like to have a more or less simetrical force and you already mentioned that you wanted a unit, so why not two?

The remaining marines could be used for pretty much anything you like, from support squads to more veterans (veterans, on the other hand, are quite good) but, seeing your name, maybe you could model some Pyroclasts if you have enough flamer bits. I don't know much about Salamanders in 30k game-wise, but I've heard that they're pretty decent.

However this changes a lot depending on the Rite of War you plan to use, specially the ones that change your troop options. My final counsel would be to go to the Salamanders sub-forum in the AoD and ask there :P .

About the Custodes, there are some great conversions out there using them, if you have some salamander bits and hammers you could try to make some Firedrake conversions using the custodes shields and sculpting a lot of scales. Actually a change of heads, some salamander symbols, a hammer, filling some decorations of the armour and a lot os scaly hides could make up for a very interesting firedrake model.

Though I dont like Geigor as much I feel you on having to convert Ahriman (actually I haven't been able to do it myself yet) but there are some pretty interesting things you can do with them, I enjoyed changing my Geigor model completely a lot, there aren't that many symbols on him once you get to it! As you already have a praetor, a primus medicae and even Vulkan himself I dont really know what consul you could use, again it depends a lot on your Rite of War and the rest of your force.

Good luck, I'm anxious to see what you do with them, specially after seing your shielded dreadnoughts I expect some very cool breachers from you!

[Lord Commander Eidolon]

Sad news indeed - however a huge box of mini's should distract you!!

 

I've been pondering what to do with Bjorn not-Bjorn; he is a little bit too wolf, i'd certainly be keen to see you take on him! I'm also keen to see how you do the Tartaros! I'm having a crazy idea about modelling up 'elite' units from various Legions - not quite sure how i'd do Sallies beyond adding scales, but hey ho!! I'd possible trawl Dwarf bits and see what comes up, lots of hammery stuff/icons maybe!

[Vairocanum]

Sorry to hear about your dog Pyroclast, hope the new year treats you much better. I'm looking forward to seeing what conversions you come up with using the BoP box and medicae.

[Pyroclast91]

@ Bluntblade thanks brother

 

@ The Traitor I'm glad I'm not the only one digging the primus medicae there was just something about the way it was painted for the promo pics that threw me. As for the breachers I think I'll probably end up doing 10 to start with then adding another 10 out of my next box. You definitely have a good point about the vets too and I'll probably end up building another 10 of them giving me 20 total in Ash Vipers colors my thinking here being I'm probably not gonna be able to field the entire army every time I play. It will more serve like an army really does deploying the parts it needs where and when it needs them. I had tossed around the idea of Custode Drakes as well and I'm still not entirely sure what I'll end up doing with them I'm tempted to build and use them as intended but I see so many potential conversions it's hard to keep my mind made up. Pyroclasts are also definitely something I was thinking I need to make a few of since FW is so expensive and has no nearby store. I'm definitely gonna need another couple copies of BOP and BAC I think lol

 

@ Lord Commander Eidolon that was kinda what I thought too ;) I still don't really understand what GW was trying to do with that whole Bjorn thing But I'll probably start carving and sculpting on him soon so stay tuned for that ;) And my Tartaros praetor and command squad will be in the works very soon. it's funny I went from not knowing what to do because I was running out of models. And now I have so many things I've been waiting on for so long I can't decide what to its like my hobby butterfly landed in a pile of crack. Good news though if that makes you crazy they can lock us in the same Looney bin :D I've been scheming and planning and once I can figure out my funding issues I'm gonna start ordering the various Elite units from first my Salamanders of course, but after that I want to collect at least a 5 man squad of each legion specific unit. This is a very long term goal however so the acquisition of these squads will probably be super random. As far as doing up some salamanders the dwarf bits are a good idea I always forget about them you'll have to let me know what kind of treasures you find in there range. Besides that my most used conversion tool has been the press molds I made off of Vulkan and the salamanders Contemptor.

 

@Vairocanum thanks brother I'm very much looking forward to doing those conversions well with the plastics that is the Primus medicae is staying as is I just hope I can paint him better than FW did :D hopefully I won't disappoint ;)

 

Thank you all for your continued kindness and brotherhood this year definitely got off to a depressing start but it's nice to know you've got friends who care distance be damned.

 

 

Here's a little of what I've been messing around with the guy with the PF is just me playing with new bits he probably won't end up with his current loadout.

 

 

And here's the first Breacher mockup I'm still working on roughing out the shields but I think they're pretty close to what I'm after size and shape wise now I just gotta clean up the edges and detail them. Thanks for checking out my work I'd love to hear your thoughts your C&C is always greatly appreciated.

[Vairocanum]

The breacher is looking nice!, looking forward to seeing what details you put on the shield given the huge one your dreadnought is using. 

[Pyroclast91]

Thanks Vairocanum I've been trawling the interwebs looking at the different options out there, and trying to find decent tutorials which has been terribly unsuccessfull. But I think I've come up with something that looks decent ish ?

 

 

 

I noticed on some of the shields I saw online that they had added small screens to the back of the shield so the legionaire can see what's on the other side I'm assuming. So I did something similar I think I may have gone a touch too large on the prototype and we'll probably make the screen a bit smaller on the rest of this batch of shields. The real issue I had was figuring out how to mount the shields. After cutting and repositioning 10 left arms so the forearm armour faced outwards.

 

 

I ended up drilling a large hole in the aforementioned forearm plate that will receive a post mounted to the shield. this gives a solid mount and will be easy to cover with GS to make the shields look either strapped or clamped to the legionaires arm. I'm pretty happy with how the prototype is coming and I think I'm getting close to calling it done and starting on the other 9.

 

The Breachers haven't been getting all of my attention however.

 

 

I've been slowly scraping the scarabs and sons off of Arhiman So to be replaced with drakes and scales. As for my Bjorn who's not Bjorn? I just can't bring myself to cut him up at least not my first one it could be because I've been contemplating starting some wolves anyways our out could be because it's just a good looking model I think will be fun to paint either way he'll stay a wolf I did change his head however but I forgot to get a pic which I'll fix later :D

 

I also started putting together my tartaros praetor and command squad/ regular tartaros squad when I'm using different HQs.

 

 

Those of you with keen eyes may notice I also primed my Cataphractii but then I realized I still had some sculpting to do on them.... ooops :D oh well GS sticks to primer like a champ ;) it's been a very productive weekend for me all these new toys really re lit my forge fires. Thanks for checking out my work I'd love to hear your thoughts your C&C is always greatly appreciated.

[The Traitor]

The detailing you've done on the back of the shield is impressive and, in my opinion, the screen doesn't looks too big. However on the Ahriman model I would suggest changing the head, its a pretty identifying part of the character and if you want him to look like a regular librarian you should replace it. Keep on the good work!

[Brother Pheidias]

Looking forward to the Cataphractii in your scheme. Also, very nice Breachers you've got there!

[Vairocanum]

The shields look awesome! The details on the back are extremely well done. I think topping the front off with some rivets could look good. I agree with Traitor regarding a head swap on ahriman for a more standard librarian. Looking forward to seeing more!

[Pyroclast91]

@ The Traitor thanks man I wasn't really sure how the backs of the shields were gonna turn out. Which I suppose isn't a huge issue since that's not the part people will typically be looking at but it just didn't seem rite to have them be bare. As for Ahriman I've been considering what to do with his helm and I'm definitely going to change it but I'm leaning towards the conversion side more than a head swap I really like the somewhat faceless aspect of the helm so I'm gonna see what I can do with knife and GS before I swap it all together.

 

@ Brother Pheidias thanks brother next to my poor neglected knight I think those Cataphractii might be some of the longest I've put off finishing :D So it's about time I did something with them I suppose.

 

@ Vairocanum thanks man judging by the positive responses it looks like I'm on the rite track with the breachers. That's not a bad idea about trying some rivets our studs on the shields I'll give it a shot once I pick up some new drill bits since I've managed to break and or lose all my bits smaller than 1/8". As for Arhimans helm you and the traitor are definitely rite it's one of the most distinguishing parts of the model and as such it'll have some modifications.

 

I'm Glad the Breachers are turning out as well as they are the one thing I'll do differently on future batches will be the way I repositioned the left arms. Turns out I probably could have gotten away with using them in there stock poses and not had to hunt down a bunch of left hands. That's why they call it trial and error though rite?

 

Here's a pic of the current status of my Nerding Desk.

 

And here's my Not Bjorn I was originally planning on de-wolfing him but the more I looked at the model the more it called to me "you know you're gonna build a force of wolves anyways" so.... I ditched the stock head and replaced it with a wolf helm. I think he looks far far better with a helmet not that I have any real issues with the original sculpt it was quite well done. I've just always had a problem imagining hair like that fitting into a helmet.

 

 

And here's the results of me playing with the custodes bits :D it's a damn shame they can't have Shield and Spear in game cuz it's a pretty sweet looking combo I think. So as you have probably gathered I'm definitely in build mode I'll probably force myself to start on the Primus Medicae soon though. Fortunately for my hobby work good old mother nature decided to gift us with snow meaning I very well may get the day off to work on my hobby shenanigans tomorrow. Thanks for checking out my work and thanks for all the feedback everyone it's greatly appreciated.

[our_baz]

Really interested in your conversion of Ahriman, what else you got in mind to de-TS him. You replacing the khopesh?

[The Traitor]

Everything is looking great, the shield and spear combo does look good, hadn't seen it before but now if I ever get to build Custodes there's a great chance I'll do them like yours! Also the head swap on Geigor was defenitely a good idea, it looks much much better than the absurd triangle beard!

[Pyroclast91]

@ Our Baz Thanks man he's definitely slow going and I'm having a hard time figuring out what I should do about his weapon arm I wanted to convert the original weapon. But the haft is too scrawny for any kind of weapons I'd like to use. So he'll possibly get a full arm swap but here's what I did with his helmet.

 

 

@ The Traitor thanks brother as for the custodes I decided against the shield/spear combo at least I this batch. I decided to go with two swords/shields and three with spears.

I'm quite happy with how the poses came out and I'm excited to paint these bad Melon Farmers. The sisters I'm a little bit bummed about the assembly on. It would be awesome if the cloaks would have been separate from the torsos to allow them top be painted separately but oooh well just means I'll be saving them til I'm really bored.

 

My Breacher project has been progressing as well I've gotten most of the detailing done I may still add a few things here and there but I'm pretty happy with them. On future batches I might change a few things like plating on the fronts. Next thing I need to figure out how to build are heresy era grav and las cutters.

 

 

 

My original plan was to actually work a lil bit on painting my Primus Medicae but I'm definitely stuck in build mode so I'll have to try to make myself get on it this week after work providing it warms up enough to get above 40° in my garage. it's hard to paint when your shivering and can't feel your hands ;) in my usual manner of getting distracted I've started on yet another possible PA Praetor/Consul. This one however won't be a member of the XVIIIth.

 

I Present to you Cassion Orax or "Lucky" as he's known.

A member of my very very slowly growing Iron Hands contingent. Lucky came to be when I accidentally snapped his foot off when trying to remove him from the base I had over glued him to. I Decided I wanted to take a crack at making my own bionics anyways I think the leg is turning out ok the main thing I'm not super happy about is how I did the knee so I'll probably end up tinkering with it a bit. I'm also going to cut up and rebuild his grav pistol as an archeotech pistol cuz why not?.

 

 

I've also been working on my Tartaros command squad my main hang up so far is the standard bearer. Maybe one of you will know the answer to my problem. Can your standard bearer carry the squad heavy weapon? Obviously he sacrifices a weapon to carry the standard but does it have to be his ranged weapon?

 

 

I think the standard itself is going to see some revisions partly because KrautScientist is sending me some bits as sort of a trade for a metal berzerker champ I sent him. Among these I believe theres a hyrdra skull that will work far better than that dirty xenos head. But I'm also considering making it on a separate base that will stay by the standard bearer. Or can double as an objective marker when I'm running the Tarts as just a regular termi squad. Any input on the matter would be great I haven't seen a ton of termi command squads so I'm having a hard time coming up with ideas. On another note I'm sorely sorely lacking any kind of armour currently my motor pool consists of two unpainted mars pattern rhinos and an old beat to "cuss" Land Raider that I think may be beyond my skills to salvage. So that being said I could really use suggestions on what from the FW Vehicle line would be the most useful? I know that's a crazy tough question. But as I've mentioned before I don't play often and when I change that I'm not necessarily interested in having the most competitive army out there but I don't want to buy a vehicle just to find it's useless on the table. For a transport I'm leaning towards a Spartan or a Caestus but there's a lot of other options I'm sure I'm not considering. Any thoughts or ideas you might have are always greatly appreciated thanks for checking out my work.

[Vairocanum]

Breachers are looking great! Two random ideas for ahriman, maybe you could sculpt a flame on his forehead (either as part of the eye or replacing it all together)? Also some drake horns on the helmet might look good. I like the bionics on Lucky, are you going to put armor plates on the bionics or leave as is? Excellent work as usual!

[Pyroclast91]

Thanks Vairocanum I think you may be on to something with Ahriman once I get home I'll have to bust out the GS and try a couple things. I think the fire would be cool if my sculpting skills can translate the image in my mind to the model. Failing that I was tempted to take another crack at making a drake skull helm like the one I did on Rhy'tan except... not so shabby maybe? And Lucky will end up with some armour plating over sections of his bionic leg as well. I've just been working out exactly how I want to go about it. Here's a pic of him with his new gun.»»»»

I still haven't decided exactly what I'll run him as but I think with his current kit he could reasonably stand in for just about anything from a tac squad sgt to most types of consul so I suppose I'll worry about crossing that bridge when I get to it ;)