An Orchestra of Sin

[Kierdale]

Ah, Whimsy.

That harlot.

That temptress.

 

Listen to Whimsy.

[Elazar The Glorified]

@Kierdale: I may have listened a little too closely such is the lack of focus there has been over the last month and a bit...

First an update on the Noise Champion / Orchestrator. Progress has been painfully slow as I've flitted from thing to thing:



The Orchestrator is my Kill Team Leader for a Khristmas Kill Teams event with some friends (will be more info on the Slow and Purposeful blog in the not too distant). The Kill Team around him needs a lot of work still so need to get my focus back:



The Fiend is going to be a counts as Spawn whilst I wait to actually gather the bits I want to make some proper spawn.

So anyway, some of the things that have been distracting me. First up something big and beautiful to ferry the most devoted degenerates in my warband:



I've also been working on some sorcerers - one in Cataphractii armour and one (lightly) converted from the Dark Vengeance Lord Kranon mini





Then those of you who have been here since the start might already have read about my love of the White Scars (particularly the Slaaneshi ones from the Dornian Heresy) so won't be surprised to see that I've began planning out my Traitor White Scars Chaos Lord:



Obviously a lot of work still to do there.

I've also been writing lots of little bits of fluff for a narrative campaign I've been running with some mates at my gaming group. The Orchestra of Sin has dispatched its resident heathens to the surface of the planet Tymurus to fight alongside some Tzeentchian allies against the Space Wolves and Deathwatch. One such pre mission snippet was about the delightful Lord Vardas tormenting some Space Wolves when he probably could be doing more to help the wider war effort:

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"I can taste their soul-scent," Vardas hissed as he came to a stop amidst the ruins of an Administratum building. He tasted the air again; either his god or the daemon latched to his soul had seen fit to remove his nose, the skin of his warped features stretched flat across the centre of his face. In recompense his sense of taste had been magnified a thousand-fold and he could taste every scent upon the air. The acrid taste of the Fenrisians souls was being slowly sweetened by the desperation that was setting in. Vardas could perhaps have put an end to this particular engagement some time ago and added his forces back to the main battle but the grinding nature that this war had taken on was growing dull. Here he had some interesting prey to toy with. In a past life he would perhaps have respected the dogged determination with which the Wolves had held out, such sentiment was long since lost. His own slide into depravity put paid to that long before even the daemon within him had the chance to. Now he saw only a delicious suffering in their determination, a strange desperation in the Fenrisians to make their deaths count for something. He had devoted a great deal of time and effort to stoking the fire of that desperation. Never delivering the killing blow but never affording them any real measure of hope from their continued survival. He had dismissed numerous calls for reinforcement elsewhere. He would have done so without his sport to occupy him, he was not one to answer to the demands of others, but with the Fenrisians slowly trading away their sense of honour to feed their sense of pride both he and the daemon were set on their course and would see this through to the close. The souls of the Fenrisians would be that much more worthy when offered up to the Dark Prince if their ideals had been compromised and their purpose corrupted.

The consciousness of the daemon thrashed against his own. Once they had fought for control of his mortal form, each desperate to enslave the over, now they shared a symbiotic existence. Over time Vardas had lost sight of where his wants and desires ended and the daemon's began, the line between their consciousnesses had been blurred. It was at such times as this that the daemon's hunger tried to impose itself over his own but he would not surrender his self-control. He would enjoy every delectable second of the Fenrisians' torment. The cruel whip he had once carried had long since merged with the corrupted flesh of his hands. Its cruel barbs and hooks lashed at the air hungrily. It was an extension of him now, its lashes like extra digits, a crude sense of touch existing throughout them. Where his whip had become an extension of his hand his blade had long ago replaced the other. The blade had been fashioned from the claw of the daemon Dresh'mora and he'd taken the blade as a trophy from another aspiring champion slain in a challenge. The blade had served him willingly to begin with, and his name had risen to some infamy among the warbands of the eye as his rivals fell beneath its murderous caress. At first his fingers had fused with the hilt of the blade. For a being such as he in a near constant state of combat readiness he saw it only as a further blessing from his dark patron but then the blade had started to grow. The daemonic chitin spreading to subsume half of his arm. That's when he'd first become aware of Dresh'mora. What began as a whisper at the back of his mind quickly grew to a separate consciousness warring for possession of his post-human form. Those early days had been a torment. The terrible hungers of the daemon and Vardas' loss of control had seen his warband whither away either slain by his hand or deserting him to his fate. It was only in the madness of his solitude that a bargain had been struck with the daemon and he had forged his name anew the daemon adding its might to his own.

The Fenrisians had been encircled for weeks and subjected to a series of skirmishes that had slowly sapped their resources and hope. It was for all intents and purposes a siege but Vardas had never presented them enough of a target to hit back to earn a good death. Instead they were being bled out slowly. The Tzeentchian though had brought word of a supply drop; whether the information had come from an intercepted communication or been scried from the strands of fate he hadn't cared to ask. He understood little of the motives of those in thrall to Tzeentch but he had seen enough of his allies to know the information would be accurate. They couldn't pinpoint the exact drop point so they would have to react quickest. He couldn't allow the Wolves to resupply but in the mean-time he could have his sport...

Lastly for me Slaanesh remains the god of photo art filters as ably demonstrated by my Octavist / Blastmaster Noise Marine:

Any feedback or encouragement you can give to keep me focused will be most appreciated!

[Evil Eye]

I don't think I've ever seen a Slaaneshi Spartan before...which makes me extra eager to see how you do yours. :D

[Biohazard]

The Orchestrator and Kill team are looking great. :tu:

[Elazar The Glorified]

@Squigsquasher: Thanks! There doesn't seem to be a great many out there from what I've seen. Got a couple more WIP shots of the Spartan actually. The first shows the current state of progress:

Before getting anywhere near that far I did a quick blu-tack aided mock-up of how the exhaust / dirge caster system is going to look on the rear of the tank:

I love the tank and will be happy with it when it's built but my god it's a chore to clean up and build!

@Biohazard: Thanks got some pics below! I've decided that Kill Team sounds a little too Khornate for my tastes. From this point on they're a Sonic Ensemble! Here's a picture of the progress on my Sonic Esemble:

I've taken some pictures of Orchestrator Serron - I've spotted some bits I want to tidy up and fix since taking them so might have to get some other pics once I've made some improvements.

That's three rank and file minis painted now - by my standards that's a horde!

Thoughts and feedback greatly appreciated guys! I think the Fiend will be next to be painted but I might go for another Noise Marine yet!

[Svartmetall]

Really liking these; the dirge caster will work very nicely.

[Rangaman]

My word...that Orchestrator is awesome. Are you mixing these two schemes throughout the units or using the pale white scheme for squad leaders?

 

My only suggestion is to pick out the little details on the backpack, but I love the rest of the details you've done!

[Elazar The Glorified]

@Svartmetall: Thank you - haven't done any more with the Dirge Caster as my focus (what little of it I have) has been on my Kill Team / Sonic Ensemble

 

@Rangaman:Thanks, I'm trying to make each of the Noise Marines and characters unique schemes to give a very chaotic feel to the force. Is a challenge doing them different enough to go for the eclectic clashing look but similar enough that they feel like the should be from the same force. Also means batch painting isn't an option (not that I've ever been good at having the discipline for batch painting anyhow). I haven't decided what's happening with my bolter marines etc whether they'll have squad schemes or maybe I'll have a unifying warband scheme on non-Noise Marine elements.

 

Will go back to the Orchestrator and finish those bits you picked out though as will make him look more finished. Appreciate the feedback! :-)

 

So I painted a Fiend of Slaanesh - it's going to be proxying as a Spawn of Slaanesh for my Kill Team / Sonic Ensemble

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here's the Fiend with his/her/its sister...

 

 

Also seeing as it's me and I have a new filter on my phone app...

 

[Mister Feral]

Non-Legion Slaaneshi Renegades, I dig that! Never enough of those.

 

Good use of the beautiful Kakophoni kit with Chaos plastics. :)

[Elazar The Glorified]

Thanks Mister Feral. I almost feel guilty that today's Noise Marine I've started is in the purple of an ex-legionary but I assume the ex part keeps him a 'proper' renegade :-)

[Obscura]

Enjoying your progress so far, keep it up!

 

I've also been dry fitting an Emperor's Children/Noise Marine Spartan myself, I own half a warped set since FW sent me replacements as the originals were poorly cast. After a lot of salvaging I was able to make something out of it, but I'm far from being able to show it off.

 

Are you going to make any Apothecaries to go with your war band?

 

As for myself, I plan to have one Apothecary for every twenty marines, mostly for fluff purposes.

[Elazar The Glorified]

Thanks Obscura. Yes I have one or two. Certainly a couple of my Sorcerers I see as being formerly of the Apothecarian. Similar to Von Kalda in The Path of Heaven I imagine that the next avenue of experimentation in their fleshcrafting would have been dabbling in the warp. With the apothecaries of the IIIrd Legion having enjoyed such prominence when the Legion was at full strength and able to replenish their numbers then I reckon they will have become almost god-like in their influence since their skills have become both rarer and more diversified with the addition of sorcery etc. So yes the Apothecaries are likely to find themselves in roles of Aspiring Champions or Sorcerers or maybe even a Lord so there will be a Coven/Cabal of them aboard the Orchestra of Sin. The benefit of this with Slaanesh is I can give them the icon of FNP to give the fluff some weight on the tabletop too.

 

As for the Spartan that's quite the bit of work required I'm imagining. Mine was a decent cast but was still a nightmare so a dodgy one doesn't bear thinking about.

[Mister Feral]

  On 11/17/2016 at 6:00 PM, Elazar The Glorified said:

Thanks Mister Feral. I almost feel guilty that today's Noise Marine I've started is in the purple of an ex-legionary but I assume the ex part keeps him a 'proper' renegade :-)

Don't feel guilty, it's your hobby project!

 

I'm enjoying the non-conforming mix of pastel pinks, whites and blues.

 

Never enough blue Slaaneshi as far as I usually see.

 

I dot envy you assembling that Spartan though, that sort of task is why I avoid Forge World's pure-resin tanks as a whole.

[Elazar The Glorified]

Thanks Mister Feral. Yeah I really like the blue. Been using it more as a spot colour but definitely want a marine or two using it as the primary colour same with the more turquoise colour.

 

So a quick WIP pic of the next Noise Marine as I'm on here:

 

 

Obviously still a lot to do but decided on a darker purple and will have to do a paler purple further down the line.

[Evil Eye]

I'm loving the new Noise Marine! I for one love the GW Sonic Blaster sculpt, I just wish there wasn't just the one. Plastic NMs when, GeeDubs?

 

Also, the Fiend looks great too. Nice horn swap. I used to hate the Fiend model but having got one myself I'm rather fond of it now.

[Elazar The Glorified]

@Squigsquasher: Thank you! Yeah, would be nice to get some variety but I do really love the GW Sonic weapons and I personally think they go better on the Kakophoni marine sculpts that 'The Cacophony' weapons do (they'll be going on some converted Calth MkIV marines methinks).

 

As for the Fiend. Is a lovely sculpt. So full of character. A friend of mine calls them Slavvamoos... I find it hard to call them anything but now haha. But yes did the horn swap to make up for the fact that currently there is only one Fiend sculpt available. I would really love some new plastic Fiends. They're quite expensive and with only the single sculpt I'm not going to move beyond the 3 for now but ideally I want to at least once run a Flayertroupe made up of the Masque and 18 Fiends alongside my Grand Cavalcade!

 

 

So some more pictures of Chora Nurok. He still needs a sigil on his left shoulder but I haven't found quite the right one yet (any suggestions welcome!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

*cough* obligatory slaaneshi filter shot *cough*

 

 

Making good progress on the Kill Team anyhow. More details about it can be found on the Slow and Purposeful blog

[Elazar The Glorified]

Happy 2017 everyone!

 

Chora Lazeto was finished just in time to count as a 2016 mini but struggling to get decent pics of him that don't wash out the shading or the highlights (I'm a shoddy photographer!) so these are the best of a bad bunch!

 

 

 

 

 

And before you ask - of course I also ran it through 15,000 different filters too including a festive one...

 

 

I've moved straight on to the last Noise Marine in the Sonic Ensemble / Kill Team as my deadline is Sunday. Made a slight change to my kill team after the Legions book dropped. Will talk more on that in my next post though but suffice to say the Emperor's Children rules have enjoyed aome use so far and will definitely be getting further use going forwards!

 

Comments and critique welcomed. I plan on going back over the kill team once they're all done and fixing a few bits I'm not happy with so please point out any bits that you think need some attention!

[Paradigm]

Brilliant use of the fw bodies! I think my own slaaneshi warband might be heading that direction now, too.

 

The gal vorbak made a fantastic conversion base for your lord.

[hushrong]

First off, awesomesauce all around! Loving the look and colors I see here.

 

Also, I swooned when I saw your spartan. I must steal that idea.

[deathspectersgt7]

Awesome .