Dwellers of the Ravenspire - Nostalgia's Raven Guard

[Olis]

Are you sure about that? They all look the same to me. :huh:

[Nostalgia]

I've been slowly progressing, got the chaplain almost fully painted and assembled, had a go at magnetizing the Calth Contemptor and Termies, but as I was almost done, tragedy struck; while drilling an arm I sneezed, which was enough to break in two my 1mm drill bit. Tried sharpening the broken part in order for it to work, but it's useless, which means I can't continue the work on the Termies or pin the Chaplain.

At the moment I'm just on the early stages of reposing the Dread and making him a bit more Raven Guard-y, also working on giving the Cataphractii Captain a Storm Shield and thunder Hammer (I'm rarely going to use him anyway, so figured I'd give him something that's tanky and fun to play whenever (if ever?) he gets fielded)

Finally, I managed to solve the chaplain helmet issue, I fear that sadly FW has discontinued the skull-looking beaky helmet, which gave me the chance to sculpt something that looks more like a giant raven's skull, in my opinion it came out quite nice. Since the Chappie isn't assembled yet and won't be in a while, I give you a helmet pic.

Chaplain Cordae's Raven Helm

Onwards.

[Olis]

Reminds me of old pictures of doctors during the black plague wearing their masks. ^_^

[Nostalgia]

Yup, that's one of the inspirations I took

Don't think that's the last plague doctor inspired thing you're gonna see here either.

[NiceGuyAdi]

Your Chaplain's head is inspired. I really, really like what you've done on that. Is it just Green Stuff over a mkVI helmet?

 

...I keep going back to admire it. So good!

[Race Bannon]

That was a helluva sneeze!

 

Yeah, Chaplain pics are demanded.  Heresy without them.

[Nusquam]

that eye glow makes them really menacing, love it

[Nostalgia]

@NiceGuyAdi: It's actually a Mk VII helmet that I shaved most of the front detail off, then stuck a pin into what was the mouth grill and used it for structural support, from then on it was just a matter of fiddling round until I liked the overall shape.

Wow, it's been three weeks since my last post, I've been doing all sorts of stuff that have kept me from hobby time, but it's time for an update. Managed to snag the replacement drill bit, not only that, but very cheap, and the place that sells them has all sizes!

Managed to finally get the Chap on his gaming base, and in the process of painting an alternative scenic base for display (Too heavy/unbalanced for actual gaming, especially for jump pack shenanigans. He's easily swapped between both.), Other than that, I finished magnetizing and pre-assembling the Terminators and Contemptor, which I'm slightly modifying to look more like the FW one.

Took some pictures of most of the stuff, they are bad. I usually set up my photo rig on the balcony, where the natural light works best, these last few weeks, however, we've had storms on th daily, and for some reason, whenever the weather's good, I happen to be busy elsewhere. Had to set up an improvised lightbox in the studio, but the lighting is nowhere nearly as good and thus, my cellphone's camera suffers for it.

Figured I'd update this with temporary pictures and some WIP, as tomorrow I leave for two weeks to France, and I don't want to leave this thred dead for so long.

Anyway...

Chaplain Draveneyr of the Raven Guard

Wearing the a death-mask fashioned from the skull of a Kiavahran Roc, wielding the standard Crozius Arcanum and a Deliverance Pattern Bolt Pistol, note also the Corvia on his belt, which also doubles as his Rozarius.

Mk IV Jump Pack, light build, swift, a relic of the Heresy, adorned with the bones of the Roc he now shares a spiritual bond with. Hanging from the bottom, the skull of a honoured Battle-Brother.

Did some light effect in the Jump Pack, I think it looks good. The black side of the cape was a nightmare to do, took me about 2 hours, but managed to get a very subtle dark colour, without the garish highlights some folks tend to use for cloth. Sadly, the light dulls and washes off most of the model's features.

As previously said, the picture quality is terrible, but I really wanted to show this lad off. Might be able to take some better ones after my return.

The base

As promised, some WIP shots of the construction of the base:

Started off by gluing some cork, a q-tip tube and some paperclip bits.

Over that, then I just built up with cork to the desired height, making sure to add more bits and details where I saw fit.

It's important to try and merge everything together to look like a single rubble pile. Tiny chunks of cork and some sand help disguise seams and make it more homogeneous.

Small details like skulls, helmets, cables and the like givee the base a lot of character.

Added some sculpted detail with a Tomb Kings bit, roughed it up and tried to integrate it into the overall pile of rubble, which makes it look like a piece of the former building, rather than just some out of place detail.

Didn't take pictures of the painting process, but it's all about integrating the different elements together, it's mostly drybrushing and washing, then detailing where needed.

Honoured Battle-Brother Tot

Seen here just moments after catching a volley of Heavy Bolter fire, armour splintered, right arm blown away, but still attempting to fire at the traitor that shot him.

This lad's an objective marker. Fun, fast and easy to make.

I had recently bought some marines from ebay. They were cheap, but justly so; horribly painted, broken in parts, showing plastic glue damage, the whole thing. I got to salvage most of them, but this one was very bad. Add a stripping accident which involves me going out for a drink and forgetting this lad in the stripping liquid for two hours too long and yeah, not good.

I simply glued all the pieces together in a 25mm base, added a bit of cork and resculpted the helmet into a MkVI (I modify many of my MkVII helmets, legs and torsos into MkVI, it's dead easy to do, and it means I don't get stuck with a mark I don't enjoy as much. The assault squad lads all have resculpted helmets).

At the end of the day, I needed objective markers anyway, and if there's something I now have in abundance, that is marine bodies, especially with the Prospero box set releasing soon.

Finally, a Cataphractii TDA WIP

Starting the painting process.

Shoulders are glued to the torso to allow easy swapping of the magnetized arms.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Nostalgia

[sockwithaticket]

Chaplain turned out really well, why were you even asking for helmet recommendations when you can sculpt that well?! Jump pack and cape though... I hope one of the Chapter serfs keeps his closet stocked with replacements.

[That Guy Matt]

That Chaplain it awesome. Love the helmet.

[Nostalgia]

Well, after a long time of being away, and an even longer time without being able to update this blog, it would seem I'm back.

Slowly, but steady, my army grows. These past months I managed to finish A terminator squad, A Centurion/Captain, alternate base for my Chaplain and the start of several new WIPs and projects. Keep an eye out on the WIP forum in the coming months.

With the release of BoP and the inclusion of a new player at the lgs, the Heresy Train has started its engines in my area, and thus, with a few slight modifications to my building plans and purchase list, I've turned my army compatible with both 30k and 40k systems.

This change of direction has also given me the opportunity of re-fluffing my force into a M31 Raven Guard transitional force, slowly evolving from the legion structure into Codex Astartes organization. This allows me to keep the army consistent and fluffy whilst granting me freedom to somewhat diverge from pre-established characters and fluff. Some members of the force have been retroactively renamed to suit my needs.

Now, onto the Juicy stuff

Chaplain Draveneyr (update: better pictures, alt base, switched name)

More pics:

Alternate Display Base:

More pics:

He's pinned and magnetized to quickly switch out his base. Originally I was gonna only use the big (scibor) one, but being a big chunk of resin, I thought it counter-intuitive for a jump character to have such a big footprint and heavy base.

He's pinned and magnetized to quickly switch out his base. Originally I was gonna only use the big (scibor) one, but being a big chunk of resin, I thought it counter-intuitive for a jump character to have such a big footprint and heavy base.

Centurion Aak Kuyar

One of the last Terran veterans of the Raven Guard, now ascended to a Command role, outfitted with masterfully crafted cataphractii plate, a thunder hammer and experimental shield, he is nigh invulnerable on the field of battle.

The red accents identify him as a Deliverer; Elite Terran Terminator specialists, chosen by Corax in missions where subtelty was the least concern.

Yes, he's the BaC Captain with some converting. I'm still looking for a way to represent his 30k combi-bolter, it's probably going to be mounted on top of his armour. Other than that, he's pretty much done.

I said before he wouldn't see the tabletop much, but having played with him a bit, he makes the perfect distraction, making my opponent focus more on taking him down (which is not easy by any means) than actually stopping my faster, squishier troops. In a way, he grabs so much attention that the rest of my troops are suddenly forgotten by the enemy...

...sneaky, if you ask me!

Cataphractii Terminator Squad Horvex

The Deliverers; terran veterans from the great crusade. Specialized in terminator armour assaults.Trained with all forms of wargear for all sorts of operations. Their suits of armour heavy and menacing, a frightful visage for those unlucky to encounter them in battle.

With Lightning Claws:

Captain Saq Horvex:

One of the eldest veterans of the legion, excelling at hand to hand combat, his tactics, whilst brutal and bloody, showcase the precision and tactics of the Raven Guard

Brother Narvak

Heavy flamer specialization.

Brother Daetis

Standing over the scattered remains of a slain opponent from the IV Legion.

These are all fully magnetized at the arms, that way, I made use of all the weapon options of the kit.

Finally, a small teaser for my current WIP:

Until next time!

[Nusquam]

Love the Chaplains helm. 10/10