Vox Stellarum: True-Scaled Horus Heresy

[Ryltar Thamior]

Now next up ... a lot of our action is going to be taking place on ships - and you've already seen some fine BhutaGana Boarding Marines from us earlier in the month. But what about our Eldar? Well...



As you can see, this is the same overall format as the Breachers we've seen from the Marines line, but done in what I feel is a pretty 'Eldar' way. 



Partsmix is a regular Kabalite Warrior for the torso and legs, a Cold One Knights shield for exactly what you think it is, a shard-carbine from the Scourges kit [because it makes logical sense for fast-moving assault troooops tto have such a weapon rather htan the more 'longarm' splinter rifle - and i'm not yet aware of a shuriken version of an SMG for an alternative ... although wath this space], a head from the Cold One Knights kit [because the chainmail covering to the face suggests perhaps a rebreather's under there or something - certainly not just open to whatever conditions might prevail on the hostile interior of a ship], completed with one of the bayonet-spikey-bitz from teh Warriors kit. This was a 'proof-of-concept' prototype, and future iterations are likely to look a bit different. 







For future endeavours, I'm wondering about using Scourge bodies instead for a more dynamic-running feel, blades out also and using the sheathed rifles from one of the other DE kits [i forget which one atm - might be the Raider] across their backs. Umbral's also got a pretty ... dynamic a.f idea he wants to try out using some elements fom the Corsairs [Dark Elf rather htan Eldar] box I picked up yesterday. So be on the lookout for that, too. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Now despite the nature of the 'Void' we're talking about ... it wouldn't be Eldar without a psyker on board. But like I said above, they're probably a lot less 'rigorously defined' as they are in 40k. Putting the darkness back in 'Warlock', I guess. 



Partsmix for this is an Empire battle-wizard for the base, blast-pistol from iirc the Kabalite Warriors kit, head likewise, and the [screaming] spear is made from the standard holding-pole arm of the battle-wizard [well, one of them] plus one of  the spikes-for-heads from the Raider, although with its extant point replaced with thetop of a halberd from a Dark ELf Black Guard. I'm not quite sure which kit we got the spiky bit for the back of his neck from. 



Fluffwise, we suspect this chap is ... pretty strongly decided about how he feels about the Mon-Keigh who are now running rampant all over the galaxy - to reference American History X, no doubt th obiously human and bionically augmented skull on his staff wasn't a servo-one if you get my drift, and clearly conveys "NOT WELCOME"





I salute Umbral for his tireless work getting the spear-point straight with the rest of  the spear [in its other two parts]





There were a number of options we considered for armament and heads etc [the screaming spear seemed like a decent way to do a very dark spin on classic Warlock armament], but in the end a number of factors lead to us going with what you see here before you. First up, the Kabalite Warrior head really helps to stress tah this is a *40k* miniature rather than a fantasy kitbash [as does the bionic-augmented skull rather htan one of the just-skulls ones we could also have used], ; whilst the blast-pistol suggests that he's rather keen on his OVERKILL as applies the hated Mon-Keigh. Kinda cool tah there's an ovular gem on his chest to recall a soulstone imo. 

We've got three more Empire battle-wizard bodies floating around if I recall [although I wanted to do an academic looking techpriest with one of them], so there may be a few more chaps like this in the near future. 

ALthough just wait til you see some of the stuff we've got lined up next :D [waiting on an order to turn up] 

In non-Eldar news, there's a few Iron Warriors Auxilia in the final stages of painting,and with another box of Neophyte Hybrids just grabbed, a reasonable chance there'll be afew more of those done up in the not-entirely-distant future. 

Now once again, if I am in error posting 30k era Eldar in our 30k thread in the 30k sub-forums, I'd like to reiterate for the Moderati that this wasn't done out of malice but instead a presumption that the opening up of The Forge for Xenos etc. meant it was legit to post *appropriate era* Xenos content here in Age of Darkness as well. 

Hopefully, it all works out alright :D 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Meanwhile ... one thing we've always tried to do is Truescale, and OTT one-up official representations of things. 

So with that in mind ... 



As you can see, we've [well, Umbral] turned Fulgrim into a Custodes :D 

[Luna707]

That idea is genius, I would have never thought of turning Fulgrim into a Custode. It looks gorgeous, I'm looking forward to seeing some paint on him!

[Ryltar Thamior]

Working out how on earth to do fine-as Custodes gold will be the nextt trick...

[Umbral]

That idea is genius, I would have never thought of turning Fulgrim into a Custode. It looks gorgeous, I'm looking forward to seeing some paint on him!

yeah I've been wracking my brain to try and figure out how to truescale Custodes, I have one already that I haven't posted cause he's not appearing in any of the games that we have threads for, but I wanted to make something more unique for Ryltar, and then i remembered this image of Custodes 

 

and everything clicked, note the face on the knee of the front most Custodes 

Edited July 3, 2017 by Umbral

[Ryltar Thamior]

So we got a bit sidetracked with the Unification Wars etc. ... but that definitely doesn't mean we've forgotten about the Heresy! 

 

Here's the most recent addition to the AyasaBhutaGana - a heavy weapons marine we've been tossing the concept around for some months now. 

 

 

The idea with this chap is that he's basically just picked up a crew-served Imperial Army autocannon and started lugging it around in a moment of desperation and just stuck with it. It looks sliiiiightly oversized in this photo, although in person it scales rather better, particularly from other angles.

 

 

As you can see, he's using the bipod to assist in carrying it; although it's an open question as to whether he places it down or grasps it more directly to fire it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaand a scale-shot next to one of the Auxilia. 

 

Now, partsmixe if anyone's wondering, is a FW Tallarn autocannon [it's uh .. larger by a reasonable margin than the Krieg one - as well as, for that matter, most of the Astartes ones around], Mk.VI head from the Dark Angels Ravenwing Command [love those helms! So much character and diversity! - perfect for the BhutaGana!!], Mk.III arms, Mk.VI Veteran chestplate, Mk.VI backpack, and shoulderpads from the Mk.VI and IV kits [the latter being the Iron Warriors upgrades obviously). The leg-set which really makes it is from Tyberos - both becaus eof the wide stance [which always seemed a bit ridiculous for a Terminator - even by the standarsd of GW's Indomitus armour posing] which made it seem like he'd be arrying a heavy weight mid-advance or even firing , and because the lack of kneepads makes for a quite nice set of Mk.VI-ish truescaling plate. The skulls attached to his belt also make for a nice touch

 

Assembly, as-ever, by Umbral. And after some of the complex character-minis I've been working on for hte past few weeks [which you'll get to see hopefully shortly] , it'll be a very nice 'break' to go back to the relatively simpler [yet characterful a.f] colourschemes of the BhutaGana! 

 

And now to go back to my various Sanskrit lexicons and Hindu mythological sources [and the good ol Indo-European Research Institute] to work out a suitable name and characterization for this chap

Edited August 22, 2017 by Ryltar Thamior

[Vairocanum]

Wow that is a big gun, I pity the poor sap that gets caught in it's line of fire.

[Gorgoff]

I like it. Looks really cool.

[Ryltar Thamior]

More Eldar for the Void Ravens. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partsmix is a Visarch, sword from the Executioners, wing from Scourges, head from Fire Dragons. 

 

The idea is that the wing isn't so much a functional 'wing' as a weapon - slicing with razor-feathers, which it can also fire a short distance. [Kinda Kerrigan-like, i guess?] Another fine Umbral creation. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Next one - an autarch for the Void Ravens 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Partsmix is the Warhammer Quest Mistweaver figure, Scourges torso and wings, I thin that's a Corsair sword, and the hooked spear is from the Raider iirc. Another Umbralvision. 

 

The idea here is a rather more 'avenging angel' figure to act as the cult's militant commander and such. 

[MikhalLeNoir]

Holy...those eldar...especially the autarch...greatwork

[Ryltar Thamior]

atm I'm still trying to settle on a paintscheme that really 'works' for the Eldar. So far I've tried a few things, and have found particular colours on particular areas I'm happy with, but am still lacking an overall 'direction' if you will.

Initially, I tried something based on one of the old ROgue Trader schemes - which worked out as ochrish yellow [which from memory may have been zamesi desert] on heads and shoulderpads, grey on lower armour ... but while it had points for 'RTness' [approprpiate for Heresy era lol], and also for having some co-ordinatoin with one of the mythic sources I'm drawing upon for their background, it was a bit bleh. 

Have had much more positive results changing up the ocre for straight gold [which goes with the gold trims on things anyway], darkening the grey from mechanicus standard grey to eshin grey [i think that's what I did, anyway], adding accents of kantor blue on some ribbons and what not, and ushabti-bone'ing the weapons [coz .. well .. wraithbone, right?]. 

This still leaves a few dilemmas, though; like what colour to do the cloaks on warlocks and the like - could keep 'em black, although that'll be interesting to highlight for starters. And also have the matter of feathers and wings and what not to do. In addition to this, the full-on grey on standard armour is a bit of an overload and somewhat difficult to highlight, so am contemplating ditching *some* of that [for example on the boarding Eldar], although am not quite sure what to replace *that* with, either. 

this becomes quite important for miniatures with large exposed areas of plate armour - as whilst the chap with the dark lance is perfectly fine as-is almost, due to chainmail being viable as .. well .. chainmail colour [leadbelcher, anyway], other miniatures have those edgeable surfaces to work with. 

I *do* really rather like the look of hte all-black i've prsently got on the leaping lass with the wraithbone sword and spear - only quetion is how to highlight that in a way that's decent [had considered gold highlighting - would lead to abit of a monochrome palette of just black and gold though, although perhaps offset by bone and red]; 

so black armour *is* an option [and not a bad one at all]; as is gold armour on important character miniatures or parts in line with the helmets. I have also given some consideration to just going with gunmetal/leadbelcher for plate armour as ewll. Although despite there being some QUITE decent Dark Eldar colourschemes like that, the obvious issue is they'd wind up looking rather similar to the Iron Warriors they're going to be encountering at some point. [speaking of Dark Eldarism - could even do the classic 'tron' highlighted scheme using teclis blue ] [or, for that matter, a blazing orange highlight, now that i think of it ... ]

Overwhelming criterion remains how to tie colours to the visual and elemental theme of the warband ['Void Ravens' - and colouration around the smoke of funeral pyres, quasi-carrion birds of the elemental void; all up a rather 'dark' and perhaps even depressing colourset, set off by the rather burnished defiance of the gold colouration and the 'organic' yet somewhat dead feel of the bone] - whilst also leaving them visually distinct on the battlefield from the various other forces we've got going. 

This is gonna be one of those grinding long-drawn-out thought processes :/

[Bob Hunk]

Very clever use of Fulgrim as the true scale Custodes, well done! 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Heading back to Power Armour for a bit ... the first of the planned Ultramarines. 

 

 

Consul-Delegatus. 

 

 

The idea with this chap is that he's leading a small party of Ultramarines who've survived the initial phases of Calth , and have basically been sent out on a mission through various parts of Ultramar to restore contact with various parts of the 500 Worlds - and more especially to find stragglers from the Shattered Legions, Blood Angels, Dark Angels etc. that were attempting to make for Macragge. 

 

 

Now, having just made it out of Calth, this Marine is obviously going to be rather ... *ahem* ... "disinclined" to treat favourably with Marines from presumptively Traitor legions. This is going to create quite an interesting situation when his vessel encounters my Iron Warriors. And hte miniature's facial expression probably gets across just how non-plussed he is by hte prospect of yet more "traitors" [and Traitors] turning up in his line of sight. [particularly if/wehn he later winds upw orking with htem]

 

 

 

 

 

Partsmix on him [as ever, an Umbral effort] - is the Mk.III legs and lower half come from the cataphractii praetor; upper torso is greenstuff and a plastic Mk.III chestpiece; pads are Mk.III Ultramarine upgrades; one arm's from the Breachers [coz shield-strap] whilst the other's regular Mk.III; and the powersword's from the plastic Ultramarines Upgrade sprue [excellent piece of kit, that - far better than the Primaris iteration]. Head, meanwhile, so lovely  and full of personality, is from the Ravenwing Command squad. Excellent pissed off expression! Comms gear also a plus. 

 

As for the shield, it's from Scibor, plus one of the Ultramarine icons from iirc also the Ultramarines Upgrade Sprue. 

 

At some point, he'll be joined by a few more Ultramarines equipped as Breachers [probably, anyway], a Librarian, and a Blood Angel attache. 

 

Gosh, I never thought I'd say this ... but I'm actually low-key excited to paint an Ultramarine! The HEresy does some strange things to people! 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Realized I should probably post some of the Eldar ... 

 

 

As mentioned previously, the idea with this miniature is for a sort of 'Proto-Aspect Warrior', dating from the period not long after the Fall [by Eldar standards, anyway] wherein the Aspects were still in flux and yet to properly 'crystalize' into their proper, familiar-to-the-41st-Millennium state. 

 

 

This therefore means that there are both Aspects that we probably won't see ten thousand years later [whether due to them dying out or simply not being so prominent as the 'main' sects and Temples - or even perhaps because of them being folded into and absorbed by the more successful paths of worship]; as well as 'different' spins on the more familiar Aspects we know and love. 

 

 

I've been going back and forth about what to term this particular warrior's Aspect, but I think we might go with "Black Eagle". This fits with the feathers from the helmet and the colouration of the cloak - but also echoes the way of war presumably specialized in, featuring keen eyesight, hunting, and the sudden death that comes from very far away 'on black wings'. The weapon wielded additionally fits into this description, as it's a dark-lance capable of easily slaying a mortal foe or even much larger monstrous-creatures and vehicles in a burst of black light. [i've also always been a bit partial to the design of the Russian prototype tank - but that's another story] [A cursory wiki-search further suggests that the Terran Black Eagle is most prominently found in India, so chalk up another point for the theme; and is both wide-ranging ("never sits down" apparently), and possessed of a habit of taking out entire nests of prey at a time for sustenance - which may additionally fit with the Dark Lance's anti-vehicular role, particularly against transports] 

 

 

So, in other words, a well-armoured sniper Aspect Warrior, equipped with a sniper weapon ... but recognizably distinct in both form and function from the perhaps comparable Dark Reapers or Rangers which it might otherwise possibly be compared with. 

 

 

An apt first [finished] miniature for the Void Ravens!

 

[Gorgoff]

Oh ja a good day when you post new stuff.

No matter what it always pleases my eyes.

[Charlo]

Never seen Eldar so well converted.

 

Top job.

[Umbral]

So I was thinking about some marines to accompany the Word Bearer, and one that came to mid was this Son of Horus 

 

 

 

 

 

The Idea is a group of Reavers have been sent to make sure the Word Bearers are staying on task, and this Individual has been gifted with a Daemon weapon, courtesy of the XVII Legion as a sign of "friendship"

 

I used a cut down Justaerin terminator torso for this guy as the tubes strapped across the chest are reminiscent of mkv power armour, the eye on the left pauldron was taken from a justaerin should plate as well.

[Brother Pheidias]

Friggin' sweet Reaver. Great use of bits, the broken sword and the way he gazes at the Daemon-weapon, quite an unspoken story there!

[Gorgoff]

Friggin' sweet Reaver. Great use of bits, the broken sword and the way he gazes at the Daemon-weapon, quite an unspoken story there!

I second that.

Great work.

[Umbral]

Thanks guys  I'm really pleased with guy and looking forward to eventually making some more Reavers to go with him, I tried really hard to capture that moment of a marine having his mind opened to the Cosmic Truth of The Warp

[Gorgoff]

Thanks guys :D I'm really pleased with guy and looking forward to eventually making some more Reavers to go with him, I tried really hard to capture that moment of a marine having his mind opened to the Cosmic Truth of The Warp

Mission accomplished. ;)

[Umbral]

I've been building more Reavers

 

 

so far only these 2 are painted to completion 

 

 

So here's a closer look at the one on the right 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think I'm on the right track as far as the aesthetic of the XVI Legion is concerned 

Edited December 5, 2017 by Umbral

[Gorgoff]

Punchy McPunchface is ready for duty.