To the Bitter End - The Badab War: Chaplain WIP (2/29)

[Vazzy]

Loving it dude! Though I feel like you could maybe toss some freehand or decal onto the knee plate! I think it'd look good!

[Noctus Cornix]

I do plan to add some decals, at least a tyrants claw for the empty shoulder pad! Maybe add a Maelstrom warder insignia to the knee

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

I've always loved the simple but elegant paint scheme of these guys and even considered repainting my whole 40k army as Astral Claws before I completely gave up the game. I may have to do a one-off model one of these days.

 

Anyway, enough about me. Great job so far, and I hope you stick with the army for a while. And if I may be so bold, I thought your most recent model pics could use a touch of color correction and such to do it justice.

 

http://i.imgur.com/YSbamQu.png

[Noctus Cornix]

Thanks, BCK, that means a great deal to me. The color correction really helps a lot.  

 

Yeah there's something really beautiful in the minimalist nature of the Astral Claws color scheme. It reminds me a lot of actual knight armour, how typically heraldry would be quantified down tabards and shields. Culminate that with their emphasis on Lions in iconography, stubborn pride, emphasis on bikes, fuedal-like society in the Badab pocket Empire and their almost callous regard towards their 'subjects' really evokes the sense of medieval knights more than most other Chapters. Honestly, It's my hope to try and push that in my models and I hope it comes out. I want to try and present the proud knightly presence while keeping to the minimalist design. 

 

http://www.heraldry.ca/images/agin83_400.jpg

[Dagoth Ur]

Amazing work all around there mate, both in writ and figure ! :)

[Noctus Cornix]

Would be happy to fight your Carcharodons any day. 

[hushrong]

Still looking sharp. I got to throw my hat in and say I too love the Astral Claws scheme as well. It's simple but looks so darned good. And seeing the Tyrants Claw on a shoulder pad swells the heart with pride.

 

Definitely like your thought process on it Noctus Cornix. That is a fantastic insight into the chapter.

[Noctus Cornix]

Sorry for such a short update. Short on time right now but I assure you guys, there will be a bigger update tomorrow with writing. I tried to use different lighting and try some of BCK's colour correction advice to try and see if this looks better. Please let me know what you folks think!

 

 

 

Battle Brother Fay' Tal of the Astral Claws

Legionary Tactical Cohort Squad Haakon

Pict-feed taken at the siege of the Palace of Thorns, sub-terranean sewer system

Subject announced K.I.A. Primary and Secondary Hearts pierced by Lightning Claw blades

 

Cut off from his brothers, he would have been proud to know he died with no ammunition left.

 

http://i.imgur.com/zhyYQyO.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/knXMDoX.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/VHjkLON.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/lKT1lHe.jpg

 

Enjoy.

Edited April 1, 2017 by Noctus Cornix

[Mazer Rackham]

Have just stumbled across your thread, also having dropped into Nurgling's as well.  Am just starting Astral Claws after a long hiatus from the game and was taken both by your excellent writing and your fabulous models.  One thing I noticed was how well you'd "kitted them out" with pouches, gear and blades.  Will be watching with interest!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work. I like the silver coloring of the Marines' arms and armor.

[Viridia]

Great models so far, and the fluff snippets are fantastic.

[Noctus Cornix]

http://i.imgur.com/d6DcbjX.png

 

 

http://i.imgur.com/uXLLZ3d.jpg

 

"You'll not take my pride, dog. For the Emperor I served as bastion against the tides of the Maelstrom. For centuries I stood as the beacon in the dark. Now you come to take all that away? You'll not snuff out my light yet, pups..."

 

- Final words of Veteran Brother Telemarich 

 

 

 

He was dying. 

 

That much was already certain. He might have collapsed already, were it not for the reinforced exoskeleton that held his boots firmly planted to the muddy earth.  The bulwark of his Tactical Dreadnought armour was a mess of craters and negligible gashes, the futile biting of children who died when his storm bolter barked their dirge or his chainfist roared in glee to feast of flesh and ceramite. Their suit of Terminator armour still growled like some wounded beast, pushing his aching limbs forward, driven by pain and anger, racing through the exhaustion. Even so, every move was a stabbing pain, rich astartes blood seeping from his side with no sign of stopping despite having received the wound hours ago. 

 

They had been ambushed by pups of the Star Phantoms, the young-blooded scouts attacked with an abandoned ferocity suffused with desperation to grind Veteran Squad Rook from advancing on the armoured column's flank. They died of course, children who had not even been granted the honour of the black carapace against veterans of centuries clad in the most powerful artifacts of the astartes chapters. The hell were they thinking...

 

But they had killed Rukal, his honored brother slain when the Star Phantom sergeant barreled into him with a melta bomb when their ambush proved to be in vain. As for Telemarich himself, he allowed one of the scouts to get in to close, a combat blade digging into the soft armour of his great and snapping before the pup had his head caved in. Telemarich could still feel the broken piece cutting into his guts, ensuring that the wound never completely closed despite the exhaustive work of his body trying to heal itself. A pup of little more than two decades would be his eventual end, a veteran of nearly three centuries... How embarrassing....

 

Telemarich turned with a laboured breath to look over towards his three brothers as they prepared to advance on the white armoured column now. They were veterans of the Chapter, heroes of the Imperium that once was and now they would die for their service, each one clad in the ancient suit of their terminator armour, their beautiful and resplendent heraldry and honours tattered from the last several weeks of brutal conflict. Now they looked to be little more than ghosts of their former glory.. But their pride remained. That they would never let the Star Phantoms take from them.  No one could

 

"For the Tyrant..."

 

Veteran Battle Brother Telemarich of the Astral Claws

First Company, Tactical Dreadnought Squad 'Rook'

Pict-feed taken at the siege of the Palace of Thorns, defending the outer ring of the Palace walls

Subject announced K.I.A. from eventual blood loss after 43 confirmed kills and 4 destroyed vehicles

 

He died standing, his armour never allowing him to fall.

 

http://i.imgur.com/Mw8u4Ax.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/MYXaOIW.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/h5xkFx7.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/3LqDu2q.jpg

 

http://i.imgur.com/vmRGQk2.jpg

 

Enjoy.

[Pearson73]

Nice work, such a strong sense of character about each marine.

[bloodhound23]

Noctus!

 

First- yes. Yes, yes, yes. Huge fan of Astral Claws and you do them justice.

 

Second- I have been racking my brain over how and where to place those longer combat knives from the Calth box, and thanks to your original post, I now can rest easy. I'm gonna borrow it, hope you don't mind!

[Noctus Cornix]

Thanks, lads. I appreciate the support so far. And feel free to use what you like :)

[Mazer Rackham]

Must. Paint. Astral Claws....

 

Inspiration growing...must.....

 

*Dashes for brush*

 

MR.

[ephrael]

Telemarich is your best looking Astral Claw so far, I can't wait to see the rest of his squad!

[Noctus Cornix]

I'll try and see about building the rest of Tactical Dreadnought Squd Rook! Maybe I'll get the time a bit later this week.

 

I am rather curious though. Presently I don't have any of the models or materials for my Auxilia human aspect of the Tyrants Legion, but I have tons of open space work for my Astartes. What kind of stuff would you guys like to see? Any squad types or interesting character types you folks would bee interested in seeing done?

[Dizzyeye01]

Great looking Astral Claws you've got going Noctus. As for suggestions, it might be quite cool to see a chaplain. They seem to be on the rare side of things but it would be interesting to see how they handled the chapters' fall and what you could do with them model-wise.

[Noctus Cornix]

Chaplains would be a very interesting case study! I'll think about the fluff for them and get back to you here to present my thoughts.

 

The problem that presents itself to me in that same vein is the whole paint scheme. I love the silver/blue color scheme of the Astral Claws, but as you can see here that doesn't transition well into specialists.

 

 

So right now I'm trying to think of potential alternative paint schemes and I'm honestly open to suggestions.

 

Edit: No that's not my apothecary, just using the picture to reference the paint scheme.

Edited April 13, 2017 by Noctus Cornix

[No Foes Remain]

What about for Apoths have their helms and maybe their power plant white with the rest following the traditional scheme? And something similar with the Chaplins or even a darker black-silver for them?

 

 

 

Also I have no idea how I missed the last two updates.

[Dagoth Ur]

What I usually do with my specialists (except chaplains) is paint them up in regular legion/chapter livery and then add small tidbits. My apothecaries usually have white facemasks/helmet stripes/tabards/plates on the back of their powerpack and a white narthecium. That should work just fine with the astral claws paintscheme :)

[Dizzyeye01]

Well, reading up on a 40k wiki, it appears that the Astral Claws were strong supporters of the Codex Astartes up until they rebelled, there isn't really any details to suggest what actually happened to the chaplains in the Astral Claws. They could still be wearing black as their main colour and have their kneepads and shoulderpads be either blue or the silver commonly seen in the Astral Claws. The alternative could be they decide to bear the full colours of the chapter as they believe that they're now serving Badab or something along those lines. Either way in the end the models are yours and you can do with them as you see fit.

[ephrael]

I would suggest painting the specialist troops in the regular silver of the chapter and just paint the right arm in the color appropriate to their specialization. Black for chaplains, white for apothecaries, red for techmarines etc. That would differentiate them from regular line troops and still hint back to the legion organization and markings from the Rogue Trader book and era. I know that we have much more accurate info about the Heresy era now from FW but the Badab War was introduced in Thd Rogue Trader era and it seems fitting to me to use the fluff from that time period for your army. That's how I am planning on doing my Badab War marines when I get around to them anyway.

[Noctus Cornix]

Now that you mention it, that does remind me of an art piece that I thought was really cool from the Rogue Trader era.

 

 

Always thought it was such a fantastic piece, though that image provides two contrasting visual color schemes. I imagine it looks better for the Crimson Fists given their main dark blue color but I think the idea still stands, more or less.

Edited April 13, 2017 by Noctus Cornix