Vox Stellarum: The Unyielding Adamanticores

[Ryltar Thamior]

Hello and welcome to yet another of me and Umbral's ongoing exercises in Hobby ADHD. This time, we step away from the grainy past of the Unification Wars and Horus Heresy - and, for that matter, recoil from the Inquisitorial goings-on of the Grim Shadows of the 41st Millennium - to present you something rather more straightforward. 

 

In this instance ... a chapter of Space Marines called the Adamanticores, depicted at their relative height in the early 38th Millennium. 

 

Now, a proper write-up of the fluff behind these absolute beauties will shortly be incoming [and the revelation for what might seem, at first, to be somewhat temporally inconsistent design-choices will arrive as part of that]; but for the moment, let's just enjoy the view. 

 

First up, a Veteran Sergeant equipped with a combi-plas bolter and power-sword; decked out in a composite hand-crafted armour which draws elements from an array of marks presently in Imperial service [note the Mk.III legs and hardened Mk.IV helm], plus a somewhat experimental power-pack not yet in common production...

 

 

 

Next, one of his squadmates - a marksman by specialization, again adorned in a composite plate and with a longer make of bolter for additional range in his chosen battlefield role. [although he'll be no slouch in close assault, either - that chainblade bayonet looks rather nasty!]

 

 

 

Third, is another weapon specialist - this time, another combi-plas wielder, who's steadying his main weapon whilst also holding his close combat blade ready for a swift employment. Of arguable interest is his choice of Mk.VI legs and power-pack for perhaps quieter operations than his comrades' predominant Mk.III stylings. 

 

 

 

Finally, we have a gallant captain for this small detachment - equipped with a fine artificer-developed plasma weapon and [potentially double-handed] power sword; as well as being clad in a most unusual and advanced pattern of power armour..

 

 

 

There'll be more along shortly [including a Truescale Terminator who absolutely has to be seen to be believed] ... but interested to see what you make of them :) 

[Naryn]

Very characterful conversions. The second and third guys in particular stand out as being especially well done. Looking forward to more!

[Ryltar Thamior]

Two more Adamanticores from me and Umbral this evening. I've had them sitting on my computer in photo form for a few days now, finally had time and inclination to montage them up. 

 

 

This chap'll be a Line Officer; and is equipped with a combination of the aforementioned prototype plate and sturdy Mk.III armorial elements. He's also evidently multi-role proficient, armed with a higher-capacity box-magazine long-bolter, combat knife, power-sword, and a more ceremonial dirk. What's in the satchel also at his belt? Well, you'll have to wait and see :P 

 

 

Next up, another one of the [relatively more] ordinary squaddies - this time, in a suit of mostly Mk.V armour, and equipped with an older pattern of Phobos bolter [that's had a higher-capacity drum-magazine and much more modern scope fitted to it]. He's also been the beneficiary of the Adamanticores' technical know-how, replacing the rather more unreliable powerplants that you commonly see on Mk.V with one of the so-new-it's-not-even-in-broad-distribution-yet powerpacks that go with the future-Mk.X. 

 

 

Umbral and I are both huge fans of what we've taken to calling the 'fat boy' helmet which comes in the Chaos Space Marines tactical plastics. It has a great ''heaviness' and brutality to it which just goes really nicely with the heavily studded Mk.V look he's got going here. 

 

 

The fluff with this chap will be that he's one of the most promising of the squad's new compliment of line-astartes ... so he's been given some of the more 'challenging' components to work with in building his armour and to fight in. No top-of-the-line Mk.VIII helm or sturdy, reliable Mk. IV here; and rather than the interleaved high-protection of Mk.III plating on his legs, or later-MK shoulderpads ... he's got the layered held-together-by-bonding-studs elements you'd otherwise expect on the stop-gap armours of desperation. Perhaps he forged those elements entirely himself!

[Ryltar Thamior]

Now for something  that's arguably a little over the top :P 

 

 

What happened here was we ordered a Perturabo as part of our continual efforts to do truescaled Terminators for my Horus Heresy Iron Warriors. This uh ... well, to put it bluntly, Perturabo's *massive*; and whilst there's a pretty decent explanation for why we might do something with him for the AyasaBhutaGana in the future ... he'd be rather questionable as the basis for a squad of Terminators - as he's simply too large. [Even the Horus-based Space Wolf terminator we did was arguably pushing it a bit] 

 

 

In the mean-time, then, another use suggested itself .... namely, as a high-ranking figure for teh Adamanticores. We're still working out what the rank-structure etc. for the chapter looks like, so no fancy title as yet; and also whether ot use him as a chapter master, or as a prominent tech-marine, or whether  the two roles might in fact be combined kinda like how they used to be with teh Iron Hands and their Iron Fathers or the Iron Warriors and their Warsmiths [although iirc HH fluff makes the latter a bit more distinct these days]. 

 

 

Whatever he winds up being ... a combat powerhouse is quite clearly going ot be one of those things. As Umbral pointed out ... this chap could QUITE FEASIBLY pretty much walk through a Land Raider; armed, as he is, with a rather massive power-fist/claw, a plasma-blaster, some form of long-barrelled melta-weapon, a storm-bolter, his mechandendrites and that rather big axe of his. With alll of that armoured weight behind him, a kick from his boot would presumably be quite a force to be reckoned with by itself!

 

 

In terms of his phenomenal size, there are two (not necessarily exclusive) possibilities - one being simply that his gene-seed has lead to a reaction of unusual gigantism, even for an Astartes [there is precedence for this with both the Sons of Antaeus - also a 21st Founding chapter; as well as Marines like Pollux etc. .. and, for that matter, the later Primaris Marine project of Cawl]; and/or he's actually now largely a cyborg underneath all that armour, functioning like a more 'with-it' dreadnought, with bionic legs, arms, whatever, filling up all the area around a small and withered Darth Vader-like portion of his remaining fleshy physiology. Either way, he's going to be one /seriously/ tough customer on the battlefield! 

 

 

The partsmix, beyond Perturabo, features a Grey Knights Terminator Apothecary head, mechandendrites from Draykavac, the axe from the plastic magos dominus, and I think from memory the power-claw is actually made from a *contemptor's* power-claw [and a whole lot of miliput] with top-cladding from a terminator praetor's chestpiece, and an elbow that's constructed out of both part of a Stormcast and a plastic Tartaros shoulder. 

 

 

 

 

In any case ... I definitely wouldn't get in his way! 

[mega-thanks to Umbral for putting this beauty together] 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Have had these mostly-finished for weeks now, but didn't get around to uploading. 

 

WIthout further ado - Adamanticores line marines and veteran sergeant

 

 

detail on the Veteran Sergeant:

 

 

 

 

 

Detail on squad weapons specialist [combi-plas]:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail on bolter-armed line marine: 

 

 

 

 

 

Detail on bolt-rifle equipped specialist:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Detail on Captain & Line Officer:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aaaand, a group shot:

 

[Sagentus]

The primaris conversions are great! Really good to see something different. But the pertubo conversion is something else and I personally don't think its ott

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive. Will the Adamanticores remain loyalists, or turn to Chaos? And what does their Chapter symbol look like?

[Ryltar Thamior]

Alright, so a few more Adamanticores ...

 

First up, we have an NCO for one of the combat squads - with a bit of a twist, in that he's evidently on his way to becoming a Techmarine.

 

 

From the start, we've envisaged the Adamanticores as not having *quite* the same sorts of separation between command-hierarchy and Forge [or, at the least, technical competency] that other more Codex-compliant chapters do. And so instead, in a manner similar to the old Iron Fathers of the Index-Astartes era Iron Hands, or the Warsmiths of the Iron Warriors ... you get chaps like this who do a bit of both.

 

 

 

Partsmix is a Primaris torso with excellently sculpted abs [churr Umbral], a Techmarine arm and bolter, a Mk.III head from the Iron Hands upgrades, Tartaros legs, and most of the rest of him is Veteran Sternguard. 

 

 

Oh, as applies the bolter ... clearly this is a weapon he's extensively modified himself, with the addition of a longer barrel from a Phobos. 

 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Next up, we have the combat squad he'll be leading's heavy weapons specialist. 

 

 

 

Now I know that man-portable frag-cannons are usually the exclusive preserve of the Deathwatch ... but due to the way we've construed the Adamanticores' fluff as a test-bed in some ways for technologies that would later become much more widespread, and in any case, with close links to the Mechanicum providing access to a LOT of technology that you don't ordinarily see in codex-compliant Astartes formations ... it seemed pretty legitimate; and much in keeping with the Adamanticores' way of war and the particular loadout needs of these squads [more to come on that later...]

 

 

BOOM! 

 

 

Partsmix is a Primaris torso and legs, another Iron Hands upgrades head, Mk.III backpack and shoulders, frag-cannon and arms fromthe Deathwatch sternguard box, and i think the pistol might be from the plastic Mk.IIIs? 

 

 

Nice, simple, and BRUTALLY effective!

 

 

Good to have a bit more ranged firepower to go with his comrades - and it'll be interesting working out a rules-set to slot him into if i do wind up running these guys in regular 40k games. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Now this is another character of sorts - and is supposed to represent a 'watch-master' [will finalize a proper title when fluff-writeups are done] to go with this deployment, rather than a more 'regular' [insofar as ANY of these Adamanticores thus far have been 'regular'] 

 

 

Partsmix is Mk.X legs, Tartaros torso, Mk.III power-pack, Sternguard pads and head [also gubbinz], Breacher shield, power-maul from one of the FW HH close-combat sets, and an interesting addition [umbral has some flashes of inspiraiton lol] of thigh-plates from a Stormcast. I have to say, i quite prefer the larger and more ornate look to the extant small hip-plates on Mk.X. Oh, and groinplate from plastic Mk.III. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I reckon this does a pretty decent job of conveying a heavily armoured 'breacher' style marine, replete with the 'void hardened' armourishnesss. 

 

Again, looks decently brutal :D 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Now, for a *full* Techmarine of the Adamanticores. 

 

 

As you can see, he's quite a well-armed fellow!

 

 

Conversion beamer, two servo-arms, power-axe, signum, heavy flamer, and missile launcher. Literally more firepower than a Predator! 

 

 

Partsmix is a Techmarine torso, backpack, one arm and servoharness; shoulderpad [the Lion one] from Scibor [those're pretty excellent! Look out for more of those shortly!] ; I think the axe is from Draykavac, likewise for the head; legs from the Iron Hands gorgon terminators. It's a bit of a 'squat' stance, so to speak and rather more wide-angled than strict realism would suggest. But i'm seeing a lOT of weight he's carrying around, so perhaps it makes snse - particularly if it turns out the legs THEMSELVES are rathr heavily bionic [thus accounting for th wider stance] 

 

 

Now this'll be scary to see trudging down the corridor at you ..

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I'm impressed with the work you put into the conversions.

[Ryltar Thamior]

I'm impressed with the work you put into the conversions.

Not my work - that's Umbral's doing. We've got quite a neat partnership going. I do a lot of the 'conceptual' work, he realizes things in plastic and resin, and we marry it all up. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

Here's the body of an Adamanticores Rapid Response combat team. The idea here was to build a five-man squad who'd be capable of .. exactly as it says on the tin .. responding to things rapidly - intruders in high-value garrisoned facilities [yes, Marines don't usually do garrison work; but you'll see what I mean at some poitn in the medium future], infiltrators and boarders on shps and stuff like that. 

 

 

To this end, they've been given some of the more 'active' looking sets of terminator legs we have in our inventory [those almost 'running' legs from the Iron Warriors Siege Terminators in particular are a beaut]; as well as weaponry more useful for this kind of warfare. In specia, bolt-carbines [which at this stage - M.38 - will be basically in quasi-prototype phase *well* before any form of broader dissemination to other Astartes forces ... something else that the Adamanticores are perhaps unique beneficiaries of at this poitn in the timeline along with their Mk.X armour elements], and an Astartes shotgun. 

 

 

Oh and, of course, the usual assortments of close combat weapons, pistols, pouches, etc. etc. [somewhat to our annoyance there WAS a claymore mine style thing attached to the belt of the one with the Mk.VIII helm ... but it's evidently detonated prematurely or something, hence why it's no longer attached and pending replacement :/ ]. 

 

 

 

I like to think we've got a real sense of motion going with these :D 

 

Now for some individual shots:

 

 

First one - shown here in a reloading pose. Mk.III legs and helm [cataphractii legs and Iron Hands head respectively], but Mk.X chestplate and powerpack. Bolt-carbine main weapon and bolt-pistol side-arm; a Mk.III pauldron for the "this way towards enemy" facing. 

 

 

Next up, a run-and-gun type - Mk.III legs, power-pack and pauldron [Tyrant Siege Terminators for legs, Mk.III plastics for other aforementioned components]; Mk.X chestplate; and I think the helm's something like Mk.II? [it's from the excellent FW Iron Warriors upgrade pack]. 

 

 

Beyond that, another 'runner' - this time equipped with  a bolt-carbine rather than a shotgun. Legs are Mk.VI [tartaros terminators]; the torso suggests Mk.VIII [Tartaros again - a nice raised gorget that's visually distinct from the Mk.X]; Mk.VIII head; and a Mk.III pauldron; I *think* the power-pack might be Mk.IV? 

 

 

Finally, we have a Marine encased in largely Mk.VI armour [it's a pattern i've always had a great fondness for, even back in 3rd ed before such things were properly fleshed out]. Head [Dark Angels Ravenwing Command Squad - an excellent kit!], pauldron, and legs [Tartaros] all from there; but a Mk.X power-pack for additional juice and a somewhat variant torso [FW Iron Hands]  to suggest perhaps a bit of under-the-hood augmetics going on or a differen technical approach/pattern to/of armour. Solid firing pose for that bolt-carbine of his, too :D 

 

And FINALLY finally ... a group shot :D 

 

[MikhalLeNoir]

Ahh...i love this whole thread

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The poses look good.

[Ryltar Thamior]

Alright, so ... something a bit different today.

 

One thing that came up when we sat down to nut out who and what the Adamanticores are [were] ... is that they have a pretty strong Adeptus Mechanicus interplay going on. You have already seen this somewhat with all the techmarines [and apprentices] that've been uploaded thus far. 

 

But for the force I'm building, we're going  a bit further - including Mechanicus techpriests and their creations in a number of capacities ranging from battlefield support through to gearsmithing and uh .. tech-support. 

 

So with that in mind, while I finish off the last few bits and pieces on the previous inload of Adamanticores ... here's what's on the painting table atm for the Mechanicus side of things :D 

 

 

From left to right, four tech-priests and one of the hulking more 'praetorian'-esque weapons servitors [there's another two we did up awhile ago and which are also almost fully painted that i'll include when we get to that part of the post].

 

 

First up, one of the more 'orthodox' looking priests. Body is of the FW Macrotek Magos, with a Skaven staff. 

 

 

 

 

 

Nice, simlple, and brimming with character :D 

 

Next up, a rather more 'gracile' little guy. This is a Skaven [ikkit Claw] with a tech-priest axe and Magos plastic head. In our heads, the raised clawishness is kinda a "OOH NO NOT THE FACE" sorta pose. 

 

 

It's pretty excellent how well the Skaven bits go for 40k gritty techyness imo!

 

 

 

 

Now, thiis next one ... really pleased with how it came together [thanks Umbral]. Datasmith head on Tzeentch chaos sorcerer body, CLAMP [in Futurama voice] from maybe a techthrall or one of the servo-automata. Blade-thing from one of the Skaven kits. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally for the tech-priest contingent ... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Head is from Draykavac, most of th rest is a Datasmith, and a volkite caliver for Choom. 

 

:D 

 

Next up ... weapons-servitors!

[Ryltar Thamior]

Most recent one of the weapons servitors - the punchy-clawy-grindy one. 

 

 

Body is from the Skaven Stormfiends; fists are from a Contemptor and iirc a Leviathan. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, some we prepared earlier...

 

 

AREN"T THEY KYOOTE?! 

[Ryltar Thamior]

First one - plasma-shooting. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The weapons are from the Kataphron Breachers ; head-unit's from iirc the armour of the Stormfiends themselves; and the rear-armour conceals a shield-generator I imagine. Backt-anks for plasma :D 

 

And then there's this guy...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Body's once again a Stormfiend; multi-meltas are from the Leman Russ kit [or Demolisher or whatever it is]; and the Mechanicus icon is once again probably concealing a shield-generator of sorts.

 

Oh, and if anybody asks ... the reason why these Adeptus Mechanicus folks have such large hulking weapons-servitors wandering around equipped with heavy anti-tank weaponry and a drill-arm you'd usually see on a specialized siege-dreadnought ... well .. uh .. they're "mining equipment". OK? :P 

[Ryltar Thamior]

About time some more paint went on some miniatures :P I've had these Marines sitting almost-finished on the painting table for a few weeks now; but finally this evening got around to putting some finishing touches on :D 

 

 

The five Adamanticores depicted here are from a 'Rapid Response' team deployed alongside the Garrison Troops whom we've already met. The idea is that while the Garrison squad holds down an area [as befitting their profusion of both longer-ranged and higher-powered weaponry, as well as all the scopes and such] as the 'anvil', the Rapid Response team will be moving more swiftly as the 'hammer' - and are consequentially equipped for such a role, with bolt-carbines for keeping up sustained fire on the move along with an Astartes shotgun with specialist ammunition [for both corridor-clearing and engaging a diversity of foes as necessary beyond the bolters] ... and a big hefty FRAG CANNON for a combination of giving hallways a flashy new blood-red paintjob and putting big penetrator-round sized holes in tougher targets. 

 

 

The first two - Marine on the left, bearing the shotgun, is in a combination of Mk.III and much more recent plate [Mk.II helm with in-built targeting eyepiece]. [legs are from the fine Iron Warriors Tyrant SIege Terminators, head from Iron Warriors upgrades, shotgun from Deathwatch, and so forth]. 

 

 

Marine on the right, in my mind a junior NCO, bearing the bolt-carbine in Mk.III with ballistic-fiber pteurges. [iron Hands head, combination of plastic cataphractii terminator legs and other bits from various plastic kits, probably the starter box Primaris marines]

 

 

As we can see - they're pretty well equipped for sustained operations. 

 

 

Also, not that you can see it - but the shotgun stock has a screen on the back of it in my interpretation; perhaps for seeing through walls or auspexing or something.

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

Next two - bolt-carbine equipped; one in Mk.VI/VIII combo; another in a more straight-up Mk.VI set of plate. 

 

 

Tartaros terminator legs, Mk.X torsos, mk.VIII heada from Deathwatch box and Mk.VI head from the Ravenwing Command box [can't recommend that highly enough for characterful bitz!]. 

 

 

 

 

 

Little hard to see due to the lighting; but the eyes are a nice electric blue. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

Finally, the frag-cannon operator. Mister Heavy-Duty himself.

 

 

Once again, head from the Iron Hands fw, frag-cannon from the Deathwatch box, legs etc. from the starter-box primaris, and so forth. 

 

 

 

 

Have I mentioned how much I like the soulstone blue technical paint recently :D 

 

 

Oh, and a shot of everything together:

 

 

Let's see how long it takes me to complete the other three [Characters of varying sorts and shades], and all the AdMech :D 

[Brother Lunkhead]

Amazing, just absolutely amazing! Great conversion work, and a very bold but simple paint scheme. You have a good team there brother. Nicely done 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Marines. I find the Skaven-turned techpriests and combat servitors impressive- you certainly put a lot of effort in the models.