Nova Terra Interregnum – The Alien Wars

[Markus_]

Cheers - what are your thoughts on the boltguns vs boltrifles?

You're asking a grognard so take this with a grain of salt.

I'm not too fond of the redesign of one of the most iconic weapons of the 41st millenium, and to be fair it's not even a redesign, it's just elongated and has some tacticool attachments and a rail. I don't think it's necessary to scale the bolter with the marine, but I'm not against them either, it's just new. The Umbra pattern bolter looks perfect on your beaky.

[apologist]

 

One of my favourite aspects of this wide-ranging project is the freedom to jump about. I finished putting together another four squats over the weekend:

 

The head here is from the Dwarf Gyrocopter – a very kind soul sent me a pile of gyrocopter pilot bits, which are invaluable here. 

 

This [sergeant? specialist?] has removed his helm to survey his surroundings. He's armed with a grav pistol. Like all armies originally, Squats shared the 'common' weapons of melta, plasma, flamer and grenade launcher. To differentiate them a little from Imperial forces, I'm giving them graviton and volkite weapons as their specialist stuff. 

 

 

Squats trod the line between Marines and Army in Rogue Trader, so I'm running with autoguns as their standard weapons, but allowing an upgrade to boltguns. The arms are from Mantic games; the weapons themselves are from GW Genestealer cults.

 

...and where's a 40k model without a melee weapon as big as his torso? This squat is armed with weapons from the FW Necromunda squat model.

 

+++

 

If you fancy having a go yourself, here are some fast-and-loose rules to play around with. Would love to hear your thoughts.

 

[apologist]

Boom! Squad complete.

 

Brothers Engel (Narieal 4:10) and Lucian (Abacyel 3:12), shown on patrol. Engel is named after one of the very first models I painted. He's been kept deliberately stripped-back, in homage to that model.

 

Lucian is a bit more elaborate, with a tilt shield, variant helm (though note this keeps the same silhouette as the original inspiration), and some chequerboarding on his pauldron.

 

 

'Wotchulookinat?'

[Son of Carnelian]

Excellent work, as always! What's next for your Blood Angels?

[Dosjetka]

Excellent work as per usual, Apologist. I'm really liking those Squats and the Blood Angels are fab as always.

 

Regarding your boltgun v bolt rifle question from the previous page, I prefer the iconic boltgun even on Primaris. There's just something about it that makes it, in my eyes, irreplaceable.

[Luna707]

Loving the heraldry!

[apologist]

 

I'm not too fond of the redesign of one of the most iconic weapons of the 41st millenium, and to be fair it's not even a redesign, it's just elongated and has some tacticool attachments and a rail. I don't think it's necessary to scale the bolter with the marine, but I'm not against them either, it's just new. The Umbra pattern bolter looks perfect on your beaky.

 

*Nods sagely*  The more I look at it, the more I want to get onto a third Tactical Squad; and use some regular boltguns.

 

Excellent work, as always! What's next for your Blood Angels?

In the short term, the rest of Squad 2; then onto the Devastators (and probably a character or two).

 

Excellent work as per usual, Apologist. I'm really liking those Squats and the Blood Angels are fab as always.

 

Regarding your boltgun v bolt rifle question from the previous page, I prefer the iconic boltgun even on Primaris. There's just something about it that makes it, in my eyes, irreplaceable.

Cheers for the kind words, padre! I've got a hankering to do some building now...

 

 

Loving the heraldry!

Thanks – I just couldn't resist!

 

+++

 

With the last two polished off, here's the full squad!

 

 

...and alongside the inspiration:

 

 

 

Can you spot the similarities?

 

 

 

 

+ TACTICAL SQUAD 1 +

• Brother Donato (Duhael 4:12)
• Brother Malatesta (Durbael 2:17)
• Sergeant Raphael (Furiel 8:04)
• Brother Farnese (Shemhamphorae 1:20) 
• Brother Barbarigo (Durbael 4:11)
• Brother Lucian (Abacyel 3:12)
• Brother El-Aster (Ambriel 1:01) 
• Squad Leader Brother Mephisto (Rashin Rast 2:05) 
• Brother Thaddeus (Saditel 4:04, called the lost)
• Brother Engel (Narieal 4:10)

Edited December 5, 2018 by Apologist

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Hey apologist, I missed a lot of this project. It all looks great, mate - but my heart was warmed particularly by the beaky devastators and the squads - well done!

Also: 

 

 

Awesome work, as usual!
Could you give us a link to the 3rd party site that does the Furibundus? Lovely model

Ta – and an astrophatic missive has already winged (wung? ) its way to you.

She asked to give US a link - where's mine? ;) (seriously, could you send me a linky as well - or post it in a comment?)

[apologist]

Hey apologist, I missed a lot of this project. It all looks great, mate - but my heart was warmed particularly by the beaky devastators and the squads - well done!

 

Heh; cheers. I'm looking forward to getting some paint on them; I've got a cunning plan with some Prussian blue.

 

Also, [+noosphericexloadlink sent+]

[apologist]

...but before Devastators, I want to polish off Squad Lazarus, my second Tactical Squad. Here's Ixael 6:05; or brother Schirru to the fraternity:

 

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Schirru is well done.

[apologist]

Thanks. I can only work on the Blood Angels for so long, because it's dreadfully repetitive. Nice in a meditative, unthinking way, but not hugely creative. 

 

Today, more Blood Ange- no, wait – something else. The pictures probably give it away.

 

 

A group of fay Eldar; most inscrutable of the xenos. When I saw the Van Saar models, I thought they might make a nice basis for some retro-styled Eldar to fit in with my Alien Wars project. I'll let you be the judge, but I'm pleased with how these came out. 

 

It's a relatively simple conversion; mainly consisting of trimming down the raised details on the legs. The arms were a bit more time-consuming owing to the odd multipart arrangements of Van Saar arms and guns. The heads are metal, from an Ulthwé Black Guardian kit; with the Eye of Isha trimmed away. For any future ones, I think I'd stick with plastic for ease (though I'd love to use heads from the current resin Rangers, as they're a bit pointier and more sleek).

 

 

Speaking of guns; the weapons and some arms come from a few Rogue Trader-era spares I had lying around. It's surprising what a difference slightly smaller (I hesitate to say more realistically-sized) weapons have on the feel of the models.

 

 

+ What to do, what to do... +

With the itch scratched on building the models, I now need to decide how to paint them. I think I've thinned it down to the following options, with the pros and cons listed below:

 

• Paint them as Alaitoc.
  • Fits with the WD138–141 feel of my Blood Angels.
  • Nice scheme; good complement to the red Angels and green/grey orks
  • Bit slavish and predictable.
• Use the opportunity to explore the Halator Eldar
  • More freedom
  • Moves away from the theme I've followed with the Orks and Blood Angels.
  • Explains the difference in models/scheme.
• Explore a more obscure Craftworld.
  • Fits with the concept behind the WD138 period; where the authors picked Alaitoc precisely because it was obscure and little-explored.
  • Could go with the Whisperprince model.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on the matter; and any comments on the models.

[sarabando]

go for that second ed alaitoc lots of blue grey and yellow and black flames :D

[Brother Pheidias]

go for that second ed alaitoc lots of blue grey and yellow and black flames

That is pure evil, I like it!

[Son of Carnelian]

Explore a more obscure craftworld!

[Dosjetka]

Explore a more obscure craftworld!

This. :tu:

[Nomus Sardauk]

How about Il-Kaithe or Mymeara? Something really different and contrasting to your Blood Angels.

 

Il-Kaithe: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Il-Kaithe

 

Mymeara: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Mymeara

Edited December 12, 2018 by SanguiniusReborn

[PowerHungryMonkey]

Great looking Filth.... I mean Eldar (I mean filth). Really cauptures the feel of the 2nd Ed Guardians. I remember playing far too many games against a mate with models like that; all horrendous stuff like the plasma-grendade-dropping WHILE high-flying Swooping Hawks and the "holy crap they can jump how far and kill me how easily!!??" Warp Spiders. Shudder

 

Traumatic memories aside, I love what you've done. I'm inclined to say Alaitoc too just for the nostalgia but I can see the apeal of the other options. Force me, I'd say old school. Alaitoc.

 

Not sure how I feel about those Stunties tho *mutter mutter, Tyranid fodder, mutter mutter*

[Urauloth]

How about Il-Kaithe or Mymeara?

Hear me out: Malan'tai

 

Other than its legendary demise (a long way off in M41) very little is written down about this one except that frequent wars against Orks led to it being heavily fortified. No records of it heraldry, preference for aspect shrine, anything really. It certainly maintained a significant fleet of warships (powerful enough to threaten a hive flet tendril) and it seems as though the Malan'tai Aeldari were aggressive defenders of maiden worlds, so they could be worked into the narrative a number of ways. The certainty of their future lends them a certain pathos, too, and they're a callback to really old material like Doom of the Eldar (good for nostalgia, even if we're millennia away from seeing a Tyranid here). Just an idea!

[apologist]

This year, I'm planning to get some more games in, to build up the Nova Terra Interregnum background with some battle reports. As with the modelling and painting, please consider yourself cordially invited to join in. If you've got something to add; get in contact! :)

 

Hobby time has been thin this month, but I did get the chance to set up some battle scenes for fun:

 

 

 

...a bit of mood... a bit of atmosphere....

[MagicMan]

Beauty! Love this thread. So much to get the imagination going.

[Pearson73]

Liking those battle shots, very thematic.

[apologist]

Ta; I’ve been building over the Christmas break, and have some Devastators and oddments to show.

[apologist]

+ Ecanus, Codicier +

 

Codicier Epigines El'Grigor, known as Ecanus 3:08 of the Withinlookmen

 

A fairly simple conversion; I wanted to nod to the Librarian from 1991 by incorporating a back banner, and playing about with the pose a little. I think I'll add a little scroll in his open left hand to further cement the bond. I toyed with a Mark VI helm, as per the original, but it just didn't look right. I decided to run with an artificer helm that evokes some of the detailing of the original. After all, we shouldn't be slavish when converting. 

 

Besides the twist in pose and bits swapping, the left arm has been fairly subtly repositioned to look a bit more passive than the standard sculpt. This took a fair bit of trimming and testing for not much obvious result, but I think it was worth it – if I'm adding a scroll, I want the focus of the model to be on it. A sword held more tensely robs the pose of that focus

 

 

The only other thing of note in the conversion is the Mark VI torso – a simple case of scraping away detail and replacing it with other detail is part of what will make this model feel like part of the overall force. It's easy for character models to stand out in a bad way.