Nova Terra Interregnum – The Alien Wars

[apologist]

SQUAAAAAAAAAAATS!

 

I was wondering when they'd show up properly. I like how the models look, even unpainted

 

Ta – and more of the tenacious little fellows are on their way:

 

[hushrong]

Those orks look great but them squats are going to be a treat!

[apologist]

+ Squad Redemptor, First Company +

Known more formally within the Chapter as 'Sustainers; First-amongst-equals of the War Eternal under Master Formosus, Lord of the Host, Master of the divided Legion and heir of Sanguinius', Squad Redemptor are he elites of my Blood Angels force.

 

The minor tweaks are simply embellishments to the underlying shape, which have been in place for ages.

 

+ [REDACTED] +

 

+ Brother Martial (Agshekolah 2:09) +

 

+ [REDACTED] +

 

 

 

The inspiration can be seen below, bottom left. This shot's interesting (well, from a nerd-archaeology point of view), because it's got the Dreadnought in – as far as I know, this is the only time it appeared alongside the army.

[Krakendoomcool]

Great to see more Squats, Orks and BA Termies. Love it.

 

It's amazing what a difference the minimalist Ork Dread front along with the paint job can have to spark that nostalgia. Love the Ork with the free hand reaching out.

 

I think the BA termies and the Golden guy were my favourite parts of that old BA army so looking forward to seeing the terminators with paint on.

[apologist]

Ta very much.

 

A pot of the beloved Scorched Brown was down to dregs, so I decided to speed it on its way to the great paint-rack in the sky by batch painting a load of bases. Turned out to be quite a grab-bag of Alien Wars stuff: 

 

 

Apart from anything else, this picture gives more of a sense of the size of the Terminators.

Edited September 2, 2019 by Apologist

[bluntblade]

Damn, I've been neglecting this thread. Dig the Deff Dread.

[apologist]

Cheers, BB. In truth, it's been sitting fallow for a while – but we're back on the offensive now: lots of Gribbly Aliens and Space Marines to come!

 

To kick things off again, here's the first finished Terminator:

 

 

 

 

 

...and alongside some of his Brethren. Now, let's see how they deal with the Krell...

[hushrong]

The Blood Angels look great in that group shot! The terminator looks especially awesome with the paint job.

 

I used your tutorial for making bigger termies and I think I need to go and redo the neck and head on mine. I kept a bit of the gorget/collar but I like how you've removed it and the way the head is jutting out a bit on your termie looks more natural.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Terminator.

[Son of Carnelian]

The Terminator seems substantially brighter than the Marines in power armor. Is it a trick of the light or did you deliberately make the red brighter on the Terminator?

[Majkhel]

Great stuff here! Will definitely follow :)

Cheers!

[apologist]

The Blood Angels look great in that group shot! The terminator looks especially awesome with the paint job.

 

I used your tutorial for making bigger termies and I think I need to go and redo the neck and head on mine. I kept a bit of the gorget/collar but I like how you've removed it and the way the head is jutting out a bit on your termie looks more natural.

 

Ta – and glad it was useful. Are those the ones on your (awesome – go check it out) Heads of the Hydra thread? They look lovely. I found the 'jut' of the jaw and a lower-set head helped to get the hulking feeling of the classic Terminator silhouette.

 

Excellent work on the Terminator.

Thank you.

 

The Terminator seems substantially brighter than the Marines in power armor. Is it a trick of the light or did you deliberately make the red brighter on the Terminator?

It's not deliberately brighter, so either a consequence of being so long since I used the scheme(!) or perhaps the use of Vallejo's Flat Red rather than the Mephiston Red/Vallejo Vermilion mix I was using before.

 

Alternatively, it may simply be that the Terminator doesn't have as much black trim – the use of gold instead might throw off the eye?

 

Great stuff here! Will definitely follow

Cheers!

Great to have you along for the ride – and do bear in mind this is not just my showcase; please feel free to post up M35-period Aliens and Space Marines that you'd like to add to the narrative.

Edited September 4, 2019 by Apologist

[Marshal Rohr]

The battle damaged shoulders with the exposed frame is a really, really nice touch. Drives home how tough Terminator armor is. 

[apologist]

The battle damaged shoulders with the exposed frame is a really, really nice touch. Drives home how tough Terminator armor is. 

I was initially a bit leery of including battle damage, simply because the army as a whole is much cleaner than I would normally work, but in the end I couldn't resist the awesome effect. Glad you like it!

[lionofjudah]

Looking really good!!

I’ve been eyeing my Fists contingent as they’ve been caught in a warp eddy for far too long.

The Alien Wars keeps my interests up and I’m prepping Moar dudes to join the fray... and thinking about repainting the basecoats on the guys thus far.

I like the damaged pads on termis as well, looks like the color tone shift from black to gold is brightening up the palate a lil and drawing my eye to the brighter hues... I like it

Really liking your Xenos works. The dred is looking boss

[hushrong]

 

 

The Blood Angels look great in that group shot! The terminator looks especially awesome with the paint job. I used your tutorial for making bigger termies and I think I need to go and redo the neck and head on mine. I kept a bit of the gorget/collar but I like how you've removed it and the way the head is jutting out a bit on your termie looks more natural.

 Ta – and glad it was useful. Are those the ones on your (awesome – go check it out) Heads of the Hydra thread? They look lovely. I found the 'jut' of the jaw and a lower-set head helped to get the hulking feeling of the classic Terminator silhouette. 

That tutorial was a huge help! Definitely appreciate you posting that for everyone’s use. It is indeed for my Alpha Legion terminator and thanks for the shout out. I thought I was going to like the covered neck but with the dark angel terminator head(which appears smaller) used it seems like his head was sunken into the torso. It didn’t have that classic look as you mentioned. I went back and redid that part and I think he’s going to look sharper. Thanks again Apologist!

[Atia]

Love that Terminator! Great work as usual buddy 

[Marshal Rohr]

Apologist, did you ever post your Ork skintone paint list?

[apologist]

I've updated the first post to give a better idea of what the blog (and project) are about. 

 

+++

 

 

Looking really good!!
I’ve been eyeing my Fists contingent as they’ve been caught in a warp eddy for far too long.
The Alien Wars keeps my interests up and I’m prepping Moar dudes to join the fray... and thinking about repainting the basecoats on the guys thus far.
I like the damaged pads on termis as well, looks like the color tone shift from black to gold is brightening up the palate a lil and drawing my eye to the brighter hues... I like it
Really liking your Xenos works. The dred is looking boss

 

Brill, looking forward to seeing what you come up with. (and thank you :))

 

 

That tutorial was a huge help! Definitely appreciate you posting that for everyone’s use. It is indeed for my Alpha Legion terminator and thanks for the shout out. I thought I was going to like the covered neck but with the dark angel terminator head(which appears smaller) used it seems like his head was sunken into the torso. It didn’t have that classic look as you mentioned. I went back and redid that part and I think he’s going to look sharper. Thanks again Apologist!

 

Not at  all – glad the tutorial was useful; and I look forward to seeing some paint on your awesome Alphas. :)

 

 

Love that Terminator! Great work as usual buddy 

Cheers Atia – fun, isn't he?

 

 

Apologist, did you ever post your Ork skintone paint list?

I don't believe I did (sorry)... but here's a link to a step-by-step tutorial inload that might help. It includes pics like this, with the paints I used at each stage:

 

...so if you're after a recipe, that'll give a workable one. However, the point I really wanted to make in that inload was that you can use the same approach as for human skintone – all you need do for greenskins is substitute blue paints where you would use red in a mix. I thoroughly encourage as much variation as possible for a naturalistic rather than uniform look. After all, even green-skinned aliens will look more feasible with a bit of variation in skin colour. 

[Krakendoomcool]

The painted terminator is looking great amongst his brothers.

 

I’m looking forward to what you’re doing with the Krell. I took a couple of micro steps towards making some mind controlled civilians but ended going another way and making a squad of mutants/cultists instead as they were visually more striking. It’s the closest I’ve come to making Krell and I’ll have another go one day.

[DeathCatCXLVII]

As I said elsewhere Aplogist, lovely work on the Termi's :)

[apologist]

The painted terminator is looking great amongst his brothers.

I’m looking forward to what you’re doing with the Krell. I took a couple of micro steps towards making some mind controlled civilians but ended going another way and making a squad of mutants/cultists instead as they were visually more striking. It’s the closest I’ve come to making Krell and I’ll have another go one day.

 

Cool – would love to see your interpetation, too.

 

I'm umming and erring between proper retro and a more modern update on the Enslavers. There are a few out there based on the Rogue Trader illustration, but the more modern artwork (from the Creature Feature article in White Dwarf) is so cool. The former option's easier, and a likely more identifiable; the latter will probably make something that fits better in my collection. 

 

 

As I said elsewhere Aplogist, lovely work on the Termi's

 

Thanks very much. I've been working on a couple of others – along with this chap – but nothing much to show beyond blocked-in colours and initial red layers.

 

 

Quite a good example of what layering translucent paint layers (I hesitate to call it glazing, as the layers aren't as dilute) can do. The lower half has a couple of additional layers of Vallejo's Flat Red; the upper part is just Mephiston Red undercoat.

Edited September 6, 2019 by Apologist

[Krakendoomcool]

I guess you could definitely do either. It could easily be a quirky old forgotten Alien featured in the alien wars as the rogue trader style.

 

For me it’s that artwork with the flies in the heads of the victims all the way. I’m just as obsessed with it now as I was when we talked about it last year.

 

I’ve got the pieces in place to make the victims (neophytes, poxwalkers, the flies and even the fish bowl helmet). Just need the time to do it. They could double as Deathguard Cultists and be usable too. With a slight lean towards Nurgle I would have a bit more freedom with those poxwalker pieces.

 

Modelling the actual enslavers are another matter though. That’s the real challenge and I’m no where near doing that.

 

Love the retro dread!

[apologist]

+ Order of Solar Ascendant +

 

+ M41: The Order of Solar Ascendant are one of the numerous Ordos Minoris of the Adepta Sororitas that maintain a presence in Antona Australis. +

 

 

+ Disposition +

Established during the Fourth Scallop Star Purges (M37.778–789), the Order venerates the Crone of Iocaste, an historical figure whose tale became conflated with a number of local folkloric sources. The Crone herself, Badam Kaur, was an eyeless and earless mutant; who nevertheless came to lead a minor Imperial Crusade against the forces of the Archenemy. Beatified in M39, the historical Crone – a divisive and thoroughly fascinating mass of contradictions – has become lost in the shifting sands of Imperial records; and is now venerated simply as Saint Iocanthe, a flawless beautiful and scrupulously virtuous being who was martyred during the end of the Hesiod Romantic Rebellion.

 

 

The Order maintains a number of Missions, both in Antona Australis itself and the neighbouring Prodigium Os Sector, but its largest grouping is the Commandery based in the Sarum system.

 

 

 

+++

 

+ Tinctures and Seals +

The Order of Solar Ascendant clad their followers in a split scheme; half their armour black as night; the other half bathed in the light of Sol, which the Order venerates as a symbol of the God-Emperor's beneficence. Their surplice-cloaks are the blue of the night sky, marked with symbolic star-markings that denote the Emperor's watchful eye over all of his worlds.

 

As is perhaps inevitable, given the sheer size and exhausting weight of Imperial records, the Order's heraldry bears similarities to many other uniforms in Imperial records. This is far from exceptional. Of particular note, however, is the fact that the scheme is not merely similar, but identical to that of the short-lived Frateris Constantium – a formation that last operated in M35, during the Alien Wars of the Nova Terra Interregnum – hence its relevance to this datacoil.

 

'The principal military force of the Nova Terran branch of the Adeptus Ministorum, the Frateris Constantium formed a mirror to the Nova Terran Army. Both were precociously well armed and equipped by their Adeptus backers, but where the NTA attracted the more puritanical, the Frateris Templar were swelled by those who sought ritual and reliability in a world of swiftly-changing fortunes. '

 

[+appendnote+: A number of ancient texts indicate that the organisation of the Frateris Constantium was the direct inspiration for the later Frateris Templar, under the infamous Eccleisarchs of later Millennia – +authorident: Unfortunus Veck+ +]

 

What significance this has – and if indeed this is naught but coincidence –has been the subject of Inquisitorial investigation by the aforementioned Unfortunus Veck during the Sun King of Cepheus affair. Records are currently cloistered for Scarlet-level Inquisitorial staff and above. 

 

+++

 

+ Representatives: Callistus and Makemeet + 

 

Sisters Callistus and Makemeet are typical Errant examples of the Order; trusted Battle Sisters that are deputised as bodyguards to important Ecclesiarchal representatives. They are tasked with ensuring the physical and spiritual safety of those under their aegis. Service as a Sororitas Errant-Solar is necessary to progress within the order; though outwardly seeking such promotion is regarded as sinful. An Ordinate of the Solar Ascendant must be nominated by her Superiors to such a task.

 

 

The symbol of the Order is a rising Solar disc, bathing the unworthy world in the light of the Emperor. This pict-capture shows the star-patterned cloaks well.

 

+ Sister Floqart Callistus +

 

+ Sister Myria Makemeet +

[Sandlemad]

Briilliant stuff as always. Good conversions and not the kind of scheme you typically see on sisters.

 

The background is particularly good, that bit about the evolution of the crone into a traditional imperial saint is exquisite.