Nova Terra Interregnum – The Alien Wars

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Blood Angels, apologist.

[StratoKhan]

I was looking through the thread again... I must have missed the old school plastic scout!

I love it. The size of the head! and the roundness... it makes the scout look like a giant baby In carapace armour. Love it!

apologist, the Blood Angels are looking great. I too remember that old school BA army fondly.

[apologist]

Whoa. I didn't know I wanted a reframing of the old fimir into 40k but seeing it done, and done in such a wonderfully creepy way, is a pleasant surprise. Brilliant stuff. The incorporation of the mists, the retention of their character as a distinctly minor power, the history/folklore of imperial views of the species, all are great. Darkly linking them to the navigators though is very sly indeed.

Thank you very much – and glad the mists and swamps theme came across. Part of the overall theme for the project was to imagine what the concepts and species from Rogue Trader would have been like if they were released now – hence the fond retrohammer reimaginings. It's a fun challenge to both do justice to the originals and allow them to fit into the modern 40k universe in a natural and interesting way. Not sure I've always succeeded, but that's the aim, at least!

 

Excellent work on the Blood Angels, apologist.

 

Very kind, thank you.

 

I was looking through the thread again... I must have missed the old school plastic scout!

I love it. The size of the head! and the roundness... it makes the scout look like a giant baby In carapace armour. Love it!

apologist, the Blood Angels are looking great. I too remember that old school BA army fondly.

Hee hee! Yes, though he's lead rather than plastic. There was a micro-release of four sculpts around the release of Advanced Space Crusade that made the puffy sleeves and similar details more uniform (though whether the ASC plastics or the lead blister came first, I'm not sure). Prior to that, the scouts looked much more less uniform; with various details being different from one sculpt to the next. 

 

Thanks for the kind words on the army – I hope you like the reimagining of Squad Repemptor:

 

 

 

More in a later post, but I want to get back to the narrative thread of Terminators versus Krell a few pages (and more than a few months!) back.

 

Edited September 30, 2020 by apologist

[Majkhel]

Great to see more shots of your excellent Terminators!
And my compliments for free-handing the Crux Terminatus. I tried this once and can definitely appreciate the work

Edited October 1, 2020 by Majkhel

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Fine work on the Terminators.

[Llagos_Tyrant]

Awesome work in here! The Terminators are great, and those hazard stripes on the power fists are a nice callback to the old style fists that always used to have them.

[Triszin]

rad.

 

awesome bigger termi's

[BadgersinHills]

Incredible stuff, I adore the terminators. :) 

[Lienna]

I second the love for the hazard stripes, as if there is any part of a terminator that isn't dangerous!

 

Is it a trick of the posing or is the assault cannon Terminator extra bulky?

[apologist]

Great to see more shots of your excellent Terminators!

And my compliments for free-handing the Crux Terminatus. I tried this once and can definitely appreciate the work

Ta very much. I've really been enjoying pushing my freehand work. It's something I very much enjoy; and it seems particularly well-suited to Blood Angels.

 

Awesome work in here! The Terminators are great, and those hazard stripes on the power fists are a nice callback to the old style fists that always used to have them.

Yeah, there are some bits of 80s/90s painting that I'm very glad to leave behind, but I felt I had to include the hazard stripes on at least one. 

 

rad.awesome bigger termi's

Thanks!

 

Incredible stuff, I adore the terminators.

Very kind, ta

 

I second the love for the hazard stripes, as if there is any part of a terminator that isn't dangerous!

 

Is it a trick of the posing or is the assault cannon Terminator extra bulky?

Just a trick of the posing, I think; though Lucello's got quite a few more 'trimmings' than the others.

 

+++

 

+ Squad Castigarius on the field +

 

 

Brother Pontormo (Wormwood 1:03)

Brother Daumier (Kyniel 1:54)

Sergeant Paulo (Tatanon; Keeper of Tears 3:02)

Brother Gorgidas (Parmiel 1:25)

Brother Megasil (Porosa 1:54)

Brother Titian (Eurabatres 2:34)

Brother Loredan (Eserchie 6:35)

Brother Michelino (Lithargoel 9:19)

Brother Doneto (Kadir-Rahman 1:68)

Brother Picabia (Rahaviel 3:18)

 

In case you're wondering, I can't remember why Squad Castigarius is not named after its Sergeant, as with the other squads in the army. I suspect it was just an oversight when I was drafting the plan. However, such oversights can add a natural bit of interest. There's an immediate narrative question – who was Castigarius? This might lead to a particular mission, or be the seed of a narrative game.

 

I was tempted to change it, but there is a nagging feeling that I have picked out both 'Paulo' and 'Castigarius' from existing material, and intentionally conflated them to hang a hat on some internal inconsistency. The sergeants and veteran squad leaders of the Tactical squads are certainly named after the squads from the 'Battle for Armageddon' leaflet that came in the 2nd edition boxed set; but [+memSTACK:CASCADEFAIL+], for the life of me I can't remember where Paulo and Castigarius are from. Space Hulk, maybe?

 

Anyway, regardless of whether it's a mistake or not, it adds some texture. Perhaps Sergeant Paulo has opted to retain the name out of respect for his predecessor in the position, or perhaps it's one of the various traditions of the Blood Angels.

 

 

 

Visible above is the cut-down bolt rifles, making them look more akin to the boltguns in the squad. I had vacillated on whether to do this, and am glad that I finally decided to make the squad's boltguns consistent in length, if not in detail.

 

I was pleased with the face. Very quick, very clean. As mentioned in an earlier inload, I'm trying to keep the Blood Angels looking 'filmstar handsome'. I haven't been adding stubble or eyebags or any of the other details I usually do on faces, instead aiming for clean-cut smooth skin. I made up the 'Keeper of Tears' epithet for him, and wanted to reflect that somehow, just to give him a little character. He's thus got a row of teardrops running along his collar.

 

 

 

 

The plastic missile launcher doesn't have quite the same detailing as the resin version, though I doubt anyone would pick it out unless specifically looking for differences. The detail above shows the lenses nicely. I used orange for the Devastators's eye lenses to match the inspiration. It's worth noting that it's the complementary colour for blue, so 'pings' out nicely, setting both off.

 

As a further note, for anyone intending to use Forge World's Raven Guard upgrade sprue for Mark VI helms, as I have: the helms are sculpted with very prominent brows and deep-set lenses (see below), which can make getting the brush tip in tricky for fine detail.

 

 

 

 

One of the marines toting a heavy bolter has a Mark IV Maximus helm; but note that he's otherwise converted to Mark VI armour. When mixing armour marks across this army, I try to avoid unintentionally defaulting to a particular mark. This avoids it looking a bit tokenistic; as though you've decided that swapping a part out means that you don't need to think about the rest of the suit.

 

Of course, it's a purely personal thing. This army could just as easily have followed the inspiration more closely, with the Devastators all purely Mark VI and the Tacticals all purely Mark VII. Both approaches take effort and consideration; it's really down to what you want to do with your army.

 

 

 

Keeping variety in the armour marks helps keep my interest up, but if you decided to go fully uniform, you might still consider some neutral flourishes, such as the targeter and purity seal here.

Edited October 5, 2020 by apologist

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Beautiful work on Squad Castigarius.

[apologist]

+ Thudd! +

 

 

A faint thrumming was all the warning he got – and despite the warning; despite his posthuman reflexes; despite all the advantages that made him a god of war, the only thing that saved him from an ugly end was the density of his helm. The flat, broad ammunition embedded itself in the thick plate and lodged. 

 

Already reacting, the quad-launcher's distinctive barrel array swung round as the integrated systems slaved to the techmarine's armour responded to his command, as instinctively as though the heavy weapon had been his own hand. The autoloaders' ratcheting heralded four ominous, heavy clunks, so close as to blend together.

 

Point-blank. The techmarine's helm-autosenses cut out the detonation of the first shells before the third and fourth had fired. He thus felt, rather than heard, the distinctive thudd-thudd-thudd-thudd of the quad launcher. 

 

Direct fire: immediately and brutally effective. Despite their caution, spacing, stealth and grace, four of the advancing Mabracs simply vanished, while the rest of the squad were blasted backwards by the brutal munitions through the crumbling shopfronts. The techmarine caught a flash of one pinwheeling away; a snapshot of its colourful blood in a strange, stark arc. 

 

Dust and smoke completely filled the air; though that was of little consequence to the preysight of the Blood Angel. A chime preceded a rune-report: +Threat neutralised +

 

+++

 

+ Painting the quad launcher +

Bit rare for me to do nothing at all to a model, but here – unmodified, unchanged – is Forge World's quad launcher, as nature intended.

 

 

A splash of red ensures it fits into the Blood Angels project. I've included the Chapter symbol and Company icon on the front plate (see above) and the campaign (army) badge on the side.

 

 

This lovely little kit, along with the Rhino, was part of a very generous birthday present from my gaming group, the PCRC, back in 2018. The cast was pretty clean, with some minor slippage on the barrels. The heavily weathered, beaten metal look I opted for has disguised this to some extent.

 

 

Models with lots of metal need breaking up visually; I've used different techniques and different colours to vary the metallics, and included some red and grey-green flashes, too. Close inspection might reveal a Rogue Trader-esque bit of graffiti.

 

 

The campaign badge is just a small blue dot; at the back left, to mirror those on the marines themselves.

 

 

As a functional artillery piece, rather than the heraldic splendour of the Astartes themselves, I wanted it to be a bit more muted than the marines. I haven't taken the shading nor highlighting so far, and have applied minimal weathering. All of this reduces the contrast and impact, allowing this to fade into the background somewhat against the rest of the army. I want people to look at the squads, not the guns.

[Xin Ceithan]

Solid Work - in the best possible way. The paint job is clean and will surely fit in nicely with the BA squads. I also think that pulling this off on a rather "plain" model (regarding ornaments) and still making it visually attractive is the mark of great painting. :)

 

Will there be a Techmarine to accompany this?

[Closet Skeleton]

Awesome work in here! The Terminators are great, and those hazard stripes on the power fists are a nice callback to the old style fists that always used to have them.

 

Not quite always, they were randomly distributed just like the thread owner has done. I've not seen an old image of a studio terminator squad with uniformly striped gloves.

 

Originally they were mixed up with stuff like diamond and check patterns but the tea-cloth effects didn't last as long as the stripes.

[Majkhel]

Loving the little extra details you add, like the neklace of tears.
Fantastic inspiration material.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the quad launcher.

[Ryltar Thamior]

"+ Thudd! +"

I see what you did there :P 

[Llagos_Tyrant]

 

Awesome work in here! The Terminators are great, and those hazard stripes on the power fists are a nice callback to the old style fists that always used to have them.

 

Not quite always, they were randomly distributed just like the thread owner has done. I've not seen an old image of a studio terminator squad with uniformly striped gloves.

 

Originally they were mixed up with stuff like diamond and check patterns but the tea-cloth effects didn't last as long as the stripes.

 

I think my memory might be overemphasizing the stripes in the old art in that case. I don't remember the old studio models, but I remember it being quite distinctive in the art.

 

Great job on the squad!

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

 

Awesome work in here! The Terminators are great, and those hazard stripes on the power fists are a nice callback to the old style fists that always used to have them.

 

Not quite always, they were randomly distributed just like the thread owner has done. I've not seen an old image of a studio terminator squad with uniformly striped gloves.

 

Originally they were mixed up with stuff like diamond and check patterns but the tea-cloth effects didn't last as long as the stripes.

 

I think my memory might be overemphasizing the stripes in the old art in that case. I don't remember the old studio models, but I remember it being quite distinctive in the art.

 

Great job on the squad!

 

Can confirm that there was at least one old 2e terminator squad officially done with matching hazard-stripe marking on the power fists. 

 

I have no idea why it's so hard to find this box image on the net; most of the stuff on image search is the other (presumably metal rather than plastic) box with the chainfists and assault canon - where there's still hazard striping on both the chainfists and the powerfists, albeit in different places on each. 

 

Although the official Blood Angels Terminators rendition of the era (the same iirc plastic terminators and sergeant) has them with black fists with a white drop marking and red digits. 

 

[Markus_]

The completed squads look great and the army is turning out fantastic.
I've yet to make a Indomitus Terminator squad based on your design.

[apologist]

Solid Work - in the best possible way. The paint job is clean and will surely fit in nicely with the BA squads. I also think that pulling this off on a rather "plain" model (regarding ornaments) and still making it visually attractive is the mark of great painting.

 

Will there be a Techmarine to accompany this?

 

Ah, you're far too kind, Xin; and yes – there will be a techmarine gunner. In fact, there already is! I'll pop him up imminently. :)

 

 

Awesome work in here! The Terminators are great, and those hazard stripes on the power fists are a nice callback to the old style fists that always used to have them.

Not quite always, they were randomly distributed just like the thread owner has done. I've not seen an old image of a studio terminator squad with uniformly striped gloves.

Originally they were mixed up with stuff like diamond and check patterns but the tea-cloth effects didn't last as long as the stripes.

 

Yes; while there were lots of designs initially, I think the stripes have become iconic in a way the others haven't. Looking back at the original Space Hulk art, stripes are very common (all the Blood Angels artwork of fists had them, for example), but, as Ryaltor Thamior says, not exclusive across the Chapters. I think it's likely a result of the fact that there wasn't nearly as many models or as much artwork in the old days. A lot of the early Horus Heresy hobbyists, for example, could get a vibrant discussion over a single image of a particular armour mark; wondering whether it was the standard pattern, or merely an example.

 

Coming back to power fists, the stripes got flanderised later on, as the infamous red period of bright primaries came along, and the other decorations got sidelined in favour of bright hazard-markings. Not my personal bag, but certainly eye-catching.

 

 

Loving the little extra details you add, like the neklace of tears.

Fantastic inspiration material.

 

Thanks Majkhel – would love to see what results!

 

Excellent work on the quad launcher.

 

Thanks Bjorn, very kind.

 

"+ Thudd! +" I see what you did there

Oh, you. :P

 

 

The completed squads look great and the army is turning out fantastic.

I've yet to make a Indomitus Terminator squad based on your design.

Would love to see what you come up with :)

[apologist]

 

As every tech-aspirant knows, every gun needs a gunner (unless you're one of those xenoheretics looking at Tau drone technology). Here's Brother Mirandola, to shepherd and guide the machine spirit of the gun into battle.

 

Clad in modified Mark VI Corvus armour, Mirandola combines classic Rogue Trader stylings with modern touches. He's a good example of the guiding principles of the project: what would Rogue Trader-era designs look like if produced today?

 

I wanted to go a bit into the process I go through when re-imagining older figures. It's quite long, so I won't be offended if you just want to skim the pictures!

 

+++

 

+ Theoretical: RT-aesthetic, modern tech +

 

 

I think he's a good example of the principle that good ideas are timeless. The various tools, accessories and peculiar asymmetrical helmet of the original design immediately identify him as a combat engineer of sorts; albeit with a sci-fi aspect. Those sort of identifying marks are recognisable to everyone; they don't rely on any familiarity with the setting. 

 

Hopefully the source figure is clear in my re-imagining.

 

The modern techmarine, in contrast, hints more obliquely at their military role. The principle is flipped: high-tech fantastic details like the massive servo-claw and snaking mechadendrite cable are more striking and impressive than the rather drab and down-to-earth RT-era figure, but they're thus less grounded and gritty. The modern sculpt is sci-fi fantasy first, and engineer second; vice versa for the RT-sculpt.

 

I don't think either is better, per se; but it's worth seeing how the designers have moved from having no internal design language to fall back on – hence the looser and arguably more creative aesthetics of Rogue Trader – to having a great well of depth to draw from and build upon. Today, Techmarines don't need to 'read' as real-world engineers so easily, because there's so much texture to draw on from within the setting. That allows the more unusual aspects to be played up – but it comes at the cost of being slightly exclusive.

 

Lest that come across as unnecessarily critical of the modern approach, I do think that the depth of background allows the designers today to come up with some wonderfully creative stuff that has more implied depth. Sure, it's not so immediately recognisable, but if you are invested in the world, there are loads of details that have a language to decipher. It's more rewarding to analyse a modern sculpt than – say – a regular marine carrying a toolbox.

 

Both approaches have merit; my point is not to convince you of your personal preference, but rather to highlight why I'm setting this army in the Nova Terra Interregnum, rather than the 41st Millennium. It's because this largely undescribed space allows me to explore the original aesthetic without conflicting with the modern. I want to demonstrate that it's possible to like both; and that there's no need to take sides.

 

+++

 

+ Practical: Making decisions +

When 're-imagining' a piece – as with the orks and eldar earlier in the thread – I spend some time working out what the key features are, what I want to include, and what I want to change.

 

While Mirandola himself would definitely argue that old stuff is sacred, we're enlightened enough to know that sometimes things do change for the better! In creating my update of the original sculpt, I didn't want to make a direct translation of every detail. Not only is that reductive – I'm never going to be able to translate Mark Copplestone's skill and vision into a conversion – but it's also a bit dull. I want to be creative with my hobby and give the figure some of my own flourishes.

 

For me, the key features of this marine are:

• Posture – suggesting a heavy toolbox, and an alert pose, scanning for enemies.
• Helm – the tech-laden helm is a perfect focal feature of the original.
• Toolbox and pistol – the angle of the wrists holding these tools really explains what the marine is doing. Without the correct dynamics and angles here, it'll lose all sense of narrative.

 

I think any conversion that included those would be successful – and you wouldn't have to be rigid, either. It wouldn't hurt to have a plasma pistol in place of the bolt pistol, for example; or to swap the specific helm I picked for another suitably baroque and techno-gubbin-arrayed one.

 

With the key features identified, I then worked out what details I wanted to include alongside them. I knew I wanted to have Mark VI armour. Even though I don't feel it's absolutely critical to the update (indeed, a Mark VII or Mark X version would be an interesting alternative challenge), I enjoy making Mark VI armour and felt it would help settle the figure into the broader army.

 

 

 

I also wanted to include the tools at the below, though I was happy to vary the detail of these. In the end, I did replicate the drill on his left hip (right of picture), but updated the mobile keypad – very high-tech in the 80s/90s – to a touch-screen/haptic input, which I think captures the concept of 'high-tech' rather than simply duplicating the original. I'm fond of the classic figures, but fetishistically copying them can result in something a bit kitsch; and that sells the vision of the original short. Like 2000AD, Rogue Trader was partially tongue-in-cheek, but that doesn't mean that you can't have believably dangerous, unpleasant characters. In fact, I think good satire relies on the principle.

 

Keen to include some details that used the modern design language to identify the figure as a techmarine, I replaced the sculptural 'clawed hand' shoulder pad with one that incorporated the Opus Machina. This is a modern touch that doesn't compromise the overall feel. Similarly, the original model has a weird cable-covered left pauldron that I simply didn't like. I replaced this with a studded Mark VI pad. These details of the original are examples of 'exclusive' design: unlike the toolbox, they mean nothing to those outside of the hobby. Therefore I could happily replace them with modern 'exclusive' elements.

 

 

 

At root, this is a fairly simple conversion – almost a kitbash. You could very easily make something comparable without using a knife or greenstuff; so success is really about planning more than anything technical. 

 

That said, I wanted to have this marine in Mark VI, as mentioned above. To that end I did some trimming and sculpting ~ and I'll cover that in a future inload on + Death of a Rubricist + soon. One detail that won't be covered is that I trimmed away the gap and detailing between eye lenses, creating a Cylon-like single visor slit to match the inspiration. Of course, since this particular figure has a big bionic/ocular thingie, this is pretty subtle!

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by apologist

[Ryltar Thamior]

Excellent work conceptually updating that old Techmarine ; a fit font of ideas there for anybody seeking to do the similar sort of thing - or , for that matter , just to produce a well-executed conversion that makes good internal and aesthetic sense. 

Out of interest , the left hand gripping the bolt pistol -  is that on a Primaris / Mk X arm ? I ask because there's a fair few of those I have around, and it's been .. quite the bother to get hands that actually fit them decently in anything other than the excessively limited array of forms available in the main boxes. Terminator hands seem *about* right (occasionally a little oversized) , but I wasn't aware of any left-handed pistol grip ones , and presume it was moulded with the phobos bolt pistol ?

 

[Slave to Darkness]

Techmarine is looking sweet. :tu: 

[Xin Ceithan]

Beaky Techmarine!!

By the Omnissiah, that is a sight for sore eyes!

 

Also a very impressive and comprehensive outlook on the ideas and execution of the conversion...

 

But first and foremost - beaky Techmarine!