Thorians

[Ryltar Thamior]

managd to *finally* complete another four  Thorian storm troopers.

 

This time, a Priest, two Purgation Squad members, and a Breacher equipped with a meltagun and meltabombs. 

 

First up, the Priest:

 

 

Now, with this miniature I wanted to suggest that there was perhaps a bit 'more' going on with the Thorians' supersoldier program than 'just' impressively helmed elite troops, while still keeping a similar overall aesthetic. I think the Tomb Kings head manages to relate to both the Sigmarine helms (almost) everybody else thus far has gotten [particularly due o their skull paintjob], however with an additional halo-ing effect that's apprpriate for his station [also looks al ot 'older' due to the mummification after-effectss :P ]. 

 

 

Meanwhile, the heavily armoured torso and robed legs manage to convey a bit more of a 'stately' vibe than the commando-esque storm troopers. And weapons-wise, he's armed with a shotgun because ... "shotgun preacher" appears to be something of a meme in terms of our construction projects at this point. Specialist ammunition [about his waist] is also available for doing more 'interesting' stuff with [including administering the Emperor's Mercy to any troopers that might find themselves inexorably corrupted in teh course of their duties, via armour-piercing rounds and such].

 

 

His power-pack also incorporates, in addition to life support systems, a laud-hailer vox and communications gear - of obvious import for a priest, wholl additionally be exercising a certain level of command & control functions over his charges in a manner similar to a Soviet Commissar [prior to the reforms of the Red Army mid-WWII that uh .. limited their ability to do the whole "ordering" thing]. And, of course, he's carrying a reliquae in his left hand for inspirational purposes and safekeeping.

 

 

Oh and .. of cousre he's go a book!

 

head-on shot:

 

Next up, the two Purgation Squad members. 

 

 

Now, these will eventually be a full-on squad, but for the moment .. started small. a Heavy Flamer, and Flamer operator; with the heavy flamer chap having superiority in my mind. The posing on the heavy flamer operator is a bit difficult, but i imagine he's just aiming up a wall or something or at a larger target, hene his leaning back and such. The regular flamer operator was an absolute *fight* to get to fit onto the Neophyte torso as well. [seriously - these kits do NOT play nice a lot of the time]

 

 

Possibly not the easies to see in this photo, but the gap-filling between stormtrooper legs and neophyte torsos was accomplished via a lot of stowage - grenades, combat-knives, pouches and such. Which is exactly how they ought to be in my head :D Well-equipped and capable of operating independnetly for awhile if necessary. If I'd had more space, id' have given them side-arms, but there wasn't sufficient space under arms. 

 

 

Now, the heavy flamer operator is also in possession of a 'key' on his belt - the idea being that as a ranking figure with his speciality,  he's capable of *using* said key to 'unlock' much more deadly and extreme grades of weaponry, including orbital bombardmenst and such via using it. 

 

 

Something which may also be related to the button-bearing device on his hip.

 

Last up, the meltagun operator:

 

 

 

 

He's also carrying a Saintly relic of some sort , possibly as a charm for extra speed with his running from coverto cover and through the breaches he's creating. 

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The 'Age of Sigmar' conversions are well done.

[Ryltar Thamior]

The 'Age of Sigmar' conversions are well done.

Churr ;D 

 

And i find it interesting that people refer to these as Age of Sigmar conversions [i'm pretty sure it's also been said on at least one other place i've posted the pix] considering there's generally only a part or two that's actually AoS on each miniature. Just goes to show how important and evocative the right head can be in totally transforming a miniature's vibe :D 

 

 

[deathspectersgt7]

Great use of the GSC bodies withe thwi the age of sally heads. Your table looks like mine

[Ryltar Thamior]

Great use of the GSC bodies withe thwi the age of sally heads. Your table looks like mine

Churr for kind words :D And yeah, i really *really* need to do something about the state of my desk ... 

Like tidy it by building more models, of course!

 

I mentioned some weeks back that I was building the interior of a space station for these chaps. 

 

 

Well, in addition to decking, rooms, doorways and suchlike, it also needed some 'furniture' and props/objectives. One idea  i had quite awhile ago was building a Stasis Crypt, and really putting the sepulchral vibes back into it, in contrast to the transparent-tube approach for specimines that comes iwth hte objectives pack. The idea here is that there's a powerful figure from this Thorian sect's [coven?] past lying there in stasis just waiting for the appropriate time to be awakened by his successors...

 

 

Now, obviously this requires some controls for the awakening protocols ... and while I *am* working on something perhaps more large-scale and pulpit-y that will be attached via cabling to the side once i've finished building the room this goes in ... I really wanted to play up the anachronistic appraoch to 40k technology - meaning the book that's been roped to a board is the reanimation protocol instructions, input via the skull-and-keypad immediately to its right. In my head, there would originally have been a view-screen there [capable of both displaying the protocols to guide through the rites, and also acting as an interface] .. but hta's probably *long* since been disregarded in favour of something more *reliable* [albeit basic if not outright analog...]

 

Also, not that you can see it well from there , but the pipe between the pressure dials and the rest of the control unit was painstakingly built to be intentionally rahter banged up.

 

If i an be bothered, i may build a candle-stand onto the left of the book...

 

 

A lengthwise view that also shows some of the cabling that I felt i had to put in to link every thing up  - wouldn't have felt "right" otherwise , and possibly looked a bit 'bare'

 

 

How lit looks from above

 

 

this is one of those spaces i mentioned earlier that'll be used as a port to connect it to other pieces of terrain in the same room - hte bit inbetween the skulls and beneath the uh ... i'm not sure what ht word i'm looking for here is. You see where i mean, anyway.

 

 

the other suhc port is the area between the pilaster and long beam to the right of this lengthwise shot

 

 

I'm intending on putting heraldic shields from a variety of sources [many of them are Manann's Blades ones funnily enough] as 'headstones' of sorts for each of the stasis-crypts i'm building [yes, there are more of htese ... they're rather smaller and different design though] . 

 

 

And finallly, a close-up shot of some of that bloody cabling! 

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

Alright so .. for "various reasons", these Thorians happen to have a certain preponderance of Cursed Founding chapter marines on secondment. 

 

 

First up ... a Black Dragon. I think we shall call him Brother Vritra. 

 

 

And yes, yes he is bringing a knife to a gun/adamantium-sheathed forearm-claw fight. Why? Well, initially because i couldn't find a blimmin' closed fist or open hand armoured gauntlet in my bitz-box. However, it then occurred that he might be able to use it for up-close and more 'finesse'full slice-and-dice without having to pull back his whole arm and reposition it. And there's always that bit from Starship Troopers wherein the tactical [and strategic] applications of a well-aimed [thrown] knife even in the sci-fi age are *amply* demonstrated. 

 

The knife itself is made out of a Marine bayonet and a skull-pommel from a greatswords arm. 

 

 

 

Partsmix is one of the Dark Imperium primaris marines wiht his shoulder-pads cut off; a Mk.III arm and Sternguard Vet arm, plastic Mk.III backpack, and a Corsairs serpent emblem. Plus Cadian Command grenades, an Alpha Legion Headhunter head, and the blades are Flagellant scythe-toppers cut down a bit. 

 

Pretty pleased with how thoe posing came together, also, Seems a lot more *charging to strike* than the usual lightning claw assembly; the addition of elements from plastic mk.III legs to the armpits helped make that work. 

 

 

Another angle n the dynamic posing

 

 

Also, good grief. ONE SINGLE FINGER broke off on the left hand as i was cleaning it for gluing. I managed to grab it before it was lost forever, and then with SURGICAL PRECISION re-attached it in its previous place. Not bad for a man whose nerves in his hands don't work properly to the point of being almost unable to write :P 

[BubblesMcBub]

Wow these ar all cool conversion!
Keep it up!

[wilks_]

The priest is awesome!  Loving the conversions ! Cant wait to see them painted 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Churr for positive feedback :D Really helps to keep the motivation up. 

 

 

The priest is awesome!  Loving the conversions ! Cant wait to see them painted 

Lol, unfortunately you might be waiting a bit .. I have this nasty habit of getting a miniature 70% completed, and then 'losing steam' and moving on to the next five projects. We've acutally reached a point now wherein the number of miniatures on my 90% painted table considerably outnumbers the final-product shelves [although it's swings an droundabouts somewhat, as due to my skill steadily improving over the previous two years since i got back into the hobby properly, the mostly-dones are in many cases significantly superior to the actually-dones]. 

Still ... i've always believed in Giving The People What They Want; so while i'm loathe to post unfinished miniatures .. perhaps that just means i need to put in the extra effort and properly finish yon Priest and a few others. They certainly deserve it, languishing as they have for the last month and a half! 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

 

A Thorian storm-trooper, equipped to settle theological differences "up close and personal". 

 

 

I realized that most of my Thorian troops thus far were kitted out for somewhat close but still ranged assault - flamers, heavy flamers, meltaguns, and so forth; with a few devoted to less-immediately-combat-oriented tasks such as the priest and the biologis operative (who's supposed to be part of a full-scale team when i get around to it). 

 

And while I've *also* made a hellgun equipped trooper (whom i've neglected to post because i went straight to the painting stage absentmindedly), it kinda felt like there was something missing. 

 

 

This being 40k, that "something missing" was, of course, a very large sword. 

 

Although as applies the miniature itself, it's been sitting partially-completed on my desk for *months* now, as it *also* appeared to have a few needs for greater 'spark'. It wasn't until I saw the reliquae from the Primaris not-tactical-marines box just last week that things started to really come together. A few bits of stowage etc. to cover over the rather large gap between his Scions legs and Neophyte Hybrid torso, and he was basically finished.

 

 

There's also some more *rather interesting* Marines that i've just about sorted, but we'll leave them til completion perhaps. 

[Naryn]

I like what I see in this thread. The posing on the Black Dragon is great, and the parts are well-chosen too. The stasis crypt is very characterful, and the stormtroopers look like they could be official sculpts.

[Ryltar Thamior]

CHurr :D 

 

Now speaking of both my efforts at 'dynamic' posing, and arguably anachronistic POINTED THEOLOGICAL REMARKS, so to speak ...

 

 

"IT SAYS *HERE* [THAT] YOU'RE A HERETIC" 

 

Two Fire Hawks to go with my Thorians; and, again, yes there IS a reason they're in somewhat patchwork/prototypy Mk.X Armour despite this being several thousand years "early" for its mass/mainline distribution. 

 

 

Now, the Fire Hawks piqued my interest for a number of reasons in connection to this project - part of it is because they've been fleshed out with a really "Knightly" ethos by Forgeworld in the various Badab books, and with the good ol' 3rd edition Black Templars vibes arguably somewhere proximate to my head, it really did feel quite "Right" to model up Astartes in this vein. 

 

 

But the *other* part, and probably the far more salient one .. is that the Fire Hawks are fairly rare amongst Marine chapters in that they're apparently somewhat religious - at least insofar as regarding the Emperor as being a God counts. 

 

 

And, as applies Thorians in particular ... they literally fought alongside St. Sebastian Thor during the Age of Apostasy [when they would have been comparatively 'newly minted']; so it's not hard to imagine that the Inquisitorial  faction directly inspired by St. Thor might hold a particular positive view of the chapter - and, for that matter, that the chapter might contain within its ranks of Warrior Monks a few who take the "Monk" thing up to the next level of esoteric exploration and wind up operating in concert with agents of the Ecclesiarchy or Inquisition ... particularly this particular creed. 

 

 

When it came to modelling these two [there's a third yet to be completed ...] [..so far], I had a number of design themes I wanted to run with. One of which was working out ways to avoid having to attempt to hand-sculpt [or, for that matter, freehand] the Fire Hawks' chapter icon, as that looked uh .. a bit beyond my ability to do justice to. 

 

Another was that these guys were going to very much look the Monodominant IMPERIALIS DOMINATUS part - so quite some Imperial Aquilas, Purity Seals, little devotional trinkets and artefacts [again, kinda like the Thorians they're accompanying in that respect], and so forth. 

 

Oh, and that aforementioned "KNIGHTLY" vibe [albeit in a manner that's rather distinct from either the Black Templars or Dark Angels, who also do these sorts of things]. 

 

 

Handily, these stipulations went together quite well - as the large and ornate AQUILA [and Crux Terminatus] shoulderpads from the various Veterans boxes quite nicely managed all three - including covering the left pauldron so I didn't have to worry about painting or moulding a chapter icon there. 

 

In terms of each one's role ... the chap with the scroll, in my mind, is brandishing some form of Inquisitorial authorization document - hence the seal, and such. It may benefit from a big red =][= on there as well. Unsurprisingly, he's the ranking officer in charge of this little detachment. 

 

The Heavy Flamer operator, meanwhile, will be a Veteran, and probably somewhat more 'measured' [dare I say "rational"] than his two comrades .. you'll see what i mean when i get around to finishing the third Marine of the trio. Could possibly even run a Freudian Trio thing with characterization for 'em - this Marine as the 'Ego', the Marine with the Parchment and the Sword as the 'SuperEgo' [hence why it's shouty and fervently religious], and the third Marine as something more of an 'Id' [you'll see why].

 

In any case ... I suppose I Now have ot work out how to paint Orange........... That'll be "fun". 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The scroll holder looks like he took inspiration from the Crusader in the 'Darkest Dungeon' computer game. Does unfurling his scroll also damage enemies he faces, like the Crusader's Zealous Accusation?

[Ryltar Thamior]

The scroll holder looks like he took inspiration from the Crusader in the 'Darkest Dungeon' computer game. Does unfurling his scroll also damage enemies he faces, like the Crusader's Zealous Accusation?

I don't think i'd really heard of that game prior  to you mentioning it ... but haaving just carried out a quick google image search, i was rather amused to see some stuff that may very well have inspired a few other hobbyists whose Inq28 logs I follow. 

 

I have given some vague thought to including little eastery-eggy nods to particular kernels of popular culture here and there; perhaps I'll start doing so. 

 

Although I'm not sure the scroll'd be long enough to be err .. mightier than the sword. Even if it DOES potentially render those who come into contact with it vulnerable to paper-cut :P 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

If you want to use the scroll in-game, you can justify the damage it causes by claiming it's a holy relic with words the Emperor Himself wrote. (In 'Legacy', the second Shira Calpurnia novel, a Charter of Trade with the Emperor's signature is able to harm Daemons- when the Rogue Trader vessel bearing this Charter is destroyed in a botched Warp jump, the Daemons EXPEL the Charter FROM THE WARP.)

[Ryltar Thamior]

Ooooh now *there's* an interesting idea! Thanks! 

The Inq28 campaign they're likely to turn up in wasn't necessarily going to feature daemons and such [at least .. not more so than usual for an Inquisition game]; but it would definitely make sense for the Thorians to have a relic of such magnitude about the place; although I might do something else with the idea ... 

If you've got anything else like taht about hte place please don't hesitate to proffer it!

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

 

Finished the third Fire Hawk. 

 

 

For this miniature, i attempted to stress the 'Knightly' angle of the Fire Hawks, something reflected not just in his armament but also the abundance of purity seals, relics etc. 

 

 

This, (to my mind, at least) conveys the idea of a warrior of faith and piety; something that would, in a conventional sense, be outlandish in a regular Marine chapter ... but which to the FIre Hawks is very much towards the apex of their creed.

 

 

Pose-wise, I was going for the idea of him charging toward the enemy - shield raised to absorb incoming fire, sword being held aloft and with the right arm bending back in order to facilitate his initial, crushing, strike, a war-cry or shout of righteous ire upon his open lips, and mk.III power-pack giving as much energy as possible to facilitate his forward momentum!

 

 

While it turns out that the Mk.X plastics aren't *quite* as good as some of the Tartaros legs [ironically, perhaps] at doing "RUNNING" [see the Space Wolf attached to my Heresy-era Loyalist Iron Warriors for an excellent example of this in practice], I was still reasonably pleased with his forward stride as an immanentization of my intent here.

 

Characterization-wise, i am again picturing him as quite a fiery Monodominant type in impetus - shouty, belligerent, and a walking [nay, RUNNING] pillar of the Imperial Creed made manifest and macht. 

 

As I suggested earlier, if approaching via a 'Freudian Trio', then this Marine might potentially represent the "Id", in contrast to the parchment-bearing Ego, and the heavy flamer wielding Super-Ego. 

 

Or , i suppose, in light of the religious angle, perhaps he too is a super-ego figure. 

 

In any case ... the other two are *mostly* done minus sorting out hte yellow flame-work ... so I should be able to show 'em off before *too* terribly long. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Good grief, what was I doing with those large images [the answer is, not knowing how to *not* have that happen - since resolved]. 

 

Anyway ... 

Diomedes Medhira : Exorcist



The build was done by my long-time collaborator Umbral (whom I keep prodding to post some of his truescale Minotaurs herein) a few years back before I'd acquired the competence to convert; and the paintjob was started back about the same time. Which helps to explain why it's ... a bit thick in some areas, because younger me wasn't so great with the thinness of paints, and the light touch. 



And, given how much I have now realized that painting white is a matter for the seriously skilled, or the not-nearly-skilled-enough-to-realize-why-this-is-a-bad-idea ... were I starting over again, I'd have probably undergone the 'metallic equivalency' approach and gone with a nice bright silver in place of the white. For some reason, it's tended to be 'kinder'. 

It's a nicely crafted miniature, bringing together parts from a few Marine kits, and putting them together in a pretty decent - but not over-dramatic - looking pose. So hats off, again, to Umbral for this. [he'd seen the mostly finished mini on a shelf at my place a few weeks ago and asked when i was going to get around to posting it; so heer we go] 

 

As I say - I'm thinking about another truescale (or several) to go with him; perhaps also some Inquisition sorts to go alongside as well. He'd originally been intended to take the field alongside my Thorians for an M.38-ish historically set narrative effort. 

 

Oh, and sorry once more about the ridiculous over-large images from the rest of the thread. 

 

[Kolgrim DeathHowl]

Excellent painting and conversions so far!!

[Umbral]

 

The build was done by my long-time collaborator Umbral (whom I keep prodding to post some of his truescale Minotaurs herein) 

 

 

Heh, Plans are being made, worry not