The Velsen Sector: KrautScientist's INQ28

[KrautScientist]

Cheers for the kind words, everyone! :)

 

@ RolandTHTG, HvirtValdyr & Bjorn Firewalker: Thanks a lot, guys! :)

 

@ Auggs: Ayup, Mikahel's named for you alright -- must be the fourth or fifth instance of you being immortalised in my tabletop collection -- I've lost count, to be honest ;) Seriously, though: Thanks again for donating the Primaris, buddy! :)

 

@ Eldrick Shadowblade, PBB, Cryptix & Gederas: Haha, guys, don't get me started on the Salamanders -- what a major screwup by GW, if you ask me: Not enough that they have one measly First Founding chapter in a different colour of skin (granted, the Dark Angels used to have a subtle native American feel, and the Scars -- are maybe just too stereotypically "Mongolian" to take seriously), but then they actually turn it into actual soot black skin and red eyes due to some cosmic radiation? Talk about tone-deaf... This is also a rather strange case because the - supposed - Salamander head from the Deathwatch kit (the one I used on my Celestial Lion, by the way) has distinctly black facial features. Plus black skin (actual human black skin, mind you) went so well with the Salamanders' green armour, while it was used by GW's painters, whereas the soot black skin of more recent lore always ends up looking kinda unpainted...

 

Anyway, to make a long story short, I very much wanted a dark-skinned Astartes, both for variety, but also to challenge myself into devising a recipe for black skin. Plus I was also feeling a bit masochistic about painting that Celestial Lions chapter badge... ;)

[Gederas]

@ Eldrick Shadowblade, PBB, Cryptix & Gederas: Haha, guys, don't get me started on the Salamanders -- what a major screwup by GW, if you ask me: Not enough that they have one measly First Founding chapter in a different colour of skin (granted, the Dark Angels used to have a subtle native American feel, and the Scars -- are maybe just too stereotypically "Mongolian" to take seriously), but then they actually turn it into actual soot black skin and red eyes due to some cosmic radiation? Talk about tone-deaf... This is also a rather strange case because the - supposed - Salamander head from the Deathwatch kit (the one I used on my Celestial Lion, by the way) has distinctly black facial features. Plus black skin (actual human black skin, mind you) went so well with the Salamanders' green armour, while it was used by GW's painters, whereas the soot black skin of more recent lore always ends up looking kinda unpainted...

 

Anyway, to make a long story short, I very much wanted a dark-skinned Astartes, both for variety, but also to challenge myself into devising a recipe for black skin. Plus I was also feeling a bit masochistic about painting that Celestial Lions chapter badge...

From what I've seen, the soot-black isn't the screw-up, it was the 'Eavy Metal team taking the memo saying "Salamanders are Black" to mean "Salamanders are African", when the person who wrote that meant literally black. Iirc, them being human black was only in that codex, and in the same edition it was fixed.

 

And is it tone-deaf? They're that colour due to one of their gene-seed being overactive (from what I've read, Terran-born Salamanders were human black, even if they were from similar areas to other Astartes), and then their home planet's weak magnetosphere (ie: what blocks solar radiation) made their melachronome go "OI! WE GONNA DIE IF WE DON'T FIX THIS!", and inhabitants of Nocturne are stated to be dark-skinned. :lol:

 

So I think what it's saying is this: Salamanders would be considered of African descent, but their gene-seed exacerbates their skin tone to an EXTREME extent due to their home planet's magnetosphere letting in far more solar radiation than other planets.

[KrautScientist]

 

And is it tone-deaf? They're that colour due to one of their gene-seed being overactive (from what I've read, Terran-born Salamanders were human black, even if they were from similar areas to other Astartes), and then their home planet's weak magnetosphere (ie: what blocks solar radiation) made their melachronome go "OI! WE GONNA DIE IF WE DON'T FIX THIS!", and inhabitants of Nocturne are stated to be dark-skinned.

 

In my opinion, yeah, pretty much so. Consider it this way: You have ONE of the loyalist First Founding chapters with a skin colour that isn't white (or white-ish, in the case of the White Scars and possibly Dark Angels -- see my earlier comment on that), but rather runs towards the dark end of the spectrum -- and now you turn their look into something almost demonic, with the coal-black skin and glowing red eyes. Now this probably wasn't intended as any real world allegory, but here's the rub: There's no complete escaping the real world, is there? And it does seem like an unfortunate recall to real world narratives of non-white people as 'other' than human. So for me, they really should have stayed with the "screwup" of painting the skin in more human tones -- especially since the inclusion of a clearly non-caucasian (Salamander?!) head in the new Deathwatch sprue seems to compound the ethnic aspect (as an aside, like I said, it also made for better looking models, so there's that, too).

 

But hey, this ultimately comes down to personal sensibilities, I realise. But for me? Yeah, it does seem pretty tone-deaf, and the attempts to explain it away in the fluff (which, you know, is completely made up, so it could just as well have been made up differently) doesn't really fix it -- my two cents...

[Pandoras Bitz Box]

Well it paid off the it looks great. Its funny, I was having a conversation with my brother about this (he doesn't play or collect GW stuff), and Games Workshops failing do have more ethnic diversity in their 18 primarchs. I dont really know the history of the games development and retconning but when did the primarchs get fleshed out and crystalised? I said to my brother maybe it was a failing of the time when people still weren't very bothered about it. I guess it kind of makes sense that if the Emperor was a white guy... and he makes 20 copies of himself... they would be white guys... and they they develop with a variety of random mutations, most of them would still be white guys. If you look at the world though and the veriety of cultures and ethnicities we have, you can imagine across the galaxy, that would be no different, in fact maybe become more varied with each planets local quirks.

 

Now while that doesn't effect the space marines, it is a little boring to have this vast variety of peoples in this universe they have built and yet have most popular of the playable factions to be... Big White Guys.  I was talking to a 3D artist on twitter the other day who is developing a load of 28mm scale male and female heads of different ethnicities. I don't know how long those will be before they are available but Im looking forward to getting some.

 

I really appreciate the effort you put into your deathwatch and making them all unique and feel like they are actually from different places.

Edited December 2, 2018 by Pandoras Bitz Box

[KrautScientist]

@ PBB: My point, exactly!

 

So with a true scale Astartes project now finished, I thought this might be a good time to share another Astartes-based INQ28 project, albeit one that was already completed earlier.

 

Some of you will already remember this guy from earlier in this thread: Meet Praetor Janus Auriga, my first proper attempt at true scale, with his "mini-warband", so to speak:

 

=][=

 

Praetor Janus Auriga

of the Golden Legion

 

 

Praetor Janus Auriga is a Space Marine of the Golden Legion Chapter. He currently serves as representative of the Golden Legion’s Lord Commander on the Saint's Council, the body advising the Sector Governor, Lord Vlachen.

 

 

The idea behind Auriga, in addition to wanting to build and paint a true scale Marine, was to show an Astartes as a fish out of water: Forced into a more political role, Auriga is ill at ease with the function being forced on him, yet his completely different approach and transhuman nature make him a rather ...entertaining addition to the political landscape of Bastold, cardinal world of the Velsen sector.

 

His two retainers were a later addition: The cherub and chapter-serf carrying his equipment are intended both as a shout out to the 40k lore's more gothic elements, and also make Auriga himself look even more massive and monstrous. In fact, seeing how this was my first proper true scale Marine and I was still experimenting with the right formula at the time (and had no Primaris Marines to fall back on, since they didn't exist at that point), Auriga is quite a bit more imposing than the members of Kill Team Ulrach:

 

 

Back when I built and painted the model, I also came up with a short background vignette that should serve to illustrate what I said above about Praetor Auriga shaking up the political landscape a bit:

 

 

Seneschal Secundus Goswinus Baehrn stood at the edge of the landing platform, his robes flapping about him in the icy breeze. Baehrn prided himself on being a thoroughly unemotional person, but even so, he had been extremely nervous, ever since the news had reached him half an hour earlier: The Astartes gunship “Falco Aureus” had made planetfall and was approaching the Hive Primus with an urgent dispatch for the Lord Governor himself.

 

Direct dealings with the Chapter were few and far between these days, and mostly limited to the most prestigious social functions, which was why Goswinus Baehrn had never actually laid eyes on a member of the Adeptus Astartes up close during his fifteen years in his fairly prestigious position. Under normal circumstances, the task of welcoming a representative of the Legion on Bastold would have fallen under the purview of Senschal Primus Mathewelin, but the old man had retired to his chambers the prior night, with a generous supply of amasec and Obscura and, it was whispered, in the company of several women of questionable renown. In any case, Baehrn had been unable to rouse his superior, which now left him the highest-ranking official to deal with this unforeseen event — He could only suspect that the Seneschal Primus would have to say something about this breach of etiquette at some point in the near future. In fact, there would almost certainly be hell to pay later in the day, not a doubt about it, yet even this prospect was nothing against the mounting sense of dread filling Baehrn as he saw the Astartes vessel approaching: The gunship came in low against the rising sun, as if for a covert attack run. It was a blunt, brutal shape, not unlike a fist, the roar of its engines growing from clearly audible to almost unbearable, as it drew close to the landing platform.

 

The gunship touched down at the very centre of the platform. Baehrn could see its golden bulk, the exquisite scrollwork and lettering in High Gothic proclaiming its many glorious years of service, yet also the scars and welts that spoke of a life of constant battles. The Seneschal Secundus drew himself up to his full height as the front ramp opened with a hiss, taking a deep breath and sending a silent prayer to the God-Emperor to grant him composure.

 

“They have sent us a statue!” That was his first thought as he saw the massive golden figure standing at the top of the ramp: A perfect rendition of an Astartes in gold, its armour beautifully detailed, its arms clutching a boltgun across the chest in the most iconic pose imaginable. Baehrn almost laughed out loud as relief flooded through him — the Golden Legion merely wanted to provide an overwrought – and fairly narcissistic – gift to the rulers of Velsen, doubtlessly to be unveiled during a suitably extensive and garish ceremony.

 

This feeling was short lived, however, and quickly replaced by utter dread as the golden figure started marching down the landing ramp in precise, measured steps.

It was all Goswinus Baehrn could do not to cringe in fear at the approaching giant, and he bowed his head in supplication instead, making the sign of the aquila. When the low purr of active power armour finally emanated from directly in front of him, setting his teeth on edge, there was only a very slight quaver in his voice as he intoned the formal greeting in High Gothic:

 

“We welcome thee, protector of Velsen, in this hallowed fulcrum of our realm. It is our honour to lay eyes upon thee, and thine every wish shalt be our command, honoured battle brother of the Legio Aurea. The Emperor Protects.”

 

“Who are you?” The armour’s speaker systems lent the voice a slightly metallic quality, but it was powerful and deep underneath. A voice that demanded instant obeissance.

 

“Seneschal Secundus Goswinus Baehrn, my lord, member of the household of House Vlachen and most obedient servant of the Lord High-Protector, the Emperor bless his name.”

 

The giant in golden armour kept staring at Baehrn through glowing blue eye lenses for what seemed like an eternity, but could only have been a few heartbeats, then he lowered the massive bolter, securing it to his thigh with a soft metallic clank. He reached up towards his laurel crested helmet, disengaging the seals with a hiss. When he lifted the helmet free of his head, Baehrn could see a grizzled face, stern and lined, yet with broad features that instantly marked its owner as something more than human, and crowned by a crest of hair so bright that it appeared white. The Astartes’ eyes were of a piercing blue, and as Baehrn did his best to hold their gaze, he felt as though he were being evaluated, no, …targeted. Then the giant spoke:

 

“I am Praetor Janus Auriga  of the Golden Legion, envoy to Lord Commander Prabian. I am here on the Lord Commander’s orders, to speak with Lord Governor Vlachen, that I might advise him in the the governing of Velsen.”

“Advise…the Lord Governor?” Baehrn almost spluttered: “My lord, that…”

Auriga interrupted him briskly: “The Lord Commander feels that, in the light of current events, the Chapter should take a more active role in guiding the sector. I have therefore been commanded to take the legion’s customary seat on the council.”

Baehrn could barely keep his emotions in check, reeling as he was from the implications of the Praetor’s words: The Golden Legion’s seat on the council had been vacant for a very long time – so long as to make the office seem more than a symbolic gesture than anything – and he doubted even the older members of the noble houses could remember when a member of the Chapter had actually traveled to Bastold to speak on behalf of his Lord Commander on the council. The mere revelation of this latest development would throw the council in an uproar. All of this went through Baehrn’s head, as his mind raced to find an appropriate reply.

A non-committal “…my lord” was all he could safely come up with.

“I will need accommodations for myself and my retainers.” The Praetor indicated a small group of robed figures exiting the gunship.

“It will be done, my lord!” Baehrn was glad the conversation seemed to be on terra firma. “It shall be attended to at once. And I will send notice to your quarters, once the council is back in session, so that you may speak to the representatives…”

“Negative!”, Auriga interrupted: “I will address the council now!”

Baehrn almost reeled back, as the terror came flooding back in full force. “NOW? But, my lord,…the council is in recess right now. The council members will…”

“Are the council chambers still located in sector C-34 of the central spire?”

“Y…yes, my lord.”

“Good. Then I will meet the council members there.”

 

With these words, the giant in golden armour started to march towards the Hive’s interior, with a very agitated Senschal Secundus doing his best to keep up.

Things on Bastold were about to change.

 

 

And here, in closing, is a picture of Auriga and his retainers together with some other servants of the Emperor: A wonderful converted Astropath gifted to me by Ron Saikowski, a Imperial Arch-Deaconne sculpted by Drone 21c (both of these were inspired by actual pieces of John Blanche's art) and a kitbashed Sister of Battle created by yours truly ;)

 

 

As always, let me know what you think! :)

Edited December 3, 2018 by KrautScientist

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Beautiful work on both models and the introductory story. I'm surprised your Praetor is from a Chapter named the Golden LEGION, however- the name suggests a very blatant violation of the Codex Astartes, something sure to raise the Inquisition and Guilliman's ire. (The Mentor Legion was renamed the "Mentors" in the game's 5th Edition, if not earlier.)

 

Does the Chapter's links to the Inquisition (as the "I" on the Praetor's chest suggest) allow it to get away with such a provocative name? Which brach of the Inquisition did the Golden Legion form links to? Surely not the Ordo Astartes!

[Gederas]

Beautiful work on both models and the introductory story. I'm surprised your Praetor is from a Chapter named the Golden LEGION, however- the name suggests a very blatant violation of the Codex Astartes, something sure to raise the Inquisition and Guilliman's ire. (The Mentor Legion was renamed the "Mentors" in the game's 5th Edition, if not earlier.)

 

Does the Chapter's links to the Inquisition (as the "I" on the Praetor's chest suggest) allow it to get away with such a provocative name? Which brach of the Inquisition did the Golden Legion form links to? Surely not the Ordo Astartes!

Mentors and Raptors are probably still officially referred to as "Mentor Legion" and "Raptor Legion". Common parlance just calls them by the first part of the name. Same thing with the Carcharodons Astra, NO ONE calls them by that name unless referring to them in an official capacity.

 

And I doubt they're ignoring the codex. KSci's mentioned on his blog that they're super hardcore codex adherents.

 

Speaking of the Golden Legion:

 

What ever happened to their Chapter Master you were working on KSci? :lol:

[KrautScientist]

@ Bjorn Firewalker & Gederas: Cheers, guys! :)

 

Now the Golden Legion didn't start out with that name: They were originally the Imperial Paladins and were only renamed when they followed the Imperial Saint Sabasto as his personal guard on his crusade to reclaim the Velsen Sector. There's also the fact that they are patterning themselves - consciously or unconsciously - after the Legio Custodes a bit. And like the Custodes, their vigil ultimately ended in failure as well, as Sabasto died at the climax of his crusade -- and that's not even the full extent of their troubled backstory...

 

They have been the sentinels of Velsen ever since, and remain obsessively focused on defending the sector. As for how much they adhere to the codex, well, they are probably not 100% strict adherents, but mostly so. A bit of Black Templars zeal and Dark Angels weirdness here and there, plus the legacy of their big failure, but they are an Imperial Fists successor chapter after all, so they are pretty straight shooters for the most part.

 

@ Gederas: Haha, that Chapter Master still exists, of course -- hopefully, I can finally get some paint on him sometime next year ;)

[Gederas]

@ Gederas: Haha, that Chapter Master still exists, of course -- hopefully, I can finally get some paint on him sometime next year

 

In all seriousness, good to know he'll be seeing some paint. It's almost like the last time he was featured on your blog was 2 years ago

 

Maybe we'll see some more members of your homebrew chapter?

 

Speaking of your chapter: Do they actually have a specific badge or have you never come up with one for them? Asking because.... Reasons

Edited December 9, 2018 by Gederas

[KrautScientist]

 

@ Gederas: Haha, that Chapter Master still exists, of course -- hopefully, I can finally get some paint on him sometime next year

In all seriousness, good to know he'll be seeing some paint. It's almost like the last time he was featured on your blog was 2 years ago

 

Huh, yeah, that's basically the story of my hobby life right there ;)

 

As for your question regarding the chapter icon, I think I'll go with the chapter icon actually being a stylised representation of St. Sabasto's deathmask. The chapter master already has it:

 

 

[Eldrick Shadowblade]

Really like the fluff on the latest batch of models. My favorite might be the chapter serf and the cogitator / Floaty thing with the scroll pinned to its head!

[KrautScientist]

So, time for another update over here as well. 2018 was a pretty successful year for my INQ28 related activities, seeing how I managed to cross no less than five warbands off my list of unpainted models, leading to a rather impressive "INQ28 class of 2018":

 

 

To paraphrase myself over on my World Eaters/chaos thread, there's a detailed look back at my 2018 activities over at my blog, in case anyone's interested.

 

As for 2019, I am currently still at the stage where I keep throwing around ideas and messing with different projects until something sticks and I find the model to re-start the painting process. For the Inquisitor-related side of things, I am currently working on a rather old project of mine:

 

A couple of years ago, I dug this out of a box of odds and ends over at my FLGS:

 

 

In case anyone's wondering, this is half of one of the old 54mm Inquisitor models that GW released alongside the original game back in the late 90s. The character in question was Delphan Gruss, a Magos explorator of the Adeptus Mechanicus, basically the only AdMech model freely available back then, long before the AdMech became a playable 40k faction. Here's the complete stock model:

 

 

As you can see, the parts I had were in a pretty sorry state (caked in the thick remains of a prior paintjob, and glued together with hell's own superglue), and the model was also missing its legs. The problem with 54mm models is, obviously, that in order to replace missing parts, you either need a supply of 54mm bitz, or you need to get creative. In my case, I chose a solution in-between those two options, but the model still didn't go anywhere for years. But after seeing PowerHungryMonkey's recent Tech-Marine conversion, I somehow felt drawn back to the old model, and have managed to give him legs (and a pretty impressive gun to boot). Take a look:

 

 

 

 

Can anyone guess where those new legs came from? ;) Oh, and yeah, the deep irony of posting an INQ54 model on an INQ28 thread is not lost on me...

 

Anyway, as always, let me know what you think! :)

[Dragonlover]

Are they Covenant's legs?

 

Dragonlover

[Kor Dalron]

My first guess for the legs was that they where from some older model of a ministorum priest but after some searching around without any matches i'm not so sure now....

But great model anyways, liking his new left hand, great addition!

Edited January 9, 2019 by Kor Dalron

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

At first I thought you might have taken Malicant's legs, cut the feet off, rotated the legs, and then put the feet back on, but after some Googling I can tell it's not Malicant... or any other Inq54 figure that I can find. 

[PowerHungryMonkey]

The Eldar Ranger? Those dangly bitz look like spirit stones to me. The Techpriest is looking schmick. Always liked the Delphan Gruss model and also it's the introduction of Mechadendrites to the lore which have now become a staple. Love it.

 

Also, massive blush for the shout-out, cheers

 

EDIT! NO! The legs are the OOOOOLLLLLDDDD Nagash legs! Sweet

Edited January 9, 2019 by PowerHungryMonkey

[Kor Dalron]

@PowerHungryMonkey
 

Hot damn good research you did there, never would have thought that. I thought the Dagger on the right leg was a pistol .... 

[PowerHungryMonkey]

@PowerHungryMonkey

 

Hot damn good research you did there, never would have thought that. I thought the Dagger on the right leg was a pistol .... 

 

No research, just know the range WAAAYYY too well, heh

[KrautScientist]

Cheers for the feedback, everyone!

 

EDIT! NO! The legs are the OOOOOLLLLLDDDD Nagash legs! Sweet

 

Aha, we have a winner -- well spotted indeed, PowerHungryMonkey! :)

 

Confession time, Nagash was actually the first big multipart metal model I ever bought from GW, and also the first model at that scale I have ever painted -- and for a while there, I thought both the sculpt as well as my paintjob were absolutely rad! I blame my love for Masters of the Universe as a kid -- those who grew up oving Skeletor as a villain had no choice but to like a character with a skull face ;)

 

And back when I got those Delphan Gruss bitz, I rediscovered the different parts of poor old Nagash in my bitzbox and thought the legs might work -- as an added bonus, a conversion using Nagash as a base did indeed appear in the original rulebook...

 

Another fun fact: I've been keeping off this particular project for so long that I have actually managed to obtain a complete, boxed as new Delphan Gruss in the interim -- all the more reason, however, to make sure this model looks suitably different from the stock model, eh? ;)

 

@ Brother Chaplain Kage: While the legs aren't Malicant's, you are right in that the folds of the robes do look really similar, don't they? I hadn't even noticed that before.

 

@ Dragonlover & Kor Dalron: Cheers, guys! :)

[Augustus b'Raass]

"Well of course I immediately saw they were Nagash's legs..." wack

 

That's all nonsense. I had no idea. But dude, that is a nice find indeed! Isn't it word to think that the first 40k admech miniature was in a different scale than regular 40k?!

[Pearson73]

Really big fan of the Techpriest, the little claw is such a creepy little admech thing to do; whilst all the extra details around the waist are nice additions that keep the model varied and interesting.

 

The weapon system on his back looks interesting too, could we get a shot from the back of that?

[Dosjetka]

That's a neat conversion you've got there, KS. :tu: I always liked Devlan Gruss, despite him coming across as quite the sinister character.

 

Which colours will you use when painting him?

[KrautScientist]

Again, cheers, guys! :)

 

@ Auggs: I have to be a bit of a smartass here, buddy: Technically speaking, there were some 28mm AdMech models available before Gruss (they can be seen here, courtesy of the ever-inspirational Dave Taylor), but those were limited to the Skullz-programme. And there might have been an Admech model or two in the Rogue Trader days as well? But anyway, yeah, for most of us, Gruss basically nailed down what a Tech-Priest should look like.

 

@ Pearson73: Thanks, man! I agonised over replacing his left, erm, "hand", because the previous owner had snipped off the original drill at an angle that made it really hard to repair (plus a drill arm is also a bit silly, really), and that industrial looking Kataphron claw just seemed like the best option, scale-wise.

 

As for the backpack, here you go:

 

 

Underneath it all is actually a Space Marine plasma gun backpack (from the plasma gunner that came with Dark Vengeance), while the weapon system was simply made by combining half a Heldrake foot and one of the smaller gun arms from the Kataphron kit. And I added some suitable bits and bobs, such as an omnispex array from the Centurions, some cabling, stuff like that.

 

@ Chaplain Dosjetka: I think I'll be going with a very classic red-robed AdMech look -- all those new fangled Forgeworlds with their robes in every colour of the rainbow just aren't for me. I think I'll be staying fairly close to my already established AdMech look:

 

[Pearson73]

Thank you very much for the shot of the backpack and rundown of parts (having a spare Drake foot lying around is an amusing idea to me), there's quite the spread of pieces in there! I certainly wouldn't have guessed it was just a simple marine pack underneath. Nice use of the AdMech icon on the book to further tie in the model.

 

All the props you use in your photography for the blog are really quite delightful and add to the baroque, steampunk feel. I think I remember you writing to that effect some time ago.

[Midnightmare]

This is such a brilliant, refreshing project. You can see how much fun you have had building and painting each individual character. Great stuff :tu:

 

Love the Kill team, each one is so characterful :)