Mathorne's Projects - The Birth of Argel Tal

[High_King_Mathorne]

Hello everyone,

 

I've been painting and playing around 6 years and figured I'm long due for joining the fun here and sharing my work. This is a little WiP thread to document my progress across the armies I work on. Currently I'm working on my renegade imperial knights (inspired heavily by many of the lovely knight posters on here) and my favorite legion: The Word Bearers.

 

This is the first renegade knight I've done - there's still a lot to improve and touch up, but it serves a good proof of concept. I've magnetized three of my knights and built them all cockpits as you can see below. 

 

 

This is my high king for my household. It's the first knight I picked up and stripped down from its martian colors to join my renegade house. It's been a slow process converting everything, but it's been a labor of love. The idea I had is it is the high king of an old house gone insane by the spirits in his throne mechanicum, perhaps from a battle in the warp. 

 

 

I've been also working on my knight valiant. A buddy of mine wasn't pleased with his pose so he traded it to me, and I converted it to be running. Still thinking how to properly warp his panels to fit the family.

 

 

Lastly, here's the leviathan I've been working on for my Word Bearers. I'd say he's about 90% done right now, just needing bone details, some blood script on the shoulder book, and then some weathering. I'll try to get a family picture once he's done.

 

 

Hope you guys enjoy! 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Word Bearers Leviathan and the Chaos Knights.

[High_King_Mathorne]

Thank you for the kind words 

 

Jut finished up my Leviathan and am pretty pleased with the end results! I have to say painting one was such a blast it just makes me want to build a talon hah

 

[hushrong]

Leviathan looks great! Is that all freehand? And what did you use for its tabard?

 

The knights also look great! I do like the one with the spirit projecting out of the cockpit.

[High_King_Mathorne]

Thanks! I wish I was good enough to free hand all that - I only did little star points on his legs, the rest are decals from the FW Word Bearer Sheet. I got the tabard ages ago in a bits swap but Im fairly certain its a banner from the fantasy vampire counts. 

 

I'm really pleased with how he's come along. I'm at the point where I need to figure out where I want to put the other two spirits I have

 

[hushrong]

The leviathan will definitely be a center piece among his marine brethren. He looks great. I'm also going to make a mental note to check out the old VC line for some goodies.

 

And two more spirits coming out of the titan? I do not know if one coming out from behind his shoulder shield and resting well above the titan's head would be a good idea. Then maybe one coming out from behind armored plats on the leg?

 

I also just saw the work you did to that knight's flamer. That looks terrific for a burn/flame effect! Was that part of a bloodthirsters base?

[High_King_Mathorne]

That's been my dilemma right now. Part of me wants the other two on there, but I haven't found suitable spots for them. I'll give em a go on those spots and post some test pics

 

Thankya, yea exactly that's the bloodthirster flame base that I sawed down. I've been slowing greenstuffing in the gaps and adding some skulls to blend it all in. 

[hushrong]

Yeah, I think more would look cool but you don't want to crowd them. Definitely try and get some blu-tac and play around with different spots.

[High_King_Mathorne]

Just a little update of the Word Bearers I've been working on

 

Here's the Apothecaries, I absolutely love the Forgeworld models. 

 

This is the Astropath I've been working on. Wanted a simple conversion and have been slowly painting him up as a fun little piece. 

 

My Erebus and Kor Phaeron were one of the first purchases for the army. I couldnt figure out how to tackle painting their bases and really wanted Erebus on the 32mm so I decided to keep it simple on theirs. 

 

The Jump Pack Chaplain is a bit of a labor of love. I'm waiting a bit to get the jump pack from the blood angels chaplain but I wanted him with my assault marines and really wanted to custom build something special.

 

The Predator has been coming along nicely. Only shame with it is I used the GW Mephiston Red spray on it and it ended up quite a bit lighter than my rhinos or landraider. Im trying to figure out how to get a better match without stripping the paint. 

 

Here's the Imperial Space Marine I've been finishing. 

 

Lastly my Assault Marines are slowly coming along. I play the serrated suns so I had to get a few squads running in mine!

[High_King_Mathorne]

And here are the promised pictures of my progress so far on the rest of the Word Bearers force. There's quite a few pictures but I hope you guys enjoy looking at them. I'm always touching things up and improving them, so let me know what you think!

 

Rhinos:

 

Power Armored Units

 

Old School Vindicator

 

Contemptors

 

Landraider

 

Deredeo Dreadnought

 

Stormeagle

 

Terminators

 

Ashen Circle

 

Gal Vorbak

 

Characters

 

Lorgar

[Pearson73]

The converted Gal Vorbak are fantastic, the AoS legs and armour style work really well. The standard bearer has come out well too, I think you chose the head well and his banner is really nicely painted, as is Lorgar's cloak.

[High_King_Mathorne]

Finally back again with an update on some of the models I've been working on. I've been pretty preoccupied with work, but I've had enough time to knock out some progress on projects. I'll have to make it my new years resolution to post after I make progress on models so I stop forgetting  .

 

First up are my renegade knights that I was working on before. I decided to submit these guys for armies on parade this year and finally managed to take home my first gold medal (or medal at all)! I'll spare you guys pics of the board as it was nothing special, but here's the knights as I took them. 

 

Still lots to do left (cockpits, all the other magnetized weapons, and somehow forgot the runes on one shoulder pad) but these guys are done enough I can take a break to focus on other things.

 

 

 

My Valiant - he's been pretty awesome the past few game. Love his flamer!

 

 

The Shrine Knight

 

 

I call this one the Circle Knight

 

 

 

This one is known as The Bull for now, tried to get a shot of the corrupted mechanicus/imperial symbols all my knights share

 

 

 

My pride and joy - The High King, Blue Oni. This was my first knight I ever owned and has served me well, so it was only fitting he became king of my household. The lore I've written for his is his throne mechanicum became corrupted after a war on a cursed world (Al La Crimson Slaughter). The corrupted throne mechanicum began manifesting the imprinted spirits of scions past which drove the knight mad enough to slay his martian brethren and flee to build his own knightly house. 

 

 

 

I've taken on a friend's World Eater army because I've been dying to play a Shadow Crusade Campaign. Here is his Angron and various units I've been repainting for him in anticipation of it. Pretty pleased with Angron's alternate color scheme chosen by my buddy. There's some tactical marines as well but those will come later.

 

 

 

 

 

Lastly, another buddy wanted his Mantis Warriors to have a proper foe to fight, so I've begun a small Space Sharks army. I've assembled/resurrected a few old tactical squads to join the cause. My ultimate goal is to start a primaris focused army so these guys will be the test models so to speak as I acquire some proper Mk. X. Lore justification I wrote is based on the author of the sharks books saying they won't get lab brothers but will get the tech to upgrade. My idea is the most brutal and dedicated void brothers become updated, typically resulting in more esoteric gear too.

 

Anyhow let me know what you guys think, and I'll aim to post more regularly! (Also if someone could explain how to change the title, that'd be great. I'd like to add the little updated there I see on other posts)

[High_King_Mathorne]

The converted Gal Vorbak are fantastic, the AoS legs and armour style work really well. The standard bearer has come out well too, I think you chose the head well and his banner is really nicely painted, as is Lorgar's cloak.

Thanya for the kind words, Pearson  I'm thinking my next squad of Gal Vorbak will be based on Wulfen from 40k mixed with possessed bits. Lots of other stuff from Sigmar looks great, I just have to figure out how to get it to blend in to 30k marines. 

[DuskRaider]

Oh wow, I'm loving those Knights! Great use of the flame on the Thermal Cannon as well and I love that scheme. 

[High_King_Mathorne]

Thanks! Color scheme took me waaaay longer than I'd like to admit, but I always seem to have issues deciding on homebrew schemes hah

Love your Word Bearers btw, I remember looking at them lots as I've worked through my own :)

[DuskRaider]

Thanks! Likewise, I really like your WB's color, the red is quite vibrant. Funny, I didn't think my pics worked anymore for my WB thread since Photobucket screwed the pooch a year or two ago. 

 

A good scheme is worth the effort and time taken to make it just right. You chose well, frater.

[PowerHungryMonkey]

That's a lot of Word Bearers. Very nice. The Gal Vorbak are easily my favourite. Great conversions and a great unit

[High_King_Mathorne]

Thanks! Likewise, I really like your WB's color, the red is quite vibrant. Funny, I didn't think my pics worked anymore for my WB thread since Photobucket screwed the pooch a year or two ago. 

 

A good scheme is worth the effort and time taken to make it just right. You chose well, frater.

 

Thanks! I know a lot of people do darker reds that look phenomenal, but I'm a sucker for the bright red

 

That's a lot of Word Bearers. Very nice. The Gal Vorbak are easily my favourite. Great conversions and a great unit

 

It's taken me a hot minute to collect it all, but it's nice having one core army to always come back to in between projects. It's my dream to play an apocalypse match with a fully painted force. One day... One day...

[High_King_Mathorne]

Another random update but wanted to keep myself in the routine of posting - Worked on some Christmas Gifts for the wargaming mates. I wanted to do two unique characters for their respective armies as they already own all the units they'd truly need. Think they came out pretty decent, and it was a lot of fun toying around with some greenstuff.

 

 

Here's a custome warboss for my buddy's Orks. Every Ork army needs a proper Warboss, and I enjoyed the opportunity to 40k-ify the mawcrusha Warboss. Plenty of bits in that kit for my Carcharadons....

 

 

And a custom Daemon Prince. It was a little tricky to saw how I wanted and blend the legs into the belly, but I'm pretty satisfied with the legs and cabling I sculpted. I honestly may have to convert one for myself 

[High_King_Mathorne]

Another update for you guys - 

 

Been wanting to start hobbying on my stuff again, so I decided to build up some Primaris Carcharodons as a break from building/painting for others. Pretty stoked with how some of the conversions came out on these guys. 

 

 

First up I have my HQ's for now. Have a Primaris Chaplain on sprue, but Im awaiting another torso to replace his Im using for an Argel Tal conversion. The lieutenants will all have Reiver bare heads, as I love the vibe they give off. I have some lizardmen bitz from a friend as well so I tried out one of them as a powersword. I know its a little more Aztec but I think it still gives the right look

 

 

Next up is the redemptor dreadnought. Have to say a neat kit but I personally loved building the leviathan more even as a resin kit. Dog attacked one of my old dreads so I put him to the knife to serve as a symbolic reminder and a dead mantis warrior. 

 

 

Inceptors are pretty awesome as well. Unfortunately the buddy I split the box with lost the flight stands, but I think it came out as a happy little accident. Think they look quite a bit more dynamic with chopped up terrain to kick off of, and I know they're more sturdy pinned to them.

 

 

Lastly are the intercessors. I have 3 squads of intercessors, 2 reiver squads, and 1 aggressors, but none of them have any conversions worth showing off yet. Buddy happened to have also lost the 32 mm's they came with so I raided my old base set and pulled through with some more sector imperialis bases. Another happy accident! Idea I have is to use mixed bases. The plain bases will be the realm of the blood god bases Warhammer TV did a bit ago:

 

)

 

The city ones will have portions of it split between city and blood god. Sprinkle in a bit of skulls and dead mantis warrior gear, and I think I can get a pretty good representation of the warzone they were in during the Badab War.

 

As always let me know what you guys think ( especially on the conversions and base ideas ). Planning to return to the World Eaters and knock it out, so I can come back to these guys and provide updates on one core army for a chance

[PowerHungryMonkey]

The Sharks are looking good. Great use of the Seraphon weapons on the HQs. There's something about that Dread tho that's really got to me. I love it. The pose is just so confrontational and 'beef cake.' I think its the arms in that position, it really takes away the 'spindly leg' issue that I have with the Redemptor kit.

[High_King_Mathorne]

Thanks! Yea I really love the redemptor kit, but I'm pretty done with dreads just standing there if I can help it. Really makes me want to build a second one to accompany him in my lists. May get the easy build one in the near future and try the challenge of reposing that bad boy

[High_King_Mathorne]

Cranked out some more progress on the World Eaters project. Finally got my first unit done in the white and blue scheme, and am pretty satisfied with the results. Buddy was very happy too so I call it a win!

 

 

Planning to do a unit or two tonight. Thinking of some of his HQ's and the dreadclaw, but hopefully that isn't too ambitious 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Terminators. The bloodstains are good additions to your models.

[High_King_Mathorne]

Thanks, Bjorn! Happy how they came out too, usually I go a little too blood crazy on Khorne models