k0nahrik’s WIP log - random conversions and kitbashes

[k0nahrik]

Dude, that is fantastic, very striking colour scheme :tu:

Cheers! I’m really happy with how it came out, I think hive fleet kraken’s scheme is one of the most visceral in terms of the gory imagery it evokes

 

Now for an update to the thread :

With the release of shadowspear I’ve been brought a whole trove of new parts to play around with. For years i’ve had a soft spot for the Black Legion, So shadowspear was an ideal place to start. Earlier on I purchased the Crimsol Slaughter with the intention of using Kranon for a conversion (shown above, a WIP iron warriors lord) but til now had little idea what i’d do with the rest of the chosen.

 

Until now. Noticing that the aesthetic of the chosen meshes very well with the updated look of the chaos space marines in shadowspear (no doubt intentional on the part of the miniatures designer) I decided to experiment -

 

This is the result of tonight’s dabbling:

 

I’m not a massive fan of the Master of Possession as a single model however many of his parts individually are very attractive. Here i’ve used the horned helm in place of ravager draznicht’s bare head - a fiddly conversion but one that I think was very worth it. It’s not seamless and still requires some more work (namely expanding the collar to fit more around the helmet and potentially removing the ‘teeth’ on the gorget) but for the purposes of showcasing the conversion I am very happy with how this looks.

 

This is one of the first in a line of many black legion models inbound - chances are i’ll make an entire thread dedicated to them when the time comes. Until now, however, this will suffice.

 

Let me know what you think, thanks for looking!

[k0nahrik]

Today I’ve got two projects to show off.

 

Firstly, allow me to introduce a homebrew idea I’ve been playing with for a few years along with a friend - the Crimson Lions.

A noble and proud chapter much like their namesake who made their fortress monastery on a totally uninhabited and barren planet relatively close to the eye of terror. Disaster strikes when an escaped experiment of Fabius Bile known simply as ‘the Vessel’ attacks and lays waste to the entire chapter.

The Vessel being an semi-successful attempt to create a body powerful enough to act as an avatar for a minor deity of chaos known as Gilgamesh(a homebrew creation of my friend) to inhabit and wreak havoc on the galaxy. Created using the remaining DNA from the body of Horus and the other primarchs sometime after the events of Talon of Horus, as well as countless dark rituals performed by Gilgamesh’s followers and a host of unspeakable other horrors - the vessel is an incredibly powerful being, however, unable to withstand the full might of possession by a chaos god (no matter how minor) the vessel is driven beyond the point of insanity and his once grand body is ruined, almost destroyed by the process.

Fabius, however, seeing his creation’s potential, revives the being and repairs what he can with surgery and bionics. The vessel, now severely weakened in ability but still a formidable being, tears his way through Fabius’ fortress and escapes to outer space on mechanical wings. Adrift in the void, this being is cast out along the tides of the warp into the greater galaxy and is responsible for the destruction of an entire chapter of space marines, taking them by complete surprise during their recovery process from an ardous and lengthy campaign, subdueing and annihilating them with combined physical might and psychic ability.

There is one lone survivor of the attack, eviscerated and cast from a clifftop and thought dead by the perpetrator, a lowly sergeant who has had the responsibility of the whole chapter’s future thrust upon him. Subsisting on the flesh of his fallen brothers for many months, using his remebrancer gland to learn the fractured knowledge of the whole chapter, and creating a rudimentary distress beacon from the wreckage of his home. Eventually picked up by a passing imperial ship, he is taken to the inquisition for questioning and granted leave to hunt down the Vessel and access to the resources he needs to do it.

 

This here is one of the primary weapons of the Erasmus Leonardite, newly christened chapter master of the Crimson Lions. A lightning claw with an in-built melta, piece of archeotech rescued from the ruins of the fortress monastery’s reliquary after the attack, along with a paragon blade and a suit of relic ‘heavy power armour’ - a concept of my own, a unique suit of armour that falls somewhere between ordinary power armour and terminator armour, dating from the ancient days of the Horus Heresy. Have some ideas for representing this using the torsos from the new plastic jetbike custodes and their semi-cowled looks. The claw is still WIP and requires a tiny bit of sculpting and gap filling.

 

Alongside Leonardite there are two Lions that still yet roar - Sandor Galactus, the only other truly living lion, and Tyrion the Gold, a contemptor dreadnought. Both survived purely by merit of being sworn to the deathwatch at the time, and are recruited back into the chapter in Erasmus’ quest for vengeance.

 

That is the story so far - many of mine and my friend’s homebrews interact with one another and effectively form their own self contained story WITHIN the confines of Warhammer 40,000. Often outside interaction with other canon characters is limited to them as plot devices (such as Fabius’ role in the creation of the Vessel) and nothing more. This allows us a certain degree of much needed freedom where we can bend certain rules. Let me know if you’d like to hear more on our ‘universe’ as this thread would be the perfect place to get the ideas down on paper (or a screen as it were) and receive feedback.

 

———————————————————

 

Now that’s out of the way, what feels like a much smaller update, despite model wise being much more work - for a while I’ve had a Blood Angels legion champion built to a state of near completion - tonight I drew closer to that goal with the addition of a tear drop gemstone to the torso plate and the start of an ornate and custom Iron Halo which is still a WIP.

The jump pack still requires some work - I’ll post full body pictures of the model when it’s done ready for paint.

 

Don’t forget to leave me a comment and let me know what you think - I’d really love to hear feedback on some of my miniatures, even down to simply what you like about them. It encourages me to work more!

 

Cheers for looking everyone!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Impressive work. I'm surprised the jump pack's decorative skull faces rearwards instead of forwards, where it may intimidate a foe. Does the skull incorporate an auspex or other sensor to warn the Blood Angels Legion Champion of enemies approaching from the rear, maybe a miniature Infernum halo launcher to ward off infrared guided missiles that would otherwise home in on the jump pack?

[k0nahrik]

Impressive work. I'm surprised the jump pack's decorative skull faces rearwards instead of forwards, where it may intimidate a foe. Does the skull incorporate an auspex or other sensor to warn the Blood Angels Legion Champion of enemies approaching from the rear, maybe a miniature Infernum halo launcher to ward off infrared guided missiles that would otherwise home in on the jump pack?

Cheers! The skull was originally intended to face forward but the angle it sat at was a little awkward and overall it looked busy. Facing backwards it looked a little less awkward and it sat better. It also worked as a replacement for a much smaller skull badge on the astorath jump pack. Then i used the small crux to fill a flat space at the front. I don’t plan for it to represent any sensor - I personally just imagined it as ornate Blood Angels ornamentation, as befitting a Champion, to show off to enemy champions that it is he who should be fought for glory. Edited March 28, 2019 by k0nahrik

[k0nahrik]

Tonight I’ve come with an update to the previously posted Iron Wariors Warsmith. In that post I mentioned I’d be removing a lot of the more overtly chaos iconography in favour of more conservative and minimal markings to show his alignment with the dark gods - here’s how it’s ended up:

As you can see i’ve totally overhauled the torso and replaced it with the chaos champion torso from the now-old CSM kit. The chainmail tabard and smooth, unembellished torso plate with the minimal, half covered chaos star belt buckle were perfect for the minimal aesthetic I was looking to achieve, and with a little greenstuff I was able to blend the components together pretty seamlessly. I’m happy with how it came out, and pleased with all the large smooth surfaces it leaves. The two hip plates, as well as one shoulder, will likely be the only recipients of hazard stripes on the model. I’m also happy with the multi-layered chainmail as a result of kranon already having chainmail molded onto his base model.

 

Here’s a quick profile from the side to show how I sculpted the fur cloak over the left shoulder pad - a process more difficult than I expected, but am now happy with the results. All that remains is for the model to be painted (given my track record however this seems unlikely any time soon, haha). I’m very pleased with how the mini has turned out - especially how at a glance, the mini could even pass for a heresy era model, and only upon further inspection does it become notable that the model is certainly chaos aligned through his belt and cape decorations.

 

As always, let me know what you think! Cheers for looking.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Warsmith looks most promising. Will you further modify the thunder hammer, maybe make it a Daemon weapon?

[k0nahrik]

The Warsmith looks most promising. Will you further modify the thunder hammer, maybe make it a Daemon weapon?

Nope! I’m ready to call the warsmith done. Chaos is a tool to be used, not a god to be worshipped (at least, in the eyes of many Iron Warriors) so I’m avoiding anything too tainted at all - I like the idea that this particular lord places faith in that made by man above all else - hence he wields a trusty thunder hammer that has remained unmodified even after thousands of years by his side across various crusades.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Chaos is a tool to be used, not a god to be worshipped (at least, in the eyes of many Iron Warriors) so I’m avoiding anything too tainted at all

Well said.

I like the idea that this particular lord places faith in that made by man above all else - hence he wields a trusty thunder hammer that has remained unmodified even after thousands of years by his side across various crusades.

This is EXTREMELY unlikely. I understand why the Warsmith refuses to use Daemon weapons, which tend to attack their own wielders. But as an Iron Warrior, he should constantly tinker with his own weapons in attempts to increase their efficiency and effectiveness, if not doing as the Iron Hands do, and trying to build a lascannon sturdy enough to serve as a thunder hammer shaft.

 

Naturally, all these modifications will be free of psyker shenanigans, by the Warsmith's own decree. Any sorcerer who attempts to "improve" the Warsmith's personal weapons by "asking the Chaos Gods to bless the instruments of their will," will be drowned in a smelter- alongside the "blessed" weapons- to be recycled and made useful again.

[k0nahrik]

 

Chaos is a tool to be used, not a god to be worshipped (at least, in the eyes of many Iron Warriors) so I’m avoiding anything too tainted at all

Well said.

I like the idea that this particular lord places faith in that made by man above all else - hence he wields a trusty thunder hammer that has remained unmodified even after thousands of years by his side across various crusades.

This is EXTREMELY unlikely. I understand why the Warsmith refuses to use Daemon weapons, which tend to attack their own wielders. But as an Iron Warrior, he should constantly tinker with his own weapons in attempts to increase their efficiency and effectiveness, if not doing as the Iron Hands do, and trying to build a lascannon sturdy enough to serve as a thunder hammer shaft.

 

Naturally, all these modifications will be free of psyker shenanigans, by the Warsmith's own decree. Any sorcerer who attempts to "improve" the Warsmith's personal weapons by "asking the Chaos Gods to bless the instruments of their will," will be drowned in a smelter- alongside the "blessed" weapons- to be recycled and made useful again.

While I am a fan of the idea of Iron warriors being tinkerers - I imagine this guy’s own bionic arm is the subject of many such alterations - I personally like the idea that as massive pragmatists they almost certainly subscribe to the idea of ‘not broke, don’t fix it’ and as such this thunder hammer in particular has not changed at all over the course of the millennia - however it has been maintained perfectly, indistinguishable from the day it first came out of the manufactorum.

 

And of course, why waste a perfectly functional astartes or a good weapon by burning them in a smelter? We’re talking about iron warriors here. Any such zealots who grow too close to their gods suffer one simple fate - they’re locked inside a helbrute sarcophagus ;)

[Bjorn Firewalker]

And of course, why waste a perfectly functional astartes or a good weapon by burning them in a smelter? We’re talking about iron warriors here. Any such zealots who grow too close to their gods suffer one simple fate - they’re locked inside a helbrute sarcophagus

Good idea, but the "sorcerers" I'm referring to are NOT Astartes, but slaves (human or otherwise) reaching beyond their station in life (under the Iron Warriors' rule). The Warsmith's Own (Iron Warriors he trusts enough to delegate responsibility- POWER- to) should know him well enough to NOT piss him off by giving him "blessings" that undermine his authority- you can't lead effectively if your subordinates keep wondering, 'Was that the Boss speaking, or the Daemon bound within his frame? Whose orders do we follow, anyways?'

[k0nahrik]

 

And of course, why waste a perfectly functional astartes or a good weapon by burning them in a smelter? We’re talking about iron warriors here. Any such zealots who grow too close to their gods suffer one simple fate - they’re locked inside a helbrute sarcophagus

Good idea, but the "sorcerers" I'm referring to are NOT Astartes, but slaves (human or otherwise) reaching beyond their station in life (under the Iron Warriors' rule). The Warsmith's Own (Iron Warriors he trusts enough to delegate responsibility- POWER- to) should know him well enough to NOT piss him off by giving him "blessings" that undermine his authority- you can't lead effectively if your subordinates keep wondering, 'Was that the Boss speaking, or the Daemon bound within his frame? Whose orders do we follow, anyways?'

The way I see it, whatever the mortals aboard the ship do is up to them. So long as they follow orders to the letter then they may worship whichever gods they please, as long as it doesn’t impede their efficiency of labour. Chaos, the warp, blessings and sorcery - they are all to be utilised, and a true iron warrior knows this and even encourages it. When a man becomes a slave to the dark gods, that is where the line is drawn. At least in this warband. I certainly plan to use very overtly chaos units in this fellow’s army - helbrutes, chosen, obliterators, etc. This character simply doesn’t waste any time I’m drawn out sermons or praying. Rituals and consecrations to boost protection or give an edge in combat are performed in as efficient a manner as they can be, daemons are summoned for the fight, and when the battle is over, the daemons are banished, the armour is cleaned of it’s grisly glyphs and wards and the men continue onwards. Of course, you’re welcome to have it your way in your own iron warriors army, this is just the way mine functions ;)

[k0nahrik]

Today I’ve got some CSM for you all:

 

 

As you can see I finished the chosen squad leader from earlier in the thread, and I’ve started work on a second chosen using one of the ‘twins’ from Dark Vengeance as a base - I still need to do a lot of greenstuff work The rest of the squad will probably be the remaining DV stock chosen with no changes. I imagine this is going to be the last post here before I make a dedicated thread for my black legion, once I have some more content for it.

 

Let me know what you think! Cheers for reading.

[k0nahrik]

Hey guys! Recently returned to the hobby with my 30k Iron Warriors thread, but I’m also gonna be posting non-IW stuff here.

 

This is my latest thunder warrior, inspired by @pegastyx on Instagram

 

I love converting thunder warriors cause you can really sort of do whatever the hell you want, so there’s a lot of artistic license to be taken.

 

Next I’ve got this blood angels legion jump champion

 

He was mostly finished up until this point - I’ve just done GS touchups and primed it.

 

Here you can see my work on the numeral pauldron - really happy with how this turned out

 

As always leave a comment and let me know what you think! Cheers guys

Edited March 13, 2020 by k0nahrik

[Brother Dallo]

Not sure how I’ve missed this thread before. You’ve got some stuff you should be really proud of here. I especially like your Word Bearer from the first post.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[k0nahrik]

Not sure how I’ve missed this thread before. You’ve got some stuff you should be really proud of here. I especially like your Word Bearer from the first post.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

Thanks a bunch! This thread is only ever updated sporadically, whenever I do a model or two from a force that isn’t my iron warriors :D

 

Which actually brings me to today’s topic: with the lockdown in place in the UK the hobby community on Instagram have begun an initiative called Badab Brothers, whereby any volunteers pledge a model(or more) and then have a random Badab War chapter selected for them. I volunteered myself (seeing as I now find myself with an excess of free time) and was nominated for the Fire Angels chapter - today I set about working on the model:

This is a (currently nameless) sergeant - I’m really pleased with how he came out. I did a little research into the Fire Angels and it turns out they’re ultramarine successors with a knightly theme and they’re a relatively young chapter. They also seem to be pretty close with the Ecclesiarchy.

 

I wanted to lean into the knightly theme - hence, MKII/III armour and sculpted robes - super happy with how the model came out looking.

 

Owing to their young nature, they don’t own a lot of pre-heresy equipment - what they do is donated by their cousin and parent chapters. I wanted to nod to this and also justify the use of such old fashioned armour - so I gave him an ultima brooch to fasten his robes, as a sort of indicator that this set of armour is not typical for members of the chapter. I also gave him a good old fashioned sword cause there’s no more classically knightly weapon.

 

I really enjoyed making the model - so much so that I may expand to a small (5 model) kill team, but I’ll decide on that after I’ve painted him up.

 

Apologies as well for the less-than-ideal camera quality - my desk lamp, which I use to photograph my minis, broke - so I’m stuck using the big light to get decent pictures :D

 

Cheers for reading, and let me know what you think!

[k0nahrik]

Hey guys, quick update to show WIP progress on the fire angel:

 

 

Probably sitting at about halfway done now, all that’s left is his robes and then a few details to get picked out.

 

I’m super happy with how he’s looking - especially the red trim on the shoulder pads, which I wasn’t so sure would look good at first. The power sword is probably my favourite part of the whole model - maybe my favourite weapon I’ve ever painted.

 

Hopefully he’ll be done by tomorrow, but I can’t make any promises - with my lamp out of action and the lockdown here preventing me from getting a new one, I’m only able to paint by daylight, which is less than ideal :teehee:

 

Drop a comment to let me know what you think! Cheers for reading

[k0nahrik]

Today I finished off my marine for the #BadabBrothers initiative over on Instagram. It was a really fun little challenge that let me explore a few techniques I wouldn’t normally get the chance to use. Without further ado, this is Knight-Sergeant Everard Conrad of the Fire Angels

Even through his helmet’s filters, the coppery tang of fresh blood filled Everard’s senses as he lead his squad through the shattered rubble of the Astral Claws’ garrison, and the sounds of fighting echoed down the winding stone corridors of the fort. He led his men through a gaping hole in one of the walls, into the hall where the remnants of the traitorous foe had fortified themselves, who were now fighting off a group of Star Phantoms that had also made their way into heart of the Astral Claws’ nest. The battle was evenly matched, and behind his face-plate, Everard narrowed his eyes and clenched his jaw resolutely as he prepared to turn the tide of the fight and consign the heretics to damnation. Gesturing with the crackling blade of his power sword, Everard commanded his men; ‘Slaughter the traitor that stands before you! Rip and tear until it is done! The God-Emperor wills it!’ His men roared their approval before charging into the heat of combat - himself at the lead - bolter kicking in his hands, blade arcing through the air to split heretic limb from body. Those Astral Claws who had time to spare a glance were confronted by a tide of silver-clad knights possessed with a rage that struck fear into the hearts of those who would know no fear - and it would be the last sight they would see before they met their fate at the ends of Fire Angel blades.

 

Let me know what you think, cheers for reading!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work on the Fire Angel and the short story featuring him, k0nahrik.

[k0nahrik]

Excellent work on the Fire Angel and the short story featuring him, k0nahrik.

Thanks bjorn!

 

Today I’ve got another random mini I threw together - after the Lion’s unveiling I had a real urge for the first legion so this is me satisfying that. Still WIP - needs some gap filling and tidying - but really happy with how it looks so far. Here’s my dark angels praetor

 

Let me know what you think!

[calgar101]

Looks really cool, I love the helmet and sword. The pose also feels quite dynamic to me.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Praetor looks promising. I admire you posing him so it looks like the Praetor is charging into battle.

[k0nahrik]

Hey all! Long time no post!

Almost two years have passed since I last updated this or any of my other threads here on the forum - after going hard during the first lockdown, I suffered some pretty intense hobby burnout. I stepped away for a long time, knowing one day I’d feel a need to return. Just so happens that the time is now!

 

So, what am I up to? Well, I’m picking up where I left off with my 30k Iron Warriors, which can be found at http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/339889-k0nahriks-iron-warriors-warmonger-1104/. There’s no new content at the moment but it’ll be updated in coming weeks, so keep your eyes peeled!

 

As for this thread, and it’s future, I’ve got good news. Over the years I’ve had a handful of threads here at B&C which ultimately end up neglected as I juggle many projects at once. So i’m abandoning them - from here on out all my content will be posted here, with the exception of my iron warriors, which will be posted in the aforementioned thread. This means that this particular thread is going to get a lot of content. As I post new stuff, I’ll slowly begin to add in my favourites from projects past - not all at once so as not to clutter the thread, but slowly all the best stuff will be collated here. This content will include my fifteen fangs khornate kill team, vat-spawned monstrosities of Fabius bile, black legion, 30k one off models and my newest project - an aeldari force. Which brings me to the exciting stuff!

 

First of all - a one-off model for 30k Blood Angels. I’ve posted this conversion here before, many moons ago, but only recently did I pick him up and start painting him. Here’s my 30k jump champion;

Really happy with how he’s coming along. This photo is actually a couple weeks old, and his arms are both painted, but I don’t have a photo to hand at the moment. To be completed soon!

 

And here is my latest set of conversions - a howling banshees exarch and aspect warrior.

Really loving these new sculpts. The only drawback is they’re almost monopose - the price for better poses and details, and one I’m willing to pay, as it opens up a new challenge in making each figure unique. Here I’ve converted the exarch’s spear to her left hand in what was actually a far more involved conversion than I expected, and swapped a left arm on the aspect warrior. Very small changes that I think will make all the difference when seen in a large group of banshees.

 

All the love GW are giving eldar at the moment has swayed me to starting a meagre Xenos force I’m planning to have dark reapers, banshees, their respective Phoenix lords, as well as the eldar half of the eldritch omens box. The chaos half will end up being black legion and will also feature here - super stoked to get my hands on it at some point soon.

 

That’s all for now folks. Super excited to be here again! Wish me luck getting back on this hobby horse. Thanks for reading!

[k0nahrik]

 

Hey all

Small update today

 

Finished the last three banshees - again all have minor reposes achieved through arm swaps - the banshees kit is basically monopose, so I wanted to add a little bit of differentiation in case I get another box.

 

Here they are

 

And lastly I have a new model - this is Vhradek Long-Eye - a former IVth legion havoc who now serves the black legion. He marks the start of a new kill team - iron warriors turned black legionnaires, lead by Valicar, an extremely cool character from the black legion books.

 

 

He’s a fairly basic kitbash using a new havoc as a base with standard MKIII pauldrons, backpack icon from the old CSM kit and the helmet from the black Templars castellan.

 

My plan is to convert up each member of the ezekarion over time, with a kill team to go with each. I’ve already finished a fifteen fangs kill team of berserkers, featuring Lheorvine Ukris, which I’ll post as I paint them. Valicar and the Iron Warriors are my next port of call.

 

If you want to see the old thread detailing the conversion process of my fifteen fangs, it can be found here: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/350401-k0nahrik’s-world-eaters-‘fifteen-fangs’-kill-team/

 

It’s been inactive for almost three years now, but it contains some conversion work that I’m still really proud of to this day. The models in that thread will be posted in this one as and when I paint them up, so keep your eyes peeled

 

That’s all for this post, let me know what you think. Cheers for reading!

[k0nahrik]

 

Hey all,

 

New post brings a new conversion - here’s another WIP on a Havoc for my iron warriors / black legion kill team. This guy is a little more involved, conversion wise - I used an inverted cataphractii torso to give him a really chunky look which I think works well, and the legs come from one of the shadowspear CSM. Fairly long and fiddly process separating his legs and torso cabling from his chest plate and one of the Pauldrons but it worked out alright. There’s a lot of greenstuff packed in between which I may end up ripping out and redoing - I say might, because most of it is actually pretty obscured by the backpack, so it’s not a super huge problem.

 

Head is a placeholder for now, I think. Planning to use it on a heresy era character, but it may end up growing on me. Without further ado;

 

 

Let me know what you think! I reckon there’ll be one more havoc added to this kill team, and the rest of the models will be more lightly armed, and Valicar himself will end up being a very custom model - based on his description in the books, he has a lot of interesting and non-standard wargear.

 

Cheers for reading!

[Pearson73]

What a brilliant idea to use the Cataphractii torso! The bulk and details look ace.