Rank FW's Primarch models

[Mazryonh]

Although that helmet actually make the model looks awesome it is quit ironic that you use the term 'realistic' and then post a dude with a helmet which is so unrealistic because it is so freakin' dangerous to the wearer.

There is a reason why people never wore stupid stuff like helms with horns you know.

But still... Fulgrim looks great with that helmet, I give you that. And after all he is so tall that noone can hit those wings and break his neck doing it anyway.

 

Here's a way to square that circle. You're probably thinking that the helmet's wings are made of solid gold or gold-plated metal, right? Not to worry, they can just be made of something fragile like papier-mache that will just break off if shot off or hit in melee, while the rest of the helmet is made of the appropriate metals. Real-life military helmets have been made that way, such as in Feudal Japan.

 

Personally I'm a big fan of bare heads on characters and Primarchs (people seem to forget just how tough Primarchs are. Shoot one in the face and you'll probably just piss him off...). That Fulgrim conversion is nice, but I still haven't see a Fulgrim with helmet that I think looks as good as his bare head. People just don't like painting faces

 

Primarchs are still susceptible to head injuries like baseline humans are, such as when they are beheaded. And yes, faces are hard to paint especially if small details like realistic-looking shading are needed. Personally I would like to see an FW model of Fulgrim with his hair down.

 

On one hand I tend to think they look cooler and I lean towards the "practical" side of things, even with my IX Legion. On the other hand, Rule of Cool has corrupted me enough in the 40k setting that I imagine there's a bunch of hand-wavy reasons why dudes wouldn't wear helmets in combat. Heck, Guilliman doesn't wear one in outer freakin' space in Know No Fear. If that wasn't a subtle jab/hint from an author, I don't know what was.

 

Also, it wouldn't surprise me if back in the day people used to take their helms off in the battlefield when they fought duels. Partially to make sure they were fighting the right person, partially to show they were a-scared of a-nothing. If human history has teaches us anything it's that emotional and/or illogical decisions seem like the right idea at the time. US soldiers in 'Nam sitting on their helmets while in helicopters, for example. Why would you ever leave you're head unprotected?

 

Several other jabs at "why didn't you wear a helmet" have already been made by Black Library, such as when beheadings happen or when they almost happened. Guilliman's survival in Know No Fear was hand-waved, partly because it made for such an awesome-looking book cover.

 

The "US soldiers in Vietnam sitting on their helmets in helicopters" apparently was to stop rounds shot by enemies below that penetrated the floor of the helicopter from getting any further. I'd be more concerned about being issued a "boonie hat" instead of a helmet myself.

 

Yes, I don't like my center piece models to be ruined by my lack of face painting skills. But I also don't like them ruined by FW dubious head sculpting skills. Sanguinius, Corax, Fulgrim would all look better with helmets for me, because over dynamic poses with hair flying everywhere do not look good, they only stress the frozen-in-time part of every miniature.

 

I don't think that anyone would take his helmet off for fighting. It's just encouraging the other dude to aim for the head. If you need better visibility you change the helmet but not drop it altogether. Even in middle ages, where the knight-fights could be likened to serries of duels, as a rule you recognized the enemy by his armour (works also for antiquity) and heraldy. Taking helmet off made sense for commanders only to calm the troops. It is a reoccuring story that false news about commander's death cause panic and in order to get them back to fighting he takes of his helmet and goes through the ranks to show that he is alive. But this is of course not the case for we-shall-know-no-fear space warriors and easily recognizable by their hight and armour Primarchs.

Only the Wolves can be excused: http://www.wobblymodelsyndrome.com/uploads/3/3/4/2/3342427/489368_orig.jpg

 

Yes, FW has some problems with sculpting good-looking faces. By the way, there's another way to show your identity on the medieval battlefield without taking off your entire helmet and becoming vulnerable to a random arrow or crossbow bolt; just wear a helmet with a visor and flip it up to show your face while leaving most of your head protected.

[queen_annes_revenge]

I think the whole sitting on helmets in helicopters thing is more of a Hollywood ism. Some director probably read one account where someone mentioned it and put it in because it made for an interesting dialogue. 

 

I think forge worlds faces are pretty decent?

[SkimaskMohawk]

A lot of primarchs have almost Darth sideous faces. Lots of folds and lines that can make them look pretty old if painted a certain way. Lorgar, fulgrim and to an extent corax have this problem.

 

On the whole, their corax is not painted in a way that shows off the best of the model. The hair and face are completely fine and the armour has great detailing, but their paint job bungled it

[queen_annes_revenge]

forge world need to sack their painters. they suck compared to the GW paint jobs of late.

 

I've never had a problem with the primarch faces I've done. I guess if you rely on heavy inking that could be the case. I tend to only ink the eye area and where skin meets hair/neck lines/butchers nails. The rest is glazes.

 

going back to the butchers nails, the quote is 'the back of the mans head was a nightmare of metal plates embedded in furrowed grooves cut into the bone of his skull, and there was a demented look to the warrior that no amount of self control could quite mask.'

which is a badass description of a World Eater.

[SkimaskMohawk]

The stuff done by guissepe (spelling?) is extremely high quality. It's all the blood angels and spacewolves (not the newest character) with the high transitions.

 

The eavy metal stuff is technically great, but it's all extremely clean to the point where things look off. Looking at orks and deathguard especially.

[Indefragable]

 

By comment about sitting on helmets was meant to be a humerous observation on the perfectly irrational rationale that human thinking often displays.

 

Maybe some SM don’t wear helmets so that they can be used to protect their....progenoid?

[Mazryonh]

 

By comment about sitting on helmets was meant to be a humerous observation on the perfectly irrational rationale that human thinking often displays.

 

Maybe some SM don’t wear helmets so that they can be used to protect their....progenoid?

 

Of course there have always been irrational people in life-or-death war situations. They just tend not to survive.

 

As for "protecting your future descendants," this is why some historical plate armour suits have been seen with codpieces. More protective than the Alpha Legion's loincloths, I must say.

[Gederas]

 

By comment about sitting on helmets was meant to be a humerous observation on the perfectly irrational rationale that human thinking often displays.

 

Maybe some SM don’t wear helmets so that they can be used to protect their....progenoid?

Of course there have always been irrational people in life-or-death war situations. They just tend not to survive.

 

As for "protecting your future descendants," this is why some historical plate armour suits have been seen with codpieces. More protective than the Alpha Legion's loincloths, I must say.

Actually, the codpiece armour wasn't for that purpose. It was specifically to show off their manliness [Medieval plate armour accentuated the ideal human male form of the time. The cod piece accentuated.... well, you know]

 

In regards to Primarchs having helmets: One of my favorite kitbashes I've seen was one that combined Guilliman's 30k and 40k models, and had 40k Guilliman's helmet on it. That kitbash was BEAUTIFUL. It's actually one of the featured models on Guilliman's model page on Forge world:

 

And the helmet is WHY I think that kitbash works. It gives him a commanding presence. Yes, he's faceless, but just from his stance, posture and look you can TELL he's the one in charge. And the helmet's unique design amongst Space Marine helmets also helps, because while it looks like a Mark VII-style, it's got a different shape to the face than Mark VIII armour.

 

 

Now, in regards to my personal ranking....

 

In no particular order:

 

Dorn, Alpharius, Russ, Curze and Vulkan are my top 5

 

I mainly only dislike Fulgrim and Corax, and, surprise, surprise, it's because of their faces :lol: Or at least the paintjob ON their faces on the FW site. Kizzdougs' Fulgrim and Malcharion's Corax both have shown me with a decent paintjob, they can look quite good.

[Mazryonh]

In regards to Primarchs having helmets: One of my favorite kitbashes I've seen was one that combined Guilliman's 30k and 40k models, and had 40k Guilliman's helmet on it. That kitbash was BEAUTIFUL. It's actually one of the featured models on Guilliman's model page on Forge world:

 

And the helmet is WHY I think that kitbash works. It gives him a commanding presence. Yes, he's faceless, but just from his stance, posture and look you can TELL he's the one in charge. And the helmet's unique design amongst Space Marine helmets also helps, because while it looks like a Mark VII-style, it's got a different shape to the face than Mark VIII armour.

 

Now, in regards to my personal ranking....

 

In no particular order:

 

Dorn, Alpharius, Russ, Curze and Vulkan are my top 5

 

I mainly only dislike Fulgrim and Corax, and, surprise, surprise, it's because of their faces Or at least the paintjob ON their faces on the FW site. Kizzdougs' Fulgrim and Malcharion's Corax both have shown me with a decent paintjob, they can look quite good.

 

 

Wow, that kitbash, had it been official, would have upped my ranking of Guilliman. It's a good way to show that even with helmets Primarchs can exude a commanding presence.

 

Is there a link anywhere to Malcharion's Corax? I personally would like to see him with a Raven-themed helmet.

[Gederas]

In regards to Primarchs having helmets: One of my favorite kitbashes I've seen was one that combined Guilliman's 30k and 40k models, and had 40k Guilliman's helmet on it. That kitbash was BEAUTIFUL. It's actually one of the featured models on Guilliman's model page on Forge world:

 

And the helmet is WHY I think that kitbash works. It gives him a commanding presence. Yes, he's faceless, but just from his stance, posture and look you can TELL he's the one in charge. And the helmet's unique design amongst Space Marine helmets also helps, because while it looks like a Mark VII-style, it's got a different shape to the face than Mark VIII armour.

 

Now, in regards to my personal ranking....

 

In no particular order:

 

Dorn, Alpharius, Russ, Curze and Vulkan are my top 5

 

I mainly only dislike Fulgrim and Corax, and, surprise, surprise, it's because of their faces Or at least the paintjob ON their faces on the FW site. Kizzdougs' Fulgrim and Malcharion's Corax both have shown me with a decent paintjob, they can look quite good.

Wow, that kitbash, had it been official, would have upped my ranking of Guilliman. It's a good way to show that even with helmets Primarchs can exude a commanding presence.

 

Is there a link anywhere to Malcharion's Corax? I personally would like to see him with a Raven-themed helmet.

I was referring to the faces, not helmets when I mentioned Kizzdougs and Malcharion's models. This is what I was referring to:

 

With a good paintjob, even the primarch who's face everyone complains about looks good.

[Mazryonh]

I was referring to the faces, not helmets when I mentioned Kizzdougs and Malcharion's models. This is what I was referring to:

 

With a good paintjob, even the primarch who's face everyone complains about looks good.

 

Pardon me, I didn't mean that Malcharion's model had a helmet, just that "I would like to see another model of Corax with a helmet".

 

I don't remember seeing artwork of Corax with grey skin, but this model's paintjob still makes it look great. Maybe someone someday will make a "Wartorn Corax" model representing him during the middle of the events of the Dropsite Massacre.

[bluntblade]

Off the top of my head (excuse the pun), Fulgrim, the Khan and Vulkan all wear helmets at some stage during the novels. I'm pretty sure Lorgar does too, but I can't be 100% sure.

 

 

Also, the Lion has the 'Lion helmet' :P

 

Personally I'm a big fan of bare heads on characters and Primarchs (people seem to forget just how tough Primarchs are. Shoot one in the face and you'll probably just piss him off...). That Fulgrim conversion is nice, but I still haven't see a Fulgrim with helmet that I think looks as good as his bare head. People just don't like painting faces :P

Lorgar, Mortarion and Horus do for sure. The former wears it on Isstvan V and Armatura, Mortarion is wearing one when he boards a White Scars ship in Path of Heaven as his autosenses are referenced, and Horus has one munched by an Ork in the depths of Gorro.

 

Oh, and Russ pulls one on before he takes on the Lerneans.