The Stygian Lords - a new direction for my Chaos Marines

[Dragonlover]

Good evening one and all, and welcome to my new Chaos plog!

I've been playing Chaos Marines for over 20 years now, and always harboured a desire to have a fully playable army for each Legion. Over the last few years life has aligned such that I could actually do that, so I started in on it... somewhere during 6th ed I think. I got a list I was happy with done for Alpha Legion, World Eaters, Iron Warriors and Black Legion, and got the first three of those mostly painted up.

Then Chapter Approved started happening, and points got changed. Now the way I was treating these armies was very much like a Magic deck: work out the list to 2000 points, build it paint it, put it in a case. I'm often the guy going elsewhere to play, and for a long time I frankly didn't have the energy to work out new lists each game and work out how to transport stuff etc etc. However, having to accommodate yearly points changes simply doesn't work on this system, and I was becoming less and less enthused by the whole thing with no idea what to do next with my four Chaos armies.

Then it hit me. The 9 Legions project was my equivalent of "I'm gonna collect a whole Chapter!" and every single person I know that's said that in real life was using it as a way to deal with mental health issues and frankly, I was doing the same. Thing is, I'm way way better now than I was a few years ago and don't need to obsessively collect as a coping mechanism. I also don't subscribe to the 'colour scheme=rules' logic and neither do the people I play with, so clearly the way to square the circle was homebrew a colour scheme and kinda start again from scratch.

Newly energised by knocking the cruft out of my thinking, I spent several hours transcribing all my lists to a spreadsheet then collapsing them down so I didn't have duplicate models. For example, my Alpha Legion has sixty-odd Cultists, so any other Cultist squad got removed, as any more than sixty would be superfluous. I also don't need to start totally from scratch model-wise, as what was originally destined to be my Black Legion was all undercoated and all the new range, with only five models having been painted in black and gold in my failed run at last years ETL.

"Where's the pictures? We didn't come here for words!" I hear you cry. Here's the first WIP of the new army, currently named the Stygian Lords and lacking an identifying symbol. They're purple and orange because I like the colours and I'm using Warpstone Glow on my Titanicus stuff, Warpstone Glow being possibly my favourite GW colour ever.

This guy needs a second coat minimum on the trim. I also don't know what colour to do the bolter casing yet.

I'm really hyped for this army. I'm looking forward to seeing where it takes me, especially since I'm gonna be able to do things like branch out into the odd squad of Cult troops, or grab a one-off Forge World model without wondering where I'll use it.

Oh, and if you followed the 9 Legions plog and are wondering what's happening to the already painted stuff, it's gonna live in a display cabinet, with the exception of the Fire Raptors. They're being moved to the new scheme, if I have to build one more of those things I'll stab someone with it.

Dragonlover

[Marshal Loss]

Very cool/unique scheme! I like it.

[Lord Uglor]

Looking good.  For the bolter casing, I'd personally go with a silvery metallic, Runefang steel or the like.

[Jings]

I'd go with the white you've used for the shoulder. White bolters look great with darker schemes. Edited April 4, 2020 by Jings

[Dragonlover]

Very cool/unique scheme! I like it.

 

Cheers! I'm a big fan of paired secondary colours, if I hadn't been using the Warpstone Glow already these guys would have been green with pink trim.

 

Looking good.  For the bolter casing, I'd personally go with a silvery metallic, Runefang steel or the like.

 

Thanks bud! I normally do the actual metal part of the bolter silver, but I'll keep it in mind.

 

I'd go with the white you've used for the shoulder. White bolters look great with darker schemes.

 

Turns out that's actually bone, it just photographs as white. I tried that when these guy were going to be Black Legion and decided I didn't like the look of it, but it's worth a punt. The tonality might look better against purple after all.

 

Dragonlover

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The color scheme looks good. Reminds me of Spider-Man 2099, though.

[Dragonlover]

The color scheme looks good. Reminds me of Spider-Man 2099, though.

I had to look that up, but I see what you mean!

I sorted out a logo for them! You see, fluff wise I wanted them to follow a minor power rather than one of the big four, and I happened to grab Realms of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned while I was up at Warhammer World early in March. Turns out it's got a minor power generation thingy, so I sat down, rolled a bunch of dice and ended up with a pair of Jabberwocks with too many eyes, some extra tentacles and limbs that just detach and reattach at random. Therefore I decided that the Stygian Lords have the patronage of The Twins of Flux, the One and the Other, Ja'bar and Woac. Or possibly Woac and Ja'bar. Scholars of the Chaos pantheons are unsure if the Twins are just an aspect of Tzeentch or not, but the Twins are pretty sure they're their own entities and nobody really wants to gainsay them.

Given this, I decided to see what the Dark Tongue rune for Jabberwock was, and it turns out it's no harder to replicate than the mark of Khorne which it sort of resembles.

Still needs tidying up, but what do we think?

Dragonlover

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Looks rough, but as this is a Chaos Space Marine, it's likely he doesn't have the resources (brush-equipped servitors and artistic slaves) to paint it neatly. The spidery appearance is menacing, and you can fix the symbol's tough appearance with a LOT of practice (and patience with those offering constructive criticism).

[Dragonlover]

Yeah it's probably going to take a little while to get a feel for the sizing as well, when I did my Harvest Daemonkin and freehanded that symbol it was a bit all over the place at first. Not that I'm bothered, I think for Chaos stuff it works better if the symbology is a bit janky from model to model. As you say, not like they necessarily have the artisan slaves a loyal Chapter has.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

I've finished that first guy up, some of the orange is still a touch rough in places but it'll be fine for the tabletop.

I've got another four bolter guys on the table now, gonna spend the holiday weekend working on them.

Dragonlover

[Augustus b'Raass]

Inspiring work! I am particularly impressed with the freehanded khornate 'chapter' symbol! Keep it up. 

Ans welcome back - good to see you posting again. :tu:

[Dragonlover]

Ok, so.

The fact that multiple people have referred to the symbol as Khornate was bothering me, so I started working out some variants... then the changes at work thanks to corona just sapped the motivation from me and I never got around to posting them. However! Motivation is fleeting and sometimes you just have to commit, so here's the five variants my brain came up with so far. Symbol 1 is just the actual Jabberwock rune so people know what it initially looked like.

Thoughts on what one might be a good fit? Feel free to suggest further variations if they come to mind. I have my preferences but I don't want to mention them yet so as to not steer discussion.

Dragonlover

[Augustus b'Raass]

Either 2, 4, or 6 should work fine - they're distinct and could be the easiest to paint and replicate easily and consistently throughout your upcoming force. :tu:

[Dragonlover]

I was leaning towards 2 or 4 myself, so that's handy.

 

Also guys in general, I'm happy for likes. The ego boost is appreciated. However in this case, comments are way more helpful so if you're dropping a like, please leave a comment too since I'm actively seeking feedback. Thanks!

 

Dragonlover

[BadgersinHills]

The first one doesn't look very Khornate when on the paper, but things can come out differently when freehanding. I think 5 looks best.

[Dragonlover]

So, had a bit of a hiatus for the last six months or so, but I have been working on these guys on and off, and now have two full CSM squads and a Lord painted and based. I also chose one of the simplified logos (number 6), turns out it was more faff to replicate the original than I anticipated.

Group shot:

Champion:

Lord Kallothrax, the Iron Angel:

The bases will be getting a Warboss Green rim when I get hold of some, for that full 90's experience.

Next up is the sorcerer Madayev Karn, who I just remembered has Raptor legs. That's gonna suck to paint the orange trim on...

Dragonlover

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The paint is well-applied. What is the significance of the purple-and-orange color scheme, besides being "loud" and clashing? To symbolize the Marines are pledged to Slaanesh? Or to Chaos Undivided, as purple is a mix of red (Khorne) and blue (Tzeentch)?

[Dragonlover]

Neither. They follow Jabar-Woac, God of Spite and Petty Jealousy, who I've made up based on rolls from the Minor Power generator in Realms of Chaos. The colours were chosen for a blend of reasons. Partially because I really like using secondary colours but my Titans are green so that was out and partially because they will never be mistaken for one of the Nine Legions in these colours. Or indeed any other canon CSM faction, because no-one else is mad enough to paint that much orange trim.

 

Dragonlover

[Dragonlover]

Finished the Sorcerer.

Dragonlover

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the sorcerer.

[Kaiju Soze]

The frequently excessive trim is by far the worst thing about painting Chaos Marines.  Daemon engine trim? No problem.  Legs on a standard marine?  Nightmare time.

 

With that said, I love your colour scheme here and the Sorcerer conversion.

[Augustus b'Raass]

Yeah baby! Love to se those whole squads and people returning to the fold. 

Still a fan of the colour scheme. 

[Syrakul]

For doing trim, it can be easier to paint everything in trim color first, then paint properly thinned paint into the recessed panels.

Helps to get the inner edges consistent as trim color, can even drybrush the trim highlights first before the panel fill stage and the highlight spashover underneath can help raise the brightness of the panel color

[Dragonlover]

For doing trim, it can be easier to paint everything in trim color first, then paint properly thinned paint into the recessed panels.

Helps to get the inner edges consistent as trim color, can even drybrush the trim highlights first before the panel fill stage and the highlight spashover underneath can help raise the brightness of the panel color

See what you're doing there is assuming that I'm highlighting. I am not, because frankly I cannot be bothered to. Also I tried a highlight on the purple and it just looked weird next to the orange. I'm also not fussed about tidying up the orange overspill, although I did notice some on that pic of the Sorcerer that I just glossed over in person. I'll fix that when I paint the base rim. If I was highlighting though, I'd definitely give that method a shot.

That said when I get to the Thousand Sons contingent they're more trim than plate, so I'll probably do the orange first on them. We'll see how I feel when we get there.

Cheers for the kind words everyone else!

I've got another CSM squad on the painting table, once these guys are done I should never have to paint a bolter CSM ever again, other than as Rapier crew anyway. After this I've got 5 Havocs, 3 Rhinos and a Helbrute, and that's my CSM Crusade/list core painted. I'll likely move onto Death Guard then, following the same pattern of squad/character/squad until the core chunk of *that* is done. Then it'll be a case of meandering around the pile of accumulated stuff for both armies, based on what's been cropping up in lists and/or what takes my fancy.

But for now, a second layer of orange on the trim for these guys:

Y'know, if I can think straight. Working in credit card collections just after Christmas is not great, I feel utterly braindead tonight.

Dragonlover

[Dosjetka]

Striking colour scheme! It's great to see you around again, DL. Looking forward to seeing more of your work. :tu: