Vox Stellarum: Truescale Horus Heresy Redux

[Ryltar Thamior]

One of the first threads we did when I got back into the hobby some four years ago, was a pretty well-received effort entitled "Vox Stellarum: True-Scaled Horus Heresy". It's exactly what it says on the tin. An array of Horus Heresy Astartes , Auxilia , Agents of the Sigillite , and other more esoteric miniatures done by myself and my longstanding collaborator, Umbral. Now, since then, we've developed a whole lot. And I don't just mean my actual painting and conversion skills [umbral's were already pretty ace to begin with]. I also mean in terms of our ability to *actually present* our efforts in thread form, as well as the narrative for the area of space our efforts take place in - which now spans roughly eleven thousand years ...

So it seemed high time to go back to the Heresy , and re-present for a hopefully broadened audience , some of our work in that light. With better photographs. 

With that in mind - here's the first few of my Heresy-era truescales . 

To begin , the four Space Wolves I've done relatively recently : 



Space Wolves were the first force I did even semi-properly as a young lad , and as with many people of Scandinavian heritage ... the Vikings In Space element has always had a strong appeal. Even though my professional area of expertise (Indo-European theologian , with rather strong Nordic incorporations ) means I occasionally wince a bit when GW art or official miniatures mix up various different Runic scripts etc :P 

With these Wolves, I was looking to convey a sense that they were 'hunters', 'trackers' - hence the pointing, the auspex, and the misericordia . And also the highly mobile look of what might otherwise be static-appearing gunners. 



In terms of truescaling method, we use terminator legs. *All* the terminator legs! Which occasionally presents a bit of a difficulty, because frankly ... some of them just aren't posed especially dynamically - or there's so many we've done with a particular set of five that it becomes a challenge to work out how to do a 'novel' pose rather than yet another repeat. The Grave Warden legs are a particular problem in this regard, because while many of them are really quite cool - and certinly help spice things up in the Mk.III department relative to more 'ordinary' looking Cataphractii .. there's one or two legs in there that are just standing still, in an excessively wide leg stance that's .. difficult to work with. Still, I like to think I've done a reasonable job even here. 



Detail shot - showing the Misericordia ... and also the Raptor Imperialis pad. I figured that as this particular Astates was acting as a direct agent of the Throne in hunting down whatever it was that these chaps were pursuing, it made a certain sense for him to be carrying a Custodes blade for the purposes of personally administering the Emperor's Sanction. And, given the pad, it really drives home the loyalties and the authority of the pack. The Headhunter bolter's also good for the 'stalker' theme. 

Next up .. the 'Oddballs' - which is not a designation, just a characterization. 

Umbral had an idea awhile back for a 'Dungeons of Terra' sort of campaign, wherein various Imperial forces would be fending off the undermining incursion salients of Traitor forces into the eponymous dungeons during the course of the Siege. The campaign never got off the drawing board ... but I nevertheless wound up building a few miniatures in general service of the concept. They may show up elsewhere in our storylines.

I say 'oddballs', because each one was a bit of a twist or a subversion on the more usually expected characterizations of given Legions. 

This is partially because each one was suffering in some fashion from 'Post-Human Traumatic Stress Disorder' - that particular form of mental illness which appears to have afflicted many Astartes during the Heresy due to .. well .. their established and comfortable loyalties and allegiances and place in the universe going out the window in an immense way; and alongside that the particular traumas of betrayal, the witnessing of horrific spectacles of the mass-mortality of their brethren (in the case of the Shattered Legions), and in some cases even their Primarchs ; and, in the case of the loyalists from Traitor Legions, the losing of their brothers and their own former lives in an entirely different way. 

But on with the show - 



As applies the Night Lord - Indraj - this is one of those aforementioned loyalists of a traitor legion origin ... and is showing the 'subversion' theme by being an incredibly direct and pulverizing combatant rather than a 'strike-from-the-shadows' sort in terms of his armament. There's nothing subtle about a thunder hammer and a rather large shield; and I like to think that the posing, with the raised head and gaze indicates that he's going after something rather larger than himself - the direct opposite of what we usually see from the Night Lords deliberately choosing to prey upon those weaker than themselves. 

Now, in terms of the name ... 

Both to recall Indra, due to the thunder-club [Vajra ... thunder hammer, you get what i mean], and striking out of the darkness of the storm-clouds [bruise-black armour also], plus a certain 'impetuous' and 'imperious' character [that'll go nicely with/as/for the Eagle].. ; but also, because I delight in double meanings and [theonymic] puns. If you've followed my academic research , there's a curious coterminity between words for "rulership' and words for "night" that turn up in, for example, Old Norse [and its descendents] and Sanskrit [and likewise]. I won't go into the full details and CONTEXTUALLY SOLICITED (PROTO-)INDO-EUROPEAN MYTHO-LINGUISTIC TRIVIA ... but the long and the short of it is that "Raj" , dependent upon inflection and pronunciation, can mean "King", "Rulership", etc .. *or* it can mean "Night", "Dark". So, with "Indra" also having the (figurative) ability to mean "Lord" ... you *could* translate "Indraj" as "Night Lord". Or, with another pronunciation, "Shining/Radiance/King/Lord of the Storm". ["Indra", same pronunciation each way, can also mean "Night", because Sanskrit is a "fun" language; and "Raj" can also mean "Dust", so we've got a few other possibilities to get in there, as well, given the figurative connotations of "dust" going on. But I digress]["Lord of Dust", given what's happened to his legion, may be appropriate - especially given the notion of the ashes of the cremation ground which it may therefore also entail]].

 

Felt I should highlight the Raptor Imperialis . 

The Salamander, meanwhile, is a bit of a tribute / injoke to the third man of Vox Stellarum, who's also a longstanding collaborator with my academic / theological work . Hence the heavy flamer [due to the meme that's gone around for ages around getting the flamer .. no, brother, the *heavy* flamer] , and also the thunder hammer - which is a rather more ... curious theological reference. 



This brings us on to the next two ... 

First up, a *very angry bird* - an XIXth Legionnaire who's quite clearly rather furious. As in, has eschewed the more customary caution of the Raven Guard in order to be blatantly throwing himself at the enemy whilst wielding a rather large axe. It seemed the best way to get across that he's expressing his trauma through rather incautious rage ; as opposed to the more studious approach of some other XIXth forces post-Isstvan , who favour their Legion's own habitual modus operandi of stealth and conservation of force given their limited numbers. 



Next , a Son of the Emperor : 



Now, the idea with this chap is that he's a demolitions expert. Hence all the grenades and other explosives he's got on his person - as well as the hand-held gadget that seemed ideal for a detonator. Signal'll be broadcast via the comms antenna on his backpack. In the actual Dungeons game, I'd intended to have tonnes of the Necromunda sprue grenade-piles and suchlike, as traps that he could remotely detonate to frustate the advance of the Traitors. Hence also his pointing posture - he's gesturing to where something is about to become rather more heavily geographically distributed. 

The bionic leg may, perhaps, suggest that he's run afoul of ordnance in-the-flesh earlier in his career - and is a tangible mark of his own , i guess you could say .. imperfection. Both in terms of physical form, but also in likely terms of tradecraft to lead to the injury in the first place. 

The more interesting thing about him, however, is that he was a close friend of a now-deceased (blown apart, in fact) Xth Legionnaire ... and feels that loss quite keenly. So much so in fact that he's effectively absorbed and started expressing some of the dead Marine's personality traits - giving voice to the dead , almost as if the spirit of his former comrade had been blown into him during the detonation.

Certainly, the rosary of prayer-beads about his wrist speaks towards an Astartes who has moved in a rather more overtly religious direction than many in response to his trauma. 

Meanwhile, the ballistic apron [from the Iron Warriors tyrant siege terminators] seemed apt for a marine with his combat specialization - as it would absorb shrapnel etc. from things going off in front of him etc., help protect his fellows. 

There is one nod to the more 'traditional' IIIrd legion vibe, however (other than the bejeweled shoulderpad) - these two paired master crafted power-blades, which he'll be fully capable of utilizing as a matched pair of dueling weapons. Perhaps that's how he got that fine scar across his face, Prussian style. 



Anyway, that's the first eight of my Heresy-era Truescales posted ... there's 22 Astartes to go , plus a whole range of other miniatures from the same period [the Auxilia , Agents of the Sigillite , a rather impressive truescale Custodes , etc. etc. ] . 

And then there's Umbral's various efforts ... 

I'm hoping that a fresh start log will help me get some motivation back to do more in this era. 

And perhaps do some writing a la what I've managed for the Adamanticores [ Hara Barazaiti ] and Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir . 

Really 'bring things to life' and tie up a few ends for your presentation and enjoyment. 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Technically, I did these for our Unification Wars effort ... although they could just as easily be run in a Heresy era storyline.

Mk.III XIXth Legion: 









There is a fifth, a duellist with one eye and two swords, that I have never quite completed due to the hand-made torc going .. a bit haywire during either the assembly or the painting. 

[Doghouse]

Really nice stuff, you've done a great job on these. I really like the guy with the bolter and lightning claw.

[Ryltar Thamior]

Really nice stuff, you've done a great job on these. I really like the guy with the bolter and lightning claw.

Churr. Coming from you, is extra high praise. I think at the time I was building the XIXth in particular, I'd been going through one of your logs where you'd done a fair amount of Mk.III - might have been the Black Templars one. 

 

Although not quite sure which miniature you're referring to - the Space Wolf with the pointing lightning claw's got Cypher's plasma pistol ; perhaps it is the XIXth with the power fist ? [the fingers are a bit occluded by the background] 

 

In which case .. built that one to directly imitate as closely as I could, a Space Wolf I'd built waaaaaaaaaaaay back as a lad in the glory days of 3rd Edition . This is something I've often thought is a good idea - attempting to go back to things we thought were cool back when we first got in , and re-immanentizing them with the skills, the materials we have access to now. 

 

Anyway, thank you again for kind words. 

[BadgersinHills]

Great work. The thought going into the nomenclature is really a testament to your creativity and the scope offered by this hobby. Indraj in particular, and as someone with passing knowledge of Sanskrit, really nice to see. 

 

The Imperial dungeon on Terra is an excellent idea - Would be an excellent RPG idea. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Great work. The thought going into the nomenclature is really a testament to your creativity and the scope offered by this hobby. Indraj in particular, and as someone with passing knowledge of Sanskrit, really nice to see. 

 

The Imperial dungeon on Terra is an excellent idea - Would be an excellent RPG idea. 

Thanks for kind words :D 

 

It's been positive and pleasing to see rather more Sanskrit (or derivatives thereof) turning up about the place over the past few years. There's a few occurrences in Alan Bligh's HH Black Book fluff, and for that matter in some of the Black Library offerings as well. And, of course, Apologist's recent Dreadnought adornments (and a few other spots). 

 

I'm a theologian by profession, and we make strong use of linguistics in the course of our work - and that's where my head's at all the time. Even when I'm not (directly) working :P 

 

The vast majority of my 40k efforts have wound up similarly infused - sometimes, it's quite direct borrowing and inspiration, as with the loyalist Iron Warriors we'll be meeting shortly [the Ayasa BhutaGana ] and the not unrelated loyalist Night Lords [the Pishachas .. and there's a *stellar* Bhairava ['Terrifying'] to lead them] ; other times, things will get more multifaceted. There's a rather lengthy dialogue piece I wrote up to introduce one of the Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir wherein I probably went a bit far with a whole blizzard of elements that only properly make sense when considered in both Sanskrit and .. somewhere between Old Norse and Proto-Germanic. 

 

And, of course, everything that's gone into the Hara Barazaiti effort thus far. 

 

As applies the Heresy , and for that matter the Unification Wars efforts - part of the reasoning for why I went down  the Sanskritized direction was due to the interior logic I'd worked out for the historiography of Unification : with an initial 'heartland' for the Emperor's effort located in Northern India / Nepal , and then expanding westwards from there [i have a massive threadsplication of it built out of the older Black Books that were out at the time , and relevant Heresy novels like The Outcast Dead] . And, of course, also the reconstructive Indo-European theology around The Emperor. [another long story - suffice to say, the notion of a golden-armoured God-Emperor based in the Himalayas and presiding over mighty armies of Sons with lightning/thunder associations etc. etc. is .. right there in our mythology ] 

 

So stay tuned for more of that, I suppose. I'd stopped putting a lot of it into my posts because I felt people weren't here for text-walls and instead preferred pictures, but if there's interest, it shall be dusted off. 

 

Oh, and in terms of the RPG side of things .. just wait til I get to the actual narrative campaign sections we initially fleshed out for our efforts, near Ultramar. 

 

Anyway, thank you once again for kind words. 

[Slave to Darkness]

Damn these look good. Cant wait to see what else you have done. 

[Doghouse]

 

Although not quite sure which miniature you're referring to - the Space Wolf with the pointing lightning claw's got Cypher's plasma pistol ; perhaps it is the XIXth with the power fist ? [the fingers are a bit occluded by the background] 

 

In which case .. built that one to directly imitate as closely as I could, a Space Wolf I'd built waaaaaaaaaaaay back as a lad in the glory days of 3rd Edition . This is something I've often thought is a good idea - attempting to go back to things we thought were cool back when we first got in , and re-immanentizing them with the skills, the materials we have access to now.

 

Ah I see it now, yeah the XIXth with the powerfist. The Space Wolf is really good as well, re-envisioning your third edition model is a really nice touch as it makes the model more personal.

 

Keepy up the good work they are looking great! :tu:

[Ryltar Thamior]

Noticed these two on the shelf ... hadn't actually been finished (!) ; I'm not quite sure what happened, but will be revisiting these at some point in the near future to touch up those details that have been overlooked. 

BhutaGana Apothecary and Seeker ; 



I'd been finding my feet converting and truescaling in particular for awhile - and these were the first round of builds that I think I was really pleased with. The forward observation etc. efforts I'd done some time beforehand, I'll post a bit later and you'll see the marked improvement. 



As I've often done, I went with bigger, thicker arms - normal-scale arms on truescales often seem to suffer from "t-rex arms" ; in this case, Mk.III on the right, and those fine knightly arms from the Ravenwing Command box - which is also where the Apothecary bitz game from , as well as the bolt pistol and the helms. 

I went with the same 'ballistic apron' approach for the Apothecary as we've seen on the IIIrd Demolitions specialist - I figured that it'd be a positive element for a Marine that'd often be tending to heavily injured and armour-broken warriors ; the apron absorbing at least some shrapnel incoming. 

The Seeker, meanwhile, I appear to have omitted a pistol - and instead gone for twin combat blades. And then promptly run out of space to place the grenades. Which have wound up in an arguably logical stowage location. Or not. I think I realized *afterwards* how it looked. 

I keep meaning to build a few more Seekers to go with - other than components, it's been the posing that held up that particular effort. I try and make things look if not 'dynamic', then at least 'realistic' yet also distinctive. And with the Tartaros legs I've got left, it's about working out how to get things going with that stance. 

Anyway .. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Veteran Sergeant JataVeda of the BhutaGana - The Instigator.



background:

A Terran Veteran of Unification, JataVeda leads the Hotr - a flamer, combi-flamer, and heavy-flamer equipped forward operations squad who burn at the leading edge of the BhutaGana's advance like the blade of a plasma-torch

JataVeda's Aryas origins are plainly visible in both panoply and nomenclature; his name referring to an ancient bearer of purifying flame, and carrying with it the underlying signifer of the "inceptor", the "leading edge" of a blessed and mighty work, while his squad's cognomen is derived from archaic Sanskrit for the master of the sacrificial fire - itself a development of a far older term referring to the action of "pouring", and therefore most apt for the stirling description of the application of burning promethium to the foe.

In addition to a power-tulwar of black meteoric provenance, JataVeda carries a decidedly non-standard [particularly for Astartes use] pattern of customized flamer; closer in form to those more commonly used by the Army of Unification and then Imperial Army, than the mighty Marines - although with the more usual hose and back-mounted fuel-tank replaced by a much less hazardous (to the operator) canister independently mounted upon the weapon itself. This is likely to have been an operational necessity, given the nature of the BhutaGana's preferred mode of warfare as well as squad Hotr's own habitual place within the vanguard of clearance operations in dense terrain. As it substantially lessens the risk of a stray shot or shrapnel-fragment provoking an explosion and subsequent burning that the bearer would otherwise be unable to easily extinguish or distance themselves from.

Meanwhile, the chestplate of JataVeda's slightly altered field-evaluation phase Mk.VI armour has also been plated with an honorific design that simultaneously recalls the Lightingbolts of Unity (also featured upon his Raptor Imperialis shoulder-pad), as well as the burning (destructive) illumination which the Hotr, and JataVeda in particular, inevitably cast before them.

The noted Terran author, PTerry of the Ankh, once memorably opined that in situations of darkness, it was often better to light a flamethrower than simply to curse the dark. This was built upon by the NAS Combat Theologian, Curwen Ares Rolinson, into a broader maxim around the salience and significance of Fire in an Indo-European mythic context - the culmination of which, was the way in which its simultaneous conveyance of illumination/wisdom and destruction/removal of the false, supported its metaphysical implication as the direct conduit to the Realm and Mission of the Ishvara : the Emperor.

Twenty eight thousand years later, Vet. Sgt. Jataveda continues to put that mantra into practice. The fiery doom of his weapon presenting the Emperor's Judgement upon those who would otherwise deny by their very presence, thought, word, and deed, the implicit divinity of Mankind. And the mastery inherent in the unfurling of "Krinvanto Vishvam Aryam" across the Stars.

   


This was the most recent BhutaGana I've done . Flamers (and associated weapons) seemed a logical choice for a forward assault unit . Didn't have many Heresy-era appropriate Flamers - so I built one. Mk.III arms once again seemed ideal for the heavily armoured assault look - going well with the cataphractii torso utilized for the big burly chest ... and, of course, the Mk.III pauldrons with Raptor Imperialis .

I think the power sword was the plastic commissar one - which, when given a hilt etc, seemed quite a good fit - it's ornate without being too flashy, especially with the black meteoric iron colouration; and with the curve and point manages to be closer to the Tulwar end of the spectrum. 

The subtle scaring on the Primaris head I've used hasn't *quite* shown up in the photos, but oh well. I'd dialed it back from the overt red/crimson/maroon for subtlety/realism and it went a bit far to be so visually striking. Although all things considered, this is definitely one of the best faces I've yet managed . The Primaris heads often do have quite a bit of character to them. 

As my constant refrain goes .. I keep meaning to build the rest of the squad to go with - there's been a heavy flamer operator half-built for .. a year and a half now ? And I figured I'd get around my lack of Heresy era flamers / heavy flamers via incorporating a combi-flamer , terminator heavy flamer , and a few other such things. We'll see how it goes with the posing etc. 





 

[Ryltar Thamior]

These are further back again in terms of my truescaling efforts. I'd had a flash of inspiration to do, I suppose, some forward observers - and probably went a bit far in terms of the weathering, shrapnel scouring, etc. Painting is ... incomplete. Should get back to them. 




This one was first up - a Devastator sergeant's .. signum I think? for the F.O. element ;; and a ravenwing command pick seemed aptly siege-like. 

I was still getting to grips with proportion - and also seeing if grave warden terminator torsos could be viably utilized for truescaling, perhaps due to a shortage of regular plastic cataphractii and tartaroi torso fronts. Probably also mounted the head a bit high as a result - giving a bit of a 'rock-em sock'em' neck . 



As you can see, I refined the concept .

One thing that doesn't quite come across in these images is that I for some reason chose to replace the exhaust vents on the backpacks [well, three out of four of them], with plastic skulls from the old tomb kings skeleton warriors . I also utilized Goliath stick grenades for a WWI trench-runner feel on the axe-wielder. 

All up ... could have gone far worse - and was a viable foundation for learning how to do better in the future. Which, as you can see from the earlier entries in this thread (that are chronologically later)  ... is basically what happened .

[Ryltar Thamior]

finally finished this Space Wolf to go with the four aforementioned. 



It was a build that came together surprisingly well considering my lack of experience at the time - something about the legs and that excellent axe just .. demanded to be placed together in this way. There may be a shade of the good old 3rd Ed Space Wolves Codex cover ; the seeker bolter being fired almost as a bolt-pistol definitely recalls True Grit . 

I'd done a lot of umming an ahing about attaching an actual holstered bolt pistol, grenades, pouches, a knife - but in the end simply didn't get around to it. It was indecisiveness coupled with a concern that it would disrupt the nice, clean lines of the miniature 

Torso waas an experiment in utilizing a cut-down resin cataphractii one - in this particular case, Iron Warrior Tyrant terminators .

Not my best paintwork all up - which I partially put down to how much more difficult it is to 'come back to' an effort that was already in progress some time ago at a different skill level and make meaningful improvements. For me, anyway. 

 

[BadgersinHills]

Looking great! 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Dusted these off - quite literally - for photography. The Breacher squad we did .. awhile ago now. Conversion-work was done by my longstanding collaborator, Umbral - as this was before I'd found my feet with such things; painting by a rather younger me. 



Now, again, we didn't do things .. conventionally; so a number of these Astartes are a little different. For example, this demolition-charge hurling Marine that's also laden down with heavy bolter magazines and such.





or the heavy bolter wielder himself 







Incidentally, the deathshroud terminator legs make for more dynamic posing; and the Ravenwing Command Mk. VI helms are also quite excellent.







although there's also always room for the classics:







Photography's a little .. patchy ; which is due to it being done in daylight for a change (!) ; if necessary, I may re-take later once the sun goes down , but anyway - good to finally have them up. 

 

[BadgersinHills]

Lovely work. The charge hurling marine is great as is the heavy bolter marine.

 

And I think conventions aren't worth tuppence compared to cool models. :)

[Ryltar Thamior]

Truescale Alpha Legion chaplain 









Scale shot - 

 

[Zebulon]

He’s looking a bit fabulous isn’t he?! Much bling compared to the restrained palette we are used to.

 

That’s a trimmed down Sanguinary Guard deathmask isn’t it? I am still thinking about that Mycenaean mask idea you mentioned a while back - I do think it holds much promise.

[Ryltar Thamior]

He’s looking a bit fabulous isn’t he?! Much bling compared to the restrained palette we are used to.

 

That’s a trimmed down Sanguinary Guard deathmask isn’t it? I am still thinking about that Mycenaean mask idea you mentioned a while back - I do think it holds much promise.

Yeah, as applies various XXth units, I've never felt the full-scale need to be quite as subtle with the colourations and adornment. My line of thinking has generally been that they're the ones you're *supposed* to see, and be distracted by. Although given that power armour having holographic projectors mounted upon it is *also* apparently a thing [c.f Night Lords' lightning; some other Alpha Legion bits and pieces], it's also possible that these sorts of  'shiny' can be muted as necessary. 

 

As applies your question - yes, correct ish. Although the specific head used was from the Blood Angels upgrade sprue. It may also be possible to accomplish a similar effect using a sigmarine head.

 

The idea was to replicate this sort of vibe from IHF's concept:

 

[Zebulon]

Ah yes... in their image it also has a somewhat Samurai facemask vibe; though that may be because we are viewing it facing-frontwards.

 

Either way, cool. I have some Anvil industry heads on the way which I think will look good on selected, favoured cultists.

 

Your models (and IHFs concepts) are awesome. I daren’t try truescaling as I am loth to cut up models (beyond a bit of tweaking sometimes)

[Ryltar Thamior]

Ah yes... in their image it also has a somewhat Samurai facemask vibe; though that may be because we are viewing it facing-frontwards.

 

Either way, cool. I have some Anvil industry heads on the way which I think will look good on selected, favoured cultists.

 

Your models (and IHFs concepts) are awesome. I daren’t try truescaling as I am loth to cut up models (beyond a bit of tweaking sometimes)

Glad that the Achaean archaeology thought was of (potential) use to you :D And thank you for the kind words. 

 

As applies truescaling - it's *remarkably* easy these days. I don't even use greenstuff when doing mine. 

 

Now yes, for the XXth in question, a fair amount of cutting stuff did happen - but that's because this is a rather ornate and visually distinct miniature, with the scaled cloak and suchlike, along with the staff [a little short for a staff, I know ; more of a .. well, in Old Norse the term would be 'Gand' - as in 'Gandr', as in 'Gand-Alf' ... but also "Jormun-Gandr' ... and yes, that last one is because the name of the demonic dragon serpent effectively translates as "really big stick/staff/wand" ['Wand' is .. oddly enough not related to 'Gand'] - although it's interesting to note that that same term ['Gandr'] has another meaning that's a .. dangerous creature, and/or magically potent in a baelful manner.  BUT THEN I DIGRESS] 

 

When I first started actually building miniatures again [after a ... decade's hiatus], once I'd gotten my confidence back somewhat with some pretty easy kits, I quite rapidly moved to building my own truescales. I *think* those Mk.III XIXth that I posted way upthread , are from that relatively early phase. I'd had an idea in my head around "Scythians" for our Unification Wars effort, and ... well .. one thing lead to another. I don't think they look half bad for somebody who'd only been back to building things for a few months at the time :D 

 

Now, the latest round of efforts from Apologist - which look really great, because of course they do - that are built from rather cut-down and resculpted Mk.X ... yeah, those would probably be rather involved conversions to try out. I don't have the inclination to try them for exactly that reason. 

 

But my general approach, featuring your choice of HH era terminator legs, a reasonably easy to build kitbashed torso [like, it's two cuts on an HH era plastic terminator torso front of your choice, plus a standard space marine torso back; plus filling in the back armour with plating from wherever you can make it - cataphractii shoulders, mostly] some slight additions or removals in the abdominal area so the torso can sit on the legs comfortably, and then whatever arms and such completes the posing [arms preferably either Mk.III plastics, deathwatch mk.viii, or Primaris in order to avoid t-rex arm syndrome] ... it's not too hard to produce a reasonable array of Astartes without too much fiddlyness nor cmplexity. 

 

There's a few tutorials out there [each of Apologist and Doghouse have done *at least* one, I'm sure there are others] for processes that are probably a bit more involved and 'consistent' in some regards , utilizing greenstuff ; although if there is interest in another one that's perhaps rather more haphazard in some parts, and *doesn't* use greenstuff, I can try putting one together i suppose. 

 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Truescale Alpha Legion ... again 

[Zebulon]

Another handsome beast!

 

Yes, by all means provide a tutorial on the “haphazard Ryltar method” if you are so inclined, I for one would like to see it.

 

After all, the more ways to skin a cat the better (not encouraging felicide here) :tu:

[Brother Lunkhead]

Excellent work Brother