The Faithful Jackals

[Slyen]

I started work a couple of weeks back on this project before I had a name or much of anything else to it. Following Apologist's work on his Blood Angels I went down the true scale route in earnest for the first time. Recently I've thought that it might be easier to keep a log here than being reliant on my Twitter and Instagram to keep track of progress on the lore behind these guys and know for a fact that I can't commit to a blog to well.  Heck I'm bad enough at keeping up with Hobby Streak as an idea.

The goal is to build up a small army of predominately Mk6 armor marines that is sized for Crusade. Rouge Trader's art and the original marine sculpts are also giving a lot of inspiration but I'm not trying to just recreate them so much as use them as a guide for rules. The major hurdle has been crossed though and that's getting a scheme down.  I'll have to try it out on a test mini but as far as general colors idea it looks something like this:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/sm.php?b62c=@hqdVq_hqduP.hIZAY.@@@___h3A2P@iakk7@@..@@@@@@@@@@@@h1VNS__@@@@@hbzaS____iakk7h9EYH@@@___@@@@@.@.iakk7&

 

INDEX ENTRY //START//
 

The Faithful Jackals are listed in the annuals of the Adeptus Astartes as a successor to the Ultramarines successor chapter. However, the exact founding they belong to is not clear as much of the records of their history were lost during the Age of Apostasy though what remains is a conflicting patchwork of reports of their appearance and disappearance. Their earliest surviving record of their combat operations places them in defensive operations during the 1st Black Crusade within the same sector their fortress monastery stands in M41. One prevailing theory amongst those members of the Adminstratium is that the chapter has been re-founded a number of times rather than letting the livery and history of the chapter rest however if this is the case it is certainly unusual.

 

INDEX ENTRY //END//

Got a lot of work ahead of me but the next post will have pictures of at least the start of the first 5 marines. It's going to be a bit of a slow build for this but I think so far I've actually been pacing myself really well.  Could definitely use some feedback on the scheme.  I want the blue arm as a homage to the Ultramarines Legion though I'm not sold on the head color matching as well.  I did think of using the head to be a company marker or doing the classic beakie stripe for that but as it stands there isn't one.

Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll catch you with the next update!

Edited May 11, 2021 by Slyen

[BadgersinHills]

Colour scheme is quite distinctive, looks really nice. I look forward to seeing more, models and lore wise.

 

I like the idea of just the blue arm but as it is, the scheme looks nice. 

Edited April 27, 2021 by BadgersinHills

[Slyen]

Hello again everyone!

Tonight I finished the sculpting I needed to do on my first combat squad. Mostly I am waiting on bits to arrive now, but I did get word they shipped today so I'll probably see them early next week as FedEx to work is more reliable than FedEx to my home. I also finished the Redemptor dreadnought's build (mostly) that I have to go with these first marines. For the photo they are arranged from left (with the head if you need the help!) to right as oldest to newest.

Truly sculpting for the first time I could use some feedback, especially critical feedback. I'm telling myself its good to help keep from bungling them up by trying to make them perfect but I also know its not where I want to be. I did notice as I sculpted more I was getting closer to where I wanted to be as far as the image I wanted to present with the chest cabling though! Either way, I'm new to sculpting, new to clay shapers, and had little patience with green stuff in the past. So please, give me all the advice you can/are willing to.

And without further ado, here is the first combat squad.

[BadgersinHills]

Great conversions! Sculpting looks good. I'm not a GS expert but more practice with GS would only improve your skill. :) 

[Slyen]

Great conversions! Sculpting looks good. I'm not a GS expert but more practice with GS would only improve your skill. :)

Thank you! What I’ve been finding so far is it’s a lot of patience that has to be devoted to learning the hard way what will work, what won’t, and what tools are needed in what circumstances. Also, using just enough greenstuff for the job has been a hard thing to figure out as well. I keep making up more than I need.

That said I’ll get more lore posted up tonight or soon. I’ve had something bouncing around my head all weekend but I finished the first marine!

Does this make me an official true scaler?

[Guest Triszin]

Rad

[Doghouse]

Very nice work indeed. I think you are doing fine and are going about it the right way by exploring and figuring it out yourself as ultimately it's the best way to do it then look at other people's techniques later.

 

Speaking as a long timer putty pusher it's going to happen when you get left over bits, my paint tray is full of little round balls of GS. You'll figure it out in time but it's best to production line if you can so left over bits get added to the next guy.

 

Stick at it though, you are doing great. 

 

Does this make me an official true scaler?

 

Forgot to say, welcome to the club. ;)

[Slyen]

Rad

Thank you!

 

 

Very nice work indeed. I think you are doing fine and are going about it the right way by exploring and figuring it out yourself as ultimately it's the best way to do it then look at other people's techniques later.

 

Speaking as a long timer putty pusher it's going to happen when you get left over bits, my paint tray is full of little round balls of GS. You'll figure it out in time but it's best to production line if you can so left over bits get added to the next guy.

 

Stick at it though, you are doing great. 

 

 

 

Does this make me an official true scaler?

 

 

Forgot to say, welcome to the club. ;)

Thank you so much! I’m definitely planning on assembly lining the next batch. I just need to figure out if I should do it in 5 again or 10. That said I might have seen your reply and got overly excited a bit. You’re actually one of the 3 folks that caused me to fall in love with True/Art Scale back in the days of 5th Edition and only two plastic terminator kits. You’re Chaos Warrior method was what I tried back then and aborted out of frustration but now I have clay shapers?

[Ryltar Thamior]

Legit ! Always good to see more truescaling going on on B&C ! 

Nice conversion work, as well. 

Personally, I've just gone with the tartaroi leg route for doing Mk.VI , because I don't have the ability or the patience for greenstuff work and carving up Mk.X like you guys do - but there's no denying that what you and Apologist have done looks pretty great. Appreciate the 2nd Ed callback enthusiasm as well. 

[Slyen]

Legit ! Always good to see more truescaling going on on B&C !

Nice conversion work, as well.

Personally, I've just gone with the tartaroi leg route for doing Mk.VI , because I don't have the ability or the patience for greenstuff work and carving up Mk.X like you guys do - but there's no denying that what you and Apologist have done looks pretty great. Appreciate the 2nd Ed callback enthusiasm as well.

Thank you! I do intend on using those legs on a future project for these guys but that's down the road a while. I'd like to do some kind of "up armored" appearing marines for Breachers/Blade Guard in time and they have the perfect appearance for them.

Update wise I apologize for being so quite. Some stuff happened last week that shook me up and threw a wrench in my hobby. Slowly been getting over it because life happens, right? Well yesterday I finally got to the point where I felt I could hobby a little and at least finish one of the marines. Last night I ended up finishing the Sergeant off and not just 1 of the 3 bolter armed marines, but all of them.

So that's a combat squad and a Redemptor Dreadnought that I've built for this project so far. The Redemptor is off camera still here but was a project I worked on mainly while trying to psyche myself up for working with the green stuff. I did do pictures of it over on Twitter but its pretty basic. I've tried to take a semi-classical approach to it, arming it with the big Gatling gun and a heavy flamer on the arm. I officially hate how finicky the legs are on that kit even if it allows for more dynamic posing that I love.

I also picked up the Assault Intercessor kit to try and get some more dynamic poses in for the second half of the squad but I noticed a snag I'll have to deal with. It looks like all Intercessor bodies with the exception of the actual Intercessor kit come with hip plates. The easy to build do, Dark Imperium's Intercessors do, Hellblaster's do, the Assault Intercessors do, but the basic Intercessors do not. So I'll have to work something out there, either more cutting or just accepting it and working around it.

-----Lore Segment!------

Nothing narrative or fancy today. I'm trying to work out a bit of a story segment but that is a bit off still.

Culture wise I am trying to narrow it down still though I was considering looking deeper at ancient Bactria as an inspiration. I have to do more research though in the history of the region.

They are similar to the Consecrators in that they won't wear armor newer than Mk 6 though modifications to those armors is acceptable to them. This may change in time dependent entirely off of if I want to do some Mk 7 or 8 though... That said, they will all be wearing a studded pad on their left shoulder (classic Beaky style) in remembrance for the Heresy and all those who stood against the forces of Horus during the Siege of Terra. I remember some old lore somewhere that was commenting that was the purpose of the studded pad post heresy once and I want to integrate that as one of the chapter's "sacred" quirks. Not that they don't view their armor as holy.

Their role though is a little out of the norm for Marines. Usually they don't deploy en masse to warzones. They'll trust in the Tarot to guide them to where they need to be when major conflicts break out however most of their time they have split their chapter up in deployment with forces of the Mechanicus that are investigating rumors of archeotechnology and STC templates. They also collect and protect items of cultural and artist value in a similar fashion with the intent ensuring that such things do not get destroyed as collateral damage.

Their chapter keep and home worlds are in a sector deep within Segmentum Pacificus, placing them under the Ur Council during the Time of Twin Empires.

While their primary antagonists are Orks and Genstealer Cultists, they have a strong hatred against the heretic Iron Warriors.

Anyway that's all for now. Like I said, short story segment will come in time but for now hopefully it's not too all over the place!

Edited May 11, 2021 by Slyen

[Slyen]

An Accounting of the Trials of the Aspirants of the Faithful Jackals, Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes

As witnessed by Senlac Alasce, Escrivein Primus of the Adeptus Administratum

923.M39

[starting excerpt///] ...It is on the world of Kailash 5 that many of the Faithful Jackal's recruits come from. An arid and barren world it manages to be classified as γ-class, or Civilized, due primarily to the level of technological advancement stemming from the sprawling Archeotech ruins across the planet. Even after nearly 10 millennia of Imperial rule, many of the ruin complexes are left unexplored as the population rarely ventures into any of the downed starship hulks or underground vaults, for better of the initiation rites of those aspirants who wish to join the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes.

The first test upon those wishing to join the ranks of the Jackals is the Pilgrimage of the Emperor's Truth. The Aspirants, already brave or curious, would make their way to the chapter sanctum located deep within the Vrajra Badlands and often on foot and trekking many hundred of kilometers. With them they bring a piece of Archeotechnology they feel is a worthy tribute.

Should they manage to survive the journey they will be welcome into the first chambers of the complex. Here they are granted food, drink, and rest from their journey to a level many have never, and will never experience again. There are many chapter serfs in these chambers but the presence of the Astartes is also felt. Eventually the Aspirant is brought forth to be received. They are brought before Techmarine of the highest caliber who reviews the tribute presented. Should he find the tribute wanting the child is moved to return home. Should the tribute impress, the Aspirant will move forward to the second chambers. I personally do not understand much of the criteria, however there seems to be a matter of usefulness. There were many for example who brought what even I as an amateur would consider junk by contrast though one produced a fully functioning pistol of fearful power. It is also important to note that the children themselves are expected to protect their tribute themselves and it is not uncommon to find cases where Aspirants might "trade up" for an unattended but more worthy tribute.

The first test complete, the Aspirants would proceed to the second chambers of the sanctum for the second of their trials. Here they would be measured of their mind and spirit. The Aspirants are strapped to chairs, injected psychoactive drugs, and the Chapter's psykers come forth to each Aspirant in turn. I am told they face a horror unique to them and they will be forced to overcome and accept it before they can move on. At this point they are also screened if they too are psykers. Those who fail this trial have their memories wiped and, as those who failed to produce a worthy tribute, returned back to their homes.

The third and final test is perhaps the most straight forward. Given a hunting knife, the would be Astartes is placed into a caged arena. On the other side a man, sentenced to death by the Planetary authorities, is put into the ring. The man is promise freedom should he kill the Aspirant, the boy knows if he wishes to fulfil his dream this man comes between him and that and must kill him.

During my visit, I observed two-hundred Aspirants enter the halls of the Sanctum. Of those who were chosen to become the chapter's newest neophytes was a scant six... [///end excerpt]

So I came up with a bit of lore on my drive home trying to think of how they can select candidates to join the chapter in a way that it unique and gets away from the, "Your trial is to be placed on an island with bomb collars on and have to kill your classmates" style selection that so many chapters have. Instead I wanted to focus on something that involved the chapter's culture of scavenging for relics and then a test of resolve similar to Dune's pain box that Paul is subject to in the opening chapters. I also, which thinking this out, got the idea for a character in this chapter, an ancient Chaplain whose heavily augments due to years of service and combat and has his crozius fashioned into an ornate staff.

Either way hobby update wise:

I started work yesterday on cleaning up the next 5 marines. I got them all taken care of and plan on working through the rest of what I have outstanding over the weekend, maybe getting started on sculpting out the cables on all of these guys.

The Assault Intercessors are a bit different than the normal Intercessors I found though. I wanted to have a more dynamic pose for them than the the normal Intercessors have but found they are a bit harder to work with. First off all the shins are one piece unlike with the normal Intercessors which taught me early on that I need to leave a little of the flange whenever there is even a slight bend in the knee or there is no real break between the lower greave and the thigh section. This is pretty prominently displayed on the left hand model.

The other thing I found is that regular Intercessors are the only mainline Tacticus Mk X armor unit to not have hip plates. Assault Intercessor have them then I notices that Hellblasters, the ETB 3 marine box marines have them, and Dark Imperium's intercessors have them... But regular Intercessors do not. In this case I don't think it is a huge deal as I am adding pouches and belt/kit filigree, but something to look out for if you try this yourself is that you'll have damage to the belt line and often large flat areas on the legs where the plates were supposed to cover.

That said it didn't seem to take any more time than with the normal Intercessors. I just don't think the results are as good as they could be given the modifications you have to use and getting an even flushed leg is much (MUCH) harder.

When I get all of this done, I'll start looking at paint. Should have about 20 marines at that point and a dreadnought ready.

[Slyen]

Hey! So its been a minute. I've slowly been working on these guys still but have kept the daily/ near daily WIPs to social media. This week though I've been crunching down since I'm planning to play this weekend and want these guys as done as possible for that. Unfortunately I've found I don't have all of the bits needed to do a full second squad.

I've also started work on the bases. The plan is to do the first leader up tomorrow and then paint as much as possible on Friday. I'm thinking of modelling a Lieutenant up but just running the character as Captain in this game. I've got ideas for a Chaplain though and about how best to utilize this Commander shoulder pad from the 25th Anniversary diorama as it has the Rouge Trader era skull bird icon. That's assuming if I even want to use it.

And as I write this I find the missile launcher armed marine is missing his backpack and the launcher interferes with placement... Either way, here we go. Let me know what you think!

[jaxom]

Great work! 

 

 

Also, using just enough greenstuff for the job has been a hard thing to figure out as well. I keep making up more than I need.

There's reusable mold making materials, like Blue Stuff or Oyumaru, that you can get and make push molds (a one-sided mold where the back of the object has no features). I made some push molds of purity seals, aquilas, tubes/cables, scrolls, and other assorted little things that can then be added to armor. Any extra GS I have goes into those.

[Doghouse]

Really nice work, these look great.

[Slyen]

Short update for now, more to follow when it’s not late late.

Painting started tonight. Found 2 needed to go back for re prime and so they are lagging behind. Other 8 are all about halfway done with blocking in the basecoats.

Last week I did the bases to the point where the minis will need to be on them. It was fun and low stress.

I did some tests over the weekend but they really didn’t do what I had hoped for. Luckily my test tonight with one of these guys worked out wonderfully for the Grey and I found a color match for the blue I want amongst an old project so it’s down to remembering how I did that blue.

That test model has also become the poster boy of this post.

Like I said, it’s late and more to follow later!

[Slyen]

It's been a bit since I've made any real progress but pushed forward tonight. A lot of it has been being distracted painting some Adeptus Titanicus knights. I've been drawn in to miniature giant robots and they've been a lot of fun to work on.

I've got the base coats blocked in on a bit more than the first half of the squad and the last 4 are just missing the metal. The grey is almost entirely done, but we'll see how it turns out with the final touches. Almost to a decent table top level, but definitly a lot of cleanup ahead as well. One thing I will say is that Contrast is really handy for getting colors blocked in, especially on weapons.

That's it for this time. It seems like I am out of the "everything is terrible, what am I doing" stage and to the point where things are looking up.