Red Corsairs Master of the Maelstrom - Biker lord WIP

[gaurdian31]

That is a good use of the Iron Warrier HH character and I love the old school power pack!

[TrawlingCleaner]

Thank you gaurdian! The power pack was aptly "borrowed" from an old TS sorcerer in my bit's box and the axe is from the old Chaos lord. I do love a good hodgepodge kit bash

 

With a present for a friend completed, I'm onto the Red Wolves. Blocking in the red, silver and gold is the most tedious part of the scheme as I find the highlighting process pretty quick and easy

 

 

Pre-wash and highlight block colours looks pretty naff but will look great later hopefully

 

[ChargingSoll]

Hey love the way you spinkle some loyalist parts into the models. Makes them look non heretical at a glance. Your red corsairs look great.

[TrawlingCleaner]

Thank you Soll! I figure for mostly recent(ish) converts to the piratical ways, most marines aren't going to be pure Chaos tainted gear. It also helps break up the marines themselves as they're all using the same set of 10 bodies

 

I've not been idle over the B&C's Ascension! The Blood Reaver has been out recruiting and I've been hard at work. First up I got the Red Wolves Killteam completed:

Close ups:

Spoiler

 

Red Wolves Leader:

Chump with BP &CCW:

Brrrt

Chump with Bolter

Oldboy

Double Stabbers

Newbie possessed (I have some idea on how to make actual possessed using Wulfen too)

Berserker

Melta lad

Pretty sure this guy isn't using Fenrisian magic

 

I also built up another 15 marines so that I can have 3x10 man squads  with the loadouts I wanted:

10 with CCW + Melta gun

10 with CCW + Flamer

10 with Bolters, Plasma and Chaincannon

All with Icons, of course

Spoiler

 

 

Next up I started on some bikes as it's not a Red Corsair army without bikes!

Spoiler

 

 

And last but by no means least, it's the big man himself. I went back as I wasn't happy with the conversion as it didn't fit his character for me. He's not the biggest or the fastest. He just thinks well on his feet and has the tools for the job at hand:

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

I'm so pumped for the new codex, I can't wait!

Edited July 1, 2022 by TrawlingCleaner

[Prot]

Great job on Huron. That head is incredibly close to the actual head.

[TrawlingCleaner]

Thank Prot!

The head, arms and backpack are all Finecast Huron. I grabbed one before he went OOP and the quality of the face was awful!  It has lost most of it's detail and the eyes were nearly non-existant. I think I managed to salvage it though, so I don't mind too much

[Guzzlrr]

Just binged on this thread, don't be embarrassed about your Old Models thats History right there my dude, I've still got all of my Ancient (Really really) rough Iron Warriors, I might not use them as much but ill never dump them. 

Paint Job on the models is awesome, in particular loving the amount of Bare heads you have, very Creative use of the (space wolf?) Heads i need to get myself some of those Ive started trying to Bump all my friends space un-helmeted heads now. Looks good on the newer models i think

 

the Huron Model Conversion though that's an awesome Conversion right there!

[Pirate Empress]

Love your conversions and I think you'll have fun at the table as the Red Corsairs are a shockingly flexible sleeper hit if you look at their rules.

[TrawlingCleaner]

23 hours ago, Guzzlrr said:

Just binged on this thread, don't be embarrassed about your Old Models thats History right there my dude, I've still got all of my Ancient (Really really) rough Iron Warriors, I might not use them as much but ill never dump them. 

Paint Job on the models is awesome, in particular loving the amount of Bare heads you have, very Creative use of the (space wolf?) Heads i need to get myself some of those Ive started trying to Bump all my friends space un-helmeted heads now. Looks good on the newer models i think

 

the Huron Model Conversion though that's an awesome Conversion right there!

Thank you, Guzzlrr!

They may be long gone but they're defintiely not forgotten! The only embarrassing part about the army is that until a couple of years ago, it was the largest painted force I had done

All of the bare heads in the Killteam are Space wolves, either from the various plastic kits or from the FW Grey Slayers upgrade. They work really well with the new Chaos models, as all Space Marine parts do to be fair! The SW heads work well for any haggard or worn looking SM

 

17 hours ago, Pirate Empress said:

Love your conversions and I think you'll have fun at the table as the Red Corsairs are a shockingly flexible sleeper hit if you look at their rules.

Thank you Empress! I think so too, I've been looking at the codex and I think RC are definitely one of the more flexible Legion traits in the book. There's a lot more to them than just Advancing and Charging (although that's a big part), things like the Huron having Chapter Master rerolls, a WLT that gives "Fire and Fade" to a unit, CP regen on another WLT,  a relic that gives invulns or improved invulns to termies.

Lots to look at and learn but it's definitely looking like a great time for Red Corsairs!

[Prot]

Have you had a chance to get a game in with either army? I may play my Corsairs tomorrow, or my IW. I haven’t decided yet. 

[TrawlingCleaner]

I haven't yet had a chance to play with the book yet, although I'm very gassed to be let loose with it! My FLGS has a monthly 1k point tournament that I'm hoping to take my RC to, although with the points changes, I'm struggling to fit in all the stuff I want. I love the idea of having 3x10 squads of marines but they get expensive very quickly!

 

[gaurdian31]

Your Corsairs are looking good! Love your Huron!

[Galron]

I am seeing a lot of the upgrades as a trap, especially at 1k. They are still just 2w 3+ armor marines. I dont know if you have yours configured as ranged or close combat. In the first, bring a five man with heavy weapon with a lot of shots, either chain cannon or heavy bolters and maybe mark of tzeetch for the ap boost. For the latter, obviously arm them with close combat weapons and just a power weapon of some sort on the sgt. Bring a bare bones biker squad for objective grabbing. Then fill the rest where you need it since your core is complete. Those new beefy predators and vindicators look nice.

Might be a good idea to only bring 2 marine squads and a cultist/Tyrants Legion squad just to save the points for other toys. 

 

 

[TrawlingCleaner]

On 7/6/2022 at 2:21 PM, gaurdian31 said:

Your Corsairs are looking good! Love your Huron!

 

On 7/6/2022 at 2:50 PM, Galron said:

I am seeing a lot of the upgrades as a trap, especially at 1k. They are still just 2w 3+ armor marines. I dont know if you have yours configured as ranged or close combat. In the first, bring a five man with heavy weapon with a lot of shots, either chain cannon or heavy bolters and maybe mark of tzeetch for the ap boost. For the latter, obviously arm them with close combat weapons and just a power weapon of some sort on the sgt. Bring a bare bones biker squad for objective grabbing. Then fill the rest where you need it since your core is complete. Those new beefy predators and vindicators look nice.

Might be a good idea to only bring 2 marine squads and a cultist/Tyrants Legion squad just to save the points for other toys. 

 

 

 

Apologies for the late reply but thank you both very much! I've been quite busy of late (mainly with my Iron Warriors) but I'll be back on the Corsairs for a while.

Next weekend I've signed up for another 1K  Tempest of War tournament at my local FLGS. I've taken my Iron Warriors for the last couple of times but fancy a change up. So far my list is:

 

Outrider:

Huron

 

5 Marines with Bolters,  a Chaincannon and Balefire tome (Prescience)

9 Marines with Chainswords, a PSword on Champion + MoK, Icon

 

5 Bikes with 2 Melta guns and PFist on Champion - Black Rune + MoT, Icon

5 Bikes with 2 Plasma Guns and PSword on the Champion + MoT, Icon

Venomcrawler

 

Rhino

 

The game plan for the list is that the Bikes with Melta and Venomcrawler are the early game pressure. Huron's full rerolls would go on the Melta bikes, this gives me more chance to pop a transport or dread etc and also charge straight afterwards with full rerolls. I've then got the flexibility to either fall back for 2CP or tie something up in combat. They should also have a decent chance of surviving most things as MoT keeps them relatively safe as well as the Black Rune. AP-5 on the Melta is no joke and should pass through most vehicles saves. Even those with AoC.

The Plasma bikes hang back and keep Huron protected, stick in his reroll 1s to hit bubble and get Prescience from the Balefire tome should mean that the Plasma guns shouldn't blow up and also be -4AP so will be wrecking havoc on marines. I can also whack Daemonshell on these guys for 20 S4, -2AP shots. They can either be in the secondwave or be a mobile gun platform.

The 5 man squad can shoot when needed, psychic when needed or do actions as well as hold my back point. The Chainsword guys can either be Wave 2 or action monkeys with the Rhino either being a moveblocker, tie up units or hold objectives.

I think Huron is very valuable for what he can do, He's pretty beefy in combat, regens me more CP, gives full rerolls to a unit, reroll ones aura AND has a cheeky power up his sleeve. As this isn't a fixed power, this can be really clutch depending on what I'm facing. Deathhex for annoying Invulns, Prescience on a unit if needed, Warptime to get someone across a board etc. The Venomcrawler is a fantastic unit that I've yet to find a downside for. Either as a distraction, Psyker buffer, Character protector or a decent beatstick, they stend to do it all.

 

This does mean I need to paint 8 bikes, a few Legionnaries, Venomcrawler and a Rhino in under a week. Easy right?

[Prot]

Every time I see your RC thread I want to keep painting them. lol

I love what you've done with them.... maybe that's the thing holding me back. At any rate, I hope you get some more games in with them.

 

 

[TrawlingCleaner]

On 8/12/2022 at 8:39 PM, Prot said:

Every time I see your RC thread I want to keep painting them. lol

I love what you've done with them.... maybe that's the thing holding me back. At any rate, I hope you get some more games in with them.

 

 

Thank you Prot! You definitely should try painting some more Corsairs, you'll definitely blow mine out if the water! 

Sometimes though, as much as we love a paint scheme, it just doesn't work for us or we haven't found the way of painting it that works and that's okay. This is the 3rd time at attempting to get the Red Corsairs paint scheme right for me in about 5 years and this run is definitely the best of the lot

 

I've finished 6 out of the 10 bikes I need, unfortunately the other 4 aren't Outrider bikes. I'd definitely want to get more to at least bring me up to 9. I'm still holding out hope that there will be new bikes with the WE release!

 

I also got the Rhino done too, I ordered some stencils and decals from a company in America which finally arrived. I used a stencil here and painted over it which is looking pretty rad!

Edited August 16, 2022 by TrawlingCleaner

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Those look great, though personally I can't say I'm a fan of the outrider bikes - though I don't fault you for liking them.   I think part of your trouble getting them to look "right" is the large curved front, which is at odds with the aesthetics of the riders and the rest of your army, which is much more angular and jagged.  Maybe is instead of going all one colour or the other, you instead painted it in either in black or red and then did a large chevron or arrow on it in the other, that might make it fit in better with your other models while also letting you individualize the models?  I'm thinking that it might work similar how all the jagged trim on what are otherwise curved armour pieces are part of chaos marines' distinctive look.

Now, for me to nitpick a little - I love how you do your dark skin tones, but I think they are much more effective in your iron warriors than your corsairs.  I think it may have to do with how saturated the red is, it doesn't provide the visual counterpoint that it does against the metallic of your IW.  Likewise, I think the red/purple undertones of the pale face might also be impairing the visual impact it might have otherwise -  I'm wondering if he might look a bit better with a more natural skin tone?

One final nitpick - I feel the power fist needs a little something to stand out more, though I'm not certain what that something might be. - maybe a small red or white fist/claw symbol like on the rhino?

On the subject of the rhino - I love the effect you got with the stencil. Its super clean and professional looking - something I definitely encourage you carrying over to what other vehicles you might include in  your army.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Dr_Ruminahui

[gaurdian31]

Rhino looks great and I do like the bikes! I think Dr. Ruminahui is right about the power fist, to me it just seems to get lost in the rest of the model. Also I think it would be cool if you have a small enough decal or stencil to put the fist on the banner, though I understand that might not be super easy.

[TrawlingCleaner]

Thank you, Dr and gaurdian! I've clarified it in the post but it's the 3rd attempt to get the Red Corsairs scheme as a whole correct, not just the bikes! I went for a dark red and black the first time and it didn't work so I dropped the project. Then tried another time but just couldn't get in the swing of it, this time has definitely worked for me 

The bikes have really come together for me and I think the only thing I would change is to add the decals to shoulder pads and the banner. Some visual interest on the Fist is great shout as even with gold rivets it definitely is lost. Maybe some Yellow Chevrons?

Missing something Jagged or some trim is a good point and something I had played about with when building them was trying to add some small spikes to the front of the bike or the back section which is something our own Kissdoug has done absolutely perfectly:

Spoiler

I would love to do this and will liekly be picking up some more bikes soon to try this on. I tried making the small spikes but failed miserably and gave up. I just need some more practice I think!

 

[Prot]

I like the bikes much better than the current ones. In the back of my mind I keep remembering that guy who kept saying bikes were coming out for Chaos. So I hope that's true, and the current model didn't age great... but I do like this 'spiked' version you've posted too. Sometimes just clever aging can make the unit look chaos appropriate. 

 

[TrawlingCleaner]

If they're going to release bikes any time soon, my bet is with the World Eaters release! With the right mix of kits I think you can do a decent job of updating the old Bike kits a tad. I've mostly used new CSM weapons and helmets or more recent SM heads and they seem to be decent looking:

[TrawlingCleaner]

Bar the bases, the next 4 bikes are done. The fade on the power sword isn't as clean as I would like but for the amount of time I put in (15 minutes including drying time) and for a non-character model, it works well. Once based, the Outriders and the normal bikes should hopefully blend in together!

 

As they're Mark of Tzeentch, the bird on the pole is their Icon. Just as planned!

Using your own arm to brace a Plasma gun may not be totally smart

The old metal Sergeant model scrubs up suprisingly well, although he's definitely showing his age a bit:

 

All together, they look pretty good!

 

So all I have to do now is paint 3 marines and a Venomcrawler for Sunday. Easy, right?

[gaurdian31]

New bikes looking good! Really like the bird, that's a nice touch!

[TrawlingCleaner]

Thank you gaurdian! I figure Tzeentch is always keeping an eye or two on those they mark 

 

So I got the last 3 guys and the 'Crawler done for Sunday last week, perfectly timed!

 

As the 1K list all together:

#

 

They did very well at the tourney, 3rd overall. A loss vs Death Guard, win vs Eldar, Win vs Crons and win vs Knights. I'm currently adding some Raptors to get some faster boots on the ground 

 

[gaurdian31]

New guys are looking good, nice use of chaos warrior bits and Khârn's 30k helmet! How was the venom crawler to paint? Also great job on 3rd place! What did the Death Guard field if you don't mind me asking?