The Justice Keepers - Dr. Ruminahui's heretic guardsmen

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Well, sooner it or later it was going to happen - with this thread, I will now have an army showcase in each of the main chaos subforums.

 

This is a very new project - I only started it next week, though I have been collecting the pieces without any real plan for them for a while. 

 

The first piece of the project was the guardsmen from the Servants of the Abyss (also in Blackstone Fortress) box, which I had never built as I didn't really have a use of 7 models with mixed rifles and close combat loadouts.

 

I had bought the Orktarius kill team box for the terrain and ork models for a friend, and has the Krieg models left over.  I had been idly thinking about how to convert them to be chaos guard pretty since I got them, but hadn't really come up with anything more specific than "remove imperial symbols, add spikes & fur" but hadn't really come up with any real plan to make it both look good but not be super fragile for the spikes.

 

More recently, I bought the kill team set with the renegade guard & chaos commissar + ogryn, but it too had been sitting without a real plan for its use.

 

Then, a couple of weekends ago after not wanting to paint after finishing 2 character models, I was looking through the index and noticed that it had datacards for the chaos commissar, and for renegade guard squads.  So I got the idea to kitbash the Krieg and renegade guard, roll in the 7 Blackstone Fortress chaos guardsmen and then build 3 models left over from my imperial guard playing days to give myself 3 squads of 10.

 

So, after all that exposition, its about time time I start showing some pictures.

 

First, the models that don't form part of the 3 renegade squads.

 

Can't currently field the psycher (hopefully it will get rules someday), but the beastmen will get folded into the Fellgor Ravagers squad that I have ordered, for the day when we are again allowed squads that aren't exactly 5 or 10 models.  No conversions here.

 

Next are the 7 Blackstone guardsmen.  The first 3 have no conversion work (and none planned), while the other 4 do have some.

 

The guy on the far left is so I can field him as one of the killteam choices - for 40K, he just counts as having a lasgun.  The flamer (the far right) has been converted to a plasmagun and still needs some work.

 

Next are the models that are largely built out of the renegade guard kill team box.  There are some small conversions here and there, but nothing major.

 

For the Krieg models, as the renegade guard box comes with 24 heads and lasguns for every model, I gave each of them a renegade guard head, gun and arms - for the plasma guy, this meant giving his arms to his chaos counterpart (above).  This did require drilling out the neck on the Krieg models (easy enough with a power drill) and in most case trimming down the collar.  The effect works better for some than others.  I have also tried to position their arms to obscure the little box on their abdomens.

 

 

Part way through this project, I realised that the renegard guard kit also had 3 more chest pieces than the kit actually required.  So, with the help of my trusty jewler's saw I amputated the front chest from 3 krieg models and replaced it with a chaos guard chestplate.  Here are the 3 such models plus a medic made from a renegade guard model with Krieg arms and medical bag.

 

 

Finally, the 3 models made out of my old cadian and catachan models (plus an old fantasy battle head).  They still need significant chaosification.

 

 

I still have to do a fair bit of greenstuff work and such to add fur and chainmail (and spikes to the older IG models) to make them fully blend in. 

If nothing else, I need to fill in the holes in the backs of all the Kriegmen - normally, their backpacks go there, which I'm not using because they are too distictive.

 

 

That said, I'm really happy with the transformation I was able to make to the look of the Krieg models, especially those with chest swaps.

 

Rather than keep the various models seperated into squads based on their body origins (so, 1 krieg, 2 renegade guard) I will be mixing the models freely between the 3 squads.  One squad will have 3 plasmaguns, one will have 3 grenade launchers and the last will have 3 sniper rifles.

Edited August 20, 2023 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Urauloth]

Excellent start. I really like the kitbashes, and the modified DK bodies look like they're working well. The corpseman with the DK arms and kitbag is fantastic.
This is making me want to pick up another Blooded box like, right now.

What colours do you have planned for them?

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks!  I definitely recommend the blooded kit - its a great kit, and it comes with a ton of extra options.  Plus, it includes the commissar and ogrynn, who are also both great models.

 

As for painting them, I really like the GW paint scheme but kind of want to make them my own.  I want them to fit in fighting along side my chaos space marines (under whose codex they will be fighting for the foreseeable future) but also that they would be fighting on the same battlefield as (and against) my old imperial guard army.  So, I'm thinking maybe Ushasti bone fatigues like my old IG, but with dark purple rather than khaki armour so as to fit in with my marines.  If that is what I do, I know some of them will have prison stripes just like my old conscripts, to suggest where some of their soldiers might have come from. 

[Tallarn Commander]

Huzzah! Welcome to the Traitor Guard! Those are some beautiful conversions and I like your planned color schemes. I look forward to watching your army grow.

 

Now all we need is to get a more complete set of rules again and we are good to go! Last month's Legends Data Sheetsfor Traitor Guard doesn't let me use my Sentinels, Marauders, Earthshakers, Russes, or Rogue Psykers.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for the compliments and interest!

 

Yeah, the way forward for more extensive traitor guard formations still seems to be by fielding them as IG formations - which, while unfortunately, at least allows you to field them as a military formation with military hardware rather than as a few disparate squads attached to a bunch of chaos marines.  Still, it requires you to miss out on some elements that are particularly flavourful, at least for organized games - for example, the new beastmen killteam seems particularly appropriate for inclusion in such a force, but of course can't in organized play as you can't put chaos units in an army using loyalist rules.

 

For now, I have no intent to move in that direction, though - I already have an IG army, and playing the same rules but with spiky models doesn't appeal to me.  So, likely I won't have any traitor guard vehicles until at least when we have actual chaos rules for them.  One (kind of) exception I may make when these guys are done is an idea I've had for a long time of making a defiler out of a leman russ and big nid or other such parts.  Would need to work out exactly how, as I would like to have a similar foot print and height, either (or both) of which might be a challenge.  Don't have any idea how I would paint the russ bits, yet, but as the whole thing is still just a thought, I have some time to decide. 

 

Still, I am really happy that we do have rules for these units in the index, even if they are a bit... odd.  For example, both the Blooded kit and the killteam rules allow a sergeant with a plasma pistol - but not the index rules - which makes the one of mine modelled that way technically illegal.

 

As well, I really wish they had included a datacard for the Black Fortress / Servants of the Abyss rogue psycher, as it is such a fantastic model.  I guess its because none of the BF/SotA models have cards except those made available more recently through other releases - for example, I'm sure the only reason the chaos commissar (AKA Enforcer) & his ogryn buddy have a datacard is because the are in the blooded box.  The rogue psycher is one model that I do intend to paint despite not being able to field him - maybe I can find an appropriate big pal for him and field him as a second Enforcer.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

Great work combining all the kits to make a coherent set of models. Can't wait to see them with some paint!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

 

On 8/21/2023 at 12:47 PM, Dr_Ruminahui said:

The rogue psycher is one model that I do intend to paint despite not being able to field him - maybe I can find an appropriate big pal for him and field him as a second Enforcer.

 

I think I found a candidate for a big buddy needed to field the rogue psycher - the large slaaneshi demon just revealed in NOVA Open preview for their latest Warhammer Underworlds release - https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/08/31/nova-open-preview-dysfunctional-daemons-and-determined-deepkin-duel-over-souls/ - provided its big enough, which I think it is (or at least, pretty close).

 

Regardless, I'll be picking up those 3 slaaneshi demons when they are available without the fish friends (though, the octopus does make it tempting just to get the whole lot).

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Started on the defiler I referred to above, kitbashing a russ and a Tyranid Tervigon - here's some photos of my work so far.  As you can see, I'm keeping the internal core of the leman russ pretty standard, as my end goal is to make it look like a possessed leman russ rather than a defiler built to look like russ.

 

 

I wanted it to look as if a demon was bound into the engine compartment - hence the chaos star and the chains across it.  This is my second attempt at the star - on my first attempt, I got half way cutting it out and then, because my cutting surface was too soft, my knife slipped and cut it in half.  Lesson learned and I'm happy with the second attempt.

 

 

Here you can see that I am placing the weapons that would typically on the defiler's left "arm" underneath the hull - the legs I intend to use and how I intend to mount them should give plenty of clearance.  Here it is with the heavy flamer and the "eye mount" option for the front hull mount.

 

 

Here's a similar view but with the havoc launcher underneath and the reaper cannon on the front mount.  For the defiler right "arm" weapons, the lascannon and heavy bolter options will be on the russ sponsoons (in which case the eye option will be on the front mount) while the reaper will be on the front mount with eyes on the sponsoon mounts.  You can also see the turret and the start of my work adding eyes to it.

 

 

Finally, an under shot showing the box into which I will mount the final of the left "arm" options - the flail.  I intend to model it using thick metal wire and hopefully it will look similar to the tentacles on a venomcrawler - given their added weight and potential length, I added a second and bigger magnet - the other 2 options just use the front smaller magnet.

 

There are a few elements that are intentionally missing at this point (the front hatch, and the front plow) which I will be seeking advice about from you guys near the end of the project when we'll be able to best judge what looks best on the model as a whole.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

It's already shaping up nicely mate!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks!

 

Put some more work on it and... its gotten a bit wierd. 

 

 

First, I added smaller eyes and greenstuff to finish the eye cluster on the turret.

 

 

I was then thinking of adding eyes to this side of the turret and then thought "hey, I will always have at least one extra eye plate from the weapon mounts, so why don't I magnetize it instead so I can just mount one of those instead?"  Which is then exactly what I did - here with the front weapon mount eye cluster in place.

 

This also allows me to mount the havoc launcher of the turret instead of underslung, if I am so inclined:

 

 

 

Now for the weird part - I've mounted the tervigon's gestation sack on the back for some extra fleshy bit and to move the visual centre of mass backwards, as the Russ already has a fairly forward visual centre of mass which will become even worse when I add the defiler claws at the front.  Still need to do some greenstuff detailing, as the very back is pretty plain (as on the Tervigon model that would be mostly hidden next to the base).

 

 

Here's the other half, underneath the tank.  Really happy with my greenstuffing here.

 

 

Last, I worked on making a hole - I wanted to make it look like the front leg has torn its way out of the chasis, and I think I was reasonably successful in that regard.

 

 

Finally, here is the front leg just loosely put in place - I've got some conversion work to do to it before it will be affixed, as I'm working on making it look less tyranidy and more mechano-fleshy. 

[Bonehead]

You're a genius. An evil one, obviously, but it still counts

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks!  I shared that comment with my wife, when quoted back the "an evil one, obviously, but I'm told that still counts" the next time I told her I was a genius.  

 

This past week was leg week for my defiler - sorry, some of the pictures seem blurrier than I remember them.

 

 

This is the right front leg, with the top picture showing it next to an unmodified tyranid claw and the bottom the greenstuff trim so far.  I'm likely going to detail the circles to look more mechanical and maybe add some greenstuff to bulk out the arm a bit - it looks a little weedy right now.

 

 

The model will also have a rear and a middle leg on each side, modelled to look similar to the rear legs on a venomcrawler.  The top shows the front of the shield, where unfortunately the trim I cut out ended up being too big for the shield, and in resizing it it ended up a bit lopsided.  Trying hard to avoid that on the next set of trim, but its challenging.

 

Middle picture shows how the shield and the legs are attached and the bottom how I have bent the plasticard (by repeatedly putting it into a pot of boiling water, pulling it out and bending it a bit, then back into the water) - the different thickness is the left one has trim and right doesn't.

 

The leg portions still needs some carving and greenstuffing to remove their tyranid elements, but I wanted to get the shields right before I did that.  We'll see if that was a mistake.

 

 

Here's a picture of what the tyranid pieces look like that I am working with - the left is what the assembled tyranid leg looks like, the middle is the piece I am actually working with, and the right is obviously is a more finished product with the shield.

 

 

Here's roughly how they will look on the defiler - the rear two will be closer together as I end for them to protrude more sideways (rather than front and back) than I was able to achieve in this photo.

 

 

Finally, here is the side of the defiler with the leg hole for the rear leg.  Didn't get as good of a bent armoured plate look as on the front leg hole, but I have 6 more opportunities for the other legs and its claws, so I'm hoping to get better as I go.

 

So far, these legs have been an enormous amount of work (and is still largely undone), but they are what will make the model a defiler so I think its important to get them right, as the look of the whole model will likely hinge on me getting them right.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 2, 2023 by Dr_Ruminahui

[El_Dicko]

This projects is awesome already, love the bug tank! I’ve just played my first games of 10th with an army I’m building for 30k as well. The point: leman Russ demolishers with no sponsons work great as vindicators, and are fun as hell in game(albeit with better stats than mortal scum deserve). Since I can do it in 30k cults and militia, I’ve also got my traitor guard riding in rhinos and command in a land raider. Maybe it gives you some ideas! 

[Bonehead]

I can see this is going to look great when it's done. It just keeps getting better with every new post!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Been a while since I've really done anything in the hobby, but I'm back working on my defiler.  One of the things that derailed me (other than general malaise) was the trouble I was having with getting the trim to fit properly to the shields on the legs I've been building.  Anyway, here is a reference picture:

 

 

Basically, the way they are built is that I have a thick piece of plasticard that I cut out using a template, then bend to the proper shape.  Then the trim is cut from a much thinner piece of plasticard, using the same template.  Problem is that, even though I have a template, they are cut by hand so are all a bit different - not normally a problem with chaos, which is pretty forgiving with minor differences, but makes it hard to get the trim to fit.

 

So, for the first one (the one on the right), I cut out the trim only to find that it was too big for the shield it was to go on.  Rather than throw out my work, I cut it down the middle, removed some material, then glued it in place - this left a bit of a gap in the top of the trim, which I've hidden with some battle damage.  So, even though I got it to work, it was way more effort than I had wanted and it left me kind of discouraged.

 

So, last week I picked the project back up and tried again, just trying to be more careful and not cutting out the internal details until I had the outside dimensions correct.  That didn't work, and the trim piece ended up too small and unusable.  So I got a brilliant idea to glue the thin plasticard to the leg shield with a glue stick (the kind for gluing paper) then trimming it down to fit one the glue was dry.  It then pealed off very easily, and after washing the dried glue off both pieces, I cut the internal details.  The one on the left was produced by that method, and it worked like a charm.

 

I then finished putting the holes in the side of the hull for the legs, and was able to do so in such a way that I only had to bend back one tiny part in order to fit the sponson (much to my own surprise - I was quite worried about the process warping the side to the extent that the sponson wouldn't fit anymore).  Anyway, here's a picture of the almost finished side plate - just need to decide whether to glue the side hatch on or put gribblies behind it, and maybe put a few spikes through the side.

 

 

And here it is with the legs glue tacked on:

 

 

Two options for the big claw - the above, where the crusher claw attaches directly to the end of the arm - or the below, where I leave a bit of the crusher arm on to make the arm on the model longer.

 

 

Away from the model, I prefer the first option but I think the second looks better on the actual model.

 

Also, seeing the whole thing together, I'm not sure I like the small claw - do you guys think I should put another armored leg there instead?

 

So, let me know your thoughts/opinions on the following:

 

   1.  Short or long arm for the crusher claws?

   2.  Spikes or tentacles on the side, or keep it smooth with a closed side hatch?

   3.  Small spike front leg (like the above) or another leg with an armored shield?

[bloodhound23]

Long arm, closed hatch, armored shield.

 

Cool stuff!

[Bonehead]

I think I prefer the short arm- and I think you're probably going to have to make it match the legs too, which brings me onto answer number three: definitely another armoured leg. personally I'd go tentacles from the side hatch too.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks bloodhound23 and Bonehead - glad you like it so far!

 

Interestingly, on my informal pole in the chaos forums and my WIP thread, long crushing claw just edged out short with the same for shield versus spike leg (both 4-3) while tentacles were the run away favorite versus hatch (6-2).

 

So, based on the above I thought to combine the tentacles with the side hatch (having it partially open with the tentacles coming out the gap) only to find that I have no idea where the hatches were.  So instead, I glued on some plates from the chaos vehicle accessory sprue and will put tentacles elsewhere on the model, and I may well do the other side with no hatch and emerging tentacles.

 

 

As shown above, rather than make up my mind on the arm/leg questions (though I'm inclined to side with the majorities for both), I built the smoke stacks instead.

 

Here are some close ups:

 

 

The one on the very back is because I had a gap from how the gestation sacks joined together and decided to fill it this way.

 

Though you can't really see it, the outermost stacks on either side have little faces cut into them kind of like the mauler/forge fiend does - I'm thinking of building them up (again like the fiend does) with greenstuff to make them more visible.

[Bonehead]

Would be 100% worth it to have faces in there

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Sorry for the delay on updating, but I've been plugging away on it steadily without really anything significant enough to post until this weekend, when a bunch of things all seemed to come together.

 

The bulk of the work was in greenstuffing the claw - definitely a learning process, as I haven't really done much of the sort and had the problem of squashing the work I had just done, as well as having the greenstuff loose its stickness before I got it in place making me have to mix more.  The cat certainly didn't help in that regard, wanting me to take breaks to feed or play with her while I was in the midst of sculpting.

 

Anyway, here is the finished claw attached to the model.

 

 

I took the advice from my poll to do the extended version and took the advantage to put in the the wheeled "hinge" between the two pieces, which added a technological element with some cabling as well on the top.  Other than that, it was all trim and filing in of the more tyranid details - hopefully it will look a bit neater when painted.

 

I also went by the poll and replaced the spike front leg with a shielded one - having the claw in place simply confirmed the spike was just too small and made the whole model look too front heavy,  This allowed me to make a different front shield, which I decided to do in a chaos star - I think I'll put a slanneshi symbol on the other side when I get to it.  I'm really happy with how that turned out.  Here is it and a picture of the front, showing that there is enough clearance for the underslung flamer option.  You can also see the wires that I have going through the model to which I have pinned the legs - those will be cut done and have the left legs glued to them as well when I finish that side of the model.

 

 

And here it is from the side with all the right legs in place.  As you will also see, I decided to build a mouth out of the flat portion of the flesh sack on the back, and am really happy how that turned out.  You can also see the greenstuff I did to build up the face on the smokestack some (as you suggested, @Bonehead), as well as the cabling I added to the back leg to meld the organic and mechancal elements some.

 

 

The one thing I'm not as happy with is that I tried greenstuffing the tongue to make it look less like just a bit of wire.

 

 

So, any suggestions on what to to with the tongue?

[Bonehead]

This is brilliant. I love the cabling in particular: it might seem like a small change, but just as you say, it really transforms the feel of the limbs. The new front leg with shield is a total winner, too. It makes the model much more balanced as a whole.

Damn, got to go; buddy waiting outside. Will type more complete praise and suggestions tomorrow.

In short: great work!

[Bonehead]

Right, to resume:

More things I like: the mouth full of horrible sharp teeth. Absolute classic chaos vehicle addition, done perfectly. See also the face on the exhaust stack. The proliferation of extra exhausts bursting out from the hull, next to the swollen flesh-thing that contains the mouth, with a similarly classic chained shut hatch nearby, it's just great. The amount of detail added everywhere is just very impressive. When you finally come to paint it you're going to have a ton of fun.

For the tongue, I have one observation/suggestion. Tongues are generally wider than they are tall, so I'd add width. This should give you more of a definite tongue-ness, for want of a better word.

I love the detailing on the leg-shield too. It's all custom of course, but each one being different and unique gives it a very definite feel of having grown as much as it was made.

Very keen to see where it goes from here!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks for the lavish praise - I'm glad you like it!

 

Your suggestion about the tongue is a really good one (very helpful, thanks!) and got me thinking about the best way to get that effect - I decided on using a plastic twist tie from electronics, which should be about the right breadth (broadness?).  I went to the bag in the kitchen drawer where my wife keeps such things and found a couple of promissing candidates - I may even glue them together if I want it to be thicker.  It won't be "wide" coming out of the mouth, though, as I'll need to orient the "width" going up and down instead to fit through the teeth.  Still, I think it might well work.

 

I have some other ideas in my head that might work - one of them if going for a more technological look and using guitar string, though I'm not sure if it will be flexible enough.  Anyway, I'll play around with it in the future.

 

While I'm working that over in my head, I've started on the other side and I'm eager to get it to the stage where it is a free-standing model.

 

Here is the poor tortured side skirt with all the mangling done to it to allow the limbs to protrude.

 

 

Here it is on the model (not glued yet, that will happen after I attach the legs), with the sponson, side hatch and escaping tentacle (an extra I didn't use from the Chaos Possesseds kit).  So, for those who voted in favour of side tentacles, here you go!  Unlike on the other side, with all the bending I couldn't get the sponson on quite straight, but luckily given the nature of the model that doesn't really matter. 

 

 

Next step is finishing the legs and claw arm - here are the 3 legs with their shields cut - next up is heating the shields to curve them slightly, and cutting and gluing on the trim.

 

Edited May 13 by Dr_Ruminahui

[Bonehead]

Cool. Once it's got both sets of legs on we're really going to see the full effect build up. Can't wait!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Thanks, @Bonehead - and I believe you will see that full effect imminently. 

 

Long weekend here, thanks to Queen Victoria, so posting on a Tuesday this week.  This past weekend was leg day at the deflier gym:

 

 

Haven't tested whether it will stand properly without the box in support - that moment of truth will be tonight.  The back 2 leg shields are just like the other side, the front one has a slanneshi symbol - isn't quite as eye catching as the chaos star on the other side, but slanneshi symbols are hard, especially in the weird shaped space I had.

 

So, only one major structural element left, that being the left claw.  Think I can bang that out in the coming week which puts me in the home stretch - asides from building the flail, magnetizing the combi-bolter/weapon and maybe doing some work on the left sponson heavy bolter, its all detail work from there.