The Lichborne - Homebrew Legionary Kill Team

[Volgon]

Hey all! Have been a lurker mostly, updating my thread in the WIP forum, but was invited by @Dr_Ruminahui to post here (I didn't want to double up threads in case it was against the forum rules), so here I am! This project is primarily of the Kill Team variety (Legionaries specifically), but I have done conversion work branching into other game systems (I have a few characters representing the warband's leaders that could be used in 40k, for example). I'll be porting my work here a bit at a time, and will keep updating whenever I have something new to share. To start with, let me post my tester Marine to show off the basis of the color scheme:

 

This is the first thing I've ever hand painted, and I'm super proud of the way it came out! I wasn't very happy with him after applying an oil wash but it has grown on me. I skipped out on some steps and rushed others, because I really just wanted to get a good look at an end result, so future testers will have more work put into details and color separation.

 

Onto the real meat and potatoes, my conversions! I try to make every conversion unique, trying to infuse some level of personality/character into each one. I'll start off with some generic operatives, my Gunners. I tried to have a few unified themes for this trio: combi-weapons (not completely WYSIWYG for Kill Team, but I planned on painting the various non bolter parts different colors from the bolter section to hopefully make it obvious what type of weapon it is. Think hazard stripes on the melta gun casing, bright red on the flamer casing, and plasma has its obvious coils), CSM Havoc bodies, and Anvilus-pattern backpacks.

 

Melta Gunner:

My favorite of the three. The gun is from the Chaos Terminator Lord/Sorcerer box and is such a cool piece, I had to use it.

Spoiler

 

Plasma Gunner:

My second favorite, with a pose I'm really happy with!

Spoiler

 

Flamer Gunner:

I made the mistake of gluing the knife arm, so I know it's going to be a real pain to paint now that I've done my tester Live and learn!

Spoiler

 

That's it for now, let me know what you think!

[Dr_Ruminahui]

Glad to see you make your way over here - excellent work!

[Volgon]

16 hours ago, Dr_Ruminahui said:

Glad to see you make your way over here - excellent work!

 

Glad to be here! Don't have to wait long for a second update, here's the second completed tester:

 

 

I am super stoked about the lenses, I think they came out super well. I was somehow able to paint just the lens and left the recesses black which adds a ton of definition to a very small area. I also tried to highlight more this go round: I did the black, some of the blue, silvers, and brown. Not sure how noticeable it is for colors other than the black but it's there. Lastly, I added a bit of blood spatter on the chainsword to make it pop more. My weapon schemes leave a lot to be desired at the moment (truth be told I just haven't though about them that much, they are a bit of a bore to do once I'm closing in on the end) so I think the red is a nice splash of color and visceral weathering that matches the rest of the paintjob.

[Volgon]

  

Hey all, nothing new painted since the last update but I should be getting back at it soon. I got the trio of Gunners primed over the weekend, just waiting for that motivation to kick in Here's a few more of my conversions, the Heavy Gunners. I had two themes I was trying to go for with these guys: one was "big guns, big armor" and the other was trying to go for 3 different holding stances: underarm, over the shoulder, and rifle style.

 

Heavy Bolter:

For a long time I was stuck on the weapon. I like the Eradicator melta rifles (which forms the basis of the weapon conversion), but could never get over the fact that the barrel was too distinctly melta (obviously!), so I just had to come up with something different. I came up with what you see here: it looks ridiculous, and ridiculously cool.

Spoiler

 

Reaper Chaincannon:

This guy is a conversion that actually hasn't changed a ton since its inception. I knew from the get-go I wanted him to be the "big guy" of the Kill Team. I envisioned him in the lore to be the tall, hulking member of the squad. I knew the body of the Havoc Champion was perfect for this (the Havocs are also my favorite style of armor out of both loyalists and traitor forces). I also REALLY like the Chaincannon I made up for him. The chained barrel isn't something that would actually work, but rule of cool won out.

Spoiler

 

Missile Launcher:

I had a LOT of trouble over a long period of time trying to think up something for my ML gunner. I was stuck in a rut because I really wanted to make use of all 5 bodies from the Havoc kit. Unfortunately that last body (the one that GW depicts on the box art holding the Reaper Chaincannon) lacks any sort of dynamism or personality, so nothing I came up with ever worked for me. I finally cut ties with the idea of using the Havoc body wholesale and was able to come up with this conversion by merging a normal Chaos Marine body (the one used by GW's depiction of the Butcher operative from the Legionary kill team) with the pieces of the 5th Havoc that I actually liked (the torso, the hip armor, and the plated tabard). It ended up being one of my favorites of the entire team!

Spoiler

Thanks for taking a look, and as always feel free to comment!

[Volgon]

I decided I was ready to start working on the kill team itself rather than testers. Picked the melta gunner first: the 3 regular gunners are fairly similar to the regular legionary testers I was doing so didn't have to worry about any new techniques.

 

I am super happy with the result! This was the first time I used the embossed shoulder pad with the symbol and I am very happy with how it came out. It was a little flat at first because I used Bold Titanium White so didn't have any color to highlight up to, but the weathering added some complexity so I think it looks pretty ok. No oil washes this time, I haven't had much success with them, so I want to sit down on some throwaways to work out how to best use them. My oil washes seem to keep separating, leaving some particulates that I have to clean up and not staining the recesses very well, so I think I may be thinning them too much. Will have to work on that.

 

Lastly, I chose a different color to highlight the black. Originally I was using Stormvermin Fur after seeing a result on reddit I really liked. I found it not a very compelling color IRL however. This time I tried a silver and REALLY like the result. It adds a bit of brightness/pop that I think looks great. Also it's in line with the weathered aesthetic; it has a chipped paint look to go along with the mud/dirty weathering. I find it much easier to sell my poor edge highlighting as paint chipping with the silver.

[Volgon]

  

Have started working on the Plasma Gunner today. Took me 2.5 hours just to block in the blue armor and clean up mistakes Trim takes so long! I think I can be more efficient by being less clean when blocking in the blue and to save doing touch ups until all the colors are on so I can do them all at once.

 

Here are some more conversions for the Kill Team, this time the bespoke operatives! These guys are kind of where the whole project got started. Originally I just wanted the bespoke operatives + a leader but the scope expanded to one of each option for every member, so here we are.

 

Butcher:

This is one of the oldest members of my team. This iteration was pretty much set in stone a while ago. I have been going back and forth on the axe arm lately. I do like the over the shoulder look but I have been considering a different arm holding it downward in a loose grip (if I can find such an arm to use) or an arm out to the side (though I don't want to encroach on the look of some other conversions I have which use a similar pose). Either way, I think this conversion really evokes that kind of duellist/challenger personality that I'm going for.

Spoiler

 

Balefire Acolyte:

This guy originally started out as a pretty uninspired conversion using the Aspiring Champion from the Shadowspear box. For a long time I was content with it but over time it gnawed at me that I kind of phoned it in. I came up with this guy and am SUPER pleased with the result. It's pretty much completely unique: I made it from a Sword Brother base with a Chaos torso and Chaos Havoc shin armor (something that I picked up from a Reddit user and have used it pretty extensively since).

Spoiler

 

Anointed:

Pretty simple conversion for this one. I keep these conversions completely free of both fleshy bits (primarily heads and unarmored arms etc) and Chaos mutations for lore reasons, but I liked the idea that no matter what, nobody escapes Chaos. I try to evoke an undead/death knight vibe with this warband so the most logical mutation to me was bones, and the base Chosen mini I used has those in spades. I added a Warp Talon claw that looks like bone claws (very Wolverine) to complete the look.

Spoiler

 

Shrivetalon:

Similar to the Balefire Acolyte, the Shrivetalon had an old iteration that I decided to rework for creative reasons. He was my first foray into using Black Templars minis as the basis for some conversions. The reason is pretty simple: I love their gorget/bevor collar piece, same as the Chaos Havocs. I wanted to make him a bit of a trophy taker so I used a shoulder pad with skin on it from the Shrivetalon, and a minor chain aesthetic with the idea that he would hang various bits and bobs from.

Spoiler

 

Icon Bearer:

This conversion was what the Shrivetalon was for a long time. After changing direction with the Shrivetalon, I pivoted it into my Icon Bearer. I've had that trophy piece (from Zhufor) for probably a decade and knew I absolutely had to use it here. VERY fiddly though as the pole is extremely skinny and prone to breakage. I managed to pin it into the backpack but I'm certain even a slight knock would snap it in two.

Spoiler

 

[Volgon]

Finished up the Plasma Gunner. First time trying a plasma effect and it came out ok but not great. Would like to try it again with some fluorescent paints or contrast paints instead; I think they would be much easier to get a good result from. Nothing else too different from the norm, just working through the more basic guys before moving on to the more exciting operatives.

 

[Volgon]

  Another gunner done! Flamer this time, last of the regular gunners.

 

Edited May 23 by Volgon

[Volgon]

Have a few updates! First off I finished the Missile Launcher heavy gunner:

 

I'm a bit ambivalent to the result. On one hand, this was one of my favorite conversions so I am really happy to see him painted up. I like the weathering; I went heavier on the silver chipping inside of larger spots of brown. I've been trying that technique on the last few minis but did more of it this time. I also really like how the ML barrel came out. I've been slowly adding more colors to the scheme and with this one I did Canoptek Alloy on the barrel trim with the same Ratling Grime wash I use for all my silver metallics. I think it came out great! Just different enough to break things up.

 

On the other hand, I had a LOT of trouble getting coverage on the gold and red. I was layering over the black primer which was probably my first mistake, though I haven't had too much trouble with that before. Those times were on smaller details though so maybe that was why? On the small red lens details on the ML I got fine coverage over the same primer. At some point I just moved on so I could finish the mini.

 

Lastly I picked up some of this:

 

Hopefully the color about matches the brown I've been using for weathering. Haven't used any of this stuff before but will try it out soon.  I would like to do some muddy battlefield/trench style bases. Scatter some detritus around the base like bones, skulls, armor pieces. Maybe some display barbed wire if any companies sell it? Will have to look into that.

[Volgon]

Reaper Chaincannon is about finished:

 

Might clean up some of the weathering a bit, the helmet and the Terminator shoulder pad need some touch ups. First time doing stone which came out ok? I just winged it.

 

Not sure what the next project will be. I could start the Heavy Bolter gunner to round out the heavies. The other option is painting another normal Legionary to work on some techniques. I'd like to really try some glazing so I can add a bit of depth to the blue. I love the color but I'd like to elevate my skill a little bit.

[Volgon]

Hey all, was able to finish the new tester but unfortunately could not get any sort of glazing/blending to work. I ran into issues pretty much immediately where it seems the white spray paint I used was either gloss or semi-gloss so I was having problems with the paint adhering to the light areas. I pivoted to trying the "normal" approach, so painting two sections and attempting to glaze the transition into a smooth-ish blend, but also could not get that to work. I feel like the two colors I was using (Andrea Blue which is the regular blue armor color I have been using and then a bit darker one called Magic Blue from Vallejo Game Color as the shadow) are close enough that I should have had some success getting a decent blend but it just wouldn't work for me. I also tried the Pylar Glacier contrast paint as an attempt at a "ready made" glaze-esque paint but it's so thin it just wasn't giving me any coverage on the stronger blue tones. Here's what I ended up with:

 

As you can see, all was certainly not lost! I still had other stuff to work on. For one, this was the first time I worked on a base. It's simple, just Vallejo Diorama FX Brown Mud. It's pretty much perfect for the look I'm going for and a good color match for the browns I use for weathering the mini. I also picked up some modelling barbed wire by Army Painter for some decoration. For other minis I'd like to use things like broken armor panels, shoulder pads, bones etc as battlefield detritus in addition to the barbed wire to keep things varied. I also got some AK Fluorescent Orange to use as plasma glow and tried it out on the pistol. I'm pretty happy with it! Also I finally found a good color mix for highlighting the brown leathers I'm pretty happy with, so that was a good discovery.

 

So, where do I stand on blending? Well since I started this guy I've done a lot of reading and watching about glazing so I think I'll have a better idea next time. I was practicing on bases and shoulder pads throughout the process of painting this marine as well to try out stuff. I got a decent result from wet blending on my first try which was good to see, that's a possible route though does seem harder to work with thanks to the drying time. I think I should also try glazing the darker color into the shadows rather than the lighter color into the highlights. I would think the darker color would provide better coverage over the lighter one? I'm not 100% on that though, so if anyone has any advice I'll take it. I was struggling to get good consistency with the glazes as well. Even thinning a lot (from a dropper bottle I was doing anywhere from 1 drop of paint to 5 drops of water up to 10) and wicking moisture off I felt like I was still leaving too much paint on the brush which resulted in the gradient just getting colored over by the glaze color rather than just a filter. At the end of my last paint session I felt like I had a better grasp on consistency and how to properly use a glaze so I'm excited to try again soon.

[Volgon]

Another day, another guy (mostly, waiting on some bits to spruce up the base) done!

 

For this guy, I wanted to try some new things again and I think I succeeded on most of them. A primary goal was to try and give the blue armor more pizazz. Firstly, I wanted to attempt glazing once again, and it actually worked this time! On my previous attempt I was trying to glaze two distinct colors together (similarly to what you see in power sword videos where there are two distinct colors painted on and the transition is glazed). This time, I painted my base tone and then glazed the shadows with a darker color. This made it a lot easier to get coverage and I didn't have a nasty gradient line to work with. That being said, IMO the effect is too subtle for the amount of effort it took. You can't see it in the photos (though I am no professional photographer), and while I could see it while holding it, it was harder to notice at arms' length and once it was in my display case just ~3 feet away from my face I couldn't see it at all. That being said, I believe the color I picked for the shadow was too similar to my base tone. If I had gone with something quite a bit darker like a Kantor Blue I think the effect would be much more noticeable. I am going to try it again at some point once I acquire a darker blue.

 

The second technique I attempted was also to spice up the blue. I did a scratch mark weathering technique which many have probably seen before. It just involved painting a scratch on an armor piece with a dark color (I chose a dark grey for mine) and then highlighting that scratch with the highlight color for the armor. Very simple, cool effect, and I was happy how it came out. Unfortunately I made the mistake of doing it before the sponge chipping which, once applied, makes it difficult to make out those scratches. Next time I think I will do the sponge chipping first and then paint over the chipping or in non-sponged areas with the scratch marks to make them more visible.

 

I tried hazard stripes for the first time. I've never thought they looked particularly difficult to do but I was wrong, at least for this guy, as the space to work with was so small. I also made the mistake of trying to paint yellow stripes over black. I had reverse my order and totally redo both pipes by basecoating white then painting yellow and then painting black stripes.

 

Lastly I took the good @Dr_Ruminahui's previous suggestions and worked on my bolt belt. I kept the casing a darker color and then also tipped the bolts red which I think is a cool effect. Perhaps I should have painted the entire tip red rather than just the front flat part but I think it's ok as is.

 

The heavy bolter gunner marks the last of the generic operatives in the kill team. I have the 5 bespoke operatives plus a handful of leaders both kill team related and not remaining. I already have my Anointed conversion primed so he will be the next project.

[Volgon]

The Anointed is DONE! What an absolute beast of a mini. So much detail, lots of little cracks on the armor, and the backpack with the tiny vertebrae. Very happy with the result though! I think he may be my favorite so far. A little backstory: the Anointed in kill team is basically a pre-fully Possessed marine. Personally, I am not a fan of the generic Chaos mutation stuff like tentacles, claws, pustules, etc, and for my warband specifically I don't see them as drinking the Chaos kool-aid (hence no mutations on any of my minis) but you can never fully escape the warp's degeneration (hence this guy). The warband's sorcerers ply their trade as necromancers, using Chaos as a tool to replenish their ranks. This Anointed has been brought back from the abyss one too many times, however, and the mutations have manifested.

 

Because of the nature of the warband, I see many of them as being nothing but bones and withered skin, souls fractured by reanimation, and sustained by unholy energies. It makes sense then that a collection of, essentially, skeletons and zombies would exhibit mutations of the bone variety, so that's the direction I went with this conversion. I haven't been that happy by my normal bone recipe that I've been using on the skull helmets so far, so I wanted to try experimenting on that a bit and this guy was perfect for that. Out of the 5 bone recipes I was pretty happy with 4 of them, and of those 4 I was super enthused about 2. I used a lot of stippling on the bone growths, the backpack, the claw and the shoulder pad to get some transitions/textures and I love the color and look (these were Stormvermin Fur base > stipple/drybrush Rakarth Flesh > stipple/drybrush Wraithbone). For the skull helmet I did a Vallejo Sky Grey base (for coverage, this is basically Grey Seer) > white > Nuln Oil order and then tapped some Stormvermin Fur on the brow to make it look more worn and I really like that recipe as well.

 

[Volgon]

Finished up the Shrivetalon today! I did some sculpting on the tabard to turn it into a flesh apron. I used a variation of a fairly simple Contrast recipe for skin from Darcy Bono on youtube for all the skin parts. I think it came out decently, too dark/red IMO. I put 2 coats of each color (Skeleton Horde then Volupus Pink) but I think next time I'd want to thin the paints down more than I did and also maybe only do one coat, or perhaps 2 coats of Skeleton Horde but only one of Volupus Pink.

 

Also I experimented with Blood for the Blood God for the first time. I think it's pretty solid, I am not sure whether I prefer it to my normal bright red blood spatters. The gloss is a cool effect but I do like the matte nature of my normal blood technique, and it was a little more difficult to use as it was gloopy right out of the pot. I didn't try thinning it (or do any research into it) but maybe next time I can try that. Definitely makes it more difficult to get really thin wisps/streaks of blood from the larger pools at the consistency it was neat from the pot.

 

[Brother Tyler]

This is a very cool looking kill team. I especially like the blue; and I find it somewhat jarring because it's a very bright blue on a force with a very dark theme. The lore makes it as if these are sort of a Chaos counterpart to the Legion of the Damned.

 

Yes, you are allowed to double up on topics (i.e., you can have topics for the same project in multiple forums as long as they're relevant). You can even use a blog as the main place for your project and have topics in one or more applicable forums.

 

Whatever you choose to do, I'm looking forward to seeing this project progress. 

[Volgon]

Thanks for the heads up @Brother Tyler! I went with the blue and black scheme as that's my favorite color combination. The vibrancy is very striking, and doesn't necessarily fit with the "grimdark" nature of the universe but I try to compensate in other ways like the heavy weathering, the skulls, blood stains on weapons, etc. The colors, their lore (essentially the leadership are sorcerous necromancers trying to keep the warband afloat), name, and overall aesthetic are a shout to undead creatures of fantasy. Primarily death knights and liches. I have converted up the warband's leader (waiting to show him off until I have it painted) and I think he will REALLY sell the idea. I also have plans to explore the undead theme further at a later point with things like undead/skeletal cultist conversions the warband uses as chaff (think Iron Warriors sending slaves/prisoners to soak up barrages like in the Storm of Iron novel).

 

Also a cool coincidence you bring up the Legion of the Damned as they are what got me into Warhammer in the first place! My first exposure to Warhammer was an old 2ed White Dwarf that had their rules in it. The aesthetic between my warband and the LotD has some definite similarities as they both use similar visual themes: lots of skulls and bones (what can I say, I know what I like). As an homage I even painted the trophy helmet on my current project in the colors of the Fire Hawks. I plan on continuing that for any future trophies etc my warband uses and may even paint up a Fire Hawks kill team at some point.

 

This time we have the Legionary Butcher/Master of Executions equivalent. This fella was my longest project by far. I didn't keep exact count but I want to say I spent somewhere between 20-25 hours working through everything. I am super proud of the result, I think he is my favorite completed project so far!

 

A few highlights:

1. Going in I was anxious about the coat. I had never done fabric/folded stuff before so I was concerned about whether I could properly paint the volumes. I think it came out fantastic! Up until my previous session I think it was my favorite part of the mini. I love the color and weathering on it.
2. The axe really blew me away once I had finished it. I was struggling with the eyes until pretty much by random chance I decided to drybrush the red from bottom to top rather than top to bottom. It gave a bit of a sinister looking red underglow which I thought was really cool so I kept working at it until I got what you see here.
3. The conversion itself is probably one of the top 3 I've made for my warband. It was actually a little different for the longest time until right before I started painting him. I initially use the Judiciar sword arm converted to an axe (I've posted it very early on in the thread I think). I soured on that pose over time. I wanted something more casual, with the axe being dipped downwards in a relaxed fashion. I wanted him to exude supreme confidence in his ability to take on his next victim, beckoning them to their end. I like to tell stories with each conversion and I really think it goes above and beyond for this guy.
4. I alluded to it in the first point but my favorite part was the helmet! Not necessarily the head itself but the glow I was able to do. I really love the way it came out and will definitely be trying to included it on everything else from now on (and likely at some point I will go back to previous minis and incorporate it into those as well). Here is a better picture of the eyes/glow. Not perfect white dots but they're pretty much completely unnoticeable IRL.

 

I also scaled back the weathering a bit. I didn't include the light blue + grey scratches on the armor panels (I am not sure how else to describe them) as seen on my last two operatives. Any thoughts on that? It was a nice experiment but I think I prefer the weathering a little simpler with just the brown/silver sponging and silver chip highlights. As always let me know what you think!

Edited August 20 by Volgon

[Dr_Ruminahui]

I like the weathering on this model, but I also liked the weathering on your previous models.

 

Personally, I think with a model as busy as this one, with lots of different textures and colours going on, going lighter with weathering is probably wise as there is always a risk that the model will be too "busy".  Whereas, for a model with less going on, weathering can be a great way to add more visual interest or to help differentiate them from other models that might be similar visually.

[Volgon]

Newly (fully) completed Balefire Acolyte! Similarly to the Butcher from my previous project, this guy involved a lot of experimentation and learning. I believe this project was a major breakthrough for me. I learned a LOT about blending colors. Part of the way through the process I found a Reddit thread explaining stipple glazing which opened my eyes once I started breaking down the process. I also began mixing colors to make midtones for blending different sections together. This has made it significantly easier/simpler to blend gradients together. The way I describe my previous process was basically brute forcing it: glaze my highlight or shadow color over my midtone (no layering involved) a LOT and hope the result is acceptable. This got results but it took a long time and was inconsistent; I had a lot of issues with glaze consistency and drying unevenly which meant the gradient was mostly smooth but didn't look very good to me. The best example I can give on my (hopefully) improved blends is the blue armor panel on the helmet where I feel like I did a pretty smooth transition between the midtone and my highlight/shadow colors.

 

This was also the first time I've painted flames. I took what I learned about blending colors and applied it to the flames. My first attempt was decent; not great but passable at a distance. I decided to try again, this time going heavier with mixing midtones up for smoother transitions, and doing layering (previous to this project I had never layered before). I am much happier with the result. The colors I chose for the flames may not work for the color scheme; I was adamant on going for a spectral flames look with pastel green and turquoises rather than a much more traditional warp flame look with greens. The color difference between the flames and the armor is more noticeable IRL than in the photos. I will think on it some more, an alternate color scheme I have been considering is darker purple (think Castellan Crowe's box art sword) with some of the brighter turquoises I used here for the inner glow.

 

As always, let me know what you guys think!

 

[Volgon]

A couple of my latest guys that I haven't updated this thread with. First off an Icon Bearer:

 

Secondly, the first leader of the team, an Aspiring Champion that I completed today: