The Hadal Reavers chapter [digital]

[Gloomlurker]

Hello.

I thought this might be of interest to some. I have been working on a 3D model of a space marine for a little while, and finally finished my first scene featuring them. I'm putting this in Works in Progress because I'd like to make further scenes exploring more the chapter and perhaps the chapter home world. For this first scene, I have fallen into the trap of making them look cool, but I want to also explore the horror of space marines like they did in the older artwork.

The Xenos - which until recently I have incorrectly been calling Barghesi - were based on a small collection of images but mostly drew from the version presented in "Peril's Unknown" by Lewis Jones (https://40k.gallery/perils-unknown/).

You can see more (higher resolution) images relating to the work here.

And to introduce the chapter/setting:

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The Hadal Reavers are a Space Marine chapter hailing from an aquatic death world on the galaxy’s fringes. Their homeworld is a planet entirely covered by deep oceans of dark red-brown iron-chlorine, stretching endlessly beneath a high-temperature sun. At the surface, the light takes on an eerie purple hue, warped by the planet’s toxic atmosphere and the relentless near-ultraviolet radiation.
 

Human settlers survive in habitation blocks floating just below the ocean’s surface. Most toil away their entire lives in windowless chemical filtration plants and foundries. The bravest - or most foolhardy - don hazard suits to repair the exterior surfaces of the hab-blocks, which are constantly eroded by the highly reactive oceans. Despite their formidable construction and constant maintenance, the hab-blocks offer only limited protection. Abyssal horrors - massive, nightmarish creatures with gigantic eyes and clawed hands - routinely assault repair teams and even break into sections of the hab-blocks. Their goals are unknown; they resist all attempts at communication and simply tear apart any colonists who survive the more immediate threat of the deluge from the chlorine sea. These terrifying predators are both the bane of the populace and the inspiration for the Hadal Reavers. Their monstrous visage is immortalized in the chapter’s logo, and their colour scheme mimics the dark metallic sheen of the creatures' tapetum lucidum.
 

The Hadal Reavers embody a rugged, self-sufficient ethos, seeing any waste - be it of lives or materiel - as an affront to the Emperor. Efficiency and pragmatism define their doctrine, leading them to specialise in stealth, ambushes, and guerrilla warfare.
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Edited February 12 by Gloomlurker
Main image broken for some reason

[Firedrake Cordova]

Impressive modelling.  

 

What's the Xenos? They appear to be a shark with a laser gun...

[Gloomlurker]

Thanks!

The Xenos have been suggested to be Barghesi, or Saharduin, but the original author stated somewhere that they aren't meant to be any specific race. So I guess they are just some nameless horror. I just really liked the radio antennae helmets when I first saw them and thought they'd be an interesting contrast to the marines.