State of the Hunt, Week 32/2023: Greenstuff & Gamedev

August 12, 2023, 5:16 am

≫ Next: State of the Hunt, Week 29/2024: Anger, Rain & Neon Lights

≪ Previous: State of the Hunt, Week 21/2023: Banners & Brutes

Aw, man, I’ve let this blog lapse once again — I am so sorry, guys!
But hey, at least I do have something to share with you, even if it’s just a small project.
Remember this gentleman from my previous post?

This was a very early and loose mockup of my attempt to turn a leftover AoS Slaughterpriest model into another Eightbound of Khorne.

Now this particular Slaughterpriest is such a strange model, in many ways: The scale and anatomy seem so different that not only does the model stand out from the rest of the Blades of Khorne — it could almost be from a different line of models or manufacturer altogether. I also nearly did a spit take when I realised that the character’s looks is basically almost identical to the “Uber Immortal” from the film “300” (go ahead, google it!)

But it is a great source for conversions, with its almost Primarch-like physique, and it happens to be surprisingly close in stature to the stock Eightbound models. So let’s check out how this particular conversion has shaped up since we last saw it, alright?

The first thing to do was to clean up the overall assembly quite a bit:

This step also included the decision as to whih bitz would be used on the final conversion: I slipped in a weapon muzzle from the Forgefiend kit to approximate the “toothy maw” that appears above the head on the stock Eightbound models. The effect is a bit more pronounced here, but it worked well for the overall look of the model, so I decided to keep it. I also chose an old CSM champion backpack — which had always felt just a bit too tacky for regular models but ended up looking a bit on the tame side here, when compared to the stock Eighbound power packs Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Up until this point, everything had just been crudely tacked together with poster tack, so it was finally time to break out the GS — not normally my favourite step of the way, but it could not be helped…

As you can see, I started by sculpting a neck portion for the model — although “sculpted” is a somewhat misleading term in this case: I was feeling slightly clever, so I made a quick GS copy of some actual Eightbound shoulders and spliced them in. The stock Slaughterpriest neck portion was carefully shaved away directly above the pectorals, and the Eightbound shoulders and neck – which turned out to be an almost perfect fit – were added on top. This also had the added benefit of working together very well with the actual Eightbound head I used.

As you can see, the copy could have been just a bit sharper — but it’s certainly a lot better than anything I could have sculpted from scratch! Even the attachment points for the arms were better than expected, although still a bit dodgy. Since I knew the upper arms would end up being covered by the model’s pauldrons, however, I decided to leave them that way for the added benefit of being able to take off the arms and weapon during the painting stage.

So the next step was to put the armour back on and use some more GS to start and build up the model’s back. Here’s a first rough mockup:

And here’s what the whole thing looked like after I had built-up the back of the armour:

Look, it’s definitely not brilliant GS work, but it gets the message across. I used some GS cabling to hint at the armour’s – corrupted – underlying functions. And the whole thing works well enough with a backpack and the shoulder pads attached. Take a look:

So here’s a look at the mostly finished conversion:

All in all, I would say the model makes for a pretty convincing Eightbound, wouldn’t you agree? The leg armour is the one area where the model obviously diverges from “true” Eightbound — the Slaughterpriest is an almost ridiculously lean model to begin with, but at least it’s easy enough to suitably bulk up his upper half. On the other hand, this Slaughterpriest version already has a very gladiatorial look to it, which is definitely a good fit for a World Eaters army. That being said, I have seen quite a few conversions of the model where it never really ended up looking enough like an Astartes due to the difference in build — the Eightbound parts are pulling a lot of weight in this respect!

So here’s another look at th “squad” so far (no longer legal by 10th Ed. standards, I gather — but, frankly, who cares, eh?

In other news, one more thing before I tune out for today — and it has nothing to do with my World Eaters, the world of Warhammer 40k — or even with tabletop wargaming altogether. So what is this about?

Some of you might remember that I have mentioned cutting my game-design teeth using Media Molecule’s software “Dreams” on PlayStation.

I have, in fact, created several games & art pieces using the software, and if you have ever wanted to check them out, that is now easier than ever before, because Dreams is currently free to download as one of the PlayStation Plus Monthly games for August 2023 (for everyone who has both a PlayStation 4/5 and a PlayStation Plus subscription of any tier). The offer lasts until the start of September.

After that, the game will still be available for free to members of the higher subscription tiers. But if you fulfill the requirements listed above, you absolutely NEED to get this software. I am normally quite wary of endorsements like these, but I’ll make an exception here because I don’t think I have ever made a better investment when buying a game — and to get the same game, potentially for free, makes it even more of a no-brainer:

Dreams will offer you access to a massive wealth of fun, quirky, fantastic, often plein weird playable content including games, animation, music or everything in between. You’ll also provide you with a set of incredibly robust and playful creation tools that you may just ending up loving as much as I do…

And hey, like I said, you’ll be able to finally play my game CITADEL, eh? I am just leaving a trailer and some images here for your perusal Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Also, be aware of the fact that, proud as I am of my game, it is probably towards the lower end of the scale of what can be accomlished within Dreams, so if you thought that looked at least kinda neat, you’ll be in for a world of delicious, indie gaming slurry!

Full disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored endorsement. I’m just a fan of the platform & REALLY think you should take a look! Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Anyway, that’s it for today! Let’s hope I’ll be able to get back to my hobby desk before long, and have something more substantial to share with all of you. Until then, it goes without saying that I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

↧

State of the Hunt, Week 29/2024: Anger, Rain & Neon Lights

July 17, 2024, 6:37 am

≫ Next: State of the Hunt, Week 32/2024: Eightbound Leftovers…

≪ Previous: State of the Hunt, Week 32/2023: Greenstuff & Gamedev

Now would you look at that — it has been almost another year without update again… This keeps happening to me, it seems. To be fair, though: I did warn you all that the updating schedule might be…slightly spotty going forward Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

But hey, I have a few small things to share with those of you who still keep watching this space, so I might as well post an update, eh?

I. Chonky Boi Mk. III

Most of my hobbying is dedicated to single kitbashes and conversions for the time being, as I can – and will – spent ages idly plinking away at a model here or a model there. One tiny project that has been sitting on my desk is yet another World Eater based on those rather massive, Mk. III-wearing plastic Plague Marines. Some of you might remember another conversion in the same vein from an earlier update:

See, I enjoy running and leaping World Eaters as much as the next guy, but I think another really cool visual archetype is for them to be massive and menacing, covered in slabs of spiky armour and sizing you up from across the battlefield. This concept makes for a great contrast in between all of the blood frenzy — so I thought I might have another model like that in me. And here’s the earliest mockup for that model.

As you can see, the body is still all Plague Marine at this point, with all kinds of pustules and gribblies (as an aside, underneath all of the superficial decoration, it seems to be the EXACT same base sculpt as the one used in my other conversion above).
I mostly used this stage to get an idea of the pose I was going for, as well as the general parts. Two things that worked especially well, even at this early stage, were the very gladiatorial-looking shoulder pad on the Blood Warrior arm (even though I wasn’t as sold on the rest of the arm) and the vicious Mk. VII Forgeworld helmet (very much a Sarum pattern helmet in my head canon).

So the next step was to shave off most of that Nurgle-y detail. I decided to keep some of the wear and tear to the armour, as it seems rather fitting for a member of the XII legion as well. But the tentacles and gooey tubes had to go. I also sorted out the arms at this point, even though I had to nick a new left arm from a previous conversion Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Anyway, here’s what I have right now:

The model still needs quite a bit of cleanup, but I am really happy with the core concept! You can just imagine this guy slowly, purposefully advanving towards you on the battlefield, with wild mayhem reigning all around, yet there he is, just oozing menace: He WILL get to you, even if he’s taking his sweet time about it Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

When it comes to possible additions to the model, I think I’ll want to add some chains to him, maybe even a loop of it running across his breastplate. Some dangling skulls would be cool as well — although the challenge here will be not to overclutter the model or mess up its silhouette. But I think I may be on to something here…

II. Meanwhile, on Nuceria…

Readers, I have suffered a relapse…
Long time followers of this blog might be aware that I may have developed a certain…fixation on building models representing the XII legion Primarch.
…
To wit, so far, I have built four of the rascals:

And yes, I am aware of the fact that I was kinda, technically already messing around with a potential number five this time last year, so that was bad enough right? And that official Daemon Primarch Angron will also be happening, eventually, although I am yet able to resist its pull. And then…

Then I saw fellow Reg‘s latest Angron conversion earlier this year, and all my discipline went to hell in a handbasket, as I knew I just needed to build a similar model, mostly using Eightbound parts — in fact, to be quite honest, the thought had been knocking around in the back of my head every since I realised that one of those breastplate designs from the kit looked almost like Angron’s armour anyway…

So, I threw together a couple of bitz, using an approach very similar to (and heavily inspired by) Reg’s. This was my first mockup:

The brilliant idea at the heart of Reg’s conversion was to replace the – very Spare Marine-y – lower legs of an Eightbound model with the contoured armour of a Stormcast Eternal. And seeing how I still had quite a few 1st edition Liberators from the AoS starter box knocking about, I replicated that approach. It’s an incredibly quick way of changing a silhouette that instantly invokes an Astartes look into something much more like the unique armour of a Primarch.

From there on out, it was mostly a matter of cleaning up the conversion and choosing the right bitz to approximate Forgeworld’s “official” Angron design. So here’s what I have right now, after a rather fruitful recent conversion session:

As you may be able to tell, Eightbound parts are doing most of the heavy lifting here: The torso, head, arms and upper thighs are all stock Eightbound bits. The right hand weapon is an Eightbound axe, too, although it was grafted onto a different hand and weapon haft (from the old Dark Vengeance Chosen, if I remember correctly — although the only important thing was for it to be a right-handed weapon). The axe in Angron’s left hand is actually one from the latest plastic Khorne Berzerkers — those things are freaking massive!
The shoulder pads are shaved-down Eightbound leg armour — another very clever idea nicked from Reg (who is, it has to be said, the uncrowned king of Angron conversions, with more than 20 Angron models under his belt at this point…). The cape is from the old FW Lord Zhufor model — I have had that piece in my bitzbox forever, and now the time has finally come to make use of it. It fits rather well, too!

So, what remains to be done? I am currently experimenting with adding vambraces to the model. And there will be chains, of course. I am also planning to add a layer of greenstuff fur over Angron’s shoulders — this should also offer a very nice opportunity to cover up some rough spots.

What I already like a lot is how closely this model follows the design of the “official” Forgeworld model: He even has the bigger and smaller axes, and on the same respective hands as on the official model, too! All in all, this seems like a rather feasible way of making your own plastic Angron!

III. In a city of neon lights and perpetual rain…

One last thing, before I tune out for today — yet hopefully not for another year: I fear I’ll have to plug my latest game-design shenanigans yet again, as I have been creating another short game, using Media Molecule’s software “Dreams” on PlayStation. It’s called ][ REMEMBER

And while it is still not 40k – or tabletop wargaming related – it’s set in a Cyberpunk world this time around, so maybe that’ll interest some of you.

You see, I grew up heavily influenced by both 80s and 90s Cyberpunk content as well as with the classic graphic adventures and video games from the same time — in some cases, such as games like Flashback, Beneath A Steel Sky or – obviously – BLADE RUNNER, those two spheres even overlapped. So I had this idea for a game that would pray tribute to all of those treasured memories and classic games, and once again, Dreams has allowed me to simply create it (with the help, it must be said, of both some brilliant cyberpunk assets from the Dreams community as well as my fellow Dreamers VectorSlinger and Camian, who solved some rather tricky programming questions for me).

In the game, you are searching for an escaped artificial human in a rainy Cyberpunk city. Does that sound a bit boilerplate to you? Welllll, I am confident that I’m taking the story into some interesting directions. But I’ll let you all be the judges of that, as the game is freely available to anyone who has both a PlayStation and a copy of Dreams. Here’s a trailer for you:

And here are some more impressions from the game:

If you want to check out ][ REMEMBER – and it goes without saying that I would like that very much indeed! – you can find it here.

And while I won’t wax poetical again on the qualities of Dreams as a creative tool – if you want to read up on that, check out the last part of my previous post – I will say that it’s still a fantastic piece of software to own. Alright, end of sales pitch! Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

And end of blog post, too, incidentally. Let’s hope it doesn’t take me another year to come up with something new! Until then, it goes without saying that I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

↧

State of the Hunt, Week 32/2024: Eightbound Leftovers…

August 5, 2024, 10:21 am

≫ Next: State of the Hunt, Week 33/2024: Suddenly, Grandfather Nurgle…

≪ Previous: State of the Hunt, Week 29/2024: Anger, Rain & Neon Lights

Alright, I have a couple of small updates for today — nothing spectacular, but let’s keep this thing going while it lasts, shall we?

I. Put on some armour, it’s freezing!

First up, on the matter of my recent Angron conversion, I already said last time that I wanted to experiment with adding some vambraces to the model. And after looking at quite a few options, I realised that the armour plates from the Mk. VII Legion Praetor with power axe might fit the bill, so I made a quick mockup:

What was great about these vambraces was that they had the right size and, courtesy of coming from an actual Horus Heresy model, came with just the right Heresy era design, too. It also quickly became clear, however, that they would need some work to sit flush against Agron’s arms — and I was a bit nervous about committing to them, as that meant I would have to shave down those manacles on his wrists. In the end, however, I went all in — here’s what the model looks like right now:

As you can see, the armour plates now sit flush against the arm/wrist area. I have also pulled them down a bit, so they cover the back of the hand, as the design of the plates suggests they should. I think it works pretty well, all things considered!

My plan is to use some chains on top of the whole assembly, both to suggest the way Angron’s axes have been chained to him, and also to tie the whole thing together even more — compare Angron’s official FW model, where the chains actually run around his wrists on top of his vambraces.

II. The Brawler and the Paladin

I won’t lie: I did mostly get that second box of Eightbound to create that Angron conversion above. But at the same time, the purchase also left me with enough bits for two more Eightbound, so I experimented a bit…

The problem here was twofold: One, the Angron conversion proved to be rather wasteful in that it ended up damaging two sets of Eightbound legs (one for the actual legs of the model and one for the shoulder pads). So I had to whip something up. The other challenge was that, in spite of the kit’s surprising versatility, it’s still easy enough to end up with repeated poses and silhouettes. My idea was to create two more Eightbound with strong-ish visual archetypes, in order to make them look suitably original.

The first one’s codenamed “The Brawler” for now:

Going through the Codex again, I liked the idea of a massive, brutish Eightbound in a slightly crouched pose with two massive fists — the kit totally supports this right out of the box, so it was mostly a matter of choosing the right parts and getting the pose just right. As you may be able to tell, this model’s original stock leg armour was used when building Angron’s shoulder pads, so I grafted parts of the lower legs that were used to make Angron’s legs to these. It took a bit of shaving and cutting, but it works well enough now, with only a few gaps left to fill. I rather like this guy, to be honest!

The final model, meanwhile, threw me in for a loop, as it ended up looking far too similar to my existing Eightbound models. I went for a twin-sword setup, which made for a cool start, but the thing that really turned the model into something slightly more original was to swap in a new head, courtesy of the old Age of Sigmar starter box Bloodreavers:

All of my Eightbound are using the more mutated head options, but I didn’t want to reuse any of the faces within the same squad, so I already had the idea of swapping in a helmeted head. In the end, the one I chose ended up working really well, leading to an almost knightly look. This is definitely an archetype that works!

III. Fully armed again

And finally, just for the sake of completeness, I also worked out a new left arm for that Berzerker I stole the arm with the two dangling heads from (to be used on the chonky Mk. III World Eater from my previous post). Here’s what the model originally looked like:

And here’s the “refurbished” version:

Nothing fancy, really: I just used a slightly tweaked vanilla CSM arm. The pose was opened up a bit, and I also shaved down some spikes on the back of the chainsword to make the whole thing look more like a blunt weapon of war — and less like something straight out of Masters of the Universe Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

And that’s it for today, basically — like I said: nothing spectacular. Even so, it goes without saying that I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

↧

State of the Hunt, Week 33/2024: Suddenly, Grandfather Nurgle…

August 17, 2024, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Murders & Acquisitions

≪ Previous: State of the Hunt, Week 32/2024: Eightbound Leftovers…

No sooner did I manage to get back into the swing of things – a bit, at least – than my hobby butterfly affliction reared its ugly head again. And the insectile simile seems quite apt here, as I have been sidetracked by Grandfather Nurgle and his flyblown followers — but it’s ultimately all part of the Great Work, innit? So let me at least share what I have been up to:

The important thing to tell you before we tuck in is that I bought a box of the – then brand-new -plastic Plague Marines a couple of years ago. And I’ve been fiddling with the kit ever since, dryfitting and assembling these models, then taking them apart again – almost as a meditation, if you will – never settling on a finished build — in that sense, I’ve been getting A TON of bang for my buck out of the kit Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Now what provoked me into working on them again was the compulsion to build a Death Guard icon bearer, after seeing a fantastic inspiration on Death of a Rubricist (one of my favourite hobby blogs, itmust be said).

I’ve always chafed at the fact that you actually have to pick up a separate (and not too cheap) model if you want a Plague Marine icon bearer, for one. And I loved how Apologist came up with a cool idea that uses both one of the more awkward Plague Marine heads AND one of the SUPER-awkward snapfit Plague Marines. So I used his conversion as a starting point and made some adjustments, based on the bitz I had:

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

What I like about the model is that this guy looks as though he’s barely holding it together: At any moment now, something vile and monstrous could crack his armoured shell and emerge from it. Or he could have been teetering on the age of change for millennia, never quite succumbing — we will never know. But there’s a crookedness to the character that I quite enjoy. I will have to adjust some elements, like the little bells, though, putting them at a more correct angle — the icon itself has just been tacked together for now.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Now with that model mostly assembled, things started to cascade: I started browsing through Chris Wraight’s “The Lords of Silence” again — one of my favourite CSM Black Library books, and definitely an indispensable resource for those interested in the Death Guard, for the fascinating and believable way it characterises the members of that legion.

That, in turn, made me mess around with those Plague Marine bit more — only this time, I ended up with a configuration that I felt I could commit to. So here’s the squad I made, a mix of older and newer models, incidentally:

The overarching theme with them was to get them really close to the “classic” Jes Goodwin Death Guard concepts from the 2nd edition of 40k: Bloated, faceless and heavily armoured figures with an almost WWI-Trencher like brutality to them:

That’s why I used all of the spiked “Pickelhaube” helmets for the models, with a heavy focus on the classic early-to-mid 90s Death Guard template. I also dialed back the excess of the models in many bigger and smaller ways: The Plague Marines parts are so covered in gribbly detail that it gets a bit much at times. As I’ve done with my starter box Plague Marines before, I carefully shaved off a tentacle here or a horn there, or chose the less flashy parts for a more grounded, if still clearly Nurglite, look.

Let’s take a closer look at the models in turn:

First up, the champion and the aforementioned icon bearer. The icon bearer is new, as you know. The champion is a slightly older conversion, and was assembled to closely resemble an actual Jes Goodwin sketch from the early 90s (and the seminal Jes Goodwin metal Plague Marine shown further up in this post). My favourite part of the model is the area where I removed lots of tiny tentacles and replaced them with a cluster of ribbed pipes and cables — that makes the model far less goofy and brings it closer to the dilapidated horror of the Death Guard for me! It’s also a perfect match for the champions warped facemask.

The Plague Spewer guy on the left is an older conversion, based on one of the – rather dodgy – snapfit Plague Marines. I’ve recently replaced his head, though. The guy on the right was assembled using stock parts, but really channels the trench warfare look I mentioned above. He even has a raggedy half-cape, which I love.

Two more stock models. My proudest achievement on these is how the Plague Belcher and bloated breastplate shouldn’t quite fit together, but I managed to pull it off. That means the chest piece’s high gorget can work together really beautifully with the blunt Mk. II-ish helm. I am often to reluctant Astartes wielding two-handed guns, preferring to go for a CC weapon and sidearm (probably my World Eaters heritage), but for once, I have created a model that I really like! Regarding the guy on the right, I was debating with myself whether or not to turn his flail into an axe, but the flail seems so quintessentially Nurglite that I wanted it to stay. The only problem is that I didn’t use the body “intended” for these arms (more recent GW multipart kits can be pretty weird that way), so I’ll have to figure out the base (extend it a bit or use a bigger one). But I really like the overall look of the model!

Now the final model took ages to come together — mostly because, quite frankly, most of the coolest parts had already been used up, and the legs I had left had a slightly pidgeon-toed look. But in the end, I have found a cool angle, I believe: The final model for today works REALLY well as a re-imagination of the ancient easy-to-build plastic Plague Marines from the early 90s! Take a look:

Also, check out the amount of scale creep here — it is quite something, isn’t it? Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

And seeing how I was already working away, I also started improvising on a different Nurglite model:

As some of you will probably realise, this model is one of the smaller brothers from the WFB/AoS Glottkin kit. It was a pickup from a bitz exchange or an ebay lot (the details escape me at the moment), and felt like a great match for an older – pre new Death Guard – conversion project of mine that used the AoS Putrid Blightkings (old photo):

All of these look very bloated and more fantasy than 40k, obviously, so my common visual idea for them was to make them look as though they had all grown so bloated over the millennia that most of their armour had been cast off or distended beyond recognisability — but I wanted to feature hints of Astartes armour here and there, to hint at their origins as Death Guard Marines. So the new guy should make for a pretty cool addition to this squad, maybe even as its leader.

I am still thinking about adding a few more cracked piece of armour, broken cabling — stuff like that. In any case, he and his brethren will always look decidedly different from “standard” Plague Marines, but that is kind of their thing, seeing how the squad was originally assembled long before the new 40k Nurgle plastics were released.

As you can see, I’ve added the shroud/insect wing bit from the Malignant Plague Caster, and I think it makes for a cool little addition.

And here’s how the model looks with its – prospective – squadmates:

As I’ve said, the idea with these is that they should almost read like an entity unto themselves: These huge, bloated Leviathans, far removed from the Astartes they once were.

I may yet have a few more Nurglite bits and bobs to share with you in an upcoming update — as long as the fancy has taken me, that is.

Until then, it goes without saying that I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

↧

Murders & Acquisitions

September 4, 2024, 12:49 pm

≫ Next: State of the Hunt, Week 38/2024: The Colours of Decay

≪ Previous: State of the Hunt, Week 33/2024: Suddenly, Grandfather Nurgle…

A quick detour from my recent Nurglite shenanigans for today, as we jump back to the XII legion for a bit: because I have a couple of kitbashes/conversions that I would love to share with you:

Ever since the release of Codex World Eaters, I have been searching for an excuse to convert a Master of Executions for the 4th assault company — mind you, there has been an executioner in my army background longer than this has been a thing in the official fluff. This gentleman here, dear Huntmaster Torus:

But as long time readers of this blog will know, I will always jump at even the flimsiest excuse for creating yet more characters, right? And a sinister headtaker seemed like the kind of project any self-respecting World Eaters aficionado could get behind.

After all, there were quite a few cool modeling options available to me: The actual Master of Executions model from GW, the fantastic World Eaters lord bitz that come with the Lord Invocatus kit — or, indeed, a particular Mk. VI Legion Praetor with a massive, two-handed axe from the Horus Heresy line of models who seemed like he had been made for the job. So I slowly managed to get my hands on all of those models, but then…did absolutely nothing with them.

You see, the stock Master of Executions is serviceable, but also very cookie cutter. The Chaos Lord bitz from the Lord Invocatus kit are awesome, but they alone were not enough to come up with the right kind of model? And that Mk. VI Legion Praetor? Suffice it to say that A LOT of people have been using him as their Master of Executions. In fact, kitbashing a Master of Executions itself has almost become a bit of an in-joke, and it seemed like every hobbyist in the world already had one, and all the cool ideas were already taken: Everybody and their cousin were coming up with all of these sweet conversion ideas while I was floundering.The various possibilities just canceled each other out in my mind, and I ended up doing nothing with them…

Well, no longer! Because the other night, I had an idea: I dug into my bitzbox, and after a short while, I had this:

I really wanted to put my own spin on the character archetype, and I am pretty happy with what I have so far: The torso, arms and backpack are all from the Lord Invocatus/Lord on Juggernaut kit (they are all from the “lord” side of the kit). I combined them with legs from the AoS Khorgos Khul model (marketed as a vanilla “Mighty Lord of Khorne” these days, it seems): I love how the leg armour has that little round indentation that just seemed perfect for the World Eaters belt buckle!

The helmet, meanwhile, came from the AoS Skullgrinder — I really like that helmet and had been waiting for ages to put it to good use!

As you can see, I went for a sword over an axe. It’s because I really fell in love with the massive chainsword — it also gives the model a very particular look, almost like a dark knight or paladin, which I really enjoy. Also, the ring on his right hand is just a placeholder for now. I imagine he’ll be holding a clutch of dangling skulls before long…

But wait, there’s more: With the Master of Executions out of the way, I was free to use some of the leftover kits/bitz to make this gentleman:

Now to give credit where credit is due: I did not come up with this idea myself, but it’s rather a recipe that I’d seen at least once or twice on the internet. So it was mostly a matter of adapting it for my own use. But I loved the idea of a very gladiatorial World Eaters officer, and one with a decidedly Heresy-era look to his armour. The body is from the aforementioned Mk. VI Legion Praetor kit, while the arms are chaos Terminator arms. The twin Lacerator swords came from the Eightbound. And a berzerker backpas adds a certain “je ne sais quoi” to the model.

I haven’t decided yet whether he’ll be 30k or 40k — he does have a Heresy-style look to him, but I’m pretty sure he’d also look terrific in 40k red and brass. I can already say that I’ll be adding some chains to his wrists, both to attach them to his weapons and to blend the arms and hands together a bit better (on top of covering up a bit of shaving I have had to do on one of the lacerators).

Now my favourite part about these two characters is how they almost embody opposite interpretations of the consumate warrior archetype:

Sinister but weirdly regal swordsman on the left, bulky, menacing pitfighter on the right. Quite a pair, aren’t they?

But wait, that’s still not all: Before we tune out for today, I still have one more piece of bonus content for you all:

Maybe you’ll remember my long-suffering Terminator Lord wielding twin lightning claws? He started out like this:

Then I gave him quite the workover after my last longer hobby hiatus, using some new World Eaters bitz and a leg swap to turn him into this:

This poor chap has been tweaked and re-tweaked to within an inch of his life, and yet it looked like I still wasn’t done with him:

You see, my one gripe with his latest incarnation was how the old Terminator chestpiece was quite a bit too narrow. I tried to distract from it with some dangling chains, which worked pretty well… — but then I found myself wondering whether one of my leftover Eightbound breastplates might fit — and it slid right over the chest piece!

Seriously, it was almost ridiculous how well the bit fit over the existing torso piece. The most complicated thing was to take off and reattach those chains and tilting plates I had added to the model.

The new breastplate adds a lot of bulk to his torso and makes him look bulky and overmuscled — which, I would say, is a perfect look for a genetically engineered XII legion madman Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view. What do you guys think?

So, once again, that’s it for today. Three massive, bulky XII legion slaughterers, all converted-up and ready to fine-tune for another year or so Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Seriously, though: It goes without saying that I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

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State of the Hunt, Week 38/2024: The Colours of Decay

September 20, 2024, 5:01 pm

≫ Next: Murders & Acquisitions, pt. 2

≪ Previous: Murders & Acquisitions

After my previous update saw me working on two new officers for the World Eaters’ 4th assault company, today it’s back to Nurgle for a spell, as I find myself messing around with a potpourri, as it were, of smaller Death Guard related projects:

I. Swelling the Ranks

First up, there was still some kitbashing to be had with my remaining Death Guard bitz. And for the most part, this involved some touchups on older models. For instance, back when the box of three snapfit Plague Marines were released, I ended up converting one of them into a model wielding a Plague Launcher:

The spliced-together weapon was indeed the most clever thing about this conversion, as this particular weapons option wasn’t really available anywhere else before the release of the multipart Plague Marines, and only one of the weapons featured in the snapfit box. So I made my own version. Beyond that, however, the model was hampered by my not having access to any more Death Guard conversion bitz back then, so the poor chap ended up with an Iron Warriors helmet (which is an awesome piece, in and of itself, but its use here never sat quite right with me). So as part of my recent Plague Marine shenanigans, I thought I might as well spruce up the model a bit:

I’d say the “official” Plague Marine head is a much better fit for the model! And while I was at it, I also replaced the Plague Knife (the original one was held at this weird, rigid angle).
I am also still pretty pleased with the Plague Launcher conversion, if I do say so myself, even if these are now a far less valuable resource than they used to be Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

And while we are on the matter of snapfit Plague Marines, there was actually one more old model in my bitz box, waiting for its day in the limelight: The original plan was for the guy to be wielding a two-handed Plague Cleaver, but the model never quite came together the way I wanted it to.
And then I realised that I would still need another icon bearer for my Plague Marines, so I re-tweaked that same model into this:

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

I wanted to achieve two things with this model: Make it look both quite medieval and baroque (hence the choice of bitz and the use of an old Chaos Knight standard) AND subtly forest-themed, hence the twisted wooden branches atop the icon. You could almost say that I was going for a twisted take on a “Green Knight”-like character archetype. And I really like how brooding and massive he seems.
Looking at his shoulder pad, backpack and helmet, someone over at “The Bolter & Chainsword” pointed out how they felt reminded of a Cordyceps infection (that ghastly fungus that will hollow-out ants and control them from within until they have moved to an ideal location, then burst out of their shells in the most opportune spot), and I rather liked that remark because it all really matches the overall theme of these guys as keepers of Nurgle’s One True Garden.

Of course I will have to come up with something cool to put on that banner of his, once the time for painting comes — which takes me to my next segment for today:

II. Actually painting something again — holy heck!

Believe it or not, but more than a year after my last small painting session – and actually four years after my last complete painted model – I have actually managed to pick up those brushes again and put them to use. I figured that Nurgle is always fun to paint, so I chose two lowly, already undercoated Poxwalkers for this little exercise:

Here’s a picture of a the first model, mostly painted. Unfortunately, it turned out that a few rather crucial paints from my collection were too gummed-up to use, so I was only able to get the models to a mostly finished stage at first, with some crucial additions still missing:

Fortunately enough, I was able to swing by the local Warhammer store and get some replacements, so that gave me the tools I needed to tweak the paintjobs and finish the two models. Take a look:

My idea for these, as outlined in one of my earlier posts on the matter, is that they started out as the staff of an agricultural laboratry, trying to genetically tweak plants so they would end up being far more fruitful, in an attempt to boost production on an Imperial agri-world. Then Grandfather Nurgle took an interest, and the whole thing went to hell– but I like the idea that you can still see their origins on some of these models. At the same time, they are all at different points of transformation, with horns and, ultimately, brambles erupting from their mutating bodies. In this particular case, the model on the right is still fairly close to the “human” end of the scale, still wearing most of a hazmat suit. The other poor guy, however, has been fully claimed by Nurgle’s Garden…

As you can see, one element that really stands out on these are the disgusting boils — some thinned-down Blood for the Blood God is the most important ingredient here. It’s such a small detail, really, but it adds some visual punch to the models and also draws the eye: These poor creatures basically ARE their disease at this point, so it makes sense that your attention gets drawn towards the gribbly, disgusting parts of the models. Also, I do realise that these are just some throwaway Poxwalkers, but hey: They are the first proper paintjobs I have pulled off in quite a while, so bear with me here, okay?

Here’s the entire group of Poxwalkers I have so far:

Again, the overarching idea is that these creatures are former denizens of a research lab on an Imperial agri-world , so you can still see the remains of their former stations in life on them (white lab coats and orange hazmat suits used during their experimentation). And since their backstory includes agricultural experiments gone awry, their mutations seem treelike and plant-based.

Here they are, together with a bloated member of the Death Guard:

Please ignore the completely unfinished bases for now: My ultimate plan for them is to try and channel something like the “Sea of Corruption” from Nausicäa, but I am still in the concept stage on this particular detail, so the bases will have to remain ugly for a bit Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

An ambitious goal, to be sure! For now, I am mostly happy about having managed to dip a toe into painting again after all these years…

III. Supply Drop

As our last item for today, let me share some recent arrivals to my collection. First up, I was aching to get my hands on some more of those sweet, Death Guard-specific Mk. 3 helmets, as I think they make for the perfect, classic Jes Goodwin look. But shopping for bitz has become a bit of a nightmare in my neck of the woods, with awfully inflated ebay prices and many bitz simply not available to begin with. So imagine my delight when this little collection arrived:

Thanks to fellow hobbyist beetlemeier, I now have all the spiky Death Guard helmets I’ll be needing for a good long while! Thanks so much for your generosity!

Also, I couldn’t help myself and had to pull the trigger on an ebay auction recently: When GW originally put out a Death Guard-branded line of models as part of their, somewhat Gacha-inspired, Space Marine Heroes line, I did take an interest, but the element of chance scared me off. But I recently found an ebay listing that had quite a few of those Death Guard models — with one caveat: They were already built, painted and based. This is what I got for my trouble:

Now these pose an interesting conundrum: My original plan was to just strip the paint off them right away. But they don’t look half-bad in that picture, right? So maybe it would be better to just tweak the paintjobs?

And yet, the problem is that their previous owner has painted them to a standard that I would call “almost decent”: Lots of washes, contrast paints, weathering powder and slime — which is great. But it’s all been caked on with such abandon that it’s, frankly, a bit much:

With just a bit more restraint, these could have been quite stunning. But I keep going back and forth on whether or not I want to tweak their paintjobs or strip them altogether. There’s also that idea with filling the bigger holes in their bases – originally intended for Nurglings – with these cat’s eyes. A cool idea, but it does look a bit tacky…

I think the “maximalism” at play here is what bothers me the most: LOTS of washes, LOTS of weathering powder, LOTS of texture buildup. Them not matching my painting style isn’t even the main issue here, as a slightly different scheme can always be explained away on a single squad or a killteam — it’s more that the special effects get in the way of the actual sculpts so much. I’m currently feeling more inclined to strip them, but we’ll see…

And that’s it for today’s update. It goes without saying that I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

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Murders & Acquisitions, pt. 2

October 19, 2024, 5:06 am

≪ Previous: State of the Hunt, Week 38/2024: The Colours of Decay

Just a really quick update for today — but I am committed to keeping this place up and running, so that has to count for something, right? Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

Not much time for hobbying lately, but I did take a moment to tweak some of my recent conversions, adding detail to them and cleaning up some of the conversion work.

First up on the chopping block were this beautiful pair: The WIP Master of Executions and Gladiatorial Champion from one of my previous posts:

Now the look for the models was already mostly there, so it was all a matter of adding some well-considered detail to them.

On the Master of Executions, one area that obviously needed work was his right hand: That ring is normally attached to the back of a juggernaut of Khorne, suggesting the way the mounted World Eaters Lord gets to somehow steer and control the daemonic beast (or at least has something to hang on to for dear life, as the mountain of daemonic metal and spite keeps barrelling towards its next prey). In this particular case, I wanted to use it as the base for a little trophy collection that the Master of Executions is carrying around with him, fittingly enough, so I chose a few skulls and carefully attached them to the ring bit:

This would have been easy enough to overdo, so I had to stop myself before going over the edge. But I think the – mostly – finished look works pretty well.

The other part that needed some attention was the model’s backside, as it seemed quite barren. Fortunately enough, the Jugger Lord comes with some pretty cool stock bitz that worked really well when I simply stuck to the model’s belt:

I think it’s an excellent match for this character to have his armour festooned in skulls — even moreso than your average World Eater, that is…

I am mostly prepared to call this conversion finished at this point. What do you think?

When it came to the gladiatorial “Arena Champion” archetype, the model had mostly only been tacked together so far, so the first order of the day was to carefully glue together the different parts that made up the arms into one sub-assembly for each arm. While I was doing that, however, I also came up with a cool little detail to tie the arms and the body together even more:

You see, there’s quite a bit of chainmal draped over the Mk. VI Preator’s breastplate, so I thought it would be a cool idea to replicate that effect on the arms: This also had the added benefit of covering up some slightly dodgy areas where the shoulder pads met the arms. So I carefully shaved some chainmal pieces off a couple of AoS Blood Warrior bitz and glued them to the arms:

Oh, and I also got rid of that little, aquila embossed on the gun holster — for obvious reasons Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

So here’s what the model looks like right now:

I rather like the look of this model as well, but it’ll need a bit more work: As you can see in the pictures above, the entire back of the model is very plain — a consequence of the stock model actually wearing a massive cape that normally covers up all of those unadorned armour pieces. I also want to continue the chain motif a bit by adding chains to the model’s wrists and weapons. But once again, I think the look is already there.

And finally, I couldn’t help myself and add yet another round of detail to that poor Terminator Lord I have been tweaking for ages…

You see, after my last round of changes to the model, I posted this version:

But then fellow hobbyist Knight-Pilgrim pointed out a problem: It looks a bit weird how his right clawed gauntlet is just so flat on the front: That little “ledge” you see on the left fist doesn’t exist here, so the fingers just kinda start out of nowhere, right? Now I was a bit miffed at never having realised this. And once you have seen that, you cannot really unsee it, so I knew I had to fix it.

After much hemming and hawing, I came up with a solution: I cut off the front from one of those “claw shields” wielded by the AoS Blood Warriors. It took some doing to find the right bit, but the gauntlet now actually looks way more like a gauntlet, if you ask me:

HOWEVER, once that was done, it became clear I would basically have to tweak the other gauntlet as well Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
And this actually took some doing, because none of those “shield gauntlets” really look quite the same, and many of them wouldn’t fit the Terminator’s fist. But I persevered, and here’s what the model looks like now:

Granted, the left gauntlet now looks slightly different from the right one, but since both gauntlets also feature different details on their backs, I don’t think it’s much of an issue. I’m actually happy to have gone back and fixed this.

That being said, I honestly don’t think I can make any more tweaks on this guy: I keep knocking off bitz and pieces whenever I go back in to change something — I have been tweaking and re-tweaking the poor fellow for many years at this point, if you can believe it, and it has been quite a journey for him…

Talk about the Ship of Theseus, eh? Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

So anyway, that basically wraps up this short update. Here’s our three candidates for today, all together in one picture:

It goes without saying that I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

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