Sidetracked...

I really am painting some of the stuff I've made... I swear!

But I've had this Nurgle Lord sitting on my desk staring at me and I've had no idea what to do with him. Until yesterday that is! This is what the base model starts out as:

I knew I wanted to incorporate him into my Forge World Cultists somehow, as a corrupted foreman or overseer. What I didn't know was how to get the look I wanted. He definitely needing to be 40K'ed up a bit for sure. The rotted axe would have to go along with all the boils, wounds and shoulder spikes. So after a lot of shaving, green stuffing and careful weapon swapping I ended up with this guy:

*Note* Sorry about the fuzzy foreground/background focus stuff... Forgot to adjust the settings after my wife was using the camera for portraits and only just noticed it :/

I used the weapon hands from one of the CSM (the "Chosen" I think) from the Dark Vengeance box and replaced the bone covered bolt pistol with a standard CSM bolter. I also gave him a CSM head to continue his "I have better gear because I'm special" look. The power axe completes the updated look while the old style armor still gives him a cobbled together look that will fit with the rest of the cultists. I see him as being gifted with superior equipment due to his advanced status on the Chaos worship path.

All in all I think this was a successful conversion project given how long he sat on my desk with not a clue what to do with him! I'm especially proud of the rather seamless integration of the arms and new hands. I think the neck/head needs a bit of work still and I'll probably add some more 40K ammo packs and bits to round out his look but for now I'm calling him done.

Patient Zero

A long time ago, I saw a fantastic idea on dakka by GuitaRasmus for what he called "The Strain". His own take on infected marines blew me away. I loved the eyeless "all mouth and claws" look they had going. I knew one day I would have to try my hand at such a great idea. I've always liked Nurgle and related units but never quite dug the super rotted, super rusty look. I wanted my Nurlge units to show signs of mutation from genetic manipulation and bio enhanced plagues. Chemical warfare was the game I saw Nurgle playing most, and I wanted my version of his armies to reflect that.

So now years later, I began my biggest conversion project ever.

While I loved the Ent arms Guita used for his Strain troopers, I wanted something that would allow me to include more armor. I also wanted them to look like they had absorbed some of the weapons they were holding at the time of infection. I stuck with the same Khorn Berserker legs and back torso parts, used Pink Horror heads shaved and turned upside down for the faces, and for the arms I used Possessed CSMs. I think it worked out very well and I have actually modeled and painted my first proof of concept mini.

I wanted my guys to look like corpses (or perhaps troopers that displeased someone important) that were taken and injected with some warp infused virus. The mutations that resulted wrought utter chaos on their forms.  Hands still clutching weapons or wearing power fists melded together, and empty hands became bone swords and crushing claws studded with teeth. Their chests ripped open as their heads melted into gaping maws of fangs and beaks. Utterly insane and driven only by the desire to kill, these bio-terrors are stored in stasis between battles and released where the fighting is thickest. Charging with reckless abandon, they swarm the enemies lines and rip them apart. They don't care about getting shot, they don't fix the gouges and scrapes on their armor. Maybe once after every few battles their caretakers hose them off to wash away the gore and grime...

Here is my Patient Zero of these twisted bio experiments, hope you like him!

I'm very happy with how this guy came out so I finished building the rest of the troops. They are currently painted with the armor green, purple undertone and grey flesh so I just need to do the brass trim, bones, blood, bases and grime/washes. I'm also quite pleased with the green stuff work I had to do on these guys to meld the heads into the torsos and arms. Each time I work with green stuff I feel a little better about it...

In other news, I fixed the color balance on the camera so no more pink tinged pics. Sorry for the earlier ones that look dark and red washed. I never claimed to be a trained photographer... 

And lastly, per a request from a friend, I have a picture that shows the scale of the minis I work on. They are 28mm tall.

Something horrible is coming...

Recently finished the test model for a new squad. Took a break from the cultists to take a spin on one of the coolest ideas I've seen for Nurgle-ish CSMs. Pics coming soon...

I also received the remainder models for my Forge World Cultists so I can fill out the 4 total squads I'll be making for them. Even with most of them only primed, they still look like a rough and ready group.

A quick paint break

As the weather is too nasty to prime any of my newly converted models, I have decided to take a break and paint some of my stuff that I primed months ago and then never painted. First up was a quick little job on an Unsanctioned Psyker, who is slated to join one of my Forge World Cultists squads and add some warp power to their plethora of guns. No actual conversion action on this guy, just a plane Empire Flagellant selected because I liked his "imprisoned by my own comrades because even they don't trust me" look. I also tried to make him look extra dirty and downtrodden due to his "accepted in our ranks and suffered to live only because you can fry enemies with your mind" status.

Overall I'd say mission accomplished on this rather quick paint job. May all my future painting endeavors take as little effort as this one :P

Tools of the Dark Mechanicus

So while I was working on finishing my Tech Wraiths, I realized that my Fallen Magos would require something more substantial in his personal retinue. Something with a bit more ooomph and able to soak up bullets and las fire and still advance undeterred. Normally this would mean servitors. Now there is nothing wrong with the standard GW servitors... but I just never really liked them. Surely a Magos no longer confined by petty rules would take the standard servitor template and beef it up with bigger guns, lots of steroids and armor grafts! So in a mad frenzy of converting I have created four new tools for the Dark Mechanicus to call upon...

The Dark Mechanicus Servitors:

Lots of careful cutting and repositioning of the IG Sentinel Plasma Canon power cable bit. It actually lined up perfectly with the two raised circles on the back of the psilencer!

I refer to this one as "The Collector". His integrated harpoon canon allows him to apprehend those the Dark Magos requires for testing. The gigantic saw allows him to remove the parts his master does not require...

A more heavily armed and well provisioned model: 

A big bruiser with an assault cannon scavenged from a fallen Space Wolf:

These guys are a smorgasbord of bits from all kinds of sets. I'll try to remember them all...

-Dark Angels robed legs

-Ork torsos and arms (circular saw arm, claw and harpoon gun)

-Dark Eldar Wracks heads

-Space Marine Terminator assault cannons, armor plates and power fist

-SM Dreadnaught targeters,  purity seals and canister launchers

-SM Devastator ammo packs

-SM Scout night-vision goggles

-SM vehicle spotlights (without the actual light and cover front part)

-Ork vehicle engine parts

-Imperial Guard Sentinel weapons and cables

-Grey Knight psilencer

-Various skulls, chains and spikes from CSM packs

I think I got everything there... I wanted a bit of a rag-tag look but still unifying overall thanks to the generic base of the same legs, torso and heads. I figured a fallen Magos doesn't always have access to a Forge World and/or all the parts he may want. In those times scavenging parts and equipment from defeated foes is key, thus the re-purposed Terminator weapons, crude melee implements and engine/power systems cobbled together and bolted to these guys. I couldn't have asked for these guys to turn out any better. AND they actually look twisted and a bit off so I don't think there will be much mistaking these guys for just beefy loyalist servitors.

Finished Tech Wraith

All painted up and ready to serve the twisted masters of the Dark Mechanicus. I figure that these guys were probably minor hereteks who displeased or failed their masters and were turned into higher-functioning servitors. "Blessed" with more complex sentient machine spirits, they act as hunter-killers and guards for the fallen Magos.

And here are some WIP shots of his new partner in heresy:

I made the second Wraith much like the first with only a few changes. Mixed up the arms for a different pose and gave him a flamer and chainsword hands. A different servo skull head with carefully repositioned cables and a different mix of skull trophies and dangling chains helped create a unique look of movement for this guy as well. Where the first Wraith has a more precise and spidery look to him, this one is more of a menacing whirlwind of fire and chain teeth.

Alas it has been really hard to find good weather to prime my new models in so I have no idea when I'll be able to paint him... Guess I'll just have to build more guys... ;)

Dark Mechanicus Tech Wraiths and a Weapon Swap!

When I first saw the model of the Cairn Wraith, I instantly thought it would make a really cool looking floaty Mechanicus guy of some sort...

After picking one up I sat down and managed to combine a ton of different parts for a rather successful and evil looking Dark Mechanicus Tech Wraith.
I used:
-Necron arms/legs for the mechadendrites
-A servo skull for the face
-A different servo skull for the cables drooping inside the cloak and the sight on the CSM plasma pistol
-Astartes combat knives for the hands with shaved down SM backpack ports and chainsword engines adding bulk and mechanical feel to the blades
-A piece of sprue that held one of the servo skulls shaved down to make the servo claw
-The rods off a GK teleporter backpack for the spines
-Various chains and skulls to add a hopefully sufficient evil look

*Side Note*

Its actually pretty hard to make Dark Mechanicus units that actually look evil... So much of the 40K artwork shows twisted Tech Priests covered in skulls, emaciated flesh and bones meshed with machinery, cables and servo arms snaking from beneath rotting robes... and those are the GOOD guys! I'll just have to rely on the guys I make later that will accompany the Tech Wraiths to make them more evil looking by association...

*End Side Note*

Here are the WIP shots:

I am really pleased with the arachnid look from the bent arms and his overall sense of motion. So pleased in fact that I went out and bought another Cairn Wraith to build a second Tech Wraith with! More on him later.

And lastly it didn't take long before I swapped out the stick with metal on it from my second Forge World Cultist Squad Leader. I gave him a stun baton from the Dark Eldar Wracks set that really looks more appropriate for someone from a Forge World to be carrying. These guys are supposed to have the better tech right off the line anyhow and my other Squad Leader got a chainsword so it was only fitting...

Here is before:

And after the weapon swap:

Much better!

Working on my second Tech Wraith and painting the first. Updates soon to follow!

Forge World Cultists

My first finished project, a squad of Chaos Cultists from a fallen Forge World.  I wanted them to have a cohesive look so I stuck with a color scheme of reds and browns/tans with a very grey skin tone and black for the hoods/shawls (except that "Leather Face" guy... I love his patchwork mask). Lots of Earthshade wash gave them a really gritty and lightly rusted look that I'm rather pleased with.

Group Pic

For the Squad Leader I got rid of that stupid looking potato on a string he comes with and gave him a much more menacing looking chain sword.

Some close-ups of the other squadies

The last guy will be the leader of the second squad of Cultists when I finish them.

Not sure if I'm sold on that bat wrapped in metal spikes/barbwire... I may end up doing some post-painting conversion on it yet.