Evolution of a Hobby

Today I wanted to share with you two minis. Each represents rather well the evolution of my Warhammer 40K hobby.

First is where it all started. I purchased a small container of various 40K bits from a local comic book shop. The bits sat in their box for over a year, and every now and then I would glance at them and say to myself "I really should make something with those". Finally I bought some paints from that same comic book shop and broke out some old brushes from my time as an art student. I put together a Space Marine and began painting. It took me about 18 hours to paint my first mini, I worked well into the night and would stop periodically to watch YouTube videos on how to do effects like power weapons. The result was something that I am still proud of to this day.

Lots of time and overly cautions perfectionism went into this guy. The shine came from using a glossy sealer, and sharp-eyed viewers will notice a missing shoulder pad. I cannibalized it as the shoulder was a unique one I have yet to find elsewhere and is now part of my stand-in Inquisitor. I didn't do any light effects or shading, no washes or basing. The only thing "fancy" about him is the lightning effect I did on the sword which, at the time, I was quite pleased with.

Now the next model is a project I finished just a few weeks ago. I am not a fan of some of the HQ models that GW has put out. This is especially true regarding Chaos HQs like Abaddon. That damn refrigerator box he calls a demon weapon is ridiculous looking, and the Talon of Horus looks a bit small for a primarch's weapon... I could go on but suffice to say, I have always wanted to build my own Abaddon. For any who might not know, this is Abaddon in his current incarnation:

       

Not garbage by any measure, but for me it leaves much to be desired. So after about a month of planning and taking what I had learned from making my own custom Typhus model, I created this:

Lots of over-the-top ideas got crammed into this guy. The dead marine with battle damage, the carefully crafted Talon of Horus made from a storm bolter and an Anvil Industries claw and ammo belts, an Ork top-knot replacing the compensation effort of the original model. Of course to start I had to find a replacement for the 2x4 looking Drach'nyen, which was done with a lovely Bloodletter sword.

The Obliterator legs, arms, and shoulder pads really helps make my Abaddon look like the bulky force that all four Chaos Gods feel they can rally behind.

Its a bit harsh but you can see the OSL effect I put coming from within Abaddons armor and shining out around his head. I used a really cool pinkish purple color who's name escapes me at this moment.

In game terms, Abaddons claw weapon gives all Blood Angels the Hatred (Abaddon) rule (since they kind of lost their own Primarch to that weapon during the Horus rebellion and all). So naturally I had to make the most recent victim of said claw a Blood Angel! It really helps visually drive home the reason why the Blood Angels hate him so much.

In this pic you can see the considerable beefing up the base and body used gives my Abaddon. He towers over all those around him as only a true Warmaster of Chaos Undivided should.

I look at these two models and I can clearly see the evolution of my skills as a 40K hobbyist. Washes, shading, converting, green stuff use, basing, the list of skills I have picked up over the years goes on and on. I could never claim that I am a master of any of them by far, nor would I want to. So far some of the greatest enjoyment I have taken from my 40K hobby is stepping back and seeing how I am improving. I also could never claim that my improvement was due to my efforts alone. Help and inspiration from local hobbyists and those of you online who also take the time to share your beautiful works all deserve the lions share of the credit. Its been a long journey to this point, but my hobby train isn't slowing down any time soon! I hope you have enjoyed this little expose into my oldest and newest works. Look for more to come soon.

Flesh Eaters and a finished Tech Wraith

So I took a bit of a break from my Nurgle force this last week and focused on two projects I've been putting off forever. One was my second Tech Wraith that needed painting and the other was a WFB Chaos Lord that needed converting.

I've seen some nice conversions of the Lord but I wanted mine to be usable in 40K. I also know that eventually I want to make a Space Marine army that can be used as either a loyalist or chaos list. Now a perfect fit for this would be a chapter like the Flesh Tearers. They are one bad step away from Khorne's skull throne already, and their Chapter Master Gabriel Seth is desperate to find a way to stop his chapter from being destroyed by the Black Rage. So I figured "what if he heard dark whispers in his rage, voices that told him his chapter could be not only saved, but restored to glory and power?" Should he answer those whispers, he may be led down the path of the Dark Gods... and the result would be the birth of the Flesh Eaters!

With that mental picture in mind I set upon my Chaos Lord model and worked up the man himself to lead these marines on their downward road to redemption. This is what I came up with:

I wanted to try and tie my model in with all the standard elements of Gabriel Seth's standard look. I started by taking four (!) standard chainsword blades along with the engines and the hilt of a Grey Knight sword and and carefully cut, lined up, and pieced together a proper monstrous eviscerator chainsword for my Seth. I'm very proud of how nicely it turned out! I also built his Iron Halo with the wings from the Dark Angels sprue. Lastly I replaced the vents on the CSM backpack with carefully shaved skulls and added fist full of trophies for The Emperor Khorne. Oh and I snuck a holstered pistol onto his right thigh to give him a sidearm and 40K'ify the model a bit more.

I'm sure I'll figure out a fluffy reason why my Seth is rocking that second sword, but really... does anyone need a reason to have more swords? Maybe he "found it" along with his baroque artificer armor he now sports, which totally does not have chaos symbols on it... Gonna have to keep out of site of those pesky loyalists...

All in all... if the most holy Inquisition didn't have enough reasons to keep a close eye on the Flesh Tearers, they certainly will when I'm done with them!

And now some actual painting! Following the same look of my first Tech Wraith I knocked this little guy out rather quickly. I also got to use a new 30-0 sized brush which was awesome when it came time to try my first hazard stripes. I think they turned out okay... more practice should do them better justice.

And here is a nice group shot of the two servants for my fallen Magos (more on him later!):

Thanks for staying tuned in!

Cry Havoc!

Now naturally I never work on just one project at a time... Severe hobby ADD has me constantly thinking of new ideas while working on ideas I just thought of. So while I was wrapping up my Malus the Undying, I began to really think about the army he will lead. I have my Strain 935 Troopers and of course Malus himself, but what about the meat and potatoes units?

In typical fashion I think from big to small, and while I don't have any vehicles yet, I do have lots of Chaos Space Marine Squad boxes lying around. So Havocs were up for imagination, and I'll be darned if I didn't just finish chopping up my new box of Obliterators... I now have these neat little weapon sprues with no Obliterators slated to use them...

Now a bit of back-story, I love rotating barrel type weapons! Miniguns, Gatling guns, assault cannons, you name it. So I took the heavy bolter guns from my CSM sets and took the assault cannon barrels from the Obliterators and made happy little counts-as autocannons/heavy bolters (I can really use them as either but will normally run the autocannon stats). Here are the three that I have made so far, as sadly Obliterator boxes only come with three of these awesome weapon ends...

Here you can see how I took SM Devastator squad ammo boxes and chopped off the handles to make ammo drums for my autocannons/heavy bolters. Its much more practical looking than the 15 round ammo belts hanging out of the normal CSM heavy bolters! You can also see the MaxMini ammo belts I used to fill in for the old ammo belts I cut away (but not discarded, those will be put to good use elsewhere).

The heads for these guys will be the CSM helmets with topknots to designate their heavy weapons specialty. I also need to make one more Havoc trooper for this first squad (I really wish Obliterator sets had more of those barrels... ) but I'm not sure what to add. Maybe I'll throw in a flamer equipped soldier for possible close quarters encounters? I'll think more on that later... 

Also in the squad will be an Aspiring Champion equipped with plasma pistol, CCW and melta bombs (head will be the Nurgle Champ head from CSM squad sprue). I did some light conversion on this guy by taking the SM Devastator Squad Sergent arm with pointing chainsword and replaced the weapon with a CSM style chainsword.

And accompanying the heavy gunners and champion will be two standard bolter marines used as disposable wound buffers. I took pics of one as they are rather boring compared to all the other stuff I've made. Mainly I wanted to show how I also replaced the standard bolter clip with an ammo box (much like SM Sternguard bolters) using once again the SM heavy bolter ammo boxes. I figure if you are in a squad of guys toting massive bullet spewing minigun type weapons and all you have is a standard rifle, you will want to shoot just as much and reload just as little :)

The "knife at the ready" look was an attempt to make something that looked less boring than the standard static pose. Kinda looks like he is ready to round a corner and knows someone will be waiting nearby. The white is paper which I am experimenting with as a cheaper alternative to green stuff when covering those darn slots found in a lot of the 25mm bases. It all gets covered with glue and sand for my standard basing anyways so why waste costly green stuff?

Here you can see a little touch I'm adding to my Nurgle force. I have a bunch of these Bretonnian (?) flintlock pistols laying around and I think they make a cool alternative to the standard bolt pistol.

I plan on making at least one more Havoc squad (probably Las Cannons mostly for anti-armor punch) to add to the Nurgle force. Then I'll round out the army with Plague Marines, Malus the Undying, my Strain 935 Troopers as possessed, maybe some Plague Zombies and some armor to boot. All just rough ideas for now.

Thanks for looking!

Massive Update of Doom!

In typical fashion I'm sure I've lost any and all attention to my blog through lack up timely updates. One day I'll get better at this blogging thing...

Allow me to bring you up to speed on the work I've been doing these last two weeks since I posted my Typhus conversion tease.

I have finished my Typhus stand-in and man am I proud of how he turned out! Using Obliterator legs, back and shoulder pads I have made a very bulky and powerful looking commander for my Nurgle force. I also used a Tyranid Hive Guard head to tie him into my Strain 935 Troopers with the eyeless maw look. Some protruding Tyranid spiky arm things from his back take to place of those terrible looking fungus chimneys on the standard Typhus (I really hate those things.... ) and with the head, help reinforce the fact that my Nurgle Lord is the carrier/host of the Strain 935 virus. However, Typhus is a name already used, so I needed a new name. My I present the Reaper of Worlds, the Plague-bringer and host to super-virus Strain 935, Malus the Undying!

Take a look:

For the scythe arm I used a Terminator LC with the claws shaved down to little knuckle spikes (like the spikes on the hand guard of the stock Typhus). The bulk of the hand and arm makes it look like Malus could wield the weapon one handed if needed. The scythe itself is toothpick wrapped in green stuff and topped with a Tyranid bonesword for the blade. 

I think I'm actually as proud of the base as I am the actual model. The dead loyalist marine was a challenge of cutting and clever posing, and I used a Skaven tail for the spine connecting to the Vampire Ghoul skull. It really reads that whatever killed this guy, be it the giant daemon scythe, a withering psychic power or the touch of 935 on an undeserving host, it wasn't pretty.

This pic should show a good scale comparison. The left is my stock Typhus that I was 90% finished painting when I decided to make a cooler looking one. The right is a filler marine for my first Nurgle Havoc Squad. More on them latter today.

I hope Malus was worth the wait! He was a fun challenge to build and required tons of careful cutting and shaving to turn this:

Into this:

Now if only the weather would stabilize so I could start painting him...

Oh the things to come...

Apologies for the lack of posts in the last few weeks. With the release of The Elder Scrolls: Online I have been happily questing and exploring my favorite fantasy world Nirn (and Oblivion). But fear not! For I have also begun work on a new Typhus counts as/conversion and I have to say, I'm extremely excited about how he is turning out! I have also acquired one of the new Hell Brute kits thanks to my always helpful local GW store and some bits, kit parts unused and donated by good friends. Lots of cool little projects like objective markers and the workings of an Abaddon conversion will follow soon! The model building and converting addict in me is cackling in delight as I cut, shave, glue and sculpt green stuff... "More!" it cries, "MORE! Mwahahaha!"

*ahem*

So, allow me to tease you with a little pick I snapped with my phone:

I shall have more completed pics to show soon I hope once my weekend is upon me. I really need to buy a little hand powered hobby drill and some tiny brass pipe or tubing for weapon hilts/shafts...

"Strain 935" Troopers Complete (Finally!)

Well I have finally done it! I completed the largest unit of minis I have ever made (kinda sad but for me its something). These guys have been on my to do list ever since I finished my test model months ago, and now thanks to rampant illness and other life delays (I guess?) I found the time to sit down and paint the suckers. They were actually pretty fun to paint. I knew they were gonna receive a healthy coating of Typhus Corrosion and Blood for the Blood God so I didn't have to worry about neatness as much. So here ya go, my squad of Nurgle themed bio-terror troops that I have code named "Strain 935":

This guys comes "equipped" with a nasty little bio-plasma flame thrower for extra crispy carnage!

 Here is another with an integrated power sword.

This is my original test model, now joined by several brethren equipped with various rending claws, crushing hand-jaws and puncturing bone spears!

Now these last two models are probably my favorite. I love the chainsaw arms and when applying the gore I got to think "what happens when you are hacking through foe after foe with a chainsaw arm?" The answer was something that looks like these guys:

I think that last model is my favorite out of all of them!

And of course a group shot:

I would hate to be on the receiving end of that charge!

Well I hope it was worth the wait (if anyone was actually waiting to see them... )

In real 40K game terms these guys could be run as Possessed or perhaps even re-flavored Khorne Berserkers? The possibilities end only with your imagination and what your opponent is okay with :)

Hopefully I can ride this will to actually paint for a while and get some stuff I have laying around done for a change! Thanks for looking!