"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!

Big Plans

So I recently learned that a GW store will be opening about 3 minutes away from my house... Awesome! A friend of mine also revealed that he has some old Tau models still in the sprue. So after some talking, we came up with the idea of actually building our respective armies, learning to actually PLAY WH:40K, and once we are established we would start a special campaign game. Details are in the works, but I think if we can do it right it will be epic!

This is a pretty big thing for me personally since I had never actually planned to learn the 40K rules. But why would I then spend large amounts of money collecting sets and bits and have a 40K blog? I have always loved the 40K universe and its fluff, I just never liked the idea of buying two, three or more $60 books that are revised every few years... plus any other special Codex books (like this one that just came out) if I want to do cool special units (which I am a predisposed sucker for). I had always planned on using a more generic and unchanging rules set like Ambush Alley Game's Tomorrow's War which is a vastly cheaper book with easy rules that don't change every few years... Primary issue with this plan as I soon learned, is that everyone plays WH:40K. So I kowtow to the gaming juggernaut that is the Microsoft equivalent in tabletop war games... and must now find some books.

Now having decided that I will be playing by the "official" 40K rules, I do need to decide the direction my minis will need to go in. My initial thoughts are reworking my forces to run as standard Space Marines using the SM codex, but the models will be CSM and traitor related. I just like the chaos models so much more that the regular SM ones (with some exceptions naturally). Perhaps a play on a chapter like the Flesh Tearers or Blood Angels which are already borderline chaos in some cases. I think I can make it work...

But of course I'll also be making my real Chaos army with Nurgle and Khorne elements etc, so really I could play either SM or CSM depending on my desires that day (and possibly with the same army). Only time will tell, but first I guess I should finish painting what I have built so far...

I have completed most of the work on my Strain Troopers so expect some awesome pics in the coming week, but to hold you over I'd like to share another one of my past works. This is my Nurgle Hellbrute I painted up and I'm quite proud that I was able to get almost every little detail on this model painted! I had planned on buying another Hellbrute and converting him with some different weapons but GW just released their new Hellbrute kit... so choices of ease vs cost there...

Dunno if I'll keep that Nurgle symbol, its kinda meh...

Until next time then. Keep an eye out for my completed Strain Troopers!

Sorry... Again...

Sorry for the lack of posts the last two weeks... I finally got my hands on Assassins Creed 4 and that has become something of a black hole for all my spare time. So to somewhat make up for my lack of activity I will showcase two new models. They are the personal bodyguards for Lord Maxis himself. Clad in fearsome Terminator armor and each wielding a pair of wicked Lightning Claws, these bruisers make sure no one interferes with their Lord (unless he wants a bit of sport himself).

Here is Honor Guard #1, a pretty standard use of the Chaos Terminator Lord kit with the only real change being the spliced face from a kit I cant recall at the moment... I wanted these guys to have a menacing look so I gave them angry faces and posed them in charging stances. They are just begging to be set loose in the enemy ranks!

Honor Guard #2 has a bit more dynamic pose and yet another fearsome face thanks to his dead white eyes :)

And here is the group shot of Lord Maxis flanked by his ever present guardians.

A Look Back

Sorry for the lack of updates. Sickness and apathy have gripped me these last few weeks, but threat of Exterminatus from the Holy Inquisition has ensured my return to work. When painting my Cultists and my second Tech Wraith, I wanted to make sure the color schemes stayed congruent to my finished models. This usually means I paint surrounded by my previously finished models.

So while looking around at my finished minis I realized I have not posted any of my older works that I did before the blog started. I actually have quite a bit done from the last year 2013, including the leader for my Chaos forces Lord Maxis Crow's Eye, two of  his Honor Guard and two other Chaos Terminators, a Nurgle Hell Brute, and a special Space Marine I like to call "The Emperor's Silence"

I wont post pics of all of them in one post (gotta save some for later stuff/posts) but here is what I think of as my finest work so far in conversion and painting.

Lord Maxis "Crow's Eye" (a nod to Game of Throne's Euron Greyjoy) is the commander for all my Chaos based forces. He is a mix of Chaos Lord parts, Anvil Industry claws, Grey Knight head, Blood Letter head for the armor ornamentation, a chopped up and reposed Storm Bolter, and various spiky bits and banners etc.

This was the 4th model I ever built/painted and I am still very happy with how he came out. I wanted him to have a cleaner look so while I dirtied the ground and rock he stood on, I left him relatively untouched by washes. The wrist mounted Storm Bolter was added after the model was built and unpainted because I decided should have some ranged combat ability (and lets face it, it looks cool). The claws, well first off they are HUGE! 20mm long by themselves, I had to green stuff the wrists to make them fit a Terminator armor clad mini. Anvil Industry makes great bits and I have ordered from them several times with no problems in delivery or quality. The extra ornamentation on the base are Tyranid spikes. I wanted him to stand out on the table in every way, so the clean n shiny look, the back banner and the Chaos star of spikes on his base really make him pop. His "come and get it" stance and stern face speak to someone you don't want to mess with. I didn't get close up pics of his face but I managed to paint each cable hooked to his bionic and scalp a different color and I'm also proud of how well I caught the detail of the face (sorry again about the fuzzy pics... one day I'll learn to use this camera right).

Progress marches forward slowly on my other projects but hopefully I'll have something to show for the weeks of inactivity soon.

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.