Parade ground: Urash’s Marauders

Some time ago, I showcased all the World Eaters I had yet managed to paint on this blog. Today, I would like to do the same with my ever-growing detachment of Traitor Guard. This will serve two purposes: It will give me an excuse to show you all some pretty pictures, while it will also provide me with a way of collecting my thoughts on this army so far and to develop a couple of ideas about what’s next. If you are a regular reader, much of this will be familiar to you, but please bear with me 😉

So let’s start off with a little family portrait. That’s my detachment of Traitor Guard so far:

Not bad for something that I only started to keep me amused from a conversion standpoint, don’t you think? Incidentally, the history of my Traitor Guard is full of strange coincidences: Back when I started them, there was basically no way to legally use them: The “Lost and the Damned” army list from Codex: Eye of Terror was, by that point, terribly outdated, and the 5th edition rules did not allow for allies. Granted, I could simply have used them as straight up Imperial Guard, but I didn’t want these guys to turn into a full scale second army, but rather into a force that could complement my World Eaters or be used in far smaller games. Still, I kept plugging away at them, and the army grew…

Everything started with this company/platoon command squad I built: One traitor for each of the combat roles. From left to right: Medic, standard bearer, commander, veteran with Plasmagun and veteran with Voxcaster. I also added a Rogue Psyker.

Next came my regular traitors, kitbashed from Cadians and WFB Chaos Marauders. Another squad of these has already been built, but I yet have to paint them.

Then, of course, my Traitor Ogryns: These guys were enormous fun to build and paint, and I think I managed to come up with quite a characterful unit there. Depending on the army list used, these could be played as regular Ogryns, Ogryn berserkers (from the Vrakisan Renegade Militia list), Big Mutants (from the old LNTD list) or possibly even as Chaos Spawn (when used in a CSM army).

I also built some characters for the army of course:

First up, Lord Urash, commander of the Marauders for now — until I come up with an even better model or he is usurped by one of his followers…

Then a champion with an obvious Nurglite bent, to be joined by a fittingly pestilent squad of traitors, one of these days…

A champion of Khorne, who makes a great traitor commander even now, but could end up leading a squad of beastmen or something similarily brutal at some point.

As you’ll recall, I also built a rogue Primaris Psyker, to add a little magical Oomph to the army. He could also do double duty as a champion of Tzeentch, to balance out the other two guys…

And finally, a renegade Lord Commissar, converted from a Dark Vengeance cultist leader — the opportunity was simply too good to pass up!

This army also marked my first foray into the wonderful (?) world of tanks: I built and painted a Basilisk that had been captured by the traitors:

Quite a challenge for me, although I am pretty happy with the result!

And so, that’s the current state of the army. All of the above assembled for a family portrait looks like this (click for a bigger picture):

Again, I am quite awestruck at the amount of models I managed to convert and paint, seeing how this was basically intended as a “just for fun” project! I also think the different parts of the army work together rather nicely, from a visual standpoint. The army is still pretty small, though: All that you can see above will add up to about 750 points tops. It’s also quite possibly a case of style over substance: I only included what I liked, so I have no idea how these guys would perform on the table.

But that’s beside the point: My Traitor Guard will probably mostly come in handy to bolster the ranks of my World Eaters and to add a little extra flavour in bigger games. And since several of the units could also conceivably be used as selections from Codex: Chaos Space Marines (traitors as cultists and Ogryns as Chaos Spawn, for example), it doesn’t matter that the army is as small as it is. After all, it’ll never become a classic IG gunline army, I can promise you that much…

You might have noticed that the Lord Commissar is conspicuously absent from the picture above: That’s because he has been busy assembling a little retinue of his own:

Of course the release of the new cultist models was really a godsend for my Traitor Guard: I chose to paint them all in matching colours. So even though they are looking like a rather ragtag bunch, they still read as a unified force and tie together with the rest of my Traitor Guard pretty well, as you can see.

So all in all, I feel that the time and money have been well spent on this little endeavour: I ended up with a force that was a blast to build and paint, plus I can use them in multiple ways, either as a part of my main 40k army, or on their own in smaller games. Some of the models could also make pretty convincing cameos in games of INQ28 or Necromunda (The Primaris Psyker and chaos cultists come to mind…).

So what’s on the horizon for Urash’s Marauders? I already told you that another squad of traitors is ready for painting. And I am currently working on the second squad of cultists from the Dark Vengeance box (expect some pictures of the conversions very soon…). That will give me about twenty more models to add to the force.

I also have a couple of leftover horses and riders from the WFB Marauder Horsemen in my bitzbox, so I may just end up building a squad of Rough Riders — to be perfectly honest, I am already dryfitting parts…

Beyond that, a squad of followers for the Nurgle champ could be interesting. Or some beastmen to be led by the Khorne guy. And what about Slaanesh? I may have to add another champion, to round things out. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll go and add a Valkyrie to the army one day. Not for the combat effectiveness, mind you: I just think that it’s a gorgeous model that would look great in my Traitor Guard colour scheme 😉

Whatever will be next, though, the great part about this army is that it gives me lots of room for experimentation. And whenever I get tired of painting power armour (as every Marine player is wont to, from time to time), it’s always there to offer a nice change of pace.

If you want to know more about how this army was assembled, the different posts on Urash’s Marauders can be found here. I’d also love to hear your opinion on the army so far, so drop me comment!

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Barricades – quick and easy

In between all the painting and kitbashing, let’s take time for a quick and easy recipe for building your own scatter terrain for games of 40k, Necromunda, Inquisitor 28 (or any other skirmisher, for that matter). This is something for slow days, when you want to get something done on the hobby front, but don’t feel like breaking out all the colours and really going to town on a model. Let’s take a look at barricades.

For me, everything started when I saw this picture on DRommel’s Savlar Chem-Dog plog (very much worth visiting, by the way!) over at Throne of Skulls. There I saw this:

Image appears courtesy of DRommel

This barricade looked quite excellent and fairly easy to duplicate at the same time to me. So, full of inspiration, I sat down to reverse-engineer DRommel’s recipe and build my own barricades in very short time with nothing but leftover stuff. Here’s how:

I. What we need:

Here are all the ingredients. The good news is that you will probably have most of this lying around anyway 😉

Some pieces of foamcore. For this you can basically use all the leftovers from other projects. You’ll need a couple of longer cuts, though, to make the bases for the brarricades.

Some corrugated cardboard. This comes in all shapes and measurements. Be sure to use cardboard that’s easy enough to cut. This will make for very convincing corrugated metal and help to break up all the otherwise smooth foamcore surfaces.

A couple of bitz. Anything goes here. Choose whatever you find at the bottom of your bitz box. Vaguely technical looking parts are best. I used some parts from an old model truck and some stuff from an old military terrain kit. Oh, and pieces of leftover sprue make for great sharpened stakes! And we all have tons of that stuff lying around, don’t we?

If you want to follow this recipe, you’ll also need some basing materials. Sand, cork, whatever you like.

Right, let’s get started, shall we?

II. What to do:

I started by drawing the outlines for the bases on some bigger pieces of foamcore, using a 40k bike base as a template. You can make all of the bases the same lenght, although it may be a good idea to make some longer and some shorter ones for added flexibility. I cut out the bases using a craft knife.

Then I beveled the edges of the bases with my knife. I did this so they would look more natural on the tabletop. Don’t worry if your bases – like mine – do look rather messy at this point: We’ll be able to fix that shortly!

I cut smaller pieces from the leftover foamcore and corrugated cardboard. These pieces form the main body of the barricade, so make sure to have a nice selection of different lenghts. The less rectangular the shape, the better.

I then glued the smaller pieces onto the bases using wood glue. I tried to make this basic construction look pretty haphazard, like random pieces had been collected and thrown together.

Then I added the corrugated cardboard to add some additional variety…

..and repeated the same step with the leftover bitz, sharpened pieces of sprue etc. At this point, the basic construction was finished.

Then I added my basing materials to the bases, using wood glue to glue them down. In this particular case, I used a mix of GW modelling sand and small pieces of cork. I also used the glue to seal all open areas of foam, so the foam wouldn’t disintegrate during the next step.

Then everything was painted using cheap spray paint from the craft store. I chose brown as a basecoat because I wanted the barricades to have a rusty, dilapidated look.

As you can see, the unified paint did a great job of tying together all the disparate parts. I then stippled GW Vermin Brown onto the barricades, creating patches of rust. Then I drybrushed the edges of the barricades with GW Boltgun (also stippling on some more Boltgun Metal). Then I painted thinned down Vermin Brown into the recesses — especially on the corrugated cardboard! The sand and cork on the bases were drybrushed with GW Bleached Bone. And lastly, I used GW Nuln Oil to paint on patches of oil, grime etc.

Here are the finished barricades:

This was the easiest recipe I could think of. These barricades come at basically no cost, and you’ll be able to churn out a ton of them in no time at all! Of course you can add some more variety by adding different colours, propaganda posters and all kinds of bitz. Ultimately, this may be the easiest terrain project I have ever done (and probably the one with the most bang for the – nonexistent – buck!).

Let’s wind up this post wit some shots of the barricades and some models. These photos also show you how flexible the barricades are:

Some twists behind a single barricade

A gang of twists defending their ramshackle fortifications

Scatter terrain like this will come in handy during games of Inquisitor or Necromunda. And, as I have tried to show you in this post, it’s ridiculously easy to built, at basically no extra cost!

Thanks to DRommel for the inspiration, and as always, thanks to you for looking! Stay tuned for more!

Huntmaster Torus

Right, after all the side projects, it’s finally time for a true World Eaters model again. Like many other chaos players, the release of the new codex has given me all kinds of ideas for additions to my army (more on those soon). For starters, let’s take a look at another officer of the 4th assault company!

I already told you that I quite enjoy building champions and characters for my different armies. And one of my favourite resources when doing so is the Chaos Lord in Terminator armour, a kit that comes with lots and lots of options and offers quite a bit of bang for the buck. I’ve already used the kit to buy several models, so when I received yet another as a gift quite some time ago, I was quick to get to work.

I didn’t want to repeat myself too much, though, so I thought about how I could differentiate the model from the last character in Terminator armour I had built. Here’s the result:

As you can see, the eye is instantly drawn to the model’s enormous axe — quite fitting for a servant of Khorne, I think! The weapon was built by combining a Minotaur axe head with the staff from the Chaos Lord kit. For the other hand, I decided to use a Lightning claw for no other reason than the “Rule of Cool”. Funnily enough, the model’s equipment could be almost called legal (if not very sensible) in the new edition. The axe could also probably work as an Axe of Blinding Fury from the new codex. The lightning claw came from the Space Wolves Terminators, by the way.

Most of the other parts are straight from the Chaos Lord kit, although I made a number of small changes. Chief among these is the addition of a Bloodletter “facemask” to the model’s breastplate: This came about due to my desire to come up with a somewhat more ornate armour for the model and was partly inspired by the design of Lord Nemeroth (the villain of the Space Marine video game) and by this older Chaos Lord in Terminator armour (I’ll still need to buy that one one of these days…).

I also added a cool chain with skulls and bones as well as a SW shoulder pad covered in fur to make the model look more like a hunter. With some final bitz and bobs, the model was finished.

When painting this guy, I went for my usual formula of red and bronze, with a very pale skin for contrast. I decided to paint the lightning claw in turquoise and add slight glow to the rune on the axe, in order to add some pop to the model. Here’s what I ended up with:

I have to say that I am pretty pleased with how the paintjob turned out. Here’s a couple of additional detail shots:

Shaving the Space Wolves iconography off the Lightning Claw left it looking a little barren. So I added a small icon of Khorne and another suitably chaotic pendant for decoration. I think it makes sense that a millennia old veteran of the Long War should wear all kinds of talismans and trinkets like that.

Here’s a look at the glowing rune on the axe head. I have to admit I am not 100% satisfied with the effect yet, so I may have to go back and touch up this particular part.

I added a damaged Space Marine helmet from the 40k basing set to the model’s base as a small detail. Adding some weathering and a spot of Tamiya Clear Red to the helmet made it clear that its owner hadn’t given it up willingly…

And with that, the model was complete. I rather like this guy’s composition: He looks pretty brutal and powerful, yet where Huntmaster Isgarad’s pose is aggressive  and dynamic, this guy’s rather relaxed pose is menacing in a “Let them come!” kind of way. And although adding the huge axe was really a spur of the moment idea, seeing the finished model made me think about what the model’s story was…

Huntmaster Torus, Taker of Skulls

Zegram Torus is an officer of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt, yet he does not command an arm of the company. A silent and solitary figure among his brethren, his task is more grim than any other, for he serves the 4th assault company as a Headsman. His work is twofold: He takes the heads of those legionaries who fall in battle, making sure their passage into Khorne’s own realm is paid. But he also hunts down those who have drawn the company’s ire: Traitors, cowards and tricksters — those beyond contempt and undeserving of an honourable death. Torus comes for them, and their lives are ended by the razor-sharp edge of his giant axe, Strafe.
Torus seldom speaks, and it is said that to hear his voice is to be close to death. His grim presence fills even his own brethren with unease. But his task is a necessary one and those whose heads he takes deserve their punishment.

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Touched by the Warp…

Some time ago, dear cousin Andy gave me the WFB Chaos Lord on Manticore for my birthday, which was quite an excellent present, since it’s one of those kits that I was always drawn to but would probably never have purchased myself. Because, no matter how you cut it, there’s not that much use for a Manticore in a 40k army in the first place. But while I am still figuring out a use for the beast in question (trust me, I have a couple of ideas…), the kit is very much worth it for the rider bits alone:

You see, the kit comes with enough parts to build two riders for the Manticore: one heavily armoured Chaos Lord and an equally imposing (and quite menacing) Chaos Sorcerer, both with several weapon and head options. While I immediately squirreled away the Chaos Lord for a conversion involving a juggernaut (which you’ll be seeing on this blog sooner rather than later, especially since lords on juggers are so very useful now), the sorcerer was somewhat less essential to me: As you may have gathered, Khorne isn’t too down with that whole psyker thing…

The obvious solution was to make the sorcerer into a member of my Traitor Guard. Already having built a Company Commander and Lord Commissar for my traitors, it was high time to add a traitorous Primaris Pskyer as well.

For this conversion, I took a page from OST’s sorcerer conversion that he did for his Iron Warriors. I was quite inspired by that model, and so I sat down to build my own chaotic Psyker. Take a look:

As you can see, the basic conversion is very similar to OST’s sorcerer, although I made a few small changes: First of all, I didn’t use the chain cloak on the model since I wanted to keep it for a World Eaters conversion (The new Horus Heresy book also tells us that chains do play quite a big role in the World Eaters’ iconography, so that decision turned out to be spot-on). I also wanted the sorcerer to look like he was just about to unleash the powers of the Warp, so I posed his left hand to reflect that. Most of the other parts are directly from the original kit, with only some bits and bobs added to “40k-ify” the model a bit.

The rock formation on the base came from the Chaos Lord in Terminator armour. I added half an old WFB skeleton for some additional flavour. I also wanted to make it look like the model was floating, so I used some deft gluing to create that illusion. Take a look:

When it came to painting the model, I made sure to have the colours fit the rest of my Traitor Guard. I also added the trademark crude chaos symbols to the model’s cloak. Overall, the paintjob is a bit cleaner and less ragtag though, in order to make the model look more dignified and regal.

I really think these bitz are some of the best GW has ever put out: Just look at that menacing facemask. Brilliant!

To show how the sorcerer is channeling the powers of the Warp, I added simple OSL effects to the runes all over his equipment as well as to the open palm of his left hand:

The hand was more of a spontaneous idea, but I think it really works.

As for the potential uses of this model, the most obvious role it could play would be that of a Primaris Psyker. However, given the model’s imposing frame, I think it could work reasonably well as a CSM Sorcerer as well. And finally, it may even serve double-duty as a cult leader in games of INQ28 as well: As a matter of fact, this guy looks so cool together with the Dark Vengeance cultists that I am considering adding on of the small, cog-like chaos icons worn by them to this model to tie them together even more.

As with the rest of my Traitor Guard, there’s very little background in place at this point. However, the myterious and menacing nature of the model makes me think that this sorcerer may have been instrumental in the original regiment’s fall to the Ruinous Powers. Hmm….

Anyway, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Legio Custodes: Shield Captain Fennias Andronicus

With two squads of Custodes completed, I decided it was time to add a commander to lead them into battle. I really enjoy building characters for my armies, and the Custodes with their extremely ornate armour lend themselves rather nicely to converting impressive commanders. However, I decided to start with something pretty straightforward.

Fortunately, I still had the Space Marine Commander from the AOBR boxed set lying around (kindly sponsored by cousin Andy), and I really like the model, so I got to work on him. Here’s the result:

The model is a very easy conversion, if you can call it a conversion at all: I just added a different sword (from the Grey Knights in power armour), a CSM backpack and a wing from the Dark Angels veteran sprue. I did consider changing the head and/or Bolter for a while, but unfortunately the model had a few rough spots, probably due to a casting mishap, so going all out on the conversion would have created all kinds of new problems. Still, I am quite pleased with the model’s composition, so I was okay with basically leaving it as it was.

When painting the model, I went for the trademark Custodes colours of Red and Gold, with some elements in Silver and Vallejo Halcon Turquoise thrown into the mix for contrast. Take a look:

The sword was painted in turquoise as well, to show it is some kind of Relic blade. I am not perfectly happy with the result yet (the highlights are a bit too subtle), but to tell you the truth, this model was a bit of a test run for a top secret HQ model I’ll reveal to you somewhere along the line…

I painted the model’s hair in grey to show the commander is a grizzled veteran. So meet my first Shield Captain:

Shield Captain Fennias Andronicus, “The Old Lion”

One of the commanding officers of the Lionsguard, Fennias Andronicus is a veteran of the Legio Custodes: Many are his honorary titles and names, and they cover every inch of the inside of his master crafted armour. Called “The Old Lion”, Shield Captain Andronicus’ age and experience make him a skilled and levelheaded tactician, yet his name is also synonymous with heroism and prowess in combat.  When the Legio has to face an enemy on the field of battle, Andronicus leads from the front, relic blade in hand, and becomes and instrument of the Emperor’s wrath.

 

You may already have seen my WIP Custodes officer converted from the DA Company Master, and given my history of building scores of HQ models, there’ll be quite a few more characters for my Custodes force. However, with this first HQ selection completed, I now have a small but legally playable Custodes army…at least in theory 😉

(click for a bigger picture!)

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!