Year’s End/Coming Soon…

Hey everyone,

my original plan was to publish the first part of the annual Eternal Hunt Awards today, but I am not quite ready yet, and I really want to make this small series of posts the best it can possibly be every year, so you’ll have to bear with me for a bit here. In all honesty, I am entirely to blame for this situation, since I was just too darn lazy and spent the Christmas holiday catching up on a couple of videogames that I didn’t have time for earlier this year (on a mostly unrelated note, Batman: Arkham Knight is indeed every bit as good as I expected).

Anyway, this leaves me with – mostly – empty hands for today, for which I apologise. Please be patient for a little while, and I’ll be right back with part one of my 2015 recap — and to prove that I haven’t been lazy all the time, here’s a picture of some more 30k World Eaters I painted during the last couple of days:

In fact, here’s another small teaser picture showing you the models I have managed to finish this year — rest assured that we will be taking a closer look at my hobby ouput for 2015 in one of the next posts.

But, like I said, that will have to wait for a bit. Until then, let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year! Wherever you may be in the world, give 2015 an appropriate sendoff and have a terrific 2016 — preferredly with many little plastic men in it 😉

So yeah, here’s to the new year! There’ll be more soon, so stay tuned!

Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Nordiska Väsen revisited — the Vaettir

With Christmas right around the corner, what better subject for today’s post than a slightly heartwarming tale, right? So what is this about?

I’ve already told you a while ago that hobby luminary and kick-ass illustrator Jeff Vader was awesome enought to send me a copy of his wonderful book “Nordiska Väsen” earlier this year, just one case of the amazing generosity I have witnessed since getting back into the hobby, but one that has stayed with me. To understand why I am so in love with the book, it’s important to know that Briand Froud’s and Alan Lee’s seminal “Faeries” is one of my favourite books of all time: It’s a lavishly illustrated tome describing the Fay folk and collecting various folk tales.

Just one example of the wonderfully evocative artwork appearing in “Faeries” | Illustration by Froud/Lee

The artwork is nothing short of spectacular and has provided me with lots and lots of inspiration and edification throughout my life — as well as a nightmare or two.

That changeling sketch is still giving me goosebumps, even after all those years… | Illustration by Froud/Lee

Jeff’s own “Nordiska Väsen” takes some cues from “Faeries” while putting a decidedly Nordic twist on things. Jeff’s style is also wonderful, mixing elements of Froud’s and Lee’s work with influences that recall, for example, Paul Kidby, another illustrator whose work I really love. Jeff brilliantly renders the various members of the fair folk into fantastic illustrations that fill me with the same amount of wonder I recall from browsing through “Faeries” for the first time.

Illustration by Johan Egerkrans

 

Illustration by Johan Egerkrans

 

Illustration by Johan Egerkrans

 

Illustration by Johan Egerkrans

Anyway, it’s a wonderful book, and my sole point of criticism is that I cannot understand the textes accompanying all the pretty pictures, since they are all in Swedish. But even the artwork alone is well worth the price of admission in this case!

What’s more, when the book arrived, I was delighted to discover that Jeff had also added a personal dedication for me, and underneath his very kind words was a drawing of yet another brilliant little goblin. This little guy here:

And I thought the best possible way to thank Jeff for his awesome gift would be to build a model based on this sketch and send it over to him — which I actually managed to do very shortly before Christmas, I might add. But all in good order:

When building the model, I dug through my bitzbox and tried to come up with a combination of parts that would create a suitable representation of the artwork. I did have to make some allowances here and there, of course, but this is the conversion I ended up with:

When all is said and done, the model’s basically a Skaven clan rat with a gnoblar head and arms spliced together from Empire flagellant and Dark Eldar Kabalite warrior bitz. It seems like a fairly eclectic combination to be sure, yet it went together into a fairly accurate interpretation of Jeff’s sketch. How to build the massive nose was a question that confounded me for quite a while, until I finally shaved down a Skaven spear and grafted it to the little guy’s – already pretty sizeable – schnozzle. And I used some bitz and bobs to create a backpack resembling the one in the sketch:

It’s not a perfect representation of the artwork, by all means. For instance, my little guy seems to be far less jolly than the one created by Jeff Vader. But I think it’s still reasonably close — there seems to be a certain “family resemblance”. Plus building something so different from most standard GW factions turned out to be a rather liberating experience!

When it came to painting the model, I chose predominantly earthen tones and hues that reminded me, once again, of the artwork appearing in “Faeries”. I also tried to emulate Jeff Vader’s own painting style — which turned out to be quite a difficult task, however, seeing how Jeff is a much better painter than me 😉

Anyway, here’s the finished model based on Jeff’s sketch. Take a look:

I am rather happy with the finished piece, even though it’s merely an approximation of Jeff’s artwork. What’s even better, though, is that Jeff also told me he really likes the model! He calls it the “Vaettir”, which I dearly hope is not the Swedish word for “shitty miniature”, although I am too frightened to use Google Translate in order to find out…

Anyway, not only was this a really fun little project, but it also felt like a good way of repaying Jeff for his generosity. At the same time, I am also aware of all the other people who have shared bitz, models or valuable advice with me over the last twelve months and whom I haven’t yet send a model — sorry guys, I know I’m a terrible person! But hang in there, I will get around to all of you, eventually! In fact, I should make it a new year’s resolution! 🙂

So yeah, so much for my little Christmas tale. Let me wish you all a very merry Christmas, and see you soon when it’s once again time for the annual Eternal Hunts Awards. Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

The Vaettir next to the drawing that inspired the model

“Don’t call me Firefist!”

A rather late post this week, for which I apologise, but I do have something new to show you! Let’s keep talking about the World Eaters for now, although we’ll be moving back towards the 40k time frame for a bit — you didn’t really think I’d forget my favourite guys in red and brass, just because I painted my first Heresy Era model, did you? 😉

A while ago, I showed you a conversion intended to represent Lheorvine Ukris, my favourite character from Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s The Talon of Horus. The entire book is amazing, taking Abaddon into a very interesting direction and actually showing the former first Captain of the Sons of Horus and later Warmaster of Chaos as the capable and charismatic leader we have been told about so often in the fluff.

Anyway, Lheorvine Ukris is a World Eater (which explains my sympathy), but he is also one of the coolest characters in the book, believably combining a fair amount of comic relief with some deeper character traits, such as the inner conflict between his need for brotherhood and loyalty and the madness brought on by the Butcher’s Nails (an overarching theme also present in ADB’s World Eaters-centred novel Betrayer). There’s also a surprising and slightly tragic twist to his backstory — how is it that ABD’s Khornate characters are always so surprisingly compelling? The same was also true for Uzas in the Night Lords Omnibus, come to think of it…

So, anyway, here’s the conversion I made for Lheor:

The legs of a Dark Vengeance Chosen and a Forgeworld torso (both kindly provided by Commissar Molotov earlier this year) formed the base of the conversion. I wanted the model to look bulky and menacing, and the recipe seemed to do the trick. In addition to that, I used a head from the AoS Wrathmongers, some beastman arms and, of course, a CSM heavy bolter, as well as some bitz and bobs.

The model was inspired both by Lheor’s description in the story as well as this piece of artwork, included with the limited edition of the novel:

Some parts of the model are very close recreations of the art (the bare arms, the entire heavy bolter and some smaller details like the chain links dangling from the right pauldron), while with other areas, I aimed more for a general similarity in design and chose the bitz I liked best. The two areas where I actively departed from the artwork are the hands (my Lheor has the bare arms, but wears armoured gauntlets for a reason that will make sense to everyone who has read the book) and the breastplate (Lheorvine wears a loyalist’s winged skull motif both in the art and the book, yet I was too much in love with the archaic look of the Mk 3 breastplate Molotov sent me, plus the lightning emblem could also be seen as a callback to the plate’s loyalist origin).

When it came to painting the model, it was clear from the beginning that Lheorvine wouldn’t appear in my army as a canon character: By the time of the 41st millennium, he no longer wears the XII Legion colours, but has become a Black Legionnaire and member of the Ezhekarion. So I was free to treat the model as a “special guest star”, so to speak, which liberated me from having to adhere too closely to my usual recipe.

Which was really for the best, as my tried and true World Eaters recipe unfortunately relies one some OOP colours — which made Lheorvine the perfect guinea pig for experimenting with a new possible approach to painting World Eaters armour.

I am happy enough with the result, although there’s a certain looseness to the paintjob that wasn’t planned. That said, it suits the character rather nicely, I think. Anyway, without any further ado, here’s the model:

 

Lheorvine Ukris, “Firefist”
XII Legion warrior, born of Nuvir’s Landing. Leader of the Fifteen Fangs warband, and commander of the warship Jaws of the White Hound

“When Lheor’s boarding party arrived, they entered without ceremony or order. A pack of warriors among soldiers, walking without formation. Helms crested with stylised crowns wrought in the War God’s symbol regarded the chamber. Their brass-edged battle plate was the colour of blood on iron, showing the resealed cracks of endless repair and mismatched scavenging.
None of them made any pretense of sweeping the area with their bolters. Most didn’t even carry standard bolters; they held chainaxes in their hands, chained to their wrists, or carried massive rotor cannons slung over their shoulders (…)
Their leader carried a heavy bolter with the practiced grace of one born to the burden. This, he tossed in the gravity-less air to one of his underlings, and gestured for his men to remain by the southward entrance.
Before the war, he had been Centurion Lheorvine Ukris of the XII Legion’s 50th Heavy Support Company. I hadn’t known him then. Our association came in the years of dwelling within the Empire of the Eye.”

Aaron Dembski-Bowden, “The Talon of Horus”

So yeah, that’s my version of Lheorvine Ukris. You may have noticed that I swapped in a different right pauldron (kindly donated by Augustus b’Raass, by the way), as I really liked the even more archaic look. Oh, and I added a kill mark decal on the back of the heavy bolter,  since there is a throwaway line in Abaddon:Chosen of Chaos, mentioning how Lheor has taken to scratching kill marks on his armour in later years, so I thought this might be a nice shout out to that habit 😉

Oh, and before I forget, Lheor is really rather massive, by the way! Here’s a comparison picture with my recent 30k Legionary:

In closing, I would be remiss not to mention that I am not the only one who has built a model for Lheor: Both Flint13 and InsanePsychopath have created wonderful versions of the character — in fact, their models really sparked my own project, in a way. Anyway, I guess this goes to show that Aaron Dembski-Bowden has really managed to touch a nerve with this character, right?

So here’s to Lheor, one of the coolest World Eaters ever. Such a shame he had to become one of Abaddon’s lackeys (just kidding) 😉

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

Meanwhile, back at Isstvan…

Painting the models for my AdMech warband left me in a fairly productive mood, and before my motivation had any chance of dying down again, I took the opportunity to paint my first 30k World Eaters test model. This turned out to be quite an educational experience. But we’ll be getting to that.

Let me start by sharing my research first — I actually love doing research for projects, and it has become a sizeable part of the hobby for me. Before I tackle a particularly challenging or interesting project, I will spend quite some time digging through a mountain of material, ranging from threads I like to random Google image search results.

I also did this in order to figure out what kind of look I wanted for my Pre-Heresy World Eaters. In fact, I’ve been squirreling away inspirational images of 30k World Eaters for quite a while now – just in case 😉 But when all was said and done, three main sources of inspiration remained:

1. Mr. Poom’s World Eaters

Mr. Poom’s version of the 8th assault company is very possibly the coolest 30k World Eaters army in existence right now, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I chose his models as one of my main inspirations. I really wanted to emulate the particular shade of off-white he uses for the armour. Beyond that, I think that Mr. Poom’s style is far more exact and meticulous than my own, so I would need to find a way of covering up some of my inevitable mistakes — weathering and battle damage were the obvious answers!

2. Triarii by kizzdougs

There isn’t a more beautifully weathered and battle-damaged World Eater than the one shown above, painted by kizzdougs. Now kizzdougs paints some of the most amazing 30k models around, yet what’s the most fascinating is how he can do both the ultra-exact, clean and stunningly highlighted look of his Emperor’s Children as well as the thoroughly beaten-up, weathered look of the XII or IV legions. His Triarii legionary serves as a stunning example of this and became another important inspiration. However, I wanted a slightly less weathered look for my own World Eater.

3. World Eaters by James Karch

James Karch is the owner of another absolutely stunning World Eaters army (also beautifully documented as Army of the Month in Warhammer:Visions #4, still one of my favourite spreads ever from that magazine). And his army served as the kind of missing link I needed: It has the off-white of Mr. Poom’s World Eaters, but also a weathered look similar to kizzdougs’ model. So this army became the third vital piece to complete the triptych.

With the elements I liked and wanted to emulate firmly in my mind, I started painting. And while the white armour turned out to be a bit of a challenge, I also discovered that battle damage and weathering is a great tool for covering up any slipups 😉 Anyway, after a short while (and a bit of a nervous breakdown somewhere near the halfway mark), my first 30k test model was finished. Take a look:

 

“I will never forget the day the legion ships came to my world. The whispered benedictions, forbidden even then, that accompanied them.  And those of us who aspired to a place among their ranks: Noble Hergan. Soulful Krizti. Brave Sharlen.
How they laughed at me, the baseborn butcher’s boy.

And when those of the legion came to walk among us, clad in armour of white and blue, they were glorious and terrible, and we caught a first glimpse of the consequences our choice might have.

They passed over noble Hergan and soulful Krizti, and killed brave Sharlen when he dared to talk back to them, then laughed over his broken body in voices that were deep and cruel.

And they chose me, the baseborn butcher’s boy.

Because for all its perceived flaws, the twelfth had learned even back then what others would only find out later
(and many too late):
That the Emperor’s Crusade had little need of thinkers and poets, philosophers or noblemen.
It needed butchers.”

Legionary Shadrak, Eigar Veteran Tactical squad, 4th assault company, XII Legion Astartes

 

All in all, I am really rather happy with my first effort. Not everything may have gone 100% according to plan, but the finished model clearly has the look I wanted. It was also nice to be able to use those red World Eaters decals the way originally intended by Forgeworld (although the decals’ uneven performance remains a minor concern).

Oh, here’s a closer look at the right shoulder pad, by the way:

In the end, the tactical markings from the Betrayal at Calth decal sheet turned out to be far easier to apply to the shoulder pad than the ones from the World Eaters decal sheet. I added a small WE legion badge on top, in order to denote veteran status.

So, all in all, here’s what I have learned while painting the model:

• white an be just as unenjoyable to paint as red — out of the frying pan and into the fire, I guess 😉
• That said, I will try a different recipe for my white next time around: The model was painted over a black (and silver) basecoat, because that recipe had worked so well on my AdMech models, with different colours blocked in later. It didn’t work so well with white. And the approach was rather backwards to begin with, so I’ll consider actually using a white undercoat on my nect 30k World Eater.
• Lahmian Medium turned into an indispensable tool when it came to shading the armour: I mixed it with a bit of black and brown wash for a shade that was just heavy enough, but not so heavy as to ruin the white.
• I tried sponge weathering for the first time, and while there’s quite a bit of room for improvement, it’s a really fun and rather effective technique.
• I still have to get used to the new Space Marine bases, as they seem freakishly big to me. Every model seems like a Terminator now, simply by virtue of a bigger base 😉 I think I really like the effect for a Killteam or warband but would find it a bit distracting on an entire army…

So much for my first 30k World Eater. It’s been fun! And, of course, I’d love to hear any feedback you might have!

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

Inquisitor 28: Cold logic and crude augmetics

And now, as the old adage goes, for something completely different: In between all the enthusiasm for plastic 30k, I found myself itching for a bit of INQ28 related painting. And since my muse is such a fickle creature, I know better than to second-guess her, once she deigns to show herself.

So INQ28 it was, and my gaze fell on some of the models for a possible Adeptus Mechanicus warband I had converted a while ago. I managed to paint two of them and would like to share the finished models with you today, so here goes:

First up is my Chimeric Servitor conversion, aldready shown in a previous post:

The idea behind this model was to create the kind of hideous fusion of organic and mechanical parts that we used to see in many pieces of AdMech artwork. As it happens, the model was actually inspired by a particular piece of art from the Inquisitor rulebook:

Combat-servitors can be glimpsed in the background, and a closer look hints at the extent of their augmetics — which is the kind of look I definitely wanted to capture with my own model (hence the insectile lower legs and the addition of a third leg, in order to achive a less human silhouette).

When painting, I tried to make the organic parts of the creature look as hideous and distressed as possible. Meanwhile, it fell to the various implants and augmetics to create a kind of common visual heritage with the rest of the warband. In the end, the model actually took quite a bit longer to come together than I had expected, but I am happy enough with the result. Take a look:

I originally painted the Kastelan gauntlets in a darker shade of red, but that led to the model looking like it simply didn’t belong when placed next to the other models in the warband. So I used a colour closer to that of the priests’ robes, and suddenly it worked. Some of the decals from the Skitarii decal sheets were also instrumental in giving the model the “official” AdMech look.

In a moment of spontaneous inspiration, I tried to use one of the new oval bases on the model, and it worked far better than a Terminator or monster base might have: In fact, it seems like the perfect canvas for the creature, if you ask me!

So all that remains is to share the short background vignette on Chimeric Servitors that I have come up with:

Chimeric Servitors

Where most of the Tech-Priests of Korhold favour fashioning their automata according to well-established and streamlined design templates, Genetor Grendel’s servants are invariably more artistic – and also far more grotesque – creations . For the Genetor is fascinated with the fusion of the organic and the mechanical, and so most of his so-called “Chimeric Servitors” are a seemingly haphazard exploration of those two materials, influenced by nothing more than the Genetor’s own aesthetic sensibilities. Most of them are lumbering brutes, their heavily muscled bodies crudely augmented with tools and weapons crafted from Mechanicum ingenuity. Beneath the multitude of implants and bionics, the provenience of the organic bodies used in these experiments is impossible to ascertain: Were they vat-grown for this purpose, or did they once belong to abhuman thralls or even to unfortunate humans? With the organic tissue grotesquely swollen and often covered in patches of bristly hair due to extensive genesplicing and hormone therapy, the organic parts of the Chimeric Servitors have grown so far removed from their origins that nobody can really tell where the Genetor procures his most valued specimens.

Some of these creations are quickly abandoned, their aesthetic qualities incapable of holding the Genetor’s attention for long, while others may serve their master for years or even decades, repaired and reshaped time and time again to their creator’s needs. Karras Grendel is a true artist, and even among his colleagues, there are few who can understand his mercurial moods.

 

The other model I want to share with you today was similarly kitbashed, albeit with a slightly different aim: If there is one thing about the  – brilliant – AdMech release, it’s the lack of even more types of robed Tech-Priests: I really think GW could have – should have – explored that angle more, but the good news is that the enterprising hobbyist can always work around oversights like these, right?

So I wanted to create a character that serves as a mix between scribe, hacker and, given the Adeptus Mechanicus’ relegious overtones, supernatural seer: I imagine that the mere act of collecting and maintaining data will already be interpreted as sacred observance by the Tech-Priests, and so I wanted to create a model to reflect that. So without further ado, here’s my Datascryer:

At the heart of it all lies a fairly straighforward kitbash achieved by combining legs from the WFB Empire flagellants and a torso from the Skaven Stormvermin. A very useful combination that will work for all kinds of hunched-over robed acolytes and servants! In fact, I’ve used it before for a traitor psyker, and I am not really sure about whether or not I’ve shown you the model yet:

While the basic recipe is similar, the Datascryer also received a healthy dose of AdMech bitz, of course. These mostly came from the Sicarian Ruststalkers and Skitarii, with the most important addition being the secondary set of (mechanical) arms. I also added a leftover servo-skull to show how the Datascryer’s equipment is really geared towards the collection of, well, data.

The model was painted with a recipe matching the one I had used on my prior Tech-Priest models, and once again, some decals were used to add a bit of oomph to the model.

So here’s the finished Datascryer:

One small effect that was important was to show lines of scrolling code on the portable cogitator’s display, but since I had learned a pretty solid recipe for that while painting the cockpit of my Chaos Knight, I was able to re-use the effect here:

Datascryers

At first glance, the Datascryers seem like mere menials to the priesthood of Korhold, yet in truth they play a far more pivotal role in the hierarchy of the Forgeworld.

The gathering of knowledge has ever been one of the chief pursuits of the Adeptus Mechanicus, yet the Datascryers’ task reaches far beyond the mere accumulation and archiving of data: Their task is to delve deeper into the datastreams, to cross-reference and spot hidden patterns or singularities. And to coax hidden meaning from the memory banks of ancient artefacts. Towards this end, they are often equipped with sophisticated auspex and cogitator arrays as well as powerful noospheric uplink capabilities and accompanied by coteries of servo-skulls and sensor-seraphim.

The Machine Lords of Korhold have made it their business to know things, even beyond the usual remit of their order, and none of them could possibly afford to forego the Datascyers’ service, as their ancient memory vaults are said to house both unimaginable repositories of ancient knowledge as well as vast amounts of information that, if only revealed or suppressed at the right time, might be forged into raw political power…

 

And with that, I can add two more models to the collection of INQ28 characters I have managed to paint this year. And what’s more, my AdMech warband is finally starting to resemble an actual warband! Here are the two Magi and the Datascryer:

And here’s the entire gang so far:

Only four models, but the Chimeric Servitor is definitely adding some presence to the warband, don’t you think? In any case, I am very happy with this project finally coming together at long last — although there’s still a bunch of models I will have to paint before I can call the warband finished:

And it’s pretty likely, of course, that I’ll let myself get sidetracked at the very first occasion in order to build something totally different again. Oh well, such is life 😉

Anyway, I’d love to hear any feedback you might have about the new models! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!