INQ28: Kill Team Ulrach, Move Out!

Having completed two more members for my Deathwatch kill team last week, I was only one model away from finishing the project: Last in line was this gentleman here, a Watch-Brother from the Carcharodons Astra I converted earlier this year:

When it came to painting the model, my first port of call was to take another close look at Malcharion’s brilliant Space Sharks with their very prominent tribal trappings (incidentally, I offered Malchy the opportunity to name my Carcharodon, and he kindly provided the character with a name):

Caracharodon Reiver by Malcharion

I wanted to include some of those tribal swirls and decorations, but to a slightly lesser degree. I am not half the painter Malchy is, for one, and I also wanted to keep at least a bit of the rather austere look created by the mostly black armour. I also liked the rather blunt Space Shark painted by Tarvick:

Carcharodon by Tarvick

 

Tarvick’s model also provided me with the perfect approach for painting the model’s skin tone, because I actually spent quite some time thinking about the kind of colour I wanted to achieve. In the lore, Carcharadons are described as having greyish skin, but I decided against simply using grey, mostly because it’s such an uninteresting approach, really — you lose all the small ways of creating a pale, yet still alive, kind of look. So I went for a very pale skin tone (which shows really well when comparing the model to the rest of the kill team, which I’ll be getting to in a minute), with livid scars as a visual contrast.

Here’s a look at a mostly painted model at the end of my first big painting session:

As you can see, I did try to include some of those tribal symbols on the model. Both Malchy’s models and the Carcharodon artwork produced by Forgeworld served as inspiration for this element:

And I also had to freehand the chapter badge, once again. I worked from the most recent incarnation of the Carcharodons’ symbol, as provided, once again, by Forgeworld:

Here’s what I came up with:

When this last photo was taken, the model was already mostly finished. So with the last paintjob for the kill team all but out of the way, all that was left to do was to build and paint some bases for the last three models. I did this all in one go.

I used the design approach established with the previous members of the kill team: For each Marine, there is also a Xenos skull on their base. The Castigator received a T’au skull (as a tongue-in-cheek shout-out to Commissar Molotov’s semi-insistance on keeping T’au characters out of his Dalthus Sector adventurescape). Brother Mikahel Zephon’s base was decorated with a Vespid head, both because I wanted a bit of variety across the squand and because it was a pretty nice bit. And Brother Komoharai Tetangi’s base saw the addition of a massive jawbone, to hint at the incredible kind of xenos horrors he might have fought in the outer dark beyond the known galaxy.

I also used the opportunity to add the last tweaks and cleanup work to the models’ respective paintjobs. And then the last three members of the kill team were finished at last. So here are some proper detail pictures of the three models. First up, meet Brother Trythus Anteas of the Castigators:

Commissar Molotov ended up providing me with the inspiration for the character’s name, by the way — just as intended 😉

Next up, Brother Mikahel Zephon of the Lamenters:

In this case, the model’s name is a shout out to my fellow hobbyist and good buddy Augustus b’Raass, who donated the Primaris Marine used for the conversion. Cheers again, buddy! 🙂

And finally, Brother Komoharai Tetangi of the Carcharodons Astra:

Since Brother Tetangi’s armour is almost completely different from the kind of armour worn by the rest of the kill team (and intentionally so, I might add: I wanted him to reflect the chapter’s reliance on the ancient wargear that originated from the time before their “exile”), I had to experiment a bit to fit in all the features I had used on the rest of the kill team — such as the red right knee and =][= symbol. I am really rather happy with the outcome, though! I also had to base Brother Tetangi a bit higher, seeing how he is noticeably shorter than his watch-brothers. Fortunately enough, the difference in height is quite a bit less noticeable now!

And with that, Kill Team Ulrach was finally finished! So without further ado, let’s meet the team!

 

=][=

Kill Team Ulrach

Not bad for a problem that actually began as wanting to paint a single, quintessentially loyalist Astartes back in spring, wouldn’t you agree? I think I may have gotten any itch I might have had to paint loyal Space Marines out of my system forever… 😉

That being said, at the same time I do like the idea of maybe returning to this project at a later date, adding a comms specialist or a medic: Because even though the project was begun before the new kill team rules were even a thing (and even then, mostly as a modeling and painting endeavour), some of the models would fit the Kill Team specialist roles rather nicely, I believe: Brother Anteas could be a Zealot, Brother Diomedes would make for a pretty good Sniper. Zephon is definitely a Heavy, whereas Brother Aren looks every part the Scout. And there are Brother Tetangi as a Comat-specialist and Brother Ulrach as a Leader, obviously.

By the same token, there are also one or two chapters that I might like to explore. Maybe. At a later point…

For now, however, I am calling this kill team finished! So in order to celebrate the occasion, let’s meet each of the members of Kill Team Ulrach in turn. Here we go:

 

Watch-Sergeant Vorlik Ulrach
of the Iron Hands

A grizzled veteran of the Iron Hands, Vorlik Ulrach has been the commander of Kill Team Ulrach for quite some time now. His coldly logical approach to problem solving and ability to remain clinically calm even under extreme duress has seen the kill team succeed against overwhelming odds more than once.

Brother Trythus Anteas
of the Castigators

Second in command of the killteam, Brother Anteas could not be more different in nature from the watch-sergeant: Zealous and aggressive where Ulrach is coldly logical, Anteas is a grimly menacing presence, even to his oath-brothers.

 

Brother Arcturus Diomedes
of the Ultramarines
“Stalwart Diomedes”

One of the younger members of Kill Team Ulrach, Brother Diomedes is nonetheless an exemplar of all the quintessential Astartes traits — as should be expected of an Ultramarine. He is also the kill team’s most talented marksman.

 

Brother Vargo Diaz
of the Crimson Fists
“The Orkslayer”

Having fought against the barbaric greenskins numerous times, Brother Diaz has become a specialist at fighting at close quarters, the better to counter the fighting style of those brutal Xenos: The Orks have learned to fear the mighty swings of his artificer powerfist.

 

Brother Rudisha Aren
of the Celestial Lions

A master tracker and proud warrior. Dressed in a suit of slimmed down tactical insertion armour, Brother Aren is the kill team’s infiltration specialist.

 

Brother Komoharai Tetangi
of the Carcharodons Astra
“The Quiet”

A mysterious, deathly pale Astartes clad in a suit of ancient mongrel plate. Taciturn, save for the curtest replies, uttered in an ancient dialect of High-Gothic, Brother Tetangi transforms into a whirlwind of destruction once the battle is joined.

 

Brother Mikahel Zephon
of the Lamenters
“The Doomsayer”

Brother Zephon is given to the kind of dark brooding that is so often observed in those of his bloodline. In him, this trait manifests as a grim resignedness to what he considers an inescapable fate, turning him into a relentless warrior with little regard for personal safety.

 

So yeah, that’s Kill Team Ulrach — I am actually pretty proud of the finished project, if I do say so myself! A few last observations, if I may:

Fellow hobbyist euansmith pointed out over at the Ammobunker that the squad actually looks pretty colourful for seven guys wearing black armour — and in hindsight, I realise he is correct, of course: They really are rather colourful in that slightly retro-ish, 2nd edition 40k way. Not much of a surprise, really, when the model that kicked off the whole project (the Ultramarine) was very much inspired by the original 54mm Brother Artemis and his classic paintjob:

Speaking of colourful, though, another objective for this project was to explore the kill team members’ respective chapters and backgrounds, and that extended both to typical weapons and decorations as well as different ethnicities. Not only does this make sense from a lore standpoint, but I also really wanted to force myself to step away from just using the same pale caucasian skin tone on every 40k model. So I used this project to experiment with a couple of different skin tones, which was fun and also arguably adds an extra layer of visual complexity to the squad:

Another way to differentiate between the models was the inclusion of their respective chapter heraldries, and I am proud to say that I didn’t skimp on this particular element, trying my best to reproduce the various chapter badges as well as I could:

Two of the shoulder pads simply use a decal. One has sculpted detail. Three designs have been freehanded. And finally, Brother Zephon’s shoulder pad uses a combination of all three approaches 😉

In closing, I also want to give a shout out to fellow hobbyists Commissar Molotov, PDH and Jeff Vader: The Deathwatch has been one of Commissar Molotov’s big long running hobby addictions, it seems, and it has been very educational to watch him use it as a vehicle to explore loyalist Space Marines in their full breadth. PDH and Jeff Vader, meanwhile, have been working on their own respective Deathwatch kill teams this year, and being inspired by their fantastic work – and nicking a bit of inspiration every now and then – has been instrumental in getting Kill Team Ulrach off the ground. So cheers, gentlemen!

So that’s it for today — it goes without saying that I would love to hear any feedback you may have! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

State of the Hunt, Week 47/2018: Back on watch duty

Having been in a bit of a painting slump recently (after a more than productive first half of the year), I was happy to discover that my recent completion of the “Chibi Knight 2.0” project seems to have returned at least a healthy part of my hobby mojo. So I didn’t lose any time and returned to yet another project that has kept me occupied this year: my true scale, Primaris-based Deathwatch killteam for my INQ28 collection.

It has been a while since the last finished member of the team, to be honest: Here’s where we left off in the summer:

In order to make up some lost time, I decided to have a go at painting the next two members of the killteam back to back. These guys, originally converted a while ago:

On the left is a member of the Castigators, while the Astartes on the right is a Lamenter — in fact, I already started painting them back in August, that is I painstakingly created their respective right shoulder pads, complete with freehand designs. A technique that still makes me nervous, I must say:

Compared with that really fiddly stuff, the rest of the paintjobs was business as usual, really, so I finally got to work.

First in line was the Castigator, a member of Commissar Molotov’s own DIY chapter, included in my killteam as a little shout out to one of the “founding fathers” of the INQ28 movement, as it were:

Incidentally, I had the idea of actually having the model wield a massive whip fairly early on, inspired by some of the artwork from Commissar Molotov’s aforementioned background thread:

When it came to the actual paintjob, I stuck to my established Deathwatch recipe of scratched black armour and a slightly 2nd edition-ish combination of bright reds and golds, and was able to mostly finish the paintjob in an afternoon:

And, a short time later and in much better lighting:

Something I really like about the conversion in hindsight is the helmet: It’s one of the old metal Deathwatch helmets that I simply used both because I wanted to have at least one relatively clean-cut Mk. VII-ish Marine in the kill team, and also because it seemed like a nice shout out to the older Deathwatch parts. I realised during painting that the features of the facemask were a bit sharper and more menacing than your average plastic Mk. VII helmet, which I think really works for the character.

He’s still missing his base and a name — I have actually reached out to Commissar Molotov in order to ask him whether he would like to name the character. It only seems proper, what with the Castigators being his chapter and everything…

While I was waiting for his reply, I began working on the second model, a Lamenter named Brother Mikhael Zephon (the first name’s a shout out to fellow hobbyist Augustus b’Raass, who was kind enough to donate the Primaris model required for the conversion):

This model was an interesting case in that it was the second member of the killteam to be wearing a helmet and because the massive weapon would shake up my usual Deathwatch approach a bit. Here are some impressions from early during my painting session:

I started with the helmet. The teardrop jewels on the right side of the visor had me slightly nervous, but I was able to come up with a pretty nice result thanks to an excellent painting tutorial over at the Tale of Painters blog.

Now the rather massive frag cannon was a big part of the paintjob, and in order to get it right, I used both GW’s own paintjobs as well as PDH’s Iron Knights Deathwatch operative here as reference material:

Deathwatch operative by PDH

Here’s a shot of the model with the frag cannon already in place (taken, once again, very late in the evening and in fairly poorly lighting conditions):

And here’s what the model looks like right now:

The one area that still requires quite a few finishing touches is his backpack:

But I am already working on it, trying to add the last tweaks and finishing touches to the actual model.

For now, here are the – mostly finished – Castigator and Lamenter:

I am quite happy with the way these are turning out — the Castigator, in particular, has quite a bit of presence, wouldn’t you say? And while I was a bit nervous about that huge gun and equally massive backpack on the Lamenter, everything seems to be coming together rather nicely, if I do say so myself.

Here’s a look at the entire killteam so far:

Once the Lamenter and Castigator have been finished, that leaves me with only the – already converted – Carcharodon as the last prospective member of killteam Ulrach, so this is a project that I might actually be able to wrap up this year 😉

Until then, any feedback you may have is welcome, so please drop me a comment! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

State of the Hunt, Week 37/2018: A time to build…

After another week or so without any hobby time to speak of, I was finally able to make some time for cutting up little plastic men last weekend, and all the kitbashes I have wanted to do for a while – and couldn’t – seemed to just keep bubbling to the surface, so to speak 😉 So for today, allow me to share what is currently on my desk:

I. Iron Man

Back in April, when I picked up the AdMech part of the Forgebane boxed set fairly cheaply — and mostly in an attempt to get my hands on the Armiger Warglaives (in order to, eventually, do stuff like this and this). This also had the side effect of giving me another set of Skitarii Rangers/Vanguard, and also another Tech-Priest Dominus. And after a while, I started to experiment with parts from the latter, in an attempt to make yet another high-ranking member of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Here’s what I came up with:

As you can see, the two main ideas here were to turn around the lower body (for a fairly different look, interestingly enough) and to swap in some Kataphron bitz. Both of these ideas weren’t exactly new, but at least it felt as though I might be on to something. The model still seemed a bit too unbalanced, however, and maybe too much like a ship plowing through the waves 😉

But last week I finally had the time to make some serious tweaks to the Tech-Priest and try to work out all of the various kinks. Take a look:

I tried to make him look a bit more grounded in his pose and composition. Plus I had wanted to use that alternate Magos Dominus head with the mitre for quite a while now — and I think it works really well with the more upright pose, compared to the standard Dominus. The top of the staff/axe has also been replaced, mostly to add yet another way to distinguish the new model from my older, mostly uncoverted Tech-Priest Dominus:

I really like how the models share at least half of their parts, yet still look fairly different 😉

In fact, I have made even more tweaks to the model, adding a piece of parchment and coming up with a slightly better setup for that secondary set of arms:

And I think the model is really starting to come together. Some people on the forums pointed out how they thought the new axe blade wasn’t a good fit, but I respectfully disagree with that notion: If anything, that blade always seemed like a poor match for a Space Marine weapon to me, because the blade has this slightly weird look. At the same time, it does seem more at home with the weird arcane tech of the Adeptus Mechanicus to me, plus that censer bit at the center fits the priestly nature of the AdMech pretty well, if you ask me — but this is totally a question of personal preference, of course.

II. Shark Attack

Since it felt so good to be able to get in some hobby time again, I built yet another model, the – provisionally – last member for my true scale Deathwatch killteam, a member of the Carcharodons:

Where the rest of the killteam is Primaris-based (for that look somewhere between classic Mk. VII and the more hi-tech looking Mk. VIII [?!] Deatwatch armour), I wanted this guy to be wearing a suit of bulky, archaic armour, as a shout out to the chapter’s history of long isolation and drifting through the farthest reaches of known space with next to no contact with the rest of the Imperium, so I used parts from one of the plastic Tartaros Terminators, spliced together (rather cleverly, if I do say so myself) with Primaris parts. To give credit where credit is due, however, some of Doghouse’s seminal truescale conversion work was very much on my mind when building the model.

The original idea was to come up with an approximation of Mk. V armour, but I really ended up going for a more general pre-heresy look, to show how the armour might have been repaired and patched up with different parts over time. So touches from several different armour marks are now present, from the Mk. III backpack to the slightly Mk. V-ish legs, leading to a generally archaic look.

I also wanted to convey the feeling that this guy is very much used to wading into the fray of melee, swinging his weapons and making a huge mess as teeth and claws are shattering against his massive warplate. All in all, I am pretty happy with the kitbash so far, with one caveat: In spite of my best efforts, he’s a tad shorter than the Primaris-based models, something that I’ll hopefully be able to distract from with some deft basing 😉

In addition to the guy’s size, there are two small touches that I am not perfectly happy with yet: One, the left shoulder pad is only a placeholder until I manage to source yet another one of those spiffy “new” Deathwatch pads 😉 Two, everybody seems to be hating that shark jaw codpiece, so I might have to reconsider that element — it’s actually a bit frustrating, really:  because it seems like the perfect part to add some chapter-specific decoration, yet the placement is very much the problem: My original plan was to use it on the Marine’s collar, but it seems that would overclutter the head area quite a bit. If anyone has a smart idea, I would love to hear it!

III. Going feral

And finally, another kitbash I have wanted to do for quite a while: A feral worlder based on the AoS Darkoath Chieftain:

It occured to me a while ago that we don’t get to see nearly enough feral worlders in Inquisitorial retinues (I was also heavily influenced by all the sweet “tech-barbarians” appearing in Horizon Zero Dawn, admittedly), and the chieftain just seemed like the perfect base model — there’s a fair bit of a Sláine vibe about the model, and that really made me want to work with it:

 

When it came to the actual conversion, the stock model was so detailed and delicate that I had to pay attention to carefully bring it into the 40k setting without going overboard, so I limited myself to adding a slightly futuristic touch here and there, via weapons, ammunition or wargear. As a nice side effect, this strategy also allowed me to exchange my least favourite part of the stock model as well – the slightly weird blade of the sword – and replace it with a nice, vicious chainsword courtesy of the CSM Raptors 😉

Seeing how tall this guy is, I think he would make a good follower for the – equally imposing – Inquisitrix Elianu, especially since she looks like she might have come from a warrior culture of some sort herself:

I think the various tokens and trophies scattered around the model also lend themselves well to a bit of a Daemonhunter vibe — I also chose the left hand gripping a severed Tzaangor head for the same reason, as it just seemed to hint at an affiliation with the Inquisitional Ordo dealing with the more daemonic servants of the ruinous powers. There’s also a tech-barbarian style character in John French’s latest book for the Horusian Wars series who was on my mind when I converted the model.

 

So yeah, that’s it for today. Any feedback you may have is welcome, as usual. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

INQ28: Suffer Not The Alien to Live

Back when the Primaris Marines were first released, I got myself a single snapfit model from the Dark Imperium boxed set to take a firsthand look at the scale and experiment a bit. Those early experiments were both interesting and educational — but of course I at least wanted to get a finished model out of it all. So after a bit of thought, I came to the conclusion that it might be fun to make my first modern Primaris Marine into the most archetypal Space Marine I could possibly come up with.

It was also clear to me that the model would become a part of my INQ28 collection, so I thought about what kind of Astartes would make sense. I already had two members of the Golden Legion, my DIY chapter (the finished model for Praetor Janus Auriga and a converted Chapter Master), so I wanted to try something different. And then it hit me — why not turn this guy into a Deathwatch Marine?

Now the 2016 Deathwatch craze left me mostly cold back when it happened, but there were still several reasons for going with a Watch-Brother: Tying Space Marines into Inquisitor can be a slightly delicate proposition, but the Deathwatch, with its direct Ordo Xenos affiliation, would at least provide a decent excuse. I also fondly reflected on Commissar Molotov’s work, that is his original Deathwatch Marine (created many years ago) as well as the kick-ass Deathwatch killteam he has been working on for years.

And finally, let’s not forget that one of the most iconic models of the 54mm Inquisitor range was a Deathwatch Marine as well:

That’s right, dear old Artemis! In fact, the model actually checked several boxes: He’s an Inquisitor character, he’s a member of the Deathwatch, and he also has that clean, 2nd edition inspired look that seems so archetypal of the Space Marines to me. His hairstyle alone instantly recalls this old chestnut here:

There’s a certain nostalgia about the Space Marines from those years, especially about the plastic models from the 2nd edition starter box, with each of the officers impeccably groomed like a news anchor. Unfortunately, the 2nd edition plastic Marine models haven’t really aged all that well, and the only time I’ve ever used one of those was for a rather depressing piece of terrain:

But I thought that it might be fun to channel this older look for a change, while also creating something that drew from the classic Artemis model at the same time. So I picked up some Deathwatch bitz and also had a scrounge through the old bitzbox. And after a while, I finally came up with a version I liked:

Everything I wanted to do was basically already there: the boltgun as the iconic weapon for a Space Marine. The 80s news anchor haircut. And a bit of bling that sells the model as a brother of the Deathwatch.

I still made some final tweaks before I was completely happy with the model, though: The original Primaris backpack was replaced with an actual Deathwatch backpack, I added a helmet clipped to the model’s belt and tweaked the arrangement of the various gear until I was happy — I actually love how the extra space that comes with the bigger Primaris scale allows for adding a more realistic amount of gear to the models without the Marines looking overcluttered!

Anyway, here’s the completed build I went with in the end:

I went with an Mk. IV helmet, both because I love the design and because I wanted to make it clear that, “in universe”, the model isn’t actually a Primaris Marine, but rather a regularly sized – if true scaled – Space Marine. As for the gun, after a bit of hemming and hawing, I ended up not replacing the bolt rifle with an actual Deathwatch bolter, mostly because I really liked the way it looked on the model. It’s also arguably hi-tech enough to serve as a suitable standin for the kind of weapons used by the Deathwatch, even if it’s not quite the genuine article. Apart from that, I tried to incorporate all the gear that would make sense: The Marine has a boltgun, a helmet, a combat knife, several grenades, and even some alternate ammunition (for those especially pesky aliens, you know? 😉 ).

And while it would only affect his right shoulder pad, I also needed to decide which chapter of origin to go with. I thought back to my original mission statement: the most archetypal classic Astartes imaginable — and what could be more archetypal than the Ultramarines?

To be perfectly honest with you, I also felt like I needed to cut the XIII Legion some slack after draping so many dead or dying Ultramarines across the bases of my 30k World Eaters 😉

When it came to the actual paintjob, the black armour was a concern, obviously: Use dark grey as a base colour, and the armour wouldn’t end up looking black. Use pure black and it would look as though I’d forgotten to paint that area. In the end, I mostly played it by ear and combined edge highlighting with a bit of sponge weathering — carefully and selectively sponging on some Leadbelcher added visual texture to the armour and also had the added benefit of drawing the eye away from my sloppy line work 😉

During the painting process, Jeff Vader’s Deathwatch Marines were an invaluable source: There’s one older pre-primaris model and one guy converted from one of the new models. and I kept looking at these for reference while painting. Now I’ll never be able to paint like Jeff Vader – not by a long shot – but having the inspiration there was a huge help, indeed!

Speaking of Jeff Vader, I also nicked another idea from him: A while ago, he mentioned that he was using an ultra thin pigment liner for some of the symbols and freehands on his models, and after unsuccessfully experimenting with several pens, I ended up getting the one he had recommended, a Staedtler 0,05 mm pigment liner:

The tip is so thin that it’s really easy to add rather elaborate designs to your models. The ink is also waterproof — although I found that it’s really easy to rub off with your fingers, so I added a layer of thinned sepia glaze on top to seal the ink.

As my first proper experiment with this new tool, I carefully drew an Inquisition symbol onto the model’s right kneepad and also added the tri-barred ][ around the skull on the tilt plate. The pigment liner is also an awesome tool for adding fine script to purity seals!

Anyway, here’s what the mostly finished model looked like at this point:

When it came to basing the model, I decided to go with something pretty simple that would fit the lion’s share of my INQ28 collection (i.e. brownish and slightly underhive-y). I also wanted to include some Xenos related touches. Now for an Ultramarine, what would be more appropriate than some Tyranid remains, right? Good thing the new Citadel Skulls kit features lots and lots of beautiful gaunt skulls, among others — I may not be all that interested in Tyranids as a faction (the creepy awesomeness of Genestealer Cults notwithstanding), but I do love those gaunt skulls! The tip of a Termagaunt weapon was also added to the base to represent something glistening and Gigeresque.

So, without further ado, here’s the finished Watch-Brother:

 

=][=

Arcturus Diomedes

Brother of the Deathwatch
originally of the Ultramarines

This was my first experience with painting a Primaris, and I have to agree with the prevailing opinion I’ve seen online: These guys are pretty fun to paint! I am also really chuffed with how the model has turned out!

Here he is next to my first truescale Marine, Praetor Janus Auriga of the Golden Legion:

As you can see, Janus is a fair bit bulkier and also slightly taller — in all fairness, I had little to work from in pre-Primaris times, so the model was really a bit of a proof of concept. He still holds up rather well, though, if I do say so myself — I’ll just need to go with the old “tall, even for an Astartes” cliché. Plus, in any case, Brother Diomedes certainly reads as a true scale Astartes when placed next to a model of “regular” human size:

As for how Diomedes ties into the Velsen Sector’s background and my overarching INQ28 narrative(s), that remains to be seen: I’ll happily admit that this was a case where I simply wanted to build and paint a character for the pure joy of it, then ask questions later. I am fairly certain he’ll end up as a member of a small Killteam, however — in fact, a second member from the Iron Hands, possibly even the killteam’s leader, has already been built a while ago:

There are also ideas regarding a Xenos-cult (“The Children of Imago”) knocking around in the back of my head, so it stands to reason that Arcturus and his buddies may have to defend Velsen against the abomination of the alien at some point. And since fellow hobbyist PDH is currently working on some rather beautiful Deathwatch Marines as well, it looks as though I’ll have enough ideas to “borrow” for the foreseeable future 😉

For now, however, I am really happy with the finished model. I rarely ever paint loyalist Space Marines, but when I do, I want to make each and every one of them count! 🙂

As usual, I would love to hear any feedback you might have! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Inquisitor 28: Praetor Janus Auriga of the Golden Legion

“Our shield wall marks the borders of the Imperium. Behind us lies the Velsen Sector, forever protected by the brethren of the Golden Legion. For the martyr! For the Sword Saint! The Emperor Protects!”

Golden Legion battle chant

 

Almost every INQ28 aficionado will invariably start thinking about true scale Astartes at some point in their hobby life. Maybe it’s a strange relapse to the stage of desperately wanting to incorporate Space Marines into games of Inquisitor, maybe it’s the realisation that INQ28, with its bigger focus on individuals over squads or armies, is the perfect occasion to do justice to the legendary transhuman warriors the Astartes appear as in the background. Whatever the reason, many hobbyists feel drawn to the task of building their own true scaled Marine — or ten, for that matter.

I was no exception to this rule, and you may remember that I was really happy when I had finally completed the conversion for my first truescale Marine — once again, this has been a long running project (check out my first post on the matter for the whole story). In any case, the completed model ended up looking like this:

One thing that I was particularly happy with is how the model compares when placed next to regular, 28mm Marines:

So much for the conversion job, then. But it was obvious that the model would have to be painted at some point, and I really wanted to give it my best shot. I did have an idea for a highly ostentatious, “blinged out” Imperial Fists successor chapter that patterned itself after the Legio Custodes of old, to some degree. But before I jumped in at the deep end, I set out to collect some inspiration to help me.

Thanks must go to DexterKong, above all else, as some lengthy conversations with him helped me nail down what I wanted the Golden Legion to be like. So why some of the chapter history may still be up in the air at the moment, the ideas born in these conversations really helped me to imbue the model with an underlying narrative, even if you know nothing about the actual chapter.

Regarding actual models that inspired me, Bruticus’ wonderful Brother Mythras of the Sun Titans was certainly a huge influence, seeing how he’s both a Marine in golden armour, plus Bruticus also used the Custodes connection in his fluff — speaking of which, definitely make sure to check out the chapter’s excellent background!

Then there were EdT’s amazing true scale warbands (I recommend you bookmark his thread right away), which were also a huge help in getting me started.

And finally, Jeff Vader said he felt inspired by my true scale conversion to draw this illustration of a Space Marine…

illustration by Jeff Vader

…which then went right back into influencing the paintjob for my own model (as you will see in a minute).

So with those inspirational pieces firmly on my mind (and after the usual bit of deliberation on my part), it was finally time to get painting. Here’s what I did:

Everything started with a foundation for the golden armour. This was a pretty enjoyable step, as it involved lots of drybrushing and washing, and I had made sure during the building stage that the model’s armour would have lots of raised detail. Here’s what the armour looked like after this step:

The recipe was easy but effective: The entire model was undercoated with black spraypaint (as usual), then generously drybrushed with GW Warplock Bronze. Then a wash of Gryphonne Sepia (although Seraphim Sepia or Army Painter Soft Tone would probably have worked just as well), then another drybrush with GW Brass Scorpion. And finally, some more controlled highlights with a mix of Brass Scorpion and Mithril Silver. Not rocket science, really, but it got the job done.

Afterwards, it was mostly a matter of blocking out the various detail, although I did try to add a special flourish or two:

Inspired by Jeff Vader’s illustration above, I wanted to paint a checkerboard pattern on one of the pauldrons, in order to make the model look more interesting (and also a bit more gothic). This turned out to be quite a challenge, as I hadn’t attempted anything similar for about twenty years, I suppose…

In the end, I managed to come up with a checkerboard pattern that certainly wasn’t perfect, but convincing enough for me:

And after that, filling out the rest of the blanks wasn’t that much of a challenge, really. So without further ado, I give you Praetor Janus Auriga of the Golden Legion:

Here’s a closer look at the left pauldron with its checkerboard pattern:

I am actually really pleased with this part of the model, warts and all! Oh, and in a second personal premiere, this also marks the first time that I have ever managed to paint a red jewel that didn’t end up looking like some kind of cherry — I am so happy! 😉

Some people have remarked that he seems like a gnarly, hard-boiled Clint Eastwood type to them, which is exactly what I had in mind: The backstory for Brother Auriga is that he is no longer 100% combat worthy after an injury and has been seconded to the council advising the Sector Governor by the Chapter’s Lord Commander, in order to speak as his representative. Brother Auriga is blunt to a fault, and was deliberately selected by the Lord Commander to counteract the amount of bargaining and politicking on the council. He also sees his posting as a honourless and onerous task and would much rather return to combat.

Oh, and one more thing about the model: You may have noticed that I’ve decided to keep the Inquisitorial seal on his breastplate. This wasn’t an oversight, but a conscious decision: Brother Auriga was one of a number of battle brothers who had the honour of fighting alongside the forces of the Ordo Malleus during the quelling of the daemon-infested world of St. Berthold, which is why he still proudly wears an Inquisitorial signet as part of his personal heraldry.

And finally, a couple of scale comparisons that will show you how Brother Auriga measures up to next to my other latest INQ28 models:

Brother Auriga next to Interrogatory Brynn Yulner (a roughly Cadian sized model):

And next to Sister Euphrati Eisen:

In fact, Brother Auriga makes a rather nice centre piece for my entire INQ28 collection, as he basically towers over all the other models 😉

And of course this post wouldn’t be complete without a little background vignette to accompany the model. So here goes:

Praetor Janus Auriga, of the Golden Legion Astartes Chapter

Seneschal Secundus Goswinus Baehrn stood at the edge of the landing platform, his robes flapping about him in the icy breeze. Baehrn prided himself on being a thoroughly unemotional person, but even so, he had been extremely nervous, ever since the news had reached him half an hour earlier: The Astartes gunship “Falco Aureus” had made planetfall and was approaching the Hive Primus with an urgent dispatch for the Lord Governor himself.

Direct dealings with the Chapter were few and far between these days, and mostly limited to the most prestigious social functions, which was why Goswinus Baehrn had never actually laid eyes on a member of the Adeptus Astartes up close during his fifteen years in his fairly prestigious position. Under normal circumstances, the task of welcoming a representative of the Legion on Bastold would have fallen under the purview of Senschal Primus Mathewelin, but the old man had retired to his chambers the prior night, with a generous supply of amasec and Obscura and, it was whispered, in the company of several women of questionable renown. In any case, Baehrn had been unable to rouse his superior, which now left him the highest-ranking official to deal with this unforeseen event — He could only suspect that the Seneschal Primus would have to say something about this breach of etiquette at some point in the near future. In fact, there would almost certainly be hell to pay later in the day, not a doubt about it, yet even this prospect was nothing against the mounting sense of dread filling Baehrn as he saw the Astartes vessel approaching: The gunship came in low against the rising sun, as if for a covert attack run. It was a blunt, brutal shape, not unlike a fist, the roar of its engines growing from clearly audible to almost unbearable, as it drew close to the landing platform.

The gunship touched down at the very centre of the platform. Baehrn could see its golden bulk, the exquisite scrollwork and lettering in High Gothic proclaiming its many glorious years of service, yet also the scars and welts that spoke of a life of constant battles. The Seneschal Secundus drew himself up to his full height as the front ramp opened with a hiss, taking a deep breath and sending a silent prayer to the God-Emperor to grant him composure.

“They have sent us a statue!” That was his first thought as he saw the massive golden figure standing at the top of the ramp: A perfect rendition of an Astartes in gold, its armour beautifully detailed, its arms clutching a boltgun across the chest in the most iconic pose imaginable. Baehrn almost laughed out loud as relief flooded through him — the Golden Legion merely wanted to provide an overwrought – and fairly narcissistic – gift to the rulers of Velsen, doubtlessly to be unveiled during a suitably extensive and garish ceremony.

This feeling was short lived, however, and quickly replaced by utter dread as the golden figure started marching down the landing ramp in precise, measured steps.

It was all Goswinus Baehrn could do not to cringe in fear at the approaching giant, and he bowed his head in supplication instead, making the sign of the aquila. When the low purr of active power armour finally emanated from directly in front of him, setting his teeth on edge, there was only a very slight quaver in his voice as he intoned the formal greeting in High Gothic:

“We welcome thee, protector of Velsen, in this hallowed fulcrum of our realm. It is our honour to lay eyes upon thee, and thine every wish shalt be our command, honoured battle brother of the Legio Aurea. The Emperor Protects.”

“Who are you?” The armour’s speaker systems lent the voice a slightly metallic quality, but it was powerful and deep underneath. A voice that demanded instant obeissance.

“Seneschal Secundus Goswinus Baehrn, my lord, member of the household of House Vlachen and most obedient servant of the Lord High-Protector, the Emperor bless his name.”

The giant in golden armour kept staring at Baehrn through glowing blue eye lenses for what seemed like an eternity, but could only have been a few heartbeats, then he lowered the massive bolter, securing it to his thigh with a soft metallic clank. He reached up towards his laurel crested helmet, disengaging the seals with a hiss. When he lifted the helmet free of his head, Baehrn could see a grizzled face, stern and lined, yet with broad features that instantly marked its owner as something more than human, and crowned by a crest of hair so bright that it appeared white. The Astartes’ eyes were of a piercing blue, and as Baehrn did his best to hold their gaze, he felt as though he were being evaluated, no, …targeted. Then The giant spoke:

“I am Praetor Janus Auriga  of the Golden Legion, envoy to Lord Commander Prabian. I am here on the Lord Commander’s orders, to speak with Lord Governor Vlachen, that I might advise him in the the governing of Velsen.”

“Advise…the Lord Governor?” Baehrn almost spluttered: “My lord, that…”

Auriga interrupted him briskly: “The Lord Commander feels that, in the light of current events, the Chapter should take a more active role in guiding the sector. I have therefore been commanded to take the legion’s customary seat on the council.”

Baehrn could barely keep his emotions in check, reeling as he was from the implications of the Praetor’s words: The Golden Legion’s seat on the council had been vacant for a very long time – so long as to make the office seem more than a symbolic gesture than anything – and he doubted even the older members of the noble houses could remember when a member of the Chapter had actually traveled to Bastold to speak on behalf of his Lord Commander on the council. The mere revelation of this latest development would throw the council in an uproar. All of this went through Baehrn’s head, as his mind raced to find an appropriate reply.

A non-committal “…my lord” was all he could safely come up with.

“I will need accommodations for myself and my retainers.” The Praetor indicated a small group of robed figures exiting the gunship.

“It will be done, my lord!” Baehrn was glad the conversation seemed to be on terra firma. “It shall be attended to at once. And I will send notice to your quarters, once the council is back in session, so that you may speak to the representatives…”

“Negative!”, Auriga interrupted: “I will address the council now!”

Baehrn almost reeled back, as the terror came flooding back in full force. “NOW? But, my lord,…the council is in recess right now. The council members will…”

“Are the council chambers still located in sector C-34 of the central spire?”

“Y…yes, my lord.”

“Good. Then I will meet the council members there.”

With these words, the giant in golden armour started to march towards the Hive’s interior, with a very agitated Senschal Secundus doing his best to keep up.

Things on Bastold were about to change.

 

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