State of the Hunt, Week 18/2023: Baby Steps…

Just a small-ish update for today, as I keep taking the smallest, most absurd baby steps on my way of slooowly inching closer back to painting and something resembling actually finished models — and holy heck, I had certainly forgotten how difficult this can be!

But we’ll be getting there in a minute. Before that, let’s get into the swing of things by showing you some fiddly little things I have been doing — and not all of them have been a success. So let’s bring in Exhibit A in the the ongoing series “Conversions I hoped would work”:

I thought I had this really nifty idea for an – optional – helmeted head for one of my Chaos Lords, Bardolf, Lord of the Huntsmen:

The thought at the core of this micro-project was that it would be cool if, in an army where almost everyone is wearing a helmet with one of those bunny ears crests, there’s one commanding officer who goes against the grain. I still wanted the helmet to match the style of the army, though. Anyway, take a look:

The Unmade facemask from Warcry has this wonderful, almost primitive look: You could really imagine it as some kind of deathmask made from hammered bronze, I wanted this to work so much — but I cannot shake the feeling that the actually faceplate is just a bit too small, even after I went through the trouble of grafting it onto an actual CSM helmet:

It’s a bit heartbreaking, really. The helmet would be perfect for the model, if only the mask were a bit bigger. Oh well…

But while we are on the subject of spliced-together helmets, I ditscore a smaller success elsewhere: I painstakingly spliced together an Mk II helmet with a slightly Khornate look, just because I am sometimes completely into dumb detail stuff like this…

And while this was a bit fiddly to pull off, it’s a pretty simple conversion, really: I shaved the helmet crest off a Skullcrusher helmet, carefully scraped away the part between both eye slits, creating the iconic, cyclopic Mk. II visor look. And I grafted some “ears” from a bog standard Space Marine helmet to the sides of the head, bulking it out and creating a shape very close to an actual Astartes helmet. The horsehair crest came from the plastic Mk. III Marines sprue and seemed like a fitting addition for such an ancient armour mark. Here’s what the helmet looks like when added to an actual model (this particular guy just cannot seem to catch a break… 😉 )

And I spliced together one more helmet: I’ve always wanted to do something with one of the “Easy-to-Build” Primaris Reivers helmets I still had in my bitzbox, what with the skull faceplate and everything, so I went for a fairly obvious solution:

The stock helmet itself is maybe a bit too clean, but with the added helmet crest and dangling little skulls, I’d say it almost kinda works — in fact, I really wanted to see whether a paintjob would tie it all together, so I chose this part as my first test run on getting back into painting. Take a look:

It’s nothing special, to be sure, but it’s a start…

And in order to at least keep practicing, I next painted up one of those converted Terminator helmets I posted recently — the orky one:

Again, I think the paintjob at least manages to do a fair job at pulling the different parts of the conversion together, making it look like a unified whole.

Oh, and I also did something I had wanted to try for a while: Adding one of the new GW World Eaters decals to one of my 2019/2020 models:

I know, I know: Not exactly riveting stuff, but really just tiny bits and pieces. Bear with me, though — I am trying to get my mojo back here, as well as my hand-eye-coordination… 😉

I would, of course, love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Plastic for the Plastic Throne! Pt. 4

The kitbashing train has no brakes! In all fairness, though: I still had that World Eaters Terminator squad to complete, so…

While the first three Terminators, along with the “salvaged” model wielding twin lightning claws, appeared in the previous post, there were still two more models left to go. So here’s what I came up with:

First of all, let’s take a look at the squad champion (although I really want them all to look equally impressive, so he doesn’t stick out quite as much as he possibly would in a less customised squad):

The most obvious addition here is the left arm from the Lord Zhufor model — I thought this would be a really cool alternative to the model’s standard bolter arm. The – slightly dodgy looking – standard sword was replaced with a weapon from the AoS Varanguard kit. I rather like its blunt, brutal and slightly daemonic look. And I added a helmet crest (from the Skullcrushers) and a World Eaters rebreather head, to round out the WE look.

And of course I couldn’t resist the temptation of turning the last model into an icon bearer:

Now this guy uses the actual Lord Zhufor helmet (although I have had to replace the tusks, due to a small accident). The banner pole and the hand holding it came from the AoS Blood Warriors — the bit was carefully grafted onto the existing Terminator arm. The Caedere Remissum crest once again came from the Skullcrushers.

Now this guy actually made for an interesting challenge, because I had to find the right banner for him: I wanted him to be carrying the IVth assault company’s battle standard, and none of the options I found in my bitzbox completely managed to win me over:

The first option was a Skullcrusher banner — a lovely piece in and of itself, make no mistake. But it’s also very monothematic, with that Khorne symbol on top AND that massive Khornate rune dead centre. What I was looking for, however, was more of an old company standard, complete with a legion symbol, and maybe some of the IVth’s battle honours, and the only way to create that from this bit would have been to to painstakingly shave off the rune, with a very high probability of ruining the piece altogether.

The second option was an actual, blank Space Marine standard — a real rarity these days 😉
What I really liked about this was how it would have allowed me to actually make the standard look like an age-old relic. But the main downside was how very, very clean it looks — and I wasn’t quite sure whether I would be able to make it look suitably distressed and brutal for a World Eaters standard.

The third option – a Bloodletter banner – had quite a few things going on in its favour: It’s suitably Khornate and chaotic. It’s also suitably tattered, while still leaving enough of a “blank canvas” for me to get creative. What wasn not really sold on, however, was the somewhat organic look of the crosspost. It also seemed like a very safe choice — and I guess that’s what I ultimately found the most off-putting about it.

And then there was this final option:

A WFB plastic Minotaur banner, if I remember correctly. I had actually wanted to use this as the IVth’s standard before: The way it seems like a mix of banner and trophy display really ties into the theme of the Eternal Hunt. But also maybe seemed a bit too big, a bit too much: I was afraid that it might overpower the model and cover up too much of it.

Ultimately, the feedback I received over at The Bolter & Chainsword supported my assumption that the minotaur standard really deserved another chance. So the next step was to turn it into something that would make for both a suitably grisly, Khornate banner for AND would still read as something that had, at one point, been an Astartes battle standard. So I carefully chose some elements to add to the banner:

I really wanted some kind of shout out to (Pre-)Heresy times, and in the end I realised that actually using a (shaved down) 30k Vexilla piece might just do the trick. It even has a little space for an obvious Heresy callback, such as a red WE symbol (or XII numeral) on white — or maybe even a War Hounds icon? Beyond that, I added some skulls and talismans. Not everything had been glued in place at this moment, and in fact I would end up making a few smaller tweaks down the road — as you’ll be seeing in a minute.

In the meantime, the entire Terminator squad also went through another round of detailing: While I like the sense of bulk and menace about the “new” Chaos Terminator kit, it is also incredibly vanilla-flavoured, so my main challenge was to really, really make these guys read as World Eaters. Good thing I found Wade Pryce’s notes on his own Terminators in the – fairly recent – issue of WD that had the preliminary World Eaters Index/Codex, and he talked about shaving off some symbols off leftover Blood Warrior parts and gluing them to the Terminators. Brilliant! So that’s what I did.
I also made some smaller tweaks to other areas, such as the headcrests on the champion and icon bearer, for example. Here’s a look at all the squad members as they are looking at the moment:

I’m not going to lie to you — I am pretty darn happy with the way this squad is shaping up! 🙂

And as for the icon bearer, here’s what he looks like with the finished (?!) banner provisionally tacked on:

I will still need to tweak it all a bit and make sure everything lines up correctly, but I am pretty happy with the model — in fact, one small touch that makes me almost stupidly happy, even though it is of small consequence, is the fact that the icon bearer is now actually wearing his gun mag-locked to his armour (and doubly secured with a little chain):

I carefully carved a concave shape into the inner half of the weapon casing, to make sure it conforms to the curvature of the armour underneath and doesn’t end up messing up the model’s entire silhouette.

So that’s it for this week! Before I started working on these Terminators, I actually feared I might not be able to put an original spin on them, given the crazy cool conversations floating around out there. But I am actually pretty happy with the squad so far:

And, of course, I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Plastic for the Plastic Throne! Pt. 3

Yet more conversion and kitbashing hijinks for today’s update — I know, I know: I will eventually have to get back to painting! Bear with me, though, I have some pretty cool things lined up for today’s post.

Let’s begin with a bit of an “appetiser”, if you will: You’ll probably still remember this conversion from my previous post:

I have finally committed to the conversion for good, gluing the Blood Warrior mid-section to the Skullreaper/Wrathmonger legs (the actual torso remains only tacked-on for now, but mostly to make the painting process easier). I have also thrown together a belt buckle/belly plate with a leftover bit from an AoS Slaughterpriest and the dangling skull from Abaddon’s loincloth (the thing just snapped off, so I thought I might as well use it here):

Some cleanup remains, but I am fairly happy with this conversion! From a background perspective, I want this guy to represent Syrax, a shampion of the Harriers – the fourth assault company’s own brand of Raptors – and right-hand-man to a certain character named “Charun, Lord of the Harriers”, if anyone should still remember him from the earlier days of this blog…

As for today’s “main course”: You all should know by now that I have never learned to resist the utterly dreadful “Ohh! Shiny!” syndrome, so working on this model…

…really gave me an appetite for working on some more updated Terminators. Ultimately, I decided this with an impeccable sense of timing, buying a box of the “new” Chaos Space Marine Terminators just a week or so before the re-scaled loyalist Terminators were announced. Oh well…

But anyway, I was still looking forward to my first experiences working with the new 2019/2020 (?!) Chaos Terminators. They are a great update on the older kit (which, let’s face it, does seem slightly dodgy from a modern perspective). The updated kit is not without its quirks, but its more organic shapes and bulkier armour really do a great job when it comes to making Chaos Space Marine Terminators like lumbering, threatening behemoths (even if, as seems to be the standard with GW’s modern kits, each of the bodies only goes together in one specific way).

At the same time, the conversion standard for these models has become rather crazy while I wasn’t looking, with many hobbyists coming up with brilliant World Eaters Terminators! One source that I found particularly inspiring, if not downright intimidating, were fellow hobbyist RocPSU’s fantastic Terminator conversions — so I knew I would have to up my game for this project 😉

My objective with the new Terminators was threefold:

• turn every one into an individual, because these are ancient veterans of the Long War and deserve to look the part
• believably turn each of them into a World Eater
• have them still read as Terminators: Now this sounds like it wouldn’t be a big deal, but you can really end up converting Terminators so much that you lose a huge chunk of the classic look that actually clearly makes them come across as Terminators, so I needed to keep a balance between creating cool conversions while maintaining the iconic look.

So here’s what I have so far:

You have already seen the gentleman with the twin lightning claws, of course. For my first “test model”, I tried to hammer out the general look I wanted to achieve, in some shape or form, for the whole squad:

Nothing too crazy here, just an attempt at making the model clearly read as a World Eater: The addition of a rebreather head from the new berzerker kit already did most of the work, and adding a Caedere Remissum crest to the top of the armour (courtesy of the blades from a weird Skullreaper/Wrathmonger weapon) was obviously the first oder of the day. Apart from this, I exhanged the head of the stock power maul with an axe blade from another Skullreaper/Wrathmonger weapon. And I added a small World Eaters legion symbol-like medal as well as a Khorne rune to the breastplate. Oh, and a heraldic tilting plate is a bit of an experiment for now — although I really like the idea that some squad members would be holding on to some remnants of their personal heraldry and/or squad markings from the Heresy…

Next up, the heavy weapons guy. For me, the silhouette of the massive autocannon is so very iconic of Chaos Terminators that I knew I had to use that gun. Beyond that, it was, once again, mostly a matter of adding some visual flourishes to make this guy look like a World Eater:

The (Forgeworld) World Eaters shoulder pad is the most obvious addition here. The helmet crest came from the Skullcrushers this time around, and was added on top of the armour, rather than being stuck directly to the neck seal. The shield is, once again, a bit of an experiment, but it’s an element that keeps appearing throughout my army to represent the World Eaters’ gladiatorial leanings, so I think it might be a cool little detail here. Oh, and I also did some work on the model’s breastplate:

And the final model so far: What is probably my least favourite body pose from the kit ended up turning into my favourite conversion:

Another helmet crest, this time from the Blood Warriors (arguably the best and most consistent source for this kind of bit at the moment). The small, Khornate tilting plate is another touch of personal heraldry (and came from the Skullcrushers). The power axe was spiced up a bit by swapping in the blade of a two-handed Necromunda Goliath chainweapon — to be perfectly honest, I’ve been looking forward to using that weapon ever since the new Necromunda came out 😉

Oh, and I carefully shaved off the little air intake/exhaust from the centre of the breastplate and replaced it with a legion symbol.

All of these changes were not my favourite part of the model, however: What is perhaps most noticeable is the helmet:

I had this weird desire to find out whether I might be able to re-create a plastic version of the vicious-looking, slightly Predator-like, mawed Terminator faceplate that can be seen on Forge World’s Lord Zhufor model:

Image source: Forge World

I used a skull from the box of plastic skulls for this, carefully shaving and gluing until I had what I would say is a pretty promising prototype:

That was not the end of it, however: Fellow Reddit user Money_Cost6121 suggested maybe using an ork skull for that grafted-on faceplate conversion, and while I originally discarded the idea as possibly ending up looking …too orky, I was still intrigued. So down the rabbit hole I went and created two more options. Here’s a comparison shot with all three versions I made:

Not going to lie: In hindsight, I feel a bit foolish for only trying the most obvious option (using a Bloodletter face) last… 😉

They all have their merits: Personally speaking, the Ork-version seems almost too monstrous, ogre-like to me. The Bloodletter probably looks like the most natural and refined option, although I have to admit that it ended up being just as finicky as the other two, and really mostly came together through sheer, dumb luck.

That being said, the conversion process is really not that complicated: For all three versions, you bascially just cut away the “face” from any given skull at a slight angle, starting at the bridge of the nose and cutting down. Then you carefully cut and shave away the lowest part of the faceplate from the Terminator helmet, trying to create a soft, concave curve. And then it’s a matter of careful test fitting, shaving and gluing — I might have to write up a mini-tutorial for this in an upcoming post… 😉

In any case, I think the results so far a pretty promising!

Oh, and because this question came up regarding the twin LC Terminator Lord in a comment to my previous post, here’s a scale comparison with one of the new Terminators:

As you can see, they work fairly well together: The older Terminator body seems a bit lankier (with a weirdly narrow torso piece), while the new Terminators are much bulkier and seem more ponderous. Even so, the models should look quite alright together, once everything has been painted, in 2034 or so 😉

And that’s another update in the bag! Once again, I would love to hear any thoughts and suggestions you might have. And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Termicide

I already mentioned some time ago that for every painted World Eater in my army, there’s probably at least one unpainted one as well. So today I’d like to show you yet more WIP stuff: Let’s have a look at my Terminators.

I have been in love with Terminators as a unit type for a very long time, and this has nothing to do with their rules. There’s just something about these colossal, armoured behemoths that really clicks with me. And from a converter’s perspective, the added size compared to regular Marines offers lots of room for customisation, dramatic posing etc. Alas, the original metal Chaos Terminators were always a tad too expensive for my teenage self, back in the 90s, and by the time the new plastic Chaos Terminators came around in 2007, I was still on my hobby hiatus.

But when I returned to wargaming in 2010, a box of Terminators was a part of the first order I ever placed with GW, and the resulting squad was actually among the first things I built. Over time, I kept adding more models to the squad, since I wanted them to be a fitting retinue for my Chaos Lords. So here are pretty much all the Terminators I’ve come up with so far:

First up, a Terminator wielding a chainfist and a Combi-Melta:

As you can see, I added Khornate bunny ears to the model’s armour – a trait shared by pretty much all of my “regular” Terminators. On a related note, I am really glad that I didn’t break off all the weapon arms when the newly released codex said these guys could get either the combi-weapon or the special CC weapon. This oversight was fortunately corrected in the FAQ. Phew!

Here’s a Terminator with a Heavy Flamer. You know, for the “Burn!” in “Kill! Maim! Burn!”:

Funnily, this is also one of the few models actually wearing a Terminator helmet… In this case, it’s the one with the Rhinoceros like horn which I quite like.

And while we are on the subject of special weapons, here’s a Terminator with a Reaper Autocannon:

this model was actually converted from an AOBR loyal Terminator! I added some WFB Marauder shoulder pads to the Terminator’s knees to mask their loyal heritage…

This next model was built to be the squad’s champion:

Again, the model is armed with a chainfist and  Combi-Melta. I used a leftover head from the FW Lord Zhufor kit to show this guy’s status as a champion.

And now, let me show you my favourite conversions in the squad:

This guy was also converted from an AOBR Termie — from the very model that came as a giveaway with WD when 5th edition was released, to be exact. When I built this guy in early 2010, I was quite proud of myself for figuring out that the chaos bitz could be combined with the loyal AOBR models. It’s surely been some time since then, and I like to imagine that my more recent conversions are quite a bit more ingenious. But this is where it started 😉

Here’s my favourite detail about the model, though: When I built it, I didn’t have enough chaos shoulder pads. So I used a really old WFB skeleton as a stand-in on the model’s right arm. Take a look:

Pretty nifty, huh? 😉

Then there’s this guy, also converted from an AOBR model, from the sergeant in fact.

I really went all out on this guy back then, adding lots of skull trophies, chains, some very nice Chaos Knight pauldrons, and all new weapons. The horns came from the “Khornate head” from the regular CSM kit. The Pteryges loincloth worn by the model fits with the gladiatorial look of the World Eaters rather nicely.

And finally, the squad’s (and company’s) standard bearer, brother Verak:

Since the model is carrying an icon (from the WFB Warriors of Chaos) in its right hand, I had to find a way to combine the bolter and power fist, so I built a little “DIY Talon of Horus” by adding regular Bolters and an ammo feed from an old CSM heavy Bolter to the fist. I also used a shaved down berzerker head as a stylised helmet for the model, showing its special status in the squad. Although this guy was one of the first conversions I did after getting back into the hobby, he still holds up rather nicely, doesn’t he?

Unfortunately, I have only managed to paint a single regular Terminator up until now. In fact, it was the first Terminator I ever painted (even before Isgarad and Torus, my first two Chaos Lords in Terminator armour). Here he is:

This was my test model for the squad, so you may be able to spot how I was still finding my feet painting Terminators. I’ll definitely need to drill out the barrels at some point, since they look rather horrible. The base will also have to be changed to reflect the current look of my bases, but apart from that, I think this guy works out alright.

The problem remains that these guys are quite a bit less fun to paint than they are to convert. While I am writing this, I am already considering a small squad of Terminators equipped with Lightning claws. Hmmm…

Anyway, that’s it for my WIP Terminators. If you have any C&C, I’d love to hear from you in the comments section!

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

More fun with Dark Vengeance

With the new Codex Chaos Space Marines and FW’s first Horus Heresy book doubtlessly paramount on people’s minds, let’s not forget all the great models left in the Dark Vengeance box! I am still happily cutting and painting my way through these, as you’ll see for yourself in a minute:

First up, some more cultists:

Quite a straightforward paintjob on the guy with the big gun. As you can see, I added some chaos iconography to the model’s apron. I also think the backpack with the tools dangling from it is a very nice touch! I painted these to look rusty and used:

Next up, a model whose design quite closely resembles the FW Vraksian Renegade Militia models, if you ask me:

I went for the dark grey fatigues typical of my Traitor Guard. The skin portions gave me the opportunity to add some contrast, and the rebreather unit on the model’s back offered a nice chance of adding some rust and grime.

And finally, the third cultist I painted:

While this guy would make a convincing Cawdor ganger for Necromunda, I somehow like him quite a bit less than the other cultists. Maybe it has got something to do with his rather unimpressive “potatoe on a lenght of string” weapon? I’m not sure… The dog tags around his neck are definitely a nice touch, though! I also added some blood to make the weapon look at least halfway presentable 😉

Anyway, with that, I had painted one model of each of the different designs from the starter box. I decided to round things off with a character to lead them:

I turned my attention to one of their leaders: the guy with the commissar’s coat. While I like both the coat and the Bloodpact-inspired grotesk, combining both of these elements on one model seemed like too much of a good thing to me. I also wasn’t all that keen on the arm holding the shotgun: In my opinion, it messes up the composition of the model. So I got to work, and here’s what I ended up with:

A rather simple conversion, as you can see. I wanted to further emphasise the look of a traitorous commissar, so I replaced the head with a fittingly sinister head from an old Warzone mini (an Imperial squad leader. The plastic models are still sold in bags of 80 and can be had for a song over at Prince August, in case anyone’s interested). I also replaced the left arm, opting for a Plasma pistol for no other reason than the fact that I like to paint small OSL effects on plasma coils.

The cool thing is that I can use this model as both a cultist leader (in a regular CSM army) or as a traitorous Lord Commissar (in a Traitor Guard list).

And here they are as a whole squad (click for bigger pictures):

I quite like the overall impression: They still look like a ragtag bunch, but the limited colour palette and unified basing nicely tie them together as a squad (and, hopefully, with the rest of my Traitor Guard as well).

For the second half of the cultists, I’ll be doing a number of smaller conversions to add a little additional variety: Exchange some heads, add a banner pole, use a couple of additional bitz,…

Here’s an initial impression:

The Helbrute’s also still standing on my desk, daring me to start painting it: I guess it won’t be too long now…

But what about the other half of the starter box’s contents?
Well, for one, I finally buckled up and converted the Deathwing sergeant into yet another Custodes Terminator wearing Cataphract armour. Here you go:

Again, a fairly easy conversion: I replaced the Terminator’s torso front with a piece from the Venerable Dreadnought kit. The right arm is a regular Terminator’s upper arm combined with a Chaos Lord’s Lightning claw. The result resembles the clawed gauntlets present in the HH artwork. The pauldrons are shinguards from loyal Dreadnoughts. I also added all kinds of purity seals, a topknot and a couple of other bitz.

Here’s a look at the whole “Cataphractii Squad” so far:

While these may not look as “official” as the new FW models, I am still reasonably pleased with the squad. I think they’ll end up looking rather nice once painted. And those Deathwing Terminators were in the box anyway, so the squad came at basically no extra cost!

Let’s wind up this post with two rather simple conversions, also for my Custodes:

The first model is a standard bearer for my squad of Custodes wearing Astartes pattern power armour. I converted this guy from the Dark Angel wielding a Plasma Gun (the gun itself was squirreled away for some future project, of course).

And then there’s the DA Company Master. With a simple head swap, he now looks like this:

Quite an imposing Legio Custodes Shield Captain, don’t you think? While these two models aren’t finished yet, I guess you can see where they are headed.

I am still far from fed-up with the Dark Vengeance models, quite the contrary: Thanks to the models I will be able to considerably bolster the ranks of both my Traitor Guard and Custodes. As as you can see, the models lend themselves rather nicely to conversions with a bit of thought (and decisive cutting…).

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