Dark Vengeance Librarians: Dark Angel & Guardians of the Covenant style

The Librarian is hands down my favorite Dark Angel mini from the Dark Vengeance box. It's just everything you want out of a Space Marine psyker: A severe face peering out from under a hood, a pose that belies the forces at their fingertips, and a big freaking runed sword. What more could you want?

This is another mini that both Yorrik & I have completed, so I figured I'd do a side by side comparison to show how different styles and paint jobs can give an entirely different feel to the same mini. As you can see, I stuck to the Dark Angel scheme, since I'm hoping to sell the DA half, and he continued with his Guardians of the Covenant.

I think I probably ended up spending a little more time on some of the details, like the glowing eye, but I think he nailed the force sword. He also has a better hand at the lined details at the edge of the hems, and the librarian symbol. By the time I got to the sword I was kinda tired, so I relied a little too much on washes to cover up my gaffes.

Once I sell off the Dark Angels I'm probably going to head to Hoard-o-bits and get another, I like the mini so much.

~Muninn

40k Giveaway: Emperor's Champion

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

So with that in mind, I'm going to straight up jack 40k Giveaway's schtick. I have many minis that I'll likely never be able to use, so I'm going to give you the opportunity to get them for free.

For December I'm going to give one lucky reader a fresh Emperor's Champion. This metal mini was given to me by a shipmate almost a decade ago, but has never met a paint brush, since it was a duplicate for me. So this is your chance to have one of your very own.

photo from Games Workshop

The rules are simple (and also stolen from 40k Giveaway):
1)  Be a public follower of this blog (I want to see you in the 'Members' gadget on the right).

2)  Leave a comment below saying that you want the item. (I'll do the drawing December 17, in hopes of getting it to you before Christmas, so post before then.)

3)  If you win the item, come back and leave a comment once you've received it saying,"Hey, I got it!"

Best of luck, i hope you get it.

~Muninn

Yorrik: Penal Legion

Another update of Yorrik's Abhuman Guard army:

"My cycle seems to be "forget about these guys for a few months, then polish off a squad or two." Right now I'm working on the Penal Legion. When picking them back up I noticed that my initial skin technique (lots of paint mixing between purple, pink, and white over the course of seven or eight layers) was simply too time consuming. So I developed a compromise technique that delivers a much less rich skin tone, but at a quicker pace. I do like that their skin comes out more pale and sickly, though the old technique has far more depth and richness. In these pictures it's hard to tell, but the second fellow from the right has the first, more time-consuming recipe. On the table they'll all look like pale freaks, though, so I guess overall it's a win.

Hoping to get the first five Veteran Guardsmen done soon. Their skin has been painted (using the same technique) but now I'm struck with some important decision-making. As they wear scavenged armor to a greater degree than the regular foot trooper, I have to actually map out what the PDF uniform might have been, so I can replicate it on the minis. "

Yorrik

If Myths were Chapters

Black Dragons, Blood Gorgons, Howling Griffons, Minotaurs, Sons of Medusa, Chimera, Manticore, Valkyrie

Even without delving past the Imperial forces 40k is rife with references to mythology and mythical creatures, much of it from Western culture. I figured It could be fun to explore the potential of myths from other world cultures. Here are five new legend-inspired Chapters.

Nightmarchers
Origin: Ghostly ancestors, Nightmarchers (Maori)
Colors: Burnt orange with light blue "tattoos"
Concept: Established on a mostly aquatic world, the locals consider the chapter to be mighty ancestral spirits, who steal away people from their homes in the dead of night. They are perhaps most well known for the elaborate tattoos that cover both their bodies and armor.

Heirs of Orthus
Origin: Two-Headed dog, Orthus (Greek)
Colors: Orange and black halved
Concept: This chapter's fortress monastery is based on the dark side of a planet whose where one half if eternal night. They use this intensely inhospitable terrain to mold their exceptional night-fighting abilities.

Water Lynx
Origin: Mishupishu, the Underwater Panther (Native American)
Colors: Teal with black chest & white accents
Concept: Few know of these marines, because they leave so few survivors, or witnesses. For this reason only the rare inquisitor, or desperate general will call upon these ferociously efficient warriors.

Tengu Blades
Origin: Birdlike spirits, the Tengu (Japanese)
Colors: White & Red quartered
Concept: Swordsmen of the utmost caliber, these marines often eschew long range tactics for close quarters fighting. A small number of these marines exhibit a rare mutation that causes them to lose their senses in the heat of battle, fighting with reckless abandon until victorious, or put down by great force.

Qilin Claws
Origin: the omen bringing Qilin (Chinese)
Colors: Yellow with Green helmet, arms, and legs
Concept: Far more contemplative than some other chapters, The Qilin Claws use their Catalepsean Nodes and Sus-an Membranes to meditate upon the art of war for days or weeks at a time. This makes them highly desired as battlefield leaders, as well as trainers of great military minds.

Keeper of Secrets (continued)

I finally got the spear, and now he/she/it is done (modeling-wise that is).

The spear fits a lot better aesthetically, and is a lot less distractingly huge.

Now all that's left is a little bit on the base (adding more sand & a bit of razor wire), priming, and painting.

He's behind a few other projects, but I plan on using it for an upcoming painting competition.

~Muninn

How in the world do people find this blog?

Apparently Terry Crews.

I've only been blogging for a few months now so I'm always interested in what brings people to my shady corner of the internet.

I check my traffic & audience stats pretty frequently and puzzle over things like "Why do I have 21 hits from Greece today?" It's welcome, but a little confounding.

One of the statistical tools is called Traffic Sources, where you can see what websites refer people to your page or what search engine terms people used before clicking on your website.  For the most part it's things like "40k nurglings," "Green Wraitguard," or "Guardians of the Covenant" (There've also been a surprising number of searches for "Eladrin Warlord"). These all make sense since those are gaming terms, and this is a gaming blog.

Yesterday however I saw three words I never thought I'd see to bring someone to my little painting page: "Terry Crews Grandfather"

The hell?

How does Terry Crews have anything to do with my minis?

Seriously. Look at this guy. The only thing he'd ever have to do with 40k would be the basis for a bad ass Catachan.

I went on a Google Image Search mission to see for myself. Sure enough, on page 37 I found this picture

Apparently after a few dozen pages of Terry Crews pics Google starts grasping at straws, so it noticed I'd used the word "Grandfather" (Nurgle) in my post about this mini so it tossed the shot in with the rest.

Weird stuff.

Muninn

Custom Keeper of Secrets

Last January I'd just finished painting a plastic Daemon Prince for a painting competition, & found I had a lot of nice bits left over. I was trying to figure out how to build something with the remaining pieces so I drew up a little concept sketch for a Daemon Prince/Chronos Pain Engine kitbash, here:

The concept was simple: Toss a few Talos/Chronos tentacles around the upper body of the Daemon Prince, and you'd have a unique looking combination. Plus by using the tentacles for the lower body it meant you didn't need an extra pair of legs, which are one of the limiting bits of the Daemon Prince Box.

I bartered online for a few Talos sprues, and got to see how well they actually worked together.

Turns out some parts fit better than others.

The heads & helmets were just right. They looked fine right off the sprue. As a whole the tentacles were too small. The pair I had drawn growing from the back looked puny, and the tentacle cluster I was going to use in lieu of legs wouldn't come close to filling the role without using an extra set.

Instead of the shoulder tentacles I decided to attach a pair of Daemon Prince tails to the back. They fit better size-wise, and they nicely mirrored the bony spines on its back. I took the tentacles and placed them on his ribcage to tie in the upper body and lower body.

Here's how it looked once I had a second pair of tentacle clusters:

A little later on I came up with an idea for an alternate head. The faceless "gimp" look was great, but it lacked a carnal, sadistic quality I'd expect out of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh.  By cutting up another Talos head, and a Prince head I was able to make something far more violently unhinged looking:

This uses two Prince heads (the lower face of one, and the horns of another) and one Talos head. The Talos head is backwards and upside down compared to how it would normally be.

Work stopped around March due to other projects & my own personal ADD, but I've picked it up again. Here's how he looked two days ago:

 I decided to make a few changes:
* I no longer like the shoulder spike. The mini had enough jutting spiky bits, it didn't need two more to distract attention. I fashioned jewels for the brackets of the shoulder guards instead
* One of the big selling points of the mini is how it hovers above the base. To give it a little elevation I tipped over some imperial bastion terrain and attached the flying base to that instead.
* Once they were in place, the tentacle clusters made the torso look too small, so I added a pair of hip plates from parts on the Talos sprues. This will also help when it comes to painting to be able to pull colors from the upper body to the lower body as well, hopefully giving it a more uniform look.

Since then I've been working on the base, using greenstuff to add elevation & extra detail bits.

The last thing I'm waiting on before getting into painting is a spear. I decided that the Prince axe, while burly and violent, doesn't really fit with the aesthetic. Slaaneshi daemons should be impaling enemies, not chopping them (subtle, I know). Instead I'm going to do a weapon swap with a spear from the Tomb Kings Necropolis Knights box. I don't know if it'll fit just right, but I should have the bit in the next few days, and we'll see then.

Either way, the mini has come a long long way, and I'll be excited to get it to the next stage.

~Muninn