# The Pyre



## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I've taken a long hiatus from 40k, and spent all my gaming time playing Fantasy. But I've had an odd itch to play some 40k lately, and while working on a friend's Night Lords army, I realized I hadn't touched my own beloved Chaos Space Marines more or less since the current Codex came out. And with rumors on the horizon of a new Codex more like the previous one, I've decided to give in and build a new Chaos Space Marine army. It didn't help that the store had a couple of those $50 Rhino and Squad boxes calling out to me... it was sort of a hard deal to pass up.

I actually had begun The Pyre as a painting project about four years ago in an effort to learn how to do light sourcing and blending across large surfaces. I painted a couple squads and a tank or two, but I never really got the whole army together and on the table. I'm hoping that starting a project log will help remind me to paint a Pyre Marine every couple days or so, and actually get these guys on the table where they can start some fires!


I'm working towards a non-competitive 1850-point army list, themed around bringing as many flamers as humanly possible while maintaining a tactically functional army. 

HQ/
Chaos Lord
-Dual Lightning Claws, Combi-Flamer, Mark of Tzeentch (I want the 4+ Invul as a game effect, but view him as Undivided in terms of actual allegiance.)

HQ/
Chaos Sorcerer
-Force Weapon, Bolt Pistol, Wind of Chaos

Elite/
10 Chosen
-4 Flamers. Aspiring Champion with a power fist. Icon of Chaos Glory
-Rhino APC with extra armor.

Troops/
9 Chaos Space Marines
-Flamer. Aspiring Champion with a power fist and combi-flamer. Icon of Chaos Glory
-Rhino APC with extra armor.

Troops/
9 Chaos Space Marines
-Flamer. Aspiring Champion with a power fist and combi-flamer. Icon of Chaos Glory
-Rhino APC with extra armor.

Troops/
10 Chaos Space Marines
-2 Flamers. Aspiring Champion with a power fist and combi-flamer. Icon of Chaos Glory
-Rhino APC with extra armor, additional combi-flamer.

Fast Attack/
Chaos Spawn
(Yes, I know they suck. I want to make a big silly fire daemon thing to go with the army though, and this is the cheapest way to do it points-wise. It's also good to just babysit the Havocs for a little extra close combat kick if someone manages to engage them.) 

Heavy Support/
10 Havocs
-4 Missile Launchers. Aspiring Champion with a bolter. Icon of Chaos Glory

Heavy Support/
Predator
-Twin-linked Lascannon, Lascannon Sponsons


So, to get things started, here's a little teaser.

















and a Terminator that I did for a painting competition a few years ago:









I'm going to probably do dark bases on these guys to help the orange glowy effect "pop" a bit... so of the models that I did before, I'll have to rebase them. But that's not a big deal.


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## Josh101 (Dec 16, 2011)

wow, i really like that rhino


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## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

"I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you fire!" - Jeremy Clarkson
Seems apt.
I like the idea for the list and where the hell have you found the boxset of marines + rhino? I want the guard equivalent =-(

Love the list, and great models

Lethiathan


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Lethiathan said:


> "I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you fire!" - Jeremy Clarkson
> Seems apt.
> I like the idea for the list and where the hell have you found the boxset of marines + rhino? I want the guard equivalent =-(
> 
> ...


The local FLGS happened to have a couple still. They were a splash release for the 25th anniversary, I think.


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## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

I knew they exsisted from MWG but I never saw them on GW, Maybe a US only release!

anyway just a small tip. make a made up squad, like a special named squad, make them termies. 5 HF. You get me bro?


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Totally. I actually do have a game-legal Terminator squad... I just didn't really find a good home for them in the army list. I have 10 with two heavy flamers and 8 combi-flamers. The pictured terminator above is the Aspiring Champion.


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## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

I wish that was legal in SM!


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Looking good man!!! I will be following this project with interest.


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## Minizke1 (Feb 7, 2010)

Yes another Horus log!!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

So I've finished the first of the "new" Pyre Marines. I say "new" mostly because I had like twenty Chaos Space Marines that I had intended to be a part of the army sitting primed in a box, and I haven't looked at them in about two years. 

I couldn't quite remember the progression I used on the armor, so the tone is slightly different on this model than previous ones I've painted. But I think that's ok-- fire is never uniform throughout, so a little variation here and there in the oranges in a unit should actually help accentuate that sort of glowing orange effect I want. I did make an active decision not to have a glowing effect on the base from the Marine, even though I want a somewhat "glowing" feel from the oranges on the armor-- I thought about it, and decided that the model sort of washed into the base too much like that. I want the model to be distinct from the base-- it should accent the model, but not necessarily be a seamless part of the greater whole. In other words, OSL effects from the Marine on the base make it difficult for the eye to determine where the Chaos Space Marine ends and the base begins, I thought. 

One of the reasons I'd originally started The Pyre a couple years back was to hone my skills at object source lighting and blending over large surfaces (as opposed to blending edge highlights.) While I'm quite capable at both those techniques now, it occurred to me that there's no reason not to continue the original point of the project and practice an area of the hobby I'm not as confident in. With that in mind, I decided to try a much more "modern" basing style. I've clung to the classic "sand, paint, highlight, patches of static grass" basing style for years, and while it's always a good look regardless of the model in question, and usually fits in with any table pretty seamlessly, it often lacks a dynamic feel to it. So I'm going to try my hand at more complex basing, which is something which for whatever reason, I've neglected in the past. 

It's a bit hard to see in the picture, but the results of my first attempt at barbed wire on a small scale are on that base. I used this tutorial to do it, although I used 20-gauge wire instead of the recommended 34-gauge, since 20 was the finest I could find. I think it works, though. http://www.armorama.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=107


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

So here are the four Marines who are done so far. The whole army's assembled and primed, but honestly, who wants to check out primed models? I also ordered a set of foam from KRMulticase (love their foam, by the way... it's my favorite stuff on the market since it does what I need it to do and it's overwhelmingly cost-effective), so I'll have a proper way to store the army instead of having the Chaos Space Marines loose in one of my bits drawers like they had been for a while... 

One thing I've noticed is that for some reason, the camera isn't picking up the green lens on the helmets-- in the pictures, they look black. It's probably just because I'm taking pictures with a crappy old camera and a piss-poor lighting setup, though... nothing I couldn't fix if I sat down and made a light box, I suppose...

I also can't decide if I like the patches of dead grass or not. They help break up the complete grey of the base, but they're also sort of that odd yellow color which clashes a bit with the orangey yellow of the armor. I want a sort of wasteland/urban/protracted warzone feel to the bases. I might cut them off though and retexture those parts of the bases. What do you all think?



















Also, I found this picture of a Predator while I was rummaging through my photobucket account. I painted it about two and a half years ago, I think... I'm probably going to repaint it in the same general color scheme... just make the molten effect better and probably finer.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I agree about the grass, it seems too close to the armor color. 

Though it might be cool if you had slightly greener patches, scorched out around where their boots touch the ground.

The marines are looking striking, but I think you might need another accent color on them. From the photos orange, black, silver, and gold all read. I can't see the green eyes. I'm at a loss as to where to suggest another color, or what color to use.


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## LukeValantine (Dec 2, 2008)

Will they burn the loyalists on great heaps?


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

I am gonna have to agree with Krueger. I love the way the marines are looking, but the grass just gets lost in the mix and doesn't provide any contrast. I think his idea of scorched green grass has a lot of merit though.


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

Mate, I love these, thay are absolutely fantastic. I love the paint scheme.

Have you thought about using some scorched grass on the bases? I expect these guys would torch anything they touched!! 

Rev


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

TheReverend said:


> Mate, I love these, thay are absolutely fantastic. I love the paint scheme.
> 
> Have you thought about using some scorched grass on the bases? I expect these guys would torch anything they touched!!
> 
> Rev


I might play around with the scorched grass-- that's a solid idea. I'll give it a go on the next Marine I paint. Thanks!

One way I'm considering adding some additional contrast is by adding some chewed up Space Marine bits to the bases. Half-buried helmets, shoulder pads, etc. A dark teal on those would add a lot of contrast and make the orange pop a bit more, I think... and it'd be a good alternative on some of the bases to the barbed wire.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I decided to take a little break from painting rank and file Chaos Space Marines. So I decided to start on my Sorcerer. He's about halfway done... I still have to do the backpack, several more layers of highlights in general, a bunch of details, the base, etc. 

One thing I'm playing around with is getting a subtle glowing effect from the eyes. I want it to be very subtle--so I want him to look "normal" as far as the face goes until you look at it closely. I'm still doing highlights on the flesh tones in general, and fiddling around with the bluish glow... but you can see how it's going so far here.


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## nsr250repsol (Oct 4, 2011)

Love the design on the tanks! +rep


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## cirs85 (Nov 9, 2011)

I like how you used the fantasy sorcerer staff and hands, looks good!


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## Kobrakai (Jul 25, 2008)

The first four models are looking superb, and the sorcerer model is looking really promising!

Great work man, have some rep for the Pyre!!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I ended up giving Middenland Tufts a try for the basing accent. They're a mix of dead and scorched grass, so hopefully the touch of green in them will help them work a little better on the base than the odd patch of dead grass on its own. 

Slight update. I've been playing around with the lighting around the Sorcerer's eyes a bit more, and this is what I've got at the moment. I can't decide if it's too dark or not.










Also, pretty much done with the Sorcerer. Need to finish up a couple highlights on the backpack, finish the book hanging from his belt, and clean up the grey edge highlights on the black areas.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Started reworking the Predator. So far, I've just finished the turret. 









And the sorcerer is done.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

Beautiful work mate, those yellows are well done! Your sorcerer looks super sweet, especially his face. Awesome effect on the eyes mate, it def grabs ya when you look at them!

+ Rep!

Regards,
DoE


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

The Sorcerer is ace man and the pattern on the Pred is looking killer!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I'm wishing I'd done a step-by-step for how I did the face. But for those of you who're curious...

I use Reaper Master Series paint (with a little GW thrown in--mostly just the washes.) However, I imagine there's something comparable to everything I used in GW's new range, and I know Vallejo makes nearly identical colors.

The basics of how I do the flesh tones can be found here: http://www.heresy-online.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52628
I also used a touch of Baal Red around the brow, cheeks, and lip to get a slightly warmer skin tone, and add some definition around the service studs. I applied a glaze of Baal Red around where the metal bit meets the skull (which isn't shown in any of the pictures, but those of you familiar with the particular Grey Knight head I used should know what I'm talking about.) 

To start the blue shadow/glow, I thinned down some Seafoam Blue. It's a similar color to GW Hawk Turquoise and Skull White in maybe a 50/50 mix. I cut it with about 80% water, and applied a couple layers around where I wanted the "glow" to be. I then re-applied the final flesh tone highlight and feathered it into the blue. 

I then used Ultramarine Highlight (which is remarkably similar to GW Ultramarines Blue with a touch of Space Wolves Grey added into it...imagine that...), and thinned it down to a nearly translucent point using an acrylic medium instead of water. I then focused that in the recesses, but feathered it up slightly onto the nose and cheeks. 

It's ultimately a very similar process to painting stubble on a miniature, but uses blues instead of greys. I imagine the same basic idea could work with green or purple as well-- could potentially have some really cool effects on other psykers.


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## dragonadam (Mar 22, 2011)

These look awesome. For the bases why don't you do a ring of fresh grass around the rim and have everything in the middle be scorched and melted. Might give a good impression that they are actually physically burning their surroundings with just their presence.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I'm about half done with the Predator's hull as far as highlights and whatnot go. I put the turret on it just for the sake of pictures. Last thing I'll do are the sponsons, but the hull still needs the molten effect cleaned up (and smaller, finer lines between the big brushstrokes), the grey defining the black areas needs to be cleaned up, and I need to weather the treads and the ram.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

That tank is coming together nicely! I feel your pain in painting all the molten looking effects, highlight after highlight....however, it pays off in the end!

Keep up the good work!

Regards,
DoE


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## GrimzagGorwazza (Aug 5, 2010)

Looking good SOH. That tank is really starting to pull together and the changes you made to the highlight on the black areas really make the molten sections pop.


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## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

Why can i not be as good as you?

WHY 
WHY
WHY
WHY
WHY

Your just SO GOOD


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

You have some patience to paint that Pred. Way more patience than me!

That sorceror is looking great. I like the sublte effect on the eyes. Not in-your-face demonic possession light, but the light of the Great Ocean pouring through a psyker to power his will. Nicely done.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Glad you all like them!

The molten effect on the tank is really not that complicated-- it's just very time consuming. It's basically a bunch of random red brushstrokes over black. Then, it's layering a couple oranges, a mix of an orange and yellow, and then yellow over that. It doesn't even need to be that precise, since stray color actually helps create the glowy effect and promote the idea of natural lines as opposed to manufactured lines. It's almost like painting camouflage in the most obnoxious, eye-catching, unsubtle way possible instead of trying to blend something into the background. It ultimately breaks up the hard lines of the vehicle.


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## cain the betrayer (Oct 12, 2009)

I really like them keep up the good work mate.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I saw a Furioso Dreadnought that was heavily marked off since it'd been on the wall for quite a while (the FLGS tends to mark stuff down if it hasn't sold, since there actually IS a cost to keeping stuff rotting on the shelf). So I couldn't resist picking up a dreadnought for the Pyre. 

I don't normally show unpainted models, but I thought the conversion came out pretty well. I've got a second close combat arm I'm playing with, so stay tuned for that, too. I'll also probably finish the Predator up in the next day or so. I pinned the torso, but haven't glued it, so it'll be free to twist its torso for whatever pose seems coolest at the moment. It'll also make it possible to transport the model in smaller pieces, letting it fit in a regular Games Workshop figure case.


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## ThumperHS (Sep 24, 2011)

Love the yellows on the sorcerer ... ace work.:good:

The molten look on the predator is really visually appealing as well.


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## cirs85 (Nov 9, 2011)

love the dread! its a shame that in game its prob going to turn on you! (mine always did...)


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

cirs85 said:


> love the dread! its a shame that in game its prob going to turn on you! (mine always did...)


Eh, that's half the fun, I think! :laugh: Call me crazy, but I always thought Chaos dreadnoughts were more interesting than their loyalist counterparts because they misbehave. Most of the time I'll probably run it with two close combat weapons and two heavy flamers... if he fire frenzies and lights my own guys on fire...well, I guess he just HAD to set something on fire right then! Kinda fits with the "band of arsonists" theme. Although the lascannons will cut down on the fire frenzy problems, since there'll more likely be valid enemy targets in range...


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Not much of an update, but I finished off the Predator. Honestly, painting vehicles has never been my strong suite, and I'm not really happy with how it came out. It's passable for the table, but I still feel like the molten effect could be much better. Especially considering the vehicle isn't weathered at all, and sucking at weathering is the usual reason my vehicles look substandard to the rest of my armies.


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## The_One (May 9, 2008)

I think I prefer it without weathering, gives the idea of fire destroying everything in it's path without being phased.
I have problems painting tanks also, but I think you're being hard on yourself, the Predator looks phenomenal!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I like the dread conversion. I don't know if you're done or not, but I would recommend taking a swipe at the greenstuff trim with a file and evening it out. Considering how straight and rectilinear the rest of the model is, wavy trim seems out of place. Its also pretty easy to use a little dot of green stuff to make rivets once the trim has been evened out.

I agree with you on the tank. I have a lot of respect for your painting skills but I think in this case "more" is too much. I think the molten/cooled lava effect would look a lot better if the hot seams were fewer and the cooled darker areas larger. The profusion of lava seams makes the tank look really busy in that photo and hides the sponsons and the decorative shields.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

I still think your Pred looks pretty sweet mate. I feel ya on the painting vehicles and weathering. I had the biggest fear for a while, especially when it came to painting my Krieg. I finally tackled that daemon and think with persistence you can to. Keep up the good work!


Regards,
DoE


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Again, not much of an update. Haven't had a chance to sit down and really paint much lately. I suppose that's what happens when you have four women fighting over you, eh? lol...

Anyway, I tried out the new yellow glaze on the sorcerer to even out the blending. I'm not sure if you can see much of a difference in the picture or not, but it made the transitions a LOT smoother. I haven't really had a chance to play with a lot of the new range yet, and I've only bought the stuff I'd actually use to supplement my usual Reaper Master Series colors. But I've really liked the new glazes overall. I've also liked the addition of a yellow, orange, and dark teal (Coelia Greenshade) wash-- I'm going to try out the yellow and orange washes on my next batch of Pyre marines, and the teal wash is just kind of a cool color... I'm sure I'll find a use for it sooner or later (Read: when the Pyre is done, I'm refurbishing my Black Legionnaires, on which I used teal as a spot color on cabling... it should shade them quite nicely...)


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## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

Lamenters Yellow. Turns bubonic brown into a nice intense yellow. Awesome. On a side not I keep coming back to this plog and as always your firey colours are crisp and the sorcerer looks cool, a bit of advice is to colour in the eyes on the face in a purple with some OSL so it looks like dark warp energy is seeping from them! Also a few dirt marks on the skulls might be nice, chaos aren't exactly known for being clean!

Edit: by face i mean the one on the chest!


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## shiftystylin (Mar 24, 2012)

Words cannot describe how awesome that dread is. If I knew you, I'd probably be babbling like Peter Griffon...


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

That dread looks awesome and the predator is manic!! Love it!! Great work. 

I like the sorcerer. Not sure If I'll be tryting any of the glazes on my wolves as there isn't one I could use on grey, but the washes help smooth the transitions a bit. Glad we're getting some feedback on them though, useful to know. 

Rev


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

After screwing around with the Sorcerer and the Predator, I realized I didn't even have a complete Combat Squad of Chaos Space Marines done yet. So, on to the Troops!

Today's update-- Chaos Space Marine with a flamer! I actually tried some different things with him than I had on previous models. The orange and yellow is much more intense on him than the rest of the squad-- I'm going to have to go back and hit the rest of the group with targeted washes of the new Fuegan Orange and the Lamenters Yellow glaze. The difference isn't that visible in the picture, but in person, you can definitely see a difference. 

Another thing I noticed with the new Citadel paint range is that the washes and glazes have a semi-matte finish, rather than a complete matte finish. It's not super noticeable, but when you put a model side by side with something that had the old washes used on it, you can see that there's a slightly shinier finish to the new stuff. It's nothing a coat of acrylic medium doesn't fix, but I was sort of surprised to discover that there's a more glossy finish on the new stuff.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Painted a couple more Marines. I'm not sure about the banner... I might repaint it.


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## spanner94ezekiel (Jan 6, 2011)

Erm, wow. Yeh, that's pretty much it from me...


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

The marines themselves look great, but the icon on the banner just looks off to me. I am not exactly sure what it is about it, but it seems like the simulated glow around the icon is too harsh.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I completely agree... I couldn't get it to a place where I was happy with it. I tried it without the glow also, and it looked a little too plain. I'm also considering replacing the banner with an icon... it just occurred to me that a banner is highly flammable...


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Agreed, the glow/outline around the chaos star is too flat, and its edge is too hard.

The banner looks a little strange compared to the marines because they are very yellow/orange with black accents, and the banner is the reverse, and because the glow should be softer and spread out more.

You have a point about banner flammability. Unless they had asbestos banners.

The marines are definitely looking sharp though!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Maybe they're magic banners or flame retardant or something... I dry-fitted an icon, and decided I didn't like the look as much as the banner, even though the banner doesn't really make much sense with a bunch of pyromaniacs. 

So I guess the question now is what to do with the banner itself. One idea I've kicked around is the molten effect-- make it look like ashes fluttering in the breeze or something, with the chaos star sort of "hovering" in the center. But I don't really have any brilliant ideas beyond that for what to do with the banner short of just cleaning up the glow. 

Does anyone have any ideas?


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## cirs85 (Nov 9, 2011)

maybe actually using a fancier piece of paper, burning it, and painting a chaos icon on it so you get an effect like...


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## shiftystylin (Mar 24, 2012)

I saw an amazing idea in a GW done with a pre-made banner (like the one in sang. guard box) of a loyal chapter and painted it to look like the chapter's banner. The guy then carved a chaos star out of the banner and made the outside look charred and battle worn, was a brilliant idea but not pulled off very well.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I played with the glow on the banner a bit. But it's not where it needs to be yet. In the meantime, I finished the rest of the squad. So I now have one complete Troops choice! 











And the Aspiring Champion.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

Wonderful looking squad man!


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## Red Corsairs (Jun 8, 2008)

Looking good Horus, I really like the vibrant yellow. It's a difficult colour to paint and I don't normally like yellow on marines, but these look great.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I think the champ is leaning forward a bit too much, but I think as a whole they look awesome. 

Eat your hearts out Imperial Fists, there are new yellow marines in the neighborhood!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Kreuger said:


> Eat your hearts out Imperial Fists, there are new yellow marines in the neighborhood!


Silly Imperial Fists, being all bright yellow... Orange-yellow is clearly the in-color this season. /Slaanesh.

Finished up the first Rhino. I decided to go with "broader" molten effect things. I figure maybe the more molten the vehicle is, the better its armor is-- maybe the stronger daemonic shenanigans making the armor shift and reform offer better protection or something. So a Land Raider would have the finest molten effect, if I ever did a Land Raider. I'm still on the fence about the molten effect on the Dreadnought-- it may just be orange/yellow, and look like a giant Pyre marine instead of using the armored vehicle scheme on it. Or I might just use the molten effect on its greaves and shoulders or something. Not sure yet.

Anyway, Rhino.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Couple new Marines. Gave a try at having a flame effect on the flamer, bit of light sourcing around it. These guys are the start of the second squad.


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

Awesome! I like the flame effect, pretty sweet. The blood on the combat knife is a sweet little addition as well. Your first squad and rhino looks great mate and I am sure this new squad will turn out just as good.

Keep up the good work!

Regards,
DoE


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

I agree with DoE, the flame effect turned out really nice and the spot color of the blood on the combat blade is really eye catching.


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## Lethiathan (Nov 11, 2011)

Sweeeeeeeet. I'm on fire....


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Finished the icon bearer for the second squad. I may play with the highlights some more. I'm not really happy with the freehand, either... the skull needs some more work, I think. But for the moment, I'm going to leave it alone and finish the rest of the squad.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

After getting half the second squad finished, I decided to tackle the spawn. Mostly because it was easy. :laugh:

It's the Fire Elemental from Reaper's Dark Heavens line. Added a flame effect from a Wyrd Miniatures fire basing kit, and popped it on a round base, and it was pretty much good to go. I'd bought the mini ages ago since it was on sale at the FLGS and I figured I could do something cool with it eventually. But I'd never found a use for it up until now.


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## Skari (Dec 20, 2011)

good job +rep.


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## Pride365 (Apr 17, 2012)

These look really good!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

Banner is looking a lot better, but think you're right on with what needs work.

I'd like to see and enemy of the purge going into battle with a smokey the bear banner, proclaiming "only you can prevent. . . . " 

Good use of the fire elemental. I think the paint scheme is lacking something. Contrast maybe? Or another color?

It might be worth adding a few more spot highlights into white or blue-white.


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

Burn baby burn!

Can you not say "whooooshhh!!" while painting a model like that? :grin:

Oh, and that fire elemental was a nifty addition to your army. Very characterful. Nice job.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I added some lighter highlights to the fire elemental, but I can't get them to register when I take a picture. I guess they're too subtle. I'll continue playing with it though, and see if I can't get them to display right.

Anyway, not much of an update... I have a five-man unit done for the second squad, and most of the four remaining members of the squad done... here are the five finished ones-- stay tuned for the others, who should be appearing here very soon, as well as the dreadnought, which is nearly done.


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## Pride365 (Apr 17, 2012)

They look amazing!


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

Wow! Haven't been back for a few weeks but these are looking awesome!! 

Great work, love the banner and the flames.

Rev


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Thank you! I haven't had much to post in the last week... I just picked up an airbrush, and have been learning the ropes with it. I used it on the torso of the dreadnought, and it gave me a very interesting effect with the orange. So the next thing finished should be the dreadnought-- stay tuned!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Ok, so I was wrong-- I ended up finishing the second Chaos Space Marine squad before the Dreadnought, since the Dread doesn't actually make it into the standard 1850 point list (but is around to make the army playable at 2000 points with the difference of only one model.)


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## Disciple_of_Ezekiel (May 23, 2010)

Looking really really good TSoH. I'm diggin the flame effect on the flamer and the actual flame coming out...sweet! Thats a weapon effect that was bought or custom made?

Regards,
DoE


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Disciple_of_Ezekiel said:


> Looking really really good TSoH. I'm diggin the flame effect on the flamer and the actual flame coming out...sweet! Thats a weapon effect that was bought or custom made?


It's actually a part of a bit from the possessed Chaos Space Marine sprues. There's an arm that's sort of throwing daemonic fire-- I just cut the fire off from the arm, narrowed it down a bit to be the right size for the flamer, and green stuffed a little bit around it to make it work as a gout of flame. From there, it was just a question of doing a little light sourcing around the nozzle of the flamer and painting the bit like regular fire instead of some weird daemonic fire, and it was good to go.


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## Carna (Mar 13, 2008)

Looks fantastic, I am really impressed with your vibrant yellow!


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## Pride365 (Apr 17, 2012)

Yeah I am not normally a fan of yellow but you are making it look sooooo good!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

So I finished up the dreadnought (well, mostly. I need to do its arms still.) After looking at the picture, I think I need to go back and clean up some highlights and brighten the silvers up a little bit-- the chaos icon on the top in particular registers as almost black in the picture, but is actually silver.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

And because I'm an insomniac, I went ahead and finished a set of arms for the dreadnought, so it's ready to hit the table.


























And a preview of the extra close combat weapon arm that's an alternate for the lascannons:


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## Pride365 (Apr 17, 2012)

I really like the flaming head on the Dread


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## dragonadam (Mar 22, 2011)

That dread looks amazing. This army is coming out very very nicely.


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## jaysen (Jul 7, 2011)

Great work, SOH!


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I'll join my voice to this chorus. Looking good man!

And for the record I don't know that the chaos symbol is too dark. How about you take 2 more pictures of the dread in front of a midtone/grey background and one in front of something dark/black. I'll willing to be it looks black simply because of the contrast ratio to the white background.


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## KjellThorngaard (Oct 4, 2010)

Nice lookin' dread!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I've been distracted with other stuff lately-- most of which has nothing to do with the hobby. However, I thought since I hadn't updated this for a while, I'd at least show what my most recent WIP is-- the Lord.


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## Pride365 (Apr 17, 2012)

You do some really great work!


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## TheReverend (Dec 2, 2007)

The lord looks fantastic. Love the flames on the base. Can't wait to see him finished


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## TehJimbo (May 15, 2012)

This force will look terrifying on a table, really like the color work thats gone into it man, great stuff!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I'm not sure why I let this thread die... 

A few updates-- 
I've been busy with "real life" lately, so I haven't had a lot of time to work on these guys. However, I have finished a ten-man Havoc squad, so I'll get some pictures of them up for you guys soon.

I'm also in the planning stage for adding flamey bits to the stuff from the new Dark Vengeance boxed set-- I don't know how often any of that will actually get used in-game (I might use a couple of the Chosen models regularly, but the majority of it I think will just be cool to have)-- I'm thinking about creating an armature for the helbrute dreadnought and sculpting a mass of flame surrounding it and coming from any daemonic maws and the like-- make it fit with The Pyre instead of look just vaguely possessed.

I've also gotten a few games in with The Pyre, and they stand undefeated. Overwatch with flamers is hilariously good. Surprisingly, I've also had some success with the spawn-- most notably, the chaos spawn/flame daemon managed to kill Illuminor Szeras AND a tomb spyder in close combat in one game. How it managed that is anyone's guess, but... I'm not complaining. 

The Sorcerer has also been an MVP-- casting Sunburst from the Pyromancy discipline in one game basically won the game-- between the volume of shots and the Blind effect, that power packs a whollop. It's also super lulzy on Overwatch.


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## Orochi (Jan 28, 2009)

You don't fancy putting up an 'army shot' or two and a roster list?


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Orochi said:


> You don't fancy putting up an 'army shot' or two and a roster list?


Check out the first post of the thread for the 1850-point roster. 

I had intended to post some more pictures just the other day but my camera crapped out on me, so until I have someone replace the lens on it in a couple days, pictures will have to wait.

For the sake of argument, though, the collection looks roughly like this:

HQ/
Chaos Lord
-Lightning Claws, Combi-Flamer, Bolt Pistol, Mark of Tzeentch (for the invulnerable save boost)

HQ/
Chaos Lord
-Daemon Sword, Plasma Pistol (Dark Vengeance lord)

HQ/
Chaos Sorcerer
-Force Scythe (Sword), Bolt Pistol, Familiar, Mastery Level 1 Pyromancy

Elites/
Pyre Terminator Squad
-10 Terminators. 8 Combi-flamers, 2 Heavy Flamers, 2 Power Fists, 1 Chainfist, 5 Power Axes, 2 Power Mauls, Icon of Chaos Glory

Elites/
Pyre Chosen Squad
-10 Chosen. Aspiring Champion with a power fist; 4 Chosen with flamers. Icon of Chaos Glory. Rhino APC.

Elites/
Pyre Chosen Squad
-6 Chosen. Aspiring Champion with power maul; one dual lightning claws, one power axe, one power fist. (Dark Vengeance squad)

Elites/
Pyre Helbrute
-Multi-melta, dreadnought close combat weapon

Elites/
Pyre Dreadnought
-Option of twin-linked lascannon or additional dreadnought close combat weapon; dreadnought close combat weapon and heavy flamer. 

Troops/
Pyre Arson Squad
-10 Chaos Space Marines. Aspiring Champion with power fist and combi-flamer. 2 Flamers. Icon of Chaos Glory. Rhino APC

Troops/
Pyre Arson Squad
-10 Chaos Space Marines. Aspiring Champion with power fist and combi-flamer. 2 Flamers. Icon of Chaos Glory. Rhino APC

Troops/
Pyre Arson Squad
-10 Chaos Space Marins. Aspiring Champion with power fist and combi-flamer. Flamer, meltagun. Icon of Chaos Glory. Rhino APC. This unit normally is deployed 9-strong with an attached HQ model; the meltagun is dropped.

Troops/
10 Cultists. Close Combat Weapons, Autoguns. Champion with shotgun. Heavy Stubber. (Dark Vengeance)

Troops/
10 Cultists. Close Combat Weapopns, Auto-pistols. Champion with two close combat weapons. Flamer. 

Fast Attack/
Chaos Spawn

Heavy Support/
Pyre Predator
-Lascannon sponsons, Twin-Linked lascannon

Heavy Support/
Pyre Predator
-Lascannon sponsons, Twin-Linked lascannon

Heavy Support/
Pyre Havoc Squad
-10 Havocs. Aspiring Champion with a combi-flamer. 4 Missile Launchers. Icon of Chaos Glory.


As far as allies go, I have a whole mess of daemons... I have about 500 points' worth of lesser daemons from each god, and a herald to lead each. The Cultists may also be better off being used as Imperial Guard Veteran Squads and be lead as an allied detachment by a Cult Leader/"Lord Commissar" until they are included with points values and whatnot in the actual Codex.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Holy crap SoH, this is a sweet looking army here. I am impressed as all hell. Did you do the same thing I did with my Tson army and mix normal and possessed marine bitz together?


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

The Wraithlord said:


> Holy crap SoH, this is a sweet looking army here. I am impressed as all hell. Did you do the same thing I did with my Tson army and mix normal and possessed marine bitz together?


Yup. Although I tried to keep the possessed bits fairly limited in the regular squads. The Chosen squad (which has yet to be photographed, as it is still just primed) features the Possessed kit bits very heavily though-- I figured there had to be something useful to do with such an awesome kit, and that was a good way to distinguish the Chosen from the regular troopers beyond the squad just having more special weapons. At some point, I may do a squad of Possessed for this army, but they'll be visibly on fire, not just warped and mutated and gribbly.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I forgot to white balance the camera, and as a result, we ended up with blue pictures... which I was mostly able to clean up, but... I'll have to go back and take some more another time. 

This is everything that's ready to fight so far-- about 1250 points. 




































And the Dreadnought with an alternate second close combat weapon arm-- a bigass sword!


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

That is a fine looking army mate!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

A better look at the Havoc squad. They're a departure from the theme of stuffing as many flame weapons as possible into the army-- a concession to make the army playable by having some ranged anti-tank ability. I figure when they use frag rounds, they're using incendiary rounds instead to the same in-game effect, so at least there's a way to explain them sort of fitting with the army. And if nothing else, the Aspiring Champion still has a combi-flamer. I'm kind of hoping that multi-meltas get added to the Havoc weapon options with the upcoming Codex-- a squad with four multi-meltas might not be as effective for the kind of long range support I really need the squad for, but it fits thematically much better.

After looking at the pictures, I probably need to go back and add another highlight layer to most of the troopers-- I tried a slightly different way of painting the armor for this squad which was MUCH faster and is indistinguishable in its final results from the lengthy process I had been using. The benefit to the lengthy process is that I don't neglect highlights in certain places, whereas faster techniques such as the one I used for this squad means sometimes I get distracted by trying to finish the models for the table and end up forgetting about the finishing touches. :laugh:

Anyway, the Havoc squad.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I really like the muzzles you added to those plastic missile launchers. Definitely works.


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## Mr.Malevolent (Jun 19, 2011)

Wow...
Just went thru this whole thread and my mind is just blown!
Loving everything in here.
And that army shot is sublime.
Keep up the awesome work!


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

This is a really great plog, and one of the more distinctive armies I've seen lately. Quality work and great attention to detail :victory:


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

You know, I just realized I'd neglected to show the Lord. He may be replaced sometime soonish-- I doubt I'll be able to have a combi-flamer AND two lightning claws in the next Codex. And even then, I may still replace the model... I feel like I can do better.


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## Grins1878 (May 10, 2010)

A really nice looking army this man! The standard each is painted to is brilliant, and in yellow too *shudder*, you've made them each look amazing!

Well impressed! Would be a pleasure battling them!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Since everyone has been on a Dark Vengeance kick lately, I thought I might as well tackle at least a couple of the models. This guy might make a fun alternative Lord, rather than a Chosen Champion, I think. 










I always am sort of surprised by how different my models look in pictures. I need to go back and clean the highlights on the black areas up on this, and add some more definition to the face, I think.


Also, my next squad to finish for gaming is going to be a Terminator Squad. If they don't have a heavy flamer, they've got a combi-flamer. Everybody is equipped with something to light the lapdogs of the False Emperor on fire with!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I realized that it probably made sense to paint up the one model out of Dark Vengeance I know I'll be playing with most of the time-- the Chosen model with the power fist. He's a first-rate Aspiring Champion model for leading regular Chaos Space Marine squads, and I think I may actually use him to lead my Chosen squad. He's by far my favorite of the Dark Vengeance models, to boot-- he's the least warped of the Chaos Marines, but there's all the baroque detail and clear daemonic allegiance all the same. And he's got the equipment that is perfect for an Aspiring Champion-- a bolter and a power fist, and the pose is great.


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## Varakir (Sep 2, 2009)

I've had a weird urge to paint something orange for a while now, and after seeing your results i think i might paint my DV chaos in this scheme (with a more orangey hue). 

I was planning a very simple paint job to get them tabletop ready but the models are far too pretty for a rush job. The lord and the DV marines look great, and i'll certainly be looking here for more inspiration :victory:


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

And here are the other three from Dark Vengeance. Not sure what I'll do with the lightning claw or power axe guy, but the bolter-armed guy will probably just join a regular CSM squad.


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## Mr.Malevolent (Jun 19, 2011)

Amazing job on the Chosen from the box set!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Looks like we lost some posts since the site's been down. Not a big deal-- here are those images. The Chaos Lord from Dark Vengeance and the Terminator Champion. Be sure to check back soon-- I've been VERY busy with this army lately, and there are a lot of new models to show off, as well as a display board worthy of Armies on Parade-- I just have to sit down with the camera!


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

Having spent some serious time looking through the CSM codex since last outage, I find myself converted to the creed of the flamerspam. Combi-flamers; Havocs and/or Chosen loaded up with flamers and meltas; Noise Champions and Lucius with Doom Sirens; Warpsmith with BBoS; etc. Then tank shock enemies (with destroyer blades and dirge casters on my Rhinos) into tight bunches and torch the grouped enemies, and perhaps include Slaaneshi daemons with Pavane... the ideas running through my brain give me no rest. I think I could go on in this vein for some time.

In short, though, I love what you're doing here even more.

Re: latest pics, I'd have to say the symbol on the cloak on the DV lord looks a little patchy. Other than that, good stuff.


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

I'll be keeping a look out for your new stuff!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Mossy Toes said:


> Having spent some serious time looking through the CSM codex since last outage, I find myself converted to the creed of the flamerspam. Combi-flamers; Havocs and/or Chosen loaded up with flamers and meltas; Noise Champions and Lucius with Doom Sirens; Warpsmith with BBoS; etc. Then tank shock enemies (with destroyer blades and dirge casters on my Rhinos) into tight bunches and torch the grouped enemies, and perhaps include Slaaneshi daemons with Pavane... the ideas running through my brain give me no rest. I think I could go on in this vein for some time.
> 
> In short, though, I love what you're doing here even more.
> 
> Re: latest pics, I'd have to say the symbol on the cloak on the DV lord looks a little patchy. Other than that, good stuff.


6th Edition has been extremely kind to flamers! The Pyre began life as a modelling project and sort of a joke to see how many flame templates I could pack into one army, and it's become something (even before the new Codex) something that was extremely capable on the tabletop. 

While it's definitely all well and good to bunch your enemies up and set them on fire (especially with the -wonderful- Burning Brand) I've found that flamers are the pinnacle of defensive weapons. You can do a surprising amount of damage on overwatch with a pair of flamers and a combi-flamer plus seven rapid-firing bolters, and follow that up with two attacks a model from your Chaos Space Marine troopers (you bought extra close combat weapons, right? Right.) it's been my experience that short of something like a Terminator squad, any unit that closes to within a foot of one of my Pyre squads is in a -lot- of trouble. 

I've also found corralling my opponent using Rhinos, terrain, and my own units and then deep striking terminators almost on top of them has extremely effective results-- my unit of Terminators has killed a 15-man death company unit in one shooting phase-- it's amazing what happens when you hit them with six combi-flamers (as opposed to eight, as not all will be able to connect from the deep strike formation, but you can set it up so you get six) and two heavy flamers on a tightly-packed unit...

I've just been laughing maniacally since the new Codex came out, though. My Lord has reaped a bloody toll with the Burning Brand... people still aren't quite used to having to spread out at close range because flamers weren't popular for basically three editions, so I've gotten a disproportionately high number of hits... my lord has killed nine of ten Space Marines in one fell swoop with the Brand, and then jumped in and murdered the Sergeant in close combat. 

Fun fact regarding Chaos Artifacts-- Grenades are weapons (BRB weapons section). I'll leave you to think about that one...

So here's the complete 1850-point army (although now that I look at the pictures, I forgot to put one Rhino on the display board-- there are three). The spawn is on the board just because... it's not actually in the list, it's just handy for the unfortunate number of times my Lord has rolled Spawndom on the Chaos Boon table... 

I do have another 1x2' section for the display board that's a crater-strewn, flame, bathed battlefield for when I want to enter the army in Armies on Parade, and spread the squads out a bit. But for general use, the building section does what I need it to do in terms of being a good tournament tray and display board. Not the greatest pictures-- it's hard to get a focused picture of something as big as this using an iphone, but you get the idea!

















































The Rhinos get parked in the back of the building for ease of transport around the game room-- also, nobody cares about the rhinos particularly when checking out the army as a whole...haha... with the full 2x2 board, they're out dropping off squads in the blasted battlezone section of the board (no pictures of that yet, since it's not finished) though. You can see them through the windows in some of the pictures though!

As for some other stuff I've been working on that doesn't make it into the 1850-point list-- 
I really liked the new Aspiring Champion model, so I picked one up. 

























And you pretty much have to have a Daemon Prince handy these days for the 8% chance you have of a champion becoming a Daemon Prince over the course of the game from the Dark Apotheosis result on the Chaos Boon table. So, I have an awesome model for when that happens now.


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## Moriouce (Oct 20, 2009)

Stunning display board and even more stunning army! You have done a great job!


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

> Fun fact regarding Chaos Artifacts-- Grenades are weapons (BRB weapons section). I'll leave you to think about that one...


I just...

I think I just...

I need to go change my pants.

But seriously, I'd been lamenting the loss of my bonus attack when I had the BBoS (saying "hell, at least there's no reason not to pick up a Lightning Claw now,") but you've just solved my dilemma neatly.

My FLGS is actually quite competitive, so most players have been spread out even last edition, but...

Nice models! The display looks great!


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Mossy Toes said:


> I just...
> 
> I think I just...
> 
> ...


Obviously, they don't intend you to be able to trade in krak grenades for an artifact, so I'm just waiting for that to get FAQ'd-- it's pretty common sense that they mean you trade in your bolt pistol or close combat weapon. That being said, in the meantime, I've happily been running my lord with a pair of lightning claws and the burning brand, as the model was already ready to go before the Codex came out (last book, I ran a combi flamer and a pair of lightning claws). The BRB pretty clearly lists grenades as a weapon, and it specifically says for the artifacts "trade a weapon for..." not "trade a melee weapon for" or "trade a ranged weapon for..." ...just "a weapon." I was actually really surprised that didnt make the first run of the FAQ, because it was pretty glaring to me.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Now that I have a fully-painted 2000 point army of The Pyre, it's time to set my sights on expanding the army to play Apocalypse with. 

I'm planning on adding the following 1250 or so points (sources in parentheses). All have flamer-y goodness in some excessive level that isn't available to a Chaos Space Marine army outside of Apocalypse. Admittedly, most of this comes from the Horus Heresy book, which contains units which can contain a ton of special weapons-- and given the propensity for flamers that the army has...well, yeah. 

-Land Raider Redeemer with additional multi-melta (Codex: Space Marines)
-Legion Tactical Support Squad, 10-strong, armed with flamers. (Horus Heresy vol 1: Betrayal)
-Legion Heavy Support Squad, 10-strong, armed with heavy flamers (Horus Heresy vol 1: Betrayal)
-Legion Predator Squadron, 3-strong. Flamestorm Cannon turrets, Heavy Flamer sponsons, Pintle-mounted Combi-Melta. (Horus Heresy vol. 1: Betrayal).

I have begun work on the flamer-armed squads-- check back soon to see them! I'm planning on giving them special squad markings to denote them as being part of the Apocalypse army and a special, elite unit among The Pyre.


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

I slapped some paint on a Redeemer and the Tactical Support Squad. Neither is really at a point where I'm happy with them, but I wanted to get them painted up to a playable point for our year-end blowout Apocalypse game that the store held last weekend. 



















I also have found in games lately that the Havoc squad with four missile launchers was underperforming-- I couldn't really address threats like Leman Russ tanks or Land Raiders before they did their damage, and in the case of the former, not being able to stop a Leman Russ makes it impossible to win games. I'm not really a competitive gamer-- even though my army's record is in my signature, that's more for my own sake than for the sake of competition. That being said, I don't want to end up with my pants down against an army just because I don't have the right tools for the job--especially one as hugely common as the Imperial Guard. So, with that in mind, I've reorganized some points to drum up the difference, and replaced three of the four missile launchers in my Havoc squad with lascannons. I may mess with the points some more and upgrade the remaining missile launcher-- just will take some time to figure out where I can cut the fat since the list is pretty well-rounded and the fat's been pretty much completely cut as it is.


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