# Black Lions - Entarion's DIY Space Marine chapter



## Entarion

*'I was there, the day Luther slew the Lion.'*​


_'Welcome weary travelers to domain of the Black Lions. Here you'll find their mighty force. Enjoy your stay.'_ - Remembrancer Sarmëiaur

Let me explain easily what Black Lions are about
-take inspiration from Dark Angels, Space Wolves and Black Templars
-don't follow Codex Astartes to the point
-don't get on well with Ultramarines
-elitist chapter using a lot of veteran units
-use heavy weapons and units alongside with fast LS and bikes
-have Fallen Hunters unit. Very secretive, elite, chaplain-like unit led by chaplain.
-have only Venerable Dreadnoughts
-their names are derived from Elven words
-using HE and Scibor bits with lot of my own creations
-symbol is any Lion head. HE lion pads used by Tactical, Assault and Devastator marines. Veterans use Scibor lion pad on left shoulder. Proudlords use 2 Scibor pads on both shoulders.

Fluff and other things around them are still very WiP. With this project log and future fluff log I will try to shape them more to my liking. I know this is not much info but homebrew is like a child and grows only with time and dedication.

What to do list:

*1st Company*
8x Lion Guard (Honour Guard)
5x Proudlords with Thunderhammers
5x Proudlords with Lighting Claws
5x Proudlords with heavy weapons
10x Vanguard Veterans
10x Sternguard Veterans
5x Fallen Hunters (LotD)
1x Chaplain

*3rd Company*
Morraw the Black Lion (HQ)
Venerable Dreadnought
20x Tactical marines
5x Assault marines
6x Veterans scouts
3x Devastator Centurions

*Vehicles*
Land Raider Ares
Command Rhino
Predator
Land speeder fast response unit
- 2x Land Speeder
- Land speeder storm
Quad bikes


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## Entarion

Reserved for future pictures of whole army


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## Entarion

Lets start with first Tactical squad as it is my only, almost, fully painted squad. They will be repainted in near future.
I am using diversity pattern for 5-10 man squads. Let me explain

Here you can see sergeant with squad "champion". He serves as leader for 2nd part if squad is divided and also carries squad banner









Special and heavy weapon bearers









Now for some diversity "veteran" marines. They are battle hardened marines soon to be promoted to Veteran ranks. You can see custom pads and helmets along with bolters to show their experience









And last 3 standard marines









More pics are coming soon


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## Romero's Own

As you know Ent, you've got my support and it looks like an awesome Chapter. 

But the pictures aren't showing up for me

EDIT: All working now, nice models!


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## revilo44

Nice work dude can not wait to see more. Love the vets.


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## Entarion

Thank you guys! Support is always appreciated.

So let me show you other pics. Veteran Scouts. I wanted to make them like a Spec Ops a bit but still not happy about them. I switch heads also, those are horrible and add some hoods.










I don't feel right about this one. Haha I know, right hand is completly wrong. Wasn't my day I guess. And also need to replace pointing hand. Probably back to one with scope so he looks like he is attaching it to weapon.

























This one is a bit of baddass. He will get some bare head with mohawk.









For lion feel, lion furs









And finally modified weapons. Still need liquid GS to fill the gaps









So what do you think?


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## Jacobite

Nice use of those HE Lion parts are shoulder icons, I've considered using them on IG as shoulder pads and as a banner top on some Astral Claws but never as chapter symbols. I like the lasgun mod'd sniper rifle but I don't think the bolter one is quite as clean. Painting wise, I know yellow is a bitch to paint (hence why I stopped at 6 Lamenters before giving up.) but maybe another thin coat of the base yellow over the wash before the highlights would clean it up a bit, they are a bit dirty which is fine but it kind of jars the eye abit as the rest of the minis are so clean. Props on getting the white to be that clean btw.

You're GS'ing is impressive as well, nice work on the cloaks and the helmet mods. Looking forward to seeing where this is going.


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## Entarion

Thanks for the feedback Jacobite!

When I started with chapter there were none Lion bits. But hopefully for me HE White Lions were released and Scibor also started with lion range.

Here is back shot. I think Lion is a strong theme for marines and gives them unique look









For the yellow. Tactical were painted with Sunburst Yellow. I wasn't pleased so I bought Golden Yellow. Result is much more cleaner and smoother but on the other hand Golden Yellow seems too dark










So I will probably stick to Sunburst but will try to get better look


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## Jacobite

I think the Golden looks better tbh, it maybe darker but the tone is "purer", I've always found Sunburst to have a bit of a green tinge to it.


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## Entarion

I was quite exhausted after Tactical squad. They were for our local forum competition which never was. I wanted to do finally something extra. I decided to do Terminator. In the end I was so proud of him that I start to call them Proudlords.
Also add some fluff to them: 

_Although all veterans in 1st Company undergo training with Tactical dreadnought armour, there are only few who earned the right to always wear it on battlefield. They are called Proudlords. Seasoned veterans and most elite units in Black Lions chapter._

Conversion









Painted model Proudlord Callean. My first attempt to paint blonde hair. He may looks funny but I decided to not repaint it. I like him like that. Also all veteran models use, in addition to main scheme, gold and green colour as symbol of veterancy.









For more detail pics check this video
Proudlord Callean

I also converted two more models









I use my custom bits on these models to make them more unique.


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## Entarion

Ok. So my very recent unit I did is Assault squad. One thing is I didn't know from the beginning that Sergeants are actualy Veterans (reason why tactical sergeant looks quite standard). But when I was working on Assault squad, I read some random articels and there was mentioned all sergeants are Veterans. With this in mind I tried to convert him that way.










Veteran Sergeant. I will use these champion helmets for all veterans but with slight conversion. Very similar to Astelan and pre-heresy DA. Knightly look.


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## Asamodai

Glad to see you got this started. Nice work. I really like your Captain.


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## Lemmy1916

nice to see a project with some fluff behind it. Keep on!


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## LegionThree

Models look great man, love all the attention to detail in them. Keep it up.


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## Dragblud da scrunka

Wow, just read through the whole thing and I gotta say wow. Nice background fluff and your progess is good too seeing improvements in painting and some bloody amazing green stuff I love the idea behind them and the colour scheme is simple but i really like the monochrome broken with the yellow. The terminator Proudlord rocks very good indeedy!

Your assault marine vet seargeants gs is impeccable squire wish my sculpting looked half as neat. Colour me impressed and kepp it up! +rep


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## Entarion

Thank you guys! Your support really cheers me up.

I am working right now on Dreadnought banner. Once it is done I will use Instant mold to copy whole banner. It will be easier then, when GS is still soft, to shape banner. It is my first try making banner like that. What do you thing?
Eyes and details on lion head will be painted by hand. However it'd be nice to have whole plastic head,
it is hard for me to do something so small with gs. But any tips are welcome.


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## Commander Firebrand

All this is great, it really makes me want to get started on my Storm Wardens chapter


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## Entarion

I am reworking that lion head on banner. Result should be seen tomorrow. In a meantime, as much as I like working on my models I also like improving background of my chapter. Unfortunatelly, there are more questions than answers so some appropriate literature is needed. Very recently I bought some books you can see below. 
I read only Angels of Darkness three years ago and book influenced me a lot. If you like DA background, this is one of the most important books. Gav Thorpe really did them justice and you find book equally shocking and disturbing. Anyone who read it, too ?
Anyway, I really look forward to reveal more mysteries about DA so it will help me make better fluff. Just assuring you I take it seriously :grin:










But right now I am putting my effort to dread. I started work on him 2,5 years ago. Shame, I know. But he will be finished this week no matter what. So what is new.

First I had to change Assault cannon. Original one has really short barrels and dread weapons need to look massive. So here is the result.










Second weapon is melee. Not original one but venerable one. I played a bit with fingers so it looks like he is holding something...










something like head of a traitor! Muahaha


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## Entarion

So to tease you a bit with dread, I did some extra work on him










I also did extra details for lion head on banner. I wasn't satisfied with plain face and I prefer to use GS/Plasticard rather than simple freehand.


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## Entarion

So I got response from guys on our local forum and they think letters look funny to the rest of the model. So I need to change this somehow. Any ideas ??

I have only one idea right now. Get a piece from venerable dread and use those letters. Or just do simple freehand.


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## iamtheeviltwin

Entarion said:


> So I got response from guys on our local forum and they think letters look funny to the rest of the model. So I need to change this somehow. Any ideas ??


If you have a local general hobby store in your area (like Hobby Lobby for example) or a scrapbooking hobby store you should be able to find small letters used for stamping, embossing, or press printing. You can then lay down a layer of GS and press your words into it.

Something like this should work...although you will have to find small letters (not sure on the size of the letters in that link).

*Edit* - another option could be to search old thrift or second hand stores for an actual ribbon print typewriter. The stamps from one should be about the right size.


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## Entarion

*Back in time - Part 1. Rhino*

Hey. I am going to take you back in time today. Take it as an extra bonus about things before Black Lions. Yes, there was someone before. It was another chapter. Same colours, same fluff but their name was Death Angels with winged skull symbol. It was few months before I finally decided course of my chapter.

One of the models I am working on right now, along the dread, is Rhino. So, how did it look before.

I must be handicapped cause I have to convert everything. I just can't simply glue model and paint it. I have cut everything before. Look at the poor Rhino below. I didn't like that both hatches are next to each other. So I played with it a bit.










And now my own creation. Extra armour by using sprues! So simple but so awesome. I love it even after years.










And here it is painted. By hand! No black primer used. (Check Razor Blade made out of sprues!) But as I said I am re-making it by adding lion stuff and some other bits -> make it more awesome.


















Thank you for reading. If you like it I have more "back in time" stories like that. So maybe in near future again.


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## Jacobite

For the dread letters I would use simple free hand or have you checked out using from brass etched letters from somewhere?

With your GS are you just rolling it out and letting it dry before cutting it to require width? It looks really good!


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## Entarion

Yes, Jac. From time to time I take GS and roll it out. It then serves as plastic card, but it is much more softer and more flexible. It is good for greave plates or any other extra armor. 
But lion head for banner was done differently. I needed it as thin as possible, so flag is not thick. I cut head, eyes, nose, everything from paper and then used Instant mold. Paper is thin but it still left some texture in mold. Then I used GS and cut it out. Pretty simple.


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## Jacobite

Ha that's a really clever way of doing it! +rep.

What do you rollout the GS onto, just some plastic or tin? How do you stop it from sticking?


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## Entarion

Thanks. I roll it out on my working plastic plate. And actually I don't prevent it from sticking to it. I take advantage of it! When it sticks to surface I roll it out with fingers wider and wider. Then I push some plastic card on top to make surface smoother. When it dries I simply take knife and remove it. It is usually 0,5-1mm thick


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## Entarion

*Rhino - Conversion done*

My today's work was Rhino from previous post. Major change is HB turret (should serve as extra SB for rhino). I wanted to do scratch build but it didn't go well.










Another change, apart from extra bits, are lights. I noticed it on new SM vehicles and it looks awesome. Thanks GW.










Lion symbol specially designed for vehicles










Reinforced turret. I saw it on the net and borrowed idea  Anyway I am going to do some nice freehand on it.


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## Old Man78

Fucking awesome all around, great g.s work, you're on my envy list, +rep of course, have you got the astral claws terminator shoulder pads, the lion head pad is great, I bought two sets just to get those heads


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## Entarion

Oldman78 said:


> Fucking awesome all around, great g.s work, you're on my envy list, +rep of course, have you got the astral claws terminator shoulder pads, the lion head pad is great, I bought two sets just to get those heads


Thanks. I appreciate your support. And yes I know about that AC lion pad and certainly gonna buy it at some point. But Scibor is one with lion pads to look for. He has widest range of lion themed pads and miniatures. I use them a lot on Termies and Vets.


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## Entarion

*Venerable brother Númestar*

Hi guys. As promised here is my Venerable Dreadnought Númestar. Enjoy

_"Númestar is great hero of Black Lions chapter. Recruited from Eryndor's knight caste and born as noble. He was promoted to Captain of 3rd Company when previous Captain was slain in Night Lords ambush. Lately he was heavily wounded during Malathan Crusade on Antares II when fighting chaos warbands. Hopefully, his body was recovered and put to honourable machine. He now serves as 3rd Company Dreadnought"_

I was thinking what to use for banner top and as I plan to do at least 2 more dreads (chaplain, librarian) I decided each will have his own rank symbol. Librarian-book, chaplain-skull and finally captain-iron halo 
Anyway this is my last post as I am going on holiday for 2 weeks tomorrow. But when I come back (20.9) my new SM models will be waiting for me so I get to work immediately. Cheers :victory:


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## Asamodai

Dreads looking pretty awesome. Looking forward to seeing him painted.


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## Matcap

Really nice conversion work going on in here! I also really like your green stuff "printing press". Might have to borrow that idea :grin:


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## Entarion

Hi guys I am back !  
Successfully overcame all challenges of Thassos island and ready to get back to hobby. And with me my long awaited reinforcements arrived, too.
20 marines were promoted to veteran status. And I also managed to get old box of Vanguard with MK2 Veterans (best SM models IMO) and plan to kitbash old and new boxes together to make them more variable.










But my very first work will be conversion of one of the Centurions using this artwork. So stay tuned and expect new images in a few days.


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## Wookiepelt

This is an impressive project. Will definitely be following it!


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## Entarion

*Centurion*

So here's very raw pose conversion. What do you think ? I'll maybe play with legs and torso but I think it is quite alright. I don't like ammo cases on HB and wanna replace it with belts. I know about Zinge Industries which sells flexible ammo belts but few week ago they removed some and there are only some sets left with belts too big for my need. So if you know about any shop which sells these please let me know


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## Dorns Legacy

i dont see any pics if you added them? maybe just me but i see all your other pics you posted.


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## Entarion

Dorns Legacy said:


> i dont see any pics if you added them? maybe just me but i see all your other pics you posted.


I uploaded pic same way as usual. Not sure if it's just you but link to pic is correct and should work.


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## Varakir

Nice work on the centurion. I'm not a big fan of the models, mostly due to the limited poses, so your conversion has given me some food for thought.

I think dragon forge and anvil industry both do Ammo belts, and chapter house do these for Heavy Bolters which are really nice:

http://chapterhousestudios.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=85_113&product_id=255


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## Jacobite

Though I bloody hate those minis you are doing a good job on replicating that artwork. Belts would make more sense as he'd run out of ammo fast but it does deviate from the art work a bit. Not sure on where you could get some though sorry.


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## Entarion

Varakir said:


> Nice work on the centurion. I'm not a big fan of the models, mostly due to the limited poses, so your conversion has given me some food for thought.
> 
> I think dragon forge and anvil industry both do Ammo belts, and chapter house do these for Heavy Bolters which are really nice:
> 
> http://chapterhousestudios.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=85_113&product_id=255


Centurion legs are really easy to convert, even easier than normal marine. You clearly see leg behind plate which hide any conversion you did to it



Jacobite said:


> Though I bloody hate those minis you are doing a good job on replicating that artwork. Belts would make more sense as he'd run out of ammo fast but it does deviate from the art work a bit. Not sure on where you could get some though sorry.


I bloody love those minis :biggrin: they have big potential for conversions and I can't be the only one who think of Tactical Dreadnought armour look.
Anyway I follow only pose in artwork, which is badass, not details like mentioned ammo cases.

One more thing. When pics of Centurions showed up I didn't like their dreadnought feet at all. I thought about cutting off side thumbs to thin foot and make it look more like Contemptor feet. But now I am not so sure. Now I think if you make more dynamic pose It looks better even with those feet.


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## Dorns Legacy

Entarion said:


> I uploaded pic same way as usual. Not sure if it's just you but link to pic is correct and should work.



Nm it must be on my pc i see them clear enough on my laptop. 

Overall looking great, really got the pose nice and true to the pic cant wait to see that bad boy painted


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## Entarion

Hi guys. I am sorry for the delay but I was quite stuck with that Centurion. First step was to turn him into Black Lion which took me week or so to figure out. I added usual stuff as fur and lion icons but I was unsure what to do with helmet. As I read through Descent of Angels I decided to make more knightly look and slightly converted helmet.
But model was still incomplete as I cut off ammo cases for heavy bolters. I wanted ammo belts but I didnt't find any good on the net so I had to make one. It's not perfect but he definitely looks more badass (still wondering why GW didn't go with this option). So here I present you first Centurion model, Brother Sarn. Enjoy.


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## Khorne's Fist

Those ammo belts make much more sense, and look way better. Well done. They do seem to be going nowhere though. If you remounted the ammo boxes back there it might make more sense.

Did you use some sort of press mold for the shoulder markings? They look very nice indeed.


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## iamtheeviltwin

That is a boss Centurion Conversion. Almost makes me want to pick up the models...too bad they do not fit into my army.


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## Entarion

Khorne's Fist said:


> Those ammo belts make much more sense, and look way better. Well done. They do seem to be going nowhere though. If you remounted the ammo boxes back there it might make more sense.
> 
> Did you use some sort of press mold for the shoulder markings? They look very nice indeed.


Those belts actually go to back same way as original cables. I like the idea you mentioned but there is little space for ammo boxes and it'd need more radical conversion. But I save this idea for another one.

I use Instant mold and I used same part on dread's right knee pad.


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## Entarion

iamtheeviltwin said:


> That is a boss Centurion Conversion. Almost makes me want to pick up the models...too bad they do not fit into my army.


Everything goes as planned :biggrin: 



Entarion said:


> Because here is more hate than love for Centurions, I am making personal challenge to convert these sons of Emperor for my Black Lions chapter so people can say: "Hey, I actually like Entarion's conversion. They are not that bad."


Wait for sergeant model eviltwin  Anyway, Centurions are made for great conversions. After all, they are just big space marines, aren't they ?


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## iamtheeviltwin

Entarion said:


> Wait for sergeant model eviltwin Anyway, Centurions are made for great conversions.


As a modeler, I want to pick some up because they look like a great canvas for conversions. However, my Space Marines are White Scar based and Centurions just do not fit my tactics/aesthetics. 

Once I clear up some of my hobby backlog, my Empire WFB army and a few Space Marine and Harlequin projects, I am thinking about doing a allied "deathwatch" marine force to add elements to my army that I wouldn't field otherwise.


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## Haskanael

looking good, ill be following this .


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## Entarion

Hello Heretics,
apart from my BFG Plog, I have also decided to continue with my SM army.
For easy start I am choosing my most favourite model - Termie-Chaplain. It is one of my first models so paint is quite bad. 










Chaplains are honoured individuals in Black Lions chapter so let's give the old man proper look with some conversion and new paint.










As an extra I own two squads of GK allies and I painted three termies few years back. Behold the veterans of Archaenologos!


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## Entarion

Ok EDIT doesn't count as new post..


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## Entarion

As promised yesterday I present to you Proudlord *Vantarin*. Enjoy!
(I decided to go red on veteran/terminator helmets and green for sergeants)


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## Old Man78

More excellent work love the battle worn look of the armour


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## Entarion

Thank you Oldman78! Any feedback is welcome


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## venomlust

I particularly like the spike on that hammer. It's a joy to see homebrew chapters.


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## Entarion

So what's next for Black Lions. There is really a lot to do and hopefully I'll keep my positive mood to do it all. But now it's scouts turn.
As I posted before they are mostly veterans. Think of them as Lone Wolves. Battle hardened individuals acting as spec ops units.

Because my marines are currently fighting in the ruins of the city I decided to make urban/dirty camo. To break monotone colours I used red to paint weapons. But still everything is very dark as it should be for hidding scouts. You can see one fully painted scout below.
For heads I'll use some bare ones from new kits and maybe, but just maybe, I might add some head cloaks.










Camo is very simple. Base coat with white skull, then bleached bone (yes, I am still using some old colours!) Spots are done with dark brown, grey and white.










Coats and clothing then get 3 layers od devlan mud. It's still very WiP as I will add highlight and worn look.


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## Tawa

Pictures aren't working for me


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## Entarion

Tawa said:


> Pictures aren't working for me


None or the latest ?


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## Tawa

The last couple of posts


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## Entarion

Hmm can you try different browser or something? I am using imageshack for uploads. Or are you using smartphone ? I know pics don't work for me on my Win8 phone.


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## DaisyDuke

There looking good! Just the one that's finished has a bit of googly eye going on with his left eye.


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## GrimzagGorwazza

I'm having the same problem as Tawa. I've got no working pics on this page, if I go back one I can see the centurion and the group of 3 grey knights at the bottom but nothing else. I've been through a couple of other and plogs and don't have any issues. Are you doing anything new with the way they are uploaded? I'm using IE on my surface tablet not a phone.


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## Entarion

Hey, I solved the issue (reuploaded chaplain, terminator and scouts to PhotoBucket). Now it should be visible for mobile devices. Please enjoy and sorry for the troubles !



DaisyDuke said:


> There looking good! Just the one that's finished has a bit of googly eye going on with his left eye.


Haha yea constant war can mentally damage even SM  but seriously faces are my weakness and this was painted few years back. I will try to do better next time !


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## Tawa

Yeah, they're all visible here now. Probably just my laptop being a crunt again last night :laugh:


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## Entarion

*Scouts*

Just small update on scouts. Bodies with weapons are fully painted. They look much darker in real life but I chose brighter photo to show details. Now only heads remain. 
As I stated before I will use some bare heads from other SM kits and sculpt some hair and maybe add capes to some of them. Expect update soon!


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## Tawa

Looking good mate :good:


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## Entarion

Quick update.
First bare head. Still WiP. Eyes are always pain to paint and I need to correct a bit details and skin tone but overall I am satisfied.










My friend also suggested to use Glade Guard hooded heads. Looks a bit smaller but will use them for aiming/shooting scout models. Also Wildwood Rangers heads look great.


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## Entarion

Another week, another models finished. Let me show you my badass scouts! They were tough to make but I am glad I did them the way I wanted. I hope you like them, too! 

And little fluff. Scouts actually doesn't have Company of their own and new recruits are assigned directly to one of the Companies.
These bad boys here are part of the 1st Company and led by *Gorgol the Butcher*. It is maybe unusual way to use valuable marines, especially veterans, for such lesser (but important) tasks as recon and "behind-enemy-lines" tasks but these individuals who excel as scout sare honoured equally among others. Ofcourse they can be deployed as regular SM but they spent most of their time as scouts.

Squad










Gorgol squad leader (head used from new veteran set)










Used that Glade Guard helmet and one regular scout head just for variety










I did three hoods from GS but I didn't want to hide those heads completly so I did it as it were taken off (left scout and Gorgol) and I am happy with the result 










And back shot of some fancy lion furs


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## zxyogi

Very nice work and some cool conversions!
Do like what you done with the Centurion but you never explained how you reposed it.
:good:


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## Entarion

*Chaplain WiP*

My recent visit of GW store for the first time ignited my modeller passion. Here is attempted conversion of Deathwatch Chaplain miniature. I don't like original pose so I did a lot of cutting and repositioning on the left hand and leg. What do you thin. Any feedback is welcome.


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## Entarion

*Centurion*

Two years back I started this conversion of Centurion. First attempt was quite good but some improvements were needed. And here it is.

I added ammo belts from Zinge Industries and connected them to ammo boxes on the back. I am quite happy with the result.


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## Khorne's Fist

The helmet looks great, very like a witch-Doctor's mask, and the movement of the ammo cans and addition of the ammo belts make for a much better looking mini. Reminiscent of the APUs in The Matrix films.


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## Entarion

Thanks Fist. Hopefully, it's not totally out of place.

Anyway. New hero is born. Brother-Chaplain Arcalon of 3rd Company. Wearing relic helmet of Tûrac (there is fluff behind the name). Enjoy


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## Entarion

*Centurion Irael*

Brother Irael in Centurion battle suit.

Say what you want but I love this model and it looks totally badass among other miniatures. GW ones might look "funny" but I am totally happy with mine. Pics don't do enough justice to him. Let me know what you think 

For the next two I have even wilder conversion ideas (especially weapon conversions)


















I have also purchased Citadel Texture paint and it's awesome! Very easy to use and with great results. And it also solved basing problem for me.


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## Loran

Amazing shading and weathering! I really dig the look of the models, with the colours looking very crisp, but still have the weathered and battle damaged look. Awesome work! :grin2:

Can't wait to see the next models!


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## Entarion

*Markings*

I have never put much thought into markings or heraldry which was always holding me down from making greater miniatures. Never again!

I put my ideas in this simple tab. I would like to follow somehow DA markings with slight colour/pattern twist for different companies/squads.

First of all they should be simple because symbols will be cut out of plastic card. I like it more than simple transfer or freehand.

Two sets for tactical/assault and devastator. Simple codex astartes tactical arrow or DA arrow? Lighting symbol or three-way arrow?

And something new. Tower symbol for devastators symbolizing siege. Is it ok to use tower as symbol or is it completely out of place ?

Do you have any tips or tutorials which could help me to create more personalized markings? Any ideas are welcome!


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## Spoticus

I am so impressed with the grittiness of your painting. They look great and dark, yet still, are alive with color. Great job, first time checking out this thread.


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## Entarion

Spoticus said:


> I am so impressed with the grittiness of your painting. They look great and dark, yet still, are alive with color. Great job, first time checking out this thread.


Thank you! As you can see, thread is quite old and many pictures are missing now. I am in slow process of reuploading those (tactical, assault, dreadnought, rhino, etc..).

With new edition coming I am in a right mood to continue with models.


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## Entarion

I am finishing my venerable dreadnought. Here is base.


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## Entarion

*Númestar*

Dreadnoughts are one of my most favourite SM miniatures. I enjoyed painting this one. Base model is Dreadnought from my Megaforce box with extra bits from Venerable dread + some Greenstuff.

Númestar is former 3rd Company Captain. His actions earned him his own banner with personal colours green and red. Orange checker marking represents 3rd Company colours. He also bears several medals for his previous deeds. Lighting mark on banner shows his participation in imperial campaign.

I have recently put a lot of thought to markings, chapter organization a such stuff. It helps me to make every model a special individual character.

I hope that you will enjoy the model as well 



















Pics after conversion:


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## Entarion

*Black Lions organization chart DRAFT*

I am taking very short break from modelling and painting and in the meantime I was focusing on my Chapter organization chart. Some things may change in the future but I am happy with the overall concept.

I was focusing on these conditions during chart creation:

*1)* Focus more on Lion as great strategist and take inspiration from HH Dark Angels organization
*2)* Chart must support all possible tactics so I can field almost any SM miniature because I like them all
*3)* Try to bring some originality
*4)* Show chapter's elite status focusing on veteran units

I think I managed to accomplish all conditions.

*1)* I took inspiration from Six Wings of Dark Angels where every Wing had it's special role. Parts of every Wing were put together to create specialized Task forces for different operations.

As you can see, chart is representing a Lion as animal. Chapter command acting as a head. Knight Companies form the body. Fury and Storm Companies are the claws. Siege Companies are the supportive legs. And finally Scout Company acts as a tail which can strike anywhere.

*2)* This allows me to field pretty anything. Storm Company is using only bikes. Fury is all on jump-packs and so on. I was thinking if I should do regular combined companies where each is focusing more on some roles like. Siege company having 6 Dev squads, 2 Tactical and 2 Assault and so on. But I decided to go this way.

*3)* I think this all brings a bit of originality to my chapter. Also it answers why I am not Codex chapter ? Black Lions think of Lion as a superior to Guilliman in every way and follow Lion's old teachings.

*4)* I would like to incorporate elements of veteran units to every Company which allow me some great conversions.

So this is it. I am now focusing on those very special veteran units which will bring originality to Black Lions army.

Let me know what you think!


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## Entarion

*Scouts and 8th anniversary*

Small update today as I had little spare time last few weeks.

First, I finished basing for my scouts and put them directly on new 32mm bases. I will be re-basing also tactical and assault squad.

Bigger bases are great with lots of space to work on. It's really easy with Citadel texture paint but I would like to advance a bit and put even more thought to basing.

Scouts

























June is also month when I have a birthday (28 now hooraay) and it was also my 8th anniversary with Warhammer. As always I had no time to prepare something for celebration so at least I made myself happy by ordering this beautiful Limited editon along with some webstore exclusive minis



















Lord Executioner will be my Captain for Fury Company and chaplains are my all-time-favourite minis and they will be great addition to my collection.










Even more reinforcements came this month.

20 DW veterans + Artemis and Watch Master. They will serve as 1st Company veteran unit named Wardens. But more on that in later updates.










I also managed to get 20 DA veteran minis which I have always loved but never knew how to use them in my army. Until now. They will be played as Sternguard veterans divided into two squads and assigned to 2nd and 4th Company.

They will bring great variation to my army.










That's it for now. I have finally finished many concepts for my chapter and now I will put them into practice. Hopefully in next few days I will be able to come up with something new.


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## Khorne's Fist

Great work on the scouts, and the bases look great. A bit more than I'm personally willing to put into them, so have a cookie for putting in that level of effort.


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## Entarion

Khorne's Fist said:


> Great work on the scouts, and the bases look great. A bit more than I'm personally willing to put into them, so have a cookie for putting in that level of effort.


Thank you. I actually don't put much effort into to bases (at least I think that). I consider basing as some kind of rest after finishing main model. 
I have done a tutorial here few years back but pictures are missing and I'd like to make updated version. I will prepare something over weekend.

And now I see Photobucket got tainted by chaos and I will have to reupload everything again!:frown2:


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## SwedeMarine

Scouts do look great! The bases also give me some ideas for what to do for my own scouts.


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## Entarion

Few months back I decided that I will repaint my first tactical squad. They were my first guys and since my painting improved I decided to give them slightly new paint. So here's the very first one Black Lion model repainted with comparison with the old one.

I improved many things, especially yellow on bolter, eye lenses, lion icon and shoulder pad with heraldry of 3rd Company. And put it on bigger base.

I am very pleased and it goes nicely with my other models now. Let me know what you think


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## Entarion

*Goal of this weekend:* Sternguard veterans.

Converting veterans is 50% fun and 50% responsibility. Each of them should be unique and squad should be immediately recognizable on the table.´

That's why it's taking me so long to figure out each one of them. As they are all robed and quite the same I focused on backpacks, weapons and pads to give make them more unique look. I will also add some seals and honours.

Note the relic bolter with drum mag conversion. And if you are wondering from which box is the lion head bit it's from kneepad of lord celestant's dracoth.
Stormcasts became my new source of lion bits and from what I've seen in rumour engine I can expect even more.


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## DaisyDuke

What do you use to make your press moulds? They look amazing! Great stuff as always dude.


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## Entarion

DaisyDuke said:


> What do you use to make your press moulds? They look amazing! Great stuff as always dude.


Instant mold - which is clear/transparent
Blue Stuff - from green stuff world

Instant mold is a bit tougher once it gets hard. It depends how complex bit you want to copy. Instant mold for one sided things like icons and blue stuff for more complex things. I used that for drum magazine. I needed to get "around" whole mag. It was then easier to get it out from mould.


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## Entarion

*Assault Squad*

I have been preparing my assault squad for painting. Did few minor changes to sergeant.

1. I needed to give him Lighting Claw as this is signature melee weapon for 6th Fury Company. I wanted to keep pointing fist so I just added claw part from Calth MKIV Box.
2. Changed bolt pistol to plasma from Chaos kit. It looks like some ancient pattern. Suitable for sergeant.
3. Added new cloak from Stormcast Vanguard-Hunters set. Those cloaks are really great and will fit perfectly for my other veterans. But I bought only one set so I will be using copies mostly.

4. One radical change. I was using lion shoulder pads and bits from Scibor because there weren't many lion bits from GW (High Elves only). But recently with release of Stormcast Eternals many new bits appeared (and soon there will be more).
I know the limitations of using third-party bits on GW miniatures so I decided to ditch the ones from Scibor as I don't really need them anymore. Now I am only using silicone fur form but I guess that might be okay. This way I am at least making my models legal.










Bases. I wanted to make something new and got inspired by bases in new assault box. This is the result. It turned out pretty well. But I actually realized that I quite lack the imagination for such things and need to search for inspiration quite often.










Here is shot after applying Still Water effect from Vallejo. I wanted to try something new. It didn't work as I thought it will be but for first attempt it is ok I guess. 










Some WiP shots










BONUS: When you are lazy making seals


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## Entarion

Making progress on assault squad.

Finished pads with chapter icon and 6th Company Assault squad markings


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## The Son of Horus

The shoulder pads are looking good! The checkers in particular came out really well!


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## SwedeMarine

The Son of Horus said:


> The shoulder pads are looking good! The checkers in particular came out really well!


Gotta agree with SoH here. They do look fantastic and I'm especially digging the bases. I need to try and do something similar for my assault marines (assuming I ever get around to painting them of course) 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk


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## Entarion

*Assault squad Namar*

Thank you guys I appreciate the support!

Finishing the miniatures brings me tremendous joy and it's always a reason to celebrate. I have already completed 8 minis this year which means very very productive year for me. And I intend to keep going for a while.

"_Know our fury! For we bring swift retribution to enemies of Mankind!_" - Sergeant Namar of 6th Fury Company.

It was hard work to finish this squad but it was worthy. Please, enjoy 





































*Sergeant Namar*

Last bits changes (claw, plasma, cloak, jump pack icon) made him even greater miniature and he turned out well. 
I am always learning throughout the painting process and colour combination for my veterans is very important. As you can see here green and gold is mark of veterancy but they also have to have main chapter colours (black, white, yellow) to fit in.
I tried yellow power effect on lighting claw and I am happy how it turned out. It looks even better on regular lighting claws and I intend to use it on swords as well.
Remember, yellow marks usually the weapons and lethal menacing parts.










Few extra shots


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## Khorne's Fist

Fantastic work. Very distinctive squad. The yellow makes a great contrast against the black. I'd rep you again if I could.


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## Entarion

Hola! Been back from my holidays in Spain for a few days and here's the first update. I had visions from Omnissiah and so I set for my workshop and came up with final concept for my Rhino.

I painted it years ago before Black Lions existed so it has marks from previous paint (done by brush) and lots of battle damage, scratches, glues stains and such. I should probably toss it away and get a new one but I have already put a lot of work into it so I decided to keep it.

Major change from previous versions is the turret-like piece which is from chaos defiler kit and dozer blade is magnetized. It is still missing a lot of pieces which will cover the most damaged parts.


































I would like to also share my next (this was my 2nd) experience with GW store. I visited one in Badalona and I was looking forward to have nice chat with fellow hobbyist (like in Helsinki). But I was disappointed this time. Shop assistant wasn't very talkative. When I asked on some colours and if he can show me tone differences or show me usage on terrain in the store he was only making excuses that he is usually in different store so he doesn't know and such. He didn't even ask me what army I collect and such. 
So I was out like in ten minutes and pretty disappointed.

I had to buy at least one model to have some memory and I got SM Commander which I don't even need. So it just underlines my bad experience this time. Hopefully next time I will visit better store.










But there was some comics shop in the same street with miniatures as well and shop assistant seemed like a cool guy. He was playing game similar to Blood Bowl (i forgot the name but it had very nice miniatures!). They even had a scratchbuild field.

Anyway, there was one display shelf where he had cool miniatures from many ranges but there was one very cool conversion I want to share with you 










And last thing. I couldn't resist to buy this pricey codex but it is really beautiful.


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## Entarion

Hey there! I finished Rhino today. I am glad I was able to recover it to some extent.

I spent few hours with edge highlighting, weathering and painting all those scratches. Maybe weathering is too much but black is too flat colour and I needed to hide previous paintjob.

There are markings of 3rd company and squad using it. Shield bears personal heraldry and colours of sergeant.

I choose to paint only right hand of techmarine to give significance to chapter colours rather than to Mars and I think it works great. He also bears colours of 3rd company.

I am using Dawnstone for highlighting my black but I was wondering if there is better colour as I dont feel Dawnstone is the right tone. I know that GW usually uses "bluish" Fenrisan Grey (or so) but thats not right tone either.


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## Old Man78

Great stuff, really inspiring. I really like the defiler piece added to the rhino


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## Noble Korhedron

*@Entarion:* Who made those 'Black Lion' chapter icon doors, and other icon-bearing items?


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## Khorne's Fist

Loving the rhino. 

Try dark reaper or eshin grey instead of dawnstone for your highlights. I used them on my DW, and it gives a much more subtle highlight.


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## Brother Dextus

Eshin grey is my go to (or the army painter version at least) for black highlights.


All the painting work looks awesome, but DEM BASES!!!


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## Entarion

Thank you all for positive feedback!

*Noble Korhedron:* Door icons are made from GS (pic downloaded from internet). Lionhead shoulder pad is from HE White Lions kit.

EDIT: And thanks for advice on colour. I will definitely try this Eshin Grey.


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## Myen'Tal

Exceptional effort on just how much customization and modeling has gone into each model in your force alone, let alone the great results you've achieved, Entarion! This is far out of my skill set, so I'll just continue to follow your thread instead, lol:smile2:.


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## Entarion

*Warden*

Happy New Year Heretics!

Wardens. Elite veterans of Black Lions chapter. A signature miniature I wanted to do for a long time but have been missing few parts. It is my biggest kitbash. Taking various bits from Deathwatch, Black Templars, HH Dark Angels and Stormcast Eternals.

The goal was to achieve techno-knight look following the old Calibanite Knight orders.

Black Templars tabard and Dark Angels HH helmet helped me to give the model strong knightly look. Then I used elements from Stormcast armour like boots which perfectly fit.










Cloak is from Vanguard-Hunters kit.










I also needed unique medieval sword. I converted Deathwatch power sword using lionhead bit and cross-guard is from Stormcast warblade.


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## Brother Dextus

Ooooh, fancy!!! 
Your green stuff skills are great I must say!


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## Entarion

*Predator*

Thanks Dextus!

I started working on my version of heavy Predator tank and it all starts with the turret. Again, I wanted something extra so I went with twink-linked autocannon. It took me quite some time to cut it properly but I am very pleased with the result.

Next step will be adding FW extra armour and some elements from SM Stalker/Hunter kit.


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## Entarion

Small update. Working on shotgun for another Warden. Got inspired by double barrel shotgun from anvil industries.


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## Khorne's Fist

That's cool. I might steal it for a Necromunda conversion. What did you use for the barrels?


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## Noble Korhedron

What's the base of it; an Astartes combat shotgun?


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## Entarion

Khorne's Fist said:


> That's cool. I might steal it for a Necromunda conversion. What did you use for the barrels?


Simple ear swabs. Just make sure that plastic part is harder. The size is usually perfect for barrels.












Noble Korhedron said:


> What's the base of it; an Astartes combat shotgun?


Deathwatch shotgun. But the one in Scout box might be suitable as well.


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## The Son of Horus

Entarion said:


> Small update. Working on shotgun for another Warden. Got inspired by double barrel shotgun from anvil industries.


That's awesome! I may need to look into trying this for my own scouts at some point.


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## Entarion

I quickly assembled the second warden and I totally love it. I just hope that they bear more resemblance with Dark Angels than Black Templars

Unfortunately, I have to put them away as I will be focusing on finishing two tactical squads.


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## Entarion

Just small update on Predy. Reinforced armour from FW to signify siege purpose.


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