# CSM on a Shoestring Budget



## Mossy Toes

And for my 666th post...

CHAOS!

As the title implies, funds are tight (aren't they always?). This means no pin-drill for me to pin unwieldy things and no drilled-out bolter barrels; old, slightly tacky spray primer and super glue; and most of all... kit-bashed and customized/re-purposed models. The point of this plog is, well, to expedite the (glacial) rate at which I work.

Sounds wonderful, doesn't it? Ah well, we struggle ever onwards, ever upwards.

Currently, I have several projects on the :
- my second squad of homemade Obliterators
- My "bikers"--Cold One riding Traitor Astartes!
- converting a pre-modeled Defiler to have +2 dccw.

+

*Obliterators:*





































The chain/spike halo still dangles loose, but will be glued roughly where I propped it for the second photo of this fellow.










This last one is waay less finished than the others--little green stuff, etc. I'm hesitant whether I want to finish him as is, really. I'm trying to use a set of old Ork warbike rear tread-tracks for his legs, but...am not very favorably impressed by the look. Sorry that the one image doesn't really showcase him that well.

Also, by way of comparison so you lot can see what they should end up looking like:










+

*Bikers:*



















Used to have a plasma gun, which has been...messily lost. Considering what to do with him.























































Quite a few of the models suffer from an overabundance of mold lines that slipped past my guard. Humor my fragile ego and please don't point them out; rest assured that they will have ceased to exist by the next time I post up a batch of photos.

+

*Defiler:*

(what it used to look like)




























Recognize that face? ...say, on an Obliterator?

(updated version of the model)










Yes, that's a skeleton in a cage that will be replacing the missile pod. 



















Part of the reason for snipping off all the spiky bits was to minimize the target profile this guy has and let him hunt for cover easier. Also, I felt like going for something different. I admit he looks a little bottom-heavy now, but...wait until I get the flail on.


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## wombat_tree

Some interesting conversions and ideas there. I like the bikers but it is a bit difficult to see the obliterators because they have been primed. Keep up the good work. k:


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## Boc

The oblits are definitely cool, I'm all about the ridiculously-proportioned-weapon-festooned kitbashes of them, especially as it's infinitely cheaper that dropping 22.50 a pop!

Interesting choices with the Defiler, though I must say I'm not sold yet on chopping all spikes off. Yes, painting them is a royal pain in the arse and I certainly see the benefit of not having the "I CAN SEE IT'S SPIKE SO I'M SHOOTING IT WITH 30 LASCANNONS!" problem, but it's the character!

The skeleton in the cage and the SM in the claw are nice touches, I look forward to seeing the finished model.

Keep it up!


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## Mossy Toes

Thanks, both of you.

Boc: I have to credit you with the idea of a havoc launcher on the model for the third Obliterator. Also, I do kind of feel that I went too far overboard with the weapons on that guy, so I've broken off one arm to simplify it. Still...

I'll try to upload later photos in a lower resolution, so they don't mess people up when they load the thread.


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## Zodd

I always like when people alter/combine/customise bits and figure to suit their own ideas. That's a very importent part of modelling, imo.
And You are doing that very well Mossy. Looking forward to see next step of Your CSM-builds.Have some rep.


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## Hammer49

Nice work on the conversions for the oblits. Look forward to seeing more.


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## Anarkitty

I like what you're doing. I do most of my modeling on a shoestring budget as well, and you've given me some interesting ideas...


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## Mossy Toes

Thanks, everyone, for the comments and the rep! As people have expressed quite a bit of interest in the kitbashed/custom models, I feel compelled to point out that in my army showcase (sig, sidebar, top, or wherever) there are a few more similarly kitbashed--yet finished--models, such as some totally scrap-built Havocs and the aforepictured 3 Obliterators (of less note: homemade sonic blasters on the Noise Marines and a banner bearer of whom I'm rather proud among the normal marines).

Mmm, this thread is giving me plenty of incentive to get cracking on my painting. Just as I'd hoped!

*Edit:* Here, I'll spare you lot the hassle of heading over to that thread:

Chaos Warriors (archive and modern), Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines--hell, there's even a few IG chunks thrown in there!




























Chaos Warrior cloak and banner, and his legs are really CSM arms. Hence the green stuff mud...


















These are by no means all of the photos, but I thought I'd just...give some examples.


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## Mossy Toes

All right, update time!

I've made progress on my Oblits, as you see. Two coats of gold. One more, some wash, then a lighter gold and boltgun metal wash on that part...plus the flesh, which will mirror the white flesh of the middle Obliterator above, I think. And the other parts.






























Bikers! Not too much progress on the riders, apart from the fact that I actually got arms on that last guy. I've also taken off mold lines on them, repainted, and re-drybrushed a bit of boltgun metal...but that's unimportant. The big thing is the second coat of red on the "bikes," the dark flesh on the scales (I will work up to a bone color), and the first layer on the saddles.







































And now the new purchase: Berzerkers. I've added in a few bodies, arms, legs and backpacks, strategically spread out between the box, to bolster its numbers from 12 to 16. Two squads! Please forgive the glue-frosting on quite a few of them--have I mentioned how old and tacky my super-glue is? I actually have to take the head off of my bottle and daub a stick into it, then anoint the blessed model. Then, of course, it takes hours to dry.

I really need to get some new glue. Ai, my aching wallet. Buying this squad was hard enough on it. "CSM on a Shoestring Budget" is deservedly this thread's title...

This is one squad, in all its glory. I've had that raised squad leader's base for ages, and been trying to come up with a worthy use for it.



















Now for the next!




























And finally, all of them together. I'm thinking that I want to do both these squads (and when I get them, both squads of Plague Marines) with a very pale, bone-colored armor that's leaking blood at the joints (or vile, rotting ichor _a la_ the Cleaved for the PM squads).












My Defiler is one step closer to completion: full assembly. Well, I need to make a few more swabs of green stuff, but...otherwise finished being built. Soon going to move into repainting. My internal debate is whether I should try to salvage the color scheme or start over from scratch. Well, it's a bit late to Simple Green it...but whaddever.






























I've started a few objectives, too, for my battles. I'm tired of using flying bases and spare small blast templates. The angel plinth was made a long while back for scenery (from an old D&D model), but I've dragged it--and some barrels, crates, and bitz--together for spoils to capture/defend.





















Bitz for one of my next projects: 14 Plague Marines. I'm thinking that a box of 7, plus a box of 10 regulars, and also these bitz scavenged from my friendly local gamer store, all fairly spread around...should manage. I have 3 scythes for each squad I'll make, plus a few gribbly bits. With some green stuff and Finecast Plague Marine bodies...I think I can make this work.












Now, you might be crying out "but Mossy! that's 17 minis, not 14!" Well, fear not, I have a plan. With the 3 remaining CSM--plus a liberal addition of enough other scavenged bitz to make it 5 whole marines--I will have a Chosen squad with 3x flamers and 2x meltaguns. I've started building that supply of weapons, you see.

I'm proud of how self-made some of these are. The meltagun is a chunk of a building pillar, a bolter, and the cap of a plasma pistol; the flamer is a bolter, a metal flamer bit snipped off of an Ork Nob arm, and a meltabomb. Plus, well, a flamer, a meltagun, and a reeeally archive flamer. And then my few remaining spare backpacks. Here:










And that's all for now!


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## Zodd

Hi Mossy, Your Shoestring-CMS are working out very well. A lot of good kit-bashing, nice. And the weapons you have made; very chaotic as it seems , fluffwise , a lot of the "bad" guys customises their weapons,. Well they usually don't need to pay much respect to Omnissiah :biggrin:
They have other means..


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## Mossy Toes

Yeah, I would blanche at the thought of having such conversions on a Loyalist SM army...one _more_ reason why Traitor Astartes are unequivocally better!

I can't decide whether to go with 3x melta 2x flamer or 2x melta and 3x flamer on the Chosen squad. If I go with the former (and still haven't acquired a spare melta by then), then I'll use this old tutorial of Galahad's...


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## Mossy Toes

Flush with money from gifts after graduating high school, I've splurged and purchased some hobby supplies. A new super glue, super glue accelerator, white primer, and a handful of much-needed paints are mine.

Also, I bought a decent chunk of another fellow's army for cheap, since he was trying to sell. The paint job is pretty poor--not up to my standards, at least--so I'll be doing touch-ups and repaintings. My brother is in town for the week, too, and he's expressed an interest in repainting the two rhinos. I may buy the rest of his models, too. That would be 15 more CSM (well, 10 CSM and 5 servitors which he uses in the Iron Warriors vibe), 2 preds, a broken defiler, Huron Blackheart, and a Chaos Lord w/ combi-melta.

I've already started the touch-ups--most visibly adding the red shoulder pads, so I can do my fish-hook squiggle on 'em--but I'll update these pictures with the models further along soon. Also, I've made significant progress on the bikers and their mounts, so I'll get photos of those up soon too.


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## Hellados

oh mate im loving it, my mate has a similar themed army, he always takes the marines that we have no need for and makes them nurgleyer


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## Mossy Toes

I was considering that. Death Guard in a pinch! 

I've already used the 4 plasma gunners as a squad of Chosen in a recent battle, where they performed admirably: they killed most of a squad of Striking Scorpions in one shooting phase, then a Wraithlord in another turn. Of course, that was after that Wraithlord had made Kharn eat a krak missile, but...


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## Zodd

A nice expansion you got Mossy. And a Mk.1 Rhino, rather appropriate for a Chaos army :victory:


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## Mossy Toes

Yeah, that's what I like about Chaos--they can use any mishmash of archive models, kitbashed special weapons, outdated equipment, etc...and still be a perfectly legal army. :victory:


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## shaantitus

Mossy Toes said:


> I was considering that. Death Guard in a pinch!
> 
> I've already used the 4 plasma gunners as a squad of Chosen in a recent battle, where they performed admirably: they killed most of a squad of Striking Scorpions in one shooting phase, then a Wraithlord in another turn. Of course, that was after that Wraithlord had made Kharn eat a krak missile, but...


I second this. I ran a squad in my last game, 5 plasma chosen with a lord with mark of tzeench and a deathscreamer with a combi melta in a rhino. They performed very well even though they melted one of their number.


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## Mossy Toes

Thread necromancy time. All sorts of fun things going on with my models. Since the release of 6e and Codex: CSM, I've gotten back in the modeling saddle quite a bit. I've been swapping and chopping bits and weapons on models to represent the new rules, and have begun to build up a Chaos Daemons allied contingent. I got Dark Vengeance, the squad of plague marines and normal CSM I'm going to mash together, as well as a Cockatrice being split into two different flying monstrous creatures. Finally, I've also got a few walkers recently, which have devolved into a bitz-swapping orgy with my existing 2 Defilers.

Unfortunately, I haven't had a painting desk since I last updated this thread (read: a year and a half, or so), so there's been very little progress painting-wise. That should hopefully change in about a month, but until then, I have to make do with half-painted swaps and unpainted new models.

Though I intend to post up more photos in the coming few days (my daemons, Dark Vengeance models, and all the champs and such I've modified), here are the real highlights:

New codex. Wait, what? Special edition? 0010 out of 1000 (and that's not binary, as much as it looks like it)












I've managed to get some progress in on the Bikers since I last posted:










I'm considering also getting some Chaos Knights to turn into Nurgle Bikers, since these are pretty clearly Khornate Bikers, complete with a Lord w/ Axe of Blind Fury.



I also need an Aegis Defense Line with a quad gun, and to warp with paying $27 for some strips of 5" and 2" plastic, you know what I mean? Can we build it? Yes we can!

I had some 6" stone walls laying around, which were easily chopped to size, and threw in some hull plating from a non-GW modern tank model (some sort of humvee) that I've had pieces of drifting around for years now.

Then I started in on the quad gun, taking a mishmash or random bits:










And straining it down, mixing in a few new pieces, to get this:










Which turned into a final product, all of it, of this:












I needed a Lucius model, and had just the head for it, off of the mutations sprue. That wouldn't be enough, though. Chop some faces off models and green-stuff them to my Noise Champion, throw in some wire, and this fellow:










Magically transmogrifies into this:












I have an old Lord of Change I was considering remaking. I have the arms of the ancient Nagash model, which are very similar to the Lord of Change's arms, so I figure I might as well swap em out to give my Lord of Change some unique flavor. I was missing the wings, however, and could only find a dinky pair off of some non-GW Pegasus model that my sister had painted years back...










Then it struck me. I'd bought a Cockatrice, hadn't I? That could provide wings, plus be a stellar head to add to the Lord of Change--presto, instant kitbashed Fateweaver! I have yet to strip it and assemble it, with lots of fiddliness for non-standard joints between different pieces, but:












My Defiler's had yet another remodeling, stripping away more unnecessary pieces to get it as sleek and mean-looking as possible (also: to accurately represent how easily AV12 gets popped grumblegrumblegrumble), with what is now a very cool power scourge, two less legs, and one of those legs replacing the skeleton cage as a DCCW/Power Fist:





















While I was doing that converting, I decided to tear my second defiler literally limb from limb. It was a very cathartic moment, venting my rage at his +45 point cost.










What could I possibly have planned for this sinister hulk?










Am I making a Brass Scorpion?










Or something... more sinister?










Yup, more sinister it is:

NECRODEFILEFIENDGRINDER.












Meanwhile, I ask you, what about the rest of the Necrosphinx? I say, no, no to a Necrosphinx.

I'm making a NECRODEFILEFIENDGRINDER. Another one.

Or as I also call him, a Necroarmadillo:












Hmm, what to do with the Warsphinx howdah? Sure, I'm already using the head on the first Necrodefilefiendgrinder, as well as the tail, but... it seems like a waste of a perfectly good chariot to let this howdah go to waste.

Ah, a chariot! Just the thing for me: an archive Flamer as a Herald of Tzeentch, being pulled by 2 Screamers in the howdah, all over the large base handily supplied by the Necrosphinx? YES PLEASE!












Now, all of this furious kitbashing left me with some odd bitz left over. A pair of Lord of Change arms, a headless chicken--I mean, Cockatrice--and a spare Necrosphinx skull head and pair of wings. So what did I do? I threw it into my magic cauldron and out popped a winged Daemon Prince with the Black Mace. Well, it will be the Black Mace once I find a suitable mace-head to top off the staff:










I know this guy looks really freaky and aesthetically imbalanced. Ah, the joy of Chaos! I'm going to see if I can't fit in some more mechanical bitz to synergize with the rather metallic wings.











We're coming to the close of this lump of photos, but have a teaser of the minor tweak I've made to the Helbrute. I need some more meltas for combi-meltas and the like, so I figured I'd swap out the multimelta for a reaper autocannon. Besides, a fire frenzy of that many autocannon shots is going to give a lot more things pause than a fire frenzy of 2 multimelta shots. I had a spare autocannon sitting around (should have thrown it on a Havoc, and it's not a reaper autocannon--so shoot me), which I converted into a handy fencing epee look-alike for my good Helbrute:












Well, I certainly had tons of fun making these guys, and for most of them, the process is only half done! I hope all of you Heretics have enjoyed the results of my crazed insanity. Let's close this photo dump out on a good note:


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## Zodd

Pure Warpness in it's most defiled form. Lovely Mossy, keep in that saddle, this looks better that good .
.
.
.
.
.
.
So, that's why the story went silent...


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## Mossy Toes

Hmm? Which story would that be? I didn't think I had any unfinished stories on the Fanfiction forum, if that's what you're talking about. If by "story" you mean "plog," sure...

I'm considering swapping the Necroarmadillo and the Necrodefilefiendgrinder's heads, because the Necroarmadillo is looking too a bit too straight-from-the-kit for my tastes, and too much like just a maulerfiend rather than a maulerfiend/forgefiend/soul grinder/defiler(/Helbrute?).


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## Zodd

I was thinking of Desolace. Regarding the headswapping, how about a prominent icon on the chest, some spikes, a couple of armourplates, like the ones the back. I quite like the " untouched " face, it would give a good contrast to the evil parts... I think :wink:


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## Mossy Toes

Desolace! Right! Something I completely forgot about, and need to get back to. Thanks for the prod!


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## Mossy Toes

Update time! Lots of kitbashing going on. Looots of looovely kitbashing. Need to buy more greenstuff pronto, so I can knock these models into shape.


Scratchbuilt Warpsmith w/ the BBoS. I needed to make legs and only had the feet/calves available. I wound together a bunch of different wire into a "rope" and poured glue into it, then chopped it into bits and stuck those on as thighs I'm pretty proud of. Not quite happy with the crotch, though. Going to do something about that. The cat is an optional combat familiar.
















































Fateweaver. Very rough still--I need to sculpt the segment of the arm to extend Nagash's sword arm a bit, and do a whooole lot of feathers/ruffles and blending with green stuff to make things work.






























Herald of Tzeentch on Chariot. Proud of this one, though I still need to lash the Screamers to the Chariot somehow. Or do I? I mean, psychic rope is invisible, isn't it?






























The Blue Scribes. Definitely need to add more parchment, books and scrolls. That's what green stuff is for. I do like the idea that the first one shoved the second one off and he barely managed to grab hold of their mount's tentacle.






























Aaaand lastly, a Daemon Prince. Still looking for something suitably mace-like to cap off the staff so he can have the Black Mace when I run him in my CSM.






























All together now! Also a Finecast Bloodthirster, whose base I stole for the Daemon Prince. A replacement, and one for Fateweaver, is coming by mail order from GW, along with a few other gubbins and Christmas presents to myself.


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## notsoevil

All broken pics as far as I can see.


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## Mossy Toes

Yup, I saw that and edit/updated as quick as I could. Thanks for the notice, though.


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## ckcrawford

liking the chariot. keep it up. can't wait to see it done


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## Mossy Toes

Thanks, ck.

My brother has pointed out that by gluing the models to their clear flying bases before priming them, I've kind of ruined the point of having clear plastic. Never fear, though, I'm going to mask the clear stems off with tape before I actually primer them.


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## Dave T Hobbit

Suitably chaotic models there.



Mossy Toes said:


> ...psychic rope is invisible, isn't it?


Potentially; however having rope will make it look better to those who are not actually chaos worshippers.


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## Mossy Toes

Dave T Hobbit said:


> Potentially; however having rope will make it look better to those who are not actually chaos worshippers.


And I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for you meddling loyalists!


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## ckcrawford

I was so caught up on the chariot I didn't even see your converted Daemon Prince(the one with the sphinix parts). WOW! Love it. Very Tzeentch like. I hope I'll see something like that in the contest.


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## Mossy Toes

Fateweaver's my entry in the competition this month, but he isn't turning out as nicely as the Prince. I'm debating with myself whether or not I should switch entries...

Update: I've torn my second Defiler limb from limb, too. Begone, foul, deceptively awesome, and overpointed model! 2 soul grinders coming up.

Also I've torn their cannons from their chasses and am in the process of sticking them into the front of Rhino hulls for a pair of homemade Vindicators.


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## Mossy Toes

Update! They're coming thick and fast these days, I know.

Since I have a Defiler lower body becoming a Soul Grinder, that leaves me with a spare upper chassis. Well, there is a big honking cannon on the front of the Defiler chassis and I have quite a few Rhinos--why don't I hack part of the front out of one of those Rhinos and replace it with that selfsame cannon? Yes, I think that's just what I'll do.










Viola! Chaos Vindicator that isn't just a Loyalist Vindicator with a few spikes added on. I'm still going to beef up the armor on the front of the Rhino to represent AV13 (I have a spare dozer blade in mind), but the result isn't half bad of a start.










Please forgive the slapdash, atrociously clashing paint job. My brother spent about 5 minutes starting to paint the Rhino it in a more Nurglish set of colors than it used to be, then abandoned the project. It's been an embarrassment to my collection since, though I intend to rectify that once I get a painting desk set up in, hopefully, a month or so.



















Y'know, I like this idea so much I'm going to tear apart my other Defiler for its cannon, too. Save myself 75 points and get a better, albeit shorter-ranged, cannon. Lose some melee capability, a hull point, and some special rules for AV 13 on the front armor. Get a pair of Vindicators.

...yeah, now I've already torn the other one apart too. Expect a second Vindi to follow shortly.




My Prince's Black Mace has a head, now: the scorpion tail from the Necrosphinx, with some added Defiler spikes cut to size. I have a third spike I'm considering adding, but still have to decide whether it looks best as is or in the two following locations...










...those being on top, for the most even and balanced look (even and balanced, on a Chaos model as surreal and ungainly as this one already is? I kinda like the lopsided head it has originally. Still, it's that, this, or...










...on bottom. Emphasizes the "bird claw" motif in that it looks like 3 talons and a thumb-talon (dunno the technical term). Also makes since for most of the blades to be on the same side, if he's smashing things with them--maximum choppiness per swing.










I've also denuded my Dark Vengeance Ravenwing of their fancy wings, and I can't help but think--"Prince of a Thousand Wings"? Has a nice ring to it. All these mechanical bird-bits protruding from the chimera-hide, mmmm. Will have to strike a good balance with this. Perhaps just the 4 larger wings, for a 6-winged Prince. Perhaps I should save them to make a fancy jump pack for an infantry model. Who knows!










Also considering emphasizing the vaguely egyptian feel that the Necrosphinx bits have given the guy by including some of his winged friends--the scarabs that come in the Necrosphinx kit.












I've done some body-swapping on which Necro/Warsphinx head I intend to go on which vehicle, as I clarify what exactly I'm doing here. So we have the excellent base for a Soul Grinder, here:












And a neat Forgefiend conversion with 2 or 3 Ectoplasma Cannons (depending on whether or not you count the mouth as one):










I've already chopped down the Defiler limbs the plasma cannons are going to be mounted on quite a bit, but I'll be trimming them down even more until they no longer feel disproportionately huge on the model. I now need to get a Large Oval Base to mount this guy on...












Remember how I mentioned I'd torn apart my other Defiler? Well, if I'm going to convert this second lower crab-body I now have into a Soul Grinder too, I'd better find a suitable upper torso. Hmm, the Bloodthirster model did come with 2 torsos and heads. Hmm, I do have an extra... minotaur(?) fist sitting around. A bit disproportionally small, and I'd kinda intended to make a third Daemon Prince out of him (I even have a spare old pair of dragon wings), but this will do for the time being, I think! I still have all these other projects I can work on first before coming to a real decision on this guy:












Not ALL of my projects are big, mind you. Let's finish things off by taking a peek into the box o' smaller projects and see what delights wait in store for us there...










Left cubbyhole: various Dark Angels that are destined to become Sorcerers of Chaos. The Company Master has enough intricate Dark Angels iconography that might have to remain a Fallen, but that's all right by me. One Fallen model isn't the glut of such I'd initially feared. (in fact, I'm quite surprised I haven't seen more Dark Vengeance-kit based Fallen armies around by now; I thought there'd be an epidemic of them...)

Along the top we have 2 cubbies holding 6 servitor models who've almost all lost one limb (ah, pretty heavy bolters, multimeltas and claw arms. You have found homes elsewhere now). They're going to become mechano-cultists to supplement my Warpsmith on the field of battle.

In the middle middle cubby, we have the beginnings of a Lord model on Bike-back with a BBoS and a Power Fist.

On the middle right cubby (cubby cubby cubby--such a weird word), I have most of the Nurglings from the box of Plaguebearers I bought and have yet to assemble. I figured, since I have 2 old metal Nurgling bases already, I might as well bring them up to minimum squad size!

Bottom cubbies: the beginnings of Spawn/Mutilator conversions.



And that's that! I also have managed to piece together 4 Autocannons and 4 Lascannons, which I'm happy about. First I'm waiting on an FAQ as to whether giving them MoT stacks with a Skyshield though, as I don't want to tear apart my Thousand Sons to make Tzeentchi Havocs if they can't get a 3++ save. Still, this accumulation of heavy guns is something of a relief. The only Havoc models I have right now are 4 w/ Missile Launchers and 2 w/ Heavy Bolters.

Why Heavy Bolters. Why. Why would I ever have made a CSM model with a Heavy Bolter. What can I say? I was young and foolish, and she was so beautiful in that light. Ohhhh, heavy boltered girls, you make the rockin' world go round.

That might be going in my sig.


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## Dave T Hobbit

Too much awesome to make specific comments. :wacko:


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## Mossy Toes

That's pretty much how I feel when working with my models right now. My brain is firing on all cylinders, triggering random synapses in a creative blur as I leap from half-finished project to half-finished project; dig frantically through my bitz box for that one piece I remembered; drop everything and start something new; and let the whole process repeat itself. Ah, the joyful agony of creation.


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## Mossy Toes

Today's update!

Significant progress on the Forgefiend with EPCs. I could put him on the table, now, though he's by no means finished. For example: the power cables and cannon attachments on the arms need work.






























Soul Grinder #1 is in similar straits: playable condition, but not at all finished. Some egregious seams need patching with green stuff, and there are some great whopping holes in the join between the Defiler and Sphinx halves...










The 2 sluggas on the shoulder represent the Harvester Cannon, which in game is equivalent to 3 bolters or so. Close enough.










Yikes, the join between the two kits needs some seeeeerious work, as you can see here:










All in all though, this guy's looking sleek and deadly!












I've added 3 more pairs of wings to the Daemon Prince, and am considering whether to leave them or to take them off again. Merits to both arguments--I think I'll spend some time comparing photos of before and after. And, y'know, looking at the model itself.










As you can see, I decided I liked the combination of "claw" and "lopsided" looks on the mace-head and added the third blade between the other two.






























I also assembled the last box of Screamers and of Flamers I had purchased, bringing my Flamers to 10 and Screamers to 6. Still want another box of Screamers to max out the squad...

Daemons I still have to assemble:

- The Masque
- box of Plaguebearers*
- box of Horrors*
- Soul Grinder #2

* These will be combined with 15 Kroot and a few Tau bits I've had lying around for a while now--service to the Greater Good comes to a sticky end when your Kroot eat tainted flesh and are possessed by the very entities that they ate. Plus I have a cool Changeling model my brother made years ago from Tau bits and a green stuff cloak that I have to dig out of storage--nice theme!


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## Lemmy1916

The soulgrinder looks really creepy (= good!). The daemon prince...well what can i say...that's one of the best conversions i've ever seen, really.

And YEAH, DUAL VINDIS (we debated this in the list section  )!!! I have already purchased one and i think i'm defenately going for a second one. Just so you know, i'm going to steal the defiler cannon trick, looks really good. I'm looking for a nice way to build a badass-looking siege shield. Do you have any ideas? I was thinking of several rear ramps from rhinos glied together...


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## Kreuger

Wow man, you have a lot going on here.

That first vindicator is working. I think it needs more but its obviously WIP. The defiler cannon is a great choice and will look kickass when complete.

The necrosphinx-forgefiend is also well on it's way. I think you've nailed the proportions. I look forward to seeing this once you get the transitions at the guns and between kits done. 

The soulgrinder is looking tops as well. I think once you work out the transition (maybe with egyptiante plating over the rougher chaos interiors?) its going to look killer.

Unfortunately, I don't think the daemon prince is really working. The problem is the big pair of wings. They wreck the look for a number of reasons. They're too big, both in length and density; making the model terribly top heavy. They're also really blocky. The rest of the model is very sinuous, coiling, and snaking around. Then at the top you have these airplane straight wings. Smaller more organic wings might work better, maybe a set from crypt horrors/vargeists?

I'm having a hard time getting a sense of the arms. Your photos tend to be from an upward angle where the arms are obscured, but from what I can see they're working. 

The sculpted face also look great on there, reminds me of the Dementors from the harry potter movies. The mace looks good as well. I think the spines aimed in different directions looks good and pretty original.

I think the small wings fit in just fine. Actually they remind me of something that I can't quite put a finger on, the first thing to come to mind is illustrations of Quetzalcoatl or a feathered serpent. A big serpent with smallish wings towards the top of the body.

Keep up the good work!


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## Mossy Toes

Lemmy1916 said:


> The soulgrinder looks really creepy (= good!). The daemon prince...well what can i say...that's one of the best conversions i've ever seen, really.
> 
> And YEAH, DUAL VINDIS (we debated this in the list section  )!!! I have already purchased one and i think i'm defenately going for a second one. Just so you know, i'm going to steal the defiler cannon trick, looks really good. I'm looking for a nice way to build a badass-looking siege shield. Do you have any ideas? I was thinking of several rear ramps from rhinos glied together...


Thanks! I did have these conversions in mind while discussing dual vindis on your army list thread, I admit.



Kreuger said:


> Unfortunately, I don't think the daemon prince is really working. The problem is the big pair of wings. They wreck the look for a number of reasons. They're too big, both in length and density; making the model terribly top heavy. They're also really blocky. The rest of the model is very sinuous, coiling, and snaking around. Then at the top you have these airplane straight wings. Smaller more organic wings might work better, maybe a set from crypt horrors/vargeists?


 I have mixed feelings about the wings, and have been getting mixed responses on them. The more I look at the big wings on the model, the more I like them--though I was at first dubious, I've been won over by the angular, lopsided, somewhat surreal juxtaposition with the sleek remainder of the model, which I find very Tzeentchi. And after all, it's not like Chaos is bound to adhere to that which is aesthetically pleasing. Unless you're Slaaneshi.

The small wings are something of an internal conflict with me, still. I was aiming for a Quezalcoatl look there (which I'm glad you picked up on), or a biblical Cherubim as depicted in Madeleine L'Engle's book _A Wind in the Door_--an entity of many wings and eyes that coalesce around a difficult-to-define form:










I dont think it worked out too well, though--it just highlighted the difference in scale between the sets of wings. They obscure the lines of his body from closer examination a bit too well. I am leaning toward removing the little ones, though have more deliberation yet to undertake before I make a final decision.

So, sorry to disagree with you on the direction of the Prince on two counts, sort of. I may yet be won around to your point of view, though.

Here, have some better pictures of the arms. I agree, I haven't put up any good photos of them yet. The stripping of paint from a red-staff/blue-arms contrast to all shiny metal didn't help the arm on the staff stand out, at all. The other arm is in obvious and dire need of green stuff (like much of the rest of the model, nay, all the recent projects in this thread), but I aim to get some more of the stuff tomorrow.






























And then more photos! I realized that a few weeks back, before this most recent spate of model-making and picture-taking, I did another project I'd been meaning to do for quite a while now: fusing a box of metal Plague Marines with a box of plastic CSM, and adding in a few Zombie scythes and such. Then I had the nerve not to post up pictures of them to you, dear heretics! Again, I have yet to make them properly Nurglish with green stuff, but I'm fairly pleased with the result:










Scythes and spare heads hanging (blight grenades) in evidence all around. Many of the spare heads came from the Plaguebearers box; a few are old ork bits.










Not all the models have scythes, of course. I only found 6 when I was scouring that particular FLGS's communal bitz box.



















Plasma gunners:




























Melta gunners:










This guy, you'll notice, has no end of special things about him. The last of the scythes, the plague zombie guts spilling out, the Nurgling tugging on said guts...










Not to mention the fact that his "melta" is actually a flamer chopped to size, _a la_ that invaluable old tutorial of Galahad's.



















Aaand the Champions:










A plague censer is here too. There was another earlier that I forgot to point out; ah well, life is short and the picture is up there for your finding delight, should you so desire.












I've decided that the spare Bloodthirster body is much too small to work as a Soul Grinder torso; instead, why not make that third Daemon Prince I've been dying to model? Princethirster!










What to do, then, for the Soul Grinder's torso? And what should I do for legs on this guy?

Hmmm. I _do_ have a Helbrute I plan on never fielding again.... legs for this Prince and torso for the Soul Grinder? Bam! Nasty! Soul Brute and Helprince(thirster)! (Helgrinder and Soul Prince? Hmmm, the latter sounds a bit to funky for me)

*checks Helbrute model* Hmm. Doable, but that would be an awfully squat Daemon Prince. No pics yet, sorry. Just had this idea now.




Progress on turning the Dark Vengeance Dark Angels Sgt. Frumpyface into Axey-McSorcerer of Tzeentch has been rewarding, albeit brief:










Still have to chop off the shoulder pad insignias (insigniae?) before I start gluing bits back on, though.












Started work on a group of homemade Warp Talons, purely for the giggles:












And from my unassembled box of Plaguebearers, I drew a base of Nurglings. I have 2 of the old metal bases from my brother's abortive foray into Nurgle models (accompanied by a Nurglized Chimera, a Great Unclean One, and Typhus), so I figured I'd make a 3rd base to bring the unit up to minimum size, in case I needed a tiny 39 point squad to make, say, an Allies contingent work.












I've scrounged up some books from a friend's Grey Knights sprues, and so improved the Blue Scribes model immeasurably:










Yes, that's a loincloth piece that's serving as a piece of parchment bending in his hand:





















I've finally figured out a use for a few out of all of the Heavy Bolters I have sitting around--chop off the tip of the barrel and add a spare Reaper Autocannon tip and poof--instant Autocannon! Here I come, AutoHavocs! (Mind you, I don't have enough handheld heavy bolters/reaper autocannon barrels laying around to make more than one squad's worth, so a second squad is going to get rather less impressive archive ork biker autocannons)










As you can see, whilst converting, I finally implemented a bright idea I've had kicking around forever--why tip your guns with dragon heads when you can make the dragons _goddamn helmets_?










The helmets are just tacked on at this point--still have a lot more work to do, like, aha, putting a GS blob on as the back of a head.










But as you can see, I'm going to have 8 of these menacing dragon-heads and 2 champions in the squatter, uglier gargoyle heads. Perhaps a few more models will get such heads too, elsewhere in my army, to be add-ons and ablative wounds in the squads. The Dragon's Breath shall march!

Also in evidence are another pair or truncated legs I've had sitting around; they're going to end up in the same vein as the Warpsmith I posted earlier.












Finally, Rhinocator #2 (Vindino sounds too... Italian. Or perhaps like a Vin Diesel Dinosaur? YES VINDINO IT IS ALL THE VINDINO), fresh out of the Rhino box! With my dozer-blade effort at a siege shield, or at least AV 13. May yet be doing more armoring.


----------



## Mossy Toes

No pictures right now because I am inherently lazy, but I've received some bitz and bases by mail order, so Fateweaver and the Bloodthirster are now on 60mm bases. I've also bought green stuff, stripped the mini-wings off the Prince, and chopped my Helbrute into halves. More pictures to come tomorrow.


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## ckcrawford

I keeping my eye on your project. Some good stuff, good idea with the sythes, I just wish there was another way get sythes and still have armor on the arms. Still a great idea though.


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## Mossy Toes

Late night modeling. Have managed a new all-time personal best, in terms of largest self-inflicted gouge with a hobby knife.


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## Lemmy1916

Mossy Toes said:


> Late night modeling. Have managed a new all-time personal best, in terms of largest self-inflicted gouge with a hobby knife.


Well you can directly put the blood on your marines cc weapons. 100% realism guaranteed  (ok that is sick)


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## Mossy Toes

I was thinking of daubing some of my Khorne Berzerkers...

(nah, the idea only came to me after I'd bandaged it up)

The funny thing is I'd just finished putting GS on the Bloodthirster and was working on the Daemon Prince model based on the second Bloodthirster body--Khorne will have His tribute from the faithful!


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## Mossy Toes

I let my finger heal some, but I'm back to work, now, and making good headway. It's so nice to have green stuff again... but I'm sure I'm going to get sick of using it fast, what with the backlog of projects I need to be applying it to.

Spent a few hours going over old (painted) models with a hobby knife and a pin drill, shaving mold lines and drilling out barrels. Nowhere near done going over my collection, and what I'm finding is utterly horrifying. Grumblegrumblegrumble.

I've also GS'd the Daemon Prince to its complete (unpainted) form, so you should be happy, ckcrawford.







































I've also made progress on the Helprincethirster:










So completed he should looks something like...










You can see my healing slash in the background, there. Ladies love scars, amiright?



I've built up Nagashatriceweaver's arm with GS quite a bit, and am readying myself for a GS blitz on the whole model:





















Also, I've cracked open the Vault of Abominations and started in on my Kroot-Plaguebearers. Mind you, yes, these are the beginnings of builds and need a whooole lot of work to be considered complete. They need GS, for one thing.










Yes, that one at the front (among the not-so-Kroot-like Plaguebearers) is popping into different Nurglings.










Then the mutations creep in...










And we go to those still wholly in the throes of transformation from Kroot to 'Bearer.












Krootbearers aren't the only thing I'm working on, mind you. I also have a trio of, um, Kramers? Floots? Nah, Kroot-Flamers. These will either be Horrors with Bolt of Change or Flamers, depending on what I need. Hmm, perhaps I should add a few Kroot limbs to some of my Flamers...












I also managed to scrape together a few Tau bitz for some...Taurrors? Nah, the models aren't bull-like enough. "Horrau" sounds like a menacing enough name, I guess.



















That's all for now, but next up: the last 11 or so Kroot-Horrors. Krorrors? Sounds to much like Krork. Horroot? Nooooo... let's go back to Krorrors.


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## ckcrawford

They all look so beautiful!


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## Kreuger

Another ambitious bunch of projects! Good luck man!

I think I've cut myself to some degree or another on almost every major modeling project I've done. It's like sacrificing for your project . . . or really investing yourself in your work.

The chaos gods approve.

The tau/kroot conversions look promising. 
- Tzeentch tells us Change is for the greater good!


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## Mossy Toes

Update time!

After tracing the base of a friend's Valkyrie, I chopped up 2 Fantasy movement trays I've had sitting around and glued them together as a Large Oval Base for my Forgefiend:










As you can see, I've also trimmed off a few other tomb kings sticky-outy bitz.






























I've added pins to my bikers, so they don't slide off the mounts constantly, but don't have to be glued onto their Cold Ones (for ease of transport, weapon swaps, etc).










You'll notice there are 7 bikers there, when before I've only posted up 6 at a time. I've managed to scrape together another Cold One out of my bitz box...



















I've also bought a box of Hellstriders and a box of Chaos Knights--5 Slaaneshi Bikers and 5 Nurgle Bikers, after conversions. I intend to get another box of Hellstriders (5 more Slaaneshi) and a box of Vampire Counts Black Knights/Hex Wraiths (5 more Nurgle) before I'm done. Whoo, bikers!

In that vein, I'm also starting to cobble together bitz for an unmarked Sorc, a Nurgle Lord, and a Slaaneshi Lord, all on bikes.



I've gotten my hands on some parts to an Inquisitor game model of the daemonhost Cherubael, which I'm considering turning into a wingless Daemon Prince model. After all, I have to have some wingless Daemon Princes available for when my champions roll Apotheosis, don't I?

(added a plastic DP head I've scrounged)










Seeing another bit lying in the communal bitz box--the legs of an eldar Avatar--the thought struck me: what if I turn him into that Keeper of Secrets from the Chaos Daemons book, Ail'Slath'Sleresh, the one that possessed an Avatar of Khaine and sacked the craftworld of Kher'Ys? I mean, I've written a short story about him; I might as well make a model of him too...










Add in one of those super old Daemonette crab-claw arms, and we might be in business...



I've also make real progress on the Kroothorrors, finishing up the rough chopping and cutting of the models. Still have a long way ahead of me in terms of greenstuffing, though...



















First we have a pair of "doubleheads":



















And a pair of basic armswaps:



















Let's not forget the kneeling Kroot:




























Or the pair who swapped halves:










One, as you can see, still very tentacle-y










Then there are another pair:



















To get 2 squads of 9 Horrors, we end up with the following:









10 Kroothorrors
3 Krootflamers
4 Tauhorrors
1 unmodified Kroot

That last will swap out when I dig my Changeling out of storage. My only other unmodified Kroot helps boost my Plaguebearers from 14 models to 15 if I want to run 3 squads of 5x rather than 2 squads of 7x.



I've worked on my Autocannon Havocs a decent amount more, assembling fun little autocannons and ending up with this:










Yeah, yeah. I still need to green stuff the backs of their heads on...










Still, the Dragon's Breath squad is coming together!












I've also glued together the halves of Helbrute and Bloodthirster to make my #3 winged Prince:










Still need to do a whole lot of greenstuffing (ah, my eternal refrain), and the proportions feel a little off still, but I'm still decently happy with the end result. He's a big fellow, too:










I like the machinery-beneath-the-surface feel to a lot of it; perhaps he could represent Ss'll Sh'Karr, Daemon Prince of Khorne from Ben Counter's _Daemon World_. I could see that working: grey skin, brass machinery...










That part in the center is, yes, a chunk of a Defiler's ball-and-socket joint.



Now working on fusing these Catachans and Ungors into 20 Traitor Guard/Cultists for this month's Monthly Conversion Contest.










Also have 6 servitors, a heavy weapon squad and 3 extra autocannons that I'm turning into 6 autocannons and 3 mortars. Yes, mortars, I don't care that they're crap. I have a Plan. Having to get creative to make enough 60mm bases, though: I'm tracing their size onto plastic CD covers and cutting out extras...


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## Moriouce

Your cultist have great potential! It was not long ago I looked through the old 2ed "Codex Imperialis" and wondered where the beastmen of Chaos went.


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## Lemmy1916

WOW, that's an update!!!

I really like how the forgefiend is turning out, that beast is unique! The daemon prince idea based on cherubael is very tasty too, you don't see many conversion based on inquisitor, and the bandages on his body somewhat tie him to the ancient egypt theme that you can feel so strong with the sphynx-forgefiend. I also really like the pin system you used for your bikers, very smart. 
The other stuff looks great too, those autocannons on havocs are really intimidating.

Keep it going!!


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## Dave T Hobbit

Interesting variation on a theme with the Forgefiend; it seems better proportioned than the GW version without losing the aesthetic.

I am not fond of the DP as the linear split between flesh and machine is too stark.

Also, have you considered filling some of the gaps with GS; I feel it would help. :wink:


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## Mossy Toes

Yup, very much considered it. It's one of the highest priorities on my "to do" list, as the mech/bio divide really is quite jarring there.

Thanks, all!


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## Zodd

Rather astonishing those builds. But often Chaos seems to be quite jarring, so Mr. Winged DP has just donned his Hard Pants


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## Mossy Toes

Sorry for the relative silence, recently. My Goat-achans (supplemented by a HWS of mortars and then 6 autocannons+servitors on homemade 60mm bases) are finished, and I'm assembling my bikes. Photos soon--dealing with a broken phone, which was my camera. The number of bikers that I have can be broken down into 3 real categories:

- 7 Lizards (Cold One-mounted Marines, led by a guy with an axe who can easily be a Lord w/ AoBF. MoK bikers)
- 11 Snakes (Hellstriders, mostly, except for the Lord on Steed of Slaanesh (w/ Lightning Claw and BBoS). MoS bikers)
- 12 Horses (half of them are skeleton horses while the other half are chaos horses. One Sorc and one Lord going to be among them. Rotting MoN bikers animated by foul majicks)


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## Mossy Toes

Bikers!

Very much works in progress. I've really only finished the mounts, a few characters, and have just started on the actual riders. The big danger is of running out of backpacks, bodies, arms and shoulder pads, really--I traded away a bunch of my spare arms and shoulderpads, just recently, and am kicking myself over than now. I think my shoulder pads will stretch the distance if I only do every other shoulder pad with a SM shoulder pad, substituting the other for one that came in the kit. I also have enough spare bodies to fill in the gaps there, I suspect. Still... I'm going to have to flex my creativity to its limits to finish these guys. Or, well, buy another box of standard CSM.

Slaaneshi biker champion with power lance (hellstrider arm):




















Slaaneshi icon of excess bearer, replacing the backpack with one of the 4 pennants I snipped off of the Dark Vengeance Ravenwing. The body is from the VC Black Knights kit--I think I'm going to port over all 5 of those torsos and replace them with bulkier ones on the Black Knight models themselves:




















With the rest of the pack:










Nurgle Bikers, in various stages of decay. The skeletal Black Knight horses are still getting another layer of armor that is attached to their rider's legs. The only downside of those legs is their little skeletal footsies stickout of of their robes, but I've managed to gather about 5 pairs of power-armored feet from various places (don't ask), so that shouldn't be too hard to replace.










I have an old skeletal horse from looong ago, and he's the only one with a rider so far.











Then, of course, we have the HQs...

First up: Lord w/ MoN, SoC, Power Fist, BBoS, Bike.










The BBoS is a nice example of how to put a varied bitz box to good use. Archive CSM warrior arm, bolter weapon base, snipped off front of a heavy flamer, ork stickbomb to act as fuel tank. Plus a Poisoned Wind Globadier backpack to serve as a flamer fuel reserve, of course.











Next up, we have the Lord w/ MoS, Bike (or Steed of Slaanesh, really, since that's what it's supposed to be), SoC, Lightning Claw, BBoS.











And third, the Sorc on a Bike w/ force sword and SoC:










What's that you say? Altogether now? (all, together, now, altogether now!... to quote the Beatles)





























What? Not "altogether now" enough for you? How about all of my Nurgle and Slaaneshi bikers gathered together, then? (No Khorne bikers in this photodump, sorry, so imagine 7 more bikers if you want all of my bikers in one place)


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## Lemmy1916

don't know why, but your conversions made me think of that blues brothers 2 scene where there are skeleton knights riding skeleton horses... keep on!


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## Mossy Toes

Haven't seen that movie--will have to look for that scene on YouTube or something.

As a minor aside, I've made a Plog for my Imperial Guard. Next time I have an update for my Daemons, I'll have them calve off into their own Plog as well. Updating my sig to include the IG Plog now.


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## Mossy Toes

One-photo update: have got legs on all the Hellstriders, as well as bodies, "backpacks," and heads on 5 more.


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## neferhet

cooooool slaanesh bikers!


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## Mossy Toes

These bikers are fairly flying together!

I've broken the scythe arms I stuck on my Plague Marines a while back off and started reattaching them to these bikers. A bit more thematically awesome, I think.

(Also replaced some of my Khorne biker heads with berzerker heads, seeing as I doubt I'll be fielding my 2 squads of berzerkers any time soon).


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## Dave T Hobbit

They are looking good.

There is something about scythes that is too iconically Nurgle though.


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## Mossy Toes

Well, they are Nurgle-marked bikers, and this is one way I'm emphasizing that. Rotting plague marines are already iconically Nurgle, whereas this helps push the bikers in that direction.

Have finished putting together/sticking arms on all of the Slaaneshi bikers, now. Just the last 4 Nurgle bikers and I'll be dumping a whole bunch of photos of all 30 "bikes" I have.

Hmm, looking back on my photos. Not seeing a great one to use as the "before" if I submit one of these squads to the Feb conversion contest.


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## Dave T Hobbit

Mossy Toes said:


> Well, they are Nurgle-marked bikers...


Ah... got confused and thought they were the Slaaneshi bikers.



Mossy Toes said:


> Hmm, looking back on my photos. Not seeing a great one to use as the "before" if I submit one of these squads to the Feb conversion contest.


Hmm... cannot really answer that for you without breaking into your house and going through your stuff.


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## Mossy Toes

The ones on skinny seahorse snakes are Slaaneshi; the ones on horses in various stages of skeletal decay are Nurgle (and the ones on Cold Ones, not pictured, are Khornate).


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## Mossy Toes

Bikers, start your engines!

Still have a bit of green stuff work here and there, and obviously the Khorne bikers are going to have to be totally repainted, but these guys are together and looking badass! Will probably do other posts soon that zoom in on individual models. Right now... I just want to glorify in this horde diorama.





























There are, of course, the Khorne bikers...











...The Nurgle bikers...





























...And the Slaaneshi bikers.



















Mind you, the two carrying flamers are just pinned in place, so they can be replaced with meltas if need be. Agonizing with myself as to whether I should glue one type of weapon in place or not. Less bitz to lose/have in rotation/to be an annoyance.




















Just for funsies, here are the champ with power lances:




















And the Lords + Sorc:


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## Melikor40k

i love what you did with the soulgrinder and the necro lord is spot on, the "bikes" are looking awesome. good stuff


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## Lemmy1916

they all look awesome and very dynamic. The conversions have a lot of character and it is very easy to tell if they are slaanes/nurgle/khorne. You could try just for fun to make tzeench bikers riding sphynx 
Can't wait to see them painted


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## Mossy Toes

That sounds like a great idea--let's give a unit that should always have a 5+ or 4+ cover save (at range, where more things have low AP), a very expensive 6++ save...

Thanks, not gonna waste my money or time. Don't tempt my slightly OCD obsession with completion. Besides, I only have 3 FA slots...

(Hmm, have to borrow a copy of Apocalypse Reloaded to check out that Red Corsairs biker horde apocalypse formation)

I have a tourney today where I'll be taking 22 of these bikers. Hope to report out well--they did nicely while half-assembled, though that may have just been the Khorne Lord partying his way through a bunch of enemy Terminators. (mental image of Khorne Lord as Andrew W.K. PARTY HARD PARTY HARD PARTY HARD)


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## Mossy Toes

Quick update. Won two and lost one at the tourney, getting about 4th place or so, I'd guess.Not going to do battle reports, because with the time pressure, I only took a handful of pictures (initial deployments and the like), but I can list in brief what happened:

The first game was against Space Marines with a Land Raider Redeemer and a Vindicator. Ouch, that's quite a few large templates that can spit on my Bikers with impunity. He started by Drop Podding an Ironclad into my back line, and things went downhill from there. He tied up my Khorne Lord for the whole game while all my shooting failed to kill the Vindi. The Nurgle Bikers killed most of a normal squad of Termis, but assault termis from the land raider killed them in return. My Slaaneshi Bikers and some CSM wiped his backfield combat squads, and the game ended right before he was going to wipe my backfield and claim some objectives--whew, saved by the short time limit on a tourney game.

+

Second game was against Necrons. Silver Horde with three Doom Scythes, led by Imotekh with a Chrono Cryptek to reroll night fighting (which stopped on the second turn anyways, and Imotekh's lightning never hit anything). The Doom Scythes came in turn two and together wiped out half my bikers and all of my Flakk Havocs--ouch. The Lord (and one other survivor from his squad, who died to Overwatch) charged a Despairtek led squad that had deep struck too close and killed seven, wasn't touched in return, then ran down the fleeing squad. The Despairtek stoop back up and Veil of Darknessed away, but on the other side of the battlefield, my Nurgle Bikers beat Imotekh and his warrior squad in combat and ran them down as well--and he and the Chronotek didn't stand back up!

Still, the last warrior squad and a bunch of scarabs and the Doom Scythes were ripping what was left of my army to bits, and the opponent pulled off a victory (killing 3 biker squads in The Scourging helps do that). Small victories, eh?

+

Third game was against Dark Eldar. A big blob of warriors with Eldrad and Sliscus hunkered down behind an ADL, 2 Bombers were in the wings, and 2 Venoms and some Scourges were general pains on the left flank.

He gunned down a bunch of my models over the two turns I was closing the distance, but my Rhinos soaked up an incredible amount of enemy fire (thanks to some very lucky rolls and clever usage of smoke launchers). The Khorne Bikers (relatively unharmed, though there were only 3 Nurgle Bikers left and the Slaaneshi ones were dead) hit home and inflicted an obscene number of wounds. Eldrad saved about 16 wounds, but 3 got through his rerollable 3++ save--and only three were needed. Sliscus had slaughtered my champion in the challenge, but they still lost the combat and ran--and time was called, leaving my guys in possession of the relic and his gunline death star unit fleeing. Victory!


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## Mossy Toes

In order to play THIS list as a last hurrah to my Daemons, I've thrown together my Heldrake and a wingless Daemon Prince.

The Heldrake was a basic assembly, with one surprisingly easy and effective conversion: adding in the Necrosphinx tail to counterbalance the model's aesthetic a bit, and to plug the sphincter-jet. So now my Heldrake has two spines: how perfectly chaotic!






































The Daemon Prince is a bit smaller than his compatriots, and not too impressive, but it'll work. Needs GS still, but I'm going to go on a GS binge as my next real modeling project (after I finish assembling the second Soul Grinder (from Defiler and Helbrute origins), perhaps).


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## Straken's_Fist

You almost had me looking through my Heldrake box in confusion to see if I had missed the tail...

Nice job!


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## Mossy Toes

Sowing confusion for the glory of Tzeentch!


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## Mossy Toes

All right, have been doing some greenstuff work. Still have a bunch more to do, but it's a start. Here's a quick glance at Fateweaver and the Daemon Prince:











Meanwhile, I've put together and started GS work on the other Soul Grinder (Helfiler. Defilebrute):





























I've also been putting shields leftover from my Hellstrider kits around the join of the Necrosphinx top half and Defiler bottom half on my other Soul Grinder (Necrofiler. Defilesphinx):





































I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out, myself.


----------



## Lemmy1916

LOVING the brutefiler! :shok: The daemon princes are cool too, altough i am not 100% hot about the jet pack arms...i just have a hard time figuring out what they could be. maybe you could GS the exhausts and stick blades/claws onto them, because the rest of the arms looks cool


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## Mossy Toes

Lemmy1916 said:


> The daemon princes are cool too, altough i am not 100% hot about the jet pack arms...i just have a hard time figuring out what they could be


Burning Brand of Skalathrax, if CSM DP. Last Daemons codex, they were also Breath of Chaos. Still have to check out the new codex to see what they could be... and I could very well end up swapping them out for "real" arms yet, especially if I want to be able to run him as a second Bloodthirster.


----------



## Adramalech

That creature you converted from the cockatrice... 

I feel like if I looked at it too long with my naked eyes, it would start whispering to me in tongues.


----------



## Mossy Toes

What, it's told you the terrible secret of outer space as well? Don't trust it! It's mine! It lies! You can't have it! It lies I say!

I've started up a Daemon Plog (with an all new squad of Horrors, Skull Cannon, and Herald of Khorne so far, plus Daemonettes, Seekers and Bloodletters coming as soon as I assemble them), so updates on this thread will be less frequent than they have been, since my Soul Grinders, Fateweaver, and my Princes will be updated there rather than here.


----------



## Mossy Toes

So, I've primed some models today. How many points worth? Oh, just a few... thousand.










Visible are a new unit of Fiends that haven't made it into any photos yet, surrounded by my most recent addition: 8 Fenrisian Hounds, one of which has 3 heads. Yup, that's Karanak and a bodyguard of Flesh Hounds.

Going to prime a whole bunch more tomorrow--white, rather than black, as it were. My Nurgle and Tzeentchi Daemons, plus some CSM and CSM tanks.

A medley of Guard, Daemons and CSM, really. I've also set up a painting station for the Army Painting Challenge which has started this month, and look to spend the first few months doing these fellows: 










I've basecoated/washed the first squad of white-primed models (a tan color, looking to work up to white for bone-colored armor). More photos later, perhaps.


----------



## Straken's_Fist

Mossy Toes said:


> A medley of Guard, Daemons and CSM, really.


Seems we collect exactly the same armies. 

You have waaaaay more Daemons than me though.


----------



## Mossy Toes

I amy have primed another few thousand points.

One more batch, smaller than the other two, of models to prime--switching back to black for them.

Just finished a squad of CSM an hour and a half ago, with a new color scheme (the bone-colored marines I was intending to make a second warband within my army with) for the army painting competition (juuust a trifle too late to make this month's thread before it locked, unfortunately, and rushing my paint job in an effort to make that window). Will try to get decent pictures up when it's not 3:30 am with me falling asleep at the keyboard.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Primed another two thousand points or so black, though I was remiss in photographing it.

Meanwhile, here's the photo of last month's Army Painting Challenge (for all that the last highlights are atrocious and despicably sloppy) and this month's, as well:


















I may yet do a few touch-ups on the latter before the end of the month, but dunno if I'll be able to update the Competition entry page in that time, so I might as well post it now. I've reached a point where I'm comfortable at least posting them up to here. Sorry I don't have more photos of them so you lot can laugh at my shoddy paint work up close, but that may come in bulk at the end of the summer when I have a more reliable internet connection.


----------



## Jacobite

Liking the DV Sergeant conversion there Moss, nice stuff.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Some more pictures. Sorry for the linking through to twitter: doing this on my phone since my computer has died, and have limited upload capacity/patience for finagling:

http://twitter.com/mossy_toes/status/360217862033506305/photo/1

http://twitter.com/mossy_toes/status/356567597053001730/photo/1

http://twitter.com/mossy_toes/status/356568293919838208/photo/1


----------



## Deneris

Mossy Toes said:


> Some more pictures. Sorry for the linking through to twitter: doing this on my phone since my computer has died, and have limited upload capacity/patience for finagling:


Loving the bone armor and the blood-spatter. k:

(Altered the quote so it shows the pics :wink


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## Mossy Toes

Thanks for that. Glad you like my Juggerlords. I tried to make it look like to Khornate/chaotic symbols were oozing blood, but purposefully avoided bloodying the first Lord's fisticlaws--at least, the active parts that would be protected by a power field. I somewhat regret not adding backpacks, shush was an oversight, but I can correct that in time.


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## Kreuger

Hey Mossy, these guys are looking lovely. The different take on how the juggernaut is cool. The bleeding flesh is unique. 

If you are posting entirely from a smartphone you might want to consider starting a Flickr account. Uploading from a mobile to Flickr is really easy, and Flickr produces BB embed codes add well.


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## Mossy Toes

I may well do. Imgur doesn't cut the mustard for mobile uploads...

I'll be painting a good 50 more CSM this bone color, including various Cult troops (ones devoted to each god leaking a different-colored ooze from their joints and orifices), plus my 30 bikers and a number of tanks; they'll be making up more than half of my CSM collection, when I'm done. The idea is that my minis are two warbands working together: a small group of manipulative Alpha Legion and a larger warband of my own design, the Bone Machine. If you need to know where that name came from, well, I'm considering naming my two Vindicators "Earth Died Screaming" and "In the Colosseum."


----------



## Mossy Toes

Hmmm. I might just be terminally tech-incapable, but where would those BBcode embeds be on Flickr? Made an account, uploaded a few images, and can't figure out how to repost just poking around on my phone.


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## Lemmy1916

Khorne. Lord. with power claw AND fist. On a f***in juggernaut. 
I don't think one can get more brutal  well played my friend. 

As for the bone color scheme, i think that's a great idea, especially if you go on painting for each cult a different kind of slime/ooze on the joints and holes. In any case it looks great on the two jug lords.

So i have to assume the lord of the warband is tommasus waitsus the corrupted?


----------



## Kreuger

Hey Mossy, I didn't see your request for help. I can't answer your right now, but as soon as I can I will.

[Edit]

So to get the BB code you need to be using your mobile browser in view flickr.com _not_ m.flickr.com. when viewing a single photo in Flickr there is a share icon that looks like a box with an arrow coming out of it. It holds a few options for sharing, the 3rd option should be Html/BB code. Expand this option, then select the real button for BB code.

See my example, of Flickr, posted to Flickr. =)


Bb code from Flickr by the warped forge, on Flickr

I hope that helps!


P.S. - I took the screen shot, copied the BB code, and pasted it into Heresy-Online all through my Galaxy S II.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Lemmy1916 said:


> Khorne. Lord. with power claw AND fist. On a f***in juggernaut.
> I don't think one can get more brutal  well played my friend.
> 
> As for the bone color scheme, i think that's a great idea, especially if you go on painting for each cult a different kind of slime/ooze on the joints and holes. In any case it looks great on the two jug lords.
> 
> So i have to assume the lord of the warband is tommasus waitsus the corrupted?


Got to love the bonus attack for having two specialist weapons, and being able to shoes between them...

Different-colored ooze is precisely the intention: green/brown for Nurgle, purple/black for Slaanesh, and possibly blue/green if I decide to strip and reprint my Rubrics.

Yup, the warlord will be the Rain Dog himself. It would be fun to make an Abaddon model with a wild fringe of hair and a bewildered expression... (I wish). Though come to think of it, there is a certain Alpha Legionnaire of mine who fits the bill extremely well...


----------



## Mossy Toes

I'll give it a try tomorrow, Kreuger, when I upload pics of my newly finished Heldrake and a squad of Daemonettes I knocked together to test a color scheme. Thanks for the tips! Fairly basic stuff--the mobile/desktop versions are what tripped me up, I'm pretty sure.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Well, it works, but only one photo at a time--when I try to get a second URL copied, it blanks out the text field here on the forum as I reload this tab. I might be able to copy/paste into the text box I'm getting the URL from to get multiple, or edit each subsequent entry onto this post...

Yeuch. Can't wait to get a computer some time in September.

But it functions, so here are the Daemonettes I've done in the past few days. I'll be doing the other 50 like this now that I've settled on a color scheme. Plus the Fiends, Seekers, etc.










Edit: 










Also, my Heldrake. Just finished it, and feel damn proud. My Army Painting Competition entry this month.




























Complete with magnetized wings for transport. First magnetization on my part, but I can see this swiftly becoming par for the course.










Yup. Had to edit this individually for each of these photos, but now I can copy/paste this accretion of text as necessary.


----------



## Kreuger

Hey man, they're looking good. It's a little hard to tell but they might need a little more highlighting on the flesh. The contrast between armor, claws, and flesh is all pretty good.

When you're copy/pasting into H-O is it through tapatalk or just mobile web? I am also using tapatalk.
You could probably do what you did here and just exit the post to add the new image codes, but I appreciate how much of a hassle that is.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Don't have tapatalk, that could well be it. Willing to drop $70 on a dragon but not $3 on an app to spare me endless hassle and ease my posting greatly, that's me I guess.

Yeah, the Daemonettes are a first iteration of the color scheme, and I was surprised by how dark they turned out. I'll be tweaking the method slightly to get more nuanced results, now that I'm not being driven by an end-of-the month painting deadline for them (for a group on Facebook). I'd also like to get another layer or two on the claws in an ideal world, to blend the transition a bit less sharply. I do like how the armor turned out, though. Just silver, carroburg crimson wash, then silver again.

It's only after finishing the squad that I realized quite how much like Dwarf Slayers they look with those mohawks. Ah well, they'll be my Slayernettes.


----------



## Kreuger

Tapatalk is totally worth it. The only thing it doesn't do which I would like is allow me to rep people.


----------



## Zodd

That's some very nice models there Mossy. And the Dragon, in bone livery, just is Delightfulnes in it's purest form :grin:


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## Mossy Toes

Thankee very much, General. I kneel before you, etc.


----------



## Kreuger

Agreed. The Heldrake is looking lovely. I wish the photos were bigger so I could get in and see more details, but I appreciate the difficulties of mobile computing.

After having built and painted a drake myself I found the model a lot better than most of the naysayers made it out to be. I do wish it had more length to it, for symmetry.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Ordered a new computer (labor day sale, yay!), so should be able to post normally soon.

I agree the aesthetic of the Drake is imbalanced, hence my addition of a tail. Also considered converting it so the wings swept back, not forward, but decided not to on my finicky-enough first assembly of the model. Next time, assuredly, to give some dynamic posing difference between the two models, assuming I eventually get another.


----------



## Kreuger

Hey congrats! What/where did you order?


----------



## Straken's_Fist

That is a unique spin on the Heldrake, and it looks very nice indeed!

What layering colours did you use on the bonewhite on the wings?


----------



## Mossy Toes

Kreuger said:


> Hey congrats! What/where did you order?


Toshiba laptop. A good gaming rig with a plenty-large hard drive. Set me back about $1k, but I think it'll be worthwhile, and I'm excited for its arrival.



Straken's_Fist said:


> That is a unique spin on the Heldrake, and it looks very nice indeed!
> 
> What layering colours did you use on the bonewhite on the wings?


The bone color was actually damned simple, since it's all flat surfaces in recesses with almost no raised edges to highlight or anything (rear and tail aside). White primer, basecoat of 2 layers of Iraqui Sand (a Vallejo paint), a Flesh Wash, and a layer of Bleached Bone (both of which are down to their dregs and will soon be replaced by "Riekland Fleshshade" and other such pretenders). Everything was watered down at around a 50/50 mix. The last layer, after doing touch-ups to blot out black or silver spots from doing the trim, I tried to avoid touching the edges of the trim so there'd be at least a little shadowed wash areas.


----------



## Straken's_Fist

I just bought a toshiba too for the same price...good choice I think....

Well, it may be simple but I like it the bone colour.


----------



## Mossy Toes

A friend just recieved a model windfall, so I've entered negotiations to purchase 2 Mk.1 Land Raiders, a Mk.1 Rhino, a Bloodthirster, a squad of Havocs, and a bundle of Termis on the cheap.


----------



## Kreuger

Hey, that's excellent! Congrats =)


----------



## Mossy Toes

And with the arrival of the new computer comes... pictures!

First off, I figured I'd try basing the fisticlaws juggerlord with some skulls. Still have to flock the base and paint the skulls, but he looks a bit more in line with the skull-strewn base of the axe juggerlord, now. Well, actually a bit cooler, perhaps, what with the skull-spikes and the half of a much larger skull added...





































I've also tired of removing vehicles and saying "this area counts as difficult terrain, all right?" so have made quite a few vehicle exploded area terrain pieces:

Forgefiend and... 60mm.










Defiler, Rhino.










Rhino, Rhino Mk. 1.










Predator, Vindicator (can be Rhinos of course, and vice-versa for prior bases).










Altogether:










I also created a Portalglyph, for good measure. Still needs a good amount of GS.










Did a head swap on my 6 homemade oblits who are in varying stages of painting, thanks to having acquired some dark eldar bits recently, and so added in the perfectly-sized Talos/Cronos heads to the Oblits...



















Additionally, threw together a squad of Noise Marines. Used Instruments from my spare daemons bits as sonic blasters, and made blastmasters in two different ways: sticking the largest dragon head from the chaos vehicle sprue on ork shootas, and adding a dirge caster piece to the one basic sonic blaster that came with the original noise marine squad (pre-finecast upgrade kit). Also made a doom siren for my squad champion with another dirge caster.

Champ:










With the Noise Marines I already have from a while back, this puts me up to 2 full squads of 10, plus a noise champ who can be subbed into a ccw squad of my normal marines to signify that they're melee-oriented noise marines instead.



















Other squad. I want to make alternates for the icon bearers, in case I don't want to have to spend those points. Seems like a useful option. I have a few unassembled CSM sitting around, but think I've run out of instruments, so it may wait a little while.



















The champion leading a squad of volunteer CSM/Noise Marines, alongside my half-painted old noise champ model that I've converted heavily but have yet to repaint--aka Lucius.










Finally, I've painted quite a bit of the Daemon Prince with Black Mace. Not exceedingly happy with how it's turned out, but am content.



















He's a bit more "bright green" than I wanted, not the otherworldly blend of blue and green I was hoping for, but he'll do. I also feel that the bright white of the tail and the light blue of the staff are a bit out of place, so since I've taken this image I've repainted the staff to resemble the tip of the tail, tying it in to the theme more strongly and eliminating one color element from the mix (plus throwing a very watered down wash on the tail tip to tone it down a little).

Still not entirely happy, but I haven't given up on the project or thrown my hands up and pronounced it finished yet.


----------



## Dorns Legacy

like the idea of difficult terrain with exploded vehicles and the obliterators look cool, you gunna add any cotton wool to the explody bits for smoke and fire effect making it unpassable?


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## Mossy Toes

Dorns Legacy said:


> you gunna add any cotton wool to the explody bits for smoke and fire effect making it unpassable?


Well, seeing as I'll often be deploying a squad of 10 marines (or 9-7 depending on armor saves after S4 hits) in the rubble, that would make deploying a unit pretty hard, I think. Good idea, though--I might incorporate it into the defiler base and such. I also definitely want to paint up some based cotton wool for "wrecked" results, so I can have a plume of smoke rising from the tank hull.


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## Kreuger

Hey Mossy, 
Looks like you've been busy.

I think the area terrain markets area lovely idea, though I think they need more 'land form', perhaps a bit of a crater and such. I look forward to them painted.

The dark Eldar heads look like good choices for the obliterators but compared to the rest of the model they are awfully clean and tidy.

The mace Prince is a little hard to see in the pics. The paint scheme seems okay. But I still think the wings are too rigid for such an otherwise sinuous model.

I dig the noise marines with all the instruments, but the tacked on gun ends don't work quite so well. Maybe just bigger instruments would naked more sense in the context?


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## Mossy Toes

Few pics of Princebossman in his final state. Pretty happy with how he's turned out.


----------



## Nordicus

He looks awesome mate - Well done!

One thing; Have you considered glowing eyes? I think it would look great on that skull of his and make him even more magical in the realm of Tzeentch.

Keep up the good work


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## Mossy Toes

Hmm, not really. I suppose I could, but hadn't really considered it since the eyes are really just cavities, with no object to seem all glowyish, making any OSL hard to convey. I might well try something, though.


----------



## SwedeMarine

Mossy Toes said:


> Hmm, not really. I suppose I could, but hadn't really considered it since the eyes are really just cavities, with no object to seem all glowyish, making any OSL hard to convey. I might well try something, though.


Thats a really easy fix. Just a tiny ball of GS in each socket and youre good to go. But id say leave it out and go with the glow as it will make it seem more unatural which is what you could expect from Daemon Spawn.


----------



## Jacobite

I'd go with Swede's idea, it sounds badass. Glowing skull sockets are always awesome!


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## Mossy Toes

Got my Heresy Abaddon in the mail from Russia, and quickly de-heresy-ified it. May still add some more spikes and skulls dangling on chains to make him look a bit more 40k-y, but...


























This guy has a theme song, and it goes like this:


----------



## Nordicus

Nice to see another one having the same idea as me with the Abaddon FW model - It looks awesome man!

Beyond the sword and the bolter on the Powerfist, have you added anything on him?


----------



## Mossy Toes

Nothing added yet. Might go for some shoulder spike racks and a skulll on a chain for the loincloth to imitate the original model a bit more, but I don't want to overdo it. He looks suitably badass as he is, and looms over regular termis right now as it is. As he ought to, though the metal/failcast model is actually _smaller_ than the standard Termi model, it's so old...


----------



## neferhet

mmmh....boobyes....


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## Mossy Toes

Did I not post my CSM Termi squad here? My mistake.


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## Lemmy1916

that abbadon looks great. I agree that the only possible improvements could be obtained out of some kind of spiky decorations on his shoulders. Maybe just chop off some of the terminator troophy racks and stick it on his shoulderpads or upper back.

The terminators look great, i particularly like the ork spiked pauldron


----------



## Mossy Toes

Well, I have plenty of termi trophy racks sitting around, seeing as I didn't put them on the squad I painted (no regrets! I like how they look!). The ork pauldron is a hasty replacement for a lost shoulder pad, so I'm glad that you approve of it: I don't know what else I should have done there, so I'm glad this gets your approval.


----------



## SwedeMarine

Nice work there Mossy. And like to piggyback on Lemmys comment it adds a lot of Individuality to the model. It would not be a bad idea to perhaps do a few more in a similar style


----------



## Straken's_Fist

Cool Abby model. 

Those Termies: that is the exact same loadout my Thousand Sons Termies took lol Thinking of converting some more to have combi-plasmas and reaper cannon though, for a different role.


----------



## Mossy Toes

I have the models for another squad of 5 Termis, and they're going to have combi-plasmas (otherwise basically the same loadout).

Yeah, I've heard a couple other people say they want to do something similar with Abaddon... eventually. I'm just glad to have found a good Abaddon deal on ebay and to have cut out the "eventually" part of the equation. Plus he was something of a beast against Nids in the game I just finished about an hour ago.


----------



## Straken's_Fist

Abaddon is an absolute beast in the handful of games I have used him. He hasn't died yet, even in the games I lost, he has still been on the table...His shining moment was taking out a 10 man deathwing squad pretty much single handedly with a couple of wounds to spare. Admittedly I did luck out with dice rolls, got a 6 on the Daemon Weapon roll on the charge (so rage) so ended up with the maximum possible attacks (I think its 13 off the top of my head). Preferred Enemy helps too...It's crazy because when he wins challenges he just becomes progressively more frightening after rolling on the boon table. 

He is a fun guy to have around just for the fear he inspires. 265pts is a reasonable price I think.


----------



## Mossy Toes

The thread has been dormant, but now... it awakens!

Sorry. Here are my last two months of Army Painting Competition submissions. Not great photos, and I want to go back and reshoot them, but they'll do for the time being.

First, last month:

My homemade Termi Sorc as an Alpha Legionnaire. Don't have any really good shots of him. Ah well. I rushed him anyways.










I am moderately happy with the cloak, though...











Also, finished another 10 Daemonettes (to go with the other squad of 10 a few pages back):


----------



## Mossy Toes

Have decided to take a full force picture. Well, a full CSM force picture--the other half of my models, my Guard and Daemons, aren't so readily accessible.










Let's break this down a bit, shall we?










Mk 1 Land Raider, Predator, Vindicator, Vindicator
6 Oblits, Forgefiend, 10 Noise Marines with full kit, 10 Noise Marines with full kit
9 1ksons, 7 characters/champions/Chosen (that will never be fielded as the last), Mk1 Rhino, Lucius
Havocs w/ lascannons, Havocs w/ autocannons, Havocs w/ autocannons, Havocs w/ missile launchers, Termi sorc, 18 CSM with various special weapons a banner & a champ










(ignoring Vindis and NMs from last pic)

Rhino (to be stripped/repainted), Havocs w/ autocannons & a lascannon, Havocs w/ missile launchers & a plasma gun, Havocs w/ missile launchers
Rhino (to be stripped/repainted), 16 Berzerkers, 15 Plague Marines, Mk 1 Rhino, Rhino
Juggerlord w/ fisticlaws, Khârn, Juggerlord w/ AoBF, Mk 1 Land Raider
Daemon Prince, Daemon Prince w/ Black Mace, 5 Termis, (heresy converted) Abaddon










(ignoring Havocs, Rhinos, & Land Raider from last pic)

Daemon Prince, 5 Raptors
18 CSM w/ assorted special weapons a banner & a champ, 10 Nurgle bikers, Nurgle biker lord, Nurgle biker sorc
8 Khorne bikers
Helldrake, 10 Slaanesh bikers, Slaanesh biker lord

Most shameful is how little of this is painted. Working on repairing that, and not buying much these days (just the occasional box of Flesh Hounds, really)


----------



## Mossy Toes

Polished up Khârn for a competition on a Facebook group. Pretty happy with how he turned out, divergent though the paint scheme is from his typical depictions. I wanted to stick somewhat true to his original colors while still letting him blend in with my own Bone Machine troops, so I settled for a bone-colored helm, similarly purple plasma, and some similar small touches.

I'm a bit disappointed by how the primer bubbled on his back, leaving a nasty texture, but... I'm not going to show his backpack online, so you can safely ignore this sentence.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Huron Blackheart! Mind you, the model I got second-hand had lost the claw, so I was forced to dig around for a right-handed power fist/claw. Are you quite aware how hard those things are to find? And ones that can fit a heavy flamer nozzle into the palm, no less?

Fortunately, I had an old Aspiring Champion fist clutching a severed helmet (therefore obscuring any flamer nozzle and saving me a tricky conversion) that fit the bill just about perfectly. With a sizeable wad of green stuff, the arm was tilted to just the right angle that it looked like Huron was looking the helm in the eyes...

This is an Alpha Legion Huron-version, not wanting to have to paint up any Red Corsairs for myself. More of a Maloghurst the Twisted, in my mind, than a Huron Blackheart, but the manipulation and bionics/physical damage fit, either way around.

So we have our basis:










Then working in progress. If I ever do a loyalist SM army, it'll be Sons of Medusa, so... of course, that is the color of the helm Huron here will be clutching.




















Aaaand then the finished product. I went for a good amount of brass to help him stand out from the rank and file a bit more.


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## neferhet

Good news there 
A n effective conversion on that huron! "To heresy or not to heresy? That is the question!"


----------



## Iraqiel

There are not nearly enough replies on this page to do the hobbywork within justice. Great work, love the characters and me oh my I am jealous of your CSM collection - it is awesome and makes me wish I had been in this hobby for long enough to look back on it all with rose tinted glasses as well.


----------



## Kreuger

I'm not sure what's up with this Huron. There seems to be a bizarre amount of texture on the models armor plating, and the paint looks really uneven.

I'm not sure if this is distortion from the photo or if it just isn't your best work.

I think the conversion turned or pretty well though.


----------



## Mossy Toes

neferhet said:


> Good news there
> A n effective conversion on that huron! "To heresy or not to heresy? That is the question!"


"To rebel, or not to rebel, that is the question—
Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer
The Slings and Arrows of the outrageous Imperium,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To bow, to serve—
No more; and by serve, to say we bow
Our head to Imperial yoke, and the thousand Natural shames
That the Emperor demands of us. 'Tis a liberation
Devoutly to be wished."



Kreuger said:


> I'm not sure what's up with this Huron. There seems to be a bizarre amount of texture on the models armor plating, and the paint looks really uneven.
> 
> I'm not sure if this is distortion from the photo or if it just isn't your best work.
> 
> I think the conversion turned or pretty well though.


I agree. There is an insane amount of incredibly narrow trim (which is unreliably damaged and asymmetrical) I fussed over for a while, splattering blue on the metallic or vice-versa by accident then frantically correcting (and splattering the other on the other). But I feel the worst part is the paint on his head and the helm he's holding--came out altogether too thick and not layered enough. It's something that bothers me more in photos than it ever will, I suspect, on the field of battle, but it's right of you to call it out.


----------



## Kreuger

Gotcha. I hate those projects. I think everyone has those, where nothing quite turns out the way we planned.

(And I don't mean to be unkind or to pick on you.)


----------



## Mossy Toes

No picked-on-ness felt, no need to apologize. You're actually the first person who's called out how I feel about it to my face, heh.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Plaguebearers! With Herald.

Wash-heavy, yes, but I like them. Not too happy with the severed heads, but... meh. Might return to them after I finish the painting blitz I'm doing them for--also have to make a cool display base and paint a squad of Death Korps before the end of the month, then to set up a diorama for a "duel" competition I'm doing all this for.


----------



## Kreuger

Those are looking good! I really like the mottling, and I think the bases turned out really well, understated with just enough 'stuff.'


----------



## Mossy Toes

I've become a proponent of not painting dirt bases, recently. Less work and looks just fine--quite natural, in fact. They're not meant to be the focus of attention, after all. Add the occasional rock, twig, lump of static grass... and you're good.


----------



## Kreuger

I think as hobbyists get more experienced they often go one of two ways, either excess or elegance. Knowing what but to paint and what not to over do or what to moderate can make a big difference.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Finishing up a painting blitz for April:

Did my kitbashed Forgefiend. Alpha Legion colors. Originally had some sloppy OSL on the eyes and nose, but hated how it turned out and redid the skull around them. My largest regret is that it is an EPC Forgefiend when I basically only ever field it with HACs...





































Not particularly Chaosy, but I also did the first little bundle of Death Korps models I have sitting around for a "duel" competition on Facebook, to be pitted against those Plaguebearers I painted earlier in the month:














































I've also gone through my collection for minis that I have painted but haven't based, and am knocking them into shape. No longer will blank bases torment me! About 40 minis in all:


----------



## Moriouce

Basing duty, yippie!


----------



## Mossy Toes

Decided to do an "all my painted CSM" display before I moved out of the current house.




























...then my roommates decided to join in as the daylight faded, and things got... wildly out of hand. Apologies for the poor lighting and frequent blurriness. Also threw in some chipped Spawn I've acquired from a friend recently, along with the two "good enough to play with" Vindis I've been painting.





































Daemon Prince and Hive Tyrant staring each other down in their duel.





































Somehow I don't think the 'Drake is going to do much to the Wraithknight besides scratch the paint...



















Yes, that symbol on the wingtip of the Crimson Hunter is precisely what you think it is.










Avatar vs Mace Prince duel.




























A few Plaguebearers might have sneaked into my CSM part of the board. One of the Princes as an HQ and they're golden for Allies, I figure.










...and Eldrad gazes out on the bloodshed, grieved by the necessary loss of so many Eldar lives.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Let's look at those Vindis, shall we? Since I glanced by them on the big display post.

Like I said, suitable for playing with, but I want to do a whole lot of edge highlighting and weathering before I call them done. Plus need to do some brown work on the combi-bolters.










Still, they're going into storage and I think I'll be painting my Daemons over the summer. Been meaning to make an impact on them for a while, now...


----------



## Jacobite

Nice, simple conversions there, great work!


----------



## SwedeMarine

Jacobite said:


> Nice, simple conversions there, great work!


Seconded. Very clever. defiler chest cannons im assuming?


----------



## Mossy Toes

SwedeMarine said:


> Seconded. Very clever. defiler chest cannons im assuming?


Yes indeed, and chopping a chunk of the Rhino facing out. The gun shield covers up any rough edges, and then all you have to do is stick on a dozer blade (eh, good enough for AV13) and you're good.


----------



## The Son of Horus

Definitely an interesting kitbash for vindicators!


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## SwedeMarine

You know if they could be Magnetized they would be able to double as rhinos as well.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Maybe so, but I think I've thrown away the chunk of rhino hull I carved out, originally.

Anyways: with the 7e allowing chariot riders to shoot as if not moving after moving, Burning Chariots are back in business! So I reassembled, magnetized, and painted up my kitbash of the same:



















As I mentioned, magnetized. I expect never to field that archive flamer as an Exalted Flamer on his own, thanks to his short range and Heavy weapons, but...










The base is flock clumps gratuitously primed black, then some GSed flames at their base painted pink--a nice little Pink Flames of Tzeentch aftermath, complete with Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. That's about what a S6 AP3 flamer would do, I imagine...










Now to finish off the 7 other Flamers in my 9 Flamers (and the alternate bases of the 2 magnetized to the Chariot). Spilled my Biel Tan Green, unfortunately, so I may be dabbling in older, less satisfying green washes from my paint collection. Or waiting until I visit a hobby shop again, since I also need more Druchii Violet for my Daemonettes and Seekers... wash/ink/shade problems, whatever GW is calling them now, blaegh.

May just move onto painting my newly magnetized Skarbrand (chopped-up finecast Bloodthirster), instead:





































Still magnetized, as I said, of course:


----------



## Moriouce

Love that chariot!


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## SwedeMarine

Chariot is looking really good mate.


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## Mossy Toes

Only crappy images with poor lighting tonight, but that's not too important, given the WIP status of most of the things I'm posting.

Basecoated Skarbrand and washed him. Huh. Flesh gets awfully... pink when washed with blood, doesn't it. Considering how to proceed. Successive red washes to drown him in gore?










Also based and touched up the 10 gobbo wolfrider wolfs somebody sold me dirt cheap to use as Flesh Hounds.










Also basecoated and washed the non-chariot Screamers. I know I said I was running low on my Biel Tan Green, so I mixed it with one of my old green washes and that did fine. Gonna do some drybrushing, then pick out the horns and eyes and call the unit a wrap.










Lastly, no photos, but I've finally been going through and doing a bunch of necessary GSing to smooth over the mutation seams on my Kroothorrors and Krootbearers of old, so I may pick those up and start painting them in the coming months. First, though, after knocking out these two WIP units, I'm going to jump straight into Fateweaver for a facebook competition. My kitbashed Fateweaver who... huh, I don't think I've posted any primed-and-ready-for-painting photos of. Nearest to it: unprimed Fatey and a DP I'm going to be converting a bit more, still (the latter of which is safely in storage, hidden from my mad dok cutters and hacksaws for several months, at least).


----------



## Nordicus

Mossy Toes said:


> Considering how to proceed. Successive red washes to drown him in gore?


Well what do you want to accomplish? I'd gladly give some tips if I can help.


----------



## Mossy Toes

See, that's the thing--this is the first of my Khornate daemons that I'm painting, so I don't exactly have a rubric or guide to work from. Yeah, maybe it isn't prudent to paint the centerpiece killnasty of the army as the color scheme test model, but...


----------



## Nordicus

Mossy Toes said:


> See, that's the thing--this is the first of my Khornate daemons that I'm painting, so I don't exactly have a rubric or guide to work from. Yeah, maybe it isn't prudent to paint the centerpiece killnasty of the army as the color scheme test model, but...


Allright, that's fair. I used my Bloodthirster as a test subject for my Khorne theme as well, so I know what you mean 

My experience is that you need some very dark color to really make the red stand out and look more intense. The wings, for example, I would recommend that the skin in between the fingers would be dark brown or black, as otherwise it can quickly turn into a big red blob with no defining features. You seem to have accomplished a very vibrant red on him, so it would be a shame if it is lost because of too much of the same color - That was my biggest problem with my khornate units in the end.

In terms of making him gory there's many ways to accomplish it, but it is significantly more difficult with a red model as the gore effect can drown in all the other reds. I would add this as the final step if you wish to have him drenched and doing it with a paint like "Blood for the bloodgod" as that one is truly excellent, if you paint it on after you have sealed the model.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Finished my Screamers! The way things shake out, I can either have 9 Screamers and an Exalted Flamer...



















...Or 7 Screamers and a Burning Chariot.



















You can't see the bluish underbellies of the Screamers here, but they're the same color as the blue-green tentacles and interior of the Chariot (which I've repainted from purple from the last time I posted it here on the forum). Not that many people will end up seeing that side of them, but I think it'll be roughly what I do for my Horrors. Pink Horrors, bah. Blue Horrors all the way!


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## Mossy Toes

Finished off Skarbrand to my satisfaction. Did a layer of red/red washes mix to darken his skin from how pink it was, and a few more layers of red and purple washes on the wings (of the Bloodthirster magnetization). Decided to go for a fairly simple base, with just Defiler shoulder spikes erupting from the earth in a ring around Skarry. You know, subdued.



















And the 'Thirster:





































Have also put a few layers on Fateweaver and am in the process of washing various parts of him different colors. Photos to come when appropriate.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Poor lighting, poor angle, but... I'm fairly shocked at the speed at which Fatey is flying together. At this rate, I may finish him tomorrow.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Fateweaver! May do some tidying up, some more blue/green blending on the heads to make the green a bit less intrusive, but I'm still fairly happy with the paint job. All in all, my pride at having scratchbuilt him outweighs my discomfort at his somewhat awkward proportions.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Current WIPs: 10 Horror-Kroot and 10 Daemonettes. Not a great photo, but I think I've proved myself of the "don't really care about good WIP photos" camp by now. You'll see these guys when they're good and done.

Going to be basing these Daemonettes, and the next 10 I paint, rather differently than I did the last 20--green flock instead of dirt, basically. Making the delineation between different units easier to tell on the gameboard without doing something intrusive like painting the base rims different colors, basically.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Finished off the 'Nettes. Decided to base these guys in my normal way, after remembering that I do have a way to divide my squads, after all: whether or not the 'Nettes have hair. I mean, you can see that these are all bald and have two short claws, rather than the ones that have with red mohawks, one long claw and one short claw (and meanwhile, my Seekers all have the heads with full heads of hair and one long claw).

So with 30 Daemonettes painted, now, I'll be all right for the next 10 I paint--then I'll bump up against squad size limits and have to get creative with basing for my last 20 'Nettes. I am looking forward to when all 60 of the little buggers are painted...


----------



## ckcrawford

You always manage to make awesome conversions. Chariot is awesome, and I think you captured the color with the Daemonettes. Its a color that strikes the senses and fits perfectly well.


----------



## Mossy Toes

:shok: somebody else commented? I mean, I didn't want to leave passive-aggressive comments about if anybody was reading, but at the same time, I was closing in on half a dozen units painted and posted without anybody saying anything...


*ahem*

Thanks, ck. I can't help but feel the purple is a bit strong, and wish that the drybrushing with, aha, "Daemonette Hide" stood out from the (Vallejo purple) basecoat a bit more, but all in all, I'm pretty happy with them too.

Have made some serious progress on the Horrors, but have also ramped them up from just painting 10 minis to painting all 25ish that I have simultaneously, so that increases the amount of work I need to do to finish them by a fair amount...


----------



## Mossy Toes

Damn it. Was all ready to go ahead painting my Horrors (24 Horrors, 2 Heralds) when I by chance remembered the Blue Scribes, so flicked back through the book, and saw their rules--a free random auto-manifested power every turn is much better in 7e than it was in 6e, especially when rolling on, say, Malefic Daemonology (oh, oh, plus Fateweaver's reroll if it's a crappy power!). And I would still have 22 Horrors left over if I culled 2 Horrors from the batch in order to tack the two I used before onto the back of a Screamer (or 23, if I used one of my Heralds). And... crap. I'm gonna have to do this now, aren't I. I was so ready to just plow ahead on painting all of these little bastards...

I guess I'm going to have to scrounge up some more scrolls and books to throw onto that Screamer. At least inspiration struck while I can still tweak the paint schemes and such a bit. Here's what my Blue Scribes looked like, back before I scrapped them for the component minis after the 6e codex came out:










...before I added some more books:










Time to rebuild.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Going to be painting a Soul Grinder for the Army Painting Competition this month. I snipped off and sharpened the tips of the spine-claw-blade-hand things, you can see here, since they were getting awfully bent and crumpled from rough transportation with their original fragile, bendy tips.



















Tired of one or both of these hands snapping off from my crummy pinning-job on this prince, so I'm magnetizing. Also magnetizing a swap so I can actually field a HAC Forgefiend, rather than just a EPC 'Fiend.










A look at my WIP Blue Scribes, reconstructed.










...aaand the Horrors, with Heralds and Scribes.










So I have quite a month of painting in front of me, especially if I also want to get the 10 Flesh Hounds I promised for the Monthly Painting Deathmatch in! (squad/regiment, so couldn't be the Soul Grinder, and have to start it this month, so couldn't be the Horrors. No double-booking for me!)


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## neferhet

eheh funny stuff on those learned horrors!
Lots of work to do, but your pace is fast. waiting for that daemonic invasion to spill out of the painting realm...


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## Nordicus

I love that Blue Scribes model - Very nice touch 

Good luck with the painting. I will look forward to seeing it!


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## SwedeMarine

Really good work so far mate. But that Soul Grinder is looking really spectacular in particular. What is the top piece from? I cant recognize it from anywhere.


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## Mossy Toes

Thanks for the praise/cheering on, all.



SwedeMarine said:


> ...But that Soul Grinder is looking really spectacular in particular. What is the top piece from? I cant recognize it from anywhere.


Tomb Kings Necrosphinx torso. Just like the Forgefiend is from the Warsphinx half of the kit; the Heldrake's tail is from it too; the Burning Chariot takes its howdah; my Mace Prince takes its alternate head and wings...

I got a _lot_ of use out of that kit. About all I have left from it are a handful of loose egyptian-bedecked skeletons.


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## SonofVulkan

Love the Blue Scribes conversion. Fun idea and executed well. Nice one.


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## Mossy Toes

Relatively little progress, for how long it's been: a flurry of video games (_The Banner Saga, The Long Dark_, and falling back into _Skyrim_ for a while, most notably--whew, that's a lot of snow), along with returning to school for the academic year, have kind of derailed my painting. I got a lot of on-table 40k games in recently, though, firing my eagerness to paint, so I'm going to try to translate that into actual progress.

Here's an image of my Soul Grinder work in progress, transplanted from the Army Painting Challenge thread. Have made some progress on the brass areas since taking this photo, but that's all. Going to try to beast mode some layers out all around, tomorrow. This fellow's about as dark as he's going to get, thanks to washes--from here on out it's layering and highlighting back up to brights.


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## Mossy Toes

Schwa.




























Brighter, cleaner and shinier than I might have liked. Ah well, I'll survive. Mostly just happy to have it done before the September thread closed in the Army Painting Challenge.

Now to finish up some of these other half-painted units I have sitting around... Karanak, all my Horrors/Scribes/Heralds...


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## Kreuger

Mossy looks pretty good. I see what you mean about bright and clean. I think the colors are a bit too flat and tidy. But hey, you can always add some washes to dirty it up later.

And I must say, this is one of my favorite conversions of yours. A number of your other tomb kings, chaos, necron mixes weren't as successful. 

This one I think you really nailed the proportions and the balance. The arms and legs might be a touch more symmetrical/tidy than I'd have done. But the overall effect is quite good.

I dig it.


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## Mossy Toes

I think the symmetrical element comes from, at least in part, from having stripped off every plate of armor and spike that I could from the legs and such. Perhaps to some degree also in the mirroring of identical Hellstrider shields around the Defiler/Necrosphinx body join... nah, those are relly only partially visible in the first photo here.

I'll probably throw another wash/highlight on it before I count it "done" yeah. OR I could leave good enough alone and attempt to finish some of my other half-done projects, but... hah, how likely is that?


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## Kreuger

Sounds good! 

When I said symmetrical I mean the parallel lines of the arm blades and the "X" formed by the legs.

I actually think removing all the extra plating and spikes is really working for you.


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## Mossy Toes

I quite like the "spikeless Chaos" look, myself, even down to two less legs on the Soul Grinder. Well, obviously, I guess. Especially once you count my stripped-down Rhinos & Vindis; my old metal Termis without shoulder spikes... etc.

Plus there's the minor benefit on the slightly smaller target profile in-game for such a gangly model, but I wouldn't let such a WAAC argument sway me, hah, no, of course not.


----------



## Craglansun

Just spent the last hour (probably more) having a gander through this thread, and have thoroughly enjoyed seeing new (and old!) models come to life!

I particularly liked the Chariot - the work on that is brilliant, even down to the basing itself. I'm relatively new to the painting and kitbashing myself, but its nice to have something to aspire to!

I didn't like the DP with the Black Mace at all -- that is, however, until I saw the completed model. Wow, what a transformation it took on after a lick of paint!

The Plaguebearers look suitably slimy, which is as you'd expect, and I like seeing a 'nid tail on Skarbrand ;-)

I'm sure if I had time there are plenty more I could pick up on, such as the Defilecators which will look marvelous when finished, and the exploded vehicle markers which will truly add to the battlefield.

Just wanted to say well done, and that its all looking great. Keep up the good work -- I will be watching with earnest!


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## Mossy Toes

Thanks for reading through it all, though I honestly kind of shudder to remember some of the stuff on the first few pages... still, yeah, it's nice to be reminded of some of the cool stuff I'm proud of in the rest of the thread!



Craglansun said:


> and the exploded vehicle markers which will truly add to the battlefield.


Unfortunately, 7e doesn't have you replace exploded vehicles with a crater/difficult terrain, so those are on the backburner as mere normal terrain pieces, now.



Small update: mostly done with Karanak and 10 Flesh "Fenrisian Wolf" Hounds. Will try to finish tomorrow or the next day and show photos.


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## Mossy Toes

Finished up Karanak and 10 Flesh Hounds. Pretty quick to paint, honestly: I shouldn't have much of an issue with the remaining 16 or 17 I have still just primed.



















Not stellar photos, I know. Sorry.

Going to be painting 10 cultists for the Army Painting competition for October, since I field that squad in an allied detachment as my minimum troops choice so often. Also trying to finish up a bunch of these half-painted Horrors and Tzheralds I have sitting around.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Also, been throwing together some Nurgling bases. Chopping off top nurglings from the awesome kit GW released and spreading them thin, then sticking some next to the scattering of bases I've managed to gather of nurglings off of mere plaguebearer sprues.





































Once I had enough of those, I threw together that there Palanquin of Nurgle base, sticking on the old flat top platform from the ancient Screamin Bell mini I've had sitting around for about a decade now. Going to magnetize so I can throw either a Herald or a Lord (probably the "Draznicht" mini, the Chosen Champion w/ power maul from Dark Vengeance, for the latter). Probably going to have to do something to their bases so they fit the boards they'll be standing on...


----------



## venomlust

Nice work with the Nurglings! I still have those all on the sprue. Can double the number of Nurglings I have! k:


----------



## Mossy Toes

The ones with the white primer there are scavenged from Plaguebearer sprues; the rest are new ones. I've primed them all black by now, though. Before, ah, smoothing some of the jarring base lines with GS or something. *whistles innocently*


----------



## Mossy Toes

Finished up my Army Painting Competition entry of 10 Cultists! Skipped and combined a number of steps on the "drybrushing" step of things to cut out several hours of work for a result similar enough that I wouldn't be able to tell the difference...




























Also painted up the magnetizations of my Forgefiend so it has its old Ectoplasma cannons...



















...Or some Hades Autocannons...










...Or wholly as a Maulerfiend.

I figure if it impales an opponent on its claws, it flares its meltas in order to free the claw/to deal the extra free magma cutter hits. I know that most of the time, it's going to kill infantry outright, but I really love the image of it pistoning the claw through the chest of a tactical marine, lifting him into the air, shaking him a few times to get him off, then flaring its cutters and sending vaporized, bloody giblets of marine flying everywhere.


----------



## Kreuger

I think the cultists turned out nicely. Good mix of models in there.

I like the Fiend but not the weapon arms. The big mechanical arms mostly work, but the guns/ blades don't. The blades work better than the guns, but both look awkwardly long and spindly. 

The arms look big and powerful. . . The weapons don't.

The rest of the pharaonic Fiend looks good though.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Honestly, I rather agree, on the "size of the weapons" side of things. It's less than perfect. Ah well, the mini is a cool kitbash and it suffices.

Anyways, it's been a while since I posted a finished unit, so... Nurglings. Whee!










Also a sneak peak into what's planned for the Palanquin...










I've been looking for a use for the Kranon mini for a while, and have separately been wondering whether or not I'd ever field an infantry fisticlaws character. Combined the thoughts. The "head whose hair is tangled around the power fist" is a bit hard to see in this re-primed pic of the mini, hmmm. Here's a very old pic of the mini who used to have the claw:










Sure, the fellow runs me more than a Land Raider, but... I'm not going to be fielding him competitively. A larger concern is accidentally bending those fragile horns, once he's mounted on the palanquin...

235 - Lord w/ Daemonheart, Slaughter's Horns, MoN, Palanquin, SoC, blight grenades, power fist, lightning claw

2+/4++, T5 W5, IWND, Rage, Furious Charge, HoW, defensive grenades, and fisticlaws. RAAAAH!

Ok, I guess I could swap Daemonheart and Slaughter's Horns and go BL instead of CS, with the Skull of Ker'ngar to make the character resistant to those particular enemies that would otherwise walk all over him (ID and psykers, that is), but... I'll just spam biomancy and hope to get an Endurance to throw on him and keep the 2+ armor, plus a bevy of other rules.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Have updated my various Army Showcases to more accurately reflect what painted minis I have in which of my armies:

-Alpha Legion
-Bone Machine
-The Unified Host

Sticking them in to my sig, I think.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Let's get this thread choking and wheezing back into life, shall we? No photos right now, but--I have a handful of projects simmering on the backburner.

I've lost some magnetized blades, unfortunately. The Maulerfiend claws and Be'lakor's sword, to be precise. I've rebuilt Be'lakor's sword with a replacement, using a spare ogre hand in the bitz box and a Nid bonesword of some sort. Still looking for a solid magma cutter replacement bit, since I think I used my largest clawsword bitz on the first iteration of those. I think I still have enough multi-melta bitz to add the magma hit melta things I had before.

Have quite a few half-painted units, at this point. I've kind of washed out of the Army Painting Competition, but not without making some progress on quite a few units. Seekers, Horrors, half a dozen Heralds of various gods, etc.

Purchased a Solitaire to use as a Herald of Slaanesh, with the advent of Harlies everywhere, because that mini is gorgeous. Thinking about whether I'm going to be basing him on a small base or a cavalry/bike base--look at those Solitaire rules, are you going to tell me he's not as fast as a Steed of Slaanesh? Maybe pinning the mini so I can switch out bases at will?

Have been inspired to go through and dig up the fragmentary, half-assembled, 50-odd Death Korps minis I have, so I can work on figuring out kitbashes for heavy weapons, etc, on them...


----------



## CLT40k

looks great, I love the chaos-rex dinosaur..


----------



## Mossy Toes

Be'lakor! Lord of Shadows, Prince of Malice! May he topple the Ruinous Powers and rule in their stead!





































I may have, uh, as I mentioned, magnetized his sword hand then lost said hand and sword. One quick kitbash with a 'Nid bonesword and a spare ogre hand and... voila!


----------



## Nordicus

Mossy Toes said:


> I may have, uh, as I mentioned, magnetized his sword hand then lost said hand and sword. One quick kitbash with a 'Nid bonesword and a spare ogre hand and... voila!


Thats a nice conversion though man - I wouldn't have noticed it was a different hand if you hadn't told me. The sword is less... difficult to hide though


----------



## Mossy Toes

Nordicus said:


> Thats a nice conversion though man - I wouldn't have noticed it was a different hand if you hadn't told me. The sword is less... difficult to hide though


I may have had to... whittle down the fingers a little, so that the hands weren't noticeably lopsided.


----------



## Kreuger

I actually like the new sword. My only gripe is Be'lakor's right wrist is a little small. Some sort of bracer or manacle would have been a good addition. 

Otherwise he looks pretty good.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Kreuger said:


> My only gripe is Be'lakor's right wrist is a little small. Some sort of bracer or manacle would have been a good addition.


The join of the magnets is a bit narrow there, I agree. Was considering bulking it up, and to hear the same opinion from elsewhere makes it more likely that I will...


----------



## Mossy Toes

...well.










Found those missing bitz I'd needed to make workarounds for. Haven't painted the Maulerfiend replacement talons yet, so I guess I'll default to the ones I've finished already--but I do like the thought of experimenting with the aesthetic proportions and throwing on those stubbier magma cutters to see if they look better:










What do you think, @Kreuger? More palatable blade-to-limb balance than before?










Also been shaming myself like a naughty dog by rubbing my nose in all the Imperials that are somehow accumulating in my possession, building up almost as fast as dandruff, but it's only making me want to buy more of them. Damn it, bad Mossy!










Of particular note is the mostly-unprimed and unassembled Death Korps, who suffer from a decided lack of special and heavy weapons. 2 grenade launchers and a flamer don't quite cut it for my needs for about 60 minis...










Have some roughly guard-sized flamers I've scraped together from cultists and the like, that will be making their appearances soon. Tearing spiky bits off a few of my "traitor guard" lascannons and the like, to add a few kneeling Death Korp minis. Adding in autocannons in the form of servitors slaved to 8-man squads (since heavy weapons usually fill out the last 2 minis in a 10-man squad)--I figure I'll add in a few points of Ad Mech sooner or later, having been waiting for this faction since 3rd Ed, so this will be a combined force that works fairly closely with each other.

I have about 30 minis to base and only slottabases left to throw them on, so I figure rather than gluing card strips cut from bookmarks over a lot of painstaking slots, I'm going to embrace the 32mm Space Marine bases transition, rebase a few squads, and transplant those vacated bases onto these Death Korps.


----------



## Kreuger

Yeah, that balance looks a lot more even. Though going that organic, the mechanical arms could use some more organic bits.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Kreuger said:


> Yeah, that balance looks a lot more even. Though going that organic, the mechanical arms could use some more organic bits.


I could always glue a small tentacle to the various joins of those defiler limbs, I suppose. Or GS some muscles on, in the vein of how Soul Grinders look.

I'm struggling as to how I can implement some sort of magnetized lasher tendrils, honestly--all the bits I have or run across seem like they'd be way to flimsy and, yes, organic at the end of such chunky Defiler limbs. The closest I'd be able to manage, I think, is a cluster of spike/tentacles from the Spawn kit I just got...


----------



## Kreuger

Maybe some of the tentacles/arms from the dark eldar constructs? Aren't they plastic? They could be trimmed down and kept in close to the body.


----------



## Mossy Toes

Some of those Talos/Chronos tentacles? Hmm, perhaps.

And if I got a whole Talos, then I'd have an ace body to throw on another Defiler torso for a 3rd Soul Grinde-

No! Bad Mossy! You can scrounge those tentacle bits somewhere else/buy from a bitz store/etc. You don't even have a 3rd Defiler to scrap...


----------



## Kreuger

Chaos already has your soul, why not your wallet too?


----------



## Mossy Toes

Chaos already has my soul and wallet, why not the mortgage for my arm and leg, too?


----------



## Kreuger

That's the spirit!


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## Mossy Toes

Spent the last 6 hours painting blue, in "sloppy basecoat" mode. Okay, and a little brown for basing and a little silver trim and a bit of red and maybe a touch of pink.


Have a campaign coming up in May and aiming for a blitz to finish these pictured minis to (a perhaps slightly rushed) tabletop standard, above the contempt-inducing "3-color minimum." If I can get more evenings like tonight in, it seems doable--this is the first time I've gotten lost in the painting zone like this in a while. In a very long while, if you don't count my recent one-day Belakor blitz.










Squad of lasHavocs, 3 blastmasters, 2 Rhinos, a Predator, 3 squads of Bikers, 2 BikerLords. These are the aim by then. Going to primarily work on expanding my Alpha Legion contingent, given that they're the force I'm taking into the campaign, but... the Bone Machine forces are getting what lovin' is needed to them, too.

I've noticed the can of white primer I used, until it ran out (or perhaps my ham-handed application of it) ended up slicking paint right off so it dries real blotchy and leaving white undercoat patches (to say nothing of letting the paint rub off to the slightest touch, which has prompted me to finally start matte sealing). That's a solid coat of brown on the horse-biker bases, there, and see how ugly that splotched out? Also several coats of bone on the horse-bikerlord, which is still not up to taste, for all that it's a bit small and distant in this photo. Any suggestions as to how to get the paint to spread better (even if the suggestions amount to "reprime the bastards!")? Watering down the paints like I'm suppose to just lowers the surface tension and makes it wick off and bead all the more--especially on non-flat base surfaces.

I split my force into the Alpha Legion and Bone Machine sub-divisions on account of the ability to field, say, CSM allied with Crimson Slaughter, or Black Legion allied with Khorne Daemonkin. I've generally defaulted along the lines of "shooty, Alpha Legion, choppy, Bone Machine," so I have a definite Khornate trend in the Bone Machine minis I've posted. I have run into a bit of a conundrum, though: which force, if I'm limiting myself to one, should I paint my designated Khorne Daemonkin forces as?

And I was just talking about choppy Bone Machine in semi-Khornate colors, Juggerlords and all, in the Bone Machine colors. That's all I need, no? Well, there are two counts of evidence against this particular idea.

First up, the Maulerfiend that's featured pretty heavily in the past few pages. It started life as a Forgefiend, so I painted it all Alpha Legion, but then the idea for magnetization entered my pretty little head and gave it some nasty claws. Now, I want all the Maulerfiends I can field in my Daemonkin list--I dunno about you.

And then there's my pressing need for Possessed, to be able to field a legal Slaughter Cult. I was looking at my Havocs, who all have the "dragon's breath" gargoyle heads from chaos vehicle sprues, and I realized that the arm of two of those selfsame Havoc squads' champions were from ye olde Chaos Mutation Sprue, and that the gargoyle heads I was slinging on them made them look pretty, well... possessed. I could throw together another 3 such mutants from my bitz box with relative ease--I even have a few untouched Berzerker sprues sitting around I could draw from. But these gargoyle-headed Havoc champs are in the blue-drybrushed-green of the Alpha Legion, unfortunately, so if I were to make me some Possessed from them, well... I'd have to embrace the Alpha Legion Daemonkin, split my army between Alpha-painted minis and Bone Machine minis, or build my Possessed from the ground up as Bone Machine minis only taking inspiration, rather than actually using, the two minis that could well form almost half their squad. To say nothing of the Maulerfiend quandary, which I am quite hesitant to repaint.










I also expect my Soul Grinders to end up quite an array of colors, so it's not like one Alpha Legion-ish colored Maulerfiend in that garish panoply would stick out, over-much, but... I'm still hesitant to split the coloration like that. Thoughts on the matter? Is there some simpler way that I can cut this Gordian Knot, Heretics, that I'm too invested in the problem to be able to step back and see? I mean, I could just buy a Necrosphinx, a Maulerfiend, and Onager, and a Talos and make the 2 more Maulerfiends (from the first two) and 1 more Soul Grinder (from the second two), and paint those 3 Daemon Engines (plus my current unpainted Soul Grinder) in fairly Daemonkin-ish colors and only bring my current Maulerfiend when I want to go 3 Soul Grinders + 3 Maulerfiends for a positively cruel weight of Daemon Engines... but that's a lot of investment and time down the road. Plus doesn't address the Possessed aspect of things.

I could just stop whinging and repaint my Maulerfiend, already, of course. That's the shortest (read: the 15 hour) solution, then I build myself some Possessed from scratch. Cost me 0$, too, not counting the Simple Green bath.


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## neferhet

Eh, good luck with the blitz-paint-krieg! And crush them all!


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## Mossy Toes

Sudden vacillation. I finally got to play a game with Khorne Daemonkin, and the Furious Charge, Rage, challenges all over the place, many bite-sized squads assaulting frequently, absorbing losses from shooting to rack up Blood Points, summoning in Bloodletters and the like absolutely wherever I needed them...

Honestly, it was a blast. Considering changing my campaign force to Daemonkin, based around Bone Machine minis, so... would have to blitz painting those up, instead. So swapping out that bunch of squads wholesale.


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## Iraqiel

Ooooh that's the very first Daemonkin review I've read and after playing a very sad game of chaos yesterday (Leman Russ tanks spell doom) I'm interested in trying things the Khorne way.


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## Mossy Toes

As long as players don't cotton on to the fact that Inquisitors with servo skulls will absolutely spoil a Flesh Hound's picnic, yeah, Daemonkin is going to treat me well, I think. Even the Possessed, lagging behind everyone else, come in with Rage and Furious Charge and a random bonus to hit like a sack of bricks.

It's interesting playing almost exclusively units I've written off as "not worth it" for so long, now that they're feeding into some greater bloody scheme. I gladly accept their loss when shot at, having so many more interchangeable units like them--and it's a pleasant surprise when they aren't, say, killed by enemy shooting, because then the last mini or two soak up Overwatch and purposefully die in close combat for the blood tithe point, while my less-damaged units charge in free.

I've realized sergeants are a lot more valuable, now, given that even dying in challenges, they can manufacture you Blood Points twice as fast (especially against enemies who have to challenge, like CSM or Black Templars). And if your opponent turns down challenges, well, there's that power klaw Nob no longer striking! Sergeants are no longer ablative wounds, so you might as well throw on the meltabombs in that biker squad...

I think I am going to stick with Slaaneshi stuff for this campaign, just because I already sent in that as my choice, but... I'm certainly going to be playing games on the side with all sorts of fun bloodbloodblood pain.


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## Mossy Toes

With hell-twisted ire and iron, we rise!

After an extended period with no painting desk or workstation, I'm finally more or less settled. Well, enough so to start fusing the bignasties into kitbashes again. Got me a Maulerfiend and Necrosphinx, and after a good few hours tinkering to create horrific some hell-forged daemon engines, I am willing to stand by my previous assertions that the best thing that ever happened to the CSM model line was a Tomb Kings monster.





































Still need to patch a few joins and seams with GS: the underside of the Mauler-torso and Warsphinx neck join, and vice-versa on the other. Also some swapped feet on limbs,

All together now! The projects, so far, that my 2 Necrosphinxes have markedly improved:










I may yet make a twin to the Mace Prince there, since I have another Cockatrice in a box that I got for sale recently. Plus, well, some Necro-faces and -wings too.

I also have a Necrosphinx upper torso, maulerfiend face, and pair of maulerfiend brawler's arms that are just begging to be fused into each other and then to something. Perhaps either the old Bloodthirster/Helbrute mashup I was unhappy with from a few years back, or something to do with the new mega-Thirster that I got in the same sale as the cockatrice.

Now to figure out a list that can run all of these at once for tomorrow night at the local game store...


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## Mossy Toes

Been a day or two building. Seem to have misplaced my box of paints since the last time I painted, way back when, so it's time to start digging into storage, since I've been bitten by the hobbying bug.










D-Thirster, 3 Plague Drones (riders separate for basing as infantry), Culexus, and 2 Spawn.


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## venomlust

Awesome group shot there. D-Thirster FTW!


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## Mossy Toes

I... I have the itch. I was sitting there cleaning out sprues and assembling the various extra limbs and wings and heads, etc, that these big monsters and monstrous vehicles have been jumbling around, then setting an unbuilt Cockatrice I got on heavy discount and an old kitbash I wasn't ever happy with beside them... and let me tell you, that way danger lies.

But first, on my recent Maulerfiend kitbashes, some tweaks. Filled a neck gap with a Defiler armor plate. A bit clunky, but better than a massive wad of green stuff or a centimeter-wide neck gap.










Also wasn't really happy with its slick shell, since I put the armor piece on its sibling:










So I bent and warped and shaved the spare new-thirster breastplate to make a makeshift new-armor-plate curved to similar dimensions.










But now onto the real treat: the orgy of creative bitz-bashing. Like, look, there are _clearly_ a monstrous creature and/or daemon engine of some sort or three in this jumble.










I could clearly stick the Sphinx wings and a head on the Cockatrice and make a twin for Macey, and/or make a second Burning Chariot, but honestly... Chaos seldom draws from the same well twice, I figure. Onward to new horizons!

So. Where to begin. Hmm. The only real "limbs" that seem to fit with the arm sockets on the NecroTorso are the magma cutters from the maulerfiend (which aren't included in the instruction booklet in any way--they just... assume, I guess, that you want to build the Maulerfiend with the more-expensive lasher tendril upgrade), which seems like with some hacking they might fit magnets for the spare Forgefiend weapons I never ended up using.










The question about the HACs is whether to include them in that magnetization or buy some Kataphron Destroyers and magnetize them as Rapier weapons platforms. I suppose I could magnetize them too, and have the best of both.

Let's see, now. I already have a face-in-necro mini on my other Mauler/Forge Necro guy, so maybe...










But what should the torso go on? Let's break the old crappy kitbash to its salvageable and good chunks-










And--no. Nope. Awful, ungainly aesthetic. Unless I hack off 2/3 of an inch off the bottom of the Necro body, in which case I'm left with a bipedal Forgefiend.










So. Hmm, I kinda want to make a sort of quadripedal, mechanical centaur--necrosphinx-like, I suppose. I figure I have the front arms of the Maulerfiend I never used, rear legs of the old Helbrute, just... no connective tissue for the lower torso, the, erm, horse ribcage of the centaur.

Eh, the aesthetics of the Skull Cannon were always kinda wonky anyways.










I can work a fix to the sawn-off front soon, I figure.










ANYWAYS,




























...I think we have real potential here, folks. A lot of work and a lot of ugly seams, still need a real ribcage-to-pelvis connector, but I think we have a workable concept.

So on to the spare finecast old-thirster torso and wings. Let's see if it's compatible with the new thirster bits! Ok, he looks more roided than the Rock, but I think it'll work with some hacking:










Maybe... oh yes, that's going to pair nicely.










So. Hmm. There's the basis for my 2 conversions. Although... headswap?










Clearly that secondary Maulerfiend head is going to be an important chunk of wherever it _does_ end up.

Thoughts, folks? Suggestions for combinations I may have missed out on? A use for the OHGOD i JUST HAD ANOTHER IDEA-










I think we have a chariot in the offing, folks. And after I chop the top half off of the Cockatrice, there will be some Tzeentchi bitz to customize-

*chokes off train of thought before it can escape too far*


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## Nordicus

They look very interesting Mossy! I can't wait to see what you end up with in the end.

I thought I would let you know, as you have been using the Necrosphinx a lot, that it is now on "Last chance to buy" on the website. If you want to get some more for future conversions, now may be the last chance you get - Excluding overpriced OOP selling on eBay.


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## Mossy Toes

Nordicus said:


> I thought I would let you know, as you have been using the Necrosphinx a lot, that it is now on "Last chance to buy" on the website. If you want to get some more for future conversions, now may be the last chance you get - Excluding overpriced OOP selling on eBay.


Thanks, but I've already said my "whew, already got my second Sphinx" piece on the thread announcing that. I don't imagine I'll buy a third one; I think I've kind of tapped out the daemon engine kitbash potential here, by now.


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## Iraqiel

Mossy Toes said:


> Although... headswap?


Wow that Oni style Daemon head on the tomb kings' body looks pure evil! Great to see the bug back mate!


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## Mossy Toes

Iraqiel said:


> Wow that Oni style Daemon head on the tomb kings' body looks pure evil! Great to see the bug back mate!


Thanks! I've been meaning to get back into this, so thanks for bumping the thread--I will have the next 2 days off work, so I'm hoping to make a dent in my podcast backlog and get some hours of modeling/painting in. Looking back at these photos after the initial modeling craze has worn off, I'm inclined to agree: that particular quoted combo is the best one available there, and the most original use of the available parts, so I think that's the direction I'll head. Stay tuned for further developments!

My next big idea is that winged chariot with 2 horrors on the back as the Blue Scribes--but one of them magnetized, so that it can also serve as a Burning Chariot. I'll also be able to salvage the Screamer I've designated my Scribes-Disc too, back to have a full squad of 9 Screamers, if I do, I think. Though it may have some globs of superglue from all the papers and books I've tacked onto it.


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## Iraqiel

Mossy Toes said:


> so I think that's the direction I'll head. Stay tuned for further developments


Awesome, I am really looking forward to seeing the fruition of this evil combination!



Mossy Toes said:


> Though it may have some globs of superglue from all the papers and books I've tacked onto it.


Superglue? The very unguent of change itself!


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