# The Word of Aurelian



## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

So with the new Chaos Codex now available I have been distracting myself from the more involved Minotaurs project with these guys. Ever since reading First Heretic I have had an itch to field these guys. So what better place to start then a 20 man Blob of Power Armour. 

Let me know what you guys think:



















and a close up of the OSL guy. I need to glaze this down a little as the colour is too much.. some dark green on the edges should bring it back in line:









Thanks for looking guys hopefully I shall have some finished shots of these soon.

- Martok


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

nice work so far man. The only critique I had was that the OSL on the eyes seemed to be a bit bright, but you are sorting that already. The red on the armor is nice and muted but you still get a lot of the progression from shade to highlight. Looking forward to seeing more.


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Midge913 said:


> nice work so far man. The only critique I had was that the OSL on the eyes seemed to be a bit bright, but you are sorting that already. The red on the armor is nice and muted but you still get a lot of the progression from shade to highlight. Looking forward to seeing more.


Cheers buddy. I think I have worked out the issues with the OSL but that and the armour blend were my first attempts at either technique so it's all learning 

Hopefully I shall have some updates over the weekend as I have started playing around with the Dark Apostle.

- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Hey,

I have made some more progress with this army this time putting a HQ together. This guy will be my Dark Apostle:



















Let me know what you think and please give me some suggestions for something to put on his waist where the DA icon was removed.

- Martok


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## Kreuger (Aug 30, 2010)

These guys are looking pretty good.

I think a skull, chaos star, or leering daemon head would be best as a belt buckle.

I think you really need to address some of his other details though. The inside of his cloak clearly reads"imperator". And the trim on the out side of the cloak also has lots of little dark angel swords on it.
I also don't think the little rhino spikes/horns are working, they're far to simply, blocky and angular compared to the rest of the model.

You've done a really nice job so far removing DA details but I think you need to keep going a but further, and then start adding in more chaos details . . . 

Like chaosy trim on the shoulders.
More chaos details on the head & chest.
Etc.

Chaos is really in the details.

Good luck man!


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

I'm gonna follow this project.


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Kreuger said:


> These guys are looking pretty good.
> 
> I think a skull, chaos star, or leering daemon head would be best as a belt buckle.
> 
> ...


Thanks! I really appreciate the advice and I think you have convinced me to take him back to the work bench and rework him. Remove all the DA stuff that was left and then add in some details to give more of a Choasy vibe.

Those Rhino spikes were my first ever dabble with Plasticard and you have convinced me they were ill advised. I may just remove anything extra to the helmet as its a pretty nice bit as it is.



forkmaster said:


> I'm gonna follow this project.


Well then I best get working on these guys again for you!


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

So I have continued to work on anything but the stuff above. So I have some more WIP models this time some Bikers/Cavalry:




























These are still a WIP so any comments would be helpful to get these guys just right.

Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

I received quite a bit of advice with this guy and some suggested I should remove the words etc around the edge of the cape as they indicated Imperial Allegiance so that is gone. Does "feel" better this way. Also I added a Skull to cover up the DA icon on his waist. Most significant of all the changes however, was the Angelus Bolter in place of the Powerfist. This came about as I was unaware that Dark Apostles could not take anything from the Melee Weapon Wargear list.










I am glad for the advice received and I am very happy with the new look. He somehow looks more stocky without the fist? All in all I am happy with it and cannot wait to get paint on him.


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## Midge913 (Oct 21, 2010)

looking good mate. Looking forward to seeing the paint!


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Midge913 said:


> looking good mate. Looking forward to seeing the paint!


There is now paint on him.... however, I used the wrong paints so it is very different to the CSMs I started with... might have to strip one or the other 

I have been working on this model for about 2 years with very little time actually having been spent working on it. However, it is starting to get their. This Daemon Engine is affectionately called "The Freak" and is a Defiler with Power Scourge:




























He is still far from perfect but I think the weapon arms are almost done. The chimney sorts out this issues I was having building some kind of power supply/exhaust system.I think next to see some work will be the head as he needs to look far more Daemonic. The feet need widening, the shoulder pads need green stuff rivets and I am hoping to use the Braziers from the Warshrine on them:










I could see the front of the shrine making a good part for the Defilers head. Maybe even the Stone Horn's head?










I shall have to work something out soon as I really need this guy before I can think about playing a game with the Word Bearers.


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## Regnear67 (Mar 7, 2012)

very nice work


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Way to mix and match! Good job with the conversions and bitz choices.


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Thanks guys,

I have been putting paint to the Dark Apostle have a look and let me know what you think:










I am not sure about the cloak the purple does not seem to be working...

More pics on BLOODYdice

Martok


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## LegionThree (May 1, 2012)

I like the fact yo used a seperate color for the robes and cloak, helps the figure to pop a little more. Overall looks great man.


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

LegionThree said:


> I like the fact yo used a seperate color for the robes and cloak, helps the figure to pop a little more. Overall looks great man.


Thanks. Hopefully when I have blended in some highlights it should really pop!

In this post I am taking a slightly different approach to modeling Obliterators than usual.

I picked up the WFB Chaos War Shrine for some cool parts to go on my Defiler Biped and thought the Mutants would make for good Nurgle Obliterator stand ins. With a little bit of tweaking I have them to a playable state:
































I still have a lot of work to do on these... some cabling being a good start and also gap filling. Also after taking these pictures I noticed the Aquila on the Plasma Cannon so that is now gone.
Any thoughts on how I could integrate the weapons with the mutant?
- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

This long term project is starting to take shape with some dry fitting of parts in this post.
I finally received my bits order for the Stonehorn head. Currently it is just tacked on and I think I need to make some changes to get it to fit right.




























Any suggestions? I seem to be a bit snow blind by this thing at the moment.

- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

I have been plugging away at this Dark Apostle for awhile now. 
The blending was started with an airbrush with final highlights done with a brush:


















I really want to add some freehand on the cloak but thus far I have not found anything that I want to use. Annoyingly I have noticed the uneven surfaces from where I did not sand the modeling work smooth so i think I shall be finding some finer sandpaper now for future projects.

- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

I decided to pick up the Heldrake. After this thing literally cutting me while building it (so many spikes/blades) I put the airbrush coats of red down and I am now detailing. 

The silver detailing is taking a very very long time and I am really regretting the fact that I did not lay varnish down before starting as every mistake will need to be fixed at the end with a brush... I might put Varnish down tonight before doing any more actually. Here he is:



















These are obviously iPhone pics taken while I was at the FLGS I shall get some better pics when he has moved along a bit.

- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Finally I have an update!










Quick post today just to show what I have been working on this weekend. Above you can see the current state of my Chaos Lord for the Word Bearers army I am working on. Below is a First draft as it were while I played around with some alternative parts. Oddly, i bought the model as I thought the Deamonic Head would be perfect for Word Bearers and then after a few head swap tests I found the trusty Chaos Knight heads looked much more appropriate.










- Martok


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## VanAlberict (Mar 5, 2013)

Martok said:


> Any suggestions? I seem to be a bit snow blind by this thing at the moment.
> 
> - Martok


Loving everything youve done so far.
as far as things that could be done to this beast...
the chimney feels a tad tall, should be taller than the weapons but only just imo i like the empty shoulders looking forward to when theyre cleaned up.
the face will just look decorative if you dont give it a bottom half
and the feet look a little small, a set of drop down side clamps would work to fill them out on the foot thats in motion they can be folded up on the one thats on the ground theyd be down

thats all i got ^^ love the progress cant wait to see where you go with it from there


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

VanAlberict said:


> Loving everything youve done so far.
> as far as things that could be done to this beast...
> the chimney feels a tad tall, should be taller than the weapons but only just imo i like the empty shoulders looking forward to when theyre cleaned up.
> the face will just look decorative if you dont give it a bottom half
> ...


Thanks this is very helpful. He is currently on the "when i can bear to look at him" pile. Meaning I am working on smaller things.










I have been trying to push the boat out on the Word Bearers Conversions. Above is the finalized version of my Chaos Lord although I may consider adding a Trophy Rack to his backpack as no self respecting Chaos Warlord can go without a few loyalists skulls about his person. 










I saw this model and thought it would make a good Sorceror. My plan was to remove the freak from his side and covert it up as a more traditional model. However, when I started working on the model I jsut couldn't bring myself to do it. So now this guy shall be taking a Familiar as his wargear seeing as I have really warmed to the lil weirdo.










Next is a Chaos Champion Conversion. I had built and almost painted a squad of Word Bearers converted from Dark Angel Veteran Bodies but with the new Warriors of Chaos Conversions I have added to the army they just didn't fit in anymore (I shall be finishing them and putting them on Ebay though so if anyone wants them let me know).










I am really quite happy with this guy. Proper kitbash here with a variety of parts... head from Chaos Warshrine, body from Chaos Warriors, backpack and shoulder pad from Chaos Space Marines, claws from the Raptors and Legion pad is actually a Grey Knight pad (open book is the old Word Bearers symbol). 










Green stuff work was needed to patch up the hacked up areas of the Warrior of Chaos body. This will become a little more precise as I work through the models but I am quite happy with the result.










Personally I love the combination of the evil looking helmet and scissor hands claws. He screams Chaos Barbarian to me which is what I was aiming for.










I have had this banner from Tabletop art for a long time now waiting for the right project and this was perfect for the Word Bearers conversions. Only problem now is if I want another squad I need to find an equally epic Chaos Banner... anyone able to link me to something suitable?










Of course the mandatory full squad shot. Hopefully I shall have these guys up to a 10 man unit this eve and start work on the next squad.

- Martok


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## Dorns Legacy (Nov 9, 2012)

really love these conversions they have the correct word bearers feel to them cant wait to see some paint on these beasts


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Dorns Legacy said:


> really love these conversions they have the correct word bearers feel to them cant wait to see some paint on these beasts


I am much happier with these guys as you say they have that cross between fanatics and barbarians that had eluded me with the first attempt.

Base coats are down for most of the army but I do want to build the rest of the Marines in the style shown above. Then I can get their base coat down and paint the whole army as a batch (always fun..........).

- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

I have actually made some progress with the Word Bearers. After putting together the Chaos Lord my passion for the project has really kicked in. There is still a lot of work to be done and now I have some photos I am noticing a lot of areas that need fixing but he is progressing well.










As stated in an earlier post he is converted from the WFB Chaos Lord with some choice bits added to the model and the base adjusted for a 40k style round base.










For a change I have been doing my blending back to front on this guy. I usually work from low to high shading but this time I have started that way and then kept adding various washes (purples and blacks) to tone it all back down. Then adding highlights to keep the red popping. I felt that this was more appropriate for the Word Bearers as they are definintively Grim Dark.










The metallics followed a similar painting process as the armour (with Sepia and Black washes this time) at first I was ready to strip the model and start again but in the end it all pulled together (thankfully). It is funny how that happens quite regularly; a model appears completely trashed and then with a final wash/highlight it all works out. 










Here (and a few other places) you can see where I fixed some mistakes and now need to go back in with the washes again to finish the red (the barrel section on the backpack etc. The cloak is still in a primered state. I am looking at different ways to get a rich black cloth look but I shall take my time with it as rushing it will leave it somewhat lack luster and getting it right could really step up the final look.

Of course when almost everything is done I will be adding some scrawling text to the armour, however, I may paint the line infantry first and try it out on one of them. The text will be white so to shade the text ill need to add some really soft washes so testing that out will save some heartache.

- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

More progress on my Word Bearers Chaos Lord. Ignore some of the shiney bits these will be purged with a satin varnish at the end.










Pictures like these always show up issues so I shall be picking up a whole bunch of details now; I noticed a little red on the Silver trim... in between the horns is too dark etc etc.


























- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

​When I started the Word Bearers I picked up the Heldrake kit. After stabbing myself numerous times with various plastic blades that model has attached to it I ended up getting some paint down and everything was going well. I manged to get it tothisstage and then promptly fell out of love with the model entirely.

Something about it just didn't work with the Word Bearers... Daemon Engines are for the Iron Warriors and the like... Then I realised what I should do. The Word Bearers would use Deamons pure and simple. So With that in mind I started hunting for a valid kit to use as a Dragon/Daemon. After a short look around the GW site I decided on the Terrorgheist and I knew it was the winner.









With the kit in hand I had some decisions regarding which head to use etc.. I quite liked the bat like head as it made me think of a rodent... which given a Nurglesque paint scheme would fit quite well.

The real pain came from trying to attach the Drake to the base. I am not a big fan of The legs were slightly too far apart to perch on the Monolith. Therefore out comes the Green Stuff and I started hacking the joints to get it posed just right.








​The Monolith itself is from the Chaos Temple WFB terrain set. It was jsut teh right height to replace the flying base and as I am not a big fan of the flying bases as I think it creates a bit of a disconnect from the "realism" I am trying to create with my models. I see the base and the model are part of a diorama and a flying base breaks that illusion... however, for stuff that is actually in flight it is difficult not to use a flight stand... shall have to work something out for my next flyer 








The painting process took quite awhile but was relatively simple. I shall be Showcasing this guy when he is 100% done and I shall go deeper into the way I painted him. Essentially it was mainly preshading followed by light coats of the greens and then washes to dirty up and shade down the colours.

- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Another model on the painting table. Probably won't end up in any list and will hit ebay at some point. However, it was fun to paint:










- Martok


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## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I was quite sceptical when I saw the chaos lord to marine conversion but when there is paint on it it works really well. Nice work on the counts as hell drake as well, sooo much of a better mini to use than the "offical" one.


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Jacobite said:


> I was quite sceptical when I saw the chaos lord to marine conversion but when there is paint on it it works really well. Nice work on the counts as hell drake as well, sooo much of a better mini to use than the "offical" one.


With any luck I should be able to show off more of the Chaos Lord soon. He has taken alot of time to get done..


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Like my Plaguedrake I decided a more daemonic look would be better for a Word Bearers Forgefiend. The bonus of using the Vortex Beast/Slaughterbrute kit is that I only need to remove the vortex which is pinned and I can use it as a maulerfiend as well.










I was originally planning on adding OSL effects to teh upper body underneath the vortex. However, after realising that I could remove the Vortex to use the model as a Maulerfiend I decided duality was better than the striking effect this may have added to the model.










- Martok


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## Lemmy1916 (Jan 22, 2012)

Love the Freak man! looks pretty balanced (unlike a lot of kit bashed war engines) and i like the naturality of the pose
+rep


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## iamtheeviltwin (Nov 12, 2012)

That forge/mauler fiend screams chaos...I love the daemonic look you are putting together with this force.


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

I am joining a 40k Campaign at the FLGS and to enter you need to covert a Planetary Empire tile. As I have chosen to use this event as motivation to get the Word Bearers finished I made my tile themed for them.










I wanted a suitably moody looking tile. I dug deep in the bits box to find some fire and pieces of tech that could work as generators etc. The core of the piece is the cathedral/church which is actually a Monopoly Hotel (don't tell the girlfriend!).










I wanted this dramatic path up to the Cathedral so I used some green stuff to build up a hill and then started smoothing out a path and what could be stone work bordering the path. A landing pad was a must and had to be big enough for a Thunderhawk/Stormbird. I think especially in this scale it should be...










Next important point was a comms array and this came from a Landspeeder. My favorite part has to be the massive Icon to Chaos... I am considering attaching some kind of guide cables as being under that in the wind would be somewhat nerve racking.

Hopefully, this shall be painted up by Saturday for the start of the campaign. Between this and painting my army I think I will need a lot of caffeine and not a lot of sleep this evening!

- Martok


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

Fantastic stuff so far! Great conversions, highly chaotic themes, and excellent paint jobs, etc. Kitbashing Chaos is a skill near and dear to my heart, and your work here does the Dark Gods proud. Plus I'm glad to finally see somebody else using fantasy cavalry as Bikers...


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Mossy Toes said:


> Fantastic stuff so far! Great conversions, highly chaotic themes, and excellent paint jobs, etc. Kitbashing Chaos is a skill near and dear to my heart, and your work here does the Dark Gods proud. Plus I'm glad to finally see somebody else using fantasy cavalry as Bikers...


I had a lot of Fantasy Cav sitting in a box... it seemed rude not to... in fact most of this army (monsters aside) has been made using spares from my Space Wolf army. In fact thsi is probabaly the cheapest army I won lol.

[quote name="Apologist" post="3440488" timestamp="1377875002"]
Really imaginative conversion work, and lovely paintjobs, too. I spotted on Bloodydice that you go to BattleUX occasionally. A mate of mine goes along to that. Nice terrain at the club!
[/quote]

I do indeed! A couple of friends from different gaming groups I am involved with all came together to make BattleUX so it is fun for me as I used to plan things separately but now I can see them all at the same time.










I have been working feverishly to get these Word Bearers done. The big batch paint of about 100 models has now hit a point where I am picking up a unit at a time to finish off. Last night I managed to get the bikers to a point where I could varnish and leave them ready for a tournament this weekend. 










There is a lot more work to be done on these guys but for now they are ready to shed blood for Chaos.










I have to apologize for some particularly bad pictures as these were taken with my iPhone against some letters for a white background with barely any lighting and the varnish still wet and shiny... However, they do show where I am at pretty well. When I have all the blending perfected and pigments thrown on I shall do another post to showcase the unit (as well as a post show casing each unit of the army).

The first half of the blends are done which you can see has been quite roughly applied. Once the final purple wash goes on and then the bright red highlights it should make it pop nicely.










The bases are just some rough filler thrown onto a base with some bricks and skulls from Secret Weapon Miniatures and some stones I have stockpiled.










The Plasma Gun guys are a dirty kit bash but I think the gun is sufficient for the purpose.










I am not going to lie... these guys have been a pain and I have a great deal more respect for fantasy players getting huge blocks of cav painted as there is just so much detail going on.


- Martok


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

After the tournament Throne of Lolz a little while ago I decided upon some small list tweaks. First and foremost I wanted to drop the Forgefiend who gave up First Blood i think 4/5 games.. at the same time I wanted to change the Obliterators as I was not happy with the conversions I had made. Therefore I introduce you to the Sorceror Obliterators!










Now these guys have split opinion in my gaming group with some people loving them and getting the "magic weapon" idea. However, some cant see past a mace as anything but a mace.. it is a fair point and I am considering removing the top spike of each weapon and drilling it out to give it a gun barrel of sorts... However I am worried that might ruin the aesthetic. Again any opinions one way or the other?










As these conversions use Death Wing Knights as the base model I needed to do a lot of cleaning to remove the icons and in some cases I then needed to cover up the spaces where an icon had been. As can be seen above and below I did a little Green Stuff work to add braids where the Dark Angel icon had been. 










The shoulderpads for the most part I used WFB Chaos Knight shoulder pads as these are hands down one of my favourite conversion parts for 40k Chaos Marines... or pretty much any marine. I am always keeping an eye on bits sites restocking these. They add a gothic and brutal appearance to the model that would take a great deal of work to create myself.










The pads are great BUT they are hard to find as they sell out on bits sites very quickly. Therefore I used some Plasticard to make some pads of my own... not the best photo to illustrate.. 










It is worth noting I have left all of the Sword Icons on the Oblits (and they are noticeable on a number of my Word Bearers). I decided to use these to represent ritual blades as they have become a prevalent theme for the Word Bearers in the Heresy books.










Finally I had a crazy fun game on Sunday that went from me being 8-2 up on KPs to 8-8. Needless to say it was impressive. Above is a pic of a challenge from my Chaos Lord the Thresher of Souls against Mordrak. The Murder Sword came up trumps in that instance 

- Martok


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## Dorns Legacy (Nov 9, 2012)

i love those chaos deathwing knights,the hooded heads fit that "evil that lurks within" feel, i'm toying with the idea of converting that boxset myself for my BT's when i eventually get back home to paint again  its been months since i was able to sit at my painting desk.

Why does life have to always get in the way of hobbying  oh well only 2 months of working away left to go and when i get home ill have 10 Square meters of foamboard and all the correct tools for making a gaming board waiting for me and my son (providing he hasnt started without me )


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## Martok (Oct 31, 2012)

Dorns Legacy said:


> i love those chaos deathwing knights,the hooded heads fit that "evil that lurks within" feel, i'm toying with the idea of converting that boxset myself for my BT's when i eventually get back home to paint again  its been months since i was able to sit at my painting desk.
> 
> Why does life have to always get in the way of hobbying  oh well only 2 months of working away left to go and when i get home ill have 10 Square meters of foamboard and all the correct tools for making a gaming board waiting for me and my son (providing he hasnt started without me )


Sometimes it is good to have these breaks. When you get back everything is ready to go whereas when your consistently working on stuff you always seem to be waiting for a part for a tool or the right weather to varnish etc etc.

Funny you should say that about the hooded look.. my idea is to use some OSL to give an warp glow under the hood. These guys are up to no good!


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