# Of iron, flesh and runes - the Apocalypse armsrace



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

*Hephesto's numerous WIPs*

Alrighty time for me to get started on the apocalypse armsrace project over at astro. I'll be participating with various stuff and naturally I'll keep you guys updated as well. In fact this project would work great here as well!

The plans;
- iron warriors + traitor guard (with a very good chance of more tanks and artillery after the original armylist is done)
Right now the idea is 2000 points of IW combined with 1500 points renegades who are also seperately playable. And I'm pretty sure I'll eventually get to a baneblade, especially since the apocalypse rules allow chaos to take traitors versions of all imperial special stuff. Which would mean the most basic banebalde of 500 points would be avaible to me.
- tyranid swarm of not yet completely decided size or composition.....lets just say it will get big!


So this is my first tiny update to give a bit of an overview of what you can be expecting from me;
- rebasing and partially reworking my iron warrios
- chaos vindicator (unless I decided to get the linebreaker box I'll convert my own)
- small elite renegade forse (grenadiers, forgeworld kits, 1 former iron warrior basilisk , 2 new russes and converted rough riders)
- spawn - cybernetics will be added to better fit with iron warriors
- converted termies (have 4-5 plastic loyalists, time to start building)
- new stuff (csm, possessed, termy lord and spawns have been ordered....as well as a small DE BFG fleet)
- hordes of slimy red tyranids joined by a trygon and mieotic spore sacs (about to order thanks to a mate's help)
- will probably rebase them as well (urban jungle theme, with extra special thanks to two other mates for the inspiration)
- worked out background story
- a combined update each month for both sides striving to get the 300+ points extra added to both sides (although once I get to spine gaunts it might be a bit less on the nid side

Starting next week I when I get back home I'll get working on the IW and I'll start putting up pics and converion stuff.


Cheers,


-Hephesto-


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Alrighty, time for some pics of some of the stuff I'll updating/expanding on for my Iron Warriors;

The Basilsk that will now serve the IW's traitor guard allies









Awaiting a much needed update, the defiler









Dakron the dreadnought









Some csm, will add new ones, clean up old ones and replace 5-10 of them with new conversions.









More and new stuff should be going up somewhere next week :wink:


----------



## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

Looks cool. One question though. I've never heard of Tyrannids as being allied to anoyone or anything on the same table. 
Wouldn't the bugs devour anything they can kill, regardless of "sides"; they would be as likely to assault CSM as much as SM, Traitors or Loyalists because non-nids are all essentially considered food?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

True, I was playing on going 3500 points of chaos/traitors and 3000+ points of nuds. Although the new allies sheets does make it possible to ally chaos and nids......and necrons as well :shock:


----------



## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

I'm hoping folks will avoid too many of the oddball alliances. Apocalypse seems to allow pretty much anything, which is cool, and a bit scary.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Indeed posted uop the very badly readable pic in the rumors lists. Everything can pretty much ally with the only real restriction being having a good reason for the alliance, goodbye fluff and hello complete mad powergaming :wink:

Still for people keeping things reasonable it should be very cool, with some even pretty good things. And I'm not just saying that because chaos can use chaotified versions of all imperium datasheets  

Actually very pleased to see different levels of hugeness, with most of the currently circulating having a small version of say 3 tanks and a larger version of a complete tankcompany for example.


----------



## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

Oh yeah, I'd love to see all sorts of IG and imperial stuff...totally taken over by chaos forces, or under their sway fighting astartes or IG, or daemonhunter/ witchhunter forces.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thats pretty much the idea here, IW supported by an elite, artillery and heavy support traitor regiment with some ood conversion things thrown in. Already thinking about making ,streamlined blitzkrieg versions of the lemann russ tanks, pics will be up next week as I'm still stuck at another university until monday.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Might as well put up the planned traitor guard list;

Traits:
- grenadiers
- storm troopers
- carapace armour
- rough riders


TRAITOR GUARD

HQ
Senior Officer
+ power weapon
+ veteran medic
+ carapace armour
+ autocannon
106 points

Fire Support Team
+ 2 autocannons
+ 1 heavy bolter
+ carapace armour
110 points

Sentinel Support Team
+ 2 autocannons
100 points

TROOPS
+ 10 stormtroopers
+ 2 grenade launcher
116 points

TROOPS
+ 10 stormtroopers
+ grenade launcher
+ plasmagun
118 points

TROOPS
+ 9 stormtroopers
+ meltagun
+ grenade launcher
+ veteran sergeant
+ powerweapon
+ chimera
+ extra armour
+ heavy bolter
+ smoke launchers
207 points

FAST ATTACK
+ 2 sentinels
+ 2 multilasers
90 points

FAST ATTACK
+ Hellhound
115 points

FAST ATTACK
+ 6 rough riders
+ hunting lances
+ veteran sergeant
+ carapace armour
92 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
+ basilisk
+ indirect fire
120 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
+ leman russ battle tank
+ heavy bolter
+ heavy bolter sponsons
+ extra armour
+ smoke launchers
163 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
+ leman russ battle tank
+ heavy bolter
+ heavy bolter sponsons
+ extra armour
+ smoke launchers
163 points

1500 points


----------



## DaemonsR'us (Jan 25, 2007)

sometimes i really wish i understood the layout of the IG 'dex better :lol:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

DaemonsR'us said:


> sometimes i really wish i understood the layout of the IG 'dex better :lol:


Know what you mean, first time I read it things were an absolute mess....and they still are. When ever they'll get a new dex people will be hit hard with what I expect will be an absolute disappearance of doctrines and command support staff :roll:


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Love your basy heph - great idea to use the Defiler mouth on the barrell. your dread looks mean as well - very in character for the IW.

Any ideas on how you are going to do up the IG yet? - are they going to be all meched up - trying to imitate the IW's or are you going just crazy cult?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Jacobite said:


> Love your basy heph - great idea to use the Defiler mouth on the barrell. your dread looks mean as well - very in character for the IW.
> 
> Any ideas on how you are going to do up the IG yet? - are they going to be all meched up - trying to imitate the IW's or are you going just crazy cult?


I will indeed be going for a mech look, but quite a bit of cybernethic implants and such. And most other things I'll be using these FW kits;

renegade militia conversion kit

renegade militia crew

Not quite sure about their colour but as the vehicles will be heavily IW themed I'm guessing they'll end up rather dark with a good chance of an earth-tones and metallics combo. Might even end up using my now obsolete CSm lieutenant as the officer.

More to come soon on these guys, unfortunately I have to wait for a buddy of mine to get back from vacation. Forgeworld for some reason doesn't accept my creditcard/bank (I'm in a very short list of other countries that they don't accept), but once he's back he's just going to order in from the UK and send it to me.


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Nice choices heph. Are you going to combine them with Catachan or Cadians?

Pity about your credit card. Two words for you though: Road Trip  

You, at least, are actually close enough to go and phsyically get the things if need be - I'm forced to rely on the postal system.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Lol, being forced to go to a UK gamesday 'only' to get some FW kits......might be a good idea for next year :wink:

Not entirely sure about the plastic kit yet, will probably end up with Cadians as catachans are a bit to feral looking to go with IW. Naturally I'll have the add a touch of chaos and a pinch of renegade in there, but that shouldn't be too big a problem. Once I get those FW kits, I'll only have to buy two boxes of infantry and a 3 weapon team box and I'll have everything needed for the traitors :mrgreen: 

Now to hope that it won't take to long....luckily I have tons of chaos boyz and scuttling nids to go if I do have to way. And in two weeks the new chaos stuff I ordered should be dropping in....and a very tempting small Dark Eldar BFG fleet :wink:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

And finally that new Inquisition artbook and the art of warhammer......resisted placing a new GW UK order for nearly half a year now...can't...hold..back...anymore..... :mrgreen:

Especially after seeing the pdf black library put up a while back;

art of warhammer sample pages

the inquisition sample


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I have the Inquistion book and I've been kinda disappointed in it. Its kinda just like a whos who of Eisenhorn and Ravenor tbh. Its got interesting titbits in it but it an't amazing.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Mmmhh, already know quite a bit about inquisitorial characters and such...still the artwork alone is very cool. Just have to wait two weeks, luckily the art of warhammer book will make up for anything that might be a bit of a disappointment :wink:


----------



## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

*Slightly* off topic, but... some of those renegades look like moomins!

:cyclops:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Finally figured out my IW list.....tough nut to crack though. As I wanted to keep it fluffy the new codex has thrown up quite a few nasty roadbloack, but in true mad max style I've managed to get through them  

Keeping away from daemons, daemonic stuff and most fast attack, while at the same time working with what I have and some new stuff I've managed to come up with this list. Special thanks to a mate over at astro for helping me make the last decision of the second termy unit!


*HQ*
Chaos lord (the armourer)
+ daemon weapon (undivided)
+ personal icon
135 points


*ELITES*
DREADNOUGHT (Dakron)
+ plasma cannon	
105 points

5 TERMIES 
+ reaper autocannon	
+ powerfist 
+ champion 
+ combi-meltagun (m)	
200 points

6 TERMIES 
+ champion 
+ combi-weapon (m)	
+ heavy flamer 
200 points



*TROOPS*

CSM 
- 9 
+ champ / powerfist / meltabombs (Valdrek or old lieutenant)	
+ flamer 
+ chaos rhino 
+ icon of chaos glory 
230 points


CSM
- 10 
+ 2 plasma guns 
+ asp champ(Bellak) + twin-linked bolter
+ icon of chaos glory 
210 points

CSM
- 10 
+ lascannon 
+ asp champ (Menkar) + power weapon	
+ icon of chaos glory 
210 points

10 CSM 
+ plasmagun 
+ aspiring champion	
+ twin-linked bolter
+ missile launcher	
+ icon of chaos glory	
205 points


*FAST ATTACK*

2 SPAWN 80 points


*HEAVY SUPPORT*

HS- HAVOCS
- 5 
- 2 missile launchers	
- 2 autocannons	
155 points

OBLITERATOR CULT
- 2 obliterator 
150 points

CHAOS PREDATOR
+ tank 
+ heavy bolters 
+ havoc launcher	
120 points


HQ I
ELITES III
TROOPS IIII
FAST ATTACK (I)
2000 points
62 minis


Pics, fluff and conversion stuff should be going up within the next couple of days 

Post edited by: Hephesto, at: 2007/09/05 04:57


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

*It has begun - "Iron Within, Iron Without"*










After a long journey the Iron Host of the Armorer had finally made landfall on the besieged Imperial outpost of Gadarek. For months now its defence forces had desperately fought the invading Iron Warriors, even managing to stand their ground. 

This however mattered not, as the enemy held on to the last crumbling remnants of the single hive city on the planet the Iron Warriors did what they did best. Every conquered building, every city grew into a superbly defended encampment. It would only be a matter of time before they would be able to bring their full might and fury to bear against the misguided defenders. The Imperial defenders' unwillingness to retreat would be their undoing as the newly arrived warsmith ordered his corrupted techmarines and perverted servitors to begin construction on a gargantuan task in the Arvadus industrial region.
______________________________________________________


Time to get this thing going, as I do not know all the nids details yet and I don't have the neccessary FW bits I've opted to start out with the Iron Warriors.

The work has begun and I've decided to put the point meter at 0, which I know is a bit of cheating as I'm updating a large section of my old army to start of. But as I'm aiming for 7000 points in a year (seperate nids and chaos army) I'd best get any advantage I can get :wink:

So from today I'll be updating and adding new stuff to my Iron Warriors, hopefully finishing several squads by the time my GW order with a new lord, possessed and spawns. First up are my obliterators, dreadnought and havocs;









And since the basing isn't my idea I also would like give a big 'thank you' to Ocelot and Colonel Tempest for getting me started on the nearly finished urban basing article. That combined with their cool army setting hase given me great ideas for my bases. I was planning on going urban, but since I'll be doing nids as well (who get a planet's flora to go insane) it would be cool to have an urban wasteland that is lowly being consumed by the plantlife. Simply using green stuff, various mixed types of scatter and left over bits you get stuff like this;









And thanks to the excessive use of too thick chaos black paint its also very easy to create cool effects like bulks;









That is it for now, more to come during the weekend :wink:


----------



## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

Whoa...seriously nice dude!
Beautiful work.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks, hoping to get a good load of 'work' done this weekend. 

By starting with redoing the stuff I already have I can get a nice headstart.....300+ points for two armies every month is a pretty daunting task. Especially if you plan to use spinegaunts :mrgreen: Let the insanity commence!

If things go right I should have something in the direction of a 1000 points done by the end of the month and my first real update.....with loads of halfdone conversions as I still need to work out my FW order (damned FW doesn't take my bank's creaditcard for some reason. Luckily a buddy offered to help out, but he's extremely busy right now), fluff and Horus knows what else.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Time for an update on the IW (Nids and traitors coming soon!). The first unit, my old and trustworthy havocs, have been updated;


















Took a bit more time then I had anticipated but I think, as the needed quite a bit of work on the bases and very much needed touch-ups. I've finally recaptured something of my old momentum. So if things go alright, they will have company very soon! 

I'm also very pleased with how the bases turned out with all the vines and little plants growing on them;


















So 1 unit (re)done, time for the next one, my obliterators and a sneak peek at and early wip chaos termy;


















But enough from me for now, still have a chaos dread base to build, texture and adding GS plants to the obliterators and the dread bases. 



-Point-o-Meter-
___155/6500+___


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Those bases look amazing dude. In fact the whole army looks great. So looking forward to seeing what you will do with the nids and the Tratiors.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Time for another quick update...planet Gadarek is about the get a lott more unwanted visitors. Contact as been lost with the nearby Amedis system, the last garbled reports give details on infighting, the very civilians rising up, driven forth by an unnatural beastial rage. Colonel-commissar Naharaz, the highest officer after the high command was whiped out by the renegade Haroken guard, is now left to his own devices as the Iron Warriors slowly, but surely close in on the last Imperial stronghold. Unaware of the dangers that are moving against him from beyond the system...and amongst his own ranks.
_________________________________________________________________________________










Just a few quick pics of the progres;
- Obliterors and dread are nearly completely based
- The rhino squad is getting touch-ups and some new shiny bases, as you can see 2 years of gaming has ended up giving a few of them detaching-limb-syndrome




























Time to take a rest and ponder upon ye olde times, times when stuff like zoats and squats still walked/hobbled around. One of my favs of these older days is without a doubt the genestealer cult, so in rememberance of them I plan to add hybrids and various infected organisms to this army. Luckily I re-discovered some old minis who will work great and will explain the hive's unnatural knowledge of the planet's layout.


















And to prepare for the spore sacs, enough bio-acid mines to cover all possible events when the sacs will go 'bang' and it starts raining lovely bio-acid :wink:









Well that is it for now, more in a few days!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

*Say hello to my little friends*










Better pics will go up tomorrow I think, but here's an update on the nids. Starting with some dynamic Spinegaunts, with some suspiciously human looking creatures in their mids.


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Nice to see those old Hybrid minis Heph. Its going to be an awesome thing to see that many nids streaming accross the table.


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

That Ripper coming outa the pipe is priceless! - Great stuff dude - nice to see the old stuff as well.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks guys, hoping to build quite a few more things this week. And get paint and stuff done next week as to reach my point aim for the first month :wink:

I'll keep you updated!

And there will be more old stuff popping up, stuff like and old genestealer patriarch, old pewter warriors a walking zoanthrope and some other bits and pieces. Keeping my eye on ebay as well, saw some old rippers and more genestealer cult on there. Time to start spending that hard earned cash again!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Ah time for the first update, the meter is still pretty low for me. Just 155 points done, but by the end of the week this will be a few hundred more as I have several hundreds worth of minis just needing a few minor details for their completion. (fluff will follow soon as the forum seems to have troubles with long posts and I do not want to split it up)

But here’s the main overview/plan so far;
1. 2000 (+) points of Iron Warriors
2. 2000 (+) points of Haroken traitor guard
3. 3000 (+) points of tyranids


*1. IRON WARRIORS*










With the new codex I could hardly resist revamping my Iron Warriors and it turns out I have plenty of points left to add new stuff. So first up is the armylist, which proved quite a challenge. Fitting in all my current stuff wasn’t much of a problem, but somehow keeping in the IW flavour was a whole different matter. Not only did I loose the Basilisk, the defiler also no longer fitted the cold, calculated methode of the IW. So instead I’ve gone with a very solid core of csm, supported by some heavy artillery and a group of new, shiny terminators.

HQ
1. The armourer + daemon weapon + personal icon = 135 points


ELITES
1. Dakron (dreadnought) + plasma cannon = 105 points

2. Terminators (5) + reaper autocannon + power fist + champion + combi-meltagun = 200 points

3. Terminators (6) + heavy flamer + champiob + combi-meltagun = 200 points


TROOPS
1. CSM (9) + icon of chaos glory + flamer + champion + power fist + meltabombs + chaos rhino = 230 points

2. CSM (10) + 2 plasma guns + icon of chaos glory + champion + twin-linked bolter = 210 points

3. CSM (10) + icon of chaos glory + lascannon + champion + power weapon = 210 points

4. CSM (10) + plasma gun + missile launcher + icon of chaos glory + champion + twin-linked bolter = 205 points


FAST ATTACK
1. Chaos spawns (2) = 80 points


HEAVY SUPPORT
1. Havocs (5) + 2 missile launchers + 2 autocannons = 155 points

2. Obliterator Cult (2) = 150 points

3. Chaos predator + heavy bolter + havoc launcher = 120 points

TOTAL 1995 points

I already have many idea for that to do with stuff like vehicles and new units, but more on that in a few weeks. I of course wouldn’t want to leave you guys without some new pics though. So here’s the first wip terminator group;











*2. HAROKEN TRAITOR GUARD*

Still al just ideas on paper, but they should become quite impressive. I’ll use forgeworld renegade kits in combo with the Iron Warriors fluff to create a versatile, elite force The armylist is still somewhat under construction as I’ve just discovered the sentinel variants from the Taros campaign book, so changes will still occure. But so far the following doctrines will be used;
- grenadiers
- carapace armour to give evrybody stormtroop grade protection
- rough riders
- and another one I can’t remember right now, must be my age getting to me

Quick pic of the first few bits and pieces coming together to create a destroyer type of leman russ adaptation


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

*3. TYRANIDS*











Work on the nids is began anew as well, the first few are nearing completion. The armylist is also still a WIP as I’ve not really figured out what I exactly have and want to add. Certain right now is the inclusion of loads of gaunts, sporesacs and a mighty trygon. My carnifex is also nearly reworked, the gaunts are amassing and some other heavy hitters are starting to show up as well.



















And finally I’ve gotten my feeding tendrils on some old school nids bits, some old warriors and one of those old walking zoanthropes;











*End note and the future*

So that’s it for this month, just need to get my display cases sorted and I’ll be ready to start adding loads of new apocalypse themed stuff. So hopefully next month will see and explosive increase in stuff. At least it will see a lott of new build stuff, that much I can garantee!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

The fluff:

With some brute force the small datadisc was shoved into the arcane datadecriptor and within seconds the machine broke the layers of security seals placed upon the files it contained. Moments later the holoprojectors came to life as they had done for centuries and those gathered in command post could see the shape of a man’s face slowly forming. A slender and young face slowly came into focus, his right eye replaced by an intricate bionic implant, his garments that of an officer of the Imperial Guard. With a clear voice he begun speaking 

– Herein contained lies the personal journal of lieutenant Ignatius Cadhran, attache to colonel Sevarus of the Urakan 147th Imperial regiment. 

The image warped as the damaged holoprojectors struggled to link the next journal entries.

- Day 1 – Day 2 – Day 3 – Day 7 – Day 12 – Day 12 – Day 12 – Day 17 –Day 23 – Day 29 – Day 33 – Day 34 – Day 38 – Day 42 – Day 44 – Day 44 – Day 45 – Day 51 – Day 57 – Day 60 – Day 61 – Day 62- Corrupt datafiles – unable to retrieve source coding –

- Day 63 - After nearly two months of journeying through the Warp we have finally reached our destination. Our small battlefleet from Urakan has arrived at the Metadis staging point, from here we’re set to strike deep into the neighbouring Gadarak system. Though intel is still dodgy, I believe even the colonel is not fully aware of all the details, it is however certain that we’re going straight into the thick of it. For nearly three years now the system has been at the mercy of pirates, raiders and worse. …no matter, with the Emperor’s grace we will be victorious. –

-Day 67 – Our fleet grows with each day, the strikeforce now counts over a dozen battleships. The strategic meeting I attended this morning with the colonel finally revealed our true purpose here. Thanks to the daring works of agents of the Ordos Hereticus a major Chaos cult has been identified in the Gadarak system. Our task is to cut this foul cancer from the Imperium once and for all and we will do this by directly striking at the root of this heresy: Gadarak Prime. –

- Day 68 – It has begun, in five hours our forces will spill over into the Gadarak system. A small strike force under the command of lord-commander Harand will strike at Gadarak Prime. We will break the back of this rebellion in a few week and with it the morale of heretical forces in the entire system. –

-Day 69 - Unable to retrieve source coding – Corrupt datafile –

- Day 70 – All went as planned, though the Emperor’s Retribution suffered heavy damage the rest of our strike force has made it through Gadarak Prime’s orbital defences. The battle in space will undoubtably continue for another day or two, but our forces are more than a match for the few remaing defence cruisers. Upon landfall fully 20 regiments set off to reclaim this world in the Emperor’s name. Resistance so far has proven as mild as this world’s sunny climate. –

- Day 72 – One by one the enemy’s defensive positions fall as our forces push on to what seem to be the centre of this rebellion; the planet’s sole hivecity. Though our progress is beyond expectation and our wildest imagination the colonel is as grim as ever. He keeps warning the other officers that in his time he has seen more traps than he’d care to remember. A warning left unheeded by lord-commander Harand who’s only goal seems to be to crush the enemy as quickly as possible. In fact as a result his regiments are found at the front of nearly every fight and let’s just say that their unwillingness to take prisoners is proving quite a nuissance to the boys over at intelligence. –

- Day 78 – Only been here eight days and already this place is starting to bug me, damned flies and those boggy sections of jungle we need to cross to retake some backwater fuelling station. And it could be me, but it feels like his place has gotten a lott warmer in the last few days. Luckily its not all just a waste of time, our men did us proud and took the station securing a refuelling route to the hive. –

- Day 79 – Day 80 – Day 81 - Corrupt datafiles – unable to retrieve source coding –


The datadecriptor seemed to stall as nervous hands hastingly made modifications until the holoprojection of lieutenant Cahdran could be seen again. Scarred and visibly exhausted the Imperial Guard officer continued.


- Day 83 – Lies…all lies, we’ve been betrayed. This entire campaign is no more than some dark trap, a trap which will be our undoing. When we finally took the hive, we found ourselves surrounded by countless enemy forces who appeared as if from nowhere. I, and the intel staff with me, can only conclude this was all an elaborate setup. Now cut of from reinforcements, supplies and aerial support he have but one choice. Dig in and stand our ground until relief forces will arrive from the rest of the fleet or from the neighbouring Amedis system. –

- Day 85 – All communications to Amedis so far have failed and matters grow even more dire. These traitor’s true masters have shown their face. We do not merely fight cultists and traitors, we face enemies whose roots go back ten millennia. The heretic, metallic boots of the Chaos marines from the Iron Warrior legion now march against us. Most of the men have never even seen a normal space marine let alone such infamous creatures as the Chaos marines. The effect on their moral is severe, though I’m certain the commisariat will deal with this matters with the uttermost devotion –

- Day 86 – Day 88 - Corrupt datafiles – unable to retrieve source coding –


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

The fluff part 2 (sorry, was too long for a single post):

- Days 91 – Emperor curse the Haroken, our strongest, most loyal, allied regiment went renegade today. For reasons unknow the entire regiment turned their guns against our forces, costing us a large segment of the eastern defenses. In the confusion they did more damage than any cultist attack could have done. Their forces were spread out throughout the eastern outposts and as such they took out the entire communication and resupplying system in a single attack. Most terrible of all this betrayal has an even higher prize. Lord-commander Harand and nearly his entire staff were killed in a suicide attack by these cursed Haroken. A small group of their cavalry and snipers cut of the lord-commander’s escape route and finished them of before dying themselves at the hands of our stormtroopers. May the Emperor judge kindly upon the souls of his loyal subjects that were lost today. –

- Day 95 – We’re still standing out ground, but barely. The cultists though numerous are proving little problem, Chaos marines and Haroken are an entirely different matter. The Iron Warrior’s siege squads are slowly but surely pounding away at the city’s walls and it is only a matter of time for they will breach them. Those damned Haroken are proving to be the greatest challenge as the Iron Warriors seem to be primairily preoccupied with other matters, namely building their bizar towers and machines in the outskirt of the hive. Whereas Chaos marines can be expected to be formidable foes, they generally tend to stick to certain tactics and attack plans. The Haroken are entirely different, in the last few days they have launched lightning strikes, frontally assaulted defensive points, send in infiltrators and were even reported to be manning enemy artillery batteries….may the Emperor curse their souls forever for this treachery! –

- Day 103 – The end will come for us soon, communications with Amedis have been restored only in time to hear the tortured screams and final messages of a world being devoured by the Hivemind. The Tyranids have come and will consume us all, their pressence can already be felt here. Throughout the hive reports are coming in on men disappearing, sightings of strange creatures and irradic behavior from the few remaining, loyal locals. –

- Day 104 – The Iron Warriors and their allies have begun an allout assault on the eastern side of the hive, while in the west a xenos incursion has been detected. A single hiveship has prior to its destruction unleashed a deadly bombardment of spore mines and pods. Most of them containing only spores and acids, however some of them have been found empty, shredded from the inside. I fear the Tyranids have now joined this battle and it will not be long before the rest of the forces will come –

- Day 104 – The Iron Warriors have halted their shelling mere minutes prior to breaching the inner walls, for the life of me I can not understand why they hesitate when we’re at their mercy. This breach would have ment the end of the eastern defences and would have given them a direct route to both a major refuelling depo as well as the largest starport. –

- Day 105 – My suspicions seemed accurate as we were attacked from deep within the hive today, a wave of Tyranid bio-organism aided by hybrid humans assault our command post. Their agility and speed, especially in the dense walkways and streets of the innerhive proved extremely effective. The colonel is dead, so is the largest portion of the intel staff and many of the senior officers. The highest ranking officer is now also the chief-commissar; colonel-commissar Harazan. This attack was not entirely unexpected its form however was. Not only did these bugs seem to known the intricate layout of the innerhive, they also greatly deviated from Tyranid tactics as I’ve always learned them. Yes they did attack us in a wave, but not with great scytching claws in a wall of close quarter mayhem. They used those small, almost pistol-like, crystalshard shooting weapons, I feel tha….*%$...$()03#*$*)……*#%* - Fatal data failure – terminating datatransmission –



Breathing heavily, coughing up blood, his mind as broken as his bruized body Cadhran had gazed at his own journal. Barely able to stand, the man next to him being the only thing preventing him from collapsing. A few harshly shouted orders later his holographic counterpart reappeared.



- ……..D….ay….10….8 – This is it, my last transmission…..last raid damaged the recorder’s dataprocessor beyond anything I can hope to repair. Doesn’t matter, I won’t last much longer anyway. If this infected wound doesn’t kill me those traitors or bugs will do it. We’re completely surrounded, the walls have fallen, the bugs are raining from the skies…..the very jungle is clawing it’s way into these ruins. Still we’re the Imperial Guard, so we’ll fight for the Imperium and the Emperor’s might. We’ll stand our ground and die standing! My biggest comfort is knowning that those bugs will happily deal with the traitors on this world, especially the Haroken! So let them come we’ll show them how real…..^&#^^#<<<…,[email protected][email protected]$....22 – End of datastream – ending transmission –



The heavily armoured glove grabbed the datadisk from the desciptor and tossed it towards Cadhran,

‘A most amusing trinket my young guardsman, you are indeed not wrong. The end has come for your men, but it will be at our hands’

The Haroken guard standing next to him pulled Cadhran’s head up so he could see the heavily scarred and with bionics riddled face of the chaos marine standing in front of him. Screeching out an incomprehensible sentence the traitor addressed his master.

‘Indeed Haroken, he will make an excellent candidate. Take him to genitor Magrandis for preparation, I will personally oversee the rest of the proces.’


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks Logan, just need to get my painting rhythm back and I'll be all set. Have loads of crazy ideas so far, time to find out how many of them I can actually do;

Nids
- have a bunch of crazy ideas for the bases of the spore mines that come from the sporesacs
- looking forward to spinerippers!
- hybrids mixed with gaunts
- devourergaunts may very well become genestealer/human hybrids
- scratch build winged hive tyrant (should be a real learning project for me)
- some old school mini like old warriors and zoanthrope
- the defense laser is also very tempting. Either for my renegade guard or maybe as a total conversion of some nid bio-titan

Chaos/traitor guard
- cyber spawn (no idea how yet, time will tell)
- siege pattern tanks (maybe using idea from the new codex - IW carry trophies of destroyed cities on their vehicles)
- enclosed medusa siege cannon
- support sentinels
- converting a chaos rhino into a predator tank
- csm squad from heresy online's own chaos army (if we can finally decide on the colourscheme etc ; ) )
- converted rough riders
- traitor command squad including some unique minis such as a converted medic/surgeon, a senior officer/arch heretic and his pet ambul:


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Jesus you are a busy man Heph.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

I try to keep myself busy yes....I can only hope that actually finishing any stuff from this list will not take me as long as it took to actually make the list.

Still should be an interesting few weeks from now on!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Time for another quick update!










First of I discovered a major, major mistake in my nids list....giving a carnifex rending claws, what was I thinking. So after a crazy apocalypse filed day (huge game at the local store, more FW stuff than I've ever seen) I got home with some new goodies. Starting with a carnifex which was missing the large bio-weapons sprue. So I had to go scrounging and I eventually ended up with this still WIP critter;


















Since I had no large adrenal gland spare I'm forced to go with small ones, which actually look kinda cute...in a slimy way of course.









And thanks to wonderfull ebay and a mate's help I now have a big loads of termagants and 16 gargoyles. Getting enough fleshborers is still a bit of a problem at the moment, but I still need 2-3 extra gaunt boxes so it should work itself out in the next 1-2 months'









But wip pics are all great and such, but what about finished stuff. Well if all goes as planned I should have some new large critters and maybe the touchedup chaos lord done tomorrow.

So time to get to bed early so I can wake up at a decent hour tomorrow and get to work.....and clean up this sprue littered room.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Alrighty, still nothing finished yet....12 hour research shift kind of kicked the focus and concentration I need for the bases out of me :wink:

Still I do have a nice, new thingy. Recently made a great trade with Vash, my unused Slaanesh stuff for various bits and pieces from him. Well I say bits and pieces, but I'd better say bucketload of cool stuff. Too much cool stuff to all type, so here the list with favs:
- old wood elf hawk
- some very nice colums for a scenery project
- some FW respirator heads
- classic IG standard bearer
- classic 40K beastman
- superb modellingknife
- tons more :wink:

And finally a very cool one fueldump piece, so a bit of gravel, some GS later it ends up looking like this. Will serve as an objective or counter for a cities of death type of games...or just as 'bling' for the army:










Not quite sure yet of what colours I'll use to paint them, probably metallics. However any suggestions are more than welcome!

More pics of actually finished stuff coming soon, as well as more pics of a fully assembled second carnifex, rebased carnifex, hive tyrant and some new tyrant guard :grin:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Had a tiny bit of time before I start another uni-filled day, so a rummige through ye olde bits box as yielded some nice finds. Using some leftover arms and a recently bought old school zoanthrope I've build myself a nice little spiderthrope. Started out as an idea for a counter like the fuel dump, but it is just way too cool not to actually use. So this critter wil stand in as the third zoanthrope in my list, though they normally just float I figured a scuttling spider variant would work fine as well. As long as it is slimy and scary everything pretty much works for Nids :wink:

He still needs a ton of work and greenstuff, but I just couldn't resist posting up a pic right away!


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Love it Hephesto, very reminiscent of Starship Troopers.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Hadn't even thought about that, you're completely right! Started out by just putting together the classic mini, but that looked a bit too old school for my taste. The rest of the bits will find a purpose, but this just seemed like a better idea (in my wisted imagination of course :wink for such a terror tactics unit!


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Oh that is so so Starship Troopers heph. Its great. Still keeping momentum then? - How you find time to do this I don't know.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Finally, yes finally finished some nids. Two lovely raveners and two menacing zoanthropes to start of the red horde! So that makes 385 of 6500+ points done, on to the next ones.

Sorry about the pic quality, my lighting, camera and photographing talents aren't all that great. Rather a shame the red now looks so damn flat, I'll have to get some more pics tomorrow.

But on to some visual stimulation, first up the zoanthropes;








And the second one:

















Next the raveners, love their sculpt. Such detail and such a savage feel:

























I also put together a checklist today which should help keep me motivated. And finally that blank piece of ugle wall is being used for something productive:









And finally I organized some old bits and did some minor work on the spiderthrope:


















Well that's it for now, expect more stuff in a few days. Until then happy gaming, working and naturally general life!


Cheers,


-Hephesto-


----------



## Hespithe (Dec 26, 2006)

Very nice! The slime looks great.


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

mmmmmm visual stimulation.

Nice paint heph i really like the green ichor effect on these nasty ol bugs.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Time for another update, my old Iron Warrior warsmith (the Armourer) has finally gotten that much needed upgrade and touch up. With loads of extra highlights, a servoskull and a spiffy new backpack he's ready to lead the iron host once more;



















On a related note I think it is time for me to look into getting some better lighting as my pics aren't doing the mini's any justice :wink:

So this fellow puts me at 520 0f 6000+, I have quite a few other irons in the fire right now as well. So this number should grow very quickly, in fact I may even get more stuff done tomorrow as I'm 'merely' updating some old IW at the moment. Which is naturally taking much longer than expected :wink:

I may even have something extra somewhere later tonight, that is if any of you (and me) can pull ourselves away from the game tonight!


----------



## DaemonsR'us (Jan 25, 2007)

War smith... so awsome.. sweeeet :drooling:


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Hammertime! class one Hephesto that backpack has come together well mate.


----------



## Initiate (Mar 25, 2007)

i love warsmiths they are just really awesome minis. You did them justice with the paint.


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Really nice conversion and fanatastic paint job mate. Love the front of his breastplate. Defiler gun mouth?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Time for two more updated minis: the obliterators;


















And that makes 670 of 6000+, I'll get there....eventually.

The big question is what to do next, especially since there's so much stuff still left to be done. So far I have the following lined up;
- rework the Tyrant and the new guards
- touch up and rebase the first csm unit and rhino
- expand the spinegaunts to the full 32, which means converting 8 more infected hybrids
- base and paint the chaos terminators
- rework my old carnifex
- finish building a second carnifex
- build the spore mine swarm needed for the spore sacs.
- get cracking on some traitor guard
- touch up and rebase the chaos dread
- convert a flying tyrant
- build the termagant swarm of 32
- build the gargoyles
.....and bucketloads more :drooling:

And finally the Traitor Guard list has been re-worked a bit, some minor changes. But I now also plan to include support sentinels (Taros campaign book) and an enclosed Medus siege gun:

DOCTRINES
- Stormtrooper Squadrons
- Rough Riders
- Carapace Armour
- Grenadiers

TRAITOR GUARD (1500)

HQ
Senior Officer
+ power weapon
+ veteran medic
+ carapace armour
+ autocannon
106 points

Fire Support Team
+ 2 autocannons
+ 1 heavy bolter
+ carapace armour
110 points

Sentinel Support Team
+ 2 multilasers
90 points

TROOPS
+ 10 stormtroopers
+ 2 grenade launcher
116 points

TROOPS
+ 9 stormtroopers
+ grenade launcher
+ plasmagun
108 points

TROOPS
+ 9 stormtroopers
+ meltagun
+ grenade launcher
+ veteran sergeant
+ powerweapon
+ chimera
+ extra armour
+ heavy bolter
+ smoke launchers
207 points

FAST ATTACK
+ 2 support sentinels
+ 2 multi rocket pods
110 points

FAST ATTACK
+ Hellhound
115 points

FAST ATTACK
+ 6 rough riders
+ hunting lances
+ veteran sergeant
+ carapace armour
92 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
+ basilisk
+ indirect fire
120 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
+ leman russ battle tank
+ heavy bolter
+ heavy bolter sponsons
+ extra armour
+ smoke launchers
163 points

HEAVY SUPPORT
+ enclosed medusa siege gun
+ extra armour
+ smoke launchers
163 points


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

The armour looks good on the Oblits but I am not too sure about the skin. The brownish colour doesn't thrill me, looks too......plain.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

The Wraithlord said:


> The armour looks good on the Oblits but I am not too sure about the skin. The brownish colour doesn't thrill me, looks too......plain.


It actually has quite a bit more depth than you can see from the pics. My photographing setup sucks big time, really need to look into new stuff one of these days. I have the same problems with the nids, the red looks pretty flat and that after hours of work and 5 layers of highlights and shades. Oh well can't have everything :eyebrow:

I'll try to do some reading up on taking pics like this, might just be doing something simple wrong.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

*Captain Castus wrote:*


> How about a 'group shot' of the 670 points together?
> For some reason I can't seem to get my pics right :eyebrow: The oblits' skin actually has quite a bit more depth than can be seen from the pics, although an exta touch indeed can't hurt.
> 
> So here are the updated pics, bit better still not entirely pleased with the pics though;
> ...


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

That is it, my camera is trying to push me over the edge. I've finished converting and painting the spiderthrope, but for the life of me I can't seem to get a decent pic down today. Both the mini inidivually and detailshot failed pretty badly, so for now you'll have to make due with these;










I am however very pleased with how the conversion turned out, the addition of old bits has really tunred this into something very special for me. 










So the nids now have some more warpblast and synapse power to them, time for a few more larger critters before I move onto the swarms. Time for a quick groupshot of the thropes;


















And since we all need our daily dose of oozing ichor;









Next up for the chopping blok are the tyrant guards;
- 1 just needs a new base and touchups
- 2 new ones will be added to give 1 of my 2 tyrants some more defence

I'm hoping to get most of the work on them done tomorrow, as well as some work on another oldtimer. So that makes 735 down......big chunk still left.

After that it is one to more swarmlike things and chaos boyz naturally


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

The spiderthrope has come really well Hephesto and the green gunge is very effective.

Give us a overall shot of the various armies so we can see how each force is growing.


----------



## torealis (Dec 27, 2006)

yes, awesome, awesome work, and really quick too..


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks guys, I really appreciate it!

I'll get some groupshots once the next thing is done, which will hopefully be tonight :wink:


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

That is some nice looking work Heph. Lots of work put into the models and it shows.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks a bunch Wraith, pretty much the nicest comment you could have given me!

Time for some extra bio-matter :wink:









It has been quite a busy and productive day. First of the work on the tyrant guards is coming along nicely, bases are all ready to go. as are the guards themselves;




















The legion is also slowly growing, my old rhino has been reworked. Same with the dread, which is still one of my fav conversions. This guy has seen so much action it is insane, this his his fourth or fifth incarnation into a chaos army. Pictures still aren't great, my apologies for that. But I think that my camera might actually be breaking down, either that or I've gone from halfdecent to downright nasty picture taking in a week;


















These new additions take the total to 875, still a very long way to go. But I do feel I'm making quite decent progress, especially when compaired to my normal sluggish work tempo :wink:

So next up are the Tyrant Guard and probably some more old Iron Warrior marines.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

I know not really related to this project at all, though I might find some purpose for some of this stuff. But I decided it was time for a pic of some sketch stuff, so here goes :yahoo:










I'm hoping that I'll eventually get to do some scenery as well and then some of these might find there way back into my 40K segment of life :wink:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Well time for a long overdue update, unfortunately last week has been so damn hectic I've not managed to build or finish anything new. I'm hoping the next week will be a tad milder on my 40K time.

I do have some good news, I've decided to add even more stuff to the various armies. So the reason behind the traitor guard's defection will be making an appearance; Arch Heretic Bhaladris and entourage. A fallen radical Inquisitor who is forever lost to the Imperium, I'm building everything that comes with him from scratch. The plans so far;
- Arch Heretic Bhaladris (corrupted armour etc)
- 2 acolytes (chaos minions)
- grenade launcher warrior (no idea what so ever on this fellow)
- combat warrior (domesticated Ambul)
- sage
- familiar
- 20 mercs / henchmen (count as inquisitorial stormtroopers - various races / regiments / origins)
- 3 daemonhosts (thinking of making them unbound/voluntary hosts)

So far the first acolyte is nearing completion and Bhaladris is coming together. But of trouble with his weapons, but I'll work it out eventually. Pics will have to wait till tomorrow I'm afraid, camerabattery is dead  

On another extremely positive note Indra from over at Astro has been helping me get a FW order through and he just got all my stuff. Just have to wait a bit for the last peice to arrive and I'll have a bunch of great extra stuff to give this project a real boost. To make matters even better I'm of from 18th december till januari 31st, so that should be a great periode. Especially when my new display cabinets will arrive :wink:


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I like the idea of the Fallen =I= Heph, very nice. I can't wait to see all this mate. Might give me some ideas for my own radical. Those ST's sounds great aswell.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks mate, I'll do my best to live up to your expactations :wink:

Two second removed from passing out, but here's a quick very WIP picture;










The acolyte is pretty much how I want him to be, actually ended up changing his wargear to fit the mini. He now has a stormshield and needlepistol, he needs just a few more tiny things and he'll be done.

Bhaladris is still very WIP;
- head needs work, probably some small horns or something
- sword needs a bit more detail
- stormbolter need te be converted to a psycannon
- chestlogo needs to be repaired/reworked
- back is still a mess, need some filling and some extra stuff

The Umbal is a classic and one of my favorite creatures from the old rogue trader manual. This is just basic assembly where I slightly changed to pose by moving the head and arms slightly higher. Still needs some detailing, like a control (arm)collar and maybe a spiky bit or two but he's getting there!


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Nice stuff as always H, looking forward to seing the paint on these.


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Very nice stuff Heph - really liking the =I=, I love the small armour plates on the sides of his legs. Horns would work really well - like the bare head from the Fanatasy Warriors of Chaos.

Is the breast plate a BT one?

Have you got any ideas about how your going to build up the psycannon?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks guys, with a bit of luck these guys should come together pretty fast!

@ Jacobite

I thought about that head and I should have one around, but for the life of me I can't seem to find the thing. Luckily a tiny bit of work on the chaos lord head should result in something cool as well.

The breastplate is indeed from the BT upgrade sprue, it worked best with the head. While difficult to see on this pic the torsos is pretty cool. The new possessed come with one torsos where the backpart has teeth/nails sticking up out of it. So behind his head the army has a series of spikes. The leg guardpiece is something I found in Vash package from when I traded my Slaaneshi stuff with him. Thanks again for that V!!

As for the psycannon, I am not sure yet. I tried to start out with a new chaos plasmagun, but it ended up way to big...and well ugly. So I'm thinking maybe a different weaponbarrel (gargoyle head?), a chaos rune somewhere and change something about the ammo. But I have to be careful with this one, its the only stormbolter of this size I have and it is also the only weapon that really works with the mini.

Should have some more stuff to post up by tomorrow evening :wink:


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I know the delemia your in - I went through the same problems when I was doing up my Inquistitor. The Gargolye head would look great, I've seen it done with Wolf heads from Space Wolf backpacks - it looks awsome. Drum/Box magazines always look good on special weapons.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Well time for a nice little update, Bhaladris and retinue are taking shape. Still need tons of modelling and cleaning up, but I couldn't resist putting up some pics anyway :wink:










The second acolyte is based upon the IG engineer, looked better than the Slaanesh thing I had in mind. I'm not to sure about the familiar base, great stuff but just doesn't seem to fit in to well. Ah well, time will tell what will happen to them.


















Another, yes another, nice big pic of the Umbal. What can I say, love the critter!









And my fav so far, the grenade launcher wielding warrior henchman. Very far from done, but pretty cool so far. Very suprised I finally found a use for that second vostroyan sniper I had around. Turns out if you take of the cloack and cut the head of you end up with a heavily armoured warrior with arrows all over the armour. Very chaosy in my book.


And that's it for me for today, beat and a long day ahead of me tomorrow......uhm today:wink:


----------



## DaemonsR'us (Jan 25, 2007)

Nice work Heph great to see the squad coming together :biggrin:


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

That grenade laucher dude looks awsome heph. The squad is really coming along. Any idea on colors?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks guys, not quite sure yet on a colourscheme. Will probably be a few weeks to a month till they see paint, first need to get the renegade conversionkits and do some testminis.

But first it is time for another update. Really shouldn't be up this late, but I was on a roll with this stuff. So here we go:

First up some better pics of the Tzeentchy acolyte armed with a needle pistol and a storm shield (psychic shield in his case):

















Next up is the second acolyte, stepped away from the 4 god-henchmen idea. Seemed nice, but ended up feeling very forced. So I'm just taking it as it comes, might very well end up with 4 minis in there that seems to be warped by one of each of the 4 major powers...but maybe not. This guy is also armed with a storm shield and a needle pistol. Still very wip and definitely needs an extra dose of chaos before he can truly join his master. The plus side is that the conversion (though relatively simple) worked out great and helps make Bhaladris fit in better with his renegade troops and Iron Warrior allies.









Next up the grenade launcher wielding warrior, this guy just keeps getting better and better. I think he's just about finished, just need to fill a few minor holes;








Very happy with his stylish neckguard, needs a final round of work but almost done;









And then the main man, arch heretic Bhaladris;








Using various spiky bits, greenstuff and a wood elven cloack his back is also starting to come together nicely. The spiky neck bits and Inquisitor symbol really help finish of the mini and show that somewhere beneath his warped flesh and dark souls a shred of humanity might still reside:wink:








A quick close-up of his deformed head, needs some editing on the greenstuff;








His beloved and chaotically warped psycannon:








And finally a nice detailshot of his new chestarmour and belt aread;










As always crits and comments much appreciated!


----------



## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Looks good Heph! I like the Inquisition/Chaos mix in there. Should be a great army to play against.

-Dirge


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

That =I= looks awsome Heph - the head is perfect and the psycannon is probably the best example of it that I have ever seen. I'm very tempted to replace my Psycannon barrel with a wolf head now.

Using the Tech Preist body is also a great idea.


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Looking good mate, excellent stuff. Looking forward to seeing them painted.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

You and me, just need to wait till my mate gets the last Forgeworld thing (trygon needed recasting) and then I can get some test renegades painted up. Once thats done these guys will be up. 

Hoping to find the time to update an Iron Warrior squad this weekend. As well as those 3 tyrant guards I have waiting :wink:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Hi guys, the first reports of the other guys over at astro who are taking part in this apocalypse project are slowly coming in. Figured you'd like to have a read through them, so far we have;

- Death Guard (LoganVivisected)
- Iron Warriors + Blood Pact + Sons of Sek (Hawke)
- IG Infantry Company (Darth Xander)
- Iron Warriors + Haroken + Tyranids (Me)
- more to come

For those interested check this thread.


Cheers,

-Hephesto-


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

And another update, I've worked out the last two missing henchmen; the sage and the familiar. Though there are great minis for both of them (the short, fat bloke is superb) I wanted something different.

And that's how this critter came to life;








Please feel free to ignore the pink, the body once served my Dark Eldar Archon. A cybernetically enhanced familiar really seemed to fit this guy, I know the head is a bit biggish but it somehow just fits in for me:wink:

Next up the sage, now Bhaladris is not going to lug around the galaxy dragging an old, fat man behind him. He's a hunted man, he needs something else. And since the Sage increases his BS I figured a marksmen would be just as suitable and that is how this heretic found his place in his retinue;









And that is it for this time!


Cheers,


-Heph-


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Nice ideas and nice execution Heph. k:


----------



## ACoz (Oct 23, 2007)

I love what you've done with the Basilisk!

All the models are very nice, for that matter.

Did I see a servo-skull in use as a CSM's head?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

TauFireACoz said:


> I love what you've done with the Basilisk!
> 
> All the models are very nice, for that matter.
> 
> Did I see a servo-skull in use as a CSM's head?



Thanks mate and yes there are a few servoskulls in there :wink:
Had to dig through my photobucket account, but I found an old picture
of part of that squad. Not the best of pics, but i should gave a bit of
a better idea of what I did with the squad:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Time for a somewhat sidetracked update, tired as hell since its 4 AM already. But here goes, did a test mini for a mate of mine who is doing an IG army using the Cadian Shock Troopers. And here's how it turned out;


































Sorry for posting 4 pics, but my camera is really acting up so this is the best I could make of this guy. Turned pretty decent I think :wink:


----------



## ACoz (Oct 23, 2007)

I like him.

I have to say, I really like the power-fist _not_ being the same color as the armor (the way I did all of mine, back when I had some IG)...

Fine work.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Finished another testmini for a mate, he wanted it to be a tad lighter so that it isn't that similiar to the Cadian colourscheme;


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Bhaladris' interference in the battle has drawn the attention of a small force that as always will have alternative reason for joining his ranks. The plotting Word Bearers are now taking to the fields of battle as well.

As some of you might remember these guys were at one time intended to become and entire army of radical Chaos worshippers. I even put them on halt for over half a year in anticipation of the new codex. Man was I disappointed, not a single discriminating facter (other than a slightly different reddish colourscheme) was left. I was so annoyed (using very mild wording here) that the already finished minis and conversion where shoved into a box and disappeared beneath my desk. What should/could have been my greatest army yet had turned to ashes before my very eyes.

Now a few months later, a few more daemon codex rumors richer I have finally opened the box up again. A Word Bearer army may be out of the question, but by Horus they will be part of an army! I needed a 4th squad for my Iron Warriors legion. Initially I had intended to make some form of corsair (unknown) group of renegades. I for a long while wanted to go with this guy. I know really doesn't fit in, but I love the colourscheme:









But then I started the works on my radical inquisitor and I slowly got drawn back to my Word Bearers. So without further adue, here's the first work on them. I had to slightly rework my list to get them in, I really wanted to keep the powerfist.

The first six are already the done;
















As you can see, my old dark apostle (skullface) and sorceror have been donwgraded to lowly chaos marines. Kind of hurts, but nonetheless the unit is looking great so far. Some of you might also recognise the champion (powerfist), he was my enter in Hawke's last painting competition. The sorceror (old school thousand sons marine) is also and oldy, he was my entry in the pre-heresy competition. I had a complete story ready for this guy.... 

On to the other four, yet unfinished minis. First up Asphodel, he was intended to end up as an aspiring champion, but he serves just as well as a marine;









Next two regular chaos marines:
















Really like the second guy, his pose was accidental, yet so damn dramatical!

And finally the iconbearer, I already know this guy is going to give my serious problems and will take ages to finish. It is so tempting to go freehand on the banner, but I'd better first do the tabard and scroll writing to see what will fit best with the rest of the mini:









And I just can't let it go....just one more close-up of my fav critter so far. Gibbits, the familiar grafted to the old dark apostle's armour;











On to the nids, nothing new build or finished. But I did manage to get my feeding tendrils on some new/old stuff that might come in handy;

- box of genestealer for 4 quid, that now gives me 13 unused genestealers and a broodlord....interesting :wink:
- a small bucketload of rippers, both normal and spine-armed.
- a monstrous creature upgrade sprue, so I can finally give my second carnifex the talons he deserved.
- a bunch of oldschool gaunts;








- and last, but certainly not least an Epic Dominatrix. No idea what I'll do with this, at least not yet!








And that's it for this time guys,


-Heph-


----------



## DaemonsR'us (Jan 25, 2007)

Alright heph! your back to your word bearers! good to see you havent forgotten them and man, wish i could keep up with your pace, but dont have enough time to piant that much


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Ah finally some free time to work on the apocalypse..and not in my usual 'evil genius, hell-bend on bringing down the world in flames'-method.

Just one small thing left and my entire focus will be back on the Iron Warriors, traitor guard and Nids. Just need to paint up an Ultramarine honourguard for a mate.

This, however, does not mean I have been idle the last few days. On the contrary, I've been labouring away on my newest chaos vehicle, a predator command by Drackis (plan to make an on foot model for him eventually) that I have dubbed 'The Eternal Conqueror'. The vehicle has been intensively converted to resemble a command tank of sorts with antennas and various other stuff. In addition I started out from a loyalist rhino and scrapped the rest together for ye olde bitsbox.

And yes those are indeed cities of death sprue bits as well as a russ turret:


















A new engine block was also in order:









As well as some scratchbuild heavy bolter sponsons:









And of course an adjusted front, cyclopse armour style:wink:









I'm quite honestly extremely pleased with this one, it turned out miles better than anything I had anticipated. Now on to the the issues, first of it isn't completely finished yet. Still need to fil some holes, smoothen some edges and make something for one of the ammobelt to connect to. I also didn't model on specific searchlights or smoke launchers, yes they're standard on the pred these days. But no I didn't want to overburden the mini any more. So the gargoyle heads have 'build-in lights and smokedispensers'. :wink: One final thing is the turret barrel, the tank 'only' has an autocannon. But I couldn't find anything suitable, except for the twin-linked autocannon from the old exterminator kit (and I really like this barrel). So instead of a normal firing autocannon this tank now has two older mark autocannons firing together to give the same weapon effect :wink:

Finally I was planning on having a havoc launcher and a combi-bolter on this as well. But it was crowded enough as it is....not even going into the horribly failed havoc experiment.

Now for those who are wondering why the Iron Warriors would need a 'command tank' let alone a former techpriest siegemaster.....lets just say that more goodies are coming my way in the mail.


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Beautiful stuff Heph - as usual I am in awe of what you can do. Those sponsuns are fantastic.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks Jac!

Got the inspiration from the new codex were it says somewhere that
Iron Warrior vehicle sometimes drag around the remains of cities they
destroyed as trophies. I figured that since the might building of the 
Imperium are build of rather durable materials they would also work
great as armour.

The sponson were a real challenge and this version 6 or 7, with 6
really, really messed up previous tries. Turned ou rather decent in
the end though :wink:

Just need to finish of some minor detailing and some other conversions 
and then its time for some paint. Time to add a few hundred points to the army

Especially since december is almost done, which means I should have 600+ of 
traitors/chaos done as well as 600 points of Nids. And in all honesty I'm a bit behind 
on the point tally, looks like chaos is getting a head start. Luckily I have 2 carnifexes 
on the 'schedule' as well; 1 just needs minor adjustments to fit in with the rest while 
the other is almost build. And then there are the 3 tyrant guard and updated tyrant
........I think I might run out of storing space before this project ends


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Man you crank the stuff out don't you Heph? This is all very cool.


----------



## Ezekial Lightning (Oct 30, 2007)

Wow great coverage of everything Hephesto! For some reason i really like the dread.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks guys, comments like that really help in keeping me motivated and focussed on this project!


Time for another quick update...before I fall asleep on my keyboard

The Eternal Conqueror has been fully completed, all the gaps are filled, ammobox has been added and some small items have been added/fixed. Haven't had time to paint it just yet, university and another project are taking their toll.

Nonetheless there is new progress, I've updated my Word Bearer dread and made changes to his base:









Also took a quick picture of 'all' the Chaos stuff, in reality there's a whole lott more. But I only want to show the completely done stuff, 3 full squads are awaiting updates, rebasing and remodelling:









On to the Tyranids, finished the first of 3 bio-acid spore cluster. These beauties are worth a whopping 0 points, just need them for my Meiotic Spore Mines. Once those things go pop they send spore mines flying, resulting in me having to complete 18 minis for the total 105 point unit. The only unit that can have more than that would be spinegaunts, good thing I like Nids and really enjoy painting spore mines. Lets see if I still feel the same after the bucketload of spinegaunts I still need to assemble, model and paint, but more on those in a future update.

The first batch of spore mines:









And the two other groups ready for paint:









And naturally an army picture, yes a tad pityful for a Tyranid army. But its a wip and much like the Iron Warriors there's a ton of stuff nearly there. In fact there's several hundred points of nids ready for paint as I type this, just need to get a nice 'workspeed' going again









Now for the pointtotals so far:
Now for the pointtotals so far:
- Chaos (combo Iron Warriors, Traitor Guard, Word Bearers and a Fallen Inquisitor) = 820 points
-Tyranids (with hopes of making some genestealer cult units one day) = 295 points
Making a grandtotal of 1115 of a more or less 6000-9000 goal :wink:


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

A nice nucleus of a nid force there Heph.
keep em coming!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Will do, I have been very busy with various other things (work, projects etc) the last month and a half so progress is a bit slow. I do hope to have a new update ready by the end of the weekend......some very cool stuff coming :wink:


----------



## Dreamseller (Nov 15, 2007)

ive been looking through this and am impressed by your work heph makes me wanna build my own WIP thread great work


----------



## Lord Sinkoran (Dec 23, 2006)

nids look great


----------



## kharnthebetrayer (Nov 26, 2007)

How did you make the green slime on the spore mines? Water effects?

Everything looks incredible.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks for the comments guys, really helps as motivation. I'm extremely short of time due to work/university and other projects but I'm trying to get back to these guys asap!




kharnthebetrayer said:


> How did you make the green slime on the spore mines? Water effects?
> 
> Everything looks incredible.



Actually quite simple, all you need are the following:
- a mini
- cheap ass paper glue, the stuff they used to have back in school when we were young works great. Never really worked in glueing anything and opening the bottle gave you an instant headache








- small tool to apply and mix the glue, something like a toothpick or those small cocktail stick will do the trick.
- Ink colour of your choice, or watered down paint.

(If I find the time I'll do a decent tutorial in a week or so)


1. (as always start out with a testmini as this can get real messy, real fast) Your choice of glue can be vital, my experience had taught me that the cheaper and more unknown the brand the better it works. You need glue that once do have a drop on paper it start hardening out (strings when you touch it) with in 10-15 second. Not faster or you won't be able to apply it and not slower as that kind of stuff doesn't isn't suited vor longer strings of slime.


2. Get your applying tool dip it in your ink or watered down paint, mix it with the drop of glue and get applying.


3. Because the glue is drying quite fast you'll have to apply the ichor in stages and preferably with a new applyingtool for each new batch of ichor.


4. Now their is a danger of creating those very small gluestrings, luckily most of them can be avoid or removed once the glue dries (if I find the time I'll take pics showing how to apply, prevent string etc)


4. Now during applying it can be tough to get the effect right, that is why I suggest getting started with a frametestmodel. Just take some leftover frames, cut them up and glue them together on a piece of card in various randomg shapes and directions. This will give you a large range of test possibilities, from ichor covered beams to spiderlike strings.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Finally time for another update, starting with something blue. Yes' I'm finally getting to that UM honour guard:










I have a dark suspicion that it will take me forever to finish this guy as I want to go all out as it is intended as a gift for an UM loving mate (yes they do excist:wink


Next up some old and something new, the next 10 spore mines are slowly progressing as well as their big brothers. I have Indra to thank for this amazing help with a Forgeworld order, there's loads more but these critters are my absolute favorites of the batch!





































Now for the something old, got my hands on some classic nids parts. Yes even more old school stuff, I have a couple of other suprises coming but I'm keeping that for another day.









Well that is it for now, a new update should be done this weekend. And then finally some extra points will be added to the finished list :wink:


----------



## Damned Fist (Nov 2, 2007)

You sir, are a factory! Keep it up.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Alright, time for another pic. This critter spend all night in a dettol/water solution to get right of its bad undercoat and half paintjob. Cleaned up quite nicely if you ask me, voila one old school carnifex:










Now to find a way to fit in a third carnifex :grin:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

And time for another minor update, still no extra points but the spore mines are done:
















Now that these little blighters are out of the way I can move on to bigger, badder and more expansive stuff. Next up on the to do-list (in no particular order):
- re-worked tyrant
- re-worked carnifex
- second carnifex
- 3 meoitic spore mines
- 10 re-worked Iron Warriors
- the UM honour guard mini
- 3 tyrant guards
- 5 more Word Bearers for the 4th csm squad
But first of I need to clean out my storage cabinet, to much pre-painted minis in there to fit all this stuff in :wink:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Well time for another update, been busy touching up some old stuff. First up the carnifex, the base took ma ages as the position of the carnifex makes it rather tough to get into at the small places.










In addition I also went to town on my old lovely Iron Warrior basilisk, this since the new army will have a full basilisk battery armed by sturdy Iron Warriors. Unfortunately my battery run out while I was taking pics, so I only have the improved daemon face on the gunbarrel.










And finally a quick sneakpeek at something that is slowly coming together, the first traitor guard mini. A combo of catachan sentinel and a vraks renegade torso. Still needs loads of work, but I'm rather happy with how this is coming together.










This brings the totals to:

Chaos - 965 points
Tyranids - 461 points

Of an estimated 6-9K combined.

Well that is it for this time, I'm afraid the next update will be a few days. This as I really need to focus on my thesis and other crap the coming 2-3 days, something I was suppossed to be doing all last week. But could not because I needed the lab computers, but some idiot lost both keys inch:


----------



## VoidLord (Nov 27, 2007)

I was wondering, how did you do the green saliva/venom on the carnifex? That is a very nice effect!!!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

VoidLord said:


> I was wondering, how did you do the green saliva/venom on the carnifex? That is a very nice effect!!!


People really seem to like this stuff, once I find the time I'll do a proper tutorial. But for now here's the basic info:

All you need are the following:
- a mini
- cheap ass paper glue, the stuff they used to have back in school when we were young works great. Never really worked in glueing anything and opening the bottle gave you an instant headache








- small tool to apply and mix the glue, something like a toothpick or those small cocktail stick will do the trick.
- Ink colour of your choice, or watered down paint.

(If I find the time I'll do a decent tutorial in a week or so)


1. (as always start out with a testmini as this can get real messy, real fast) Your choice of glue can be vital, my experience had taught me that the cheaper and more unknown the brand the better it works. You need glue that once do have a drop on paper it start hardening out (strings when you touch it) with in 10-15 second. Not faster or you won't be able to apply it and not slower as that kind of stuff doesn't isn't suited vor longer strings of slime.


2. Get your applying tool dip it in your ink or watered down paint, mix it with the drop of glue and get applying.


3. Because the glue is drying quite fast you'll have to apply the ichor in stages and preferably with a new applyingtool for each new batch of ichor.


4. Now their is a danger of creating those very small gluestrings, luckily most of them can be avoid or removed once the glue dries (if I find the time I'll take pics showing how to apply, prevent string etc)


4. Now during applying it can be tough to get the effect right, that is why I suggest getting started with a frametestmodel. Just take some leftover frames, cut them up and glue them together on a piece of card in various randomg shapes and directions. This will give you a large range of test possibilities, from ichor covered beams to spiderlike strings.









Time for a quick update from a slightly exhausted 40K nutter :wink:

Finally finished up my old hive tyrant, added a few bucketloads of slime as well as 3 rippers to represent the symbiote rippers upgrade (sorry about the crummy pic, not my strongest side):









In addition 2 packages arrived earlier this week, inside were more reinforcements for the Iron Warriors. This in the form of a baneblade, 3 vindicators and 3 basilisks. It will be a while before I get to them, but the plans are big as always. Both the vindicators and basilisks are intende for the Iron Warriors. Not quite sure yet about the Baneblade, good chance it will end up in the hands of some traitors guard....should fit in well with all those sentinels, russ tanks and a Malcador :wink:









An finally yet another set of old school minis that will fit in perfectly with that old patriarch, set of warriors and some other genestealer cult figures I still have around. Time for the human face of the Swarm to join the ranks - 2 genestealer magus. Particulary fond of the whispering advisor.









More as soon as I can find the time for more painting!


----------



## drogoth (Jan 20, 2008)

Wow, everything looks great, keep up the good work 
Also good luck with your new arrivals i'm sure they will also looks great.


----------



## angels of fire (Dec 4, 2007)

Wow some good work there and I to like that advisor.


----------



## VoidLord (Nov 27, 2007)

hephesto said:


> People really seem to like this stuff, once I find the time I'll do a proper tutorial. But for now here's the basic info:


Thank you! I am already testing as instructed



hephesto said:


> (If I find the time I'll do a decent tutorial in a week or so)


That would be awesome and is something not commonly done as when modeling


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Well as expected I've drifted of target again, I'm planning on adding roughly 1000+ points worth of cult troops and other weird stuff to my Iron Warriors. And yes I know, I'm only a 1000 points into their update. But I really want to add some totally new and different stuff.

To this effect I've started the works on a cult batallion:
- 6 Slaaneshi cult marines
- 7 Nurgle cult marines
- 8 Khorne cult marines
- 9 Tzeentch cult marines
- A Chaos Squat havoc squad

I want to completely stay away from the usual god specific units, so no World Eaters, Death Guard, Emperor's Children or Thousands Sons for me. Just plan old icon bearing chaos nutters. In essence this mean that I seek to create a squad that has a distinct god specific feel to it without going so overboard they turn into one of the original traitor legions.

First up are the Slaaneshi cult marines, think I got them down pretty good. Very pleased with the champ and icon bearer and the colourscheme has been taunting me ever since I did it as a testscheme for the Dark Talons.









Next up are the followers of the Blood God, not sure yet what colourscheme will go on this berserkers. Not a big problem has I have tons of other stuff that also needs painting :wink:








Very clear Khorne feel to them and even 2 original World Eater marines, but I think that the robes csm break up the normal Khorne style somewhat. Brutish, but more in a physical prowess manner.

And finally just a pic to show of one of my latest buys, the very old and (in my opinion) very cool Chaos Squats. I'll be making some sort of weapons platform for these guys instead of arming them normally with heavy weapons:









Well that does it for now, more updates as I find the time :wink:


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

Awsome stuff Heph, really cool with those squats, I'd never heard of chaos squats before? how old are those minis?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

I'll have to check the minis to see if there's a year on their basestrip. But to my knowledge they first showed up in the 1991 Citadel catelogue, link.


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Nice stuff Heph. I really dig that Khorne champ on the upper right there!


----------



## Darthlace (Aug 31, 2007)

Nids and chaos, that's something to remember in the future. I have a small NID army in the making and was thinking of doing Necs as well so that would be cool


----------



## angels of fire (Dec 4, 2007)

Some of the squats look like they've got terminator helmets on. I am digging the slannesh colour scheme its suits them I think.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Hello again everybody, work, university and dodgy internetconnection have kept me away from over a week now. Just spend half a day cursing at some so-called telephone help service and Horus be praised things are working again. 

Time for a small update, haven't had much time for a lott of modelling or painting lately. First of apologies for the pic quality, camera is recharging so these were made with my phonecamera. First up is the aspiring champion for the Nurgle Cult troops, thinking of going with the colourscheme of the Purge (black, green and gold). Still need to do a few finishing touches, but I think he's turning out quite nicely. A buddy of mine has accussed me of over dramatizing my character poses though :wink:










And then there's the Nurgle icon, combing the old and the new. So far I have no real idea of what I'll do with it, perhaps an icon bearer. Though the idea of a small diorama of a ruin with some nurglings is really tempting as well! Many thanks to out to Vash s I got this superb old banner from a trade with him!










Another small pic, the bolters with barrel ammo idea seems workable. Think I'll stick with this approach, adding a few minor correctionss to the bolter of course.

This combined with a few more static poses shoudl really add to the whole sickly, yet immovable force idea that is linked to the followers of Father Nurgle.










Well that is it for now, hopefully more to follow later tonight and tomorrow.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Alright, got some work done on the Nurgle Cult Marines. They still need a few last touches, but are about 80-85% done. As soon as I get new GS tomorrow I'll finish them and them them ready for paint!

With these guys (and the other thrid cult squads) I was aiming for something that had a typical Nurgle feel, yet at the same time was different enough from Death Guard visuals and iconography. The combination of barrel bolters, cyclops pattern helmets and the bulkier armour seems to have done the tricky nicely:










The aspiring champion kind of got away from me, he got quite a lott bigger and nastier than I had initially planned. Afterall, he is meant to be just a normal aspiring champion with a combi-bolter. Still he adds some nice contrast with the other rather uniformly armoured cult marines of the squad.










Quick close-up of 2 cult marines, the plasma armed marine is a bit of a hommage to the old Nurgle marines. True grit baby 










And finally a pic of the icon bearer, he's a bit top heavy. So he'll need a pewter backpack to keep standing, right now I intend to go with one of the old legion of the damned backbacks. But this may change over the coming day or two.











Well that is it for now, more as soon as I find the time. Any comments or suggestions are naturally very welcome!


----------



## TH3F4LL3NT3MPL4R (Jan 6, 2008)

Wow way cool. Keep up the awesome work

How did you make the drum fed bolter?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks, the bolters are actually very simple. I used to play speed freaks and as such I have loads of Orky bits left over. Including a big pile of shootas and some of those have a ammobarrel instead of a clip. I simple removed those and subtituted the bolter clips with the barrels.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Alrighty, I've started the painting on the Slaaneshi and Nurgle cult marines. Slaaneshi will indeed be the split soft yellow/ pinkish purple, while Nurgle will follow one of my fav new colourschemes from the last CSM codex: The Purge. In fact the only ones I like better are the very tough to do Cleaved.

I wasn't entirely sure I could nail the Purge colourscheme, or even if it would really look as good as I was hoping. So I sacrificed 1 of the cult marines to Papa Nurgle and got to the painting. Here's the result:









I'm extremely pleased with it myself, not necessairily because of the painting skill but mainly due to the overall effect of the mini, Very Nurlesque (if that is the word:wink, yet clearly not Death Guard. In fact I think this colourscheme will have a profound effect on the other elements of the army. In particular the triator guard allies and their armour. For those of you interested the green was made with the following paints:
- goblin green (70%)
- catachan green (20%)
- rotting flesh (10%)
The next 2 are already in the works:









Next up is another future addition to my Apocalypse Nid army, a grand total of 5 Lictors. I'm using pieces from the army's second and third generation (few first generation bits will probabaly be used for the others), so far I've go the basics done on the first to. Both need quite a bit of work with filling, detailing on the pipes and some mold filing. I personally got rather sick of the current tall standing Lictor, heck we're talking about a 4 metre high alien preying mantis. No way is he going to stand straight up, so I'm going with some more dynamic poses and basing:


----------



## Jacobite (Jan 26, 2007)

I like Heph, I like alot. Love the back pack. I'm very tempted to do it on my Space Marines. Very nice blacklining as well.

Love the posing and the bases of the Lictors.


----------



## Sniper (Mar 9, 2008)

Wow, those bases are awesome but how are you planning to keep the lictors from falling flat on their faces?

Sniper


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Well oddly enough, they are perfectly balanced


----------



## Pandawithissues... (Dec 2, 2007)

Those purge marines are A) really nicely modelled, I absolutely love love love the drum fed bolters, and b) really well painted. Keep up this fantastic work.

~I always thought the purge scheme was the best thing to come out of the shitty new CSM dex, and you've done it proud. Repped


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Oh damn Heph, looking good!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks for the comments guys, shame though I didn't 'discover' this colourscheme earlier. I'd loved to get a vehicle done for them for the Open Category Paintheton.


----------



## Death 0F Angels (Feb 27, 2008)

all i can say is.... pure inspiration. Im gonna have to start getting more modeling done. The drum clips are a great idea.


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

OMG! 

Love the drum clips, love the Nid bases, love the painting and still love the cyclops eye thing.

Class stuff Heph!

Now to go and clean undies.......


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Just time for a quick pic before I hit the sack, exhausted after a week of so-called vacation.....I must be doing something wrong 

I've just cleaned all the Vraskian torsos and build the first testmini. Extremely wip at the moment though:









Yes, a bit generic at the moment. But for some reason the Cadian gone bad colourscheme is rather to my liking. I'll have to see where this will take me, though I can certainly say that this guy will be a blast to finish up. 

If things turn out a bit decent this weekend (no university work unless something new pops up) I should have some time. So I might as well make a to do-list for myself:

- Finish 2 more Purge troopers.
- Mess about with a traitor guard colourscheme.
- Finish conversion work on first 2 lictors.
- Get new WD and concert tickets 
- Update my list to encoorporate all the new unplanned stuff that has been added to the pile.

That should keep me busy enough, have a good weekend everybody!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Alrighty, update time. Moving on to the Purge once more, I've managed to get another 4 done this weekend:









I was initially planning on using more black helmets throughout the unit, but I rather like the green. So the rest will have green helmets......wll rest, last 2 of the unit. The left guy with black helmet has had a bit of extra work by now, figured he could do with some more contast in the face area.

Those last two will be quite a bit of work, firstly in getting a good red going for the champ's robe and the icon banner. I did make a change on the banner, I'm no longer using the iconsymbol from the new csm box. It just got to big and heavy and for some reason it kept falling of. Made another smller Nurgle symbol and this seems to be working perfectly.

No pics I'm afraid as the old camera's battery has run dry once more. I've also begun putting together more traitor guard, I'll try to get some pics tomorrow. But first it is time for bed so that I'm at least partially rested before I head back to the salt mines :wink:

I do have a pic from yesterdays traitor testmini:










I am indeed sticking with the 'cadian gone bad'-look. This guy was a blast to paint, though quite a bit of work is needed. I had completely forgotten how tough scorched brown is when used as a basecoat.

The thing that really strikes me is that I've only just now realized how tall these traitor kits make the guardsmen. He's taller than a SM, not complaining though :wink:

Wll time for bed, as always any comments or crits are definitely appreciated!


----------



## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Jesus heph...if everyone could paint like that, Golden Demons would be utterly worthless.

-Dirge


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Dirge Eterna said:


> Jesus heph...if everyone could paint like that, Golden Demons would be utterly worthless.
> 
> -Dirge


 

:blush: wow, that is one serious compliment. I really doubt I would have a chance at a Golden Demon contest, my painting skill is no where near as good as some of the guys and gals at those events. I might be able to do it one day, however I doubt it I would like to spend so much time on a single mini. I'm more of a converter to be honest, I really like painting, but building stuff is the most fun part for me. 

In fact I'm planning on trying my hands at more advanced GS and sculpting somewhere down the line. I definitely need to brush up my skills, but good tools, dedication and some creativity should go a long way.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Time to make Vash drool :wink:, got my hands on some old, old Chaos renegades. Including these 3 Slaaneshi traitors:










Most likely they'll be used as part of a chosen squad somewhere down the line.


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Sloppy sounds as Vash types.

I used to have these, lol, nice minis, Strangly enough i have the old fiend head that is like the middle Chaps in my bits box which is going on to a character at some point.

Looking forward to seeing this chosen squad Heph.


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

I love the Purged paint bro, just sweet as hell. Nothing makes me happier than a nice clean paint job with excellent shading/highlights. I agree with you on the green helmets though, looks much much better.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Viscount Vash said:


> Sloppy sounds as Vash types.
> 
> I used to have these, lol, nice minis, Strangly enough i have the old fiend head that is like the middle Chaps in my bits box which is going on to a character at some point.
> 
> Looking forward to seeing this chosen squad Heph.


May be a while though, I still have these to go:
- Purge squad (2 left)
- second Purge squad (9 left)
- Slaaneshi Cult (5 left)
- Khornate Cult (8 left)
- Tzeentch Cult (9 left....no idea what I'm going to do with these guys)
- 2 units of Termies (11 left)
- 1 havoc csm
- update old Iron Warriors (29 left)
- add more Word Bearers (3 more needed)
- 3 Chaos spawns
- 1 predator
- 3 vindicators
- 3 basilisk


And there are the Traitor Guard and Tyranids:
- command squad (5 left)
- support sentinels (4 left)
- stormtroopers (28 left)
- 1 chimera
- 3 heavy weapon teams
- 1 hellhound
- 6 rough riders
- 1 basilisk
- 1 Russ
- 1 enclose Medusa siege gun
- 1 Malcador
- traitor Inquisitor and retinue (7 left)
- 3 daemonhosts
- 1 hellhammer
- 20 mercs (inquisitorial stormtroopers)
- 2 chaos squat thudd gun teams
- mutant horde (conscripts)
- something else for roughly 140 points :wink:
- 3 tyrant guard
- 1 winged tyrant
- 18 warriors
- 1 carnifex
- 64 spinegaunts :no:
- 32 tunnelergaunts
- 16 devourer gaunts
- 10 ripper swarms
- 16 gargoyles
- 3 mycotic sacks
- 1 trygon
- most likely more warriors (including old minis)



Sweet Horus, I must truly be insane :shok:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

And then there are the plans for:

- A Daemon horde using all my old daemons, some of the new ones and just some plain old crazy conversions.
- Blood Axe mercenary Orks...who says ale can't buy you loyalty :wink:
- And finally a project I've wanted to do for years - Kroot Mercs, love the race, the minis, the FW models.....what's not to like.

Or to quote uncyclopedia.org: Bunch of Chicken men that will kill you, then eat your corpse, then get stronger. They also run a fast food restaurant: Kroot Fried Material. Where every Friday night, you see them perform the infamous chicken dance. Known to be very gullible; most believe that dying for the Tau is for the "greater good" :wink:


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Ever heard of biting off more than you can chew by any chance Heph? :laugh:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Well I've only roughly 350+ minis left to build and paint.....should be doable this decade :wink:

Should be able to make some good progress in a few weeks, shaving a good 60-70 minis of the total.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

And finally back with an update, been quite busy but I try to get some quality 40K time each day. 


1. 
Have set up a working system, specifically aimed at finishing some stuff and keeping me from buying more stuff. Simply put this means building and painting 90 minis divided over my Nids, chaos and triator guard test minis.


2. The full list:
- Build and paint 7 Purged marines (7 build, 5 painted)
- Build and paint 6 Slaaneshi cult marines (6 build, 1 painted)
- Rework all my old Iron Warriors (29 left)
- Build and paint an additional 5 Word Bearers (5 build)
- Build and paint 1 extra IW havoc
- Build and paint 6 IW terminator (6 build)
- Build and paint the first 9-men strong traitor guard unit (9 build, 1 painted)
- Build and paint 16 devourer gaunts
- Build and paint 3 tyrant guards (3 build)
- Build and paint 3 meoitic spore sacs (3 build)
- Build and paint an extra carnifex
- Build and paint my 4 current Lictors (2 build)


3. Made some more traitor guard testminis, well I say testmini but I think this will be the way I'll be going:
Forgeworld definitely did a superb job on those Vraskian traitor kit. These lads now include an officir, a grenade launcher and a plasmagun borrowed and adjusted from their IW 'allies'. Looks like those 10 servo skulls I bought will find a happy home afterall with the renegades.











4. Finished the Spore Sacs....finally:
Adding an additional 105 points of the Nid force. And that is for 18 minis, things can't get much worse than this. No wait I am insane enough to go allout on spinegaunts. Not to damn happy with the pics though, but red is hell to photograph...and I am a bumpkin with a camera :wink:

So in real life they have quite a bit more depth to the red, anyway here goes:









Not certain what I'll do next of my 'to do'-list, though it would be smart to finish of the last 2 Purge marines first.

And that makes
36 of 90 build
9 of 90 painted

Thanks for looking guys and as always crit or comments are most welcome!


----------



## Riandro (Feb 28, 2008)

Nice works you have dun!
btw where do you get the money to do all this???


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

My god man that is so much to do!


----------



## plug (Feb 22, 2008)

There is some really good work here. When do you you get the time to do so much. Well done.:grin:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

@ Plug

Thanks mate, time is indeed a huge issue. But I have a bit of a rhythm going the last 2 weeks, with 3-4 days a week with 2-3 hours of 'work' at night.

@ Wraithlord

Very true, perhaps a slightly to big project. But heck, I like a good challenge!

@ Riandro

Well a lott of this stuff is the result of years of hording stuff and getting the leftovers from half a dozen friends that have quite the hobby. Right now I'm the only one of my old group who still dabbles in 40K, though finding the time is rather tough. Hopefully this will change in the future, a buddy over at Astronomican forums is resurrection Space Crusade. One of my old gamingbuddies also read this and is very tempted to to this as well....and who knows where that road may lead :wink:


Well on to the goodies, next on the 'to do'-list are the second carnifex, the 2 remaining Purge warriors and attempts to make some truly unique Devourer Gaunts.

Quick pic of the Carnifex, Screamer-Killer pattern.










Also note the Lictor lurking in the back and the Purge trapped behind a wall of psychic energy :laugh:


And before I forget it, the Astro datasheet project I'm running is also eating up time. The results are rather nice though have a look at the goodies here and here.


----------



## pyroanarchist (Feb 29, 2008)

I'm very impressed heph, not only for your modeling and painting skills, but for the dedication you have to this project. I would have such a hard time keeping myself motivated and moving on something this large, especially when you have other projects to pull your attention away.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

After a full week of not having any time to work on my precious minis I figured it would be a appropriate to come back with something truly spectacular. And yes while I am breaking my own working schedulde with this, I just can't let it stand on a shelf.

A couple of days ago I got a much anticipated box in the mail with some cool stuff I bought of Ebay. And I am very happy to bring you the first 'mini' of that stuff, an old Armorcast Exocrine. It has been completely de-slugified and at its current state it has had all holes filled and the basing is in full progress. Basecoating and painting will happen during the course of the week. 

But enough talk, on to the pics:



















Completely forgot to tell you how big it is, its base is made of 3 cd-rom glued on top of eachother. Just to give a mild indication of this beaty's size.

Now this thing is going to turn a few heads and some stomaches as well. As always crits and comments are very welcome :wink:


----------



## Viscount Vash (Jan 3, 2007)

Id have been happy with the old slug look as thats how i remember them from Epic.
It would never occured to me to give it legs, top job Heph.

When you post the pics of it painted put a gaunt next to him to get a real idea of scale maybe?


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Will do, in fact I'm planning to trying out a long awaited conversion for my devourer gaunts tonight. That little critter will be perfect for scale purposes!

I too rather like the slug aspect fo the Exocrine, I just added the legs to make it more in sync with the current Tyranid feel and minis. The idea for the lefs came from an amazing carnifex I found a bit back somewhere on the net. The guy had made and Exocrine variant of the Carnifex, using the tail and scything talons as anchors to prevent recoil from having an effect on the bio-titan. Applied the same principle on this bug, the could also give a tiny bit more mobility, but I prefer to think of them as aid for when the Exocrine brases itself before firing.


----------



## Blood God (Apr 27, 2008)

You a a freak lol. I am struggling to paint a single model lol. Let alone two apocalypse armies. Well done. great sculpting throughout your army.


----------



## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Awesome stuff Heph!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Well as said I've finally made it back, took some digging but it is time to dust of my old WIP thread with some new, shiny goodies:

Did a few minis for the Bell of Lost Souls compititions, one of the them actually made it into the pdf booklet (the lsecond one)

























In addition I've been working on my contest entry for a new Astro competition, making some Afriel commandos:

















































And finally work is continuing on my nids and combined chaos forces:


----------



## Abthrillon (Mar 22, 2008)

Oh yes! I was worried that the thread would die.
your conversions are easy and stunning, I like them.
now keep it comming:wink:


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks mate, the idea is to get all three armies (nids, iron warriors and traitor guard) up to playable level with 2-3 months. Which shouldn't be a too big problem as I'm also joining in on a tale of x gamers on another site. Gotta love deadline drived motivation ;-)


----------



## bloodthrister (Mar 29, 2008)

I love that warsmith of yours! I thought I was the only dutch guy playing Iron Warriors :biggrin:

everything looks very good and I like you Purge models a lot!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Thanks mate, doesn't look like there a lott of us 40k-loving Dutchy out on the web. That or they're great at remaining hidden ;-)


----------



## Death 0F Angels (Feb 27, 2008)

Love the nid color scheme. Normally that would be too much color for me. Nice hair dew's. makes the heads look better imo.


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Tiny update on the Nids and cult troop project. Nothing to spectacular, my third Carnifex is now based and basecoated. Should get to him this weekend or early next week:










I'm also adding a grand total of 1000 points of Cult troops to my Iron Warriors. Each squad of this mini-project will be the sacred number of their respective god. In addition I'll try to make them very distinct to the traditional god legions, yet at the same time give them a unique look that really fits with their patron. The plan right now is as following:
- 1 Khornate squad - in the building phase.
- 2 Nurgle squads - based on GW's excellent Purge colourscheme.
- 1 Slaaneshi squad - need some final details but more or less ready for paint.
- 1 Tzeentch squad - nothing more than ideas in my head, rather challenging.

I'm nearing the completion of the first Purge squad, just got a bit of work on the Icon Bearer and the Aspiring Champion left:









The Slaaneshi squad is also coming along:









And that's it for this update, until next time and as always any comments and/or suggestions are very welcome :wink:


----------



## luthorharkon (Nov 2, 2007)

That's some damn nice work!
I really like that purge squad (mostly because of the colour scheme itself) but that aspiring champion looks like one mean mo fo 
The Slaaneshi squad is also very HOT and they'll make a great addition to the rest of the army (as well as burning your enemies eyes out with their brightness:grin


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

Ah yes, beginning of the second month and in some odd little way I kind of feel proud. I actually made my goal and finally finished some old stuff. Naturally this is just the beginning and many, many for things still remain to finish. Thanks to the other participants for re-starting this and getting me motivated again, nearly forgot the pleasure I get out of finishing 40K projects! I'd also like to thanks everybody who commented over here, really helped give that extra bit of motivation :wink:

As stated in some post earlier in this thread the idea is to add 300 points (or more) each month. The lads were good enough to allow me to spread these points between armies, so both my Nids and Chaos forces are getting renewed attention. So for the first month I've completed the following units/figures:
- 7 Purge, Icon of Nurgle, plasmagun, aspiring champion with twin-linked bolter = 190 points
- Carnifex with 2 sets of scything talons, spinebanks, flesh hooks and I adrenal gland = 113 points
- 3 Tyrant guard with flesh hooks = 138 points

Making a grand total of 441 points this month.


So here's an overview of the current state of both armies (excuse the bad lighting):









Closer view of the griblies:









And the armoured corner:









The finished Purge squad:

















No games to report unfortunately, but that may change in 1-2 months as I've accidently infected 2 other old gamers with the painting virus. More on this as soon as I find out more about their level of commitment/interest!

Well then, on to next month. So the following units have made their way to my desk to be painted/updated/build:
- Another carnifex (devourerfex based on the previous edition carnifex)
- my ASC afriel kommandos
- Slaaneshi cult marines
- grenadier renegade squad
- 4 extra Wordbearers to finally complete their squad (includes a familiar base)
- more centaur gaunts (most likely only to build them, painting will happen further done the line)
- FW Trygon (muchos gracias for the help Indra gave me back in the day for acquiring this beauty)
- Renegade Malcador
- Another big 'un, I'm keeping this one a suprise

Now the order in which these will be tackled is as of yet unknown and I'm certain some new things will sneak in there. But the plan is to finish the fex, kommandos and either the Slaaneshis or Renegades before the end of the month adding 320-ish points. Any outer finished units will be icing on the cake. So until next month's big update and keep an eye on this wip thread for small updates and just random goofiness! I leave you now with a completely unrelated pic of one of the new Horrorclix figures I acquired and I just absolutely love....a good guy, the imaginary friend, love this mini:


----------



## Abthrillon (Mar 22, 2008)

Im diggin' the army so far, Loving the jell-o figure lol.
Damn fine work, and you know it.:wink:
Keep em' commin'


----------



## Otep (Mar 18, 2008)

your slime and what not will be VERY useful to my 7500 point tyranids... (i found out by buying 200 dollars worth of stuff i get an aditional 2100 points or so so why not spend the extra )

this is daunting but atleast you arnt looking at a daunting list of 120 spinefists, 120 hormagaunts, 9 ravaners, 30 warriors, 80 genestealers, 2 lictors, a daka tyrant, 3 guards, 32+ ripperswarms, 10 carnifexes, 3 zoans, and i think that was it ^^;

either way, this looks INSANE! and absolutly awsome... keep up the great work!


----------



## hephesto (Feb 24, 2007)

thanks mate, trying yo update more. But for some reason my internetconnection keeps dropping out, sorting things with my provider....I hope ;-)


----------



## Lord of Rebirth (Jun 7, 2008)

lol You are running your hobby so closely along the lines as me I wonder if you are my long lost brother. XD Seriously like two years ago I started three main projects being an Iron Warriors Grand Company, a supporting Traitor Guard Armoured Battlegroup and while no nids a mecha Eldar Wraithhost. Sorry I'm not good enough with Greenstuff to do organics and the Revenant titan is just so awesome I had to buy four of them.

I really like the way you have painted your Iron Warriors so far and I like the Purge squad a ton. I can't wait to see you forge up some of that IW armour. I think you should do the Baneblade up for them and make it really nice then maybe later you might add a couple more and do them up a lot less nice with more damage and less ornamentation for your traitor guard as if the IWs have the best one for their armoured spearheads. Or maybe have the IW Baneblade very relic-ish then additional traitor guard Baneblades built as if the IWs just copied their "original".


----------



## Chaosftw (Oct 20, 2008)

Alright Heph,

First time checking your post So i read and viewed all 17 pages from the first letter to the last period. Your army Idea sounded awsome as i continued to read the images began to say it all. Then i hit your 3 posts on Fluff; I Hate fluff mostly because i am not creative enough to think and do it myself. But after reading yours you managed to keep me amused from start to finish. I was rather impressed so Thumbs up for the fluff! Then going through the rest of the 14 or so pages some of the models you produced were fantastic. The Iron Warrior with the huge mace i belive it was was fantastic the nurgle looking marine with the nid arms extended out his back was another i perticularly liked. Some of your nid poses were also a sight to see! The bug coming out of the pipe made me laugh! i really liked that, another was i belive the lictor standing on the angled building looking down. Very nice pose! i could just imagine being the marine walking up to that building then seeing the drool splash on the ground in front of me. Then look up and see this enormus nid staring down at me....just creepy! You definatly have put a crap ton of work into the army and it shows, well done! my hat is off to you!

Chaosftw


----------

