The Road to the Storm (Part 2)

[GhoulStars]

So... Some time ago (September last year to pick hairs) I started up a fantasy army to coincide with the new SoM rules and a fantasy tourney my local GW was running. It can be found here Linky!. I made a promise to myself that I would stick with it to the bitter end and...

I lost interest.

Not sure what happened, probably some shiny new release caught my eye. I know a lot of my wargaming efforts have centred around my renegade marines of late, so I can probably blame them. However, the local is going to be running a campaign soon based around Blood in the Badlands, so I'm going to use this as an excuse to get back on with an army I left behind.

That's not to say I've done nothing, here's a little breakdown of what I have available/in progress/in planning (Done in green, built in white, being built in red and do not yet have in blue)


Lords
Sorcerer Lord On Manticore

Heroes

Chaos Sorcerer with MoT

Exalted Hero with MoT

Exalted Hero with MoK

Exalted Hero with MoN and a pony

Core

15 Chaos Warriors with hand weapon and shield

15 Chaos Warriors with hand weapon and shield

14 Maurauders with flails and MoK

10 Chaos Warriors with 2 hand weapons and MoK

10 Chaos Warhounds with poisoned attacks

10 Chaos Warhounds with Scaly Skin

10 Chaos Warhounds with Scaly Skin

Special

10 Chosen with great weapons and MoT

6 Ogres with great weapons, chaos armour and MoN

5 Chaos Knights with lances and MoT

5 Chaos Knights with MoN

Rare
Chaos Spawn with MoT

Chaos Spawn with MoN

As well as the chaos carnosaur and chaos royal unicorn (which can be seen on the previous log)

There's a fair bit of time (about a month) before the tourney starts, and I plan to have at least 2000 points of the above painted before that rolls around (plus some more funky conversions, and possibly a BSB that I haven't made yet)

Just so you get an idea, here's the majority of what i've got to work with, the above list will be updated as and when things are finished



So, watch this space for more madness, more conversions and hopefully even some painting

GS

(PS: the spawn are going to be werewolves)

[Toshiro]

Good luck this time around

[GhoulStars]

Cheers ^^

Unfortunately for my painting, I've been bitten by the "Convert everything" bug, which seems to enjoy nibbling on me.
Here's the Khorne Exalted Champion, who leads a merry band of cultists to the blood god (my marauders)


From the moment I saw that axe on the marauder horseman sprue, I knew I had to use it somewhere, this guy is very much a maurauder chieftain. I sculpted some muscles on his stomach which i was pretty proud of, but then I proceeded to cover them up with straps and chains, oh well ^^
For reference, here's the champion of the marauder cultists

the rest of them are just head-swapped flagellents

Next up, Nurgle Exalted champ on pony



I spent quite a bit of time on this guy's betentacled helmet, but I'm not quite satisfied with it, I may end up ripping it off and giving him the Chosen helmet i was going to initially, what do you think guys?

Last but not least, the only painted model in the army (and comes from another army I started after this one) is my Tzeenchian LycanSpawn


This gentleman was made from the crypt ghoul kit with a warhound head and a lot of greenstuff, he's going to end up with a nurglite buddy at some point in the near future when I'm done with the (annoyingly extensive) greenstuff work

Tomorrow/later today I plan to do a bit of painting if I can gather the requisite attention span to do so, it may suffer, as I've been having ideas for a nurgle sorcerer and a BSB of some description, we'll see how I do

C&C always appreciated, let me know what you think

GS

[Brother Alexos]

Ghoulstars, I loved the original thread, and I have to say its only getting better.

[GhoulStars]

Thanks Brother Alexos... wait, this means I have a fan.... that means pressure to do stuff... AAH!

Here's a sneak preview on what I'm currently converting the hell out of ^^



A torso on a stick, that's right ladies and gentlemen

[Il Maestro]

Whoa whoa, do you think you could do a tutorial on how you but the torso onto the stick please?

Haha great work on the log though, you've done some awesome greenstuffing and painting so far, can't wait to see how this one progresses! As for the tentacle-helmet, I actually quite like it - especially from the front, that face looks bad-a$$!! I think you should keep it, but that's just my two cents worth

[Elfboy]

Love the conversion work, khorne lord looks hard as nails, the mixtue of armour and bare flesh looks great.
I like the nurgle guy too, including the helmet. Have you considered painting painting it up as cloth/leather instead? I thought it might look quite cool if he was wearing a cloth/leather mask with the tentacles burting out the back.
Would the torso on a stick happen to be the tzeentch sorcerer? I can picture it with long sweeping robes...
Keep the good ideas coming, look forward to the next update.

[GhoulStars]

@ Il Maestro: certainly, you take a bit of sprue, a torso and a base, then you glue the hell out of all three... then proceed to go nuts with conversion. Thanks for the positive comment ^^

@Elfboy: my Tzeentchian sorcerer is actually a sorceress, and looks like this

standard chaos sorcerer with a daemonette head. She fits into my background thusly

It is well known that a unicorn will only come for an unsullied Maiden, and while the unicorns found wandering the chaos wastes aren't quite as sane as the noble creatures found further south, they still abide by this fundamental rule. Because of this, the Sorcerer-Chieftain of the Varagnion Tribe had the young Dido sealed into a suit of Chaos armour when she first showed signs of magical ability, to preserve her for the express intention of attracting these insane creatures to his cause, leaving their care to her. As a result, she rarely speaks to the other members of her tribe, preferring the company of the unicorns, to whom she has become a sort of daughter-leader, under the protection of Septimus, the magnificent leader of these fell but noble beasts.

She's basically a reason for my chaos unicorns ^^ (see link in the first post)

Thanks for the feedback on the nurgly helmet, Elfboy, your suggestion is actually a really good idea, which I think I will go for. It looks a little too organic for metal, so leather it shall be. Hmm... wonder if i can make a magical chainsaw for him...

in the meantime, here's some more work on the torso-on-a-stick

He's not actually on the starter list, i've just been in a very converty mood last night and today. He is, in point of fact, going to be a Lore of Death sorcerer that just happens to work for the Varagnion tribe, but is unaffiliated with them.
He's also very tall.

C&C very much encouraged, as always

GS

[pointyteeth]

GhoulStars, your conversions are freaking awesome! The tzeentch spawn in particular is brilliant. I have to agree with everyone else, you need to keep the tentacle helmet/mask. Its way too cool to get rid of.

[GhoulStars]

@pointyteeth: Thank you very much ^^

Consensus has it, the tentamask is staying.

Now on to the meat of this post
The lore of death sorcerer is 99.9% done, bar paint and any niggly little details I may spot later (plus a little bit of sanding to get rid of fingerprints)

Ladies and gentlespawn, I present Ragdar the Executioner





It took me quite a while to decide what to put on his other arm, I was thinking a hand that was on fire or something like that, but it didn't fit in my mind, so i went looting through my box o' chaos parts and found a nearly-full frame of Gors, took an axe off that, gave it a shave, then stuck it on and did some gapfillery
He is tall, I mean really tall, he's the tallest 'Infantry' figure I have in my army (not counting horns, as they don't count)
for reference, here's the line-up of all my on-foot characters so far, with a chaos warrior and a marauder-cultist for scale


So that's another model for me to paint (goddamnit). Not bad for something that started out as a torso on a stick eh?

As always, C&C gratefully accepted

GS

[GhoulStars]

In a burst of creativity, I decided to start painting Ragdar last night pretty much the moment the greenstuff had finished drying (seriously, I was sat there for several hours poking it with a sculpting tool to see if it was done). This is the first time in a long time where I've actually been looking forward to painting something, I've never been much good at painting, but I decided to experiment with this guy.

Please bear in mind that my painting is nowhere near the standard of some of the people on this site (Been in the hobby since 1998, number of models fully painted... approximately 30) so I'm going for 'looks good on the tabletop from a distance" rather than "Golden Demon quality". The skin looks a little chalky close up, and I'm tempted to thin down some Drakenhof Nightshade (Which has already been used twice over the layers I put on his skin) and give it another coat. There's also still some detail and washing to go, but tell me what you think guys ^^







Getting a picture of his damn staff was an adventure in itself >.< the camera did not like to focus on it

So tell me what you think now he's (mostly, there's still a few details to go) painted up.

As always, C&C very gratefully accepted

GS

[GhoulStars]

And for my next trick, for you quiet lot

Ragdar is all finished up bar basing, let me know what you think.






Some more details have been painted on such as the wrappings on his axe and the stud in the middle of the staff-skull, the robes have had another layer of nuln oil and the skin has had a thin coat of the same to make it look less chalky. And washes have occured, lots of them.

next on the building list, I decided that, having really enjoyed making this guy, I would convert up some friends for him, so here's the basis of the Chosen that will accompany Ragdar into battle


Because every army needs a torso-on-a-stick patrol. They will be kitted out with beastman gor parts for the weapons and shields, with de-horned chaos warrior helmets for heads (hoods over the top of course). The muscles of the torsos will be painted as armour, these guys are, after all, supposed to be in chaos armour, although the skin is going to be the same as Ragdar's

C&C gratefully accepted, encouraged, and discreetly bribed for >.>
GS

[Crube]

Excellent work, especially on the Green stuffing

As you say C&C welcome.... I really like the Ragdar model, and the idea of having similar models as Chosen will look ace. My only C&C for Ragdar is psossibly a little late... his hood looks a little ... rigid at the back. I'd have liked to see the point either a little lower, or with a couple more folds in the material, either bending slightly left or right... still looks great though.

As for your Nurgle dude on pony, I know what you mean. I think the only thing that stops it being awesome are the tentacles... they're a bit flat for want of a better word. Maybe if they were more 'flowing in the wind' you'd be happier? The pose of the model is excellent, and very dynamic, but the tentacles still seem to sit too close to his head / neck... from the pose of the model I expected them to be higher... hard to describe but almost more like hair blowing in the wind... Make sense?

Hope you take this in the way it was intended - there are some lovely conversions here, and I'm just trying to offer ideas that might make them even better.

Marauder chieftain me like very much . The chains and medallion are a great addition. Shame to cover up the muscles, but it really works, and looking forward to seeing him painted (hint hint )

Great stuff, will be following with interest

[GhoulStars]

Thanks for the feedback Crube, I'll probably go back to the nurgle guy later and have a little fiddle with his helmet, see if i can increase it's awesome levels. The 'hair' is fairly dynamic, the pictures just don't show it off too well.

I took your advice with the first two of Ragdar's chosen as well, their hoods are a bit more droopy at the back, pictures of them to come shortly, but first:

Ragdar's gotten bigger.
The model itself has not change in size at all, but I ripped the sorceress off her base and donated it to the big guy, so now he's absolutely huge, it got a quick paintjob, an now looks thusly.


I's a pretty simple scheme, just Adeptus Battlegrey with an Astronomican Grey highlight and a Devlan Mud wash(still using up some of the old colours), but it's pretty effective in my opinion. I may go back at a later date and throw some Astrogranite and Mourn Mountain Snow at it, but for now, I'm calling him done. I took him into my local GW earlier today, and people were asking if he was an actual figure made by another company, so that made me pretty proud of my work.

Next up, progress updates on the rest of the torso-on-a-stick patrol.
Here's 7 of them at the 'bulking out an adding helmets' stage. For these guys I've used milliput to bulk out the base of their robes, but i'm almost certain that I'm not going to be using milliput for anyone's robes unless I run desperately low on greenstuff, something I'm relatively safe from for the time being.


And finally, the first two are completed, the one with the axe is rank-and-file, whereas the one with the sword is the unit champ. I didn't give the camp the wimple-thing as his shoulder area is already fairly busy


Note the lower profile of the hood-point.
Even though they're smaller than Ragdar himself, they're still pretty damn huge, bigger than the average warrior certainly.


If I ever do more of these guys after this mob is done, I'm definitely going to be casting up the lower bodies and making moulds of them, it's too much of a colossal pain to sculpt them all individually. That may be something I look into doing after the bulk of this army is done actually, what do you think guys, should Ragdar's Executioners become an army in their own right? What should the basic Warriors look like? (I've got an idea involving the savage orc big boss for a more combat-focused lord/hero, minus his lower half of course)

As always, C&C is very much appreciated.
GS

Minor postscript, but oddly enough, the effects of the mark of Slaanesh fit the Executioners best (for some odd reason)

[Crube]

Excellent on the hoods... Love the guy on the left too. Although (pedant mode enable...) there appears to be a finger print on the left side of his robes....

A suggestion if you decide to go down the snow route on the base, and that's to give a couple of thin washes of blue (whatever the heck it's called these days I can't keep up - too old... ) to the stones, before adding the snow. Adds a nice tone to the base, and stops it being quite so stark.

Keep it up

[GhoulStars]

Asdfghj fingerprints, my one nemesis. I always go over my sculpts with my craft knife and, when I have it, some fine sandpaper once they're dry to eliminate the damnable things, it has been eliminated. Thanks for the hint on the snow on bases by the way, I will definitely be giving that a go... might even start looking into sculpting my own bases soon

Anyhoo, now for updates, just the one today. I may change the title of this plog, as it seems to be slowly turning into a Ragdar's Executioners one.

Here we have (dun dun duuuun) the largest torso on the largest stick to date

It's the Savage Orc Big Boss torso, I liked how muscular it looked, and thought it would be a good basis for a more combat focused hero/lord for the executioners. And when I say he's big... well, you remember how tall Ragdar himself was?

Yeah, he's big.

I have a conundrum though, ladies and gentleorcs, and that is what to do with the axe.


Do I keep the frankly rather vicious-looking axe-head of the savage orcs, maybe painting it to look like red-veined obsidian, or do I take the more civilised-looking axe-head I got from the Minotaur sprue. I do really like the original axehead, but being all stoney, it may not be the best choice for it. Your opinions guys?

There will be more paint pictures soon, I promise D:

C&C, as usual, greatly appreciated
GS

[Nkari]

Id go with the metal head just so you "convert" more, and it enables you to use the axe on another model somewhere.. =)

[Bunkka-Pop]

Yeah go with the metal head. Even though the stone axe looks bit more interesting I don't really see it fitting all too well for a chaos hero.

[Crube]

Keep the original axe.

This is chaos right? He's a hero type?

Why can't he have an axe corrupted by Chaos?

Sculpt a few faces trying to get out of the axe head, paint it black / obsidian, with maybe blueish highlighting, and you have a Daemon weapon - I think the 'stone' texture could work quite well. Maybe file it down a little before hand....

Then you're still converting, and have a really characterful model...

[Il Maestro]

I agree with Crube here - I think the stone axe head could work really well and add a lot of character to the model. The only thing I would do though if you are to use it is to sculpt a metallic attachment between the stone and the shaft, as is on the metal axe head. I think that would make it less 'orcy'

And yay for more torsos-on-sticks!!!