A canticle of pleasure and pain (mostly pain)

[tortoise]

Once upon a time i started an Emperor's Children army. This was under the previous chaos codex.

For various reasons I never completed that army. Some of those reasons were due to real life, like work, getting in the way. Other reasons were that I wanted a very individual and highly themed army- space marines with spiky helmets was not what I was looking for at all.

At the time I expected GW to release more boxed sets to go along with the IA articles and the new codex, thus supplying me with more unique parts to use. Unfortunately this never happened and my interest waned.

After a long break I'm painting again. I think it was the new daemon models that prompted this. So I've decided to have another go at my EC. A fair bit of the army is left over from my first attempt (apart from a few models I wasn't really happy with. I figure I still need 6 chaos marines, 5 noise marines, a squad of new daemonettes, 1 rhino, 1 predator and a lord. I have a daemon prince built but unpainted and I may just abandon him or make a new one up.

For the first post in this blog I thought I'd just show recently painted and acquired stuff. I will post the marines later after i've had time to get some decent photos. Some of you veterans may recognise them.

Anyway, onton the photos- a predator which I started about 4 years ago and finished a couple of days ago, a couple of daemonettes and the pieces of a lovely Forgeworld EC dreadnought.

Comments and crit very welcome.

[Ludwig von Rictoven]

The pred is very very tasty.

Is that how you'll be doing the rest of the army or will it be similar to the way you painted the daemonettes?

[Nemoyo]

Wow! some amazing stuff there!

[tortoise]

Thanks guys.

Ludwig- The noise marines in the army have the same colour scheme as the predator. The daemonettes fit the general feel of the colour scheme but are distinct from it.

I've undercoated the Forgeworld dreadnought. He will be painted prior to assembly which isn't something I usually do because of the need to fill gaps etc.





I'm also working on some more marines right now, trying to sculpt EC style helmets. One so far looks good, 2 others probably won't get used.

[JWBS]

Looking good so far.

[tortoise]

I decided to post some farewell pictures of older models that haven't made the grade. These guys will be recieving their marching orders I'm afraid.

Firstly, a marine armed with a heavy bolter. Under the old codex I'd sometimes run a 5 man squad with a heavy bolter and no other upgrades. Their job was to sit out of harms way holding a table quarter or something. The heavy bolter allowed them to take a few potshots without attracting too much attention. In the new codex I have to take 10 men just for the privilege of fielding this rather inoffensive heavy weapon. No thanks.

I don't mind the model though (although the painting is a bit rough) so I'll probably give him a new set of arms and stick him back in the field.




Plasma gun guy. His tongue is kind of retarded and he's holding a loyalist weapon. Out heretic!




Raptor conversion. IMHO the raptor models look like a cross between Admiral Akbar and Kharn the Betrayer. No one needs that in their life so he's out too.




I'd like some help with this one. I like this model but I think in retrospect the head isn't appropriate. Should I change it for a more normal EC or chaos marine helmet?




Thanks for looking. I'd really like to hear opinions on the models (if you think some of them should stay let me know!).

[Arhalien]

Very impressive work here; I love the predator in particular.

And personally I quite like the head on the organ-backpack marine. It's nicely different to the normal style of chaos marine helmet which is good as it makes the model stand out more. My one thought is that maybe the horns are a bit out of place though...

[tortoise]

I started painting the dreadnought. So far just the metal on the legs.

Boltgun metal mixed with black and washed in the superlative Devlan Mud.




Highlighted with boltgun metal and chainmail, glazed with purple ink then weathered.





Front view, sorry about the strange camera angle.




I ordered the blastmaster arm for this guy, mainly because it looks cool but also because I'll be able to count it as pretty much any weapon I like. Mmmm, plasma cannon...

[HereticLosMorte]

i too like the head on the doom siren model. i think it fits well.
i personally am waiting on the new chaos marine legion book before i pull my EC back off the shelf

[projectkmo]

Originally Posted by HereticLosMorte

i too like the head on the doom siren model. i think it fits well.

I agree...I think it works well.

As for the raptors... It looks like you;ve got the skills to make some really neat versions yourself.

Your Pred and deamons are just wonderfully painted. The skill required to do those swirls etc.... wow. You def can paint!

[JWBS]

I think you should stick the old models back in the cabinet. What's done is done, no snese re-writing your modelling history.

[tortoise]

Built some new marines. I'm trying to sculpt my own EC style helmet designs over normal marine helmets. Although i could use metal EC heads I decided that no 2 marines in the whole force would have exactly the same head- I want them all to look individual.



The 2 on the left have still got to have their plumes added. They also need EC backpacks but I've only got 2 left. If anyone has EC backpacks they don't want I'd be happy to buy them. pm me if you're interested.

HereticLosMorte- I hear that, but I'm worried that we'll be waiting a long time. Still, forgeworld have confirmed they'll be doing a Slaanesh marine conversion kit eventually.

[redstarone]

Originally Posted by tortoise

Built some new marines. I'm trying to sculpt my own EC style helmet designs over normal marine helmets. Although i could use metal EC heads I decided that no 2 marines in the whole force would have exactly the same head- I want them all to look individual.
.

Thats the samething im doing with my on personal slaaneshy marine army. I think that you have pulled it off very well and each marine looks like a true follower of slaanesh. The helmets are a great touch since they are focal points and the freehand work is excellent.

The only advice I can give is, and im sure your already going to do it, to add flayed skin on a few random models. Ive always had this image in my head that slaanesh devoted marines are similiar to the hellraiser demons. Flayed skin fits that perfect.

[qwertywraith]

Sexy stuff there. The pink on your marines is really nice, and the composition is excellent. I particularly like the fast transition from black to pink on the heavy bolter marines helmet. Very nicely done. I'll be watching this thread. We're always looking for more people at emperorschildren.net, and a painting contest just started. Mayhaps you'd like to join?

[tortoise]

Thanks Redstarone. A lot of the marines also have leather over their chests and legs (like the metal torso from the EC boxed set and the leg from the EC lord- which i used as the body for the marine on the left although i cut it at the waist, repositioned it and sculpted the detail back in).

I will be adding flayed skin to quite a few of them though. I think that Slaanesh marines can sometimes look a little 'neutral' due to the exotic, almost delicate, decoration and I want to counter that with some nasty little additions.

One idea I have is to put groin spikes on a few of them, although I'll have to be careful because that could look really very silly if done OTT.

Incidentally, really like your Dark mechanicus, especially the RT chaos marines. I used a lot of those models in another chaos army of mine.

mmm...old school...

[redstarone]

My thoughts exactly on slaanesh stuff seeming delicate and in need of "scary" stuff.

Nice scheme on those RT marines. I like how the 3 in the pic are the first 3 that I painted for my dark mechanicus. I must say, yours are way better painted, with a better overall scheme. I just use mine to "fill out" my army with painted stuff.

FYI youve started my slaanesh side up early. I wasnt going to work on mine for awhile.. Now I feel the urge calling. Ill be watching

[tortoise]

Thanks man. Its really cool to know that this kind of stuff can be motivational for people. and I'll be keeping an eye on your log too, especially if you have any cool Slaanesh ideas i can steal


Qwertywraith- cheers. Mayhaps I did indeed join forsooth.

[Dictator]

Awesome painting and conversions. I really respect people that spend this much time on an army.!

[tortoise]

Been painting the dreadnought and started building a second predator. I've also built a fiend (use as a spawn), finished building some marines and worked more on the pred, but photobucket keeps freezing when I upload so those will have to wait.

I've painted the dread dark blue areas. It will get final highlights later. I'll also probably give it a marble effect, but i like to leave those touches for the end. If I do them when the model is assembled and almost fully painted I don't risk making the paint job overly busy so much.

The photos have flattened the dark blue almost completely. I'll post better ones later.




Dread with light blue base coated. This will actually end up a bright off-white like on the first predator.




I also have the weathering and rust to put on the metal. Again, I'll do this later so as not to overdo it hopefully.

The start of the predator. This will have sheilds on the sides and possibly some silk banners as well



Let me know what you think, thanks for looking. I really appreciate the comments.

[Dictator]

GOod to see some progress. Sorry about the photobucket pics.