Epic Pre-Heresy Thousand Sons

[Drakemaster]

Right, I appear to be jumping on two of the latest bandwagons here. What I should have done is make Epic Pre-Heresy Truescale Marines and it might well be the most 'with it' Log on Warseer!

Inspired by the recent increase in high-quality Epic logs springing up at the moment I was inspired to get back into Epic myself. But it is Epic with a twist. I have cought the Pre-Heresy bug in a big way, and Pre-heresy modelling normally takes lots of time and a well stocked bits box - neither of which I have at present. So I had a great idea - Epic Pre-heresy! The marines are small enough so that they can be used as is (pointy helmets? Mk IV rather than Mk VI. Other helmets - Mk II or III rather than Mk VII) and many of the pre-heresy vehicle designs from the artwork are based on old Epic models, such as the Dreadnoughts and Land Raiders (the Epic 40K Land Raider was the inspiration for Forgeworld's pre-heresy version). Plus I had a bunch of old Rhinos and marines kicking around from a previous foray into Epic many years ago. So, a bit of ebaying, a bit of digging around for my old Epic stuff, and the purchase of an Epic Ork Warband box from GW (44 new-style bases for £12, rather than 16 for £7 if you buy the bases on their own, with the additional bonus that I get all the ork infantry to make an Epic ork army later) and I was ready to start on a new project.

First off, I did a colour test to see if my planned scheme worked. I painted a couple of dreadnoughts, as I had plenty, and they are a perfect match for the pre-heresy style as seen in Collected Visions.

I was pretty happy with how they came out, so next it was time for my first Tactical detatchment.
Rhinos:

Marines:

[Drakemaster]

And all together:

The bases are still unfinished, and there are one or two spots I need to tidy up when I finish the bases off, but overall I'm pretty happy considering it is my first foray into painting Epic for over 10 years.

So whats next? Well, I have a devastator detatchment in progress at the moment, which will include the dreadnoughts. I also have plans for a converted jetbike detatchment (to add to the pre-heresy feel) as well as a converted terminator detatchment if I can develop my greenstuff skills sufficiently...

[dancingmonkey]

heh, welcome on board the epic train!

Looking really nice from where I'm standing. Nice crisp detail and do I spot chapter markings?

Nothing like some pre heresy loving also.

Wonder if GW has noticed the sudden upsurge of epic love...
Maybe time for some SG support.

Congrats again.

Regards.

Jon.

[daemonkin]

Really love the 1ksons. I got my own pre heresy sons done up but I am concentrating for a while on their post heresy counterparts. Will get some pics up asap.

Your painting is great on the models. Did you use a wash on the rhinos?

D.

[synapse]

nice to see those dreads in use in a current army! very cool

[Lord Zso Sahaal]

very nice epic log, will be following this. All of these logs are making me think about epic. hmmm......
keep up the work
Sahaal

[Mr Feral]

Hmm.....purty.

I like the combination of the deep red with the white markings, it's very good indeed.

[zekrish]

Nice to see some epic! I have always loved the old dreadnaught and your painting really makes them even greater! Keep up the good work!

[Drakemaster]

@ dancingmonkey: Legion markings please, not Chapter markings. Pre-heresy, remember? And yup, you do see them.

@ daemonkin: I use a wash on everything. Stages are as follows:
1. Basecoat blood red.
2. Wash with a mix of red gore, a little black ink, and a little washing up liquid.
(3. Highlight with a mix of red gore and blood red. I only use this stage on vehicles, the infantry don't need it).
4. Highlight blood red.

@Synapse: Cheers! The dreds were one of the things that inspired me to do epic pre-heresy in the first place, they are a perfect match for the ones in the Collected Visions book.

@ Lord Zso Sahaal:Thanks. Go on, you know you want to... Epic FTW.

@ Mr Feral: Yeah, I rather like the Pre-heresy TS scheme myself.

@ zekrish: Cheers.

[donuter]

very nice. will you ahariman or magnus. this is very very cool.

[Chaos and Evil]

Consider this log subscribed to.

[Titan Wolfe]

Epic .....ahh! brings back old memories .......Very impressed ,keep up the great standard.

[Drakemaster]

@ donuter: My conversion skills are far short of what would be required to make a convincing Magnus, though I'd be tempted to have a go if they improved. As for Arhiman.... hmmm. He'd be great as my Supreme Commander, and the Sorcerer from the current Epic Chaos sprue looks absoloutely ideal to use as a pre-heresy Arhiman. If anyone (in the UK) has a spare they would be prepared to part with PM me and we'll see if we can sort something out.

@ Chaos and Evil: Great to have you on board!

@ Titan Wolfe: Cheers!

[Death Korp]

Love the little Dread guys, they're cool!

DK

[Drakemaster]

Right, well a little more progress has been made. I finished off a devastator detatchment as well. Like the tacticals, the bases are still unfinished - I'll try and get round to that soon. So, pics:
Marines & Rhinos:

Detatchment with the Dreadnoughts:

And the army so far:

Next up I'm aiming to finish converting my first stand of jetbikes, and paint an assault detatchment. Crossed fingers the jetbikes will come out ok... my first attempt actually converting in 6mm scale...

[Patriarch]

Great work Drakemaster, really crisp painting on the rhinos and dreads especially.

What's the chapter symbol? Did it used to be "M" for "Magnus" in the AT days?

[daemonkin]

yes it was an 'M' but that was ret-conned into the hollow burning star with 8 points (4 major, 4 minor - convenient eh?)

Anyway, great work on everything so far. I went with red/gold on my pre heresy thousand sons but i love these guys.

D.

[Chaos and Evil]

If you throw some static grass on the bases it'll really make the army 'pop'.

[donuter]

really nice ideas. now go fight some space wolves Godamit.

[Drakemaster]

@ Patriarch: Yeah, it used to be an 'M' but daemonkin has described the new version:

You can see my attempt at a 6mm version on the vehicles.

@daemonkin: Yeah, they have either gold, silver or white pad rims/details in the artwork. I went for white because it contrasts with the red more, which works better at this scale in my opinion. I will go for gold rims for command squads though to make them stand out.

@Chaos and Evil: The bases are still WIP at this stage. However (and I'm sure many people will disagree) I personally thing static grass looks a bit oversized at 6mm scale. Instead, my current plan is to drybrush them up to vomit brown and then add patches of green flock. I'll do a test on the dreadnoughts to make sure I like how it looks before I do the infantry.

@ donuter: Heh. Actually I am thinking about collecting a Space Wolf force (themed around a drop-pod assault) after I finish these guys... refighting the Battle of Prospero at Epic scale sounds pretty cool.