Black Like My Soul

[Sception]

Alright, the chosen are basically modeled at this point. All the bits are on, magnets are done, gaps filled, greenstuff work done, they're basically ready for painting. Eventually I'll go back to do more magnetized swappable arm & gun options, but that can come later.

Here's how they look:

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen09_zpsce21b045.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/ChosenCMD03_zpsec16a23b.jpg

Both arms are magnetized on the champion and the icon bearer.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/ChosenCMD04_zps0ec9b89c.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen10_zps59072446.jpg

The melee weapon arms on these two are magnetized.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen11_zpsc53386f0.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen12_zps5324facb.jpg

The melee weapon arm on the left guy is magnetized, both arms on the right guy are magnetized.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen13_zpse67454d2.jpg

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen14_zpsa6edfd01.jpg

The guns on each of these four are magnetized. Eventually I'll find some cooler bolters for them

(maybe the evil industries ones?), but in the mean time spare bolters on loan from basic CSMs are fine.

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen15_zps32bcf16d.jpg

And here they are with some special weapons. These are the ones I have magnetized at the moment,

but I do have two CSM meltaguns, another raptor plasmagun, another CSM plasmaguns, two raptor

flamers, and two CSM flamers waiting to be done whenever I feel like I want or need them.

These guys will be running mostly as a retinue at first, eight or so with a pair of power axes, 2-3

meltaguns, and a power sword champ. Until icons are worth taking on an undivided squad again, the icon bearer will be primarily for display purposes, and won't see much table time.

Not that I mind too much. I don't see too much table time these days, myself. Anyway, I have to say I'm pretty happy with how these models have turned out, and in their standard configuration, the whole squad is wysiwyg - grenades, pistols, bolters, melee weapons, and all.

.............

So, after an extended and agonizingly slow going hiatus to get modeling work done, I'm finally ready to start painting again. I should have time to get these guys primed this weekend. After these are done, the next models in line are 2x10 bare bones chaos cultists, after which I think I'll have a pretty good selection of core infantry together, and it'll be time to work on some vehicles maybe.

But that's still a ways out. Knowing how my painting rate goes, and how much I care about this squad, I'll probably be painting these ten chosen for a year and a half.

[Dar'kir]

Nice work converting over those DV chosen, I hope my own come out half as good.

[Forté]

Nice seeing that the DV chosen are convertible. Having two the same is annoying and some of the weapons on them aren't exactly the best choices.

[FENRISÚLFUR]

Great looking conversions Mal, you are doing the Warmaster proud! I really like the heads you are using in some of the conversions, they add a lot of character to these models.

[Sception]

They're convertible, but it is quite a project.  I had to hack at them with knife, saw, and dremel, and build them back up with raptor bits, greenstuff, and greystuff shoulderpads copied from carefully removed chosen pads with instant mold.

[Sception]

I've also ordered my counts-as Be'lakor, the FF8 Diabolos figure from the Final Fantasy Master Creatures line:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Master_Creatures2_DIABOLOS_zps366e8c7f.jpg

 

He's about the same size as GW's Be'Lakor, iirc, though the splayed wings & tall fancy base will make him a bit a lot harder to hide in game.  Still, I like the model quite a bit, and I got a decent deal for it on eBay - about half the cheapest price I would have paid on amazon, including shipping.  I'm not sure if or how I'll be converting or repainting this guy - gonna have to wait and decide that based on how he looks when I've got him in person.

 

Fluff wise, I haven't decided yet whether I'll be running him as Be'Lakor or counts-as Be'Lakor.  My homebrew fluff already has my warband working for rebel daemons, so there are several figures that might make sense with Be'Lakor's rules, but then again Be'Lakor himself would be a natural if of course manipulative and distrustful ally.

[Excessus]

Wings doesn't count when trying to spot him though.

But very innovative, looking forward to seeing him completed!

[Sception]

Good to know about the wings. There won't be much more to see when I get him, though, as he comes assembled & factory painted, as shown in the pic above. Maybe I'll do some minor conversions (add the sword from the metal daemon prince, perhaps?*), Maybe I'll repaint him**, but maybe not, as he's already pretty close to the black with red/orange/yellow spot colors scheme my models already have. Heck, depending on the diameter of the base of the fire column he comes mounted on, I might not even feel obligated to give him a new base.

*then again, maybe not, as I hear PVC is subject to warping/bending under weight...

**on this subject, does anyone have any experience re-painting PVC figures? I imagine spray primer is a no, is plain paint-on GW or P3 primer ok, or should I mix up some thin gesso or something? Any advice on safe paint-strippers for PVC if it proves necessary to remove the factory paint?

 

 

I really like the heads you are using in some of the conversions, they add a lot of character to these models.

 

Thanks! The heads that aren't original chosen are mostly from the raptor/warp talon kit. The two exceptions are the icon bearer, who iirc has a head from the space marine captain kit, and the special weapon guy on the far left in the pics above, who has a CSM biker head.

[Rune_Priest_Rhapsody]

That model is sweet looking!! Will you be painting him, or playing him as is??

 

The chosen look fantastic!! Very cohesive. Nice work so far Malisteen. If we get this supposed new marine kit, these will look boss in your army!!
 

End of Line

[Sception]

As mentioned above, I'm not sure yet on repainting the Diabolos model.  It's PVC, which I haven't worked with before, and the factory paint scheme is pretty close to my own Black Legion scheme anyway, so I'll wait and see how he looks next to my other models as is before proceeding.

 

Otherwise, thanks for the kind words on the chosen.  Making each unique while maintaining the distinctive look of the CV chosen was my primary goal when working on them.  I like the results, but they took a ton of time and effort, and I don't think I'll be doing any more this way.  Then again, that's part of why I pushed to finish a whole squad of ten - that way if a new chosen kit appears and doesn't suitably match the DV models I'll still be able to use them - just as separate squads, reserving these models as a power armored retinue squad.

[Hellrender]

Nice work on the chosen. Looking forward seeing them in some paint :)

[Sception]

the chosen are primed, but photos didn't turn out well, as usual for matte black primed models.   I'll throw some up when I've got the overbrush on.  Since I'm planning on using them as a retinue in a rhino or land raider, I'll mostly be fielding them in 8 to 9 rather than the full 10 strong, so I've been considering leaving one unpainted while I do the rest, then making a video going through my painting process on the leftover model.  Does that seem like something worth bothering with?
 
Diabolos/Be'Lakor came in the mail today.  He looks hella cool, but will require repainting and minor gap filling/conversion, and possibly some stripping of the factory paint, if I can find a way to remove paint from PVC models without damaging them.  Anybody have any recommendations, there?
 
------------
 
I got a game with actual models in yesterday, as opposed to a proxy/gimmick/trial game, which is most of what I've actually played lately.  here's what I ran:
 
Lord, vets, shiver, sigil, mutation, meltabombs
8 chosen, vets, 2x melt, 2x axe, sword champ
Land Raider, dirge
 
2x10 csms, vets, 2x plas, sword champ, rhino
2x10 cultists
 
2x drake - one bale one dakka
 

Not exactly competitive by any stretch, but all at least mostly assembled.
 
Played against guard, with a basilisk, a manticore, couple vets in chimeras, command squad with the fixings, couple of lascannon squads, trilas flier, triplas russ, maybe something else.  Game was the two objective scenario, I sent all three tanks at his objective, left mine to cultists.
 

The game was incomplete, but would probably have been a loss for chaos - I got first turn, but his stuff blew my tanks away in his.  Had better luck with my basic chaos marines - one squad killing off one of his vets squads (on his turn) - though it was whittled down to just the champ and a regular chaos marine after getting shot at by several squads and eating overwatch, another surviving to take out one of his landraider squads and threaten the other contest his objective.
 
Sadly, my chosen were annihilated by his russ after the land raider was immobilized by combined fire from his lascannons and manticore.  They had cover, though, and might have survived had I been able to go to ground.  I like my lord, but will have to work on getting a non-fearless alternative together - either the smith or one of my sorcerers.
 
My baledrake arrived turn three (-1 to reserves due to guard thing), and wiped out most of his command squad, and would have wiped out the rest, with his warlord, had I remembered to use the daemonforge ability.  Oh, well.  His flier moved on after, but daemon saves kept my drake up losing only a single hull point to a glance.
 
Sadly, the game ended turn three, due to my opponent having to leave, but I probably would have lost.  Both objectives were contested, but I was likely to soon be claiming his as I was in the process of sweeping his models from his, and his vets were in the process of torching my cultists off of mine.  He had slay the warlord, linebreaker, & first blood.  I had linebreaker and was about to get slay the warlord.  My baledrake was still around, and my dakka drake would have turned up sooner or later, but honestly that plasma russ was probably going to wipe out my CSM unit in his backfield.
 

 

It was a fun game, though, and made me feel good about the units I've been choosing to work on, apart from the chosen, maybe, but whatev's, :cuss happens.  I do think maybe I'll keep the dakkadrake on the backburner and bump up priority on a couple oblits instead.  Maybe those new FW admech guys as a conversion basis?  Maybe not, as I've already got a couple old metal oblits I could strip and repaint.  That, and they'd be coming after the chosen, the transports, the cultists, and the baledrake, anyway, so I likely won't even be really worrying about them until 2016 or so, by which point I expect GW will have a new plastic dual kit out which I might like better than the mechanicus models, anyway.
 
Current 1,500 point target list is:
 
Lord, vets, shiver, sigil, mutation
8 chosen, vets, 2x melta, 2x axe, 1x sword champ
raider: dirge, extra armor
 
2x 10 csms, vets, 2x plas, 1x sword champ, rhino
10 cultists, shotgun champ
10 cultists
 
baledrake
2x oblits, vets, mon
 
1,850 list is exactly the same, plus Be'Lakor.
 
 
Primary design concern for the list is aesthetic rather than tactical, of course, and the list is likely to be completely different before I've even finished painting my chosen, anyway.  Still, seems like a decent goal to aim for, and the game, incomplete & loss as it was, has me feeling pretty upbeat about it.

[Sith’ari]

Ooh, can't wait to see some paint on these bad boys - that chosen squad is going to look sweet!

 

As for the game, let's not forget, that all brilliantly converted/painted units die quickly in their first game. They're just way too busy showing off to focus on dodging bullets! :D

[Sception]

I know I said I was going to work on painting the chosen this weekend, but the arrival of the Diabolos model was just a bit too exciting for me to let it go without tinkering with it.

 

Unfortunately, after several different attempts, I eventually had to admit that the factory paint was not coming off of this guy, so I'll have to be especially careful around the face especially.  However, after testing, I was able to determine that sprays didn't have any ill effect.  I removed the daemon from the base and primed him black, then painted on black over the outside of the orb he's floating on.  Then I glued him back, in a slightly more upright position, and added a sword (metal daemon prince sword, plus plastic spawn tentacle bit for a handle to make it a bit more daemonic & also to provide more stability with contact points to glue to the orb & to his thigh.

 

So here's my Be'Lakor, with prep work and undercoating done, ready to start painting - though sadly I won't be getting any farther this weekend, due to work I have to complete classes tomorrow.

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Belakor01_zps1f7b9251.jpg

 

Plus a pic next to some of my older models for scale:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Belakor02_zpsbd6e834c.jpg

[Midnightmare]

A very nice cohesive army you have going on, I like the scheme; purple is a strange choice on paper but it works really, really well.

As somebody who is currently converting/magnetizing the DV Chosen, I can really appreciate the effort that you have gone too with you dudes; they look excellent! Looking forward to seeing them badboys painted.

Also, your Be'Lakor - liking that. Never seen him before, he looks purest evil. Win

Impressive stuff, keep up the good work!

[Urauloth]

Those chosen conversions are incredible, I really love that icon bearer.

[Sception]

Bases are painted on the Chosen:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen16_zps79612e92.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen17_zps918b37d9.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Chosen18_zps046134a3.jpg

 

The new Typhus Corrosion and Ryza Rust have, I think, noticeably improved the rusted metal look in my basing scheme.  I may have to go back and revise a few previous models, particularly the metal plate my DV lord is standing on.  Otherwise, it's the same process as before.

 

Total current process is: GW Astro-Granite texture on any bare base areas, P3 Bastion Grey over entire base, sloppily applied watered down patches of P3 Battlefield Brown and Battledress Green, heavy dryrush GW Celestra Grey, pick out bone bits in P3 Hammerfall Khaki, pick out metal bits in GW Jokaero Orange, stipple metal bits with P3 Cold Steel, wash metal bits in GW Typhus Corrosion, wash whole base with GW Agrax Earthshade, stipple metal areas with GW Ryza Rust, stipple Metal areas with Cold Steel again, pick out metal edges with P3 Quick Silver, layer bone bits with Hammerfall Khaki and P3 Menoth White Highlight, lightly drybrush remaining areas with Celestra Grey again, picking out some areas with same, re-paint rim of base Bastion Grey.

 

I'm pretty happy with the current results, though I'm realizing just now that there aren't any loyalist helmets on their bases, and that's a shame.  Oh, well.

 

 

Otherwise, I've got some assembly & magnetization done on my fiend from several pages back (bigger magnets solving prior drooping guns issue), as well as assembly & magnetization progress on the new helbrute model, but I don't have pictures of those at the moment.  Also had a bit of an accident with a room mate knocking Be'Lakor/Diabolos off a table (my fault for leaving it out, really), resulting in some broken wings.  I've done repairs, & used some liquid green stuff to smooth out the work, and I think overall it's fine now, but it has set painting progress on him back a bit.

 

 

Don't expect any further progress in the next few weeks - I've got some heavy class work coming up.

[Sception]

Semester's finally done. Time to work on stuff a bit. I could, and should, maybe? Work on the chosen & Belakor I already started painting, but... meh. I've started a couple giant spawn conversions, too, and I still have to finish off my heldrakes, and repainting Abby, and finshing Mojo, and i've got a new helbrute 2/3 converted, and cultists and rhinos to paint....

But what I'm feeling at the moment is some fiend. You might remember my fiend conversion from a few pages ago? I had added stubs to the shoulders of a mauler fiend to allow magnetizable swapping between the two builds. Since then I had added a fur pelt bit onto the back to replace the armor plate I stole for a drake conversion, picked up a proper oval base for him (since his had been stolen for my other drake), and replaced the magnet bits I was previously using with much larger, sturdier magnets that hold the guns in place w/o drooping. Here's how the forgefiends are looking at the moment
 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Forgefiend01_zps5f8d13a1.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Forgefiend02_zps5b96c5e6.jpg

 

Coming along alright, I think.

 

Here's the body w/o extra bits:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend07_zps50f23bc7.jpg

 

 

The issue I was having was figuring out something to put on those shoulder nubs when using the guy as a mauler fiend.  I thought maybe wings?  Maybe put the mauler options up there?  None of that looked right, so here's what I eventually came up with:

 

 

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Maulerfiend01_zps546f5a71.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Maulerfiend02_zps951b9a2b.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Maulerfiend05_zpsfcdcc2be.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Maulerfiend04_zps97561192.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Maulerfiend03_zps90930276.jpg

 

 

I think I like how it's turning out.  I'll be adding some FW brass etching chaos stars to the buzz saw blades to fancy them up a bit once I have the money to pick them up, but that won't be for a while, and I can always add those post painting.I've still got some work to do before he's ready to paint: greenstuff work to fit the pieces together better, fancying up the base a bit, adding a tongue to the non-plasma head, fixing a broken tooth on the plasma head, and maybe giving him a slightly fancier tail.  If I can get all that done by the end of the weekend, then this guy will be my ETL vow.  If not, I don't know, maybe I'll vow a rhino or something.

[Excessus]

OMG! It's the Gladiator! :)

 

http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/scans12/IM7_Gladiator.jpg

 

 

Glad to see some progress on those chosen, love them! I'm currently having plans for some myself! :D

[Forté]

Didn't see that coming!

[Hellrender]

i like what you did there! 

[incinerator950]

I've also ordered my counts-as Be'lakor, the FF8 Diabolos figure from the Final Fantasy Master Creatures line:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Master_Creatures2_DIABOLOS_zps366e8c7f.jpg

 

He's about the same size as GW's Be'Lakor, iirc, though the splayed wings & tall fancy base will make him a bit a lot harder to hide in game.  Still, I like the model quite a bit, and I got a decent deal for it on eBay - about half the cheapest price I would have paid on amazon, including shipping.  I'm not sure if or how I'll be converting or repainting this guy - gonna have to wait and decide that based on how he looks when I've got him in person.

 

Fluff wise, I haven't decided yet whether I'll be running him as Be'Lakor or counts-as Be'Lakor.  My homebrew fluff271 already has my warband working for rebel daemons, so there are several figures that might make sense with Be'Lakor's rules, but then again Be'Lakor himself would be a natural if of course manipulative and distrustful ally.

OH MY GOD.  I WANT THAT.

3

[Sception]

Alright, greenstuff progress on the fiend:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend08_zps8219ace4.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend09_zps20f8351e.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend10_zps977879bf.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend11_zps36b1caee.jpg

 

Not the best work, but serviceable.  There's still a bit more conversion & gap filling work to do, plus some repair work from a drop that caused some slight damage, plus the customary one last sweep for any missed mold lines, but this guy should be ready for primer by the end of the day, in which event it'll be my ETL pledge.

 

 

Also got some conversion work in on my pair of giant chaos spawn.  The first is nearly finished - just in need of some gap filling and a proper base.  I'd hardly even call it a conversion, it's mostly just the fantasy mutilith assembled more or less as is;

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/GiantSpawnA01_zpsc540b3ac.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/GiantSpawnA02_zps34681e45.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/GiantSpawnA03_zps947a40c1.jpg

 

 

I could have just bought two of them and saved myself a ton of work, but my anti-chorus-line instincts kicked in, and forced me to try a slightly more extreme conversion for the second giant spawn I wanted.  Primary assembly is more or less done at tis point, now it just needs some a ton of greenstuff work to fill some large gaps and blend all the bits together:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/GiantSpawnB01_zps0428dd70.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/GiantSpawnB02_zpsbbe4b48c.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/GiantSpawnB03_zps00c83783.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/GiantSpawnB04_zpsc4318248.jpg

[Forté]

Nothing short of amazing.

[Sception]

Ok, Modeling work on the Fiend is Done.  It's ready for primer.  I mean, I might add some spikes to the shoulder nubs or some FW brass chaos stars to the buzz saws at a later date, but that can be done after painting it.

 

 

Here it is without bits:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend12_zps955e7f4e.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend13_zps46569a61.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend14_zpsfa1f72a8.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Fiend15_zps22a3e02d.jpg

 

 

 

And here's the assorted Forge & Mauler builds with options:

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Forgefiend04_zps454d42eb.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Forgefiend03_zpsa4f060f8.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Maulerfiend06_zpsf783bfa1.jpg

 

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z142/Malisteen/Black%20Legion/Maulerfiend07_zps9b685e94.jpg

 

 

So since the fiend is done, that's going to be my ETL vow... even though I really should be vowing that chosen unit or a rhino or two instead.

 

Whatever, I'm feelin big monsters and whatsits right now, so that's what I'm doing.