Lexington's Word Bearers - [4.19.19 - CSMs and Dreads!]

[Lexington]

Hoo! Been a bit. In the run-up to the aforementioned Big Game, I did an ton of work on this army that there was never time to show off here on the B&C. Afterwards, Chaos was put away for some time in favor of Orks (the next Big Game being Orks vs. Everyone Else), but the releases of the past few months have gotten me feeling that olde tyme religion for a moment, and I figured it might do a bit of good to update this old clunker. Unfortunately, I'm also about two weeks from another move, so most of this material is packed away, as is my better photo equipment.

To kick things off, here's a bit more progress on Esarhaddon, who is now much further along than he was originally, but still frustratingly incomplete. The new Abaddon has shown me how skinny this torso is, and accordingly, I'll be bulking it out in the near future. Trying hard to resist the urge to just get Big A's torso and greenstuff cast the detailing from this guy onto it. We'll see how long that ambition holds up...

Also, a random eBay search the other day turned up the exact bit I've been searching for since forever - Confessor Kyrinov's incredibly fun and detailed mace. The metal version, too, meaning I don't have to trust fate to deliver me a Finecast version devoid of air bubbles and other imperfections. I've had the mace from that old metal knockoff Horus stuck on here as a stand-in, and now it's time to figure out how to incorporate this one in its place.

More soon, including an entirely new CSM squad, and a new Aspiring Champion for the original Sicarii squad that started this whole thread.

[Lexington]

More blood-drinking psychopaths for the masses!

A whole new squad of basic CSMs came into being a while back, all to accompany this guy on this overall quest to simply glower the galaxy into submission.

Again, poor lighting, but hopefully the point gets across. Really like how mixes of the Deathwatch and Thousand Sons legs have worked, and it's definitely made the creation of "biggerized" CSM (well, now more "standard," since the recent scale change) much easier. Still have a few of the originals in there with their legs ripped apart and sewn back together with plasticard. These guys go through so much for me.

Kind of feeling like the posing style for these guys might be wearing a bit thin, tho. Comments on that appreciated.

Here's a few close-ups of favorites:

That last guy obviously has some significant mojo going on, and I've been pondering upgrading him to the Sicarii's Lord Executioner (or whatever dumb name that new HQ has), but we'll see.

Next up, another Dreadnought!

This one's a tribute to Brother Heinrich's incredible Gevuadas, a model that's just flooded with mood and atmosphere. This guy's the "Apostle" Dreadnought, clearly the decaying, half-mad remnants of one of the SIcarii's many corrupted Chaplains, all of whom serve under Elezar the Sanctifier, who'll hopefully pop up in model form here sooner or later. This guy will have arms eventually. Promise.

Finally, a somewhat dumb, fun upgrade. As said in the opening post, this army's verging on its second decade of existence, and has taken a number of forms. During one of its different guises, I was just chopping up and recombining whatever interesting models I could find just to see what stuck. I'm not particularly proud of a lot of those early experiments, but this guy always worked, and his primitive paintjob's at least a spiritual ancestor to what I'd like to eventually do with this incarnation of the Sicarii.

The background of this guy gets complicated, originally leading a unit of Raptors who've slowly gone over the edge of madness, acting out aerial dance-plays as various animal aspects. Not wanting one of his assault units to go completely bonkers, Esarhaddon instructed one of his Chaplains to challenge this guy to combat for leadership of the squad. The Chaplain prevailed, but this has done little to calm the Raptors, who've taken to new and more unhinged performances that describe some sort of unknown apocalypse. Meanwhile, now leading that old Chaplain's squad with a strangely subdued demeanor, this guy just sits back and seems to be waiting for...something. It's all very sinister, and someday I'll get around to writing it down in a form that actually communicates such a feeling.

Anyway.

Anyhow, Dante's an absolute dwarf compared to the modern CSM, and required a lot of reconstructing. Finecast isn't great for much, but it didn't seem to do a bad job of replicating this classic model, and it was a hell of a lot easier to cut up than metal. It's one of the more involved, finicky conversions I've ever done, all to replicate the probably unnecessarily fiddly details of something old that I enjoyed. If that doesn't epitomize this army, tho, I'm not sure what does. Regardless, here's the result:

Really happy with how this one turned out, and even the photo wasn't too bad!

Anyway, commentary and such is always welcome. Once the move is completed next week, I'll dust things off and get photos of a few more new creations.

Edited April 19, 2019 by Lexington

[Pearson73]

I really like the mix of parts in the new squad of the heretics, gives them a ragtag, scavanged look, which certainly suits the nature of life in the warp. There are some very nice poses and choices of parts in there too, the plasma gunner's head in particular, is that from the AdMech Kataphron Servitors?

 

The modifications to the SoH dread are a big improvement, I've never been a fan of the original fan, but that more simple skull in the centre tones down the ostentatious decoration.

 

Cracking job on rescaling Dante too, I like that you kept the original sculpted feet.

[PeteySödes]

Super pumped to find your blog! As tragic as I find your fall to chaos I think the style lends itself to how much awesome details and parts to added to you marines. I’m super excited to see this shape up!

[MaliGn]

Some neat conversion work in here! How much paint have you got on this lot?

[YoungWolf7]

I was hoping the new Chaos releases would lure you back Lex. Glad to see it did. :)

[Lexington]

I really like the mix of parts in the new squad of the heretics, gives them a ragtag, scavanged look, which certainly suits the nature of life in the warp. There are some very nice poses and choices of parts in there too, the plasma gunner's head in particular, is that from the AdMech Kataphron Servitors?

 

The modifications to the SoH dread are a big improvement, I've never been a fan of the original fan, but that more simple skull in the centre tones down the ostentatious decoration.

 

Cracking job on rescaling Dante too, I like that you kept the original sculpted feet.

 

Thanks all around! Yes, that's the Kataphron Servitor head. I really dig those heads, and am planning on using the up-armored torsos from the Breachers to make some new Havocs as well.

 

Glad you dig the feet. It's the weird details like the feet, the face and the crazy shoulderpad I was really looking to save from the original.

 

Super pumped to find your blog! As tragic as I find your fall to chaos I think the style lends itself to how much awesome details and parts to added to you marines. I’m super excited to see this shape up!

 

Guess we'll have to settle up how tragic that is or isn't over a gaming table sometime, Sodes.

 

Some neat conversion work in here! How much paint have you got on this lot?

 

None, really, or at least none that I'm planning on keeping around. The painted ones in these pictures were from an airbrush experiment I wasn't too happy with. One of the irritating things about the hobby for me is that I've got a great confidence in my ability to slice a model up into new and interesting shapes, but haven't ever progressed my painting skills to a level that feels anywhere near that. I'd love to be able to do something like Kari's Red Corsairs, but it'll take a lot of time and dedication to be able to get anything that even skirts that sort of atmosphere.

 

I was hoping the new Chaos releases would lure you back Lex. Glad to see it did.

 

Hey, great to see you, YW7! Glad you're liking this blog. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how long this particular burst of updates will last - as said earlier, I've got Orks to work on for a deadline, so they'll have to take precedence soon. There'll be a thread for them, too, tho, and I'm just as conversion-happy on that side of things, so hopefully you can make do.

[KrautScientist]

Man, those kitbashed CSM are just delightful! Goes to show what can be done with a bit of resourcefulness and a hobby knife!

 

Also, please, please keep the "knock-off" Horus for your lord, if only because it's such a thoroughly original model, and your early mock up seems so very promising!