The Conquest of Terra: The Emperor & the Thunder Warriors

[miteyheroes]

The start of a new army! I'm a terrible hobby butterfly, never able to concentrate... Anyway. I've always loved the Thunder Warriors, with their distinctive overlapping banded shoulder pads, their epic helmet crests, their old-fashioned early armour design that is clearly the ancestor of but different to Space Marine Power Armour, and their brutal attitude. They were the Emperor's first genetically modified army, precursor to the Custodes and the Astartes, the army with which he conquered Terra.
 

 
So I wanted to bring them to life, on the table top. For a long time I thought about based them on Space Marine models, possibly Chaos bits, with Cadian heads. But they just weren't cool enough, they weren't unique and interesting. But when Age of Sigmar was released, I saw the Stormcast Eternals and wanted to make them into something pre-Heresy. Their beautiful shapes seemed ideal to represent some sort of earlier and more elaborate Power Armour... And then when the official Custodes were released, with so many shared design elements between them and the Stormcast Eternals, I knew what I had to do. I wanted an army of Thunder Warriors to accompany the Custodes, in armour that looked like Custodes but more stripped-down and brutal. Together, they would be ideal to represent the Army of Conquest that united Terra for the Emperor.
 

 
These models are only works in progress, in particular they are lacking their backpacks (which will be the new Iron Armour backpacks from Battle for Prospero). But the basic shape is coming together: Stormcast Eternal bodies, heavily trimmed to remove their arms and shoulder pads. Arms from Terminators, with additional shoulder plating from Orruks to give them the classic banded shoulder pads. Heads from the Militarum Tempestus Scions, with plumes from a variety of sources: not quite the "standard" Thunder Warrior conversion, which uses Cadian heads, but there's something about the almost Weird-World-War look of the Scions that I love. I'll switch out the large storm shield when I get another small one: the double-headed eagle is obviously not appropriate for pre-unification Thunder Warriors...
 

 
So yes. My plan is to finish these guys, and make another couple of squads. Use them in game as an all-terminator army, probably Space Wolves Champions of Fenris, the Wolves suit the OTT heroic-epic style of the Thunder Warriors. Fluff-wise these guys are clearly larger and tougher than the standard Thunder Warriors. They're probably an elite group, the centre of the battle line alongside the Custodes. I have some ideas along those lines, I'll get them fleshed out for when I'm presenting painted models!
 
Incidentally, I *love* the new Sector Imperialis bases. I've always been too lazy to do basing, but getting a Sector Imperialis base and then adding some extra junk is something even I can do.

[jaxom]

Nice!

[Lord_Ikka]

Interested to see where this goes. I think the Stormcast range is a good source for pre-Crusade armor- the lightning bolts are already on them so it fits.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Looks good, but for these to represent models in power armor, you must include backpacks from Space Marine models- the backpacks incorporate power plants for the power armor.

[miteyheroes]

I was at one point tempted to go for some sort of in-built power packs, like Custodes or Terminators. But yeah, I'm going with the new backpacks from Prospero. Got a bunch on order from various bits sites.

[miteyheroes]

My Thunder Warriors have to have a big impressive centrepiece, someone to lead them who can count as Logan Grimnar or Abaddon or a Demon Prince. So armed with a power fist, a power sword, and a big bolter... The person who led the Thunder Warriors, obviously, was the Emperor. GW hasn't made a model for the Big Man, and none of the 3rd party models can be used at GW events, so I really wanted a suitable GW model to convert. For a while I flirted with using one of the Primarchs, then I remembered Inquisitor, the GW 54mm game. Captain Artemis was a possibility, he's a good Space Marine to base things off, but ultimately I ended up falling in love with the mixture of elaborate detail and brutal power that Witchhunter Tyrus has. This is the Emperor a few centuries before the classic GW paintings, the Emperor when he was unifying Terra not leading the Great Crusade or facing down Horus.



The model isn't ideal. In particular his powerclaw is on the wrong side, and his armour is bulkier than the conventional depictions. But I like him, and he's definitely coming together. Obviously there's still lots more to do. He needs a sword, a head, a stormbolter on his powerclaw, and of course a cloak... But he's getting there! I'm particularly happy with the old Empire (Freeguild?) flying eagle on his shoulder-shield. The heads on his knee and shoulder come from Historex Agents (and one of them will be the basis for his head).

[That Guy Matt]

I always love seeing something I haven't before. Very cool conversions. This will be one to watch.

[miteyheroes]

After a brief detour to make some techno-barbarians, my God-Emperor of Mankind conversion has had a bit more work done to him - he's now got a head, a combi-bolter, and a great big flaming sword. I've got a couple of wreaths on order to add to the heads on his knee and shoulder, and obviously he needs the big greenstuff cloak and mantle. But he's getting there!

 

 

Originally I was sure I had a Grey Knights Dreadknight sword lying around, which I was going to equip him with. But I couldn't find it, and then whilst searching my bits box I found the Balrog's flaming sword. I instantly knew that that was what was needed! It's sadly only single-bladed, but a flaming sword is an iconic part of the Emperor's armament, so it feels right to me.

 

 

I'm now away from home until the New Year, but next year I'm hoping to make more basic Thunder Warriors, to finish my Emperor, and I've also just received the Kabuki Models Emperor so I'll be building him too! And then painting, lots of painting...

[Brother Pheidias]

I think the head needs to be further down inside the collar if the proportions are to work out at all.

Otherwise very nice work.

Isn't he humungous though?

[foamy248]

That's goddamn epic. Keep it up, sir.

[Noctem Cultor]

Some nice selection of choice bits to bring those Thunder Warriors to life, can't wait to see them side by side the Custodes as the first thing I did upon seeing their sprue was compare them to a Stormcast model.

 

Brave tackling the Emperor I cant wait to see how he turns out as I love the base model but this will take it to another level.

Keep up the good work.

-Noctem

[miteyheroes]

Yeah, his neck definitely needs to be shortened a bit. Will do that!

 

And he is pretty humongous, it is true- that's a 40mm base he's dwarfing. He's sort of daemon prince sized? Of course, this is probably mostly a trick of the mind, to a Sister of Silence he'd look like he was human sized but everyone else sees him as a towering figure when he's leading his Army of Unification. Or something ;)

 

I do have 5 Custodes sitting in a parcel for me, who will be added to the force and i'll do a size comparison. Might also try and make some less blingy Custodes as well, more Unification-Era.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job on the Emperor. As for the power claw being on the wrong side, it's easy to claim the Emperor is ambidextrous- I noticed the same issue with Khârn the Betrayer in his Horus Heresy era model, and that explanation offers the least headaches.

[miteyheroes]

Yeah, it's not like he's got a cybernetic arm or something.