Getting my Ass to Mars- now with Titan Crew and Tech-Stupa

[malika666]

*mindblown*

[EdT]

Thanks for the kind words all, I'm really glad people are enjoying this! It's been a really fun project to do and I'm learning little things all the time which should make my hilltop settlement all the better.

 

@Captain Mike, yes, I sourced a mix of 6mm models and those are indeed what I've shown so far. I also have a few from Baccus and Micro Wasteland, but I will doubtless get on to that... 

 

I've had a very rare weekend home alone so that's given me the opportunity to make some progress. First off, I got started on the two statue plinths that flank the Stupa. These are plastic pipes from the Sector Mechanicus set, an MDF cog I had and some of the brass cogs I'd bought of a of lot of a while back, and which have proven indespensible for this proect.

 

The statues themselves will come later but I want them to be a focus of religious devotion. This meant a combination of prayer ribbons and offerings placed by devout visitors. To make the former, I took some kitchen foil, painted half of the sheet with an acryllic medium and then folded the other half over to make a sandwich. Once it dries, the composite is way tougher than normal foil while retaining the poseability. I then cut the sheet into strips and glued individual ones  onto the plinth until I had a complete mess of them. I then dug into the bits box and found a range of offerings that have been left; a knife, bits of tech, a little figurine of a mother and child (one of my 6mm population for the other base) and a skull, presumably left in the hope that a dearly-loved relative will see new life as a servo-skull.

 

 

WIth that done, I moved on to the Stupa "plinth". My first job was to cut the mdf hexagonal paving I'd set down to fit the circular base it was laid upon; this had the unintended result of possibly dedicating the Stupa to the Blood God rather than the Omnissisah as I managed to cut the same finger three times while cutting the things back. I got there in the end though, the other nine appendages more or less intact... I then had the opportunity to use one of the treasures of my bits box- the second of two long out of production Opus Machinae a very kind person sent me the last time I worked on a Martian project. This I mounted on some plasticard, and it will act as a screen for the entrance to the Stupa and as an altar for ministering to the laiety who are not permitted within. Finally, I clad the outside of the "plinth" in plasticard to further differentiate it from the outside, and jacked everything up from the cake base to give the piece a bit of verticality.

 

 

Then it was time to place the Stupa in a landscape. I took some air-drying clay and started to add some relief to the area around the stupa. Much of this will be covered with sand, but to give the impression of rock formations and avoid using up my relatively small supply of cork bark, I just took a piece of cork and used it as my sculting tool, pressing it into the clay and giving it a really nice relief texture that looked pretty stony. As I did this I also added some steps up to the Stupa plinth using more of the brass cogs; the first set of steps was mounted on some plasticard to keep them even, while the second set went onto the pipe ends that came with the Sector Mechanicus kit.

 

 

There will be a fair bit of finessing and gap filling, but for the time being my main job is to wait and let everything dry. The next step will be to sort out the statues and then finally get the Stupa exactly how I want it...

[Augustus b'Raass]

Lovely, lovely work. I'm still in awe of the idea to have Tibetan culture be the prime source of inspiration for this piece.

 

Also, don't use, but recast or pressmold the other Opus Machinae! You'll need some later.

[EdT]

Lovely, lovely work. I'm still in awe of the idea to have Tibetan culture be the prime source of inspiration for this piece.

 

Also, don't use, but recast or pressmold the other Opus Machinae! You'll need some later.

 

Thank you! I think Tibet and the Machine Cult make a great pairing, and it's a nice differential from the rest of the Imperium. I imagine a lot of this stuff is lost in the Horus Heresy, background-wise- clearly whatever happens to Mars in The Scouring is very bad, and I wouldn't be surprised if the whole place is repopulated, losing a lot of the 'human' element of Martian culture in the process and making evetything gothic, homogeonised and less interesting.

 

As for recasting the Opus Machina, that's a good idea- the bit is removable so I can still do that. I have to say though that there's something about the prospect of doing that which removes the "special-ness" of the piece... probably far too sentimental a concept for the Mechanicum...

 

So I made a little more progress integrating the stupa into the rest of the base, and as it's a nice day I thought I'd take some photos of the whole thing as it currently stands.

 

 

My next job today is to make another pass on the clay to remove some of the cracks that have appeared now it's dried, some general gap-filling, and adding further detail to the base of the stupa. The statues (or at least one of them) are also coming along so I will want to get them to a point worth showing off as well.

[Brother Dallo]

Looking good Ed. An interesting use of the Mechanicus terrain.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Majkhel]

What wonderful ideas you have! And sooooo very characterful! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for your project 

[EdT]

I've been able to make some decent progress on the Tech-Stupa this weekend. I've done a lot of fairly subtle gap filling, texturing the boundary wall and Stupa wall to feel more like rendered concrete rather than bare plasticard as well as fixing everything in place. Things are more or less done now, so I will be able to move on to the painting soon.

 

You might remember the statue plinths I made; well now they have occupants, as I was able to make the Thark who stand guard over the Stupa. For quite some time now I'd been wanting to try making something inspired by Alberto Giacometti at the 28mm scale; this was my opportunity. I figured that Giacometti's enlongated proportions, plus a dash of Martian antiquity and sci-fi weirdness, might make quite an interesting proposition. I started by getting some paperclips and twisting them together to get roughly the shape and proportions I wanted; I then secured them to a little plasticard base with greenstuff. From there it was relatively easy; I added greenstuff to the paperclips with my fingers until I was happy. I didn't need to add much detail, per se, but the texture was important; this came from my fingers and a little piece of cork which I used as a tool. When painted up it should give me the weathered bronze look that I was hoping for. The final touches were a nicely inhuman Nighthaunt head for the face, and a piece of brass rod for the spear. 

 

 

Once the greenstuff cured (I did this in several stages), I placed it on the plinth. It's not perfect, but not bad for a first go; and it is a stylised statue after all, rather than a living being. As there were two plinths, I did two of them, a male and a female. Here they are in situ...

 

 

The Thark

 

"No visitor to the rural backwaters and ancient sites of Mars will fail to notice the ubiquitous appearance of a strange, elongated, tusked, four-armed-being as architectural motif or decoration. These are Thark, an ancient heraldic symbol of early Mars. In Martian myth the Thark are cast in an atropaic role, acting as tireless, benevolent protectors of those traversing the Martian wilderness from the dangers that lie within. The origin of the Thark is lost in the mists of prehistory, but clearly stems from the very earliest period of Martian settlement. Various theories have been put forward by Magi- that they are symbolic representations of the first generation of native Martians or of machine spirits, that they are mutants, even that they that they represent some long-extinct Xenos species indigenous to the red planet- but their cultural persistence can not be denied.

 

Long before the spread of the Machine Cult across the red planet, superstitious travellers would leave offerings to Thark before setting off on journeys or while en route in order to secure their safe arrival. Many such practices were condemned as Tech-Heresy and ruthlessly suppressed with the coming of the Mechanicum; however, the Lexorcist-General judged the cultural significance of the Thark too widepsread to effectively stamp out, and so they were tolerated as a rural superstition, the Thark recast from atropaic deities to the physical representation of the various machine spirits of the Martian wilderness."

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Well done. Is the Thark a reference to Edgar Rice Burroughs' 'John Carter of Mars'?

[Sandlemad]

Exquisite, love the ecclesiatical politics on integrating (or not) pre-Mechanicum beliefs. The Burroughs reference is neatly done as well, you can have a lot of fun with a planet that's as written about as Mars.

[EdT]

Something I did for Grotshmasha's Diorama challenge...

 

****

 

Mare Australis, Mars

801.M30

 

 

****

 

The watery disk of far-off Sol was beginning to set and the night-time chill was beginning to draw in by the time Jinpa and her parents drew close to home. It had been a good day. They had been able to trap eleven of the feral servo skills that plagued the western slopes; three over quota. That meant extra creds at the end of the work cycle, so long as they kept to targets for the next few days.

 

Business had been good these past few months. The arrival of the incarnate Omnissiah and the Treaty of Olympus Mons that had resulted had opened up Terran markets to Martian goods; genuine Martian servo skulls, even reconditioned ones, were in great demand as curiosities. Less happily, the theological disputes triggered by the Omnissiah’s advent had also pushed up prices; the Cult authorities were so desperate for surveillance capability that up north, whole forges had been stripped of Thralls for their precious crania. That was not the way of the South though; down here, nothing was ever wasted, especially if it culled the flocks that ranged the wastes. Jinpa smiled at the thought; the higher prices meant that she would finally be able to get the faulty wrist seal repaired on her old pressure suit. 

 

The frostbite had begun to trouble her hand of late. That was bad, as it might eventually start to affect her aim. When Jinpa was young, her father had been in charge of the EMP gun and carried the basket, while her mother had used the mag stick. Jimpa’s job had been to use her nimble fingers to disable the skull once her parents had brought it down. These days, she had to do almost everything, apart from the basket- her father was stubborn like that. 

 

They walked companionably in silence, her mother scanning the horizon for ferals, her father occasionally having to stop to catch his breath. They finally crested the ridge, but as she moved to begin the descent to the sandy plain below she felt her father’s bionic gently grip her shoulder. “Stay, Jinpa,” he said, wheezily, his breath steaming in the freezing air as he sucked greedily at the reserve oxygen pipe at his collar, “Let the three of us enjoy the view for a moment.”

 

She paused and looked out, leaning on her mag stick and giving the old man the opportunity to get his breath back, trying not to think what the wheezing portended. Their home, the settlement of Gansha, now only a few kilometres distant, looked lovely in the gathering dusk. By day its whitewashed epoxy walls contrasted with the red basalt of the volcanic plug it was built upon; now the reflected sun’s rays made it glow orange against the darkness of the surrounding rock. At the sands at the settlement’s base a whole new town had grown up, a chaotic tangle of tents, temporary shelters and multi-legged vehicles. And towering over it all, the tip of the stupa on its carapace stretching higher than the tallest spire of Gansha, was the God Machine. At rest it seemed like a statue, the building-sized energy weapon at its side held vertical like a Skitarius’ jezzail at ease; but Jinpa had seen it move, and the sight of something so vast striding across the Martian sands had utterly terrified her.

 

“Magnificent isn’t it?” Her father was rapt, and she smiled despite herself at his giddy enthusiasm. “I always wanted to be a Princeps when I was a child, you know. To walk the sands like that, with such power at your command! I hoped to undergo the entrance trials, but my da would never let me. ‘Another year’, he said. ‘Another year!’ Still, if I had left, I would have never met your ma.” He turned slightly and gently caressed her skull as it hovered beside him; it emitted a cooing blurt of static. “And I am happy to have given up the chance of a Legio career for the life that we had together.”

 

Something about the way he said the words made Jinpa turn away from the view  to look at her father. His face was one of complete serenity.

 

“I am glad for the opportunity to see the God Machine again”, he said, eventually. “This will be the last time in this form, I think.”

 

Jinpa snorted in annoyance. “Oh, da,” she said, frustrated, “there’s no need to get so maudlin. Of course you’ll see it again. It’ll be back in a year, and the Titan-fair with it. And we’ll go and buy three cups of Saroshi amasec from that little stall, like we always do, and you’ll drink ma’s share for her."

 

The old man shook his head, smiling slightly. “Nah. The red-lung is back, Jinpa. I’ve felt it for a few weeks now. I don’t have a year, I am afraid. Half of one. 11, 12 months perhaps? But maybe not even that. I have breathed the red sands for long enough that they have become part of my body; and soon they in turn will swallow me, and I will become part of holy Mars. Or at least most of me.”

 

He smiled, gesturing with his bionic to the pressure glove covering his birth-hand and then returning it to stroke Jinpa’s mother. “You will soon be able to source a new gauntlet for your pressure suit without spending credits. And I will still be there to watch over you, along with your ma.”

 

Jinpa fought back the tears- even here, even now, water had to be conserved. Nothing could be wasted. “You will see the God Machine again” she said, feeling absurdly childish.

 

Her father went to put his arms around her. “Even if I persevere, it will not,” he said kindly. “Things are changing, child; you must have seen it too. The enhanced quotas, the new forges they are constructing at Frigores and Helium… The Omnissiah is going to reunite us with the lost children of Mars and Terra, and to do that he will need the Collegia Titanica. Just you wait! Before long the God Machines will be up there-“ he pointed to the darkening sky, where the first few stars had become visible- “and humanity will reclaim its lost birthright.”

 

He laughed, a noise which quickly turned into a wheezing cough. “I wish I could experience it,” he said, gasping, “but I have already seen such things. To have walked the sands of Mars at the same time as the incarnate Omnissiah! History is almost complete, Jinpa. That will be your inheritance.”

 

Jinpa looked away from the God Machine and her father, gazing back at the wastelands of Mars as the last vestiges of the sun disappeared beneath the horizon. “I don’t want the stars, da. I want you.”

 

He tenderly took her hand in his. “Then why not walk your old man home, child?” he inclined his head towards the servo-skull. “Come on, darling.”

 

The three of them set off down the slope.

 

****

 

 

 

[Brother Dallo]

I have to say, that's an excellent piece. The fluff goes hand in hand with the models.

 

It's nice to see a glimpse of the civilian side of 30/40k. It's very rare to see a model that doesn't incorporate a weapon somewhere.

 

As a minor comment, I take it you're going to do something about the guy's foot? As is, it looks like he's trying to stand on something that isn't there.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[EdT]

Quick post- I have the Stupa finished. Now I just (just, ha) need to paint it...

 

Here we have the crew of the Warlord Titan Verum Semita posing for a pict in front of a Tech-Stupa in the Mare Australe of Mars, circa 301.M30.

 

 

And the group shot;

 

 

Rear row, L-R;  Secutarii Kentarch Yakubu, Moderatus Sagittarius, Dorje Thokmey, Moderatus Sensorus Tsewang Cherenkov, Moderata Rectora, Dejah Astok, Novitate Ordinand Lexmechanic Choden Yeshev

 

Front row, L-R: Moderata Prima, Chokphel Sonam, "Little Balor" (crew mascot), Princeps Senioris, Tenzin Metok,  Magos Technica Kamala Ghopal.

 

I will write a little story to go with them and explore their various roles and personalities by the time this is painted.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The Tech-Stupa is well-built. Will you leave it in these colors, or paint it brass/gold?

[Brother Pheidias]

I love it so far...

 

Is your old Martian log available? I couldn't find it...

[KrautScientist]

You certainly haven't forgotten how to come up with brilliant displays and diorama pieces that explore the world of 40k beyond what we usually see on the table. Fantastic work! Those characters are just brilliant, and it's fun just to keep looking at them, both to guess the parts that went into their creation, but also to think about their possible roles and lives in the 41st millennium. Brilliantly enough, they do actually look like they are posing for a picture :)

[EdT]

New Year, new post!

 

****

 

The Ring of Iron

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/4/49/MarsNewArt.jpg/1200px-MarsNewArt.jpg

 

"...The origins of the Ring of Iron, like so much else on Mars, are shrouded in prehistory. The earliest part of the structure may be almost as old as human settlement on the red planet; what is known, however, is that by the time the Dark Age of Technology reached its zenith a stupendous orbital agglomeration of manufacturies, forges, shipyards and storage depots girdled Mars, acting as the beating heart of humanity’s burgeoning Galactic empire. 

 

Then came Old Night. Just as on the surface of Mars, civilisation on the Ring of Iron collapsed; vast sections of the structure were abandoned, destroyed or vented to the void, while other areas were gutted by vicious fighting. On the Red Planet, isolated pockets of humanity endured and gradually reasserted themselves against the mutants, cannibals and technological monstrosities that plagued them; the same was unfortunately not the case on the Ring of Iron, which was entirely depopulated and became the preserve of xenos, abominable intelligences, and worse. 

 

Early in its expansion the nascent Mechanicum realised the strategic importance of the Ring of Iron, and expeditions were despatched to the structure to assess the potential for its reclamation. A foothold was eventually established; and from there, over several centuries, an ever-growing portion of the Ring was pacified and restored to habitability. The long-dormant shipyards of the Ring of Iron were tentatively brought back into service and the first Explorator fleets were despatched into the void, seeding the Forge Worlds and extending Mars’ power to the stars even as the Mechanicum struggled to complete the conquest of the Red Planet itself. 

 

The rediscovery of the void brought great benefits to the new colonists of the Ring of Iron. The Martian Synod only intermittently diverted their attention from more pressing matters on the surface of the Red Planet, so although technically subject to its control, in reality the inhabitants of the Ring became used to considerable latitude in how they organised their affairs. As Old Night began to draw to a close Martian void-ships began to spread out across the solar system to trade, proselytise and recover archaeotech, and soon the Ring of Iron became the hub of a nascent pre-Imperial commercial network stretching from the Saturnyne moons to the crawler-cities of Mercury.  

 

The result was fabulous wealth for the denizens of the Ring, who had organised themselves into an extremely stratified society. At the top sat the Magnates of the Iron Conclave, whose membership was restricted to those Trade Clans listed in the Golden Book, the direct descendants of the first colonists to return to the void. Then came the Lectorate, who generally acted as clerks and agents for the guilds. Finally came the mass of the general populace, who crewed the voidcraft of the Ring and toiled in its shipyards and manufacturies.

 

Even before the Treaty of Olympus Mons, the growing economic importance of offworld trade meant that the Ring of Iron needed to look to the Martian surface to meet its demand for raw materials. With the established forges in Tharsis and Hellas already operating at capacity, the Clans of the Iron Conclave increasingly directly involved themselves in the economic exploitation of the less developed areas of the Red Planet, a policy which made them deeply unpopular- if not hated- in the regions they dominated..."

 

****

 

I've spent a bit of time exploring workaday Mars, but I thought it would be fun to look at the other end of the scale and examine the secular elites. As a result I'm putting together a little group from the Ring of Iron.

 

 

Meet Thrasimund and Lando Itakshir, of the Itakshir Trade Clan, visitng the surface for a spot of commercial negotiation. Let's look at Lando first;

 

 

Lando was the start of this little group, and came about when I realised that one of the old WHFB archer heads gave the Blackstone Fortress Navigator model a real “Sci Fi Wolf Hall meets Phantom Menace Trade Federation” feel. I added a fur trim to his cloak to underline his obscene wealth; I imagine it’s almost non-existent on Mars.

 

Then we have Thrasimund Itakshir, Lando's big brother. He's joined by Sharabha, Thrasimund’s pet, a gift he recieved from the Selenar Genewrights for services rendered.

 

 

For Thrasimund I wanted to replicate the look of Lando without using the same model. This eventually led me to use the torso of the Rogue Trader Magos with Delaque legs, with a similarly lavish cloak greenstuffed on him. I’m really pleased with how he turned out. 

 

Finally we have Magos Astronomica Harukor, Purohit and Chaplain to the Itakshir Trade Clan.

 

 

I wanted Magos Harukor to look like he'd quite happily wander out of an airlock whenever it suits him; I used an Arkanaut Admiral torso to gve him a space-suit feel, and gave him a representation of the Ring of Iron to top his staff.

 

That's it for the time being- I have several other members of the delegation tofinish off, including possibly the lander they arrived in.

 

 By the way, I've joined instagram to post some photos of my progress- do check out @Onson_Sweemy if you fancy having a look...

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Good job assembling the models. How will you paint Lando, whose name keeps reminding me of Billy Dee Williams' character in the 'Star Wars' movies?

[sockwithaticket]

That Magos is brilliant, the pet is super creepy.

[EdT]

Good job assembling the models. How will you paint Lando, whose name keeps reminding me of Billy Dee Williams' character in the 'Star Wars' movies?

Thanks! Lando is called Lando because I’ve decided to give the Magnates Lombardian first names for whatever reason- there was actually a rather crap Pope Lando in the 10th century. The Star Wars reference is a bonus- though both are scoundrels and fond of capes.

 

As for how to paint him, my background has something of a Venetian theme so I will take inspiration from Tintoretto’s Madonna of the Treasurers- Martian Red velvet and Ermine, with gilded iron collars.

 

 

Their middle-class Lectors, who I am currently working on, will be in sober black.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Will you give Lando a custom transport- maybe a Valkyrie with two quad lascannons and a cockpit that's offset to one side, to accommodate an oversized auspex array?

[steamius]

This project is something else! I will be keeping a close eye on it! 

[EdT]

Really glad people are enjoying this- I’m pleased with how the Magnates have turned out and there will be a few more to come yet.

 

As for the transport, funnily enough I do have a plan in mind here, of which more soon. I should say though that it will be rather more refined than a smuggler’s souped-up heap of junk...

[The Ergonomic Enginseer]

I have followed a number of your projects. the life you bring to mars is always a pleasure watch.

 

I might have to take some "inspirations" from Thrasimund for a Vostroyan regimental advisor eventually.

[EdT]

Thanks- the Delaque kit is brilliant for tall but not bulky sorts who might have been voidborn or otherwise exposed to lower gravity. I bet you could get some wonderful Imperial Navy liason officers out of them.

 

 

So a quick, non-model based update from me today as I had a little delivery this morning and wanted to put down some of the groundwork for when I get started on it.

 

I’ve enjoyed making my Magnates so much that, as @bjorn_firewalker suspected, I thought it’d be fun to do their transport as well. The joys of project creep, eh? I’ve been keen to try scratch-building a vehicle for a while; originally the plan was to do a wrecked ship in Epic scale with a settlement perched on top, but a 28mm scale lander might be a little more manageable while still scratching the hobby itch. As well as @Weirdingway 's amazing creations, this wonderful blog from a veteran movie modelmaker has been a serious source of inspiration- do have a read if you want to waste an afternoon.

 

So what should the Clan Itakshir lander look like? As these are obscenely wealthy Magnates who are trying to get isolated Martian settlements to sign away mineral exploitation rights in exchange for a mess of techno-pottage, they need something impressive to travel in. To my mind that means something more like one of the Royal Naboo starships in the Star Wars prequels than your bog standard STC brick like an Arvus.

 

 

Lovely though that is, it needs bringing back to the grimdark aesthetic somewhat. One thing that I’ve always loved about the setting is that the normal rules of stylistic progression have been reversed as technology decays ever further from its Dark Age peak- steel and glass skyscrapers being patched up with brick and stone, space torpedos being hand-loaded loaded by gangs of men pulling chains, castles spouting out of abandoned space elevators and so on. I wanted to get some of that across in my lander and emphasise that even for the Martian elite at the cusp of the Great Crusade, life is still a pale shadow of what it was before Old Night. So my plan was to try and come up with a survivor of the Dark Age of Technology that sat derelict in an abandoned orbital dock throughout the Age of Strife, before being reconditioned and returned to service at a rather lower level of capability than in its heyday.

 

I saw the ship as originally being all flowing lines and Art Deco style, but as the Tech Priests struggled to patch the thing back together and make it flyable it got a bit less pretty. Of course, if the craft makes it through the Great Crusade and Heresy even these new repairs will be quite beyond the capability of the Magi to maintain, and even uglier additions will sprout on top.  

 

To start the lander, which will be called Vikare, I found a cheap Star Trek model on ebay; I liked the organic lines and particularly the protruding fin, which I found quite distinctive. It turned up this morning and I've been fiddling with it to make sure my concept works, hence this post.  It's a Kazon Fighter apparently- this means little to me as I always found Star Trek in general, and Voyager in particular, rather dull. Nice design though.

 

 

The basic plan is to turn this hull upside down so that the majority of the base model becomes the passenger compartment and the fin, now pointing upwards, becomes the mount for an ostentatious art deco-styled figurehead. This element is inspired by Oscar Hansen's brilliant Wings of the Republic at the Hoover Dam, which in a decayed form screams Dark Age of Technology to me somehow. Luckily it's easy to find art deco-styled human figures of the right size as ebay is full of cheap Academy Award knock-offs- I'm waiting for one to turn up as we speak.  

 

I will then bulk out the top with a few things including a WW2 bomber hull and a yakult bottle I've been saving, and add a rather beefy engine or two at the rear. This should keep things interesting while also hopefully not being a "here's a recognisable TV spaceship with a few 40k bits stuck on the side" project. Here's a quick mock up with Lando Itakshir for scale (he may be a tad small but only just; it's a decently sized model).

 

 

I’ll emphasise the art deco effect by having a polished silver colour scheme with some red accents; while the “original” components will be very shiny if a little pitted by age and micrometiorites, the later Mechanicum additions will be painted a much duller and grimier pewter to emphasise their crudity.

 

So that's the plan. Should be fun trying to see if I can accomplish it....

[Marshal Rohr]

Absolutely Stunning work!