MI's Raptor's V Company

[Master Issodon]

Raptors V, Strike Force Talon (1st Demi)

I have always loved the Raptors Space Marine Chapter. The first Space Marine I ever saw was a Raptor in the opening cutscene of the savagely mediocre video game "Fire Warrior". He was mercilessly gunning down some weird little blue noseless guys. Ever since, that has been my definitive example of space marine coolness. Obviously, this was my main inspiration for painting this army. Not the whole slaughter of innocent aliens (Can the tau really be called innocent? Really?) thing, but the massive Super Soldier in a walking tank dealing rapid fire explosive doom - in U.S. Army Camo Green. Secondly, the much applauded fan series Astartes. That work is the reason my marines have shiny black eye lenses. I think they look more menacing with the black eyes, I hope you agree. That film is also the reason I chose the green I did. Not the traditional bright "camo green", but a darker gray-green that along with the dark eyes gives them a grim-dark look lacking in brighter colored space marine heraldry. The bases are inspired by Astartes as well. I wanted my Raptors to appear as though they are deployed to a neglected traitor ship or dark mechanicus orbital forge.

I tried for the most part to stick to the 'cannon' Raptors lore for the markings, but I took a few liberties for the sake of what I thought looks cool. They still conform to the command, company and squad markings though. I used a lot of 3d printed shoulder pads from Pop-goes-the-Monkey to make things easier, but I also bought some Raptor symbol decals from Chapter Customizer.

Anyway, all that said please enjoy the fruits of my efforts. I am not the greatest photographer, so I hope the you forgive me some blurriness here or there. They're not too bad considering I am using a phone camera. More will follow and I'll improve with time.

Smashy-Smash Captain!

I always said I wouldn't be that guy. Well, Pop-goes-the-Monkey made me rethink that with their conversion kit. I used this model as the basis for a Chapter Approved 2018 Special Character for my army.

Gravis Captain

I had to make some changes. I lost the goofy hood and plated up his junk with some armor and a tabard sculpted from green stuff. I got rid of the reliquary and bones BS because of the Raptor's fluff about their original homeworld and most of their relics being rubbed out by Abaddon in some black business. This is why I am keeping relics and older tech to a minimum across the army.

Lieutenant Beaky

This conversion was a little more work, but the base model was so dynamic it was a joy to work with.

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Intercessor Veterans, Squad I

These guys are all kit-bash conversions. There are Reiver parts, "easy to build" Intercessor bits in there and parts from Forge World. Some green stuff here and there. The power fist is an old one from the assault marines kit I think. I used a cable from a lascannon to connect it to the shoulder under the shoulder pad and resculpted the elbow. Shame you can't tell in the picture.

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Intercessors, Squad II

Basic squad right from the box. These guys were the first models I painted in this army. I had only planned on making a Raptors Kill team...

Intercessors, Squad III

Again, right from the box with the exception of the thunder hammer from forge world. This is the squad where I transitioned from painting on the company markings to using decals. Just Time savings really, I prefer the look of the hand painted ones on the earlier squads. It was more like each individual Marine was painting on his designations.

Eliminators, Squad VII

Incorporating the kit basing materials into the mechanicus bases was a challenge, but once I settled on a rubble/junk combo it got easier. I think it makes more sense anyway. They'd be hugging the more damaged sections of the battlegrid for cover. These are the worst pictures of the lot, I apologize for the fuzziness. When I go back to take some shots of my current project, I'll get new ones of these guys.

Reivers, Squad IX

Nothing but the kit parts. You know, except the shoulder pads.

Edited June 1, 2020 by Master Issodon

[Yosef Hausakluif]

Working on Raptors myself, and have struggled with what color to make the eye lenses. Black sounds like a good choice! Love the cape on the Gravis Capt. and the shield on the smash capt. Both really nice details!!

[Master Issodon]

Thanks for the compliments. Next up I will be adding a couple squads of scout snipers.

[Interrogator Stobz]

Nice work!

Don't be afraid to add higher res pics though, it'll help us see all your good work better.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Fine works.

[Master Issodon]

Thanks guys. I am going to buy a decent camera and retake all these in the future.

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Good looking Raptors!

[Master Issodon]

Ok, So to get bigger pictures in, I had to break up the first post. Here follows the bigger stuff.

Chaplain Venerable Dreadnought
This was originally part of my old 4th/5th edition space marine army. I repainted and rebased him. Swapped out his right arm for an assault cannon. This was my first attempt at OSL glowing eyes. I can see they need to be brighter. Ah, the things you only see on camera.

Venerable Dreadnought
I love Dreadnoughts. Who doesn't right? I supposed the player with the tank that just detonated with a squad of guys inside. I wanted to tell a story with this model's base. The gore spattered, graffiti daubed militarum equipment I hope gets the viewer to imagine what kind of mess is laying on the ground just "off-camera". Raptors enthusiasts will notice the old colors on the badge between his legs. I like to imagine this guy was a brand new initiate battle brother at the time of the loss of the Raptors' first home world. His first battle plate was probably the old blue and yellow. That's how I justify to myself having venerable ancient Dreadnoughts in an army that is supposed to be short on relics. Even so, I tried to tone down the ornate quality by building it with the most plain "MkV" parts in the kit and then removing even more decorations by modifying the leg armor and Lascannon arm. The plain-Jane missile launcher from the standard kit helps too.

Land Speeder Tempest
Is there a vehicle that says "Raptors!!!" more? Maybe, but I'll tell you what, turbo boost ram-jet goodness is fun. Admittedly it can't absorb a lot of punishment but that's shooting your opponent isn't doing somewhere else. In games with my friends this thing has become known as the "2 pump chump". He zips in, kills 2 models (yes every time, only two) and then promptly explodes. It's entertaining and a nice model, so I guess it's a wash.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Master Issodon

[Master Issodon]

Stalker ( A cool looking one)
Ok, so interestingly (to me at least) I built this as a VDR vehicle back in 2009 or 10. The space marines of 4th/5th editions didn't have anything like a Hydra, and my best friend was scratch building a Hell Talon. The Hell Talon never got built, and this guy got primed and left in a box until a couple months ago. It is Razorback kit, with parts from a Vindicator and some scratch built frontal armor. The dozer blade is forge world. The quad autocannon is from the defense line kit with brass rods to lengthen the barrels. The two storm bolters are just because it looks cool. In open play I use it as it is, with the quad guns counting as accelerator autocannon. In matched play, it's a Stalker.

Repulsor Executioner "Dauntless"
The reason I hate Las-Predators. Yes It's got the firepower of an entire army, but one tank a third of it's cost can and will take her down in one turn of good rolling. Talk about demoralizing. Just the same, if your able to protect it and take advantage of it's range it's one of the scariest things on the table.
A canny observer will note the rather large missile pod on the turret. I thought the kit Icarus rocket pod was ridiculously tiny. I scratch built this one using the kit part and some other bits from my box and part of an X-Wing's laser cannon. I moved all the frag launcher boxes to a rack I built on the frontal armor to clean up the tank's profile and I think it worked despite the missile pod.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent works. I like your "counts as a" Stalker better than Games Workshop's design- the Rhino chassis is TOO SMALL for two Icarus stormcannons, PLUS their ammo, PLUS their individual gunners and their stations, PLUS two auspex sets so the stormcannons can actually hit their targets.

 

The Repulsor Executioner looks great. I think Games Workshop made a mistake in claiming the confused mess of missile launchers they stuck on the turret, were offensive weapons, as the missiles look too small. Better to claim the missile launchers are part of an active protection system, meant to launch interceptors against incoming missiles and artillery shells, and/or smoke and chaff decoys to prevent the enemy from successfully targeting the Repulsor with lascannons and other weapons whose shots can't be intercepted.

[Master Issodon]

Excellent works. I like your "counts as a" Stalker better than Games Workshop's design- the Rhino chassis is TOO SMALL for two Icarus stormcannons, PLUS their ammo, PLUS their individual gunners and their stations, PLUS two auspex sets so the stormcannons can actually hit their targets.

 

The Repulsor Executioner looks great. I think Games Workshop made a mistake in claiming the confused mess of missile launchers they stuck on the turret, were offensive weapons, as the missiles look too small. Better to claim the missile launchers are part of an active protection system, meant to launch interceptors against incoming missiles and artillery shells, and/or smoke and chaff decoys to prevent the enemy from successfully targeting the Repulsor with lascannons and other weapons whose shots can't be intercepted.

 

Thanks, I appreciate your compliments. Especially about the stalker.  

 

I think a couple of the boxes they tacked onto the Repulsor's turret were supposed to be an active missile defense system, but the others were the frag launchers. It does make more sense to have the "Auto-launchers" on the turret, I just thought it looked stupid. I liked the idea of the tank just plowing straight into the enemy line and unleashing a salvo of frag grenades. I was of a similar mind to you with the Icarus rockets, that's why I built an actual missile pod from scratch for them.  Anti-air missiles would be much longer for more propellant than the dinky missiles that come in the kit.

[Marshal Reinhard]

Mmmm, delicious olive green marines... Seriously, excellent work, definately gonna keep an eye on here.

 

Love all the little alterations you've done.

[Master Issodon]

Mmmm, delicious olive green marines... Seriously, excellent work, definately gonna keep an eye on here.

 

Love all the little alterations you've done.

Thank you! I try to keep the conversion work subtle and make practical, small design changes to better reflect the chapter's stated nature of dour pragmatism. Overall the aggregate effect is a unified army style. I hope so anyways.

Edited May 30, 2020 by Master Issodon

[WAR]

Damn fine Raptors Army you have there MI!

[ToyShip]

Such an inspirational army! Truly gorgeous. The subtle tweaks are well thought out and add alot.

[Master Issodon]

Damn fine Raptors Army you have there MI!

 

 

Such an inspirational army! Truly gorgeous. The subtle tweaks are well thought out and add alot.

 

Thank you both very much.

[Master Issodon]

New Photos!

This is my Primaris Lieutenant conversion. He started as a Hellblaster body.

[Alcyon]

That armour is so smooth and blended it looks like fudge. Where's the helmet from?

[Master Issodon]

That armour is so smooth and blended it looks like fudge. Where's the helmet from?

Thank you. His helm is from the Venerable Dreadnought kit. 

[Inquisitor lorr]

Amazing work on all of them. They look brilliant!

Do you mind sharing your recipe for the green?

Edited July 28, 2020 by Inquisitor lorr

[Yosef Hausakluif]

Detail on that arm computer auspex is unreal!!!

[Inquisitor Eisenhorn]

Can't wait to see a group shot of these!

[WAR]

So nice Edited August 1, 2020 by war009

[Master Issodon]

Amazing work on all of them. They look brilliant!

Do you mind sharing your recipe for the green?

I just use Vallejo Model Air 71.012 Dark Green for the base color and then shade it with Army Painter Dark Tone wash. I then clean up with the base color and progressively mix in greater amounts of Khaki as I build up highlights till the final, very tiniest highlight of pure Khaki. Then I glaze it with a green ink mix that is very light. I do several applications of glaze as and where necessary.