Smoke Frog

Thanks @W.A.Rorie! Decided to spice up my intro post with my Sons of Medusa symbol, I think it fits the warband really well. At some point I should look into painting a big version on a banner for a command squad. Also anyone else have headcannon that Ferrus Manus had dreadlocks? Not that a primarch would make much sense for this warband unless he was mechanically resurrected somehow, but if I ever were to paint the Xth primarch I would likely convert him up to have some.

Fantastic work!! Love seeing the detail you are going into in all your conversions and sculpting work! Great looking judiciar, and the jungle gate backgrounds you have been using!! Also love the heraldry on the tank!

Tech-adept complete! Harbingers of Taelus

++++++++++ "May His Light shine upon Us and All of His Domain." - proverb <//origin - Forgeworld Moirae //> ++++++++++ The prevalent discourse of Moirae had shifted on a fundamental level when the Great Crusade reached its shores. Reclaimed by Mars, the dusk-clad techpriests of Moirae became fierce adherents to the cult of the Omnissiah, or as they knew him as “He Who Returns the Light to the Galaxy.” During worship all ritual was conducted with reference to the last known location of the Emperor himself according to datascripts and psy-records, and upon the construction of the Astronomicum it quickly became the focal point and object of worship for all the cult mechanicus on Moirae. Such was their devotion that on the outbreak of the heresy the priests of Moirae stood firm against the hordes of the Traitor Mechanicum surrounding them. Or so they would have you convinced; in truth they were just as split as any other scion of the Red Planet. The planetary munitions factories and arch-mechanistrates began to tear itself apart as soon as the envoys of Mars arrived to declare for the warmaster. ++++++++++ Finished my first legion techmarine! Altered him slightly from the WIP posted earlier to include the other vent from his backpack, I love how it balances against the tiny servo-arm. I think he looks great in all metallic-green armor, he was a good test paint for my rogue trader squad, though I plan to add helmet stripes for them. It didn't seem to quite fit for this guy with his bionic eyes. Mini is inspired by @apologist's masterpiece rogue-trader inspired techmarine.

Thanks @Pacific81 yup that picture is the inspiration for the squad! I have gone ahead and brought life to the rest of the squad too:

Fantastic looking rhino! Love the conversion work with the extra marines hanging off, and the overall scene you have created here!

@Pacific81 I really like the marines hanging off the rhino! Very characterful idea! +++++ Got a few updates, I painted my breachers and land-raider recently: ...I also am working on a fun project, currently WIP, of veteran/tactical marines inspired by some old rogue trader artwork: Harbingers of Taelus

Thanks @Gorgoff! I have a WIP post for today that I am excited about, I put together some Rogue Trader-inspired MkVI marines: The guy on the back left was just a stand in to make sure I didn't mess up the scale somehow. Very happy I still had a box of tactical marines lying around, they came in hand for the sergeant's power fist! Brother casualty was also made with bits from the tactical squad box, I was surprised to see how similar the bits were to the Horus Heresy MkVI kit. Need to clean him up a bit. His hand was donated from a Primaris kit. The marine in the far back right was repositioned so he is hunching slightly, and while it isn't apparent from this angle he is sporting a leftover Reiver combat blade. Final two additions to the squad are the heavy-weapon gunner with a flak shield, with parts for his lascannon donated from the leftovers from the Land Raider Proteus kit. Same method I used for one of the techmarines. I am assuming the weapon sprue that comes with the Proteus is the same one for the spartan, and it was easier to repurpose the lascannons for this project that go buy a whole heavy weapons box! Also remade marine for the front-left so he is hunching over a bit too. Couldn't figure out how to get his arm long enough to fully stretch across his whole body, but the old tac-marine arms were a bit longer so he got one of those. In addition to these five I went ahead and made a bunch of other goons to fill out the squad! I realize I forgot to make a comms-specialist, may go back and make one more. As it stands I have enough here to make a squad of ten tacticals, or use them as veterans and swap out two of them for the lascannons. I also need to make a display-base to show of the five centerpiece minis in the classic rogue-trader pose. For painting the plan is to paint their armor the same as the rest of the force (dark green-metallic) to include their helmets this time, and give each one a white stripe minus the sergeant who gets the white-and-black checkers. I will be replacing the "ultras" with "iron" and painting on Iron Hands legion symbols of course, maybe paint it in the style from the 3rd edition marine codex (looks less like a gauntlet and more like a clawed hand).

++009.M31++ Hallam. Desert planet, a rad-soaked world the color of mustard. Populated by devolved humans bereft of the galaxy's pleasures. Who worship the baubles of ancient computing technology which they wear like badges around their next. Desert rats, used as pawns by the mechanicum to bring them scaps hidden in the sands. They will murder anyone they come across and strip them naked. Tech vampires, who would steal your vox caster faster than they would raid your food supplies. The planet was scorched during the great crusade; a human-empire held in thrall by an alien menace. The survivors dredged up treasures and sold it to the Mechanicum first, but after the ships stopped coming for the increasingly dwindling scraps a cult developed, sacrificing and worshipping for the return of the angels and demons of the sky. Now the traitors have taken power on this world. Mechanized crawlers comb the deep deserts for fragments of archaeotech and resources to be pawned off to off-world smugglers. A cabal of thieves and murderers holds Hallam in its grip, while the Dark Mechanicum have sank their claws into the entire operation and reap the rewards. ...but a new menace has been sighted across the dunes. Dark-clad warriors, their armor filtering the cancerous air out of their lungs, immune to the radiation that cripples mere mortals. There armor vehicles are marked by the sign of the Hand, and they have come for vengeance. ++++++++++ I hope you like the land raider! Breachers have all their bases done now for a bright desert tone I am happy with. I couldn't resist making some moody desert-filter photos for the tank and rest of the breachers Here is the unit and transport in true color:

I may have gotten conversion happy and put together a few more techmarines this weekend!! Techmarine #2 is magnetized to double as an Armistos consul, with heavy bolter and lascannon options. Heavy Bolter: Lascannon, liberated from the leftover Land Raider sprue: Techmarine #3 makes use of a robotic arm I purchased online recently: ...while Techmarine #4 was a bit of an experiment, very "jaws of life" Lastly Techmarine #5 is my least favorite of the bunch and I may demote him to squad sergeant in the future and re-use his backpack. He was supposed to be a siegebreaker but I don't think he is imposing enough.

Thanks @RolandTHTG! It has been fun coming up with the backstory. Speaking of lore... ++++++++++ ...amongst the void, the remnant fleet limped its way to a long-forgotten harbor to lick their wounds. Repairs were always slow outside a true planetside drydock, and those with the knowledge to conduct those repairs even scarcer than the limited supplies scavenged together to repair the aged vessels. In those days tech-adepts were identified and tasked throughout the ranks for any menial labor required by the Iron Fathers’ exacting instructions. WIP Tech-adept, wanted to go for a rogue-trader-esque look for this guy. Shamelessly inspired by a techmarine conversion from @apologist!

"May the forces of the emperor cleanse this world and keep it for its people" - Harbingers of Taelus, Hallam Campaign. Finally tested out some desert bases! I like how they look, good contrast with the dark armor. Will be going back to do the rest of the breachers (and the other infantry squads). Also here is the details of the Master of Signal's medusa on is armor. Originally I was going to paint it on his chest but the wire made tha a bit too hard to pull off.

Thanks @Irongert, I have a few robots to make first but I do like the idea of making trikes outfitted with skis

Finished my breachers! I did NOT like the squatty forgeworld breachers. Their helmets were some of the worst cast resin bits I have ever worked with... glad I didn't buy two boxes! + Harbingers of Taelus +