Specialist Arms Forum
Specialist Games General Discussion => Modeling & painting => Topic started by: osjclatchford on January 04, 2021, 01:55:10 PM
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the Fallen...
yes, as in fallen dark angels.
so ever since that issue of wd (321, march) back in '98 when the first incarnation of cypher was released, I've loved the idea of the fallen angels.
I've even done a few conversions a few years back but never was 100% on how they came out and have since ignored the idea of them but my recent forrays into primaris based truescaling, and the general improvement of my painting and modlling skill has got me fancying giving these enigmatic warriors a fresh go over, with primaris...
so yeah a bit of background for those not in the know.
in the WD issue in question, some of Dave Gallagher's fallen conversions were displayed.
here they are:
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/e3ae/lsycvzbcfcew95rzg.jpg)
as you can see these dark angels have an interesting look to them. (probably considered 'quaint' now but I'm still nostalgicly rapt by them)
back in '98 there was none of this fw horus heresy back-history that was officially cannon.
so the dark angels that existed, be them fallen or not all generally had the dark green armour.
The whole; 'it was black until the fall of caliban' thing was not a thing at all and the change from black (rt era) to green just seems to be as easily overlooked as the original painting 'mistake'(?) that made it happen in the first place. kinda like how walkers salt and vinegar and cheese and onion crisps swapped the blue and green around in a printing mishap and then it became standard for it to remain...
in fact, even the cypher model that was released for chaos players at this time was painted with green armour under the robes.
however as you can see Dave instead went for a different vison for them.
many conversions I've seen concentrate on adding a lot of chaos-ism to add a difference or a sence of rebellion about them. but not all fallen are chaos in nature some are simply repentant outcasts, spreading the emperors word to the dark corners of the galaxy and trying to live worthwile lives whilst avoiding capture by the rest of the dark angels...
This is what I have in mind whenever looking at these above fallen by Dave Gallagher.
the chaos features are set to a minimum, the armour is the appropriate heresy-era black and the dark robes make so much more sense as far as reclusive warriors go.
they can hide in the shadows, lurking unseen, living on the fringes of society, until the call of war, or other fallen bring them out of isolation.
so a few years ago, well more than a few now, I gave it a go of doing my own:
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/6ed5/n6yzkve7eu65ptezg.jpg)
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/8c77/ayfq2s8t578s32izg.jpg)
as you can see they're not exactly the best work I ever did, but clearly inspired by dave gallagher's above.
but now is now, and so is primaris, so a quick flick through the newest models out there and the blade-guard ancient model from the indomitus set seemed the ideal candidate for a rebirth of this abandonned project:
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/c3fb/t8e0qapi95k99njzg.jpg)
So, as you can see its a markable improvement over my previous incarnations.
It features the same head as the previous 'leader' I did, literally the same one, I took it off the old one.
I added a chainsword and bolter to the belt, the sword from the mk3 set and the bolter is a SOB one as its a nice nod to the second edition bolters, except with more detail and slightly smaller, which make it look a good size on the waist-band...
the addition of a Proper embossed DA logo to the pauldron helps to enforce the DA connection even further.
I swapped out the banner do-hicky for a simple brazier (an old metal one from a whichhunter servitor) to suggest he is almost eccesiarchial, bringing the emperor's light to the denizens of the darkness.
Then, to further play up the priestly nature, the skeletal hand reliquiry was swapped out for a smoking inscense censer, made from a kroot grenade with a smoketrail from primaris infiltrator smokegrenade. although in truth this was not a vital change, but something I had planned from the get-go on this one.
the backpack is actually from the old '98 cypher model and was a last minute addition. I originally had a mk3 backpack but found this in the bitzbox when looking for the hooded head and then, after dry fitting it, felt it added too much class to it not to use it. (I just love the DA wings in place of the stabilizer jets, and the crucified skeleton on the back, thats just pure class and a great sculpt all round)
To homage my older fallen, I added a couple of church-candles to it (these are made from chopped down earphone wire with a bit of protruding wire-core as a wick).
as for the base, the bit of the old '97/'98 gothic ruin kit adds a nice 3rd edition reference and also some visual context to the model.
the paintjob is where my improved skill-set is mostly visable at work! LOL
the old models were done my simply drybrushing the robes and edge highlighting the armour. this would simply not do now.
the black armour is done as on my spacesharks, simple edge and chip/scratch highlights.
but the real trick was to get the robes a similar tone, but look a completely different physical material.
this time round I went for stippling and glazing.
I stippled successive lighter greys over a flat base of skavenbright dinge, where I would normally simply edge highlight. The stippling was started rather wide and then lesser and thinner as the highlighting progressed...
Then a heavy glaze of nuln oil blended it all together and made the colour change from grey to dusty black. this, I feel is a better way of emulating coarse-grade cloth.
the dirt weathering on the bottom edge of the cloth was done before glazing and was simply rhinox hide stippling at the bottom with a bit of steel legion drab lighter stippling where the rhinox hide meets the grey.
this was to emulate wetness and mud that had begun to dry as it worked its way up the cloth...
most of the rest of the model was done in the traditional manner I do stuff but with lots of attention added to weathering and ageing on the metals and hard parts of the armour.
Ive also added some subtle zandri-dust washings into some of the armour recesses. espescially evident around the feet and wrist greaves.
This, although almost nondescript, adds a subtle warmth to the otherwise cold black armour, giving it a little more life...
heres a montage shot that shows off a few details from various angles:
(https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/9b03/o45u659iyv37bdjzg.jpg)
All in all I'm rather happy with the result and although intended as a one off, I'm rather tempted to take it further and add a few more to this project.
The new cypher is an obvious choice but theres also lots of nice new primaris dark angels and generally robed minis now that I can see this taking off faster than I expect... this is, afterall how my spacesharks started...
however I feel, at first at least, I'm more likely to add a retinue of human followers and acolytes, much in the manner of an inquisitorial warband... perhaps even a chaotic fallen as adversarial opponent? we shall have to wait and see...
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Good, good, good!
The old fallen angels & cypher story is the one that is real. 8)
I have sold all of 40k (including two of those robed ones you start your post with) but Cypher is still in my collection and now resides at my work desk where he is looking at me with two guns reminding me to be good. :)
Oh, and mine is green because my opponent had dark green Dark Angels army and I wanted to bugger him with a squad of the same coloured Fallen Angels to my Chaos army. har har.
Will be reading this!
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Hmm, what about trying to convert your own Cypher, trying to combine the new Cypher kit with some Primaris parts?
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Dammit man. I wanted to do Heresy era Dark Angels lol. These are cool though. I'm loving the grimness of them.
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The first of Luchford's retinue:
(https://i.ibb.co/YcQhCyr/kaylus-reese-01.jpg)
Kaylus Reese - The Deserter
A bear of a man, Lance Corporal Kaylus Reese was cadian born and kasrkin by birthright.
Reese was stuck fighting rebels on derentus 7, out on the fringes of the galaxy whilst his homeworld burned.
Ambushed by khornate cutists in the heart of the city, where they were stationed Kaylus' entire squad, men he'd trained with since he was forteen years of age, were massacred before his very eyes.
A loss kaylus is still barely able to fathom to this day.
Although severely wounded by a chainblade, by the grace of the emperor, Kaylus was able to contine to fight from cover, hours and hours of fighting, endless hordes of maniacal cultists and still he remained steadfast.
using magazines from whatever pouches he could reach of the corpses of his fallen brothers.
just as he felt his fatigue could get no worse and that faliure was destined to overcome him, the seemingly endless stream of cultists slowed, eventualy stopping.
struggling to his feet and stopping only to pray over the bodies of his fallen brethren, he began the long trek back to regimental headquarters.
upon arrival he was treated for his wounds, then charged with dereliction of duty for abandoning his post and unit.
destined for the 13th penal legion and traumatised by the death of his men, Kaylus lost control. he killed the three warrant officers charged with his arrest with a flurry of slashes of his combat blade, then preceeded to throttle the commissar accusing him of desertion to death with his bare hands.
as the blood stopped pumping in his ears, realising the severity of his crime would never allow him to wear the uniform and fight the great enemy in his name ever again, he fled the scene, living as an outcast of society an unrepentant heretic hoping only for the chance to one day get home to cadia and avenge his people...
A chance meeting with Luchford, the fallen angel was to change his life forever.
Serving his new master only for the promise of a ticket home to cadia where he may finally die, fighting the enemy, on his home soil with honour.
So yeah, this guy is what happens when you mix a palanite enforcerbody/legs with stormtrooper arms and a cadian head!
I added lots of extra kit to emphasize his veteran/special ops nature, the scout nade/pockets and the nvg's.
the heavy intercessor pistol holster and the cadian knife.
the gasmask comes form the anvil industry's brodie head sprue.
I deliberately chose the loose-helmet cadian head as I felt it not only matched the pose but also the character of a hard-ass no-nonsense bad-boy.
the paint job is simply cadian 8'th but is essentially the same as my Eoforwich 39th guard, just without the peadot.
the rifle was a bit of an experiment in painting different materials; steel, black plastic and wooden grip.
one thing though. this guy is big. I mean HUGE compared to regular guardsmen.
I never noticed this when converting the enforcers into scouts as they were alongside primaris marines that are count's-as regular marines so I guess it was less noticable at the time.
not sure whats going on with gw's scale but its all over the shop in necromunda.
the orlocks and van saar seem to be +/- on scale with cadians but the enforcers and also the delaque are way WAY too tall... meh It doesn't really show on this guy as he is a lone model and even next to the fallen angel he's ok
but, then thats only because Luchford's a primaris mascarading as a classic marine... ho-hum matters not. I simply say that Kaylus is a big bad-ass arnold type dude.
(https://i.ibb.co/HdJ52WL/luchford-and-co-01.jpg)
Luchford and Kaylus prepare to enter the galaxy's grimmest chin competition
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Reese is out... why I decided to dilute the awesomeness of fallen angels with yet more gaurd I don't know...
want fluff reasons for the removal of reese? oh ok...
having won the galaxy's grimest chin competition, reese was rewarded with a full emperors pardon and shipped back to cadia to fight the archenemy on his homesoil to the end of his days, yay!
the real reasons will be aparrent once you clap your eyes on whats below...
right, that crap out the way, say hello to luchford's right hand man and fellow fallen;
(https://i.ibb.co/r06tjyr/fallen-mecetrik-01.jpg)
Mecetrik
(https://i.ibb.co/YRPj4Gr/fallen-mecetrik-02.jpg)
based of of the new horus heresy mk6 plastics, Mecetrik is oozing roguetrader-heresy-era nostalgia.
head comes from the DA deathwing knights, the 'robes' are parchment peices cut from the darkwing bike additionals and the holstered pistol is mk3 sprue. purity seal came from somewhere, but lets be honest they're much-of-a-muchness anyway, right?
the rest is straight-up mk6.
These new pastics feature a lot of new mk6 design choices that remarkably similar to the changes I made to my mk6 minis in my spaceshark army (the bigger puldron studs, and the slightly smaller beakie lids to name a couple...)
either great minds simply think alike or GW has been peeping though some keyholes... ;)
anyway, consprisory theories aside, the base is from the ETB sigmarite minis and was a must to get the look of Mecetrik stomping down the ruined steps and to thematically match the base with Luchford's one...
As he has a robed head I figured I'd add his helmet to the waist. as I mentioned before, these new beakie lids are about 90% the size of the ones on the original tactical sprue (or forgeworld or whatever) making the new mk6 model's proportions seem better. much in the scale of the deathwatch mk7/8 lids these would be ideal for use on primaris intercessors too as the smaller beak is much better suited to sitting within the armoured collar. Just food for thought...
the armour and robes are painted as before but with the addition of more weathering than on the first mini to dilute the larger proportion of armour on display on the model. the brwon washes and rusty streaks help to warm-up the black somewhat, the verdigris on the bronze studs (as on my sharks) another example of this. the addition of a purity seal adds yet more colour and the green trim on the hood adds a further DA reference.
pehaps the most ostentatious design choice of the orange bakelite magazine on the bolter is possibly one of my more bolder descisions.
those not in the know may think this is either a badly rendered rust effect or question as to why he is using an airsoft bolter!
however, those in the know will remember that late soviet era AK-74's often used bakelite magazines.
As the the umbra bolter and mag-assembly looked rather familiar to the AK's design cues, I went for the wood-stock and bakelite look... If nothing else it's a colourful addition to an otherwise blacked out mini.
I absolutely love these new mk6 minis.
the new details have the clean modern look of the primaris range yet feel suitably chunky and nostalicly oldskool in their design origin. just check out the new backpack; somehow sleek and chunky at the same time, purest 30k!
the slight upscale is good but not forth wall breaking and to be honest who ever said all marines are the exact same size anyhow?
before you ask, heres how he stands up to a primaris:
(https://i.ibb.co/cKBhLf2/fallen-luchford-mecetrik.jpg)
yup, the stairs are cheating but its nothing game breaking is it?
hmm, Mecetrik has his helmet on his waist... where is Luchfords then..?
tune in next time to find out!
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meet the newest member of this motley crew
(https://i.ibb.co/F45T5Qh/fallen-sister-tild-01.jpg)
Sister Tild of the order of the verdant rose
Back in her days at the convent, when deep in meditation Tild was blessed by visions she did not understand, visions of Luchford, the Dark Angels and the torment of the interrogation of the fallen. Tild, concerned as to if these were devine messages from the emperor or if this was the start of some unknown heresy, came to her sister superior in confession for answers.
Her superior declared that the Emperor had indeed spoken.
Tild was thoroughly blessed, armed and sent on her way to find this mysterious 'fallen one', her life within the walls of the convent over, her Emperor-devined exile leading her on a journey to an unknown path...
(https://i.ibb.co/RSwTPbv/fallen-sister-tild-02.jpg)
So yeah, inspired by the robed figures you always see in the background of John Blanche paintings, this sister is based on st arabella from the triumph of st kateherine set.
I first swapped out the rod of office for a beakie head, from the new mk6 sprue, and resculpted the resultent mess on the robes.
the rest of her is standard and to be honest was just perfect to fulfil the role I had planned. The sombre, moody funeral robes and veil, the candle backpack, the censer? it all just fits in amongst these fallen perfectly!
the base includes an old gw metal component, a whf arrow-slit, part of a set of stuff they did for scratchbuilders and the like for making castles and whatever. It was perfect for this and well past time I used it...
here's another shot of the group so far:
(https://i.ibb.co/m52C6zQ/fallen-trio-ruin.jpg)
Mecetrik provies cover whilst Tild and Luchford get all lacrymose over the fallen ruins...
more soon...
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Awesome
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Wow..... And here's me thinking of doing Pre Heresy Dark Angels.... ;D
The conversions, use of parts and paint job are awesome and give a sense of the grim dark whilst also being utterly realistic. As usual. I hate you :P
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thanks man!
heavy praise indeed. glad you enjoy...
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Woah, you're back with the Fallen Angels. Kick ass!!!
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cheers Malika.
Utini!
(https://i.ibb.co/n3MgSvk/fallen-utini.jpg)
come on, you didn't think I'd do darkangels and not do a watcher, right?
the tiny 20mm base is off of one of those 'clue' figures (same as the ones that I used on the 'florin sump rats' from my Eoforwich 39th thread.)
This time the paved texture was left intact, just a bit of added dirt, as its cobblestone look is a perfect match for the others in the group so far...
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Meet Father Berokka
(https://i.ibb.co/pRkY7FJ/fallen-berokka.jpg)
further touching on the hooded-folk-in-the-background thing I was doing before comes this eclesiarchial figure.
clearly based on one of the inquisitorial astropaths (now available in the astra militarum 'advisors' set, I believe).
I removed the psychic-staff topper and wnet for a simple brazier, this one is from the AOS ven-denst's sprue but any would do I suppose.
the staff was pretty dinged up and bent when I got it. However rather than straighten it, I decided to leave it that way to look like a wanky old wooden haft.
the blank/empty eye-sockets were the next thing to deal with. rather than struggle with doing some kind of resculpt I instead went for some robotic eyes, greenstuff for the simple lens and a bit of BFG aerial for the 'zoomy' one...
I chose green for the rope and larger gem-lens for further dark angels reference...
his tiled base is made from a simple 25mm round but clad in some textured plastic from a cake box. (apple turnovers I believe)
Oh, and for scale and all that, here he is with the other followers.
(https://i.ibb.co/4tBLfTH/fallen-followers.jpg)
here you can see that the coloured lighting was a little too harsh on the shot of the watcher above. sorry about that...
Although intended as part of this fallen entourage, he'd also be right at home as a munitorum preacher in a guard army too...
now, I promise there will be more actual fallen to come. I've a doosie on the way, he'll be along soon but there's one more 'follower' to come too. all being well that is. more soon...
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Awesomeeee~!
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cheers!
Meet Thuleis:
(https://i.ibb.co/RCttSts/fallen-thuleis-01.jpg)
Another of Luchford's Fallen retinue, Thuleis his plays part as both Luchfords spiritual advisor and apothecary all in one.
However, he's also a warrior born, like all astartes, Thuleis's order is firmly with the Dark Angels and as such is never one to shy away from combat in the Emperor's name.
He sees no distiction between the all the sons of Caliban, fallen or not, they are Dark Angels and therefore firmly within the Emperors light.
What the interrigator-chaplains of the rock would say to this remains to be seen...
(https://i.ibb.co/gMYgbhQ/fallen-thuleis-02.jpg)
Told you it was a doosie!
I figured its time I took this project for a bit of a proper, primaris-scaled joy-ride and as such I've opted to pillage the GW range for the best robed/knightly marines I can get my grubby little mits on!
As the templar's share a lot of the knightly theme that the DA's do I figured I'd start there.
this is the sword brethren from the primaris crusader kit, allbeit with the pads, pack and lid from the new mk6 sprue.
the head is actually the stupid command one but I shaved the sides down, removed the utter absurdety from the top and sculped on a hood with a little bit of GS. really simple TBH and its a good look on this particular mini.
Khe kneeless shinguards of the sword brethren makes for a good primaris mk6 proxy with little conversion (the tabbard hiding the chest and that) and it shows just how good the two kits merge (damn, where was the mk6 sprue when I was doing my sharks eh?)
I added the mk3/mk4 (can't remember) boltpistol for more heresy era-ness
and the final change was the proper darkangel's sword.
TBH the templar one was genereic enough to use, I mean It would totally match the look of hte current FW heresy DA swords but with the chain and that I wanted to further it a bit from the templar origins of the model somewhat.
This particular one matches the one that the watcher is carrying and totally cements the fact this is a DarkAngel. not a Templar.
As this is the first model actually wearing his lid, I decided to do the eye-lens' in green gem as if this is what they look like when 'activated'.
I felt that the green was a nice nod to the Darkangels a little more, hence the pennants on the tabbard being done in green too.
I was originally going to do them dark red to match the heresy scheme, some but I felt it would look too much like the original templar model's scheme so instead, in order to get some red in there, I mixed some red into the brown of the holster to give it a red-leather look. I think thats a fair enough compromise.
Likewise, as the hilt of the sword has so much brass and bronze on it the studs on the pad were done in steel, not bronze, so as not to overdo any one colour.
another base from the ETB sigmarites and this ones a goodun!
Now, I've been thinking a lot about these this last week.
how to expand and all that.
Its got me thinking that I'm not so in love with the extra characters after-all, tild and berokka, although good eclesiarchy minis I'm not so sure they totally fit in here.
yes I know, I'm so changeable...
my thoughts for the future is to do what I've done with my other projects. get some structure in there.
I'm thinking use a codex or existing army and base the squads etc on that.
for this one I'm thinking of using the templar lists as a base but swapping out visual cues for that of dark angels stuff.
so they'd be templars on paper, but fallen in the 'flesh', so to speak.
as such, anything I cant fit into this catagory is to go. so for now I'll continue this as a kill-team then look into expanding it into something more cohesive. probably starting with a crusader squad equivilant, then following on with some sword brethren as veterans etc...
some third party bits might just end up hither and yon, the watchers (of which I have ideas for how to make some new ones) will stay as non playable entities. I've another kinda-follower model in the works but I feel that will be more acceptable than just throwing in a hooded sister and preist or whatever.
worry ye not, it will make sense when you see it... ;)
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That is a beautiful model mate.
I'm really liking now 'real' the Primaris marines are looking. The old 'first born' marines legs have always bugged me but they seem to have fixed this with the Primaris ones.
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Dang you got mad skills............................
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thanks guys.
yup, its true that the primaris scale and proportions have knocked the firstborn into a cocked hat as of late.
the new beakies have shown that gw has learnt quite a bit by doing primaris and have used such knowlege well on the newest kits but the scale really is all over the place these days...
anyway, its been far too hot to sensibly paint this weekend so as such I figured I'd share the WIP of a base for an upcoming fallen mini for now:
(https://i.ibb.co/dp1nyQ9/fallen-WIP-base.jpg)
as you can see I've elected to cast and mold some parts of the classic 90's gothic ruins kits in greenstuff.
works rather well and should look great when painted.
FYI, the red parts are just where the marine's feet are going...
Also, whats with all the hacks around here lately? the forum was down for a few days and since its been back up has had shit-posts and bot crap all over it... anything we can do (as forum users, I mean) to help stop this?
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Nothing really to do.
Cybershadow needed to do a backup. After that the spam block was down but it is back under control.
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good to know, thats for sure...
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Yeah, sorry for that. A swarm made it through but are being removed daily and things are back down to manageable levels again now.
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Behold;
'the supplicant'...
(https://i.ibb.co/tDcf70P/fallen-supplicant.jpg)
'The supplicant' has been cybernetically altered so that his burden, of glorious purpose, is lessened to some extent.
carrying a genuine piece of the ruins of caliban, the supplicant ensures that wherever they may find themselves, the band of fallen will aways have some ruins to lament over...
converted from the grimaldus cenobyte servitor, this has had a headswap from the deathwing knights sprue, to add not only a hooded cowl but one that extenuates the stooped position somewhat.
also included is the darkangels symbol tot he back of the pillar and a purit seal to hide a join on the head/neck area...
the sculpt is an excellent reinterpritaion of the metal original (which I too used for my eclesiarchy models of old) adding more life and depth to the idea. very nice but built in a way that makes subassemblies almost impossible. As i also intended the headswap I instead built it all then painted it. a bit of a pigger this way but it still came out ok.
In truth, as its been awhile, I'd forgotton the exact method I've already done the other's robes in and this one came out a little greyer than the others. but, meh, its done now...
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more to whet your appetite, here is the next (possibly final) member of the Fallen party:
(https://i.ibb.co/1vD1BY5/WIP-fallen-Uthor.jpg)
Uthor...
clad in ancient MKIII armour, Uthor is a no-nonsence warrior.
His seething contempt for his former Darkangel brethren is matched only by his fervor in battle...
yup, a truescale Mk3 that was simply achived using cataphractii legs and a mk3 torso, backpack and arms.
The pads are from the DA sprue and the helm is greyknights because of the ties to the hh knightly theme and the fact that I'm simply not a huge fan of the mk3 paint-kettle helms... LOL
The bolter is a tigrus but with an umbra mag slapped were the forgrip is. I put the magrelease there too and positioned the trigger/grip further down thegun to emulate the RT boltguns (much as I did in my space-shark project).
The supporting hand is from the heavy intercessor kit and is the "pew-pew" looking 'go!' pose which I simply found absurd, yet ideal here to show that this guy is such a badass that he only needs his index and middle finger to hold up a gun that would have a guardsmen heaving with the effort!
His kit and that, is the usual HH holstered boltpistol, some catachan pockets around the 'belt' area (helps to hide the join some) and a section of pennant from the old ravenwing sprue, it helps enforce the darkangel theme further as, to be honest, aside the pad and the pennant stuff he could be any chapter really...
the base was the one I showed you before but now littered with the excellent candles from anvil. they really are great and well worth getting hold of If you can...
more once he's painted!
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Loving the Dark Angels!