The Conclave

Evening all,

I first started out with 54mm Inquisitor models back in 2005, when I decided I'd build a few as display pieces in order to take a break from painting 28mm marines.  Since then I've completed about seventy characters and haven't really gone back to 28mm.  I'll try to do this in something approaching chronological order with a few moved around to keep warbands together and to maintain a coherent story (plus it gets somewhat hazy in the middle and I can't remember in what order some were completed).

My original plan called for just four characters, later expanded to five when I got a Barbaretta model cheap on eBay.  These were to represent an Inquisitor, his acolyte, a couple of warband members and the obligatory Space Marine (because I liked the model).

The first model to be completed was my namesake, Inquisitor Drake Kaled.  Originally he was going to be based on Eisenhorn, with Gruss's stubber and Covenant's backpack - but then I saw that Phil Kelly had used this combination for his Lictenstein model so I went back to the drawing board.  After lurking around the 'Clave for a while I noticed that few people used the bodyguard model, and so came up with the idea of an Inquisitor with close ties to the Navy.


Having completed Kaled, I then entered him in the Conclave Hobby Competition that PrecinctOmega was running, and then continued building his warband.  Next up was Kaled's acolyte, Morena Goodchild - a simple conversion of Jena Orechiel.  I liked the colour scheme of the painted version on the website, so used similar colours on my model.  On the back of her cloak, I painted a =I= design based on that on Covenant's coat - it was only recently when I got a set of Exterminatus magazines from eBay that I discovered that when Steve Buddle had painted it, he too had given her the same design on her cloak.


The next two members of the warband were Eliza Torres, formerly of the Imperial Guard, and the Dancer-Assassin Scafandra.



The last model of the original five was Brother Asriel of the Mentor Legion.  I'd painted a few Mentor Legionaires at 28mm, and the old background mentioned that they were a chapter often used by the Inquisition, so seemed perfect for Inquisitor.  I kept the pose of Artemis, but rebuilt his left arm to get rid of the Deathwatch iconography.  The owl head was the original chapter symbol, which was phased out with the 2nd edition of 40k


Skip ahead a while, and I decided that as Kaled had a very military look to him, there ought to be more of a military feel to his warband so I added two more members in the style of my Eliza Torres model.  These were Henrik Grimmson and Maxim Heldt.



Later still I added another two, Gunther Hawking and Joaquin Lopez.



Since Kaled's warband was now rather large, I decided to build his acolyte her own warband - this comprised Morena Goodchild, Scafandra, the Arbitor Senioris Moses Blackwell, and his cyber-mastiff, K-9.



Anyway, back to the story - after completing those original five models I realised I'd caught the 54mm modelling bug and immediately started work on an Ordo Xenos warband.  This originally comprised Inquisitor Hannibal Isenberg, who had been working undercover in the Tau Gue'vessa, and the Kroot warrior Takuda.



Later, two more members were added to the warband.  The first, Celeste Alstom, was made to use up the spare Sevora model I had in my bits box.  She was my first (not entirely successful) attempt at sculpting clothes and hair, and is probably the worst model in my collection - at some point I plan to get rid of her and have another go at modelling the character.  The final member of the warband is Guardsman Amos Lynch - the paint scheme was based on the Rogue Trader era pictures of the 9th Necromundian.



The next warband I started was a radical member of the Ordo Malleus, Vladimir Ostrakov and his daemonhost Charadael.  For Ostrakov I used the plan I'd originally had for Kaled, but with Malicant's head.



It was about this time that I discovered I'd won the Hobby Competition, and my prize was an unreleased Inquisitor model.  This turned out to be what Andy Hall called the 'Gimp Warrior', and he was quickly recruited into Ostrakov's warband as Kreiger Gunson.


The final character in the warband was a female daemonhost based on a Lost Worlds of Atlantis miniature and named Elphaba on account of the green tinge to her skin.


Having now got warbands from each of the Ordos Majoris, I decided to do a Rogue Trader next.  I decided he should be the wealthy and eccentric head of a trading empire.  The model for Entym Hydronus is notable in that it was my first attempt at sculpting a body part from scratch - his robed legs.  They're a little rough and the folds don't look natural, but it was a good learning experience.


The second member of the warband was Captain Olver Dominey IX, the head of the Hydronus Houshold Guard.


Some time later I decided to have a go at sculpting an entire model from scratch - I decided he should be a slightly mutated savant and advisor to Hydronus, and called him Sergei Mentat.


The final member of the warband is a lot more recent, she is psyker-consort to Hydronus - the veiled astropath Isobel Johanna.


Okay, that's the first batch - there's more to follow...

I next decided to start on an Adeptus Mechanicus warband.  I wanted these to look very traditional, with the Magos, Croll Steiner, in red robes.


He was joined by a Skitarius, Kurt Gansel, and the re-fitted mining servitor Mikael-374 (actually, now that I think about it, these two were finished some time before their master).



A very recent addition to the warband is the praetorian combat servitor Dieter812.


It's at about this stage in proceedings that things get hazy and I can't remember what order I built these next few models; but in order to take a break from warbands I built a few individual characters instead.

Konrad Winter was a fairly simple conversion of the Scarn model.  He's an archivist on the run after discovering the 'Journal of Doctor Outek', a book that belonged to one of the scientists who worked with the Emperor on the Astartes project; a book that people will kill to possess.


After reading an article PO wrote on the Obliterator virus, I fancied building an infected gunfighter.  The result was Harry Cronenberg, named after the director and star of Videodrome, which seemed to me to have the right feel for a man being taken over by a technological-daemonic-virus.


Anton Delis Soylent was my entry to a competition being run by Fanatic, which I won :-).  He's a restaurant owener and Haemovore cultist, with an augmented digestive system and an iron jaw.


Another randon character was Jessamyn Rae, a freelance assassin vaguely based on Aeon Flux.  She's another model I've never been happy with and I plan to rework her and add to to my Ordo Sicarius warband (see beelow).


These three Eldar models were all built at different times (the ranger was one of my earliest characters), but I've lumped them all together here.  They are the ranger, Karhedron; the Exodite knight-errant, Irilliath; and his squire, Fayelle.




This next warband were built for a Conclave event; first up was Inquisitor Benedict Helios Seldon, a puritan member of the Ordo Malleus.  (Unfortunately, after building him, I decided to use Kaled at the event instead.)


The first member of his warband was Inquisitorial Stormtrooper Lillith Polanski, who I build for an article in Dark Magenta issue 1.  The second, and so far final, member of the team is the Squat Engineer Thorgrimm Hargir.



At the first Conclave event I took part in, Xisor brought along his Demiurg.  I rather liked it, so after much discussion during which we fleshed out a whole load of ideas, I built one of my own, plus a couple of automatons to accompany him.



My Adeptus Custodes model was built mainly as a learning experience - something to really challenge my skills.  There were quite a few bits of it that I had no idea how to do before I started, but I muddled my way through and the end result, turned out okay.


My next warband was a Blackship team, led by Maximillian Gusteens.  He might look strangely familiar to some of you, as his model is based on Spock.


The two other members of the team are the Blackship security trooper, Ferdinand Zelig; and the Witch-seeker Johann Goodwin.



The Tau Silent Hunter was inspired by games like Splinter Cell - he's a operative for a shadowy secret agency who perform various 'black ops' in situations when mobilising the Fire Warriors is inappropriate.


My ogryn, Krugg 'Thunderjug' Graxxlagg, was built as a bodyguard for Inquisitor Kaled, and was a big hit at the first Inquisitor Grand Tournament where he won me first place in the Painting and Modelling round.


Belladonna Crowe was next I think, an ex-Escher ganger turned bounty hunter.


After seeing a couple of stormtroper conversions on the 'Clave (most notably Van Helser's Choi), I decided to have a go at one of my own.  At the minute, Karl Hoskanner is not part of any warband, but at some point I ought to find one for him to join.


My next warband was an Ordo Sicarius one.  I wanted the team to be centred around a heavily-armed syn-skin clad operative, who ended up being called 'Snake-Eyes' due to his resemblance to the old Action Force/GI Joe character, who I decided to sculpt over an armature - despite some of his muscle groups looking a little off, I think he turned out rather well.


Next up was the Inquisitor himself, a shadowy secretive figure code-named 'Red Queen'.


The final member of the team is the auspex and comms operator, code-name: 'Blackjack'.


Somewhere around this time I decided I wasn't happy with Kaled's warband.  He was my favourite character, but other than the ogryn I'd always borrowed other models when I used him in games, so I decided it was time to build him a new warband.  Previously I had built a second version of Kaled, one of him out of uniform and working undercover.  I decided that Kaled's new warband should be less military in style so they wouldn't look out of place next to either version.


First up was Talessa Valdez.  Originally she was envisioned as an undercover version of Eliza Torres, but when the model was completed I decided to give her a whole seperate identity.  By this time I was a lot more confident in my sculpting ability, and am rather happy with how her coat and hair turned out.  She's accompanied by her cyber-mastiff, K-8.



Colm Devlin known as 'The Chief' was next.  He's an ex-Navy Warrant Officer who now works as Kaled's Chief-of-Staff.


Next was Heinrich Ottokar, an Administratum Adept and Kaled's chief savant.  Ottokar was closely based on sketches by Jes Goodwin in The Gothic and the Eldritch.  Ottokar is another model sculpted mainly from scratch.


The Naval Stormtrooper, Terence Caine, was next and like Ottokar, he too was mainly sculpted.


Some time before I had built a model of a Navy Admiral, who was said to have worked with Kaled in the past, and who was in fact the estranged father of Kaled's acolyte.  Now, having just built a couple of Navy and ex-Navy characters for Kaled's warband, I decided to build some more to further explore various navy archetypes.  These included Fleet Commissar Valmont; Harlon Devane, a navy officer; and Coen Müller, an armsman.





The final Navy character is not a member of the navy as such, but is a member of a shipboard Death Cult.  The cult is made up of void-born children snatched from their families and raised by the cult to protect the ship.  Kaltus Zek is known as the Emissary, the cults representative with the ship's officers.


Next are young Herbert with his teddy bear, and his great-grandfather.



By this time the Inquisitor Grand Tournament 2008 was fast approaching and I decided I needed a whole new warband.  I'd had the bounty hunter miniature laying around for a while, so decided to turn him into an Ordo Sepulturum Inquisitor - Viktor Cushing.


The first member of his warband was the Inquisitorial Stormtrooper Marcus Yeovil, who somewhat foolishly took part in a chainsword duel in a vault fitted with sound-activated sentry guns - seemed rather appropriate given his rather maniacal expression.


Next was Sister Eleanor of the Order of the Eternal Candle.  She's based on a Lost Worlds of Atlantis miniature, but the only bits still visible from the original are her face and left hand - the rest is ProCreate and tomato puree tube.  She won first place in the Painting & Modelling round at the tournament that year.


The final member of the warband is the bounty hunter, Randal Neild.


For the tournament I decided to run a game based on an Enslaver incursion.  For that I modelled these three enslavers and their fleshy warp portal.



The Vindicare assassin was another model I'd had laying around for ages - much as I like it, I can appreciate why it was withdrawn as it was badly cast and required a fair amount of work to get it ready for painting.


When I first saw Andrea's Technocop miniature I was struck by how it's torso and legs closely resembled some of the artwork of Necron Pariahs, and resolved to use it as the basis of a conversion for an Inquisitor scale one.  The main difficulty was the head, the version you see is my second (or is it third attempt), and is still somewhat smiley.


Around this time I ran a repeat of the Hobby Competition that I'd won with my first Inquisitor model.  One of the prizes up for grabs was a Kuvar Reaper model by Pegaso - a model I loved so much I rushed out and bought one for myself.


Next up is my second AdMech warband.  The first couple of miniatures were completed some time ago but I've put them all here as they're the warband I've been working on recently.  First up is Explorator-Magos Vaal Kryzak, who is based on a model of Kane from Alien.  It has since been pointed out that he bears more than a passing resemblence to some of the pictures of Explorators in the Necron codex.


The second character to be built was Saphentis, a high-ranking Skitarius based on the same model as the Pariah seen above (this time with a lot of ProCreate added to give him robes).  The character is inspired by a John Blanche sketch of a Skitarius in the 4th ed. 40k rulebook.


The next character to be built was Johann-4251, a very heavily-armed praetorian servitor, whose only remaining biological component is his head in a jar.  These three characters comprised my warband at the recent New Secrets, Old Lies event in York, where despite my worries about him being too powerful, he seemed to be very well received.


The fourth member of the warband is 'The Pariah'.  No one knows where Kryzak 'rescued' him from a Necron tomb as he was in the process of being converted, or whether Kryzak has found a way of preventing Necron technology from phasing-out and has implanted it in a servitor.


The most recent member of the warband to be completed is Orla Riall - who you can read more about here (http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208046) or here (http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=27.0).


When I said at the start that I'd never gone back to 28mm models, that's not quite true - I did build an Inq28 version of Inquisitor Kaled, plus a warband for him made up of old Rogue Trader era miniatures.  You can see a comparison of the three versions of Kaled here (http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/kaled100/Inq28/28mm_54mm_comparison.jpg).



You can see more pictures of these models, including shots from other angles here (http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/kaled100/Miscellaneous%20Inquisitor%20Photos/), and work-in-progress pics of many of them can be seen here (http://s163.photobucket.com/albums/t286/kaled100/Works%20in%20Progress/).

Well, I think that's everything up to this point...

- Dave


P.S. Well, the main thing I notice is that I really need to take some new photos of some of those miniatures.

Awe-inspiring. No other words for it.

All amazing stuff, I'm especially fond of the female Storm Trooper and bubble-helmeted Explorator. I hope one day I can produce stuff as good!

I thoroughly enjoyed that Dave, thanks for spending the time explaining everything. You really do have a lot of models don't you?

the original Kaled is a personal fave as is the techno cop skitarii.
the painting is superb throughout.
wish I had the patience to paint as smoothly and consistently as you.

whats in the pipeline next then?

Adam

Outstandin. Sheerly outstanding. I think you could easily say that some of those models are better than those produced by 'Eavy Metal. And 89 models - most people have smaller armies in 40K! You could probably start up your own store!

It should go without saying that this is excellent work, but I'll say it anyway: "This is excellent work."

If picking favourites, I think I'd have to choose Belladonna Crowe and Blackjack, based on the dynamic and pose of each. Can't quite tell why I like them, but I do.

Thanks for all of your kind comments.

Quote from: Adam Cunis on August 04, 2009, 10:18:25 AMYou really do have a lot of models don't you?

89 apparently.  Although I'm guessing that must include servo-skulls, familiars and the like as I had the total at about 70-something actual characters.

Quotewhats in the pipeline next then?

Slightly lazy I know, but I'm going to re-use my answer from another thread where someone asked the same thing...

I've got a couple of ideas for more AdMech characters - next up will probably be a Skitarius kinda based on the cybernetic guard accompanying the Martian Emissary in John Blanche's sketch in Visions but with implanted Tau tech.  I'm also keen to do a Calculus-Logi armed with a rifle, based on the pic in The Inquisitor Sketchbook.

I've managed to get hold of a Tau Water Caste who, along with a planned Air Caste sculpt, will join my Fire Caste in making up a Tau warband.  I also got a Repentia who I'll probably convert to represent a battle sister, but in robes instead of armour.  Finally, I managed to get the Crime Lord model, and I have no idea what to do with him.

First though I'm building another vehicle...

Wow, some of that stuff in amazing. Simple as that.

Outstanding. Utterly, utterly outstanding.

How on earth did you do the skull mask on the Sicarius operative?

Thanks.

The mask on the Sicarius operative was ProCreate over Talon's head, but it's not a skull.  Perhaps you meant the Inquisitor's skull mask?  Which is from the Eversor.

Yep, that's the one I meant, on the Inquisitor. It's damn good - was it just a simple slice and replace?

I would say, I think, that's probably my favourite model out of your whole collection. it just looks so menacing and so resolutely in control, it's perfect Sicarius for me.

Quote from: Dosdamt on August 05, 2009, 03:26:57 PM
Yep, that's the one I meant, on the Inquisitor. It's damn good - was it just a simple slice and replace?

It was fairly simple - I drilled out the navigators head, slotted the Eversor one in in its place then patched up the hood with ProCreate.

Very few people have both the Paint Model Quickly and the Paint Model Finely skills, but Dave does. As always, seeing them together is a pleasure, given the scale of the collection.

It's hard to pick absolute favourites, but I'm a big fan of Terrence Caine and Explorator-Magos Vaal Kryzak.

I find it impossible to choose a favourite, but I can say that there is only one model there (Celeste Alstom) that doesn't impress the hell out of me. Great stuff.

Wonderful ;D Quite simply the most varied and extensive collection of miniatures on the 'Clave. Each character is well designed, created and painted. Awesometastic 8). It would be churlish to even attempt to pick a favourite. Or even a few favourites. Top notch.

Do you mind if I have a go at the female daemonhost myself? I've always liked that conversion, out of all your models

Tullio

Impressive as always, Kaled!
It's actually quite amazing just how extensive your collection is, and the quality of the workmanship is consistently high.

Kaled;

Your models are fantastic, and really stand out. They highlight the greatest parts of the hobby whilst remaining strong and characterful. They're really very evocative of the 40k universe, too.

Looking through your models is really a joy. There are so many fantastic models and some really clever conversions (given the general "cut-and-paste" style of most Inquisitor conversions due the limited range) that help bring your characters to life.

It's also very nice to see your INQ28 models, too! Thanks again for featuring them on the blog.

I do have a question, though - the Belladonna Crowe model; where's she from? I'm an Escher player myself and I think the model's fantastic.

Quote from: Molotov on August 09, 2009, 07:22:25 PM
I do have a question, though - the Belladonna Crowe model; where's she from?

She's an unconverted miniature from Reaper (http://www.reapermini.com/Miniatures/Master%20Series%20Miniatures/latest/30002).

Ah, thanks! I thought your colour scheme was particularly striking, and I'm considering using a variant of it for my next Escher gang. :)

simply stunning. not much more to say... a great collection and superb painting and conversion style... i bow before such mastery of the arts!

Man Kaled, I've seen your guys here and there but never in such a great all encompassing post. Very, very, impressive. Love the admech, and the great colorful details you have sprinkled throughout all your minis.

Now I know where my inspiration for Raldana's model(s) came from!

Okay okay, so there was some slight ripping, and tearing ::)
But it's a beautiful model, so I hope you can take the flattery of me using that for my own char.

As for the rest, They're all brilliant too.
Any chance you may have put together some painting hints/tips guides as I'd love to try and reach the same standard of painting.

Quote from: mcjomar on August 18, 2009, 05:28:07 PM
Any chance you may have put together some painting hints/tips guides as I'd love to try and reach the same standard of painting.

Maybe - what do you want to know?  You should make a wet pallete if you haven't already (Van Helser already posted how to do that) - but it is the single thing that improved my painting the most as it makes it a lot easier to blend colours to get smooth shading and highlighting.  I tend to use a lot of layers of rather thin paint - it takes a while, but the effect is worth it.  I know a lot of people don't like blacklining at 54mm but I find it useful for really defining things and making them stand out (however, I generally use dark brown ink as the effect is less harsh).  I can probably tell you more about how I go about things - maybe you could point out a few bits of my models where you want to know how I achieved a particular effect?

I honestly think if you added some free hand to the self scuplt mini with the gun and the shock maul, it would make the sculpting seem less of a priority to the viewer and draw the eyes to the freehand on the dress, emphasizing the paint job instead.

Maybe, but I've never been able to work up any enthusiasm to rework her - maybe I will at some point in the future.

To be honest though, I'm more likely to scrap her and use the bits for something new... or perhaps I'll try to trade her in for the bits to build a replacement character...

WOW

Thanks, glad you like them. :)

But in future it's worth bearing in mind that resurrecting old threads is frowned upon unless you have something meaningful to add.  You can always PM people if you want to simply compliment people or ask a question about an old thread.

I've no qualms about this thread necromancy, because it is so rich in ideas!

Also, all of the models are awesome, no other words for it!

Quote from: Jamas Orian on August 30, 2010, 03:41:25 PM
I've no qualms about this thread necromancy, because it is so rich in ideas!

True dat!  It's a pity if it's frowned upon in this case, because I've been looking through the first page and muttering 'whoa' every few seconds.

Maybe I'll add links to all the retrospectives to the Modelling Resources thread - they were all in the same place and easy to find and browse through but have become increasingly scattered due to necromany over the years...

But I'm glad to hear people are inspired by my work. :)

Necro, this thread, cant be done! Glad, as somehow I missed it the first time round.

Im afraid I can't be more original than to say that it really is an inspiration to see so many well painted and cleverly executed conversions and parts swaps - this thread is missionary in its promotion of Inquisitor modelling.

I'll stop being creepy bumlick now, but bloody hell, it is good stuff. 

i think a cache of retrospectives is a good idea Dave.

I think I told you already, but it's fair to say again: your models are really creative, ingenious and well executed. Your sculpting and painting skills are high no doubt, but the most impressive thing is the amount of minis by your side. I would feel very proud of having such a proof of my artistic skills if I were you.

As said, true inpiration for any other hobbist. Respect  ;D