KrautScientist's INQ28

[Heroka Vendile]

I think the gauntlet looks... heftier (?) than the giant club - adds weight to the stance of the model. (that's a pro-gauntlet comment incase that was unclear)

I agree with rob's less is more point, I think the model has a very strong identity as it is without gas-masks and fiddly bits. Similarly, the top hat I feel is just too big, oversized is one thing, silly is another. Personally I'd've gone with a Bowler tho 

[Dolnikan]

I would keep the little one unarmed, that way the division of roles between the two is stronger, one is the brain, the other the brawn.

[KrautScientist]

Thanks, guys! The gauntlet it is  I'll also decide later whether to use the respirator or not -- if the face looks interesting enough once it's painted, then it'll stay that way. If not, I may still add the respirator. And the smaller brother will probably go weaponless: It really makes sense to concentrate on the archetypes represented by those two!

While I am still working on them, let's have a look at another finished model in the meantime:

The Chrono-gladiator is yet another archetype oozing the kind of gothic science fiction horror that defines the setting of 40k and Inquisitor. There's just something inherently wrong and sickening about a creature only able to prolong its life by fighting and killing. So it was clear that I would have to build one of those guys as a part of my INQ28 exploits.

Fortunately, the Chrono-gladiator was once again a nice fit for Inquisitor Antrecht's retinue, because even someone like Antrecht, who prefers working from the shadows, will sometimes have to employ a more direct approach or face one of his many pursuers in combat. It makes a lot of sense that he would choose to use servants that are not too bothered about his methods. And his alliance with Magos Zeiss should make it easy enough to keep all kinds of biomechanic abominations in working order. So with the consideration of plausibility safely out of the way,  I once again started cutting and glueing:



All things considered, this guy was one of the easiest conversions in the retinue. I used the body of an old Ork boy I had built ages ago, replacing the hands with two crude chainblades from the same kit. There's just something about those primitive Ork weapons. Hmmm...
The left arm had some bandages at the wrist which were a perfect fit for the crude implant, while I masked the left wrist with a very old shield that came from Advanced HeroQuest. It does manage to add a little bit of "Blanchian" madness to the piece, I think.



The head is from the ever useful Crypt Ghoul kit. The fact that it's much too small for the muscular body makes the model look misshapen and malproportioned, like he turned the steroid use up to eleven, which, come to think about it, is probably exactly what happened.
I added a shaved down CSM backpack and a small tube running into the model's neck to represent the mechanisms injecting drugs into the gladiator's system during fights.
All that was left were some bits and bobs. I added a purity seal as well as a Mechanicus seal to the model. And of course an hourglass that he uses to keep track of the time he managed to "save up". And with that, the model was ready for painting:



Looking back on it now, I was kind of ambitious with the paintjob, trying all kinds of new things. First of all, this was the first model where I managed to figure out a working recipe for pale, somewhat sickly skin: Paint it GW Dheneb Stone, then wash liberally with GW Ogryn Flesh. Done! Fortunately for me, I managed to load up on Ogryn Flesh before the new paints were released. Phew!

I also tried to paint some blue veins on the model's skin, trying to make it look like the skin was slightly translucent (like real human skin). It worked out rather nicely, I think. You can see the effect on his arms and neck.



His clothes were mainly painted in muted browns and greens, so they would offer a nice contrast to the skin but not draw too much attention away from the more interesting points of the model. I used the shield on the right arm and the purity seal to add some accents in red.









And finally, I tried adding lots of scratches to the model's chainblades, making it look like he has been using them to parry lots of attacks. By washing with Badab Black between applying the different "layers" of scratches, I tried to make it look like some of them were more recent than others.

All in all, I'm rather pleased with the model. He's certainly not a main player in the warband, but I used him to try all kinds of things that were fairly new — at least to me. I also wrote up a small piece of background just now in order to get a feeling for how he and Antrecht could have crossed ways for the first time.



Chrono-gladiator Klytus

The main tenet of the Istvaanian creed is that it is unending conflict alone that allows the Imperium to prosper. What better embodiment for this philosophy, then, than a creature that can only prolong its existence by fighting?

Inquisitor Antrecht first saw the being called Klytus in the slave pits of St. Sabasto's Reach, fighting for his life in more ways than one: The Chrono-gladiator's internal clock was just about to run out, leaving him with only seconds to live, and so he tore through his opponents with wild abandon, desperate to prolong his existence. Then, as a cruel kind of recurring spectacle, the ringmaster would reset his clock after each fight, keeping him suspended in a stasis field until the next time, repeating a cycle of desperation and slaughter over and over again. Antrecht was disgusted and fascinated in equal measures.

When Antrecht's investigations revealed the planet's Circus Imperialis to be a front for a cult of daemon-worshippers, the ringmaster sicced Klytus on the Inquisitor, promising him to end the vicious cycle if he managed to take Antrecht down. It turned out however, that he had misjudged the gladiator's will to live after all, for it was him that Klytus turned on instead. He had been a plaything far too long, and if he had to die, he would at least take a dangerous heretic with him.

As Klytus lay dying, Antrecht intervened, for he hated to let a useful asset go to waste. Magos Zeiss managed to keep the Chrono-gladiator alive and he became a member of Antrecht's warband. From now on, the time he won in battle would be his to keep.

The long years of chemical treatment and crude surgery have all but erased the man Klytus may once have been. The real or imagined transgression that originally led to his fall  into slavery and to his transformation has been lost forever in the mists of the past. All that is certain is that his body is now disfigured and misshapen, useful only as a tool for killing. And whatever remains of his mind is impossible to guess, for he is taciturn and solitary when off the battlefield, his frenzy and brutality snuffed out. However, Lazarus Antrecht has begun to suspect that something of the man may yet be left inside the beast, and he sees Klytus as a handy tool as well as an entertaining continued experiment...



C&C always welcome!

[Heroka Vendile]

a very nice conversion - that shield does indeed look very Blancian.

[Dolnikan]

A great model and a nice backstory, the bldes fit the arms very well and he looks properly drugged.

[KrautScientist]

Thanks, guys! The backstory was kind of a surprise for me: I hadn't expected a Chrono-gladiator to be that much of a character in the first place, but then I started writing and got a bit carried away 

[Hadriel Caine]

I've been away for a while so I've missed this. Cracking warband. Lovely conversions. Detailed without being cluttered. Keep it up!

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot, Hadriel! I really appreciate it!

Although I have to admit I can do cluttered with the best of them...  It's sometimes a difficult balance to maintain!

[KrautScientist]

Alright, guys: Here are some new pictures of the brothers:









I added some cabling and an ammo feed to the weapon. Oh, and an Ork sight  Also hollowed out the gauntlet which was quite a bit of work. I'll have to put a suitable Ork hand there, eventually.
The smaller brother got a bit of "decoration" for his hat as well 

All in all, I didn't do too much work on them, but I guess that's because there isn't that much left. With a model like this, it's easy to go a bit overboard with the details, so I guess I'll force myself to keep it simple. Just one or two additional bits, and they should be ready for painting. What do you guys think?

[Dolnikan]

They make for an incredibly characterful and nice model, I love the details you have already done and agree that not much more should be added. That way it would easily become cluttered and it already is a busy model.

[Shannow]

I love the idea of a sight on a gun which looks designed to just blow chunks out of things! Mmmm oxymoron...

Looking forward to seeing them painted, have you decided on a skin tone?

[KrautScientist]

Cheers, guys!

@ Shannow: Hmm, I may just default back to my standard recipe for pale skin. Like I used on the Chrono-gladiator:



Also tried it on a small model in the meantime (you'll see what I mean by that tomorrow), and it works out quite nicely. Although I am still quite open to suggestions at this point 

[KrautScientist]

Right, those guys are as done as they are ever likely to be. New pictures:

The big brother:





The little brother (now with added bowtie):



And both of them together:







Next stop: the paintstation    As soon as I manage to work up the necessary motivation, that is. Let me know what you think!

[Dolnikan]

I know that it is starting to sound a bit repetitive, but I love their style, every bit you add somehow makes it better, the tie is a great idea and adds a certain something to the model.

[KrautScientist]

Thanks a lot Dolnikan!

As a little reward for getting the modelling done on the brothers, let's lean back and take a look at a finished model, shall we? 

The model I want to talk about today is easily one of my favourites in Inquisitor Antrecht's retinue. It is also one of the simplest models with regard to its conversion and the paintjob.

Everything started when I stumbled upon QOrbin's work over on Dakka (you can see his thread here: http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/0/236240.page ) and his own blog: He had the great idea of using the little Gnoblar models that come as extras with the various Ogre kits to build all kinds of twists and mutants for his Inquisimunda gang. An especially great model of his used one of the Gnoblars as a a basis for a Gollum-like hillbilly mutant. You can see it here:

http://q0rbinateit.blogspot.de/2011/03/bring-out-gimp.html

I was instantly fascinated by this idea! Those little Gnoblars are full of character, but they never seemed all that useful to me, not being an Ogre player and all. And even some actual Ogre players keep chucking them out because they don't know what to do with them. But the idea of converting them into twists with the addition of just a couple of bits was sheer genius! And I even had some of them lying around, so I had to try it right away.

I wanted to build a twist serving as a spy and tracker for Antrecht. His physique would allow him to move through twist settlements and places like underhives without attracting unwanted attention, while his diminutive stature who would also make him fit into the smallest nooks and crannies. The Gnoblar model from the Ironguts kit QOrbin had used seemed to be just the right choice for that. So after a bit of cutting and glueing, the model was completed:



As you can see, the core model remains fairly unchanged. I just carved away the hammer carried by the model and replaced it with a sniper rifle, made from a Kroot rifle and some bits. I also added a Crypt Ghoul head with a respirator. I wanted to keep the strange spear jutting from the model's backpack, but it needed some purpose. So in order to invoke a bit of the "Blanchian" style once again, I added some kind of parchment. It could be some religious writing, or perhaps Antrecht has gifted his servant with a writ as proof of his employment with the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition (or of his humanity — think Nobby Nobbs... ), so the mutant won't be captured and carted off to a Promethium mine somewhere. I think it's fun to add bits that are a bit ambiguous to a model. It can be interesting for the viewer to figure out what might be their purpose, and sometimes they even lead to interesting narrative elements.



The paintjob was a fairly quick affair as well: I used my tried and true combination of pale skin and muted greens and browns, contrasted by a few accents. I also used his base to elevate him a bit, so he wouldn't look too small on the table. I rather like his paintjob, even though it was quite simple. It's a nice example of what the judicious use of washes can achieve!

I felt the model would have to function as some kind of sniper: His frail physique should make a more combat-oriented approach fairly improbable. I also imagine he is quite good at climbing and squeezing into tight corners, so that should help his career as a sniper as well.

To add a – wait for it – little twist to the character, I wanted him to be a devout follower of the Imperial Creed. I think it's a nice piece of irony that he would believe with all his heart in a religion that condemns him and his peers as unclean abominations and undesirables...
So, with that in mind, I sat down to write a piece of background for him:



Twist Sniper Elias Cobb

Elias Cobb was born into this world sickly and malformed, a victim of the polluted environment in the lower levels of Hive Primus on St. Sabasto's Reach. His mother must have abandoned him out of shame, for he was found on the doorstep of the "Emperor's Angels Orphanage" by Corwyn Helsrich, a priest looking after the orphaned children of the Hive's Alestius sector. Helsrich was a grizzled veteran of the Imperial Guard, a hard but just man, whose time on the battlefields of the galaxy had taught him much about the best and worst mankind had to offer. He had developed the view that humanity and purity could sometimes be found in the strangest places, and so he took in the young twist child where any other priest would probably have left it to die.

In the following years, Elias was raised by the priest to be his assistant, making himself useful around the orphanage. Under Helsrich's tutelage, he also grew to be a devout follower of the Imperial Creed, thanking the God Emperor every day for the gift of life he had been given in spite of his impurity. And thus the story of Elias Cobb could have ended with the young man eking out a simple but content existence in the lower levels of the hive. Alas, it was not to be.

Elias' life changed when the local Church of Redemption's acolytes burned down the orphanage and all the souls within while he was away running errands. The zealots had been watching the priest and his mutant protegé for some time, and Helsrich's tolerance had attracted their ire. So the only life Elias had ever known went up in flames, and his chance at redemption in service to the God Emperor was seemingly lost along with it.

Inconsolable, Elias let himself drift through the underhive and became an easy prey for the slavers. He was captured and brought to the slave pits. And there, his life would have ended, if fate had not intervened yet again: Inquisitor Antrecht came upon the young twist in the underhive's work camps and enlisted his help in exposing the slavers of the Hive's Circus Imperialis as heretics. And once the cult was extinguished, Antrecht offered the young twist a permanent place in his retinue.

Of all of Antrecht's henchmen, Elias Cobb is without a doubt the most unquestioningly loyal one, for he sees the Inquisitor as his saviour. He has shown great talent as a sniper and tracker and serves Antrecht with all his heart. Still a devout believer in the teachings of the Ecclesiarchy, Elias feels that his work for the Inquisition is a way of atoning for his sin of being born a mutant.


As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!