The Conclave

Earlier this year I wrote a draft of a Dark Magenta article focussing on the underclasses of the Imperium.  I came up with a bunch of archetypes and decided that I really must do a model for each of them to illustrate them properly.  The summer has been spent gradually building these models with the article hanging around waiting for them!  At last I'm about ready to start painting. 

The Reclaimator


Inspired by the Inquisitor's Handbook for Dark Heresy, this downtrodden character shifts through the detritus of the underhive looking for discarded tech.  He hopes one day to come across a decent bionic leg to replace his withered right limb.  His shotgun was inspired by the combat shotgun from Fallout 3.

The Reclaimator Construct


Straying close to the heresy of AI, the construct has a level of independence far above what a techpriest would consider suitable for a simple servitor.  The body of this comes from the Mordheim Clan Skyre rat ogre, the head is a servo skull, and the arms are from Kromlech, who design parts to modify 40k models, in this case, Orks.

The Afriel Strain


The article also includes False Men, created by the hands of others.  The veteran Afriel Strain guardsman's bionic arm shows signs of the calamities he has survived.

The Son Of Meridian


This shapeshifter is an example of a transgenic blasphemy, where the holy double helix of man has been corrupted with xenos DNA.  This model will hopefully look like it's midway through transforming into/from a guardsman from/into its original form.  I need to rebase him so he's not staring at the floor.

The Scaly


This abhuman shares similar features with the Scalies of Necromunda, though was found in the hidden corners of the Carthax Sector.  This model is Uggurd, the Falx-Brute (http://banelegions.maelstromgames.co.uk/?tag=bnl-026) from the Bane Legions range.  A very bulky model, I had to add stones to the base to get him to fit on a 40mm base.  That's some lunge he's doing...

Painting will hopefully begin next week.

Ruaridh

I *love* the reclaimator construct, I want one as a pet! :D Nice job on the chap as well, his boot is well done. I'd like to see some rear shots of him though to see what kind of gubbinz you're going to attach to him. Also, will you be keeping the jaw bone attached to his belt? Perhaps you could paint it silver and claim it's his lucky bionic jaw ;) His gun, on the other hand, doesn't sit right with me. I think the grip is too far away from the trigger, and the barrel isn't long enough. Comparing it to the actual shotty from Fallout (of which I am a massive fan), I did a bit of photoshopping to show you what I mean.

(http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e58/RobSkib/Inquisitor/vanhels1.jpg?t=1347297072)

You've already identified the only problem I have with the Transgenic, he's spotted a Throne Gelt mid-stride and is debating whether he has time to pick it up. Otherwise excellent, but you'll really have to pull your finger out on the paint job to do it justice. If you can, it'll be a spectacle.

The bottom chap is nice, it's always good to have more brutes, but I think his head needs to be angled down somehow, it does look like his eyeline is off in the heavens somewhere.

Great stuff! I can't wait to see them painted =D

The mutants head definitely needs to be angled differently, at the moment it looks like he's fighting a giant or someone a long way above him(which could be what you were intending).

I can't say that I like the gun on the reclaimator though. The magazine near the end of the barrel just looks odd to me and would surely unbalance the weapon.

I'll be interested to see how the others turn out, especially the shapeshifter.

Totally missed the Scaly's head and resultant eyeline from raising him up on the stone.  That definitely needs altering.

The shotgun does look very impractical, but I'm going to "rule of cool" it.  The inspirational piece (http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Combat_shotgun_(Fallout_3)) does look off with the magazine position, but maybe with Rob's suggestions it will look better.

As for the jawbone, it's part of the gubbins the Reclaimator is gathering to build another construct.  In his pouch is a tube from an old Killa Kan, and I am going through my bits box for more crap to give him.  The Toothpick Murke torso I've given him has some lovely pouches on the back.  Plenty of room for all sorts of surprises in there!

Progress has been slow, but I have the first two models to show in their finished state, the Reclaimator and the Construct:


The Reclaimator does look he's got a wonky eye in that first shot, but it doesn't look so on the model, honest!  I took Rob's advice and modified the shotgun slightly.  It's still unwieldy looking, but it does remind me a little of Mk. I boltguns in design.  I tried to leave him looking dirty, like he's crawling around in dusty scrapyards, and was almost tempted to break out the weathering powder... I may yet do so, but I think I'll practice on another model first!


The Construct has turned out really well, if I do say so myself.  Comprised of rusty metal and the carcass of some poor soul, this aberration will have any Adepts of Mars that come across reaching for their bolt pistols - tech heresy at its finest!

Ruaridh

Just fantastic!

I love the underhive low life characters. They always remind me of early artworks of muties/scum etc.
That mech-construct is very interesting! The body is from a rat ogre you say? excellent use of parts!

The construct looks superb. I love the rusted weathered look, nice and sinister, definitely needs purging.

The reclaimator's gun looks a lot better now that you've shortened it. However you might want to do some work on the weathering and dirtying of the model as he looks a bit clean (could be the photo). One of the most interesting things about this model is that it highlights how overly withered the mutants leg is. It never looks as bad as that on Quovandius and Emissary Fabian.

Great job Ruaridh!   Can't wait to see the ;D others! 

i must agree with cortez, it might just be the photo but i am not seeing "I tried to leave him looking dirty, like he's crawling around in dusty scrapyards" he looks pretty clean, awesome model though, really like the gun.
the construct looksgood, i especially like the blend of in/organic bits

Fan of Fallout 3 eh Ruaridh? That hase to be one of my most beloved games ever (though I prefure new vegas).

But anywho I have to say that thats a pretty damn good moddel there. Interesting consept too. So much so that you have inspired me to make one of my own. Not often someone dose that.

The construct looks great just how a evil robot should. ;D

Cool stuff Van. Looking forward to seeing them all painted up.

You really have a knack for giving new life to tired and old parts. I'm definitely borrowing heavily from your combinations and concepts. Specifically I love the ramshackle skeleton-droid. I may look at doing something which combines the awful machine from the film Hardware with the concept you've created here. I have tons of mechanical bits so it's just a matter of time before I start assembling rogue AIs...

The shotgun is superb. There's loads of great looking weapons on Fallout. I might go for a gatling laser on my next bod.

I like the skeleton too. In particular, his reaching out pose is really sinister. Great stuff!

Presenting the Afriel Strain guardsman:


Now that Dark Magenta is back up, I am rushing through the last three models so that there are some pictures to go with the entries.  I've noticed a couple of splashes of paint in the photos that I will touch up before getting some final pics together for the article.

Now, for that Scaly...

Ruaridh

am thinking the headscarf should be a different colour than his skin as it detracts from the albino-ness?

Very cool model, makes me want to get a few Guardsmen! I agree with Radu Lykan though, try googling for "military tan color" and "military coyote brown color", maybe on of those might look good?

These are absolutely beautiful figures. I am a huge fan of the tech-heresy construct and the Afriel Strain Guardsman - particularly because he has the same damn bionic arm piece that I have been scouring the GW website for fruitlessly for ages! Where did you get it from?

I think I'd agree that the headscarf could use toning back, as it seems to be stealing the focal point from what should probably be his pale skin.

(As an aside, I'm starting to enjoy colour theory a lot more with my current project. Being able to go nuts on the concept with Photoshop's paint bucket is really making working all this stuff out much easier. Might even get a co-ordinated warband this time!)

Quote from: Gideon on January 15, 2013, 11:32:35 PMparticularly because he has the same damn bionic arm piece that I have been scouring the GW website for fruitlessly for ages! Where did you get it from?

Toothpick Murke is out of production, so your only real options are eBay or the Arcadian Smugglers Ring (http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/arcadiansmugglers/).
As for where Van Helser got it, I think he's been buying up most of the job lots of Inquisitor parts on eBay for the last half decade.

The head scarf is far too white (maybe a nice camo green or reddish brown?). I love the Fallout 3 inspired shotgun (it was never very practical but the rule-of-cool is in full effect).

Basically I have nothing original to add, just wanted to support the scarf change and let you know that pound-for-pound this is my favorite thread on the clave right now. It may not be the grandest but you're making solid characters with some pretty standard parts. It's inspiring and is helping to push me to do more with what I have rather than lazily slapping together parts for lame NPCs.

Really great thread, looking forward to the article in DM.

Toothpick Murke. That's the fellow.

I think, given the brown uniform and the white skin, the scarf could actually function well if painted like a keffiyeh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keffiyeh)? A red and white one (such as the page image in the link) would be good - red goes well with brown and white, and a particularly ruddy red-brown wouldn't distract from the shocking white of his skin.

The guardsmen looks quite nice indeed 8)

These are very nice indeed, Ruaridh! The Construct, with all of that lovely rust, is particularly nice, and I think the albino is exceptionally effective. Have you changed your painting technique recently?

Thanks everyone.

I have been working quite a bit on my painting technique in the last few months, with guidance from our good friend Robey as I signed up as a freelancer for Precinct Omega Studios.  I am much more careful with layering now, and have been trying things like non-metallic metals.  Baby steps, but I think I'm improving with each model I churn out.

The general advice here and elsewhere was that the headscarf needed a change, so it has turned into a bit of a keffiyeh.  Blue was chosen as a counterpoint to the red eyes.


And like buses, you wait ages and two come along at once!


The Scaly is complete.  I pondered for a long time what colour to make the loincloth... It was light blue before I went for the yellow.  Bold, but I think it's a good contrast to the armour.  What does everyone think?

Ruaridh

I really like the yellow, it stands out really nicely, I'm really liking these models and the way they are coming together.

The Keffiyeh is lovely; I would never have thought of blue but it works wonderfully well. The Scaly's brilliant - the hood makes him (it?) look very B-movie slasher-horror style, which suits him (it?) to a T. The loincloth is bold but an excellent character choice. It also works well with the blue-green scales.

Top notch old chap!

Much improved with the Keffiyeh. Now that you mention it the NMM on the gun looks brilliant as well. I need to start stretching myself on both freehand and NMM...

Love the Scaly. Very bold choices with the coloration of the scales versus the skin and the loin cloth. I would have pictured more of an organic blend between the scales and flesh but it really works the way you've done it. I also think that the loin cloth works wonderfully. Great example of a little something extra that you could have easily just done as a dull brown and called it a day.

Great stuff, really pushing me to be a better hobbyist. Jealous in the most productive way possible.

nice work Ruaridh, the blue on the keffiyeh really helps a lot, the plain white was just a bit much combined with the skin tone (or lack of).

Lastly then, the shapeshifter:


After looking at these photos I think I'm going to go back to him and try to get the different halves of the model to flow into each other better.  The idea here is that he is mid-transformation from a guardsman to some sort of more basic human shape.  I thought I had the blending done pretty well, but under the lens that's not so!  If anyone has any tips I'd be happy to hear them!

Ruaridh

Very cool - it's a great concept.

As for tips, I'd be tempted to put more veins of colour snaking out from the green side across his flesh...

maybe a bit of an ink across the join?

also, background-wise, would he be able to morph weapons? the flesh-coloured rifle butt is a bit jarring...

Agree with Gav about the rifle butt, perhaps look better as distinct item in itself?

But the effect works well I think overall.. Though I am now reminded of red dwarf polymorphs :)

Whether or not the creature can transmorph weapons I think the effect on the gun looks really cool. I also like how (it appears) he's changing race/ethnicity with the transformation.

A couple thoughts, I like that the camo spots look similar to his "natural" fleshtone, it seems to ad in a sense of "what's flesh and what isn't?" post-transformation. That said I think it makes things look a little confusing when the camo spots are too close to the transition area (as in the helmet). Maybe making is look like color is still bleeding into those regions could help (do some darker fleshtone lines highlighted up until it's lighter in the center to make it look like color is pulsing in along some kind of veins).

For the overall transition I think you should darken the tendrils of green. I see what you're going for and I think the effect worked out brilliantly on the gun but for whatever reason the lighter green just doesn't convince me. Having a very stark green at the center of the tendrils I think would work well in this scenario. There seem to be two options then, either have the tendrils more starkly drop off to straight fleshtones (less blended, more of an affect mirroring the join between a symbiot and host from Spiderman, see Venom, Carnage etc for examples). Otherwise you could try having flesh colored tendrils coming into the green just as sharply and fade to a mid-tone between the two of them. This would strike me as very difficult but very rewarding.

These are all theoretical as I've never tried this effect before.

How about have no transition, instead a border? I've seen some good Tau stealth suits where there was the glossy black of the shell, the rock pattern of the stealth field, and a blue electric border between the two, it worked well.

I've made a couple of subtle changes to the areas of transformation.  The gun does seem to be a controversial point here and elsewhere.  If it helps, it's not a real gun, but just something that has been morphed to allow the shapeshifter to blend in as a guardsman better, much like the body armour and helmet.


Thanks for the feedback everyone.

Ruaridh

Looks much better I think, in particular the little vein like additions on his shoulder are a really neat little touch that stands out to me.

And that makes much more sense about his gun! How would you play that in a game in terms of equipment?

I wonder if perhaps some sculpted blending of the gun into the body/right arm would help make it clearer that it is an extension of the shapeshifting rather than an actual gun - although it'd be a pain to do back and do that now.

Quote from: Shannow on February 23, 2013, 12:46:34 PM
And that makes much more sense about his gun! How would you play that in a game in terms of equipment?

Sorry Shannow, I forgot to reply to this last week.

Essentially, he has no weaponry on him.  He could make improvised close combat attacks with a club formed from his own flesh, say, but if it were parried he'd suffer damage to his arm.  Nothing to stop him picking up guns from other characters though.

That might have been a good idea Euan.  I was hoping the painting would do the job, but maybe it did need some ProCreate across the arm into the gun butt.

Ruaridh

How about a Toughness test to generate a weapon, Obliterator style?

Ah I see, I suppose there is always the scenario of approaching a character from behind and pressing a morphed 'gun' to there head as they are to know. Make an interesting hostage situation certainly.