The Conclave

I have been working on and off on a sourcebook dedicated to Xanthism for more years than I'd like to admit. I had planned to finish it off last year, but that never came to be. Even getting it done this year will depend a lot on how much time I can dedicate to some fiction pieces, and more importantly, models for illustrating its pages. Like the previous sourcebooks there will be a section of sample characters. I do have some Xanthite Inquisitors I have used in the past to make an appearance, but it's much more fun dreaming up newcomers.

The first of these newcomers to take shape is Inquisitor Vito Salrassan, a man to whom many in the Ordos Carthaxian owe huge favours, allowing him carte blanche to follow his radical agenda...


A rather chunky customer! I have had the flaming sword screaming at me to find a model for it for a long time (it's from Heresy Miniatures' Angel model), and the old titan head I have had since the 90's... There is absolutely nothing subtle about this character, but it's been a long time since I've had such fun building a real tank of an Inquisitor. Painting the flames and using them for OSL should be good fun too.

If anybody reading wants a look at the draft of the sourcebook thus far (and I really would like some feedback on it), then they can get it from mediafire - LINK (http://www.mediafire.com/view/j20iogygi8853qi/XanthismDraft1.doc).

Ruaridh

Looking very nice indeed mate. I can't help to feel his arms need to be beefed up though. he has big legs and a big head but these tiny little hands!! The sword and back pack are very cool pieces though. where did you get the back pack from?

So, colour scheme?

And a close-up of the head, please :)

Great mini. The sword is fantastic and I look forward to seeing the helmet fully painted. I will say that the arms would look better with armor, however I'm just going to steal the torso/legs combo and use bulky arms on my own mini.

In the meantime, is that the Thorian's backpack upside down and backwards?

Good point about the hands. That's the difference between 54mm and heroic 54mm in scale! I will see about bulking them out with some ProCreate. Might armour the arms some more too.

The backpack is actually from Krash Krieger Thrax, with plenty of Tube Tool power cables attached.

I think he is going to have very black armour, lit by the flames of his sword. I saw some really cool Age of Sigmar Khornate warriors on Reddit (http://i.imgur.com/8lrrXME.jpg) that are serving as inspiration.

Here's a close up of the head:


Ruaridh

Excellent combination of parts and pose. He's going to be a really frightening beast! Looking forward to seeing him finished.

I have managed to make some progress today with both the model of Salrassan above, plus a version of him outside his armour.  I wanted to show of the duality of this character, both the careful politician and the devotee of Xanthus. The armoured model has had his hands and wrists bulked out (and isn't really worthy of a new photo at this moment), but here's a picture of him out of his armour:


I have had this Andrea Miniatures model of Robert E. Lee for close to a decade I think. I originally bought it to convert into the captain of Inquisitor Goddard's ship, but never got round to it. I am making a servo skull for him with an open book balanced on its bonce for him to read from to further 40k-ify him.

I have also started work on the next featured character, Inquisitor Selina Bavarinka, an aged Chaotician.


I need to raise the skull mask as she appears rather neckless currently. I am not sure about the shoulder pad currently as I think it is just too big (is it possible for a 41st millennium shoulder pad to be oversized?!) and would like some feedback. Her missing arm will be holding one of Sevora/Sevorina's swords. Her pistol is deliberately small as it represents the daemon weapon known as the Fortean Derringer...

Ruaridh

If I may...

(http://i772.photobucket.com/albums/yy3/MarcoSkoll/Miscellaneous/WGdXarT-edit.jpg)

Here I've lengthened her abdomen and neck to closer match artist's proportions (although she's still left with proportionally quite long legs, even before considering the heels) and moved the shoulder pads in and up.

This will take a little interesting cutting and the shoulder pads might need flattening out a bit to fit (I don't know if you've got anything that'll help with that, but I can speak quite highly of the merits of having a hot air gun to help reshape plastic parts), but I think it'll help her overall.

Thanks for the photoshopping. I have done some lengthening and I am much happier with her proportions now (and the big shoulder pads got to stay!).  I also thought I'd share a pic of Salrassan in and out of his armour, along with his servo skull.


Might even start painting today if I can get outside for spraying on some primer while the weather holds...

Ruaridh

Nice to know that a Marine torso scales up well on the Assassin legs. Good conversions as always, I love the floating book/skull. I'm going to steal that.

The Inquisitors arms look much better now they've been bulked up a bit!!

I decided to start on the most standard of the trio and have Salrassan sans armour finished off now. Not much to say, other than I wanted a clean, respectable look to him, perfect for sitting in Conclaves attracting little suspicion from the Puritans he doesn't have dirt on...


Ruaridh

really love that model - looks like it could be a great stand in for an Imperial Navy officer too!

Thanks. He will likely see duty as an NPC, be it as a Navy officer, snooty guard officer, Imperial Governor...

Inquisitor Salrassan has now donned his armour and hefted his daemon weapon, the blade Maldragar. Warp fire burns along its edge, bringing flaming death to the Xanthite's enemies:


OSL is always tricky, but I am reasonably happy with how this has turned out.

C+C as always

Ruaridh

F*** me that looks epic. The OSL is very nicely done, don't knock yourself down. It contrasts very well with the dark armour.

If I were to comment on the OSL: My gut feeling would be to give the arms a touch more glow effect but that's just nit picking. I'd hate to come up against that guy that's for sure.

Absolutely brilliant - I love that sword.
The Inquisitor himself is particularly dark and ominous! I like the way that he is very monochromatic (aside from a few blue pipes) - does he have any Inquisitorial markings/sigils at all?

What are you using his "mandiblasters" as in-game?

Thanks. There were a couple of areas on the arms I thought could do with a bit more colour... It's tough to work out where the light would fall. They may get a touch up.

The monochrome look was a deliberate choice to imply menace, and made the flames stand out more as the shadows were already in place. There are a couple of Inquisitorial insignia about his armour - the chest, left knee and another dangling from one of the cords on his left leg. The mandiblasters will probably be represented by MIU-linked laspistols, but I may come up with a bit of archeotech instead.

Ruaridh

I gotta say that I'm a fan of the paint job on the sword. You could darken some of the shadows on the arms and maybe add a bit more "lighted" areas but frankly I think it looks great as-is. I will be working on a character holding a flaming sword over the next few weeks (if the modeling goes well) and will probably use this as a reference when painting the shadow/lighting effects.

Jinkies that's awesome - when I saw the raw model I was thinking some ornate gold 'n' silver affair - but jet black with a nice big flamey sword and awesome mask has a familiarly evil feel to it (http://"http://cdn.idigitaltimes.com/sites/idigitaltimes.com/files/2015/09/15/starwarstheforceawakens-kyloren.jpg") and it really really works.

Is the servoskull going to remain on a clear base or will it get a similar treatment to it's master? I've always found having an identical/matching base really ties a skull together with it's owner.

Some more contrast on the arms probably wouldn't go amiss in hindsight. It was fear of overdoing the lighting that stopped me with what's visible there.

The servoskull is probably going to stay on the clear base, simply because I think it's probably going to go on loan to a great many models!

I have now finished the aged Chaotician known until recently as Selina Bavarinka. I don't like the name now, and it will change. I am thinking of riffing on Melpomene - the Greek muse of tragedy, what with the mask and all. The colour scheme of the armour was inspired by the Sons Of Horus, and was a good place to try a lot more wet blending. It's come out fairly well if I do say so myself.


And of course after taking pictures I realise that I didn't finish the skull on the breastplate!

Ruaridh

Looking good!

reall like the blending on the sword!

Great stuff. The armour is great and I love the chips especially. The red and green are a great contrast as well.

Really great piece. The teal and red go great together and the skull mask is expertly painted. Great blending all around and great use of the chipping effect (between you and Borak I think I have a better sense how to achieve it now).

Makes me want to start using all the assassin components I have sitting around...