I decided to make an istavaanian ordo xenos inquisitrix who is obsessed with nids. I gave her a bonesword and a big niddy gun, replete with back-mounted bio-ammo storage unit (appropriately covered in purity seals and scrolls). Obviously she's a WIP, but i'm intending to move onto painting next. So if there's any glaring problems with the model as she is, now is a good time to find out, before i start painting!
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG3885.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG3886.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG3887.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG3889.jpg)
All comments and criticism welcomed and appreciated!
I think a really cool touch would be once you get it painted, put a piece of clear platicard over the box holding the ammo sack. I like the model, but just getting back in I'm not up on tyranid weapons in Inquisitor. Can't wait to see it painted up.
I was actually planning on doing that (and scuffing the clear plastic up a bit too to make the contents of the box even more mysterious and disturbing).
Thanks for the comment.
Any chance we could get a scale shot against an 'average' Inquisitor model? She looks like she might be a little on the short side. Not that it's a problem, just I have heard that SmartMax's models can err on the petite side, and I'm curious so I can plan my future purchases from them accordingly ;)
Love what you've done with her though. The only problem I might have is from a fluff perspective - I think I'm a few editions of the Tyranid codex behind, but aren't 'nid weapons all supposed to be organisms in their own right, symbiotically linked to their firers? If so, I'm curious as to how she has managed to interface with it (and how she manages to look so clean and proper while doing so :P) as I suspect the procedure wasn't entirely un-messy!
The closest equivalent I can think of is an alien daemon-weapon - the gun itself would probably attempt to gain some kind of control over the firer as its instincts kick in, being so far away from the hive mind itself. Perhaps she has effectively lobotomised the gun, drastically reducing its effectiveness but giving her total control over it?
What about some sort of bionics/HUD/targeter for eye?
that and servo skull carrying her umbrella. Please tell me she has a gunslinger called van dyke.
The only thing I don't like about that model is the hat. I really like the conversion work, especially the backpack, power supply, alien thingy. I also agree that maybe it should be hardwired into her somehow although I'm also unfamiliar with tyranid weapons as I've never collected them.
Firstly, here's a scale shot for you, Rob:
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG3892.jpg)
She's petite, but as a refined young aristocratic lady I don't see too much of a problem with that.
As for the 'how did she get it' side of things, i'm still cooking up good excuses. I saw the Tickelnott model, and knew she would make a great bioweapon wielder, so that's what I made, but on the fluff side, i'm still a little fuzzy.
My ideas so far are that she was the daughter of an aristocratic family and was off-world travelling with her rogue-trader uncle when her homeworld was hit by a tyranid attack. Her uncle kept her as his own orphened child, snd at some point over their time together, he introduced her to an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor with whom he had done many shady deals in the past. Her uncle regailed the inquisitor with many tales of their adventures together, and of the fine young woman she had since become, listing her repeated successes in acquiring xenos technology from other races. Her uncle agreed to give the Inquisitor a piece of valuable xenos technology in return for taking his niece under his wing. After lots of work, and further proving herself, she ended up an accolyte, and later an Inquisitrix in her own right (obviously i'm leaving out a lot of detail to precis here).
She never lost her obsession with tyranids, and believes that she grew stronger from the adversity they imposed. She once captured a live specimen and had a magos biologis in her service inspect it in detail. They managed to extract the weapon from its arm, but they had to leave it connected to a sort of 'secondary brain' organ which belonged to the tyranid and controlled interaction with the weapon. She had this 'control organ' encased and made into a carriable backpack. She operates the weaponary by shoving her hand inside it, and pushing against certain nerve points on the inside of the weapon, which send an impulse through the control organ, causing the muscle in the gun to spasm and fire (hence why her model is forearm deep in xenos filth). The bonesword is more obvious - boneswords are basically just organic swords anyway and aren't necessarily (although can be) connected to their wielder.
To dirthe1, the model actually has some goggles around her neck already (hard to see from the picture) so I was going to have them as HUD overlay / aiming reticule goggles, and she also has a bioscanner auspex, so i think adding a bionic eye too would perhaps be overkill!
Thanks to everyone for their comments, and please do continue to tell me what you think of the model, and my reasoning behind her use of the weapon
I think it's awesome. Love the feel of the model, very grimdark. Like the concept of the character. But I do think it needs some way of regrowing ammunition. Would she just take it home to a nice nutrient broth? Meaning it can't reload/regenerate ammunition during a battle?
I was thinking that it wouldn't be able to regenerate ammo during the battle, and she would have to take it back to the magos biologis to have it restored. That way, it would also act as a balance. Yes, she has a powerful alien weapon, but once it's out of ammo, she's kind of stuck...
Thanks for the comment.
A couple of comments. Firstly the gun barrel looks a little crooked in that first picture. Secondly, you could do something similar to the servitor I made that's wielding a Tyranid weapon and that's add some drug injectors to keep the organism under control.
Otherwise, she looks great. What's the plan for the rest of the warband?
Hey Dave, i think the crooked barrel effect is just the picture, as i've got the model in front of me at the moment, and looking at it from all angles it seems pretty straight. As for drug injectors, once I've painted the insides of the box, i was planning on perhaps making it look like it's suspended in a kind of druggy solution (on that note, how did you make the servitor whose head is suspended in fluid look like that? It's the exact effect i'm looking for!)
As for the rest of the warband, i'm not entirely sure at the moment. This was definitely an impulse thing. I saw the Tickelnott model on ebay and just had to buy it, and everything else has kind of gone from there. I had the idea that she was an Istavaanian inquisitor who smuggled Hormagaunt eggs into widely populated areas to instigate a 'survival of the fittest' situation. I think i might give her a magos biologis warband member whose job it is to experiment on nids and maintain her weapons and then maybe an acolyte or bodyguard or guardsman or something. The magos is my next intended project, but plans after that are fairly open-ended; i'll just have to see what catches my attention model-wise!
Thanks for the comment!
I've been wanting to get that model for so long now. Only reason I've held off is because I have enough half-finished models as it is without buying more. ::)
My only comment I can make really at this stage is that you're conversion doesn't really add anything new to the model I feel (of course, such a move is not always necessary). Essentially you've swapped one alien bio-gun for another alien bio-gun that looks fairly similar. Also that is one massive sword for a dainty lady to wield.
I would be first to admit that i've not changed the 'feel' of the model, as I did not with Zophar's model, but that's because I love the Smartmax models, and they're not exactly widely used (i'm the first to use the Tickelnot model that i've seen), so it's hardly going to become a clone war with lots of other identical characters! Also, I think the gun I added is much more grimdark than the original, with its biotubes and back-mounted biopowerpack. I liked the model's original aesthetic enough to not want to overly mess with it, and i don't see anything wrong with that (don't misunderstand me, i'm not trying to jump down your throat, or sound overly defensive, just explain *why* i've done things as I have).
As for the sword, it -is- big, but i would think that's only to be expected from a bonesword, and i'm going to make it a two-handed weapon for her to wield.
Thanks for the comment. She's half way through painting at the moment, so finished pics may come within a week or so.
Actually, if anything a bonesword would be expected to be a lot bigger, since the smallest tyranid that wields them is a tyranid warrior, but it's quite possible that she either has an immature specimen or has cut one down to a useable size. Modelwise, it isn't nearly as bad as some of the swords used by 'official' GW models, so it should look OK next to them.
Generally, a nice model. Particularly effective in the constrast between the inquisitor's respectably formal aristocratic dress, and the hideous goopy abomination of her weaponry. Most unnerving ;).
Quote from: Brother_Brimstone on November 09, 2011, 02:01:09 PMAs for the sword, it -is- big, but i would think that's only to be expected from a bonesword, and i'm going to make it a two-handed weapon for her to wield.
ah right, yeah large bone sword makes sense, didn't realise/read that.
Finally finished painting:
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG4144.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG4146.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG4160.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/inquisitrix%20victoria%20weaver/CIMG4162.jpg)
Not sure how well it can be seen on the picture, but the front of the metal box has been made to look as though it's filled with murky liquid with a lump of something creepy and organic floating in it.
As usual, comments/criticism welcome and appreciated.
Apologies for double post but here's moar content.
This is Weaver's Magos Biologis companion. In brief description, he's an ex-explorator, who became obsessed with the fusion between technology and the organic. While he has spent much time in Weaver's service studying tyranids, his own area of interest is the fusion of flesh and technology mastered by the Dark Eldar haemonculi. In his time with Weaver he has come into contact with Dark Eldar, and has captured some of their technology, utilising it for himself.
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/new%20album/CIMG4166.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/new%20album/CIMG4167.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/new%20album/CIMG4168.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/new%20album/CIMG4169.jpg)
His base figure was meant to resemble a plague doctor, in keeping with the sort of 'old fahioned' feeling of this warband (hence the beaky gas mask and cloak - http://plaguedoctor.net/plaguedoctor.gif )
Commens and criticism welcomed and appreciated
After a large break in work on this group as I worked on various other projects, I've finally finished the three-character loadout with the flagelant/servitor hormagaunt. The base model is the Tyranid Warrior with injectors, wires and bionics added
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/DSCF2013.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/DSCF2015.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/DSCF2014.jpg)
(http://i988.photobucket.com/albums/af8/Brother_Brimstone/DSCF2016.jpg)
What do people think of the bionics/implants? Too much, not enough, or just right?
Comments/criticism welcomed.
Maybe not quite enough on the head, but generally a good balance at scarce compared to human servitors, since I'd expect the bionics on a hormagaunt to be mostly, if not entirely, focused on keeping it under control rather than actual enhancement.
Overall, the model looks suitably scary, but I feel it could do with a little more dynamism in it's pose-a tyranid warrior is both more solidly built and less agile than a hormagaunt, so the model doesn't quite translate as a straight swap, although the size comes out about right. That said, gaunts are also said to be the most mutable strain of tyranid, so variation is expected.
I don't know whether it's discernable, but on the head, he also has a bionic eye, and there's the antenna fitted too (which can only be seen as a sort of rod jutting out in those pictures.
As you say, any intended 'improvements' of the imperium to a tyranid bioweapon like a gaunt would only serve to worsen it, and with Victoria 's fetishising of the intrinsic strength of the tyranids, I imagine that she would instruct that the Magos Biologis only make those adjustments which are necessary for control of the beast.
As to the variance in build, my thoughts were that the Magos would be outfitting the Gaunt to maximise its lifespan, so through a program of selective breeding, chemical and technical enhancement they would be making their gaunts somewhat more hearty than they are usually. In fact, I purposefully posed this figure to be in a static, intimidating pose rather than a moving one to convey the fact that since being 'servitorised' it is no longer the agile predator it once was (with a chain added for the obvious reminder that he has been made into a slave) and is now little more than a material display of Inquisitorial muscle.
Still, I definitely appreciate what you're saying - seeing as Warriors come in a pack of 3, i'm still debating whether to turn the remaining two into variant Gaunt-servitor models or regular tyranids as GM Nasties, so i will bear your comments about relative build in mind for those.
Thanks, and any further input is appreciated and welcomed.
The hormagaunt looks good but could perhaps do with some more injectors, especially on the head, or perhaps more signs of cranial surgery.
Everything looks great, but could I get a size comparison of the gaunt next to Inquisitor Weaver pls?
Cheers
Prasmatis
I like the hormogaunt, I think it's a good concept well executed. Regarding the implants I think the balance is about right but they could be a bit more refined. That nautical-looking thing in the second pic looks a bit clumsy and the aerial and ammo pouch bits don't make much sense, or don't look good anyway. I suppose the aerial does make sense actually but in this scale it cold look nicer, finer perhaps.
Hmmm, i think I agree that the aerial looks somewhat clumsy. I may try going for something thinner, although I did like the idea of him having an aerial implanted behind the head to emphasise the fact that he is under control. As for the ammo pouch, i was planning on painting it silver, with the stud in red, so it looks like a small metal box filled with tech attached to his sofer side rather than his armoured back. People also seem to be saying the head needs a bit more work, so i think i'll do a few wires and somesuch coming out the back.
Thanks to all for the comments, any further inoput is welcomed and appreciated.
Try adding a few small bolts to one of the head plates, then painting it metal. That way it looks like they sliced open its brain, fiddled with it and bolted on a new bit of skull.