The Conclave

This new year finds me in a Radical mood. I am putting together a new sourcebook, covering the Xanthite faction that has been years in the writing. Little snippets of ideas are finally coalescing into a working book, and I now want to get some new miniatures made inspired by some of the new ideas I have come up with for the book. One of the sections that I am looking forward to sharing is an expanded look at daemonhosts. While the Cherubael model is good, I think some more original builds are needed for the new sourcebook. To begin with, I'd like to share the WIP Khornate Daemonhost below:


The base model is the Spine Brute from the 54mm Bane Legions range from Mierce Miniatures (http://www.mierce-miniatures.com/index.php?act=pro&pre=mrm_dkl_ysn_kys_min_504_000). I bought this years ago and it's been sitting around waiting to be used. Daemonhosts of Khorne are engines of destruction and I think the exaggerated musculature and brutal bone spikes extending from its wrists is perfect for a host possessed by a bestial daemon of the Blood God. I plan to paint the flesh like exposed muscle, with striations to the fore as if the swollen muscles have torn through the skin that previously contained them.

One idea I have currently is to drape the miniature in Army Painter razorwire, but I don't know if the great sculpt really needs any embellishment. Here's a mock up anyhow:


What do people think?

As the title of the thread suggests, there will be other models to come, so watch this space.

Ruaridh

One thing I'd go with would be some Khornate horns/bunny ears - just to tie it in with where it's allegiances lie.
perhaps a khorne branding on the chest similar to Belakor's?

looks like a nice miniature though! - looking forward to seeing Tzeentch..

Even in the hands of a Xanthite, I think it could do with a certain amount of "binding" - be that brass runes seared into the skin, silver chains to hold the spirit inside...

... or possibly something else. I'm getting a mental image of something that's half daemonhost, half arcoflagellant. Instead of calming psalms interspersed with periods of drug abuse, you could have things like engraved needles that withdraw (magnetically, hydraulically, etc) to allow the daemon access to more of its power when its master requires, and canisters full of the blood of the innocent (or as innocent as you can find in the Imperium) that can be injected to allow it to commit particular atrocities.

In any case, you remind me that I need to get back to my own Xanthite and his Slaaneshi daemonhost. However, I will have to resist for now, as I'm hoping to make this week Titan week.

Following up on Marco and Seaglen's comments, I'd go one of two ways:

If created by a chaos mage, go with some Khornate branding and barbed wire. I think the Khornate bunny ears are unnecessary, a simple scar or brand sculpted into the chest would do the trick. I also quite like the idea of giving him some kind of barbed wire attack (a la the final scene in the Silent Hill film) just for some variety. A complete berserker would be tempting, but given the strength of the game is character there could be a lot of possibilities with having a character that can do more than whack you with their boney appendages.

If created by an Inquisitor, Marco's suggestions sound great. I'm 50/50 on whether the barbed wire would still work (holy bared wire? sanctified razor wire?), maybe some tight chaining? That could be hard to do well, though I did see a great tutorial on making GS chains recently, though it looked very time intensive. Injectors w/ purified blood, holy water, etc to keep him sedated would be good too. If you wanted to go over board, having a servo skull (or two) that follows him around, containing the daemon in a hex field until it's time for him to be unleashed could be interesting.

Anyway, great looking model and concept! If you need any proof reading, extra model shots, etc let me know. I have a few radical models that need revamping and this could be a good push for me to do it.

I think this daemonhost may be the pet of a cult rather than an inquisitor. With that in mind then, I will probably add a brand and maybe go for the barbed wire. A couple of chains or leather bonds probably wouldn't be out of place either.

Thanks for the input.

Ruaridh

Update time!

The initial build got a couple of tweaks and the painting process has begun. I have kept the razorwire to one arm only, but have added a chain around his middle to give the impression of some kind of binding of the daemon. You can't really see from here, but there are a number of syringes plunged into his back. There are a number of bulbous swellings between his shoulder blades, and it looked a good place to put some sort of injector rig. Cheers for the idea Marco.

I'm considering using some red ink to really make the musculature glisten, but worry it might make thinks just too shiny. A burning brand of Khorne on one of his pecs is a possibility too.


Any more ideas folks?

Ruaridh

Not from me. That's pretty spanking as it is, and there's not anything I think it really needs.

I think that he looks great. Personally, I would love to see some red ink on him, as if the musculature has burst out of him then it would be expected to be shiney and gross. Only thing is it may wash out some of your highlights, so you may need to go higher with the highlights prior to the ink...
Cheers Aurelius

I give you Sacarlax, Daemonhost of Khorne, beholden to the Reaver Clans of Captain Hagen Bloodoath:


I have tried to achieve a burning brand in the centre of his chest in the shape of the symbol of Khorne. The blisters on his back have been painted blue to make them look more like cysts rather than pustules as the latter would suit a Nurglite daemon more I feel. In the end I tried and decided against using red ink on the model. I splashed some on one of its calves, but felt it was just too red. Gloss varnish crossed my mind as well, but in the end I thought that would only undo the shading and highlighting work I had done (and am very happy with).

Pretty happy with how this beast has turned out. I'll be going down the Slaaneshi route next, and might even have WIP pics by the end of today. No promises though!

Ruaridh

I love this model. Creative conversion, evocative tone overall, and well painted!

Full of win. Really like how he has turned out!

Thanks guys. Really glad it meets with approval.

After that brute comes the elegant. The next host is possessed by a daemon of Slaanesh. I was very keen with this model to to look sleek and alluring while still maintaining an inhuman and deadly look. I have tried to go for an androgynous look by using a an aesthetically pleasing face from a set I got from Historex Agents some years ago, and there is the suggestion of a single breast. A talon adorns its outstretched arm to remind us that it may be beautiful but it is dangerous all the same. Unlike the Khornate daemonhost, this one was created by an Inquisitor, and is bound in chain and is adorned with Inquisitorial purity seals.


What do we think?

Ruaridh

having used the C'tan in inquisitor myself, glad to see someone doing a better job!
bigger pics please :)

I like him too - a nice contrast between the two. The musculature on the sculpted arm is phenomenal, and the bare head is super creepy. How about painting him in gold body paint, or do you feel this will make him look too much like the original C'Tan model?
For some reason I picture the priests from the original Mummy movie (right at the start) when I see this guy.

Is he/she missing, uh a certain normal requirement on the breast?

I've been totally swamped at work and (while I saw this three updates ago) I didn't get a chance to post. For that reason, I'm glad that you opted not to use ink. The paint job is wonderful as is and already has an eerie sheen. Gloss or ink would have been overkill. The bulbous back also looks fantastic, definitely a great way to take a nurgley detail and change it for the better.

The Slaneeshi fellow looks suitably androgenous. I can't help thinking it is a little plain right now, any plans to embellish? A strong paint job (with various tattoos of binding) could do the trick, but I'm interested if you have any other plans for modification.

Aurelius, there is a nipple there! I can't claim full credit for the arm - there is an ork boy arm under the Pro-create there.

Here's a WIP shot of the Slaaneshi daemonhost:


Things I'm happy with - the flesh. Things I'm not convinced by yet - the purpley undertones to the sash. Things I will be going back to redo - the purity seals.

Can anyone think of a cool pattern for the sash? I am totally open to redoing the colour scheme of it.

Ruaridh

Quote from: Van Helser on March 24, 2015, 02:08:33 PM

Can anyone think of a cool pattern for the sash? I am totally open to redoing the colour scheme of it.

Ruaridh

I like the clean white. What would you think about doing some script on the sash and making the lettering look like it's glowing? Great excuse for some light source painting, plus it transforms a mundane piece of cloth into a powerful binding instrument. I personally like the idea of a Slaneeshi daemonhost having more aesthetically pleasing binding apparatuses.

Thanks for the idea. I have added some text to the cloth, but thought the glowing bindings upon the skin was shiny enough in the end. I have finished the daemonhost off now. The first pic here showed the red of the wax seal to be too bright, so I then added some purple ink (as can be seen in the final pic). The lighting here today is rubbish though, so the first pic is actually the best I took.


Up next is a host possessed by the essence of a daemon of Tzeentch. Updates soon!

Ruaridh

Nice! He looks awesome  :o
the freehand on the sash is really well executed, and must have taken a while. The skin tone is spot on too, great highlights

Great piece there. Elegant, yet mutant. The color scheme looks great.

With both the Khornate and Slanneeshi models you've managed to make daemon hosts that are very unlike the standard fare that we see. It's definitely firing up my imagination, keep up the good work! I'm excited to see what the Nurgle and Tzeentch models turn out as.

Much better! The runes really make it pop. I'm a bit weirded out by the blue hand though, it ends very abruptly at his wrist - is there some transformation taking place or does he just have a teeny tentacle for a hand?

The blue does blend into the arm... maybe could be brighter to stand out more by the looks of these photos.

The Tzeentchian host is up next. This one uses an old Judge Dredd 54mm "Judge Fire" model that I won off eBay a few weeks back. It was pretty short and slight so have extended it at the shins and around the middle.

The idea with this character is that a heretic awaiting execution daubed himself in runes the night before his execution so that when his death came, a daemon was summoned into his body to take revenge against his captors. The Tzeentchian daemon ensnared burns with warp fire and turned the host body, still bound with chains and wearing his prison jumpsuit, to a burnt husk. It now rules over a small empire of heretics and criminals upon a penal colony.


Painting will begin this week.


Ruaridh

This stuff looks great mate. I'm planning on making a Host out of the Nightbringer at some point (I have one in the bitz box so what the hell) and I'm going to be stealing some ideas off you ;)

Great use of the Dredd mini, and well sculpted extension.
They are in fact 45mm scale,  hence the height difference. But the scale is all over the place.  I recently picked up Robo Hunter - super short, but so was Sholto Unwerth!
Judge Caligula is much bigger, and is pretty much 50mm tall. He is going to be my sanctioned psyker.
Looking forward to the paint

45mm would make sense then. It's all over the 'net as 54mm!

I've had fun getting the paint on the 'host today. Painting flames was a challenge I haven't undertaken on such a scale before. The sun is also out today in Inverness, so took the model outside for these photos. Natural light shows up all the poorly done bits it would seem!


I am now really tempted to take all the 1st and 2nd ed marines I have lying around and do a Legion of the Damned army... Maybe another time, for there are a bunch of 54mm figures on my desk needing finished off. Up next, this dead and decaying host possessed by a daemon of Nurgle:


Ruaridh

That's just smoking hot!
Maybe the grass on the base should've burnt too...

You can't really see it (thanks to the natural light I reckon) but there is some blackened grass at his left instep to contrast against the live stuff at the edge of the base.

Ruaridh

The host of the fourth God of Chaos is ready. This rotting corpse has been infused with the essence of a daemon of Nurgle that propels its drooping form into battle at the behest of its Xanthite master.


Stone's torso, his hand trophy and two of his left arms went into this model along with Von Castellan's legs, a 40k ork hand and Quovandius's head. Initially I had thought about going for a zombie pose, with the hands outstretched, but thought that having the body appear to be useless and simply being propelled along by an unseen force would look better, and lead to less confusion on the battlefield (though I may do some old school zombies at some point).

It's not as interesting a paint job as any of the other three to look at, but I used a bit of a new technique for me, and sponged lighter colours on the flesh over a green basecoat. A few dabs of purple, red and brown here and there hopefully continue the theme of this being a battered corpse.

Might have one more daemonhost to join these four at some point soon hopefully, sculpted by the talented Macabre. For now though, I will be turning my attention to some of the Carthax sector's followers of Chaos. Look out for the new thread soon!

Ruaridh

Personally, I think the arms hanging down more would have given a better impression of "useless corpse", because having seen those side views...

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/Smooth_criminal_video.jpg)

;D

Well he's nt going to be winning any beauty contests but he certainly looks the part! Personally, though, I would have angled his arms a bit more horizontally with the ground. Angled back as they are it looks like he's travelling at speed! (maybe he is?)

Otherwise, top notch stuff!! Especially the freehand.

Another great daemonhost :) I like the pose of the arms, it gives him some forward momentum. If they were hanging straight down it may look like he has tripped and is trying to stop himself falling. Some really characterful conversions.

Oh and regarding the 45mm Dredd, here is a great resource below
http://www.collecting-citadel-miniatures.com/wiki/index.php/Titan_2000_A.D._Judge_Dredd

Scale is wildly inconsistent by the looks of things, I wonder if the Klegg would work as a bounty hunter?

One of my work colleagues did start referring to him as Michael Jackson as I was painting it...

I toyed around with the arms a lot, and ended up having them slightly swept back to convey movement. Straight down couple with the dragging feet made him look like he had tripped over the beam on the base!

Ruaridh