Thanks guys
glad you like them!
I must admit, the posing on the Lelith model was a right PITA! Lots of gluing together, deciding I didn't like it, then sticking it back together again.
@Alienscar don't feel guilty about the WIP stuff
I'm actually really enjoying doing it. I won't do it for everthing I put together, but it's not a problem
Oh I'm forever making mistakes
some of them work out, some don't, but you can usually make something work even if it doesn't work out how you'd planned. Plastic's a really forgiving material
Really glad you liked the fluff
I really enjoyed writing that one. When I first started it Khali had a much easier time of things, but TBH I started rooting for the Astartes and that just won't do! The only way I felt I could make someone root for the psychotic faceless biologically engineered 4-limbed alien clone was to give her a really rough time of it!
That seemed to fit much better with the Astartes too
he's also a biologically engineered killing machine, and he's much bigger and stronger. Not only that, but he's survived through lord knows how many of Khali's predecessors so he's got to be hard as nails
Post Merge: March 9, 2017, 07:16:18 AM
In the future, please use the modify button. Double posting is against the forum rules, and for that reason, the system merged your posts.
I've got updates too! My Triumvirate arrived so rather than do anything I was meant to do last night I did this!
Uneven footsteps echoed out through the ruined and creeper-riddled hall. A clank of armour, and a far heavier thud of a wraithbone replacement, slightly too long to produce an even gait. The ancient High Lord of Selesti stalked through his domain. "I am Lord of this place you tread", he spoke with an authority born of millennia of rulership, his iron voice echoing through the chasms. "Lord since before your kind rose from the depths, and Lord long after they will be consigned to dust."
"Tremble before me, worm-kin. I have watched your upstart Gods rise, and I will watch as they fall. Meet me here, plaguebringer. Meet me here and test your resolve. Your Gods are watching. Do not disappoint."Raodruin, Godborn, Allfather, Son of Asuryan. High Lord of Selesti. Ancient almost beyond comprehension, the High Lord of Selesti still remembers the great exodus and the Fall of his empire in the depths of his rheumy memories. Prior to the Fall, he was a member of an ancient, secretive and reviled sect of Eldar culture. Called Carrac Noill (lit. Soul Drinkers), these ancient beings practiced what amounts to vampirism. Murderously, they would prise the soul from another Eldar and encorporate it into their own. Through this, they would achieve a continuity of existence that even reincarnation could not promise. Clouded memories of the legends of his forebears told of how they were some of the earliest rulers of the ancient eldar, not long after Eldanesh himself, and how they were hunted and persecuted after their fall from grace. Whether this was truthful, or merely hubristic justification of their crimes was lost to the hazyness of countless millennia. Still, the vast experience accumulated through his unnaturally extended lifespan had seen his people through the great exodus, and the many trials they had endured in the years since the Fall. Surely that was atonement enough for his crimes. He was growing weary of life, he could feel it. Each night, the susserus of lost souls would get bolder. Each fresh hunt would sustain him that little less. Still, he thought, he must go on. Without his guidance Selesti would surely fall, and its people be swallowed whole by the aether. This is something he would never let come to pass. No matter the cost.The minute I saw the Triumvirate box I knew that feathered cloak seems tailor-made for an Exodite lord
If anyone was wondering about the fluff (specifically the Soul Drinker part), it's based on one of my favourite little excerpts from one of the old codices:
There's so much information hinted at here in such a small little picture. The bit that set me thinking was the little rune down at the bottom right.
Soul Drinker: Also scavengers, looters, parasites, vermin, dying, diabolical, daemonic and decaying. One of the most hideous rune-concepts in the Eldar language. It's connected to the Dark Eldar rune next to it, but not the same. It's also distinct (although similar) to the rune for Slaanesh.
I've always thought that having the 'Eldar Empire' as this unchanging monolithic structure existing for millions of years was unrealistic. Much more likely that there have been many, many different forms of Eldar civilisation throughout the millennia, much like humanity has gone through the DAoT, Age of Strife, the Great Crusade, and the final slow inexorable slide into ruin that's occurring in the year 40k. All of that history will have either been consigned to myth, or lost to the sands of time. Plus, this being the grimdark universe of 40k at least some of those forms of civilisation are going to be pretty nasty.
So, I came up with the idea that the concept of a 'Soul Drinker' pre-dated both Slaanesh and the Dark Eldar, and that it refers to one of these previous forms of Eldar civilisation, consigned to vague myth. Plus, it being a pretty revolting rune-concept, it probably refers to something that's both a bit nasty and importantly
defeated. History is written by the victors, after all.
Drawing a bit on Fantasy Vampire Counts, I thought of the idea that these proto-soul drinkers first discovered that they could ingest another creature's soul just like the Dark Eldar do now, and used this newfound ability to rise to power over the early Eldar civilisation (possibly in the power vacuum caused by the death of Inriam the Young, last of the line of Eldanesh). However, they would have had to be deposed (probably violently) a long time before the Empire came about for their story to be forgotten in all but a single, reviled, rune-concept.
Thinking of what happens to entrenched regimes that get violently deposed, the survivors scatter to the winds and go into hiding. So, we get to the point where these 'soul drinkers' are a secretive subsect of Eldar society who are hunted by the rest of their culture, again drawing on the 'vampires and vampire hunters' trope. Raodruin is one of the descendants of this culture.
However, because 40k thrives on grey-areas, you can't have these kin-slaying murderous vampires be pure evil. The utter destruction of their civilisation would have effected them just as much as the Eldar that hunted them (if any believed they still existed outside of myth at that point). Most, I'd imagine, would be well entrenched in the debauchery that gripped the Empire. Some would likely find a home with the Dark Eldar (although I imagine that in a twist of fate, most of those would have come to a sticky end at the hands of the Haemonculi while they discovered the secrets of their soul-drinking abilities). Others I'd imagine would have the same foresight that others of their kind had, and deduce that if their civilisation died then they would die with it.
Raodruin is one of that latter group, and led the Selestini to their new home. In protecting his people he has found new purpose beyond simply self-preservation. However, this new conscience he has developed racks him with guilt, as in order to maintain the strength to protect his people he needs to hunt them down and consume their souls.
Apologies for the wall of text, but thought you might like to read some of the backstory
I've also got a little WIP process for anyone that's interested in the modelling
Take 1 standard Visarch kit
I've got a bit of a thing that HQs should be more physically imposing than the rank and file, and the easiest way to do this with Eldar models is to stick them on some ruins
the rubble from the High Elf Lord kit should work nicely
Trimmed to size, and I'm sure that little bit left over will come in handy
Next up is the legs.
This is basically what I was going for. Clip off the Tree Revenant leg, and offer it up to the Visarch legs to see what sort of angle you need. Then, clip off the Visarch leg and discover that you've got the angle wrong again (noticing a trend?). It's always useful to cut off a little further up than you actually need so you've got some extra material to play with when (not if) you get it wrong.
After a bit of faffing about I got them to mate up neatly enough. So glued in place and onto the base, making sure that the back foot covers up the hole in the High Elf ruins.
Next up is the body
here's the plan:
After some fairly fraught cutting and clipping, I managed to separate the little masks and the cloak intact (it's too cool of a bit to ruin, if I didn't want to keep it it would have been much easier to remove)
Onto the tabard.
The Visarch cloak is blowing to the left, but the tabard is blowing to the right. The only way you'd get that happening in real life is if the character is spinning his torso around, which doesn't quite fit with the relatively static pose of the Visarch. So, we cut it apart and repose it.
Much better!
Glue it in place, and I must admit I'm not sold. It adds a lot of visual bulk to the lower torso that just doesn't look right (you'll hear me witter on about 'visual bulk' quite a lot with the Triumvirate, although with a little modification they can be very delicate indeed).
To test out whether it'll still look ok, I started gluing together the rest of the model.
When I went to test it again, I accidentally pulled apart the tabard and thought it looked much better cut down! Result
Now, right arm (again, Tree Revenant):
I forgot to get a picture on the glaive arm, but this one should demonstrate. A lot of AoS stuff now has sculpted connection areas for arms, meaning that they naturally fall into a single pose on a sculpted to fit torso. This makes the models themselves a lot friendlier to put together for a novice, and thanks to the sheer variety of bits on AoS models you don't get monopose stuff, which is very impressive
Luckily, it means that there's excess plastic to play with so you can adjust the pose slightly when you cut it flat.
Now, if you're a clever person you'll spot the little nub on the Visarch torso that helps locate his arm in a monopose and clip it off before you stick everything together. Because on occasion I am categorically not a clever person, I spotted that and thought 'ah well, I'll deal with that later'. Nearly pushed the recently-stuck and still malleable model apart trying to get it flat.
And stuck!
It's at this point that the whole pose of the model starts to come to me. He'll be pointing at something with his glaive, looking in that direction too. One of the things I know from my psychology degree regarding body-language is that when people are concentrating on something, their leading foot (or the foot closest) tends to point in that direction too. Otherwise the pose tends to elicit a little 'well that dude looks slightly awkward' thought in the back of people's heads without them realising it. So, the tree revenant foot had to rotate slightly.
Much better
luckily you can be pretty rough with the clippers on the tree revenant foot as it's full of odd little ridges anyway. This takes a little more carving to flow if you're doing it on a smooth Eldar leg.
Left arm!
Cut down to fit into the Visarch socket (which is half an arm bonded to the cloak).
And done
Then to test the head I'd originally planned him having, which came up a little short.
So, better idea to reuse the idea from Thaegr the Son of Kurnous. Note how the hair piece I picked is also blowing the same way as the cloak.
Roughly cut the antlers off longer than you need them to be.
Taking a sliver off each time you cut, and starting well in advance of where the final cut needs to be, start cutting a little 45 degree angle into the antlers. The reason you're starting so far back is because getting the angles similar enough not to look wonky when you stick the horns on is a little tricky, and too much cutting can result in some short antlers...
Head in place. It's also a good idea to model with a cup of tea (or a beer or glass of wine
), as you need something to occupy yourself while the glue dries enough to keep the head still when you're posing the antlers.
First stab at getting the antlers in place.
Not so good. Looks more like insect mandibles than antlers. Cool, but not what I'm looking for. Because plastic's such a forgiving material to work with, they're easy to repose.
Much better!
Through this whole thing, I was never quite happy with the tabard. Either too much bulk or not enough. So, I clipped off some of the upper bits and stuck some little greebles from the Wood Elf Wild Rider kit on the bottom.
Little greebles like that are a godsend when you're converting. Things like Purity Seals for Imperial stuff, and various pouches and grenades can hide a multitude of sins in the 'gaps' department
Lastly, I didn't thing the model needed it particularly, but I'd been dying to use some of the gribblies from the Tree Lord kit, so it got sprinkeld with gribblies
And then, best bit about it, I've got all of these bits left over for other conversion jobs! Plus the masks and tabard too
That one was a bit more involved than the 4-armed Bloodbride, but I HQs give you the opportunity to really go the extra mile as you only have to do one dude and not 10 of them!
Hope that was helpful