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Author Topic: Rogue Trader-esque Warbands and Character Conversions, and anything else I fancy  (Read 48599 times)

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Offline Ynneadwraith

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Thanks man :) glad you like it!

That's just the surface though. It goes much deeper than that. Psychologies and goals, myths and cosmologies, interactions between factions. Worldbuilding's what I like to do when bored at work ;)

Hopefully it should all come through in time. Just need to make some 'narrator' models to explore different bits and pieces :)
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Offline Looshkin

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I'm loving the new photos of the Hounds and whatnot. I don't think I had really appreciated before what a wonderful job you've done with your bases; you achieve such a good, realistic look to the bases. I would love to see a tutorial on that if at all possible!
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Offline Ynneadwraith

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Thanks dude :) I'll definitely grab a few pictures for a tutorial the next one I do. I think it was someone here who mentioned putting snow on the bases so it's the least I can do ;)

Until then, here's the rest of the high-res crows (including a new guy!) :)





We call them 'rooks'. Just big crows really.



"Is it true they eat our dead if they find them?"





I think the word translates to 'concubine', although 'witch' would work too.











It's the various petty chieftains who organise scavenging sorties, but the true power lies with their priesthood. Each tribe is nothing without its lander, and each lander is nothing without its priest.



...and the new guy...



The crow-chief peered intently at the great ships of the Wolves. He tilted his head in curiosity as clockwork thoughts rattled through his brain. The pack's fleet was mustering. His curiosity piqued, he flitted a signal to Muninn, his sister-ship. Something was afoot. He could feel it.



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Offline Looshkin

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Beautiful mate. You have such a singular vision for these Crows and have met that vision wonderfully. I love them all. They bleed imagination, effort and skill. Wonderful work Ynnead and you should be rightly proud. Well done.
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Offline Cavalier

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Tremendous work. To me this is the stuff 40k is missing right now. I wasn't the hugest fan of Blanche when I was younger, but I miss his influence hardcore at the moment. 40k needs a little more "What the hell is this!?" I love these dudes. Just killer modelling and the paint jobs are seriously nice. The litte tattoos and insignias I've spoted on a couple of the models are expertly done too. Great stuff Y'nnead so inspired!
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Offline Ynneadwraith

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Thanks a ton guys, you flatter me ;)

I'm with you there Cav. When I was younger I didn't quite get the appeal of all of these drawings where you can't tell where the crazy hair stops and the bionics start, but the more variations of clean-cut power armour I see the more I hanker for something I have to actually decipher to see what it is ;)

I exaggerate of course, and there's plenty of awesome stuff coming out, but there's a reason the whole INQ28/Blanchitsu stuff is popular :)

Speaking of which!

Wa talking Crows the a while back and someone mentioned the idea of subspecies.

Yeah. Dead cool idea. Lets get to work!

So I've come up with two at opposite ends of the viciousness spectrum. The first is the rather nasty looking critter up top!

When walking in the woods you find,
A body hung from branches high,
Your wits about you must you keep,
For shrikes around their larders creep.

-extract from the Edda Óvættr (An Ode to Monsters)




Crow-kin, but don't mistake them for flighty scavengers. These are the ones they abandon at birth. Mutants. Vicious things.



Yes, I'm aware of the irony of mutants abandoning mutants. I'm informed it's a matter of perspective, although as far as I'm concerned we should purge the lot.



The second are these little critters :)

They're mudlarks. Grounded crows. Pathetic little things.



I don't know really. Probably out scavenging when their landers broke, or were attacked I suppose. Some of them are intentionally abandoned I think, but lord knows why.

Most of them wander around in little bands, looking for other Crows to barter their way back onto their ships. Sometimes it doesn't take too long, but some have been here for generations. You get little villages of them sometimes, when they know they're in for the long haul. Some of them have been there so long they've forgotten they were crows to begin with...




For those who don't know, a mudlark is a name for scavengers in the Victorian era who made a living grubbing through the mud of the river Thames for discarded valuables, and a shrike (or butcher-bird) is a morbid little bird that catches lizards and small rodents and impales them on thorny plants for later consumption.

The difference in the mudlark models is subtle, but I've tried to make my mudlarks slighter of build and more earthy in tone than their space-borne brethren. I've also left their skin a little darker by not drybrushing over the Druchii Violet wash to give them the impression of having spent more time in the sun.

I'll have more planned for both, but for now the high-res photography marches ever onwards!



The crows trade, sometimes, with the elk-men. Fellow nomads, wandering through this icy plane.

And as ever, high res versions :)

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Offline Cavalier

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Fantastic stuff Ynnead just love it man. You know you gotta make a board for these guys. The GW snow stuff is fantastic! You could even get a small snowy game mat (Frontline Gaming or Gamemat.eu) for small games or a display board. That'd look amazing!

Anyway great stuff man and the new camera is rocking it. Love it!
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Offline Looshkin

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Fantastic stuff Ynnead just love it man. You know you gotta make a board for these guys. The GW snow stuff is fantastic! You could even get a small snowy game mat (Frontline Gaming or Gamemat.eu) for small games or a display board. That'd look amazing!

Seconded. These beautiful little blighters need their own play ground to romp about in.

Lovely work Ynnead.
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Offline magenb

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Hey Ynnead, you should check out the latest white dwarf, I think GW's stealing some of your army conscepts ;)

Offline Ynneadwraith

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@Cav and @Loosh Thanks a ton guys! I've definitely been thinking about some scenery for these guys, and a game mat would be a great start :) some little scatter-terrain rocks, and little shanty-buildings and such. I'll see what I can put together :)

@Magen Is that the May edition one? I'll see if I can pick it up!

I do also have a bit of a bumper update :) first off is a redux of my elk-men (with a new guy!).

Someone mentioned that the previous photo looked a lot like a scene from a comic, so now I've been wishing I could draw well enough to make one. Til then, there's always Prisma ;)



I've been having little ideas for it so I'd better learn to draw. Things like having the Crows speak in little speech bubbles with just punctuation or little drawings.

Anyway, enough rambling there :) on with the update!



Over there, I spy two big stags. White Hands by the looks of it. I know little of their braying tongue, but enough to barter us supplies. Perhaps enough to procure a guide to our destination.

Looks like they're on their way to the herdstone. Meeting places for the horned folk. You can find them scattered all through the nine systems, and a little beyond. Monuments to the Old Gods...



There it is, the herdstone. Great stone menhirs erected where the veil allegedly wears thin, back in the times when the warherds swept through these worlds. Fell monuments. See how this one weeps blood from its pinnacle.



See the younger bucks on the periphery. Not quite their full-horned glory just yet, but practicing for when their time comes.



The elk-folk wander around in family-bands, plus a pack animal or two. People say they used to congregate in massive numbers, but not any more.



Judging by the silhouette I'd say a young doe. Not yet a full mare. Barely of breeding age by the looks of things.





See that one over there? That's a Bray. Close as they get to cultural leaders these days. Elders who preserve their histories, administer what passes for justice amongst their kind, and lead the bacchanal rites to appease their vengeful gods.





And now for the new guy :) I've been waiting for a while to share this one!

Bjorn's teeth! See that over there. That's a mammut. Elk-men giants. Sometimes an elgr's born that never really stops growing. They do slow down a bit around the fifteen foot mark, including bionics, but I've heard tales of ones up to twenty five.





Poor things are sterile, mind. Part of the reason you don't get many of them.



Call themselves 'Tsagaan Gar'. White Hands. Forest folk. Quite different to their warlike cousins on the steppe.



So yeah! That's the elk-men so far :) must admit it was a little daunting painting such a big model after so much painting little dudes, but it went really smoothly :) I've been wanting to add a little more height-difference to some of my warbands so expect some more as soon as funds have recovered :)

And as ever, high res versions:

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And also! I've put together that tutorial you were after Loosh on the basing :) (contrast and compare the picture quality...)

1. First step is just a layer of sand (I pinched mine from a beach near me!)



2. I've also got some slightly bigger 'rocks' which are a fine aquarium substrate, but anything that's a little more coarse than the original sand will work. Three little blobs of these offer a bit of variation to the level which is what we're after.



3. Quick undercoat...



4. Quick coat of Abaddon Black (would be easier if I was less stubborn about using white undercoat...)



5. Now this one is a paint in the backside to capture on my camera, but a quick drybrush of Nurgling Green (or any lighter colour like Fenrisian Grey, Administratum Grey, Celestra Grey etc.) to pick out the tips of the sand.



6. Again difficult to see, but a quick coat of Nuln Oil.



7. Once that's dry I dab a couple of small clumps of static grass. I've got two different colours that I've mixed together as I couldn't find a green that didn't look too vibrant. For this it's kept pretty sparse.



8. Once that's dry it's time for the final touch of snow. For this I use a mix of baking soda, pva and a little dab of off-white paint. Takes some trial and error to get the quantities right (less baking soda than you think), and be sure to muzz it up well as it's the aeration that gives it its volume. I try to dab on bigger bits on the rocks that stand proud of the ground, and then semi-drybrush it over the smaller rocks which gives a neat little effect :) oh, and make sure to streak some up the strands of static grass too. Sometimes I've forgotten to add the grass until the last step and it looks odd with no snow on it.



Oh, another thing is that it's tricky to get the quantities right for a small amount of snow so I tend to do it in batches (it also helps spread out the waiting times between glue drying in the different stages). So here's the latest lot waiting for paint!



So yeah, hope that was useful :)
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Offline dog_of_war

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Love the new model. Certainly stands out in the crowd.

Your narrative is mind-blowing as always.

Neat tutorial as well. I'm always interested to see how people base their models and I've always been blown away when people base before they paint. I'm such a messy painter that I always leave my bases bare until after the model is painted. I don't even add the substrate until the very end.

Great update Ynneadwraith!

Offline Looshkin

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A Mammut?

What in Hell's Teeth is wrong with you Ynnead.

On a related note, why do you hate me so much that you want me to have nightmares for the rest of my natural life.

Seriously creepy, seriously disturbing, seriously good!
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Offline Ynneadwraith

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Thanks guys!

@DoW Doing basing first has made me really have to pay attention when I'm doing legs and stuff. Lots of times Ive had to put a dab of extra snow over a mistake, but I'm lucky in that most of the colours I use don't really show up on a black base.

[b@Loosh[/b] I forgot these guys freaked you out! Shoudn't have made a 20ft tall one, but the idea was too cool to leave be ;)

Perhaps some of my wolfmen can eat them for you (although I'm not sure how much of an improvement that would be!).



Men, elk, crows, elves, ettins. None are free from their hunts.



I didn't realise they had priests, or shamans, or whatever they are.



That's the thing. People seem to think they're animals. Mind you, most people who think that don't tend to think it for very long...



When Morkai's sons are on the prowl,
When moon is bright and wolves do howl,
Within thy walls stay safe and fast,
For teeth and tools of murder pass.

-Extract from the Edda Óvættr (An Ode to Monsters)






And high res:

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Offline Cavalier

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Wow this stuff looks great Ynnead. The modeling as always is superb and the basing is really, really excellent. Just fantastic stuff man. You should really do some display boards for these guys it'd look great! GW trees with no leaves, some of that snow damn that'd look good!

Anyway great stuff man. Love it!
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Offline magenb

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very nice work Ynnead, it will looks awesome on the battlefield

Offline Grizzlykin

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Looking at this on the pc instead of the phone really made me do a double take on these guy's.

Really cool mini !

Looking forward for what's next.
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Offline Alienscar

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(Image removed from quote.)

The dude on the left in this picture is the epitome of a violent wolfman that is intent on murder. Its stance and face just scream 'badass'

As someone once said the best conversions are those that do not look like conversions and that is something that makes your wolfmen work so well. There is nothing to my untrained eye that marks these out as conversions they could easily be models built straight out of a kit.

For me though the best thing about them is the lack of bionics. In the 40K universe I have always associated the use of bionics with the Imperials and then only by those that can afford them. Your prolific use of bionics on some of your other models, especially those considered to be living on the edge of society, I find a bit strange.   
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Offline Ynneadwraith

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Thanks guys!

@Cav I absolutely plan to do some little scenery tiles for these guys to skulk around. I've been keeping an eye out for those GW trees on eBay as they're perfect. Managed to pick a lone one up so far which is in the process of being painted whenever I have spare mixed browns from other models :)

@Alienscar I'm always pleased when my conversions don't look like conversions :) that's the bar I aim for!

Glad you picked up on the bionics actually as there's a reason for that ;) basically the Crows being basically grimdark Jawas scavenge wrecked tech from battlefields wherever they go. They then trade bits and pieces with the various other insignificant peoples scattered in the wake of the Wolves (like to the Elk-men who practice ritual amputation and replacement with bionics, stemming from their use as light infantry in a Chaos crusade). Being ship-bound the Crows need stuff to trade for food, and there's never a shortage of battlefields to scavenge from in the 40k universe ;)

Couple of interesting little tidbits that stem from that. One of which is that the Wolf-men have fewer bionics (if you tend to eat Crows then it's pretty hard to trade with them, so what limited bionics they have tend to be scavenged from their victims.

Now the kearls (which I will get onto soon!) have some pretty interesting dynamics with the Crows and bionics. On the one hand, they rely on them for access to high technology. On the other hand I've decided that they have a pagan religion which deifies prominent members of the Space Wolves. One of the big names is Bjorn, God of the Mechanical Dead. When a kearl dies they're buried with their bionics as they believe that come the end of days Bjorn will reforge all of their dead into an army to fight at the end of days, and if they're missing a leg then they'll be hobbled (playing on viking myths of dying with a sword in your hand, barrow-burials and Ragnarok).

Obviously, that belief system wouldn't play particularly nicely with Crows scavenging battlefields for tech (which for their part the Crows view as being on long-term lease rather than purchased outright). So at best they're necessary pests, and at the worst they're the subject of religious pogroms.

So yeah, all of that stemmed from thinking 'well, so how do these dregs of society get their hands on high technology like bionics?' :)
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Offline Alienscar

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So yeah, all of that stemmed from thinking 'well, so how do these dregs of society get their hands on high technology like bionics?' :)

It is more where do the 'dregs' get their tech fitted and by who that gives me pause for thought rather than where they get their tech from.
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Offline Ynneadwraith

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Ah, thought of that one too ;) I've got a little fluff snippet queued up for that:

Tech level? Schizophrenic, as per most technobarbarian worlds. Functions of which knowledge was remembered and which forgotten. Palisade walls and widespread bionics. Firearms, but single shot and rare. Must have been stranded with a biologis magos but no armoury officer.

So yeah, the idea being that their tech level is mainly determined by who else got stranded down with them (and what bits of tech they can salvage from the battlefields in the early years).

Oh, and I've got a bit of headcanon about bionics which helps suspend my disbelief over gutter-scum having them. It's all based on the idea of humanity in the 41st millennium being genetically unrecognisable to 2nd millenium humans (which I quite like juxtaposed with their fascist racial supremacy angle).

Prior to (or during) humanity's colonisation of the stars, widespread genetic modification was to prepare our colonists for the rigours of the universe. Stuff like resisting bone density reducrion due to zero g and the ability to digest a wider variety of alien foodstuffs. That sort of thing.

One of those modifications would be a willingness to accept bionic augmentations, so 41st millennium mankind sort of splits the difference between Orks (where you can slap any old bit of mechanics onto them and it'll work) and us (where anything more complicated than a pacemaker is exceedingly difficult).

Works for me anyway :)
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