Wednesday, 4 January 2017

WEDNESDAY from AlexD - Chaos Space Marine Havocs (25 points)

Hi everyone, this is my first time participating in this painting contest. Hope you enjoy!

I've been sitting on a fully assembled and primed Thousand Sons army for some time now, but thanks to real life shenanigans and general procrastination I haven't gotten around to actually painting them. So my goal is to have the entire 1500 point army finished by the end of this contest.  A lofty task, but I look forward to the challenge!

My first entry is a unit of Chaos Space Marine Havocs.




I've always fancied the Thousand Sons chapter.  I love their aesthetic and find their lore really interesting, especially that their armor is a sealed tomb animated by magic and empty except for a handful dust - all that remains of the Space Marine who once wore it.  Riffing off this concept, I went with an Egyptian-inspired theme, and played up the animated armor angle.

I did a fair bit of converting on each of the figures in this army.  For this Havoc squad I replaced their helmets with skulls from the Tomb Kings Tomb Guard boxed set.  I wanted them to appear intimidating, but otherworldly, so I went with a blue tint on the skulls instead of the standard bone color.  Weapon wise - two of the Havocs are armed with Heavy Bolters, one has a Rocket Launcher, and other wields a Lascannon.



For the Aspiring Champion I added an Egyptian-style death mask (also from the Tomb Guard boxed set), along with a flamethrower and a banner proclaiming his allegiance to Tzeentch.


That's it for this week.  More Thousand Sons coming soon!

ByronM: Welcome to the challenge Alex and VERY nice start!  Not sure where to start on these guys, there is so much good stuff to comment on.  I really like the head swap conversions as it keeps the Thousand Sons feel, but with a slightly different aesthetic than normal.  I also really like the super hard black line / edge highlight work that you did as it almost makes it look like they are from a cell shaded video game or comic book. From table top distance those two things are really going to make them "pop".  Excellent work, I can't wait to see more!

26 comments:

  1. Kit bashing is one of the real joys of the GW range and these are genius! Really nice pint job too, I stand impressed.

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  2. Full disclosure: I've known Alex ever since we were a couple nerdlings in middle school, and it was with him that I got into this crazy hobby in the first place.

    I can't wait to see this Thousand Sons project unfold, as I know he's done quite a bit of conversions and customizations on his figures, though he's remained very cagey about specifics. I'm as in the dark as everyone else!

    To this post in particular, that Champion's death mask is creeping me the eff out. Your trademark style really suits these figures. ::dons Black Templar hat:: It will be such a shame to purge them all when the time comes...

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  3. That is what a chaos force should look like.

    When my nephew gets back in this country I will show him these as he wants a chaos force!

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  4. Excellent work Alex and welcome to the nuthouse! :)

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  5. Well done Alex! I very much like the high contrast of your painting style. A whole army of these will certainly look awesome on the table.

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  6. They are beauties . A fine first entry alright

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  7. These are really cool and the head swaps really makes these guys look unique. Well done!

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  8. Like Byron, I really like the bold, cell-shaded approach you took with these. Well done!

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  9. Love the look and theme of these, original and super well done

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  10. Unique approach Alex - they look great. Looking forward to watching your army develop during the Challenge!

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  11. Nice Work, really like the heads, give a unique look.

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  12. I've always preferred the pre-heresy marines to the "Chaos" look but you have done some excellent work here Alex. I particularly like the conversions - as Jaime said, kit bashing is a lot of fun with GW stuff! Looking forward to seeing more of these roll out as the Challenge moves on.

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  13. Very colourful and very well done. Looking forward to seeing more and welcome to the challenge

    Ian

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  14. Welcome to the challenge Alex and a great first posting. Love the kit bashing and the shading effects.

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  15. Inspired choice for the conversions, Alex, well done!

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  16. I love the head swaps on those Havocs. The greeny blue skulls remind me of a more Incan/Mayan themed thousand sons. Can't wait to see the rest of the force

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    1. Thanks! And good call on the Incan/Mayan look of the skulls. They do have that feel now that you mention it. Plus, actual Incan mummies are way creepier than Egyptian mummies. So that's a bonus!

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  17. Great work Alex, and welcome to the challenge

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  18. I love the way you've painted these guys up! A fantastic first entry, I can't wait to see more of your work!

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  19. I confess that the whole 40K thing leaves me rather cold, but your thoughtful and clever conversion has really brought these guys to life ... err, death. Full marks for creativity and well executed.

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  20. Amazing work sir! One of my favourite entries so far. Love the starkness of your style, it really suits the subject.

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