With the Horus Heresy buzz generated by the Betrayal at Calth box set, it seems inevitable that I too join in on the trend (Some would call me weak, others a sheep. None the less here we are.). My collection started from a humble Christmas present from family (Kindest regards Corrie, Greg and family) of The Betrayal at Calth box set, and a not so humble present to myself (thanks myself) of the same box set. I am the first to admit I have a problem (see above points about being 'weak').
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| Mistakes were made. I dun' goofed. I know it. You know it. |
However, lack of financial control aside I have started down the path of developing a 30K army. Going through forums etc. online, and reading up on background of each legion was my next logical step before assembly to decide which legion to collect. After reading through some of the tales of Night Haunter and his dark legion and feeling a tragic Shakespearean twang, I decided upon the Lords of Night. For anyone who has read through the HH books, or at least skimmed a few wiki pages (that would be the group I fall into) the general feeling I get about the Night Lord legion is one penned as a tragic tale from the start. A legion corrupted from the very start of the great crusade, a tragic hero doomed from the beginning to fail (due to his own self defeatism) and finally, space Batman (Maybe it would be better to say more The Joker if he believed in justice for Gotham). One of the interesting points I quite enjoyed was Konrad/Night Haunters approach to securing the grip of mankind in the stars - namely through fear - and his demonstration of this through passing a prisoner a bolter and walking away (seriously read/listen to the Dark King if you can. It has a bit of a steep cost, but was quite enjoyable). Furthermore, Konrad as mentioned before strikes (well with me at least) a quite Shakespearean quality. On initially meeting with the Emperor, he foresees his own death and over time many more of his brother's deaths. This motivates a fair amount of his actions (or lack there of, to avoid the outcomes of his visions). Anyway, moving on from my very, very poor literary analysis. With my legion selected; I began research on what I would need to seize the night.
Some things early on I saw, which I enjoyed, was the work by Dan the Deamon over on Bolter and Chainsword. His 40K Night Lords are a thing of beauty and a great inspiration to my own collection. Some of his techniques I am looking to replicate (with my own flair) and some more of it just downright inspires me to add to this amazing quality of Night Lord work out there on the internet. Equally one of the major fears (Haw! This is Ironic considering the Night Lord doctrines) is to avoid my miniatures looking like those I remember from the 2nd/3rd edition Chaos books. The elusive and stealthy force which dress themselves in icons to inspire fear; whereas on the table top look more humorous and unfitting of their background (You all can picture those comical bat wings on space marine helmets which would be nearly another marine tall!). With my iPhone loaded up with a metric shit tonne of Alice Cooper, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie it was time to pump out assembly.
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| To be honest they are guardsmen, so they probably wouldn't be able to see them in the open. Also, they should lay off the Red Bull. |
Currently, my assembly is going... I'm not going to say 'well', nor will I say 'not at all', just going. My biggest issue currently is parts (well its always my issue but HEY! I'm trying to be a better person). These parts involve mostly sourcing kits for my extras which has been okay. Really, my best source is the undead range from GW and at this point I think I have purchased most of the kits (either for this or pathfinder). The skeleton warriors kits are proving perfect for skulls (obviously) and extras. I'm sourcing the wings for my own helmets from the Grave Guard kits and also using some of the weapons to swap into my list. Finally the ghoul kit is actually proving surprisingly useful for heads and arms as decorations (its hard to describe. Just check the photos). The only thing left on my list to source is a box of marauders and flagellents for chains, skulls and icons. Plus the flagellent heads will be perfect for trophies. So to break up the blocks of text I present to you all, pictures.
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| Vexilla in all its glory. I would like to make the banner easy to identify squads using skulls as numbers (eg. 3skulls would be 3rd squad) |
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| Nuncio-vox. Made with a Cadian Vox backpack. Butchered and reglued. Thanks to Andrew at the GW Chermside for the idea. |
The heads that I am making so far have been a tedious process that require me cutting, filing and stressing to obtain these results. So far I have managed to get a ghoul head and several skeleton heads in place. However, my attempt at a dryad (there is a method to my madness, trust me. Dan the Deamon has made these helmets for his night lords and by far they are my favourite). I really have to thank an old friend for the idea with the skeleton helmet for space marines. I remember when he embarked on making a complete plastic space marine list (even going as far to make Calgar in plastic) and his chaplains were the bases for my skull helmets. Thanks Damian! The ghoul heads are an idea of my own and look much, much better in the flesh then on my shitty iPhone camera.
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| Pre-gluing. Poly-cement is key for these projects. It can in some cases remove the requirement for heavy green-stuffing. |
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| Unlike here, where it cannot be avoided. Up sizing has been a little issue I have faced (eg Small head + big helmet). |
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| For comparison. My custom made heads and the original Mark IV |
Other little details I'm able to carry out (due to having 2 boxes of BaC) are modifying my dreadnoughts to allow twin linked weapons if I want. Thanks to Al, down at my local Games Workshop for his help with that little project (and razor saw!).
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| It's actually quite easy. The joins lend themselves to being assaulted with a hack saw and re-glued |
Next on my list of construction is to turn my Consoul into a more themed Night Lord leader (and not look like all the other Consouls from the BaC set). Also, I have started to look at other units I can make that work both in game and I can make fit into my Night Lords army... potentially some bikes. Wish me luck.
Catch you all soon.
Brodie.
P.S. I figure I should own the entire undead range by the end of this venture. What a bits box it will be.
