Sunday 21 September 2014

Icon Bearer and More Hybrids

 


Cult Icon Bearer




































Well after quite some consideration I finished this Icon Bearer. I really wanted this guy to be cool, and it took me some time and a couple aborted attempts until I settled on some imagery and a paint job I was happy with. It seemed almost sacrilegious to snip off this fellow's weapon in order to convert it to a banner pole, being one of the classic Jes Goodwin Realm of Chaos Champions but in the end I think it was worth it. I suffer from great pangs of guilt cutting up old models. These days I don't generally do much converting (although I have massacred my fair share of precious figures that would be worth a mint on ebay these days), apart from the value and rarity of certain models, I have come to see them as small works of art and I enjoy letting the sculptor's vision speak for itself.

I wasn't sure at first if this guy was going to represent a mutant or a Genestealer Hybrid, and I suppose it doesn't really matter he could be either, but I think he fits in well with the hybrids with his bulbous, ugly, hairless head, hunched over posture, and clawed toes poking out from beneath his robes. Though four legs is an unusual mutation for a hybrid. I only realised when painting him that after removing his halberd I had left him with only a sex-toy in his left hand for defence! All the chaos champions from this release are very deserving of their well loved status, and this Slaanesh Champion is no exception, practically painting itself and amusingly covered in bizarre, surreal details such as the ornate armour, S&M accessories, mutations, and little bell on his halberd. I reckon he'd also make a suitable standard bearer for a Warhammer Fantasy chaos warband, and may use him as such.

The image from the banner (with a few embellishments) came from this picture by French comic-book artist Phillipe Druillet:





































If you are unfamiliar with Druillet and are an "Oldhammer" fan you owe it to yourself to check out some of his art. It really is astounding and obviously (as well as the other Heavy Metal artists of the 1970s) a significant influence on the design aesthetic of Rogue Trader and Warhammer. Below are a couple other images that didn't quite make the cut for the icon, but are very evocative of a rogue trader-alien-genestealer-chaos cult vibe, and I will try to use them on something else.





















Hybrids





























































I also painted up a few more hybrids since my last post. The ribbed Hybrid armour is the element that really makes these figures for me, reminding me of the Harkonnen costumes from David Lynch's Dune.
















Plastic Hybrids

These guys are a lot chunkier than the metal hybrids making them good 'heavies', so this lot are equipped with a conversion beamer, missile launcher, and autocannon. While the plastic hybrids from the Space Hulk Genestealer expansion are crude and get a bit of flack, I quite like them and they are fun to paint. Amusingly they really look like 28mm models of cheesy 'men in suit' movie monster costumes. However the plastic weapons they came with are fantastic! Some of my favourite weapon designs. Known as the 'Chaos Weapons Sprue', these creatively styled heavy weapons are covered in gothic details. The few I have I jealously horde.




Group Shot


19 comments:

  1. Brilliant paint jobs on classic models with a great soundtrack. Truly an inspirational post! Off to scope out eBay for GS hybrids . . .

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    1. Cheers! Good luck for the hunt for hybrids, I only ever find really overpriced ones unfortunately. Glad you appreciate the soundtrack, I'm sure it's not to everyone's taste but for me punk and metal is closely linked to this old GW stuff, both for personal nostalgic reasons and for being contemporary.

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  2. Loving the Dune theme here! How did you achieve those beautiful skin tones on the hybrids?

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    1. Some seem to dislike that movie but it is one of my favourites, the production design being rather excellent. The skin was painted over a black undercoat, the base colour being 50/50 Citadel Dwarf flesh/purple, then a Leviathan purple wash, then I layer on highlights in about 3 thin layers (sometimes more) gradually adding more dwarf flesh and a bit of bleached bone. On some areas (normally the head) I like to create a mottled effect by stipling on the last couple highlights - seems to give a organic fleshy look. And finally if I can be bothered add some veins with Warlock Purple.

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  3. Now that is an incredible banner! Well done!

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    1. Thanks alot, high praise coming from an extravagant banner connoiseur like your self!

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  4. I also love the ribbed armour and for similar reasons; it has a grubby 60's/70's science fiction feel that you don't see much of in the current ranges.

    That chaos weapons sprue was a big favourite of mine back in the day too; I wish they still produced it, but one could say the same about the whole hybrid range!

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    1. Too true! I actually deleted a paragraph I wrote where I speculated how a current GW might envision the hybrids, when I realised nah I don't give a stuff what they do anymore and it's only the originals that I'm interested in.

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  5. Wow, that banner is such a great iconography! I believe you are definitely building an army with a real strong personality!

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    1. Thanks, it's almost time to get some photos of everything all together.

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  6. Wowsers, that banner is absolutely tremendous!
    A bit of a Dark Crystal vibe to the art there perhaps?
    The creature reminds me of the when the Skeksis and Mystics combine at the end of the film.
    I concur on the heavy weapons, I wish I had the autocannon.
    Good call on the similarities to the Harkonnen armour too.

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    1. Cheers. Now that you mention it I see what you mean. Another great movie that would be good to see more miniatures derived from!

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  7. Looking great, particularly the flesh tones. Where did the base arms (holding the knife and autogun) come from?

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    1. Thanks! Those arms are from plastic Orlock gangers that came with the Necromunda boxed game. They make very good arms for pretty much any of those armless Citadel figures of the early 90s, which like the Chaos heavy weapons are in short supply.

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  8. Excellent genestealer cult! They look really sinister and moody in that group shot, the banner really sets everything off.
    Really inspirational.

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  9. Great looking addition to the cult. I pulled by Hybrids from my Genestealer set out of the "Closet of Doom" the other day and I really need to work on them. I look forward to more of your work.

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  10. More wonderful work, great stuff.

    I bought a large number of Chaos Heavy Weapon sprues direct from UK mail order back in 1990/91 or so. I have used most of them over the years, but still have a couple put aside for extra special projects. They are exceptional bits of old plastic, far superior to the workhorse SH hybrids...

    Do you have any photos of your plastic Space Hulk hybrids from the rear? The biggest problem that I have had when painting them over the years is that I cant tell what each part of the sculpt is supposed to represent. Is it carapace? Flesh? Armour? Clothes? Im interested to see how you translated it.

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