[Project Log] Heretic Astartes Kill Team

[Restayvien]

My first ever 40k model was a Khorne Bezerker Champion back in '97, and I have always wanted to make a pure Khorne force led by Kharn the Betrayer. I finally got around to starting it a few years ago but ran out of steam. Now that it looks like I might have more opponents and I'm getting into Kill Team I've got a good opportunity to pick up where I left off, focusing on some of the best models. Here is the list so far.

The white models are standard CSMs, which I later upgraded with Khorne bits from Foregworld. The sand coloured models are out-of-the-box Khorne Bezerkers.

Meet the team (so far):

Aspiring Champion and Leader Skallagrimsson with his Great Chainaxe 'Skald'
The obvious conversion here is the double-headed chainaxe (which will count as a powerfist in Kill Team as there is no option for a power axe).



Zealot Baetal The Bloodhound
I wanted Baetal to be frightening, so I put him in an agressive lunging pose and... removed his face (as you do). I can't recall why now, whether I didn't like the face/helm on the model, it was attempted scarring gone wrong, or I came up with the concept of a faceless warrior first. This should be interesting to paint.



Veteran Chaos Space Marine Kur'ghan
I built Kur'ghan's bloodletter sword from a scabbard. I'm not keen on the pose of this guy and it's a shame the sword's blade isn't sharper. I'm not sure I trust myself to do a good job sharpening it, though I may try.



Gunner Strogg
The gunner with a bad attitude and a meltagun. Stogg has two Khornate shoulder pads to make him look the part. Sorry for the blurry photo.



Gul'dukat
Upgraded with the inhuman-looking head and Khornate shoulder pads, he looks like he means business.


Cuauhtemoc and Tlahuicole
The terrible brothers with their skull masks. One of them has a forgeworld shoulderpad.



Next steps are to coat these guys gold, paint them up following this tutorial, and then base them on some sweet skull bases.

Paint scheme:

- Skull White/Zandri Dust undercoat
- Retributor armour basecoat
- Khorne Red for the armour plating
- Agrax Earthshade to shade the trim
- Liberator Gold to highlight the trim
- Evil Sunz Scarlett to highlight the armour plating

...and for the skull bases I'm following this tutorial:

- Corax White undercoat
- Agrax Earthsade to darken recesses
- Ushabti Bone
- Screaming Skull highlights

Next I'll be posting the runners-up (i.e. models that narrowly missed the cut due to not having the right look or equipment, but will make the final 20-man roster).

[Narric]

Cool models with some great posing.

How is your painting skills these days?

[Restayvien]

Thanks dude! Well, the only thing I've painted recently is the drones for my T'au Kill Team that I posted up a few days ago, so you tell me. To be honest I think my painting skills are ok, I'm a bit more patient now which definitely helps. Some of the best models I've painted were my Imperial Guard around 5 years ago, I might post them up soon.

Now for a quick update - here are the Kill Team runners-up.

Ghis'gula, Bane of Dait'Tar
Dual chainswords for the win! I haven't included him in the team so far because I want to make him an Aspiring Champion in which case I can't take him at the same time as Skallagrimmson. I'll post fluff at some point, but in short he's one of the ex-War Hounds that fought against the Thunder Warriors before the Horus Heresy. He picked up a fallen brother's chainsword, hence why he fights with two.



Unidentified Bezerker



Unidentified Bezerker

[Restayvien]

Some more progress - all of the above have now been undercoated in Retriburo Gold. I've also blocked in Skallagrimmson's red armour plating and shaded most of the model.

Ja'Khul's Chosen




Before shading



After shading



Next I need to clean up the gold trim, re-paint the armour plating (leaving the reccesses) and colour parts of the weapons and accessories silver.

[Restayvien]

Now I understand why Khorne needs so many skulls...! Bases undercoated white and shaded with Agrax Earthshade.

[Narric]

Might want to shade a dirt a little more. At present looks like ground up bones. If thats ok by you, then don't worry, but dirt would likely be darker from all the blood.

[Restayvien]

They're not done yet, that's just the first layer of shading.

...and for the skull bases I'm following this tutorial:

- Corax White undercoat
- Agrax Earthsade to darken recesses
- Ushabti Bone
- Screaming Skull highlights

I might add another layer of Agrax Earthshade afterwards, though that's mainly to darken the bone. I'm still trying to decide what colour to do the earth (maybe sand?). I've also considered adding blood effects... have you ever used the 'Blood for the Blood God' technical paint?

[Cammerz]

I've used Blood for the Blood God and it is amazing how realistic it looks, the warning I was given by the man in GW was, make sure you don't apply too much, which is apparently easy to do.

[Restayvien]

Thanks Cammerz, I think I'll get some this week and try it out!

SKULLS FOR THE SKULL BASES!

I painted the skulls with Ushabti bone as planned. I decided to go with Zandri Dust for the earth. At first I was concerned that it was too similar to the tone of the skulls, but it worked out well. The colour was slightly darker which made the skulls 'pop out' a bit, but similar enough that I didn't have to be too careful about being too tidy. I then added another layer of Agrax Earthshade over everything.



Next I picked out all the skulls with Ushabti bone again, leaving the recesses.



Final highlights using Screaming Skull. I'd originally planned to keep the highlights subtle, but I felt the skulls were still too similar in colour to their surroundings so I was pretty liberal with the highlights.



Next steps are:

- Paint the fragments of masonry. I'm not sure which colour to go with. I have Dheneb Stone which could work nicely, though I'm not sure what I'd highlight it with. I'd quite like to paint the masonry as black marble but I wouldn't know where to start!

- Paint the sides of the bases. I'm torn between bone or black.

- Add 'Blood for the Blood God'. I'm wary of ruining the bases with this...also there's no obvious spot for adding blood, unless I have it running between all the skulls.

- Very fine highlights to the skulls. Possibly.

Skallgrimmson is almost done. Bolt pistol and Chainaxe teeth were painted with Leadbelcher, shaded with Agrax Earthshade and highlighted with Runefang Steel. The gold trim was highlighted with Liberator Gold. I'm using the same colours on the skull swinging from the Chainaxe that I used on the bases. I just need to highlight the red armour plating, and then decide how to do his eyes (if at all).

[Restayvien]

Skalla is now based and finished!

[Restayvien]

It's about time for another project update!

Quite by mistake each of these guys is at a different stage of being painted now, which gives you an idea of what each layer looks like. To be honest they look pretty lousy until the final touches are done, but here they are anyway:

I've just painted some of Kurghan's power armour panels so far. This stage is quite nice to do as it shows the most visible progress, and you know you can easily re-paint over any mistakes.
I've completed the first coat of paint on Strogg's armour.


Ghis'gula is a bit further along, with the first coat of silver detailing done (except for the loose shoulder pad) and the layer of Agrax Earthshade applied.


Dukat is the furthest along. I've applied the second coat of Khorne Red on top of the Agrax Earthshade layer and neatened up the trim. I'd like to made a start on his head before I start highlighting, but still need to identify and find the correct paints.

[Narric]

Nice! Keep it going dude :3

Whats going on with the bare headed dude? Is it a golden mask like Sanguinary Guard?

[Restayvien]

Nice! Keep it going dude :3

Whats going on with the bare headed dude? Is it a golden mask like Sanguinary Guard?

Cheers! Nah, I just haven't got the right paints to paint his head yet.