WIP (feedback appreciated) - Word Bearers Daemon Prince

[Kaika87]

So I wanted to do something out of the ordinary for a daemon prince model in my Word Bearers. In pursuit of that goal, I have this guy in progress:

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I could use some help on the arms however. I'm really leaning at just keeping him armless, to both make it disturbing as well as preserve the gaping maw as the centerpiece of the model. I have toyed with the idea of tyranid scything talons, Talos arm blades, etc. If I go with no arms, I'm torn on how to deal with the shoulder joints, either blend them with the body using greenstuff, covering the joints under shoulder pauldrons, or something else off the wall. I'd definitely appreciate opinions on this, or on the model in general.

[alshrive]

i don't know why but i see four arms for this model in my minds eye

[sardaukar11]

Better, four tentacles :D
Some of them hanging a poor guardsmen from his feet? :)

[ElectricPaladin]

For me, armless says "beast" not "brilliant and insane leader of an army of bloodthirsty transhumans."

Tentacles - or four arms, or weird mechanical arms - could work, though.

[Kaika87]

For me, armless says "beast" not "brilliant and insane leader of an army of bloodthirsty transhumans."

Tentacles - or four arms, or weird mechanical arms - could work, though.

That's actually a good point I hadn't considered. I think four arms plus the wings will end up looking too busy, but I had been very focused on a specific aesthetic. I will have to give some more careful thought to this now, at the very least test fit some limbs and see how they work, visually. Much obliged.

[fuzzbuket]

have like midgety deformed trex arms! loving the conversion really unique

[magickbk]

What about trying to use some claws that are as close to the wing arms in appearance as possible, and flip them upside down, so it looks like the thing just hooks enemies with all 4 claw arms(including the wings), and shovels them into that terrifying maw?

[Kaika87]

What about trying to use some claws that are as close to the wing arms in appearance as possible, and flip them upside down, so it looks like the thing just hooks enemies with all 4 claw arms(including the wings), and shovels them into that terrifying maw?

This actually plays towards one idea I had of using Lictor claws (you know the ones) as his arms, with some sort of hand or claw replacing the spiked tip.

So it looks like most people think it should have arms of some sort then. I will have to give this further thought. To be honest, I'm not really liking the tentacle ideas, however.

[miteyheroes]

What's that mouth from?

[Kaika87]

Tis the ectoplasma head from the forgefiend kit, with a few of the underside panels cut away and then a lot of greenstuff used to blend it into the body.

[Cpt Codpiece]

its cool, not really space marine in my eyes.

reminds me of the tengogh from the now dead phantasy star universe :(
http://www.pso-world.com/imageviewer-beastiary.php?enemy=39&picture_id=138

[Kaika87]

its cool, not really space marine in my eyes.

reminds me of the tengogh from the now dead phantasy star universe :(
http://www.pso-world.com/imageviewer-beastiary.php?enemy=39&picture_id=138

Eh, I was less concerned with making him look like a space marine, and more like making him look terrifying and disturbing.

[Cpt Codpiece]

i got the demonic bit, but as you mentioned it was for word bearers.

i know its probably GW's fault for their really lame plastic demon prince, and its like 1 piece of power armour LOL
but when you look at demon lorgar, he is lorgar with a crown of horns and his demon mace/crozius. still power armoured, though beyond any mortal armour.
same with eidolon of the EC, despite the events of 'the reflection cracked' and 'angel exterminatus', eidolon can be seen as a demon prince with a clearly power armoured torso with the back pack cooling vanes.
the list goes on and despite the old epic primarch models, i am guessing the surviving demon primarchs still bare most of their pre demon form and equipment.

[RealGenius]

I think you should add a SM helmeted-head at the end of a tentacle, coming out of the back or back of the neck. So you have this raging mouth-beast monster with flaying claw arms and then a calculating, insidious tentacle head looking right at its target.

On the shoulders, I definitely vote for some pauldrons or armor pieces to sci-fi him up a bit.

[Kaika87]

I fumbled around a bit on the tentacle-head idea, but it inevitably kept ending up looking more like a trophy on a spiked tentacle than its head. I might come back to it later, it's a neat idea to be sure.

However, I did end up finding some great stuff to use for armor, and I ended up liking the look of him armless more than giving him monstrous claws of some sort. Now one of my principle concerns is the back of his leg not looking right when compared to the front, but I don't know if that's just me.

Oh and I will of course be adding a bunch of scripture-covered parchment to hang from his armor and wings.

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[alshrive]

unfortunately i must say that personally having shoulder pads there means i kind of expect some kind fo arms..... how about something Flamer of Tzeentchy......

OR

how about a secondary set of wings (i am thinking Vargheist from Vamp counts...)

[Kaika87]

Well, he had arms, but that was before his ascension, hehe. But in all seriousness, I feel like that has comes down to a difference of opinion. The whole reason for every design decision made for this guy was to do the unexpected and the abnormal. I do really appreciate the response, but I just plain like the more bestial look this gives him.

[alshrive]

awesome, well at the end of the day it is YOUR hobby and if you are happy then :D

[Kaika87]

So I kinda let this project fall to the wayside deliberately. I've been trying not to spend as much time on this model as I have before, focusing on my main army instead, and working on the Daemon Prince as a break from the monotony of painting squads. He's just so much fun to work with I had to force myself to put him down since he's not even in my army list, I just have the model in case one of my Word Bearers rolls Dark Apotheosis.

In regards to earlier discussions about him not being marine enough....yea, I can definitely see where everyone's coming from on that front. Perhaps a better case could be made that this is a "counts-as" Daemon Prince. In my mind, though, I always imagined this guy as still being fiercely intelligent and communicating in a deep, gravelly voice through some unknown means, as when he speaks, his mouth remains closed. But enough fluff nonsense, right?

I have given his armor some highlighting, and added a few impurity seals (which will of course be covered in the words of Lorgar before this is over). The armor was washed in a 50/50 mix of Druiichi Violet and Agrax Earthshade, then highlighted first in Khorne Red, then 50/50 Khorne Red and Ushabti Bone, and finally the tiniest slivers of pure Bone. Afterward I glazed it in red. This is the most complex painting scheme I've ever attempted, and I'm planning to apply it to the whole army. Already got one test model who's been fully painted, and I'm actually quite proud of him. Also since the last update, I've washed all the blue skin areas and based the claws with Zandri Dust, and I've done all of the metallic edging and washed it with Nuln Oil. I started on the metallic highlights as well, with some Boltgun followed by Runefang (which I think is the new Mithril, actually not sure on that point, but I like how it looks). So far the plan is to give the claws the same paint scheme as the teeth, but that's more for lack of a better idea. Also not sure where I want to go with the tongue, so any suggestions there would be most welcome.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/kaika87/WBDaemonPrincehighlights1_zpsb88d7026.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/kaika87/WBDaemonPrincehighlights2_zps90946511.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i285/kaika87/WBDaemonPrincehighlights3_zps1f0e40a4.jpg