Relictors

[Hephesto]

Currently working, very slowly of course, on the third instalment of my Relictor army. I used to play these guys way back in the day and this army is something of a tribute to those good old campaigning days. This is also the reason why these guys aren't the normal Relictor grey. A combination of loving to paint shadow grey and a wrong colourscheme in some old WD drove me to lean more towards the Space Wolf colourscheme. I've since learned the error of my ways, but I figured I might as well stick with the old theme.

The first write up for this army was rather over-ambitious with several xenos merc, count-as units and a ton of big vehicles. As soon as I started building and painting again I quickly remembered my sluggish progres, general lack of free time and how cluttered the army would look. So I cut about half the stuff and most of the outlandish stuff from the list. There's still a few special things in there though:
- thunderfire cannon diorama
- eldar corsairs (count as sniper scouts)
- allied assault marine squad from the Subjugator chapter

But enough text, time for some pics. First up a general army overview, note that there's also a predator which is missing from this pic:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/armyshot1.jpg

Scratchbuild thundefire cannon:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r62.jpg

Eldar Corsairs (sorry for the crappy pic, camera was dying on me)
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/corsairs1.jpg

Lovely starter dread with a plastic devastator plasma cannon:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r39.jpg

[Hephesto]

Moving on to one of the objective markers:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/objective.jpg

An early wip shot of a second objective marker:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r8.jpg

The first SM squad:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r25.jpg
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r26.jpg

[Hephesto]

Dozerblade Razorback (as you can see I just put stuff in there I like, not much of a competitive gamer realy):
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r34.jpg

Better pic of the thunderfire cannon techmarine:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r43.jpg

Wip shot of the second marine squad (normal marines need some more work, they're a bit generic right now):
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r51.jpg

Scouts (not a fan of the normal, very bloated heads):
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/scouts.jpg

[Hephesto]

Captain and librarian (starter captain with empire wizard bits and old tigerius conversion):
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r54.jpg

Sternguard:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/relictor5.jpg

Subjugator Assault Squad (Maxmini heads and jump packs):
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r36.jpg

Well as you can see there's still tons of work left and I've been at this for months already.....somehow I'll make it to the end with these guys though! Any comments, crits or suggestions are naturally always more than welcome!

[Slann]

I love the head swaps they are awesome .

[AsgeirArnald]

I love the head swaps they are awesome .

I totally agree. The objective markers look good too.

[Hal'jin]

Those are some nice SMs there, but I simply love those objective markers! I'm going to keep an eye out for this thread.

[Snarf]

Must say i like the conversions on the Sternguard guns. Post when they painted.

[2dØpe]

Those objective markers are fantastic, And thos conversions make my friends relictors look lame haha.

Keep up the good work!

[Hephesto]

Thanks for all the comments guys, those headswaps really do seem to do wonders ;)

I'll keep updating as soon as some new stuff gets done. Finished those scouts 2 days ago, sadly my camera is a gonner so I'm waiting to borrow one from a friend in a couple of days. After that it will be time for some tlc on that second objective marker and the thunderfire cannon diorama.

There may be some scenery as well in a week or two. Entering a terrain building contest over at Astronomican, might as well make something that ties in with my current army!

[Hephesto]

Alrighty, first update. Time for some scouts, and with some decently looking heads. Here's a group shot:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r65.jpg

And some individual pics:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r66.jpg

Have to take care of some work and university-related junk tomorrow. But after that I'm all over these guys again, in particular the thunderfire cannon diorama and possibly some terrain! So many ideas, so little time to actually work on them ;)

[VinceBlack]

I love the objective marker, I have been working to make a nurgle sorcerer all deformed in a tube carried by nurglings. Kudos

[Hephesto]

I love the objective marker, I have been working to make a nurgle sorcerer all deformed in a tube carried by nurglings. Kudos

Thanks mate, I'd love to see how that sorceror is working out!

[person person]

Sternguard look great

Love the scouts too.

[Hephesto]

Building some terrain.

Put together a modified template for my Astronomican building project. Not quite sure if I'll be sticking with duc tape reinforced cardboard, but I needed to start somewhere (rather unimpressive isn't it ;)):
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r68.jpg

You'll be seeing several updates over the next weeks, so I hope that by then I'll actually have something worthy of the term building or terrain feature. Initial ideas are still rather sketchy, but version one will be an attempt at something I've conjured forth from my warped mind and have dubbed 'the vault'. And if this works out I'll also have a cool, big building that fits the theme of my latest army project - the Relictors.

The general idea is a hidden base where the boys kept their unholy artifacts after the Inquisition took their previous batch. We're looking at 2 towers based on bastion kits with a home-made vault entrance in front of them. Think semi-daemon gate, with all kind of weird locks and stuff and you'll get the jest. The rest of the building is still very sketchy, but there should be room for a comms extension, as well as a (removable?) rockit silo and maybe even a raised defence or landing platform.

[Hephesto]

Been busy slaving away with the bits from two stronghold kits. Was a bit sceptical at first, but with some left-over Cities of Death bits and a ton of cutting you can piece together some very nice stuff. Apologies for all the other junk in the pic, need to clean my apartment and I'm a bit short of space at the moment:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r78.jpg

There are quite a few things to keep in mind when dealing with a bastion though:
- Certain corners (especially the ground bunker level) have holes in them, this seems to be a kit flaw.
- Be careful when gluein corners together, things may seem to fit perfectly but that may not line up with the rest. Some gentle bend band bashing may be needed.
- It may not be the smartest thing to fully assemble a bastion, this due to the holes in the top level (the grates). If you leave the part you can see through there (on the inside of the bastion) plastic it will look bad when looking into the top bunker.
- Beyond that the kit is pretty straight forward, no need for instructions really.

A lott of this stuff also works quite well with Cities of Death sprue, however it will take a bit of trail-and-error
- cities of death sprues line up perfectly with the higher level bits of the bastion kit
- the bunker section, however, is about 1,5 cm lower than the cities of death bits
- which equals a ton of cutting and filing, slowly turning my apartment floor light grey

Still only partially done and put together, so what do you guys think? Aiming for a dual tower, with bunkered entrance to what I've dubbed the Vault. A hidden, heavily-defended entrance to an underground library full of 'illegal' Relictor goodies ;)

[Hephesto]

Been slaving away at the building project today as well, and I have to say things are slowly, but surely starting to take shape:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r83.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r84.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r85.jpg

[Hephesto]

Sorry for the slow update guys, it has been a very busy week and my laptop has decided I'm no longer allowed to work on it ;)

However, there has been some progres on the Vault Bastion. I'd say I'm about halfway done with the build on this one:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/r86.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/r87.jpg

So what do you guys think, any and all crits and feedback is much appreciated!

[Chaos]

man i wish i had the talent to do that

[Schnitzel]

The fortress is coming along nicely! Been following it on your blog.

I especially liked the alter and chaos book objective marker. You made the book cover from the "stretched skin" plate on the chaos vehicle sprue didn't you? Freakin slick!

[Hephesto]

Thanks guys and i really doesn't take that much skill. In fact I'm really lucky I have this much disposable income, otherwise I'd be using nothing but plasticard and foamcard ;)

@ Schnitzel - actually the book came with the altar. It's one of the more affordable Forge World buys, but you are completely right you can easily make one yourself using the old chaos vehicle upgrade sprue!

[Hephesto]

Woot, I actually have something real to report again after 3+ weeks of 0 hobbying activity. Missed the Lounge, but other events kept me away from my computer and (mostly) from the internet. Well it feels great to be back, looks like the lounge has picked up a ton of new members and dozens upon dozens of new project logs.....there goes another evening of just browsing!

Back to finishing some more Relictors at the moment, though progres is as sluggish as ever:
http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r90.jpg

Filled some holes on the assault marines and sternguard and in the midst of undercoating the assaulties. And yes, by hand. Rather time consuming, but it really helps to get a clearer / smoother result on any subsequent layers. But much more important I've decided on what unit (or more specifically, which units) to continue work on first.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/R91.jpg

I'll be working on the assault marines first. Once I hit the blue-ish segments of their armour I'll also be starting on the Sternguard and Termies. That way I have an entire batch with identical weathering, highlights etc in a single go. Looking into doing the same for the remaining units as well (Thunderfire Cannon, Razorback, Predator and another SM squad). Come to think of it, if I manage to get the current batch sorted this month I'll be in excellent shape to reach my 1800 point goal before januari! Actually starting to think about what I could do to push the army to 2K. Too many choices really, though an extra SM squad would probably be most in character. Time will tell......

And a final pic of how far the sternguard and termies have advanced so far:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/r92.jpg

Next update should be this weekend. I'll have time in between papers and other crap to finish the undercoating and hopefully get some basecoating sorted on the assault marines

[rsheridan5]

The bastion conversion looks great... Very creative. Your Relictors also look really good, but I am not understanding the eldar models. What are they functioning as?
Also have you come any further with the screaming thing in the vat? That looks pretty wicked!

[Hephesto]

Thanks! The bastion is on hold till I can gather enough courage to undercoat that monster ;)

As for the Eldar, well I use them as 'count as' sniper scouts. I initially had a fullblown weird background story for these guys, which included 5 different, scratchbuild xenos merc races. Got a little carried away, but I just couldn't resist keeping the Eldar Corsairs in there. Besides, every army needs some purple.

The vat creature is also still in the works, though his body has taken a bit more shape. I'll see if I can't dig up a working camera somewhere to snap some fresh pics. Thinking about expanding the critter a bit so he could serve as a biogenetic version of an autocannon on the fortress....see, tons of wacky xenos ideas I need to keep under control.

I just noticed I haven't posted up pics of the completed build on the bastion, so here goes:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/b9.jpg

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/b2.jpg

Nearly invisible to see in these pics but the foamcard sections have been treated to have structure similar to that found on GW's wall sections. Should really help for the painting stage to help create a coherent feel to the finished building.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f105/hephesto555666/Relictors/b4.jpg

[Brother Hespithe]

Heya Hephesto!

Nice all the way around, mate. That Vault is awesome and the best use of that kit I've yet seen. Very well done.

Question... The Vet. Sgt. of your Assault Squad... Doesn't that helm plume make his neck hurt?

Cheers mate!