The Watchers on the Wall

Trial paint scheme for the terrain. I like how it came out, and wasn’t too much work with a lot of airbrush and edge highlighting work.

Now to experiment with repeating it dozens of times over.

Here’s the first print of my Necron boarding Actions STL. Overall I like how the pillar came out. Might need to come up with a second pillar design if I am going to do a full board.

Wow, been a while since I updated this project.

Was inspired by recent boarding action and kill team boxes to make some terrain. However, rather than have my Xenos hunters boarding an imperial craft, I figured a Necron vessel might be cool and unique. Several hours of tinkerCAD later, we have the terrain below.

Thoughts? Definitely going for a more basic look than the GW imperial stuff. I think there’s is too busy.

How many unique pieces do you think are needed to make a board not look repetitive?

My Deathwatch Justicar is nearly complete. All that’s needed are some small highlights and basing. Between the weapon swap, and the custom alien artifact to replace the hourglass, this is one of the most complex conversions I’ve completed on a 28mm miniature. Using the Agressor fuel pack and hoses on a the alien artifact was particularly tricky. I also spent a great deal of time paint the robes and Necron blade. It’s only my third attempt at a colored energy blade. I may do a tutorial on it in the future, granted I’m far from an expert.

Still need to come up with a name and a call sign for this guy, ideas welcome!

For my first Blackshield I decided to make use of one of my Mk3 Iron Armored Marine models from the Burning of Prospero boxed set. I just added a deathwatch sword arm and painted the model appropriately.

The background is Guntur is the longest serving member in the Watch Fortress, pre-dating even the Fortresses Watch Master. As with all Blackshields, none know his chapter allegiance before taking his Deathwatch oaths, but few can miss his ancient Mk3 Iron Armor as being a relic of the Horus Heresy. While the old man is without a doubt a veteran warrior, none could have been battling the enemies of mankind for 10,000 years, could they? With the arrival of Primaris Marines, and the label “1st Gen” Marines, Gunter’s Squadmates have taken to calling the old man “Gen-Zero”.

Next completion is a Bladeguard Veteran. For my Deathwatch, I decided the Bladeguard are those Marines found to be strong willed and incorruptible in spirit, and thus trusted with turning the weapons of Xenia against their creators. Each will wield a Xenos Blade of some sort. This first warrior wields the Necron Xenophase blade from the Kill Team kit.

Similar to my Lieutenant, I modeled the replacement Deathwatch shield to have half DW, half origin-chapter iconography. The rest are small modifications, like green stuff chapter badges, DW shoulder pad, and a DW Icon in the halo on his backpack. I continue to have fun incorporating new chapters into my DW, this time a custom chapter from a recent White Dwarf article series.

anyone have any comments, critiques, or feedback? I’m always looking for ways to improve, or to answer questions for the community.

It’s  been a while since my last update. The holidays were hectic, and I’ve been working on a half dozen models simultaneously, so it’s taken a while to accrue status worth reporting.

One of the things I love about making a Deathwatch army is the ability to use almost any Space Marine model I come across. With the varied makeup of kill teams, I don’t even need enough of a particular model to form a legal unit. This Terminator is a push-fit Dark Angel Terminator from an old 40k starter box I found in my bitz box.

All I did to modify the model was some shoulder-pad work. It took some significant work to shave off the left shoulder pad to replace it with the Deathwatch pad. As I already have a Dark Angel Biker in my force, I wanted to change up the Right pad’s chapter icon. I scraped off the DA “Winged Sword” and sculpted the wing icon of the Angels of Absolution DA successor chapter. I then glued a plastic skull to complete the icon.This use of a successor chapter allowed me to use most of the original iconography on the mini, but cover a new chapter. This makes my 4th DA or Successor Marine.

• DA Biker
• Consecrators Reiver
• Angels of Redemption Primaris Lt
• Angels of AbsolutionTerminator

A quick update using one of the duplicate project entries I accidentally created yesterday. I wish I knew how to delete duplicates.

However, this is a fairly basic model, assembled straight out of box (or as straight out of the box as anything built from the crazy Deathwatch Kill Team box). A Salamanders Space Marine with a Heavy Thunder Hammer. Nothing converted. Thus I experimented with painting. The Black skin is a dark brown, shaded with GW Drakenoff nightshade (dark blue) wash, and highlighted by adding Kislev flesh to the base color.

Also experimented with some flames on his chapter shoulder pad. I started with Jaekero Orange, and worked up through yellows and finally pure white. A tip on fire is its darkest (red/orange) on the outside, and hottest (yellow/white) on the inside. This is opposite of normal painting/shading. I’ve found if you shade Fire with washes, making it darker in the recesses, it ends up looking like crumpled cloth.

He was created to add some close combat punch to my Kill Team 1, “The Close Encounters”.

Another quick update to make use of a duplicate previous post. This model is another straight from the box kill team model. I felt lost with all the options in a Kill Team Squad, so decided to just go with the rule of cool. A Kill team designed for close quarters shooting wielding shotguns and frag cannons.

The kill team will be known as “The Close Encounters”.

Veteran Brother Mateo of the Howling Griffons, call sign – “Tunnel Rat”. Member of Kill Team 1, “The Close Encounters”.

Nothing crazy about this model, basically straight out of box DW Marine. Just love the look of that shotgun.

This model is my first non-Primaris for my Deathwatch force. I must saw building a Deathwatch Veteran squad is extremely difficult. I’ve never seen a unit with more options that could be built to so many roles. As I couldn’t wrap my mind around all the various gameplay implications, I just went with the “rule of cool”.

The plan is a short ranged shooting Deathwatch Squad full of Shotguns and Frag Cannons (which are just bigger shotguns). They will be Kill Team 1, known as “The Close Encounters”. Also, let me just say I love how, with all their tech and heavy weapons, they still all have a knife sheathed in the small of their back.

First member is Hector, of the Brazen Minotaurs, call sign “Toro”, and his Frag Cannon.

I think I showed this guy off a while ago. He’s my Justicar conversion. While I like the core miniature, I don’t think the engraved great sword and hourglass fit well with the much more “spec ops” feel of the Deathwatch. So the conversions began.

The first was to replace his sword. I bought the indomitus box, and don’t play Necrons, so I’m sitting on a rather large bits box. Thus one of the destroyer blades became his new “xenophase greatblade”. I wrapped it in green stuff purity seals, because who fully trusts Xenos tech?

The next was the hourglass replacement. I talked about this previously. With GWs preview of the Necron chronomancer, I figured a nice alternative would be a captured alien artifact. However, the model was seeming less impressive than the other HQ models.  Thus, the major change from my previous update is the addition of the backpack power pack for the containment device. It’s an extra Primaris Agressor fuel tank. Makes it seem more “Grimdark” that it takes so much power/tech to “safely” control the alien device.

Lastly, I sculpted on the shoulder pad icon. I went with the Relictors. They are actually a Space Marine chapter, declared traitor, that was known for wielding Chaos artifacts against Chaos. I thought this would be a good Chapter for a Justicar wielding a ton of Alien Tech against Xenos. Just gotta work on the story of how a Marine from a traitor Chapter became a Primaris Deathwatch Marine.

That will be interesting…

The first is a currently unnamed Bladeguard Veteran of the Tomb Keepers Chapter, a homebrew chapter featured in recent White Dwarf magazines. The model has similar modifications to other DW from Indomitus.

1) the shield was replaced with a Deathwatch shield. This was no small task, as the models hand and forearm were a part of the old shield. I needed to cut those free from the old shield, and attach them here. Wasn’t perfect, but I’ve found purity seals are great for hiding errors.

2) shave half the deathwatch icon off the shield, and sculpted on half the chapter icon. This was similar to how I did the Previous LT of the Angels of Redemption.

3) I replaced his sword with a Deathwatch Xenophase Blade. My personal fluff is going to be that Deathwatch Bladeguard are those Marines strongest of will, and unflinching in loyalty, and are thus trusted to wield experimental Xenos weapons without fear of corruption. I sculpted some purity seals wrapped around the blade to protect its weirder.

4) Sculpted a chapter icon on the shoulder pad

5) added a Deathwatch Icon to the center of the Iron Halo

6) Added a helmet crest from the Pre-heresy marine boxed sets. I’m not sold on this but yet. Thoughts? Too much?

Finished this guy up today, my first Deathwatch Character. LT Zaephon of the Angels Redemption, call sign – “Paladin”.

This is a conversion of the Indomitus Lieutenant. Headswap and Storm Shield from the Kill Team Sprues, Deathwatch Shoulder pad (I now hate shaving off mounded shoulder pads), and a sword that’s been in my bitz box for months. Im surprised the sword still looks too large, as the bit pre-dates Primaris Marines. Can’t imagine what it would look like in the hands of a basic marine.

With so much black and silver painting, I took the opportunity to really go to town on the tabard, and add some color. I also liked the 50/50 split on the shield between chapter and DW iconography. I’ll try that again.

So my painting has outpaced my backstory/fluff creation. This is Veteran Brother Tui of the Storm Wardens. I painted this figure mostly because (1) i really like the grey and blue color scheme and (2) really love the pose of this fig. That’s why I didn’t really convert it beyond adding the Deathwatch Shoulder Pad.

Progress has been slow for a while. Work stress required a more significant outlet than miniature painting…carpentry. Now that we’ve got a new coffee table, back to the Deathwatch!

Vendel was mostly an out of the box Indomitus Assault Intercessor. Minor modifications, which were little more than kit-bashing, include:

1) adding scope to pistol

2) shaving off standard shoulder pad and adding Deathwatch Shoulder pad

3) Added heraldry shield

4) head swapped for a head from the normal intercessors box.

I experimented a lot with painting here. In particular the checker pattern on the shield.  The Silver Templars themselves are a customs chapter made by the Warhammer online team. I liked the iconography, so added one to my Deathwatch.

Realized my initial post on Vendel Aurelius didn’t include a picture from above showing his Pauldron shield (anyone know the real term for those, if there is one?).

As I had this duplicate post hanging out here unused, I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone.

Anyone know how to remove unneeded project entries?

Still working on the story and call sign for this guy, but he’s a WIP conversion of the Indomitus LT. Replaced His pistol with a Dark Angel Sword, head with a hooded head from the Deathwatch box, and replaced the shield and shoulder pad with Deathwatch versions. I also shaved off half the iconography on the Deathwatch Shield, and sculpted chapter-specific iconography from the Angels of Redemption.

A quiet, taciturn, individual, Veteran Brother Varda takes no part in the playful banter common amongst the disparate members of Deathwatch kill teams. It’s rumored Pack Leader Leif has a pool going at the Watch Fortress, the first Marine to get Varda to smile claims the prize.

Varda’ call sign came from the high-pitched keening wail made as his Melta rifle reduces even the heaviest armor to slag.

This model is basically a straight Indomitus Eradicator, the only modification being the very difficult process of shaving off the sculpted shoulder pad, and replacing it with a deathwatch terminator pad.