Continuing with the documentation of my 2014 Golden Demon entry I will now go through the next stage of the process.
To begin with I undercoated the display base with black primer. I then applied a light coat of white primer from directly above.
The rock was undercoated with dark brown. Once dried I applied a wash of brown ink with purple ink in the deep recesses.
Next I dry brushed the rock with the same brown that I used in the base coat.
With the gate installed the assembly was too top heavy so I hollowed out the base and filled with various different packs of clay that I had about the house. I then bonded the plinth to the turned wooden base.
Here I am beginning to paint the steps and walls. I begin by applying a base colour with Llyanden yellow on the steps and ceramite white for the walls.
I then covered it heavily with a flesh wash. Once dried it was dry brushed with the base colour.
I then went back over the stone and walls with the previous colours where the dry brushing had bled over.
A view from the back of the warp gate. I added additional Serpent Guard icons to each of the portions of the gate along with the obligatory spikes.
Here I am beginning to add weathering which I applied with a sponge using a mix of 90/10 black to brown.
I then applied a wash of brown ink to the weathered areas.
Coming up next I'll document the creation of the actual miniatures that will be mounted upon the display.
In the following article I will try and document the process I went through in the creation of my 2014 Golden Demon entry in to the 40K Squad category.
As with all big projects I began by sketching out the overall concept:
I have always loved the TV series Stargate and wanted to take a bash at creating a gate. The concept for this project was the arrival of the serpent guard through a sacred warp gate. I wanted the monument around the gate to be designed to match the iconography of the serpent guard, the Eye of Horus inside the serpents mouth.
Before I commit too much time to a project I will create a simple mock up for scaling purposes to guarantee the finale model is large enough to mount the miniatures.
Once I was happy with the scale of the design I began laying out the design in CAD so that I could generate profiles and have them laser cut from card stock. I wanted the bases of the unit being mounted on the display plinth to be part of the display piece and sank the bases into the steps.
Once the pieces had been cut I began gluing them together to create a simple skeleton structure which I could then glue styrene sheet to and sand smooth.
With the skeleton of the frame built I began bonding textured styrene sheet, which has a tread plate pattern formed into it to the steps.
Here I am beginning to lay the edge detailing to the steps to make the design more chaos themed.
This is the beginnings of the warp gate. I applied a simple filter to the photo for dramatic effect.
And a view from the lower step.
I wanted to add a form inside of the warp gate to represent the chaotic warp the unit materialized from. I used one of the Warhammer Fantasy kits from the Warriors of Chaos range here. From the front it looks like a vortex.......
But from the back there is a tentacled monstrosity.
Here is the display plinth where I'm beginning to add the rock bed that the design is built in to.
After applying the first level of rock detail using cork sheet I decided it needed widening to be more in proportion with the remainder of the design.
I found some small twigs in my garden which I dried and glued in place to represent trees.
Next I began applying small rocks and grit in to the recesses.
Here I am adding roots from my garden which were washed and dried before glueing in place.
Here I am adding additional spikes around the outside of the warp gate.
And finally here is the completed display plinth before painting begins.
Here is a showcase of my entire Serpent Guard Space Marine army which will be going up for sale on eBay on the 27th March 2014. The auctions will last for ten days and will hopefully go towards paying for my next army.
First up is my Abaddon conversion which I use as either Abaddon himself, a terminator lord or Sorcerer with his trusty familiar:
The following is the part 1 video from my YouTube channel where I document his progress from start to finish. There are four four videos in total. Please go watch the videos and drop a comment if you enjoy them?
Next is the first Demon Prince in the army which has been converted from the Slaanesh Keeper of Secrets:
And of course there is a video of this most intimidating character:
Next are the most amazing Contemptor dreadnoughts. Giving these guys a mark of Chaos can make them exceptionally difficult to deal with. The mark of Nurgle is my particular favorite.
The following is the first of three in the army armed with dual close combat arms, each loaded with a heavy flamer:
Next in the army is the heavily converted Chaos Terminator Unit. After being inspired by the winning golden demon entry by Todd Swanson of Lord Festus I had a go at creating my own version. This led to another and another and finally a unit of nine was completed, usually being lef by Abaddon to round the unit up to ten.
Here is a video of the first five converted in the unit:
Next in the army are the awesomely powerful Tzeentch Possessed squad. With the new rules found in the latest codex these guys got a massive bump in my opinion. Rolling on the random table each turn could sound disasterous but with all the outcomes being brilliant I never leave home without them. Giving them the mark of Tzeentch makes them a very survivable unit too and with the coming release of 'Crimson Slaughter' suppliment codex which allows Possessed to be troops with an amazing 3++ saving throw these guys just get better and better,
Next up are the all important troops. The army has two units, one is armed with close combat weapons and the other is armed with bolters and melta guns.
And of course who could forget about the all important troop transport for your infantry, the Rhino! There are four in total in the army, the dual serpent variant I like to transport the all powerful Possessed in and charge it deep in to the enemy lines ready to deploy its potent contents.
The remaining rhinos are all fitted with the 'never leave home without them' havoc launchers. This mostly overlooked weapon upgrade often puts more hurt on the enemy than some other more powerful weapons in the army.
Usually accompanying the Khorne Lord on the Juggernaut will be his trusty Khorne Bikers who zoom across the battlefield dealing massive amounts of damage at close range and delivering their all important cargo enabling the Khorne Lord to do what he does best.
The last flyer in the army is the trusty 'Hell Blade Chaos Fighter' with its twin linked autocannon it's great for popping open lighter tanks ready for the balerflamer Heldrake to burn away the unfortunate units which come out:
Sitting on the back line of the Serpent Guard army you can usually find a Predator tank......or three, which unleash their devastating weaponry in unison, usually resulting in a smouldering crater where the enemy unit once was.
The 'never leave home without it' Aegis Defence Line is a personal favorite of mine. Armed with either a icarus lascannon or quad gun this unit really has saved more games by defending the back line from those pesky flyers and skimmers.
Here is the only obliterator in the Serpent Guard army which is used for deep striking onto the back line of the enemies deployment, hopefully taking out some of those heavy supports or hidden troops.
Here is the Havoc squad armed with autocannons. These guys can really put the hurt on most light armour and infantry, softening them up for the rest of the army to deal with:
For those larger games such as apocalypse or for when you just have to field a 'Lord of War' with the Escalation rules set, I love to field the 'Great Brass Scorpion'.
And that's the entirety of the Serpent Guard Chaos Space Marine army. It's been over four years in the crafting and I've enjoyed countless games with it at tournaments and friendly games alike.
Sadly the time has come to say good bye to the army to make room for the next. If you are interested in purchasing any of the models you have just seen can find links to all of the auctions below the photos.
