The Watchers on the Wall

So this Marine was actually the first one I made for my DW force. I really just wanted to check if I could pull off a black color scheme I didn’t hate…an important thing to do before embarking on an entirely black army.

He has very little modification, being almost a straight easy-build Reiver.  Conversions are only (1)  the attempt at sculpting a Deathwatch Icon, and (2) using extra Greenstuff to give him a decorative rope thing on his other shoulder.

I didn’t hate my first attempt at black, thus why this project exists. After some advice I received from Instagram, I transitioned to using blue-greys rather than straight greys to highlight the black after this model. Vallejo Black-Grey for first highlight, then Vallejo Mirage Grey for the sharp edge. It gives the black more metallic depth rather these looking chalky and plastic.

Another trick for painting black as a primary color. Keep the black clean and simple, and emphasize small areas of other colors on the model. A lot of how black (and white) is perceived is based on how it is contrasted by other colors. Make those other colors pop, and the black will appear blacker. Also don’t add to many other colors. Ensure the black is the focus. This is why I try not to choose chapters with black shoulder pads. I need that chapter shoulder pad to add a pop of contrasting color to the model.

This update shows off my second assault intercessor. This one is from the Ravenguard chapter. While Ravenguard are often depicted as snipers or with lightning claws, I wanted to run with the idea of a knife-fighter. The various sprues I had available had numerous cool knife wielding arms.

The knife-drawing arm is from the SW upgrade frame. I simply cut off the SW symbol on the scabbard, and added some feathers from an old lizard man standard in my bits box. The other arm is an Intercessor knife arm, but I reverse d the knife grip. I love the overall effect, with the crouched pose, like he’s about to lash-out at some unfortunate victim.

Lastly, he needed his pistol. The model didn’t have space for a holster, given the extra knife scabbard, so I resurrected an approach from an old inquisitor model. Inquisitor Covenant had a shoulder-mounted psycannon linked to a mind impulse unit (MIU). He could aim it with his thoughts while wielding a massive force sword with both hands. Given Nikita’s need for both hands for knives, I thought the same concept would work.

This update shows off my second assault intercessor. This one is from the Ravenguard chapter. While Ravenguard are often depicted as snipers or with lightning claws, I wanted to run with the idea of a knife-fighter. The various sprues I had available had numerous cool knife wielding arms.

The knife-drawing arm is from the SW upgrade frame. I simply cut off the SW symbol on the scabbard, and added some feathers from an old lizard man standard in my bits box. The other arm is an Intercessor knife arm, but I reverse the knife grip. I love the overall effect with the crouched pose.

This next model is a pretty straight out of the box Space Wolf. I picked up a Space Wolf Primaris Start Collecting box to flesh out my force, and it came with this character (in addition to 10 Intercessors and 3 Agressors).

Only modification to the model was to change out his Bolter arm with a pistol instead, as he’ll take the role of my Assailt intercessor Sergeant with Power Axe. I also added a scope to the pistol, as Deathwatch appear to love their scopes.

I was really pleased with the results on the cloak. I started with P3 leather brown. This seemed to take forever to dry, which was a good thing. I painted a dark brown (Vallejo German Camo dark brown) in the central areas of the cloak, which wet-blended in to the leather brown as the P3 brown was still wet. After These dryer, I washed the cloak with Agrax Earthshade, and dry brushed with a khaki paint.

The varying shades made it look like a real animal cloak.

This model was a suggestion from a player at my local hobby shop. I decided the Rainbow Warrior chapter would have a Native American feel. I started again with an easy build Reiver, adding bits from my son’s lizard man army.

1) A spiked war club replaced the knife,

2) a totem banner was added to his back,

3) some feathers were added

4) a golden buckler shield was added to his pistol arm.

I like the final result. I’m still not 100% sold on the shield, might be a little too over the top, but I figure I’ll leave it for now.

Still looking for more Chapter ideas if people have them!

First entry is an idea I’ve wanted to make reality for a while. It’s no secret GW uses historical cultures as themes to SM chapters. We have Roman Marines, Viking Marines, and Mongol Marines. I wanted to take a shot at an Arab-themed Marine Chapter.

The model started as an old GW easy-build Reiver. There were three pieces of the conversion:

1) the Shemagh head-wrap, created with some simple green-stuff sculpting

2) the punch dagger, made with a cut-off sword blade, and some plasticard. Thought it would make a more eastern-themed weapon, but not diverging too much from the normal Reiver knife.

3) green stuff sculpting the icon on the shoulder pad – as an easy-build model, it didn’t have desperate shoulder pad pieces.

For the chapter, I chose the Consecrators. As a Dark Angels Successor, it would have a religious/monastic background, but just from a different culture. I also thought their chapter badge, a winged flame, had a middle-eastern feel.

I loved the final result, but am glad I don’t need to do a full army of them.