Psychic Warfare: Librarians Part 3 - Terminators and Conversions

As far as I'm aware, the first mention of the Librarian in terminator armour was in the first edition Space Hulk expansion Deathwing. But since then the image of the embattled psyker wading through the onslaught of mental carnage protected by tactical dreadnought armour has become something of a staple for the 40k universe.

The librarian sculpted as part of the third edition of Space Hulk is in my opinion probably the best example that has ever been produced. The level of detail, pose and iconography work so well that it's a shame this guy was limited to the boardgame.

As with all the current edition Space Hulk terminators, this mini is something special and once you've managed to remove all the daft Blood Angels iconography (respect to an original chapter, but they've never been my cup of tea) you are left with a stunning addition to your army.

I kept the same themes running through this paintjob as I had with the previous librarians: a combination of antique gold on the inner features of the psyhic hood and stained bone on the outside in the hope it would resemble the halos in religious icons, bold red for the raised details on the force weapons and a basic mordian blue for the actual armour to provide a strong background that at the same time would not interfere with the finer details.

As always I want to include as many classic minis as possible in my collection and this is of course the librarian from the first metal boxed set. For me he sums up everything that you really need with a terminator librarian and still manages to do it on a 25mm base.

While the new larger bases are probably more realistic when it comes to representing the area that a terminator would occupy on the battlefield, it is worth remembering that there is little difference in size between the new and old terminators.

The new larger bases seem to me to demand that the sculpt of the mini be such that it is posed in a dynamic way that fills the area and thus justifies the larger base as a result. Some of the newer terminators fail in this and rather remind me of a guy sleeping on his own in a king-sized bed, throwing his limbs out as though he can occupy more space than he is able.

If nothing else, this guy allowed me to have a base on which to refer back for the rest of the terminator librarians that I painted due to the fact that he's wearing his helmet and is armed with standard weapons and has little in the way of ornamentation beyond the norm. Sometimes it's well worth tracking a mini like this down and using it as a testbed for your ideas and then a visual reference for future projects.

I went a bid medaeval on this one and the feedback has been nothing if not mixed. This was kind of a kitbash that came about due to me having bought the White Dwarf that had an Ork Boy and terminator sprue attached as a teaser for Assault on Black Ridge and the fact that I'm psychologically incapable of ending up with a mini that won't fit into a unit somehow.

When I got the five man terminator squard from AOBR, I was then left with the terminator from WD just sitting there. So my solution was to add the latter to the former and convert one of the terminators from the squad into a librarian using various bits from the spares box.

With a chestplate and axe from the Chaos Terminator Lord box, a head from a Chaos Warrior and a reliquery atop his shoulders from the WHFB Bretonnian range, this is one random collection of parts.

For my own part I'm relatively pleased with the way this turned out based on what I set out to achieve and the amount of experience that I have in this kind of conversion project. Perhaps the inclusion of the religious imagery and the helmet mean that this would have made more sense as a chaplain, but that wasn't where I was going at the time.

Anyone else remember when the Grey Knights were a bunch of mysterious marines in terminator armour who showed up out of the blue to battle daemons? Remember when they were enigmatic, deadly and never farted around with silly stuff like Dreadknights?

Remember when they all looked like this?

I traded this with a friend for a more modern mini in Mark VII armour when the guy was putting together a squad of them and I think that I got the better end of the deal in the end.

Adding a standard power sword and bolter arm to the mini and emphasizing the elaborate nature of the detail on the armour makes this guy stand out from the crowd.

Perhaps the ornate style of armour is some kind of relic of the chapter that has a mysterious and shadowed past? Whatever the fluff that could be dreamed up, this mini is an example of something that it's worth tracking down as a collector and also something that can be put to good use as a modern take on a librarian as well.

Show me a mini intended as a character for a chapter that has a codex and in reality what you show me is a challenge. More often than not the end result is a repaint or conversion as is the case with this librarian.

Ezekiel from the Dark Angels range makes a good approximation of what a librarian attached to the Bladesworn would look like with his robes and force sword.

Always seemed strange to me that GW pushed the robed marines for the DA range when their fluff is based on knightly orders. The influnence of monastic knightly trappings felt secondary somehow, but I suppose with the introduction of the Black Templars as the hardcore chapter for blades and tabbards the robes seemed to be the element that might be able to differentiate them perhaps?

Personally I have never been too keen on associating such generic elements as monastic robes so closely with one chapter due to the fact that they are something that could so easily be relevant to almost any chapter. When considered in comparison to the individual elements of say the Blood Angels or Space Wolves, perhaps you see what I mean?

Sometimes when you want something different to work on as a space marine collector, there's no better place to go than the chaos marines range. The sorcerors from said range were just too good of an opportunity to miss for me.

I had always been keen on the idea that the chapter had picked up some of the more primitive elements of the culture native to Basilisk, the wold where it was based after its founding. In the case of the librarians this involved the uncovering, capture and supposed destruction of any sorcerous cults.

For the sake of the record and the prying eyes of the inquisition, these were rooted out and put down. But many of their more interesting practices and tomes of lore were kept by the librarians and their contents digested.

This gave birth to an inner order within the ranks of the librarians devoted to the study and preservation of the newly aquired knowledge.

I think of these librarians as the arcane recluses of the chapter, the ones rarely seen on the battlefield and the ones called upon to deal with the really nasty stuff that comes crawling out of the Warp on occasion.

There's always the hint that the things they are dabbling in are beyond the realms that the faithful should be prepared to tolerate, but in reality there are times when only their insight can bring victory.

Keeping secrets always carries the danger that someone will come along and demand to be let in on them. But the chapter adopts a stance that sees their secrets as their own.

The Space Wolves might have brought down the sorcerors of the Thousand Sons at the behest of the Emperor, but the SOTA would never hesitate in telling the wolves to bend over and shove it up their hairy arses.

Grizzled Veterans: Part 2 - Please Shoot Me in the Face

The first thing to say about this post is that, of course, it is not an appeal for anyone who reads it to actually shoot me in the face or any part of my anatomy, assuming that anyone actually reads it...It is of course a brief and light-hearted look at the marines from the RT era who for reasons best known to themselves decided to enter the fray on a futuristic battlefield where weapons that could blow you into atoms are wielded by men of questionable sanity and aim without the aid of a helmet.

I should stress that I don't fall into that strange category of forum-users who seem to think that the fact a mini has been sculpted without a helmet means that the actual in-game entity they represent counts as having no protection on his/her/its head as a result. The pose is just intended to convey the energy and heroism of the character, not define his physical parameters on such a mundane level. Even if the mini has no helmet on his person, I think you'd have to be mental to assume otherwise.

Let's start with a both a sergeant and somewhat of a cheat on my part in that I hated the head of this old chap so much that I lopped it off and replaced it with that of a plastic scout. The interesting thing about this marine is the weapon mounted on his right arm in combination with the power fist, which makes me wonder if he was an early, vague idea of what would become Pedro Cantor. There is actually a weapon like this being wielded by one of the marines on the front of the original 40K hardback.

I had to have this mini up near the top of the post as he's possibly the ugliest marine in history, just have a look at the uneven features and the hunched posture that always remind me of the Hunchback of Notre Damme. I assume that his weapon is a power axe, I realise that it looks like a glaive or halberd of some kind, but that was what passed for an axe back then.

Too much wash on the face here makes this guy look as though he's been out in the sun too long. One issue that I find is the fact that people often assume a marine with no helmet has to be a sergeant or other officer, but that way I seem to have too many chiefs and not enough Indians. I like to think that if the squad splits in two, this is the guy who serves as the "other" sergeant...or something like that.

I think this is described as a captain or similar commanding officer in the old catalogues, but he'll probably end up as no more than a sergeant in my chapter, it's just that tough to get to the top! He managed to keep his power sword for the simple reason that it's a pain to attach a new one at that particular angle.

Some marines were originally intended to hang off the side of the old rhino and ride it into battle, but whether they were supposed to be part of the crew or part of the squad inside is something I never figured out. Luckily for me GW put tabs on the bottom of the minis as well intending them to be removed before being mounted on the rhino, so they fit a base quite well. Personally I hate the idea of having marines hanging off the side of a rhino (it just looks like a disaster waiting to happen) and think he makes a fairly good veteran who looks as though he's just jumped back in surprise before reacting to the threat before him.

For me this is one of the best minis from the RT era, simply because of the fact that while it's not OTT the details are well done and the proportions of the body seem to work better than most others from the same time. The flamer pistol is lacking in detail, but I may remove that in the future.

Wonder how he ended up with that augmetic implant in place of his eye? Probably nothing to do with a habit of waving his chain sword in his face. This mini also shows the fact that the sculptors at the time were capable of fine detail when they needed to include it. Just look at the interior of the left shoulder pad that would be out of the way were the arm in almost any other position.

This mini had another awful power sword that just had to go and the addition of the bolt pistol makes this a very simple and understated marine. Perhaps the only really outstanding feature here is the eyebrows, how big and thick do you need to sculpt them? Is that why most marines simply don't have them?

You really should see the greaser quiff that this guy has from the other side, it's quite impressive. As far as I know there's no real reason for him to have a skull on his shoulder, but back in the RT era there was really no reason not to simply add stuff that just looked mean and tough. I think it looks good, for what it's worth.

The thing on this marine's nose looked like a sticking plaster to me, so that's the way I painted it. Perhaps it's one of those little devices that's supposed to keep your nostrils open and stop you snoring in the night? Apart from the odd nasal detail, this is a nice and compact mini who looks as though he could punch well above his height.

Lastly we have one of those marines from the RT era that I just love for the fact that you would never see anything like them again. A head full of implants and bulging augmetic eyes make this guy look like a specialist in whatever he's twiddling with who's not a man to be messed with.

Grizzled Veterans: Part 1 - The Beauty of the Beak

I make no secret of the fact that I love the old school minis that GW produced back in the days before the coming of the GrimDark, when shorties rode their bikes and Jokearo forged their bizarre devices for their bizarre purposes. For all the heroic stature and shiny new sculpts that are the mainstay in the here and now, something still makes these often illogical and sometimes even seemingly deformed marines special. It's almost as though they were the guys who got mangled in the gears of progress and gave up their own vigour and beauty along the way in order for the new generation to stand so tall and proud.

Apart from the inconsistencies and retrospectively baffling choices of war gear, perhaps the most iconic feature of marines from the RT era is the pointed front grille of the helmets that was the norm. Now well and truly ret-conned as a feature of Mark VI, or "Corvus" power armour, back then it was simply the shape that most marine helmets happened to be. No one called it anything like "Corvus" armour though; some oddly chose to term the wearers "Badger Marines", but more common was the name "Beaky" based on the obvious resemblence to an avian's gob parts.

You have to think that there's a real affection for the things as well, even in the rarified confines of the GW headquaters when you consider the fact that along with the studded shoulderpad, it's one of the few features of the original style or marine power armour to survive into the modern era as part of the most basic plasctic kit in the range. So for this first look at the marines that make up the veterans of my chapter, I thought I'd start out with the best of the beakies.

While this is by no means the oldest marine from the RT era, I wanted to start with him because as well as being one of the best sculpts of the time (some might say that there's little competition for that end of the spectrum as opposed to the other) he seems to me to have been based very closely on the marines that graced the cover of the first edition of the 40K rulebook. Take a look at the proportions of the helmet and the eye sockets in particular and see if you agree with me.

It's possible that the same idea was intended for this guy as was the first example; the lines of the helmet seem almost like a first attempt. But this mini suffers from the all too common issues that charaterised the marine range back in the day. Stunted, lacking in detail below the waist and looking as though he's struggling to hold his bolter, this chap must have been though the mill to end up looking like this. He even needed a mound of greenstuff under his left foot to stand properly on the base.

The strange lack of coherance in the range shows up here when we seem to have a marine hefting a heavy bolter as easily as the last one was carrying a standard bolter. Is this marine super strong or is the previous marine some kind of weakling? It amuses me to think that heavy weapons began in the marine range being side slung like this, then changed when the RTB01 plastics were released only to go back again in the modern era. Make your mind up, please.

Compensating for something? Some of the best minis from this period are the ones that bear Terminator Honours on the shoulderpads, a feature which apparently gave the sculptors the motivation to add more detail and quality to the marine overall. Get that stuck in someone and you'll have a hell of a time getting it out again.

Proof positive that before the arrival of Hive Fleet Retcon there was no concept of heresy attached to the use of xenos tech or weaponry. If it worked and it killed the enemy that was all there was to it. Like the rare minis that GW produced of female mercenaries in powered armour at the time (often mistaken for female space marines), this is one of those little quirky artefacts of the past that it's simply fun to own as it sticks two fingers up at the idea of Imperial conformity.

Much as I love the marines from this period, there is one thing that's truly my own personal Kryptonite: the power swords. This was the owner of what was in my opinion the worst of the lot, so in the end the entire arm went, replaced by one from the RTB01. Almost as an afterthought I also got rid of the bolter and have never been anything but happy with the results.

Apart from the god awful power swords (come to think of it, the chain swords were pretty shit as well), the shoulder mounted heavy weapons that came along later were hard for me to love. I warmed to them some and still have a few waiting to be painted, but there's nothing better for my money than the much later heavy bolter. Perhaps the chunkiest and most satisfying of all heavy weapons.

I like the occasional marine that's doing something more diagnostic than screaming, posing with a bolter or screaming whilst posing with a bolter. The idea that someone might pause to use an auspex rather than charge onto a minefield seems logical. But I accept the other side of the argument: a marine paying attention to his gadget on the battlefield might be as foolish as someone in the modern world walking under a bus while reading his texts.

I can never remember if this marine was part of the first blister pack that I ever got my hands on or included in a set of minis intended for the Timescape expansion for Talisman. I always wondered if he was advancing into a very strong wind.

This was without doubt part of the first blister pack I owned and in the case of this one I always thought he looked somewhat sly. Maybe he's just learned something interesting on his little scanning device like all Blood Angels wear women's knickers under their power armour? Again I added a newer bolter because the original was rubbish.

This is another of those old school marines that I was very keen to own, for some reason the idea of two power fists was well good back in my misguided youth. But then you start to think that the guy might have clowned himself if he's more than a few metres from someone with a gun. I suppose he probably has a pistol of somekind as backup, but how would you do anything but crush it trying to fire it with a power fist?

Back in the RT era anything goes was the motto when it came to equipment lists. You'd never see a marine with an autogun these days, mainly because they're crap, but the point still has to be made. In fact, does anyone use an autogun in 40K anymore?

Want to know why I didn't remove this crappy power sword, don't you? Because the devious bugger who sculpted it made sure that it was actually attached to the leg for its entire length. Happy now? Anyway, Brother Pedantious here has something interesting and enlightening to tell you based on his scans of the pile of dead orcs in the corner: he thinks there might be orks involved in this battle.

I may have mentioned earlier that I don't have much love for the RT era shoulder mounted heavy weapons, but then the multi melter is the exception to the rule. I love it for the simple reason that it just looks as though whatever's on the recieving end is going to get seriously f*cked I mean messed up.

Join me next time for the marines from the RT era who were just too tough to wear a helmet in an article that I call: "Please Shoot Me in the Face!"

Defenders of the Faith: Chaplains Part 3 - Contempory, Terminators & Conversions

This is a last round-up of the chaplains that I've managed to paint in the space of the past twelve months and have yet to allow onto the blog. This lot represents the odds and ends that don't really fit into a catagory of their own and as such are dealt with here in one final post of space marine zealotry.

I've often been very hard on the current range of characters available for the space marines, but the chaplains for the most part seem to have escaped the crazy levels of mad poses and two tons of wargear. I had a blast painting this mini, the detail and pose are fantastic. But I still think that he's asking to be shot in the chest.

This guy is pretty much the epitome of what a terminator character looked like back before the introduction of the new wider bases. He also has a far more conservative pose than the later terminator chaplain and his wildly flailing chain of ammunition! I like the new bases and the emphasis that they lend to a terminator, but I still admire the fact that almost as much miniture was once packed onto a 25mm slotta base.

Converted from the Dark Angels Chaplain Asmodai, this model represents a chaplain of the Bladesworn company. I simply removed the crozius from his left hand and attached a shield from the Chaos Warriors box with the symbols removed by filing. Rather than keep to the bone colouring on the helmet, in this case I was sure it would be lost in the tones of the robes, I instead used it on the outer face of the shield and the blade of he powersword. All in all, I was very pleased with the way this one turned out.

This started out as Xavier of the Salamanders, a mini that I have no idea why I bought in the first place and spent a long time in the "to do" pile. Loosing the crazy lizardskin cloak and removing a few Salamander icons left a fairly generic chaplain, but not a bad one. I coloured the kneepads bone in order to draw attention away from the more subtle flame motifs on the legs and concentrate attention on the overall scheme.

This Blood Angels Death Company chaplain lost his rather over the top headdress and the more crazy elements of the chapter iconography. I replaced his all too Blood Angels crozius with a chainsword and linked it to his bolter with the bone colourscheme. I covered the mad chestplate with greenstuff and mounted a terminator honour in the centre as well.

This is a true bits box chaplain if ever there was one, with legs and arms, head and chainsword from a chaos marine, torso from a plague marine, backpack from a legion of the damned mini and a groincloth to cover his shame at such a mixed heritage. Not the best chaplain in my collection, but I don't think it's bad for a mini put together from random parts.

This is another chaplain conversion that is more about experimenting than anything else, but does have the honour of being the first marine in my collection to be equipped with a jump-pack. The elements of the body are standard for an assault marine, but the head was a leftover from an old Chaos Warrior box with a hood sculpted from greenstuff.

Guardians of Faith: Chaplains Part 2 - The Warhammer 40K Era

For me the chaplains have always been one of the strongest elements of the space marine range and in the 90s the quality of the miniatures on offer just seemed to get better. I seem to modify alsmost all the miniatures that I paint and this one was no exception. I found him in an odds and sods box at a local game store with the limb that should have been holding his crozius chopped off. A chaos marine chainsword and a powerfist from a chaos terminator with the pointy bits filed down gave the miniature what I think is a very distinctive look and makes him my favourite of the dozen or so chaplains I have painted.

This is another chaplain deprived of his crozius, but this time on purpose. Around the time one of the previous incarnations of the Legion of the Damned was released, White Dwarf suggested a conversion with this chaplain replacing the crozius with a powersword to make a captain or hero for the mysterious band of warriors. I made the conversion, but never completed him in the LotD colours and he sat around in by collection until I recently stripped off the old paint job and decided that he would look best as a chaplain after all.

This was one of the more "conventional" chaplains that I painted. Pretty simple and uncomplicated apart from the addition of the waistcloth and a skull-themed backpack from a Dark Angels character. I was amazed at how adding just those two elements to the miniature added a great deal of personality and depth. Is there any chaplain model out there that couldn't benefit from more skulls? If so then I haven't seen it yet.