Concept Art: Void Ravens Honour Guard

After a successful day of instructing the younglings in painting, building many miniatures and even observing a few epic clashes across the table top, there's nothing quite like ending the day with beer and wings. Beer for the horses and wings for myself of course. It is in these winding down times that inspiration is wont to strike.


   The Chapter's Honour Guard has been my most slowly progressing project. I've had many ideas, many of which have been thrown out, and some having finally made to the finishing stages of concept. What I had finally determined to be the final design was the absolute epitome of death, marines taking on the appearance of their name, the grim reaper, the angels of death incarnate. So it was in one of these time when the final vision of what I wanted for my Chapter's Honour Guard came to me. It's a shame the quality of paper isn't exceptional, but what can one expect from paper towel rolls?

   The concept is that the entire chapter dislikes too much ornamentation on their armour. Only the veterans and captains being inclined to even the barest amount of decoration. Only those of the Raven's Council, the Honour Guard, who take up the decorative armour that so many other chapters lavishly pass on to their brothers. These are the absolute greatest warriors of the chapter, masters of stealth even with their ornate armour. The chapter having once been on the brink of death, they embrace it and embody it, stoic reminders of where the chapter has come from.

   Fluff is nice, but knowing what to build and where these parts are coming from is better. I had recently gotten the Sevrin Loth kit, and is that ever a nice set. Not only did it come with Loth, who is an awesome model, but the four Honour Guard as well as a full Command Squad kit to use on the Honour Guard. I honestly wish the Honour Guard parts were sold seperately by Forge World, because they are all fantastic. The armour is especially nice, and the only way they could be better is if they were plastic instead of resin.
   The detail on them is so incredible that I had to redesign the robes for the Reapers so that the front of the armour wasn't covered up. I'm going to have to sculpt the cloth around the back and add a few pendants to hold the robes in place. I also intend on cutting the dangly bitz on them to make them fit better. I usually don't like these, but on this artificer armour they really look good. I might just salvage them and use them elsewhere; it's a real shame they won't fit with the Reapers.

   The biggest problem is legs. I'm looking at cutting the top halves off the Dark Angels veterans and sculpting the bodies onto them. I'll also need to sculpt hoods onto the majority of the helmets, but I don't see this as being too big of a problem. Grey stuff will be a big help there. I might sculpt a few pairs of robed legs just to keep each one individual. The second biggest problem is, where exactly do I get the scythes? I don't want big, heavy blades like the Death Guard's Manreapers, so I'm definitely going to cut my own from plasticard. I'm thinking 0.5 mm will work the best. Now what will the Honour Guard hold onto? I'm hoping a solution will present itself when the Grey Knights are released.




    As a wrap up, I shall present a list of parts aquired and required.

• 10 Bodies, 4 Honour Guard, 6 Sanguinary Guard
• 10 Boltguns, wristmounted so that they may weild their scythes more effectively
• 10 Bolt Pistols, either holstered or in hand, depending on the pose
• 10 Power Weapons, the scythes, which can also count as Relic Blades if I have the points free
• 10 Pairs of Legs, either Dark Angels veterans or sculpted
• 10 Pairs of Wings, taken from the Sanguinary Guard
• 10 Hooded Helms, 4 Honour Guard, 2 Dark Angels veterans, 2 Raven Guard veterans, 2 standard
• 20 Pauldrons, various sources, Raven Guard veterans, Honour Guard, custom, Sanguinary Guard, we'll see
• 9 Scythes, made from hopes and dreams, since I don't know what else to make them out of
• 1 Awesome Sword, for the Champion, gotta make him stand out
• 1 Chapter Banner, completely custom made from Greystuff and a model pin

   These guys sure take up a lot of resources. Such is the price of trying to make models to match the Ultramarines Honour Guard. The only downside is that the Red Scorpions Honour Guard pauldrons come with that iron halo around the scorpion. So in order to make them usable without destroying the pauldrons, I have accepting that it will be another honour bestowed only to the highest ranking of the chapter. The Iron Starburst, present on the Chief Librarian, the Master of the Forge, the Chapter's Honour Guard, the Lord Reclusiarch, the Master Apothecary, and of course, the Chapter Master himself. What it means, I'm not entirely sure just yet, but I'll think of something.
   I've had another idea for an "honour guard", but I'll talk of that later. For now I'll be taking care of these guys first. Don't be shy, leave your comments, questions, concerns, flames or feedback and I'll get back to you on it. Until then, I'll be trying to figure out what to do for scythes.

Signing out

Cursed13