Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Demon Ecology



Now when the current version of the Chaos Space Marine 'Dex came out, I can honestly say I was a little bummed... about the treatment to the demons.  But, I took the opportunity to try and think of something the would be a unique generic demon.  There is no model for generic demons, and I did not want to just use boxes of Bloodletters and/or Daemonettes to use as my demons.  So why not combine them?

Take a standard Bloodletter body and head, clip the horn down to make them shorter, maybe gouge them a bit with a blade for damage.  Lop off the hands and replace them with Daemonette claws, the real pain here was to actually pin and green stuff the wrist.  I did that on the first 8, I decided to cut corners on the next 16 (yes I run 24 Lesser Demons in my list!) and now the claws on some models are popping off... as you can see from above.  The hunched over posture works well the claws, I think it is an effective but simple conversion.

But this was all for just the Lesser Demons in my Word Bearer force.  For the Greater Demon, it had to special and look like an evolutionary jump from the Lessers.  So after some thinking I came up with this...


It's just a standard Keeper of Secrets model, put the claws where the hands would go and use Chaos Spawn arms for the lower limbs.  I'm really happy with the way this model turned out and can't wait to start throwing color on it.  However the really large claws may need to go, or I may just need to carefully shorten the forearms a bit and replace the huge claws with the merely large Spawn claws... haven't decided yet.  Anyone have any thoughts on this?

But this idea of ecology for my demons is not stopping with physical traits, I wanted to try and use this thought process for the colors as well.  Since the the main color for my force is red, I'm going to try and go with a contrasting color for the demons.  Now, before anyone screams Christmas Chaos!!... I'm going to use the accent blue on my Word Bearers as the main color for my demons.  This way the colors are all there and my palette doesn't shift too much.  

However working larger areas of flesh will be a new painting experience for me... I can do armor, or bare arms and heads... but entire bodies are a little intimidating.  also I'll be using reference to have an idea of how these guys will look so I don't go too crazy painting them.  I think I found the perfect references..


 Something like this for the Lessers...



 Perhaps something like this for the Greater...

The Lesser's scheme is basic enough to be done in batches but vary each one.  The Greater's scheme can follow along the Lessers and reinforce that evolutionary feeling I'm going for.  So... too much thinking or just enough.  Do you guys take lengthy steps to make sure your force is unique on the table top?  Do you  go through and convert every model, even plain old headswaps count here.  Or is the stock model enough cause you just want to play the game more?  Lemme know what you guys think.

Take care all, 

Grim




11 comments:

  1. Cool conversion! The plastic kits are wonderful. Let's just hope there will be some lovely plastic for Tzeentch and Nurgle as well...

    /The Prophet

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  2. I agree with wonderful plastic kits... if it keeps going this way they (GW) could drop the metal minis as far as I'm concerned. The plastics are getting so detailed and they are cramming more bits onto the sprues now than ever before. More plastics please!!

    Although you might want to try the plastic Dryad kit for Tzeentch demons.. prune the leaves off, cobble a few together.. instant Horrors.

    Grim

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  3. great idea. i like the customizing. and remember that in a game against CSM's, no one expects the demons!

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  4. Thanks amaximus.. I don't see a whole lot of lists with demons of any type in them. I think they Lessers are great speed bumps/objective holders. The Greater is a beast in close combat... if I could just take 2. :-)

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  5. I like Wood Elf dryads for daemons. They are suitably daemonsesque in appearance whilst not being tied in at all with any of the great four.

    I've always liked the distinct Chaos Undivided feel of the Word Bearers and the fact that it isn't all about the Big Four. As far as I can discern from the Index Astartes the Word Bearers don't limit themselves in their worship to just the major gods of Chaos but worship an enlarged pantheon of beings of varying degrees of power.

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  6. I have seen people use the Dryads for Pink and Blue Horrors, and with very little modification they work very well. As far as worship The Pantheon, you would be correct. Some really good info on the Word Bearers are at Lexicanum, which has a complete chapter breakdown, the Dark Apostle series by Anthony Reynolds, or doing a search over at Bolter and Chainsword in just about any category.

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    As far as worship The Pantheon, you would be correct. Some really good info on the Word.

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    which has a complete chapter breakdown, the Dark Apostle series by Anthony Reynolds.

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