Distopus: the lost years : 2015-2017

I closed my previous blog Opus Maius after 6 years last year .. this new blog Distopus was an effort to free myself from the baggage of those years.. but i have come to learn that i am quite proud of my blogging over the past seven years ..and i am trying to compile all that previous stuff back into this blog.. here are the lost years mainly 2016 with a little bit 2015 and 2017 the content is roughly correct but the comments are gone for the most part.. apologies for that. its a bit messy.. but i think its worth saving..

as nod to Krautscientist
by way of thanks for awarding the Canoness Veridyan Diorama best Hobby project of 2017 ! on his esteemed Eternal Hunt blog .. head over to see what else your missing !
I have also added the full ages of darthur pics and wips under the narrative dioramas page (top right )
along with a complete Canoness Veridyan Diorama . :)

2015 December ordomallues greyknights / blanche explorator team

The explorator team : John Blanche

Found this in my inbox this morning.. I cant think of a better way to see in the new year..

Location: dalthus sector/ Phrell sub sector/ bromholme system/ cephiivytra : delta epsilon gamma - magos Corvus has received an order bi the holy inquisition to a meeting on bromholme to arrange safe passage on 1st secquarnt 23 16 - Corvus has only 1 exploratory team in the area and has issued them with Marques of intent and they are to negotiate with the inquisitor 3 16 - quintus and quercus the explorator twins are on route ...... Carry box and bone gaming accessories plus five strong exploratory team ......

Tuesday, 22 December 2015

The ordo malleus =][= conclasts & Grey knight Mindwipe cell

Hello folks ..

just wanted to share some models i have been working on the past few weeks..

Some of you might recall a few years back i created a bishop model for Vendrakes inq28 retinue using the leg of a space marine captain as a mitre..

And with this model i tried to capture the look of a medieval heretics conical hat

I see this guy as a hulking heavy martial Deacon...

Not finished with this group of models yet i see them forming a classical painting with a 3d backdrop display board..

Comments and crits welcome.

Cheers Neil

https://web.archive.org/web/20170222072415/http://opusmaius.blogspot.co.uk/2015_12_01_archive.html

2016 june satanic panic

https://web.archive.org/web/20170222065607/http://opusmaius.blogspot.co.uk/2016_06_01_archive.html

dungeons-dragons-satanic-panic NYT

2016 august ashwaste crawler / femme millitante

Tuesday, 23 August 2016

Femme Militante Panthera

Aye up folks, Its been a while since i last updated , seven months in fact, not really been up to much hobby wise , I thought i would work on a few personal projects and revitalise my batteries regarding 40k , In many ways i couldn't have chosen a worse time to take a hobby break , missing out on the wonderful shenanigans involving the encompassing Pylgrim project over at iron sleet.. But that been said I doubt i could have added much to the impressive output of models from all those involved.. not to mention the scenery. Anyhow , i did manage to knock out a few models over the past few months and the first strands of an idea is taking shape regarding a new Inq28 project .. more on that later.

So this model was painted for Tim aka Fulgrim of Tears of Isstvan, a year or so ago Tim asked a bunch of modellers and painters to select a femme model from his collection to paint up, Femme models being as expensive as they are , and my painting skills not really on a par with the other hobbyists invited ! this project filled me with dread ! But the opportunity to paint femme models doesn't come along that frequently so i persisted .

The paintwork is inspired by the original JB femme militant Amozonia gothic, and by my own inq28 snake techpriest the famorian. I should mention the project was also an exercise in painting darker skin tones than i usually paint.

FEMME MILLITANTE LVXMVNDI by Tears of Envy

Thursday, 25 August 2016

Ashwaste crawler

Aye up folks , thanks for the warm welcome back , i am feeling really inspired at present so i am hoping to keep the blog afloat until i finish my currant project. with that in mind i thought i would post up some images i have of a model i made a few weeks back. Some folks might recognise the inspiration is form an old Tony Ackland illustration from Confrontation back in wd 130 something..

I always liked that ilo, and the launch of the new citadel freight containers kinda inspired me to have a go at it. In the end i decided not to use the freight containers and instead opted to kitbash the thing from a left over landing pad and some bunker wall bits.. the wheels were the biggest stumbling block until i found three really cheap toy trucks.. the axles are not fixed to allow some degree of movement for posing in pictures ;-)

I imagine it traversing the dunes , carrying cargo inside and on top , maybe linking up with other huge desert vehicles to form a linked raised moving city/platform/ island for extra safety a bit like Vikings used to do with there longships if they were fighting at sea or in the fjords.. Bike outriders and a few dune buggies still to come , but they are on a bit of a back burner until i finish my currant muse.

credit also goes to syd mead / star wars / mass effect Mad Max Dune and halo ..

https://web.archive.org/web/20170222012037/http://opusmaius.blogspot.co.uk/2016_08_01_archive.html

2016 september mashiro ito - takayuki takaya - kito eisaku

Saturday, 3 September 2016

Mashiro Ito - Takayuki Takeya - Kito Eisaku

Mashiro Ito :

Kito Eisaku :

Takayuki Takeya :

https://web.archive.org/web/20170222070219/http://opusmaius.blogspot.co.uk/2016_09_01_archive.html

2016 october red baron of baruach / call me ishmeal / v for vendrake

Sunday, 30 October 2016

The Red Baron of Barauch

Aye up folk,

Just wanted to share a few models I made for a recent skirmish game I played Against/alongside Mr Blanche and PDH The Game was organised and Gm'ed by PDH who fully painted up a Heroquest board including doorways ! and added custom warhammer quest door arches. Unfortunately I dont have any shots of the game itself. ( Unusual for me ) but if you head over to Mr Blanche's Facebook you might see his models. It was a terrifying game of blood and horror with a Halloween vibe. I am hoping PDH will take some pics of his wonderful board so I can add them to this post in the future. but for now I would like to share the Characters I made and the backgrounds for them , as it ties into a few other projects.

☩

Manfred Von Stein , sole heir to the fallen technocratic house Von stein of Barauch. The red Baron as he is known, ( because of his frequent dealings with the adeptus mechanicus and probably something to do with his chosen colour scheme for his loyal algorithmene , ship and overcoat!) he has become a resourceful rogue , dealing in illicit techno arcana , although he is willing to ambush a shipment of Las rifles if he has a buyer or it will further his goals. Speaking of goals Manfred's are to restore his family name, crest heritage etc.. As the premier technocrats of Barauch. Although he personally hated the world and was glad to see the back of it. He can't help but want to reclaim what was once his by right. ... The von stein clan where the wealthiest and most probably influential house on Barauch , as vast estate owners the von steins were one of the many noble families approached by the planetary governors centuries ago when the planet started to crawl its way to industrialism,by way of the Mutaran mechanicus, various trade rights, technological marvels were handed out and deals struck to ensure the landed barons , were at the forefront of this industrial revolution, they owned the land that the manufactorums/mills were built . They also employed the populace to work the fields and subquently the factories. Centuries later the vast population rebelled , led by the notorious self proclaimed king ludd, these luddites , had turned on their baronial masters , fed up with the demands of the mechanicum and its robot overlords, they tore down the mills factories manufactorums and baronial homes. Including the vonstein castle. Reprisals were swift , the cult of the machine, rounded up the Luddite's and systematically turned them into tech thralls. Power vacuum left by the demise of the barons was filled by the machanicum , and the baronies were left to fend for themselves . It was during these dark days the red baron learned his trade stealing supplies and making a shady fortune , enough to by a ship and leave. For many years Manfred wheeled and dealed , gaining a reputation for being to acquire rare techno arcana , his former relationship with red robed techpriests became useful in locating exotic shipments . As his fame grew so did his crew , the algorithmenne

☩

Fritz the Broken

Fritz is the Red Barons oldest serf. Before the rise of the luddites fritz helped the Baron secure a vat of electrolixir a techno rare alchemical solution used to increase brain cogno function within highly augmented machine cult magi. Very rare and extremely valuable. When the luddites razed his laboratory to the ground , fritz secured the last remaining bottles and fled .The Baron has been using it sparing on himself and his algorithmenne ever since.

☩

Atlas

Atlas stops fighting to admire a rose

I like to think of Atlas like Frankenstein's creature, caring and kind , with a average intelligence , due to the electrolyte elixir well until the the Luddites set upon him , his first kill, changed that , now 25 years on , and a life in the arena has taught him how cheap life is in 41st millennium . An unkind slave owner father , who tolerates him only because he earns creds,. His only ally , Fritz the broken . A pitiable existence , made all the worse as he sporadically glimpses memories of a life before his enforced servitude , still at least he can think , unlike the blank automatons he fights. That is until the elixir runs dry .._a cruel blackmail that guarantees his compliance .

☩

On Barauch:

Barauch is a 40k steamworld , designed by PDH and myself back in 2012 as part of Commissar Molotov's INQ28 Dalthus System .or rather a subset of the Dalthus System The Phrellian Subsector. The initial idea was PDH's who envisioned a dark madness enshrined smoggy/foggy world of linked islands baronial Homes, Asylums,causeways and grimdirty hives. initially inspired by the film the woman in black he later alluded that the idea may have been in his subconscious via David Lynch's wonderfully creepy Elephant man.

causeways and castles

As we were working together on other concepts for planets in the subsector , we also shared ideas for this world. Not long before, I had created the Gothic Tower Tor Gillead , most of the inspiration came from the 1931 version of the film Frankenstein ,but i also had in my mind and causeways castles such as Lindisfarne and Mont Saint-Michel

A Paronoid steamworld really crept into my imagination , and I linked it with other ideas I had always wanted to explore. I spent part of my youth living on the east coast of England , facing the North sea and the relic ww2 bunkers and beach defences that were thankfully never called into use. In my imagination, Noble Castles sat atop hills separated by causeways , where glittering balls where held as young dukes sped along the sandbanks darting in between gun emplacements in vintage sports cars..

"I have a very vivid image of an Atlantic wall style ravaged coastline , crumbling turret bunkers dotted around a corroded façade. a city entombed within its own paranoia , beset from all sides by an imagined foe. a plebeian work force under a feudal class system , overruled by , eccentric barons set apart in the highlands and coastline estuaries , driving vintage sports cars , deer hunting , flying and polo. in amongst the Roman style orgies . Ladies in waiting wearing fabulous fifties ball gowns and cocktail dresses . "
"

"The parts about the crumbling Atlantic wall with turret bunkers for defence really suits what you said about the causeways .. and the idea of the Nobles Sat apart in castles with moats or on rocks like lindisfarne."

Bunkers and beacheads

The Gun emplacements staring blankly onto a cold dark sea a symbol for an unknown enemy causing and fear paranoia .

Alongside the Baronial Castles were the hive cities themselves . swarming masses of indentured serf and servitors. I know PDH has a slightly different take on the cities to me , but I still want to place this stuff hear as I may refer back to it in the coming months if I decide to build a gameboard based upon Barauch.

Smog and smoke

For me the Hive cities are Gustave Doré's London,
smogg filled towering light less dungeons , summed up best by these words describing the (Cottonopolis) Victorian Manchester :

... [Manchester] this famous great factory town. Dark and smoky from the coal vapours, it resembles a huge forge or workshop. Work, profit and greed seem to be the only thoughts here. The clatter of the cotton mills and the looms can be heard everywhere ...

— Johanna Schopenhauer, Sammtliche Schriften, Frankfurt, (1830)

A thick black smoke covers the city. The sun appears like a disc without any rays. In this semi-daylight 300,000 people work ceaselessly. A thousand noises rise amidst this unending damp and dark labyrinth ... the footsteps of a busy crowd, the crunching wheels of machines, the shriek of steam from the boilers, the regular beat of looms, the heavy rumble of carts, these are the only noises from which you can never escape in these dark half-lit streets ..

— Alexis de Tocqueville, Oeuvres Completes, (1835)

I remember my earliest view of Manchester. I saw the forest of chimneys pouring forth volumes of steam and smoke, forming an inky canopy which seemed to embrace and involve the whole place.

— W. Cooke Taylor, (1842)

On Factions :

" Luddites who smash looms in protest against industrialisation, during the Napoleonic war more army was fighting luddites in Nottingham then there where fighting the French"

I see three main Factions on Barauch the Luddites , Adeptus Machanicus and the scattered remnants of the Noble Baronies

The Machine cult are the Barauch's Robot Overlords, its workers the proletariat are now indentured servitors , only a small faction of Barauch's civilian faction remain untouched ,

The servitorrii

The Luddites or Frame breakers are a small faction , rebels who wish to see the Adepts of the machine god gone from their world.

The Noble Baronies are now scattered and broken , after a huge Luddite rebellion a few centuries ago.

Here is the original Text PDH wrote for Barauch after we had finished adding to the mythology.:

Barauch

Hive World [Seat of Sub Sector Governance]

Barauch is the current and reluctant base of Sub Sector Governance. After the destruction of Phrell the Administratum commissioned a report into succession proceedings and third in line was Barauch. Seventeen years after the devolution of Algea the planet of Barauch was awarded the title of Sub Sector Capital. The current Governess Crythin Drabow of Hive Grifford was opposed to the honour and fought against the title delaying the coronation for almost fifteen years, with support from her subjects. The people of Barauch are superstitious in the extreme and with the downfall of the last two Sub capitals they did not wish to suffer the same fate. Since the coronation all the planets’ noble factions have come together to fortify Barauch’s defences and have put a brutal clandestine police force in place to safeguard the planet. The population now live in a constant state of paranoia and fear.

Barauch has massive fossil fuel recourses. The planet is made up of many small islands between polluted water ways and relatively small seas. The hives and islands of Barauch are protected by massive crumbling sea defences and are linked together by large causeways that are at times only accessible at low tide. The largest and most treacherous is the Causeway of 9000 Lives (a conservative figure to say the least) that leaves Hive Grifford. The most important causeways are heavily armoured with bunker complexes and gun turrets rising out of the sea.

The planets land masses are made of open coal mines where massive labour forces excavate the planet to power the giant coal furnaces that run the steam powered hives. The hives are a mass of Victorian, Georgian and Neo-Georgian architecture in black and dark teals, with the orange glow from furnaces creepily flickering on the buildings. Many miles of brass piping runs through the hives: harnessing steam for large scale clothing and weapons production.

Madness is common on Barauch, as the population await their doom, ghosts, poltergeist and other paranormal activities are often reported. Due to the mental state of the populace asylums have been established across all the hives, where doctors look after those actually insane and report those that are in fact psychic. For Barauch has a higher than average psychic population; the Black Ships dock at this world more often than any other in the Sector. Bethlam Asylum, on Bethlam Isle, is in fact a huge null warded hoarding centre for unsanctioned psykers awaiting deportation. Due to the mental state of the population and the atrocious conditions on Barauch most of the psykers do not have fortitude to become sanctioned and are taken to far off Terra, where they stoke the light of the Astromican.

Barauch has three main exports: weapons, clothing and guardsman.

The majority of the weapons produced under license on Barauch are standard quality for guard regiments. There is one family on Barauch that have carved themselves a deserved reputation for superb quality and ornamented armaments; Noble Solidarity Armistrang, of Hive Nortyne Humber, whose weapons are sought after throughout the Sector.

Many hives on Barauch produce clothing but the finest are Hedben, Stronep and Lenoc. Clothing is produced cheaply, in dangerous and poor conditions, in immense mills where thousands of looms run day and night producing regular clothing as well as uniforms and armour for the Imperial Guard. Hundreds of different patterns and camouflages are produced in a never ending variety of colours and styles in the worst working conditions imaginable. As these conditions deteriorate further some of the loom workers have started to rise up in protest, the planetary enforcers quash any protests quickly and violently. It is rumoured that these protests are being directed by a Edvard Ludnecht.

Baruach constantly raises guard regiments that are shipped out into the greater Imperium. Since the coronation of Barauch there has been a never ending supply of guardsman, huge regiments have been raised yearly. Where on some worlds men are pressed into service on Barauch the men and women of the world volunteer just to leave behind the dreadful conditions and supposed doom. The reduction in man power is beginning to be noticed by both the administratum and the government. Laws are in the process of being written limiting the number of volunteers and regiments being raised. The effect this will have on the population is yet to be seen.

☩

I thought Designing a character from this made up world would be a good fun, particularly since I had recently demoted my other Inq28 Noble the Duellist Duke . PDH specified the characters for his game needed to be Roguish, and with Halloween just around the corner , i took the opportunity to link the Character I created, the Red Baron of Barauch with my old scenery the Gothic tower. maybe it was his old home /or lab , maybe its was where he experimented with his Elixir on Atlas.?

Unfortunately I no longer own the Gothic Tower so i needed to create some scenery to photo the Baron and his men against.

☩

The Mill

The Mill is supposed to be a prototype bit of scenery for the elements i would create in a gaming board set upon barauch. Inspiration comes from the idea of having a mill set outside the hive cities , a ruined adpetus building that as torn down by the Luddites centuries ago. I also imagined it belonged to the Von Stein family. If I were to build a board i see the ruined redbrick walls , smokestacks and boilers,

maybe something like this

☩

That is a much bigger blogpost than I had planned so I will leave it there . Hear are the wips I created during the builds.

☩

Tuesday, 4 October 2016

V for Vendrake

Vendrake

The first time i got interested in Inquisitors was not with Rogue trader 40k nor with Inquisitor " the Battle for the Emperors soul " It was with the release of Codex Deamonhunters . of course i had read about the unholy writ of the inquisition from those earlier publications but it wasn't until the 3rd edition of 40k that I personally felt connected to that shadowy organisation. It is fitting then that i finally got around to finishing off the re envisioned ordo xenos Inquisitor Vendrake as the the belated "Alienhunter" codex is released.

Vendrake as had a rough ride this past few years.. a few false starts with regards to his new look.. but i am finally happy with the design ethos , I Have based his new retinue on the heraldic cross Fitchy symbol and the sword of Damocles myth, which then reminded me of the wonderful inquisitorial cross fitchy logo from the Inquis - Exterminatus book.

As some folk may remember Inquisitor Vendrake was near mortally wounded by Tears of Envy's Eldar Sniper, during Vendrakes last Inq28 game outing ..

Since then i have been trying to imagine how he might have reacted to such a life changing event. I decided that he would most probably want revenge , ad to show this i made a xeno bounty hunter to track and enslave the Xenos who shot him,

V for Vengeance

although I was happy with the models the paintwork let me down , but this warband served a purpose of moving on the narrative.

on origins:

I created the idea of Inquisitor Vendrake back in 2010 on dakka dakka as a antagonist to the orks in my comedic ? Grimdark Cookie kronikles

although he had also been present in my mind for the 40k comic i was writing " Praxus " which was set on a aggridustrial proto forgeworld as the ever present symbol of the imperium .

My initial sketches took inspiration from the inquistor book and the dark heresy books, i intended him to have heavy gothic armour , but finding suitable bits on budget back then proved too difficult particularly the shoulder pads.

The second proto incarnation of Vendrake took inspiration from the vostroyans , although take note of the staff / walking cane & red powerfist that remained in the final version

The Proto retinue included a duellist a veteran guardsman an acolyte a artscale deathwatch space wolf and an arbite from my comic Praxus called chief Judge lions.

=][=

It was only after i joined the ammobunker when considering the first inqvitational that i placed any serious thought on what i wanted a Ordo Xeno Inquisitor to look like.

I had in mind a roman figure laurel wreathed and roman nosed.. stern and austere.. a dogmatist. His role i imagined was the most important you could have in myth where there was only war.. to collect imperial guard levies and make sure the imperial tithes for war where collected from lacklustre imperial governors.

Dante Allegro The Poet became my new muse

But the cool Roman head i found went to The Astropath soul, and Vendrake too a different path

=][=

The Cecropian of Famoria was the conversion and paintwork i most happy with from the retinue
the weird snake skull thing from Blanche artworks had yet to made into a forgeworld model.
otherwise i would have just used those.

The Amozonian tracker based on Blade runner tank girl ,Pris and Mr Blanche's Amozonia Gothic painting was dropped form the final retinue even though i really liked the character.

I presumed that to achieve this task, diplomacy and tact as well as hard nosed threats would be of more use than the martial/ torture used by inquisitors of the other ordos.. i settled on him being a weak old man but a powerful psyker, his garb would reflect the khaki green uniforms of the imperial guard regiments he was used to interacting with . As young man he faught alien wars up close now he was a diplomat using his powers to protect the imperium from the threat without.

i used his retinue to illustrate my love of blanche artwork socrates the lector and the snaky techpriest the Cecropian of Famoria based on JB artwork , Duke adalaise was a noble, the brother of the governor of Praxus - another subtle way to control the planetery governors.. Chiron his aide du camp , a former spec ops soldier and slaught addict now personal medic Mixing cocktails of drugs to anaesthetise the pain from his master's leg injury - and a tarot diviner astropath soul,. later came the Acolyte Darthur after his mistress Madine was killed.

Socrates the Acolyte & lector initially had a malleus hammer the link to demonology arising from the Lilitu story

The Dukes duelling pistol took an age to design.. preferring the bulkier Naval pistol at first

Inspiration was drawn primarily from John Blanche artworks and the film the Duellist by Ridley Scott, i found out later one of John's favourite films ;-)

the base model was taken from an existing conversion that i really liked, but used third party bits , as i was going to be gaming at warhammer world these were replaced with forgeworld bits , i was never sure i liked the duke as much as the commissar conversion ..

=][=

Timeline of Retinue Wips

1st

Inquisitors from my then distant memory wore terminator armour, well they did in my fave boardgame

Advanced space crusade. Note the mark VIII armour on the deathwatch marine

2nd

The MK8 armour remains on the marine and the bare bones of the acolytes begins to take shape.

3rd

most of retinue are fleshed out , except for Absolam vendrake who i made last.

the dukes wind flag was dropped from the final model along with Chirons Dog.

4th

a proto Vendrake is added , I decided that he looked too tough and slimmed him down somewhat.

5th

i was most pleased with the retinue , it captured the martial slightly futurist yet not gothic elements i assumed the Ordo Xenos would look like. It was an extremely complicated build for the most part using multiple models to build all the members .certainly the most complicated i had done up to that point.
Vendrake captured the feel of Eisenhorn , the archetypal Inquisitor.

The group seemed a little eclectic and I decided that a unifying paint scheme would pull them together, But PDH planted the idea that they should be individuals and have separate schemes.. I wasn't entirely convinced but took a chance..

=][=

Where is he now:

like i mentioned earlier , i have tried a few times to recapture the spirit of Vendrake and move on the narrative , without any games played .. I have grown very fond of this character , but i desperately wanted to update his look and his retinue.. the near death experience he had gave me the opportunity!

Inquisitor Vendrake in front of my first back to hobby project the inquisitorial tower ( made out of a toaster box )

Vendrake drifts in and out of consciousness during his recuperation - lucid dreaming himself as a formidable warrior slaying all xenos and being heralded the protector of the dalthus sector ..

Upon recovery Vendrake was not the man he imagined .. weak and old interred within a life sustaining sarcophagus..

His mind was still strong but his his temperament had changed,

twisted and contorted his rage for vengeance could not be diminished

=][=

V for Vendetta

I thought i would share a few wips of the new retinue i have created for vendrake.

no paint on these models yet ..

As Vendrake began his long recovery he was watched from afar, the Temple of Janus a secretive but immensely powerful galaxy wide lodge of imperial Psykers ( of all denominations ), pulling the strings of change and setting in motion plans as convoluted as Terran bureaucracy had its all seeing eye on the wounded prideful ageing Inquisitor.

The Flamen priest Rex Sacrorum was the envoy sent to recruit

Vendrake and aid him in his training..

An auspicious new beginning for vendrake awaits ,

if he chooses to accept the Janusian priests offer to join the Lodge

=][=

The Janusian flamen did not come empty handed , in order to sway Vendrake ,

Rex brought some of the Lodges most valued psychic weapons to aid him in his work.

The wings of Damocles & the shield of Svalin

=][=

Loyalas ever Chiron has become The Herald of Vendrake ,

The fact that he saved Vendrakes life after the Eldar shot him ,

is the only reason he escaped punishment.

=][=

The Former Body Guard of Vendrake the Duellist Duke Adalaise

was severely punished for failing his Master

=][=

Socrates The Inquisitorial Acolyte Lector

The sorry tale of Socrates:

If ever there was a tale of woe,

its this parable of where not to go,

a lector who went where he had no place being,

and thus saw things that could not be unseen,

A moral allegory of wrong and right,

treachery, knives and a crescent moon night.

beguiled and tempted he drunk knowledge like a lake ,

and plotted and planned to kill poor Vendrake !

A guardian stood firm and showed little sign of fear,

Who slew the lector and placed his head on a spear.

So thralls beware and heed these notions,

Never accept drinks from the book of mushroom potions !

=][=

Darthur Former Acolyte of Ordo Heretic Inquisitrix Madine

I really liked the Character Darthur ( a shadowy type working with hive bottom scum informers,

i see him as a spy master) but never really liked the model i made for him,

I will be exploring a lot more of Darthur's world in the coming weeks watch this space..

Darthur is obsessed with tracking down Madine's killer , he even blinded himself for failing to see the danger to his inquisitorial mistress. Vendrake

promised him his own Inquisitorial seal if he managed to find the killer.. as yet the killer

is unknown , but Darthur will receive his own seal for saving vendrakes life and slaying the turncoat Socrates.

=][=

Last but not least the Eye of Damocles class dropship

another gift from the Janusian lodge, This dropship came from

the Ordo Xenos Deathwatch of the same name. ( a coincidence but a happy one ;-) )

So that's where i am at with the new retinue , I see his new retinue on a war footing, no more diplomacy,
Vendrake has accepted the offer of the Janusian Lodge, and is in the process of gathering a fleet and the armies to go inside it.. he is going to war with the alien , to route out the enemy in its lair wherever that may be.

26 comments:

Eli Parsons4 October 2016 at 09:22

I thoroughly enjoyed that trip down the evolution of this character. Inspiring to say the least and a very grim outcome it seems to have come to.
Reply
Replies
weirding way4 October 2016 at 09:31

Wonderful! Very glad to see you post again, and to see the evolution of Vendrake. I absolutely love Vendrake's (final?) floating sarcophagus form and how the dropshop mirrors it. Very clever way to use the knight kit after sacrificing it's legs to build the crawler. That is quite a sword of damocles! I've been wanting to build some type of vehicle out of the knight carapaces but never get around to it ... really works well here.

I also love the mini floating sarcophagus for the duelist. Eventually you will be able to field a warband of nothing but sarcophagi, which would be awesome.

And the night goblin brute made out of the Abberant is genius.
Reply
Replies
Peter4 October 2016 at 13:06

Neil my friend. You have out done yourself here. This trip down memory lane has been wonderful. I am really in awe of your willingness to move your character forward and build multiple versions of him. Once I have finished a mini its done, sort of in a “one time and place” deal. I then guard the life and vitality of this character. If Benadice had been shot in the head she would just have survived and been none the worse for wear, perhaps a bionic under her hair, maybe a slight personality change.

The latest incarnation of Vendrake fits much better than dream Vendrake. But I don’t like change so original Vendrake is still my favourite. OG Vendrake is how I envision a large number of Ordo Xenos Inquisitors, practical, getting the job done through tithes. In all honesty original Vendrake is one of my all time favourite Inquisitor minis, he really looks the part and has a weigh and gravitas. With his sarcophagus incarnation you have managed to bring the gravitas with him, though in a much more sinister way. I also adore how you have brought the =][= to mini form.

Buddy what have you done to the dirty drug addict Chiron? This new version is just far too heroic. Great model but really not how I see Chiron in his vom stained body suit. But again maybe he has finally gotten off the smack and cleaned up.

The Duke’s new visage is just cruel! The vain bugger must have it. Love it. Vendrake has become a bit of a bastard. From my memory Vendrake was shot from a table away by the most beautiful Eldar warband ever created (ToE if you’re reading this your blog needs to be updated with these wonderful models). So how could Vendrake blame the poor duke.

Did the first incarnation of Darthur ever see paint? New Darthur feels much better, where is the cloak from? Needs a teeny bit of smoothing and filling between the bits though. So looking forward to seeing him painted. Very fond of the little shrine engine to his right.

The drop ship is just class. How did you make the engines? Actually how the hell did you even envision this change to a knight?

Moving onto the new members of his warband....
The psyker is downright cool, great idea using the dish on his staff. I’m always impressed with how you combine parts, like legs and torso.

Can you bring that doorway, painted, with you to John’s house at the end of the month? (so wanted to name drop here)
Acolyte Lector Socrates...Great model, though I am unsure as to his nature and his role in Vendrakes warband?

On a final note Goblin head aberrant is just F+++++G mental. BOOM!

Thank you for these great and wonderful updates. While I miss Opus it really wouldn’t work having this sort of thing weekly. I normally miss posting because you’ve disappeared it by the time I get chance t comment so maybe I’ve gone overboard tonight. <3
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Livan4 October 2016 at 13:19

I loved the small tokens and relics made for each character.
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Logan5 October 2016 at 01:13

Great job, Neil! The drop ship idea is great! And all the tokens and details and characters! Love your stuff! :D
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Fulgrim5 October 2016 at 02:15

<3 still the master!
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Odie5 October 2016 at 06:07

Amazing work. I love the narrative, and how you've evolved your characters over time.

Vendrake's new look is fantastic, and I'm always a sucker for the little companion characters and icons in a retinue.

That dropship though...simply incredible.
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F P O A7 October 2016 at 01:04

Great, great read Niel! Thanks for taking us along on the journey of Vendrake.

I am most impressed by the powers of the Janusian Lodge. Wings of Damocles and Shield of Svalin (which, as the name suggests, probably is quite potent)! And the Dropship is incredible...what a gift. I wonder who this Janus is?

So many wonderful attentions to detail and narrative. What makes this hobby so great. Inspired!
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NicoG7 October 2016 at 16:16

This is so good Neil!
I love how you made the narrative evolve around a character. Building a mini for different steps of his story is brilliant! And his recent state is so creepy.. The amount of work for his retinue and "second role" is also amazing! I specially like the Virago!
And as for the dune crawler you did recently, it's great to see where the inspirations and references come from! I have you to thank for seeing the movie Stalker, i think you mentioned it in an article around Yggdrasilium. So thank you for your generosity of sharing that much!
And the dropship is marvelous! In a comic by Mathieu Lauffray, Prophet, there is at some point a giant monster floating in the streets of an abandoned New York, scratching the walls of the building while screaming. I can imagine the Eye of Damocles in a similar scene!
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Neil1018 October 2016 at 06:34

Thanks Nico, seeing stalker was one of those pivotal movie moments for me.. Fulgrim is a fan of that one too.. you should also see le dernier combat if you have not seen it already , another bonkers post apoc movie , not quite in the same league as stalker but it was luc besson first movie.. speaking of life changing fiction.. if you ever get chance to read ridley walker .. you should , Thistle recommended it and i am pretty sure he did the front cover of the first British copy .. it is just great.. hard going but worth it.. i tried several times before it all clicked .. Prophet looks amazing btw.. thanks for the heads up !
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krautscientist13 October 2016 at 06:37

Like Peter, I usually miss these updates and then curse myself for it ;) But hot damn am I glad to have read this one in time, because both the look at your creative process and the various iterations of the characters are fantastic! Having a character model change or possibly (d)evolve over time to reflect the various stations of the character's life always seemed like one of the coolest aspects of the original INQ54, but for all my conversions, it's always something I have shied away from, rather building one definite version of the character, as decribed by Peter above. So your courage in really bringing this retinue forward is to be applauded!

What's more, I love the idea of using all the different versions of Vendrake for games set at various stages in his life -- each of those games could be one of his reminiscences (or should that be fever dreams), while he is floating in his life support system.

It's hard to choose favourites from among such a brilliant and eclectic collection, but I would have to choose the "original" painted Vendrake -- again, like Peter. The floating sword and shield are also absolutely fantastic, both for the concept of weapons he can still wield with his mind, but also because they are so inherently 40k and grimdark and seem like something from JB's art. And that dropship is so sinister and crazy.

My only complaint is that you need to paint more -- but then, I am one to talk ;)

Anyway, fantastic and thought-provoking work all around!

KS
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phiq27 October 2016 at 03:41

Still pretty chuffed that I have TWO of these fine models featured here, including Socrates! So badass. Who knows, maybe they will appear in the future... fighting for another inquisitor...! haha (I have not altered them in any way, never will!)
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Neil10127 October 2016 at 06:47

Socrates gets his head chopped off by Darthur. So you must take his head ff and throw it away. Ha ha ha. All that warp dabbling must have created a shadow mirror version of himself prior to the night if knives. Betrayal. The Antipodean setarcos .but which is which? Btw loving that ancient Astarte's artwork!
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https://web.archive.org/web/20170222085043/http://opusmaius.blogspot.co.uk/2016_10_01_archive.html

https://web.archive.org/web/20170222075743/http://opusmaius.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/v-for-vendrake.html

december (1) ? 1st age of darthur wips

https://web.archive.org/web/20170101193304/http://opusmaius.blogspot.co.uk:80/

1st age of Darthur Wips

Aye up folks,

I have been thinking a bit about characters and lives lived within the 40k worlds.. i keep returning to this theme of characters ageing and evolving , and well i thought i would take it to its logical end, and create a character and a narrative through modelling and writing, to tell a story of one mans life within the grim and gothentropic far future of 40k. I have chosen Darthur one of Inquisitor Vendrakes Acolytes as he is an intriguing character on the surface that needed a deeper narrative to his backstory.. I thought it would be cool to use the project as an opportunity to create a set of dioramas , building simple scenery and a few figures to illuminate his life. I thought i would present the Ages fully painted along with a short narrative expanding the age.. but i have decided to share share the wips separately first.. to motivate me and as an appetiser of sorts . a fully painted version along with a written narrative will follow.

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances;

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,

Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms;

And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel

And shining morning face, creeping like snail

Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,

Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad

Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,

Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,

Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel,

Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,

In fair round belly with good capon lin’d,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;

His youthful hose, well sav’d, a world too wide

For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,

Turning again toward childish treble, pipes

And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,

That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion;

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

William Shakespeare

"As you Like It "

Ist age of Darthur

The Age of Innocence

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times.

Orphaned unto the sisters of the Ebon Chalice

2017 (7)

ages of darthur 1st age 2nd etc..

Hive scale

lost the text for this blogpost unfortunatley .. i was saying the scale of a hive is huge .. 12 miles high and the only thing i could find that represented that size was a pyroclastic cloud .. Mount everest being only 5 miles! it does give a sense of scale of the thing.. i also did some maths and worked out that a 12 mile high hive at 28mm scale would around the same size as the shard in london..

my point was titans are so tiny at these scales , and then even battleships are tiny compared to structures like the iron ring of mars.. martian hollow worlds ..dyson spheres.. etc..

40k is about grandeur !!

Armageddon

Armageddon

my last post on opus maius before i closed that blog.. the text is gone , but i was collating stuff to do with the upcoming Armageddon shadow war game.. I made a steel legionnaire , with secret hopes GW were doing the same ! I also lnked to the original internet Armageddon world wide campaign..

I should also add the fantastic animation on youtube .

Helsreach

love how the scenery takes its cues from existing necromunda art..

Third war for armageddon links

wiki about the 3rd war

the fantastic 3rd war online campaign

death korps are introduced !

love the scale of this war and its characters Yarrick and Ghazghull thrakka

brian nelson resculpt

Kevin "gobbo " Adams classic sculpt

some blanche

helsreach

Dante !

skull takers !

More Blanche ;)

Steel Legion !

More Blanche tanks

the end !

https://archive.fo/http://opusmaius.blogspot.com/
https://archive.fo/AKi4A

4 comments:

Meandering Shade26 January 2018 at 12:27
A truly monumental post!

Some awesome memories of the old blog in there :)
Neil10126 January 2018 at 13:49
ha ha ... i honestly didn't think anyone would bother.. i:D i put it more out of completeness.. i do like the armageddon stuff though.. worth keeping just for the collection of images in that post i think.. it crashed my comp 4 times trying to post it.. ha

Thursday, 25 January 2018

the lost years : 2015-2017

Tuesday, 22 December 2015

Tuesday, 23 August 2016

Thursday, 25 August 2016

Saturday, 3 September 2016

Sunday, 30 October 2016

Tuesday, 4 October 2016

V for Vendrake

26 comments:

4 comments: