Kyte's Chaos Armies - [Last Update: 11/8 07] Painted Hero and more!

Well, I'll start my 3rd army Blog now, and I really hope that I'll be able to finish this one. I've had 2 army Blogs before (One WE army Blog and one Diorama Blog) But I gave up the Diorama and The wood elves... Well, I don't play with them so often and the ones of you, who know how long it takes to paint 54 Glade guard know that it's a pretty hard task. Anyway, I hope that this army Blog won't die. 

Fluff:
Can be found on page 2. WE fluff which involves my Tzeentch Beastmen can be found here though.

Army List:
Will be done soon. The list will be a monster/magic heavy list though.

Army Pictures:

I'll start with the characters:

My General, Beastlord Raaghan the Hideous Bane-Beast and Change-Bringer of the Dark Young:

The web comunity found this guy a little too shiny, so I bought a can of mattecoat and sprayed him with it. When the varnish dried, the model was all white. I went to my local hobby center to complain about the bad varnish and the manager gave me a new can for free. When I came home, I stripped the poor beastlord, repainted him (A bit nicer than last time) and then sprayed him with the new varnish and it worked.

Here is a picture of the new model:

Definately an improvement, or what?

Here is my Wargor BSB. I haven't found him a name yet:

Didn't really like how he turned out, so I've removed the small faces from the banner and redone the banner pole, so it now looks like wood.

Third is my 2nd wargor. Nor have he got a name yet.

Don't really like the yellow. This was a test-Model for the army colour scheme. I might redo this model later on.

I'm planning a third wargor, but nothing's sure yet.

 - Kyte

On to the core Units!

First of 2 18-man beast-Herds:

These are normal gors and ungors. Every model has at least 2 conversions and/or reposings. Note the cleaver use of my free WD Goblin!

And the Command Group:

I'm really happy with the way the banner came out. The Foe-render is a tad too shiny, but I don't know if I dare to spray him with mattecoat...

I'm planning another Beast-Herd. These will be equipped with shields done the same way as the banners.

Chariots:

The army will include at least 2 of these.

The army will also include 2x5 warhounds and a bestigor unit with a 12-man filler. The bestigors are one of the next things to be done.

 - Kyte

Special Units:

Minotaurs! The Army-Centerpiece! The champion, Ghorgrell the Massive can also be used as a doombull in the most dire of circumstances.

Champion:


Standard:


Normal Warrior:


These are my favourite unit so far. I haven't started painting on the RAF Minotaurs and won't do until the musician is converted, and I haven't bought the base model for the musician yet.

Chaos Ogres:

a glorious thanks to Why! He was the one, that gave me the one-eye idea. Note that the Gutplate Hole is the ogre's mouth.

I'm also planning a unit of horrors and a unit of Chaos Trolls.

 - Kyte

Rara Units:

This is Kultorch, the Dragon Ogre Shaggoth:

Damn he took a long time to paint, but I'm quite happy with the result.
Altough the model is actually equipped with 2 hand weapons, I'll propably use them as a great weapon in game-terms.

I will also make a chaos giant and a unit of normal Dragon ogres to accompany Kultorch.

I think this is all so far. I will take pictures of my converted Herdstone tomorrow.

Thanks for reading!

 - Kyte

Love the conversions (especially that poor little goblin).  Keep up the good work !

I replyed in the Butcher's cauldron too, but your work deserves another post.
I LOVE your conversions... the herd is AWSOME, and the use of the goblin.. that dude is hilarious...
the minotaurs are beautiful, and the banner is great.
I am truly speachless.
keep it up, and it seems you have a lot of work ahead of you.

cheers

Thanks, and I'm glad you like my work. I think I'll try out your one-hair-at-a-time GS technique on my Chaos Giant though the giant will be one of the last things to come.

cheers

 - Kyte

Ok, I managed to finish building my Scratch-Built Herdstone today. That thing is HUGE! Take a look:

Herdstone:

It is made from foamboard, filler and DAS. Took a fair amount of time to sculpt the daemon posession.

WIP Gor Shields:

I have to make 7 more for my second Beast Herd.

Hope you like these too!

See you tomorrow!

 - Kyte

Love all your conversions, especially the Doombull.

Ok. I've been working more on the Chaos Ogres and I really like the way they turned out. The bases are now finished and the Musician and Standard bearer are currently pre-greenstuff WIP.

See ya

 - Kyte

whoa vey cool
conversion i would like to commend the coulor scheme it is very bright and startling like tzeentch should be

Tremendous work and absolutely stunning conversions. I really like all of it but...

Does it REALLY have to be yellow? I know it is just personal preference, I think everything is nicely painted but....yellow????

Have a nice day,

Aliasara

Ok, I've managed to finish my four chaos ogres and I must say that I'm very satisfied with the result. Have a look yourself:


I hope you like em'!

I just found out that I have 3 spare ogres lying around. First thought was to make another unit of 3 Chaos Ogres. 2nd Thought was Dragon Ogres, but I screwed both ideas. I don't really like Dragon Ogres and 2 units of Chaos Ogres might be too much of a point sink. Instead, I thought of a third possibility. The ultimate unit, converted to fit my one eyed theme!I will use the spare Ogres to make a unit of... Gigantic Daemon-squid-thingy Riders! They will count as DOW Rhinox Riders in game terms and will be converted to look like cyclopean Chaos Ogres gigantic daemons similar to the ones comming out from my banners. (or just write here if you have a better idea!)

Next project will be:

A) Paint the Chaos ogres
B) Finish the Bestigors. I will show pics of the WIP 12-man Herdstone Unit Filler ASAP!

And to Ogre Stronghold Members: Of course I will make a guide on how to make these rhinox riders too! Expect this guide to be even better than the previous one! The "How to make your own Chaos Themed Rhinox Riders" guide will be this years Christmas present to you! Merry Christmas!

 - Kyte

Thoose are trult awesome ^^.
How did you re-position the legs like that?

those are very nicely done. I particularly like the (presumabley) unit champion at the end. Very nice!

++EDIT++
The Tzeench is strong with this one...

If these are differant paints to your other units, which brand are you/were you using?

These paints are GW/Vallejo paints. The old ones were some cheap paints. Don't remember the name and I threw the package away, lol.

Thanks for the comments and keep em' comming!

 - Kyte

Status repport:

I have been working with a few things. First of all, I'm halfway done painting the second Chaos Ogre (The normal warrior with the servered head). Next of all, I've started to work on my second herd. This herd will include even more conversions than the previous one. Expect conversions like hooded gors, long-faced gors, drummer made from an oop plastic, Lots of daemon-shields, that melts into the hands that they're held in and much, much more. I'm toying with the idea of making some gors on cavalry bases, that are using ungors as shields to represent the the ungors' 'living shields' special rules*. I've also got plans of having these gors looted with purity seals and parcmment straps. PICS WILL BE ONLINE SOON, I PROMISE!

On the other note, I've finished the bestigor unit filler and started sculptin the behemoth mounts for my rhinox riders. Even though they were supposed to look like squid-thingies, they really look more like megatheriums or Giant Sloths, as it they're called in common speach.

To the sceptics, that suggested eyelids: I've dropped the idea. I like the bulking eye effect more than the idea of having eyelids on my beasts. Eyelids makes the eyes of the models a lot smaller and it would be hard to make them keep the daemonic, unnatural look of the lidless ones. Sorry.

*If you have any advice on how to make these gors with ungors, I'd really like to have it!

Thanks in advance

 - Kyte

***NEW PICS ADDED!***

Here are some more pics! First up is a bad shot of my first Behemoth:

As promised, I'll make a complete guide on how to make these, just like i did with my toy-rhinox riders last year!
This Model is still very WIP though. I still need to add eyelids, Howda, Chaos Ogre Champion, Claws, Details and more fur! These will be this year's great cristmas project! I really enjoyed cristmas last year and you (Forum members) were part of the reason. You really encoraged me to make my last unit of rhinox riders and I made you a guide and dedications on the rhinox riders' banner. I really hope you like this behemoth as you will propably see a lot of them in this blog and in my guide blog*

PS: The front legs are a bit strange, I know, but it looked too giant sloth-ish with normal legs, lol.

* The blog will start somewhere in the middle of december!

Ok On to the second pic:

These are prototypes of the gors from my second herd. Note the drummer made from an old OOP plastic gor and the one with the long head.

Third pic:

The long awaited bestigor unit filler. Some say that a 12-man filler is too much, but it fits the theme and looks cool, IMO!

That's all for today. I hope you like the new pics!

 - Kyte

Awsome minis, Kyte... especially the gors (close-ups would be awsome, though).
I am not too keen on the behemoth's legs... but the mini is so WIP that I bet there's a reason for that (sorry, I don't really know what a behemoth is... ).
the 12 man thingy is great and a great idea too, to avoid buying and painting 10000000 minis... there is one little tiny thing, though: if the gors pull the ropes, the thing will just roll over... I would attach some ropes also in the bottom side of the "blob" thingy.
The shield idea is very fluffy... congrats.

Great stuff as usual.
cheers

Sweeet stuff ^^.
On the 12man filler.
Maybe you could attach the chains to the wooden thingy it´s standing on.To avoid it falling over and making the rest of the unit sad and EMO.

Keep the piccies comin` ^^.

sorry, I don't really know what a behemoth is

A Behemoth is a term used for some animal or monster, that is very big.

if the gors pull the ropes, the thing will just roll over... I would attach some ropes also in the bottom side of the "blob" thingy.

It's still very WIP. The gors will be attatched to the raft with chains. They are slaves afterall. Furthermore, a slaver with a whip will be added to the base. And oh. It's not a blob, but a mini Herdstone.

On the 12man filler.
Maybe you could attach the chains to the wooden thingy it´s standing on.To avoid it falling over and making the rest of

The woode thingy is actually 10 rafts. I'm toying with the idea of having little daemons picking up rafts from behind the stone and putting them in front of the stone

Thanks for the comments and keep em' comming!

 - Kyte

Looks good as always Kyte

Looking forward to seeing the behemoth develop. How big is the thing?

How big is the thing?

it's on a chariot base. As said earlier, it will be used as a bull rhinox rider in friendly games and a chariot in official games.

 - Kyte

Quite nice.

I like the banner with like 8 eyes, but overall, I find the paint job of the army a little too slick/shiny. That's personal preference though.

Now I've got some baælsa wood, but the howda I made looked like crap! How the heck do you make cool howdas? Any advice would be strongly appreciated. Especially advice with pics.

I've also been working on some more gors and another wargor. I will show pics ASAP.

PS: How many of you have noticed something strange that have happened to me?

 - Kyte

PS: How many of you have noticed something strange that have happened to me?

 - Kyte

are you referring to the santa-ogre avatar? cos I spotted that a few days ago. Very festive if a bit early!

As for the howdah, I'd suggest plasticard. the problem with Balsa wood, I fins is that it doesn't look right to scale, as the woodgrain is all out of propertion with the model. Plasticard and lots of gubbinz bolted on could be the way to go. Or even taking bits from the scrap launcher and affixing them (with plasticard joijers of course) to create a haphazard howdah.

thanks
Corai

I agree with Corai that bitz/plasticard are the best ways to go.  If you have any bitz from any warmachines, cannons, scraplaunchers, etc etc, slap them together in a reasonably Ogrish fashion and tadaa!  Thats how I'd do it anyway.

Well... there's this:


or a more typical one:


or this:
http://www.gildia.pl/bitewniaki/galerie/orcs/squiggoth/snapdragon/*e/3


the process would be to make a sort of box out of balsa, and than attach it with strings to the body of the creature.
The box could be square shaped or T shaped, or + shaped.
I wouldn't bother with a top (like the second picture)... you could make out of GS some sort of drapes coming down from the sides, or wooded panels... depends if you want to make a squiggoth-like creature, or an indian-elephant-like creature...
I would use a mixture of balsa, for the panels, but I would make the main structure with sticks of left-over plastic sprues... it would give it a sturdier look and feeling.

Remember one thing: what makes a good model a GREAT model, is detail, especially when building your own machine/howda/chariot... details, like rivets, screws, nails, things that give the feeling that the panels are actually nailed together, and not glued.

cheers

Thanks for the advice. Especially yours, Ikim is great. On the note of plasticard, I find it too expensive and hard to get. Balsa wood is about 2542542342 times cheaper and if you use it well, it looks just as good.

 - Kyte

Damn! My Cam is dead! I use A video camera, and it says that a cleaning casette is needed! Dammit! I hope to have it fixed soon!

On the hand of what's been done, The leaping Wargor Test model has been stripped and reconverted. Now the leaping effect looks even more convincing. The howda is finished! The Toturial will begin on friday (A little early, but cristmas time starts on december 1st).

I've spent most of the weekend making terrain with my godfather and his son. My father and I have started to work on a Swamp themed board. The first swamp feature is finished. Pics of this, the behemoth and the new wargor will be up soon.

PS: I just won a QXL auction. The deal was 10 warhounds and a Nurgle Beastman Hero. With a little conversion and horror parts, he cold easily be transformed into a Tzeentch Wargor. Then I don't need to buy another beastlord model! I've painted one test warhound. Pics will be up with the others.

PS2: I just recieved the coolest thing ever! 2 Plastic molds for terrain! I am now able to cast as many weathertop like ruins as I wish. PM me, if anyone wants to buy a casting. It will be really cheap, but you have to pay the postage yourself. I'll also show pics of these!

Again sorry for anorher picless update.

 - Kyte

sounds interesting, hope you get your camera fixed soon, I'm really interested in seeing how you painted your chaos hounds, that and seeing the Behemoth develop.

thanks
Corai

First of all: The how to make behemoths guide is delayed because of 2 physics rappports, an essay, a biology rapport and a lot of english grammar, that has to be finished before cristmas. Expect the guide to start somewhere around december 15th... Sorry

But in other news:

NEW PICTURES, AT LAST!

First of all, here's a big pic of my WIP warhound unit:

I've chosen to mount 2 warhounds on each base because it gives me more posibilities to make the unit look like a pack of wild beasts rather than a ranked unit of organized troops. Please note that the unpainted ones aren't even fully converted yet.

The next picture shows the wargor, that is made from a Pestigor Champion. I got this fella free as I won the auction with the warhounds. I'm sorry that I've basecoated his skin, but I didn't know when I'd get my cam back, and I wouldn't wait to paint this model. I've filled the eyeholes in his hood to make him blind. I imagine that he can see through his palantir-thingy/the daemon, that's comming out of his belly. His staff is scratch-built:


3rd pic is the leaping wargor. The floating clothes are made from 3 high elf archer champions' capes greenstuffed together and attatched to the wargor's back. I have no idea of where the sword is from... Just found it in my nits box. Tell me where it's from, if you know. Actually, I think it's made from 2 swords...


Last, but definately not least, actually the most important pic in this post:

The behemoth with added howda. Many of you have wondered about the size of this model and as you can see in the size comparition pic, it is rather huge for a warhammer model. Not much to say about it other than for those, who're just skimming the posts for pics: The behemoth will have a chaos ogre rider and will be used as a DOW Rhinox Rider in friendly games and a chariot in official games.

Please comment! Thanks in advance

Hope you like the new pics

 - Kyte

looking very nice and inventive as always Kyte. The hounds look great, mounting them on double sized abses is a great idea and I love the models. I really like the pestigor conversion as well. Obviosuly the Behemoth is looking great. I'm looking forward to the step-by-step, as well as the finished model.

Thanks
Corai

Corai's the only one, who's answered! Please come with your oppinions, everyone! Are Beastmen unteresting?

 - Kyte

The blind wargor with the palantir thing is without a doubt my favorite model you've done so far, I can't wait to see it finished!  Its just a very dynamic and eerie pose, great idea!  Keep up the good work there Kyte.

i really like the hounds and the stakes add alot to the atmosphere ithink the wargor swords looks a bit weird in the end of the sword a bit unnatrual i really like what youve done with behmoth but i think the massive flags are going too far i would make them i bit shorter i especilly like the other beastmen [forotten what you said it was

Corai's the only one, who's answered! Please come with your oppinions, everyone! Are Beastmen unteresting?

Hell no!

They are very cool and I think I'm in love with the leaping wargor.
Those hounds look very good.

BTW is it your flash that makes your models so shiny?

This log makes me want to hurry and get my beasts painted ( after mortals )

Keep it coming Kyte

BTW is it your flash that makes your models so shiny?

YES IT IS, and that's beginning to annoy me! People on the herdstone (And everywhere else) are blaming me for using gloss.

PROOF: Greenstuff looks shiny in the pics. GS is mat IRL.

 - Kyte

Idont know if im right and i dont know if anyone else has answered the sword question !

But it looks to me to be a scyth from the chaos chariot ! i cant really totally confirm it due to the picture quality/light shining on it lol !

But yeah i like all the stuff you have done not to keen on the Behemoth thing though!

I've been working on this fella for a couple of days now. He is going to serve as an Exalted Daemon in my 3000pts army. He is made entirely from scrathe (GS, DAS, stones and wire. The base is GW though.)
At this stage, it isn't something special, but it will be. I'll keep you posted as he progresses.
Here's a list of what needs to be done:

Arms: Mostly done, need to ad vanes and smooth out the muscles.
Wings: Aboyt 50% done. Need to cover the paper with GS and make them look more realistic.
Body: Not really started yet. Need to do six-pack, chest muscles and exterior spine.
Head: Not really started either. Need to make it more goat-like. I'll add a hood to him later. Please note that this creature is so ancient that it was created before the beastmen evolved into cyclopes. He will also have horns and a long swirling blue mane
Hands: Just started. Need details and fingers + claws and maybe some sort of staff, or would that make him look too civilized?
Legs: Need to be bulked out and filled with fur. He's a beastman (Kinda) Afterall.
Feet: Will either be hooves, birds talons or normal claws/dragon feet.
Loincloth: Will be done similar to the loincloth of the C'tan Nightbringer.
Other: Various spines and fur/details.

Wish me luck.

 - Kyte

Wow that thing looks pretty sweet, keep up the good work.  Quite the army centerpiece!

That looks awesome Kyte, and it counds like you've got some great things planned for it, I'm looking forward to seeing the loincloth espescialy. I think the daemonprince/beastman looks will work really wel and am looing forward to seing the guy develop

Thanks
Corai

Wow Kyte,

Very cool daemon ( for starters)
Love to see it progress

Can't wait to see it done. Looks fine at the moment

Great mini... if you can call THAT a miniature... it looks great, by all means.
May I suggest to make some cuts and torn parts on the wings' membrane... they look too "perfect" to be a deamon prince, and, thus, too unrealistic (if a deamon prince can ever look realistic).

keep it up.
cheers

May I suggest to make some cuts and torn parts on the wings' membrane... they look too "perfect" to be a deamon prince, and, thus, too unrealistic (if a deamon prince can ever look realistic).

I'm going to cover the paper membranes with GS and make some scratches and texture like the balrog wings.

Also thanks to your flyrant for the idea of using paper for wing membranes!

 - kyte

how have you attached the paper i there? I've never found superglue to be all that good at securing paper wihtout making a terrible mess, do you have some trick or did you use another adhesive?

Thanks
Corai

I'm going to cover the paper membranes with GS and make some scratches and texture like the balrog wings.
Also thanks to your flyrant for the idea of using paper for wing membranes!
 - kyte

No problem... I'm glad to give hints... but won't the membranes look too thick, then?
I'm eager to see how it comes out...

Another way to make wings is brownstuff, like I did on the strigoi vampire...

cheers

how have you attached the paper i there? I've never found superglue to be all that good at securing paper wihtout making a terrible mess, do you have some trick or did you use another adhesive?

I used a heated glue gun. Then I painted the wings with PVA glue to make them thicker.

won't the membranes look too thick, then?

I don't think so. They won't be thicker than normal dragon wings...

 - Kyte

I used a heated glue gun. Then I painted the wings with PVA glue to make them thicker.

cool thanks. Might need to 'borrow' one of those from my office...

thanks
corai

It's quite amazing what you can archieve in 3 days, isn't it? Or lets say 5 days as I started it all on Friday.
Still a lot of work needs to be done.

Arms: need to add vanes
Wings: Almost done. I only need to cover 1/8 of the wings and then sand 'em!
Body: Mostly done. Need to add some small details and sand down the muscles.
Head: Need to add hood, teeth, mane/hair and finish the horns.
Hands: Need details/nails + smoothing out.
Legs: Need fur + details.
Feet: I've decided to make normal three toed talons. Still lots of work to be done.
Loincloth: Will still be done similar to the loincloth of the C'tan Nightbringer. I will add a great Tzeentch-Logo in the middle of it.
Other: still need various details

I'd say that I'm about 66% finished with the sculpting. I hope to have it finished and painted before cristmas.

For those, who are waiting for the guide: Please wait. I'll get on to it right after the prince.

 - Kyte

looks awesome Kyte, it's really come along. The wings look fantastic and I'm looking forward to seeing you put on the loincloth and hood to give it the finishing Tzeentch touch

thanks
corai

I like the wings and love the pose of the model how it is kind of flying
Very nice sculpting as well!
I thought at first the paper would snap when you tried to do the wings because it looked flimsy too me but most of worked well.
Can't wait to see the finished result.
Tri

I've never seen an army as beautifully converted and ORIGINAL in my life.  You take a sometimes overdone army like Tzeentch and give it a completely new feel - it's awesome...great work

Absolutely love the sculpting on the wings man.  Fantastic!  The rest of him looks good as well   Can't wait to see him painted up.

At this point, Tzal'Ques is about 80% complete! I brought it to GW last saturday and the redshirts were so impressed that they asked me to come back between christmas and newyear to talk to the manager about becoming an outrider.

For those, who dont know, an outrider is a guy, that does stuff for GW and is paid in MODELS!

PS:

This is what I've been using the GS offcuts from my daemon to make, Dawi Zharr! The 2 warriors are made from the free WD dwarves, the character is made from a pair of high elf legs.

Hope to see some comments!

 - Kyte

The daemon's amazing, I'm not surprised the staff were impressed with it. I'm liking the dawi Zharr as well, a great use for the bits of spare GS left after a scratch build!

Looking forward to seeing the Daemon finished and painted!

Thanks
Corai

Awsome... and great news regarding the outrider proposal... keep us posted

cheers

Sick looking daemon prince!  Thats some great sculpting Kyte, I love it.  Btw, I must have missed it but what do you use as a base under the GS?

Sick looking daemon prince!  Thats some great sculpting Kyte, I love it.  Btw, I must have missed it but what do you use as a base under the GS?

I used DAS, which is a kind of a mix between miliput and clay.

 - Kyte

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub beast, and shun
the frumious Bandersnatch!"

Awe-inspiring Daemon Prince.

I love it . No wonder they asked you about the outrider thing lol, its that good!
Tri

Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The GW Bretonnian Jabberwocky is part of where I got my inspiration!

And on the outrider thing, I wasn't promoted. They asked me to come back between christmas and new year to talk to the manager about becoming an outrider.

 - Kyte

The shark men look great. I don't like the hammer head eye sockets though, they look more like eye stalks on a bug than the shark head (to thin in this case).
I agree on the banner, it's a neat concept but needs work. What would be cool is to see it actually hanging with the folds and such that a net would have, rather than sticking out like a banner (nets don't blow in the wind).

See where you're going about the net. but at least it will cast easy, and I'm sure it will look better, when all the knots and trapped stuff like small fish and seaweed is finished.

I assume these will be cast as well (your post alludes to it but does not state as such)?

Tha plan is to have mostly all my fishmen cast and sold by Troll Forged Miniatures.

Thanks

 - Kyte

That's just wicked sick sculpting. Weirder than the furries!

I agree with Reg, and I think the reason for them looking so bug-like is that the "stalks" are too thin.



They're pretty big things...

I think the first one looks best.

All in all awesome; I am a great fan of your Fishmen project.

Adding a bar running along the top of the net (ala samurai back banners) would make the net look more natural in its current position.

Adding a bar running along the top of the net (ala samurai back banners) would make the net look more natural in its current position.

Good idea, but the idea is that this shape allows for easy casting, but you'll need to heat up and bend the banner into a natural shape yourself.

Thanks

 - Kyte

So came Christmas, and I intend to keep the "More Frequent Updates" Style! I have now painted the Behemoth Crabs and the first Deep Ones, so now, they can be released from Troll Forged Miniatures Too!

First up is the Behemoth Crab Unit Pack:


Then here is the Single Crab Blister Pack:


You can sure say that these are Multipart Models! Each Crab contains a massive 26 parts, which allows you to create dozens of poses! They were also a blast to paint! Since summer, I've been wanting to use the sponging technique on the carapaces to get a really realistic look to the models, while still keeping my Cartoonish painting style.

Here are the Deep Ones:

Full image:
( http://i42.tinypic.com/14iiyis.jpg )

Each Set of 2 includes 10 parts:
2 Bodies
2 Right Arms
2 Left Arms
2 Right Legs
2 Left Legs

Javelin and Shield upgrade pack will be released as soon as possible...

All these poses were created mixing and matching these parts, as all are interchangable. I didn't need any Greenstuff to achieve more poses (Except for the mandatory gap filling). All was created just using the parts, and bending a few arms by dipping them into hot water.

That's all for now. I've got some nice surprises waiting for more updates. I can say that I'm pretty sure this will not be the last update of 2008.

Thanks and merry Christmas to all!

 - Kyte

Awesome stuff Kyte!!! Looking as good as always

JJ

Very nice!

Merry Christmas and ho ho ho.

You can now order them here:

http://www.trollsforge.com/fishmen/fishmen.html

I'm thinking about promoting the Current Deep Ones to Chamelion Skink Stand ins and make some more lovecraftian looking deep ones (Which would actually be possible to rank up) for ordinary skinks. What do you think of that idea?

Thanks

 - Kyte

The crabs look great. And they do boast an impressive number of parts. I'm just worried they'll be an absolute pain in the rear to assemble.

The crabs look great. And they do boast an impressive number of parts. I'm just worried they'll be an absolute pain in the rear to assemble.

it's not that bad. Nothing at all compared to many GW metals or FW Resin kits.

The worst part is the moldlines.

In other news, The warturtle (the turtle itself, NOT crew and howda/weapon variants) is kinda nearing completion. It's looking pretty neat. There'll be 2 head options (Open and closed mouth) and 2 tail options (Mace tail and regular). What I'm not looking forward to is sculpting the 5 Deep One Crew... It takes me more than a weekend just to finish one, let alone these will be way harder to do, as I plan on making them more multipart with way more options than the old ones. These will include options for blowpipes, javelins, shields, hand weapons, herded beast handling kit (whips and stuff) and maybe even command. That's gonna be tideous...

Thanks

 - Kyte

how about a hammerhead giant?.. or a 3 headed shark lizard seamonster thing? ..

how about a hammerhead giant?.. or a 3 headed shark lizard seamonster thing? ..

The idea is to use them as Lizardmen, so these wouldn't really fit...

Thanks

 - Kyte

So I finally got myself together and took time to take some pics of the WIP Warturtle:

The first pic shows general progress using Head and Tail Variant 1:


The second picture shows the less developed Head and Tail Variant 2, as well as my main 'inspiration' for the anatomy and a scale picture so you can see how huge the beast is.


It is intentional that the beast resembles an Ankylosaurus more than a sea turtle really. This way, a few Lizardman players might use another howda and convert it as a stegadon or something.

I'm really looking forward to get the sketches of the howda, so I can get started on it.

I also started making the multipart deep one crew from spare greenstuff.

Feel free to ask any questions

By the way, yes. That's a 75x125mm base!

Thanks

 - Kyte

i think 5 ogres could take that turtle down! haha nicely sculpted! me like!

That is immense!!!

JJ

Nice warturtle, makes me think of the Gamera Movies
Also, the deep ones look a little "Skinky", the dorsal fins remind me of a dimetradon.

Nicely done Kyte. The shell is most impressive.

Awesome! I wonder how it will carry things!

It looks killy...

BB

Wow those Fishmen sculpts are awesome, i really like ^^

And also; Christ! Such amazing detail! How the hell do you do it xD This makes me ashamed of my own sculpts i was once so proud of!

The warturtle has too much back leg But it does make it look more monstrous!

Hey there. The Lazya$$ known as Kyte has once again awoken from the dead to show you some pictures!

The first pic is not comforting but rather disturbing. After all the Man O' War talk over at the Trollsforge forums, I got all inspired to try my hand at one, but yet again I failed. I just wouldn't give up the task o spending the weekend making an equivalent to a Lizardman artillery dino, so say hello to mister Blowfish:

Sorry Ed, but he's got a massive 188 spikes. I don't know if this is at all moldable, but don't worry it only took a few hours to sculpt. It's basically just a ball of fimo covered in greenstuff with added eyes, a few fins and half a billion spikes. Still need to do details to the fins and mouth, but it's basically finished.

When I started sculpting it, I was actually worried about it being too small, but after I added all the spikes, an illusion is created that it's almost twice as big as before they were added, which is quite impressive. It looks massive right now!

Speaking of massive, let me present the awsome HOWDA of the Warturtle:

It's almost halfway finished now. It's made from templates made from Borak's sketches, and I must say I'm very pleased with how the beastie is shaping up. I tell you it's massive. It's like 50% broarder than a GW stegadon! I still need to add tons of seaweed, barnacles and other gribbliness along with the corals that the howda is fused to the shell with. Plus I haven't even started working on the harpoon or the gunner

Here is a picture of the crew I've done so far. Also, the WIP Cthulhu Statue for the altar of the gods is shown here.

Still a lot of work to do. I'm especially pleased with the pose of the Cthulhu Priest commander, or should I say commodore? It's like he's standing on his proud vessel on top of his awsome mount commanding the turtle to step on his enemies. It's priceless IMO. My favourite Cthulhoid sculpt so far.
I'm also glad the statue really looks like a statue in a way, that it can't be mistaken for a large living cthulhu creature. That's really good. The runes on the base of the statue are actually spelling real words, names of my friends, favourite bands and other stuff. That's a cool detail too.

That's all for today. Stay tuned for yet more updates soon, or not soon, but more like eventually.

Thanks

 - Kyte

Those sculpts are seriously breathtakingly good.
I wish one day i could sculpt as well as you

The howdah looks stunning, and I agree with you about the pose. It is very suitable.

I love the anglerfish as well.

Well that is the effect blowfish try to make...

But everything is simply amazing. Cthulhu Priest is epic and that statue reminds me of my Metroid playing days... Ah good memories...

-Evii

Pretty awesome stuff. The Cthulhu statue is great.
The blow fish looks good. But, unlike the rest of this army, it doesn't look amphibious. The rest of the models could sort of work out of water, but a floating blow fish is stretching it. For molding it, you'll probably have to take off all the spikes (188! Half that would probably do just fine. That will take so long to assemble).

I would seriously buy your fishmen, but sadly I'm over here in the UK and the postage prices would be immense...

I wasn't much of a fan of the other fishmen, aside from the cthulhu slann, but seeing that turtle has won me over completely.  I can't believe I missed that model when you first posted it up.  The shell detail is amazing.

Combined with that awesome howdah and crew, the warturtle is sure to be a great seller on trollforged.  Assuming it is released on trollforged.

You're beastmen blog was the first sculpting blog I ever followed online and it is great inspiration.  Keep up the great work!

Poker

I would seriously buy your fishmen, but sadly I'm over here in the UK and the postage prices would be immense...

I'm fairly certain both Kyte and Trollforge Minis are based in the UK.

Kytes based isnt in the US, though im 80% sure Trollsforge is based in the US.
However im pretty sure Vyv that the shipping costs arent too high

Isn't Kyte a dane?

EDIT: But Trollsforge seems to be American.

Yea, wasnt thinking straight when i wrote that, i sometimes get that because of my glandular fever
I was thinking that Denmark was in the UK xD

I editted my post anyway

Kytes based in the UK, though im 80% sure Trollsforge is based in the US.
However im pretty sure Vyv that the shipping costs arent too high

You're not entirely right.

I'm from Denmark, and Trollsforge is in Missouri USA. The postage is fairly average, seeing resin Miniatures weighting close to nothing, you should get a package sent overseas for about £10-18. I pay £20 to have the originals shipped to America, and that's with special ensurance, so that they can always track the packet if it gets lost, as sculpts are irreplacable.

Thanks

 - Kyte

Damn, that postage seems annoyingly low as i'm loving the sculpts... must resist the fishmen

Very very cool tread, and im ofc. super exited that its a fellow dane who has such extreme sculpting skills! Wish u had done some ogers as i really like your style, and i cant start making a fish army. How about a couple of nordic themed maneaters?  acktually some new Gorgers would be cool.. they all look the same, and arent that inventive in my book.

Anyway, very cool stuff!

Ducks

Hi again... I don't even have an excuse for this... When this blog started, it was updated on a bi-weekly basis, so why the heck scould 4 months pass without an update? I don't believe it either... There are many reasons for this. Firstly, I had a long period without any inspiration to sculpt. Then came the exams, which I had to study for and then just a few weeks ago, there was the infamous ROSKILDE FESTIVAL, which was awsome as always.

I have as usual and quite obviously done quite a bit since last update. I figure we'll start with the boring stuff and work our way through medium level interesting stuff to the end, where my so far BEST EVER and most awsome creation ever is showcased. To say it myself, the last picture is more awsome than anything I have showcased in this blog or anywhere else. It's better than my Rhinox Riders, Better than my Ghark Ironskin, better than my beastmen, my chaos dwarfs, my Mechanical Great Taurus, my Daemon Prince, My Ray Rider, and even cooler than my Warturtle, which by the way isn't entirely finished yet... What lazyass I am...

So as usually we skip down to the pictures.

So I present you the boring stiff - Random Accessories:

Just a selection of random accessories. Sitting deep one legs to turn regular Deep Ones into Ray'ders. They are compatible with all Deep One bodies of course.
A set of 'Goading stick' arms is also shown, which enables you to create handlers for Blowfish and Man O' War. Again compatible with all deep one bodies.
Pretty boring stuff, but they come in handy seen from a larger perspective.

Then we move on to the not as boring, but not really exciting either sculpt - A Sharkman Hero/Regimental Champion:

Not much to say... He's a fair bit bigger than the average Sharkman. He is intended as a Unit Champion, but he can also be used as a hero on foot if decided. I will however make another model to represent a Sharkman Hero on foot. I'm planning on giving him an anchor for a great weapon.

We move further to untroduce the current state of the Warturtle with War Altar:

A lot of interesting little details have been added. Most obviously, the reef that fuses the howda to the turtle's carapace has been added. It's made of cork. Lots of small creatures are infesting the cracks of this, including the shown moray and octopus, but countless of sea shells, barnacles, crabs and even a horseshoe crab as well.

This pic isn't really more interesting than the previous. It just shows the Warturtle with Harpoon Launcher option:

The cannon was made in one day, and this set will come with an alternative roaring head. All I need to do now are those darn boring hind legs. They've been a pain in my butt for the last 6 months due to the sheer boringness of making them.

And now I'm about to show you the highlight of this update, my beloved Leviathan Rider:

The Rider's trident is interchangable with the Champion on Foot's Sword and wise versa, so you can equip your lord as you desire. all Sharkman Shields are also interchangable. I thing this model is awsome.

Does anybody know if you can get Glow-In-The-Dark paint for the Bioluminisense parts?

That's all for now. Please comment and come with suggestions, as you are potential costomers for these models.

Thanks

 - Kyte

Great update! i love the war turtle!

I think the turtle is my favourite so far its mint

I don't know what happened with that small pic. here's a bigger one:

Re: Glow in the dark paint - http://glowinc.com/

I haven't tried their product yet but zsouless recommended them.

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G stuff The leviathan rider is magnificent!

JJ

Damn, if i wasn'r slowly giving up on all my GW stuff i'd seriously be looking at ordering an army of these... Astounding work Kyte

Damn, if i wasn'r slowly giving up on all my GW stuff i'd seriously be looking at ordering an army of these... Astounding work Kyte

Phasing it out completely? 

JJ

not really the place to discuss it JJ, after all, this is Kytes blog... drop me a PM

Holy crap, i love it!
I didnt think anything could beat that warturtle with its howda and weapons and everything like you said. But that leviathan rider is superb!!
I would really love to purchase one of the warturtles and leviathans when you get them cast, but its probably going to cost a minor fortune,
which i can't afford Those are models i would really love to paint!

Really great job

i really want this army :p
its amazing

The Leviathan Rider is really amazing! Any rough estimate of what it's gonna cost?

@Manowar: No idea, but I'll guess about $35 or something.

So I haven't been sculpting a whole lot lately. The reason for this is that I've been busy with other stuff. Mostly with school, but also with another creative project!

It's a 3-part armateur movie trilogy!

Here is the trailer:

The Trilogy is called "Prophecy of The Mire", and includes 3 episodes called "The Boy Who Had It All", "The Drop that made the Cup Flood" and "Frank Returns".

Each Episode will be about 25 minutes long, and each will focus on a different character, All three episodes are connected and form a story all together.

As far as tidbits go, I can say that the first episode spoofs at least 4 famous movies, and includes a good old Lightsaber Battle. The movies are supposed to be dark and serious in tone, but yet a tad humoristic. By the way, I'm in all 3 episodes, as well as being the main character in episode 2. I'm the guy with the dreadlocks by the way. The Whole Story focuses on an anti-human message, which basically shows how humanity is doomed to destroy itself through fear and greed, and how a godlike etinity called "The Mire", which is the embodyment of fear and greed is dragging us all down into it, driving us insane through temptations.

Also, that incident I mentioned about a year ago, with the girl who did not believe I was a sculptor is in the show and plays a major part in episode 2, so there's clearly something to look forward to.

I hope you will like it.

It is of course in Danish, but I will release an English Subtitled version as well.

First episode is due to be released in the middle of October.

Looks very cool, freaky as hell that bunny is.. Oh and btw. your one headlight is out on your tiny green car

Ducks

Will wait for the english subtitled version

JJ

Awesome trailer... Looks promising.

Will indeed wait for that English subtitled version!

That girl who said you weren't a sculptor....pah!

Well it's been almost like a year since I have last updated my blog. I haven't done much sculpting this year because I've been busy with school, friends, living in escapistic hedonism, and a minor depression, but now that I've got a lot of time to read up on my exams, I have been doing a bit of stuff.

I have also sent the following to be cast by Troll Forged Miniatures:

Warturtle with Crew
Sharkmen
Sharkman Command
Sharkman General on Foot (not shown in any blogs)
Deep One Chieftain (not shown in any blogs)
Leviathan With Rider
Deep One Warriors
Deep One Ray'ders
Giant Blowfish with Handlers
+ all the old sculpts for enhancement

What I have done these like 10 months or so comes down to the two never before shown models that will be kept secret until they are released and then these:

First of all is the first Lobster Rider:


It's finished though it lacks arms. That is because it uses the same arms and weapons as the sharkmen on foot that are currently in America to be cast.
The Lobster will be modular, but the legs will be fully assambled, so it won't be as big a hassle to assamble as the behemoth crab. Claws will be totally modular and can be assambled in any way like the crab, should one desire.
And yes, that's a 30*50 mm base. Regular Cavalry base just wasn't large enough if I wanted these to rank up.

I am in doubt however... Should I make 2 or 3 riders? Since you won't at all have as many cavalry models as you have infantry, 2 + a champion should be enough, shouldn't it?

Next up is a happy Reunion with one of my very first Fishman Sculpts. It's the sitting Cthulhu High Priest, who have finally, after 2 years, had his Palanquin made:


The idea about the throne is that it's supposed to look like a flying piece of reef with the sheer magic power of the priest kinda empowering the whole thing so that all the fish and stuff just keeps swimming around it minding their own business even through it's in air... If that makes any sense... Lots of extra small critters are in the making.

Also the green thing around the "seat" is a gigantic fossilized shark-Jaw.


But every fat-ass mage-lord on a flying throne needs a bodyguarde of elite infantry, dosn't it? I present you the feared Trench Guard:

Musician looks weird because he's a goblin shark...
(http://stupidcelebrities.net/wp-content/goblin_shark.jpg)
I think these are absolutely bad ass. They are bigger than Chaos Warriors, and I would have shown if all my Chaos models had not been stored in my garage, and I didn't bother going out there.
I still need to make one more regular trooper (Great White, open mouthed) and a champion (axe over head) along with a banner made from a looted figurehead along with some extra weapon options. I have really high expectations for this kit. My favourite multipart Unit kit yet.


A small but important update is the first Sea Swarm MKII

Not much to say... I'll make 2 different ones in total + send a set of small critters so people can either get the pre-made tomb kings style swarms or put critters on their own bases and make their own swarms. I think it will look really awsome when painted up.


Last but as always not at all least is something completely non-fishman related:

A Pig-Faced Orc Witch!
This sculpt was partially inspired by Heroes of Might and Magic IV and partially by my Ancient History Teacher, who honestly looks like this... Most of my friends see the resemblance without me eving telling.
I believe that this is my tecnically best sculpt yet. You really have an easier time making expressions on a mammal face than a sea creature's. Also I learned lots about cloth draping. I am tempted to make a whole army of these guys after the fishman project is finished. I have an idea of having my Orcs part of a Chaos Army. Not Chaos in the typical Warhammer sense, but more like Chaos as a worshipping of the unpredictability of life and nature. An army of outlaws, bandits, thieves and outcasts, allied with the pig faced orcs. I have lots of ideas for this force, including chariot sized slugs, thugs, bandids, a gigantic burning wicker-man with an enemy order wizard trapped inside it, Giant insects in general, Jabberwocks, Harpies, Multipart forest trolls and all manner of foresty goodness. These will be able to double as beastmen if all goes right... Still just an idea though...


I'm sorry for my abscene and for the low image quality. I'm having a hard time with my camera broken, so I had to use my video camera like the real old days.

Thanks

 - Kyte

Good to see you again Kyte!

Really like the Trench Guard, they look rather vicious.

Just almost finished the Champion today! He's awsome holding a weaponized paddle over his head, and he's massive. A head taller than the regular ones, almost as bulky as an Ogre Bull. When these are ranked up, they resemble a solid brick wall of spikes!

And what an honour to have the creator of the stronghold himself comment

Thanks

 - Kyte

Today I present to you one of my own favorite sculpts, the new Sharkman BSB:





First of all, the picture where you see the whole thing is taken at an angle that makes it look like the 'look out deep one' is as big as the sharkman, which is not the case. In real life, the deep one is the size of a skink and the sharkman is the size of an ogre bull, so he could hold and support the standard just fine.

The pose and design is kind of a parody on two of my favourite GW standard baerer. A cookie to the one who can guess which 2 I'm talking about.

What I really like about this sculpt is the contrast between the calm look of tha sharkman, and the crazed dynamic look of the deep one. Also I like that the 'looted ship' theme I've been going for with the army as a whole is taken to the extreme. What I'm sorry about is the fact that all the dangly whatnot this guy's got in his belt might make my mystery sculpt look a tad bland and boring...

I promise to post an update soon with the finished trench guard kit soon. It's made already, but I was too lazy to take pics and upload them at this time + I'd like to make updates with only one model at a time because that way I'll get more specific comments on how to improve the minis.

PS: I started a second pig-orc sculpt... Another witch, stirring a couldron of potion...

Thanks

 - Kyte

It's been a while since I last updated this blog, but as usual, I've been busy with real life stuff.

Anyways, onto the update.

After a billion failed tries, I finally dropped the idea of the Man 'O War. A gigantic Jellyfish is simply impossible for me to sculpt, so I thought about what I could use in stead, to take the place of a certain form of reptilian artillery, and an electric eel came to my mind. A large fat moray-like electric eel that fires lightning at the enemy, so without further ado, here is the Thunder-Moray:
 


Based on the middle pic, obviously. Will be cut into sections for easy casting and poseability, so one could potentially create a lot of interesting poses, if all goes well.

Then a small Pig-Faced-Chaos-Orc Update:



No. This is not the Famine Fiend Beastman Character, It's a whole other thing. The fluff involves primitive necromancy combined with Golem animation technology, and Orc shamen and witches summoning the soul of a particularly powerful fallen hero into a golem-like forest-spirit-avatar of imense will and power made of bone, cloth, branches, wines, thorns, dead animals and forest debris to create a reanimated hulk of a master-witch, that will keep raising itself every time it falls apart, and inspire all nearby chaos troops to the point of fanaticism (These guys believe in chaos as in the unpredictability and endles demise and rebirth cycle that is Nature, remember?). It is weak in combat though, and can easily crumble, should the reanimation-spell be broken.

The skull was made with Heresy Clay Shapers. A must-buy for every sculptor. These are really handy for organic stuff.

I really have high expectations for this sculpt. I can tell you already now, that it will include a lot of ragged and sewn together clothing and a hand, that is really a big spider.

It should be a lot more hunched than in the concept art though.

Last up is the main update of the post, a brand new Deep One Chieftain on Foot:




Really a fun sculpt to make, and I learned a lot about posing. It also features a whole new easy-to-asemble-and-cast method with slot joints which makes the whole thing a lot more managable for everybody. Still need to cut the lower-jaw though.

I really like how lean and creepy he looks. Like the worst and most despicable of the Deep Sea Anglers we know. Of course, it's armed with a bioluminesent rod for eaier angling. Ewww!

As you might have noticed, it's a fair bit bigger than regular deep one scouts. I love character models being big and imposing. Especially combat-characters.
It's even a lot bigger and more imposing than the unshown Warturtle Deep One Chieftain who is eating a fish. He will be downgraded to a Unit Champion, I guess, but should still be included in the Warturtle kit.

That's it for now

Thanks

 - Kyte

That's some awesome work. I've never read through this before, I may have to take a look.

I quite like your pig faced witch . Pity it's not for sale on troll forged miniatures

Just read whole blog and man are you an inspiring individual. Awesome work throughout every post.

K

I quite like your pig faced witch . Pity it's not for sale on troll forged miniatures

It will be eventually, but seeing as Troll Forged is basically one guy making all the molds, casts and everything else, so things are a little slow. With lots of sculptors, it could well be over a year until it's released.

The Warturtle shown a few pages ago for example was finished back in the summer of 2009, but is still being processed and cast.

It will all be out eventually, but I guess, with my work rate, ie: An update every six months or so, it could all be a while.

I hope it's released, as it would make a nice wizard for my Piggolo army. Thanks for the reply Kyte.

I've just read through this, and I have to say I'm very impressed. Some fantastic work, even back to the Beastmen and Chaos Dwarfs.

I wis I could afford to do a Fishman army. I want to do something a bit different, and these would be perfect. Shame it would be too much to get enough figures. I'll keep an eye on things though!

your pig faced wich it seems to look like  the t.v show character a.l.f
and I love it!