First being that I wasn't really loving the Defiler. It wasn't bad, but I wasn't loving it either, and I need to crazy in love with my work for me to really enjoy it and be satisfied. When I make something like that, I can't stop looking at it from different angles, and I felt that the Defiler was lacking in several ways - the scourge wasn't really what I wanted, the pose was sort of boring, etc.
The second being that my Forgefiend, which I really liked, couldn't make it into the Death Guard army list - for some reason DG doesn't like them. I know it could be made into a secondary detachment, but then the Detachment wouldn't be DG, and it just... Didn't feel right. Also, the legs seemed kind of small for it - it bordered on the comical. I want the theme to feel steampunkish, but never comical. I want scary, dammit!
So the decision was to rip both Forgefiend and Defiler apart, and make a rocking Defiler from the best of both worlds, and lo and behold, I think I did it - this, I REALLY like:
I'm still wondering if it should have some of the Forgefiend exhausts - I might experiment a bit.
The legs took a lot of time - first, all the necron pattern crevasses had to be filled, then filed, and then put through distressing/corrosion hell with my dremel - well worth it, at the end. I still need to do corrosion on the armour plates, but that'll get done, once it's put completely together - that way I know where it'll need to go.
On another note, my Daemon Prince's missing leg has arrived - hopefully an update about that later tonight.
Update:
I've started cutting up the legs, to repose them, and blocking in the pose; I think I've finally found what I was looking (cue U2) - they obviously still need a lot of sculpting to rid them of the tyranid look, and give them armour plates, but the basic shape and pose are pretty much in place:
I've also done a bit of work on the Decimator I found in a bag lying about - I've ground down the square leg plates, and have plans to do the same to the shoulder pads, since they don't fit at all with the "rounded armour daemon engine aesthetic" (they were also made before Chaos was revamped), but for some reason I don't think it works as all - it just seems... Lego-ish, like a toy? I'm a bit stumped, because I'd really like a Decimator for the DG army, with dual Soul Burners, but right now it looks like I need to go back to the drawing board.
Update #2:
I've made a VERY rough mockup of a Decimator idea, that seems a bit more "nurglish" - the small bottles are placeholders for the Soul Burner Petards I've yet to make:
And a quick comparison between the different "monsters" so far:
Oh, and a word of warning - a couple of nights ago, I was cutting a piece of plastic with my plastic cutters, and it had some dried superglue stuck to it. The dried superglue is very hard, and a piece of it was launched into my eye, embedding itself into to cornea of my left eye - now, that hurt.
I tried flushing my eye and and I thought it was okay, so I went to sleep. The morning after it was even worse, so my wife (a nurse) gave me a scolding for ignoring it, and sent me off to the emergency room. They managed to dig it out, it had managed to go a little deep, and given me some antibiotic eye drops. It's much better now, thankfully, and my eyesight don't seem to have suffered, but I'll be sure to get some safety goggles when working on stuff like that in the future - and you should too; we only get one set of eyes, and they should never be taken for granted. :)
That defiler looks absolutely fantastic! Defintely a good choice to combine the two, especially if you were not hapoy with either. Still loving the demon prince too. Those legs work very well, amd he has less of a demon vibr and more of a death guard one now, which is great.
ReplyDeleteI do not like the decimator model either, and it really does not fit to your style at all. I suggest cutting it up and making the thing your own, as you have done with all the other models you have made.
Thanks! I'll see what I can do, for now he's on the shelf of shame. ;)
DeleteI literally love that deamon Prince, thibk after I finish my soulgrinder ima try and copy you again 😂 😂 sick as usual.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Go ahead and copy all you want - it's great when my work can inspire someone else. :)
DeleteThat defiler-thing is incredible.
ReplyDeleteWow. Just wow.
Thanks a lot, Johan - that means a lot, coming from you; you've been a huge inspiration in the recent years, since I discovered your blog, and "the dark side of 40k". Much appreciated. :)
DeleteYup, that was a great choice in redoing the Defiler, he looks incredible! And that prince! Great work on them all, this army is looking amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot - I'm glad it's starting to come together. :)
DeleteWow, that Defiler!! The tentacled 'face' is just awesome!
ReplyDeleteYour daemon prince is outstanding! What bits did you use to build the main, center portion of his jump pack?
ReplyDeleteI would like to know what parts you used to make this Daemon Prince? It is such a good conversion!
ReplyDeleteAlso, what is the height of this beast? Is He much bigger than a standard Daemon Prince?
ReplyDeleteI love the Defiler and really would like to rebuild it for my own army. What did you use as a chassis to mount the legs and stuff? Thanks for all the inspiration!
ReplyDelete