The Flesh Vats of the Shattered Helix

The agony breaths life into the halls. A sirocco of pain, mingling with the stench of blood thick enough to taste, the symphony of screams and pointed silences. And the pervasive sense of industry and artistry fused together in unholy combinations.


To quote a walrus, "The time has come, to talk of many things..." whilst sealing wax is likely lower on the list, and cabbages entirely absent, the others may see their presences known, as I begin actually trying to put all my schemes into play. Well perhaps not all of my schemes, that would be showing one's hand a tad prematurely, but all of my schemes that involve the construction and eventually painting of my Dark Eldar forces.

As a quick aside though the title only mentions the Shattered Helix the Envenomed Mark & Glass Splinters will likely be just as prevalent.

In any case this will hopefully encourage me to actually finish things, improve and/or even speed up my painting times - currently woefully slow. And it gives me somewhere I can post my work in progress (WIP) pictures rather than cluttering up my fluff / descriptive thread in the 'Kabals of the Dark City' section of the forum *wanders off to sort out hyperlinks* which I will also link for you here:

The Coven of the Shattered Helix, The Kabal of the Envenomed Mark & The Glass Splinters Corsairs


Whilst the above has all the major fluff / lore of all three - which will likely expand over time through prodigious use of the edit post function, it has and will slip further back into that section of the forum. Thus to keep something, less of a task in patience or careful understanding of the search functions - something which I always seem to fail at on forums - available, this log will hopefully be added to the traditional way with additional posts by myself, or even my adoring public... if I can find some, or chivy them up from the bone-spire to form a suitably impressed looking crowd of gawkers, shufflers and whatever else it is that Wracks do when we don't have anything better for them to do... oh yes, scream.

I shall add snippets of text describing specific WIPs if it seems relevant and or I feel like explaining whatever the hell it is that I'm trying to create. Apologies if it makes no sense... also a lie - it seems one is in a devious mood.... and or if it rambles back and forth around a point without really getting to one, somewhat like this sentence.

To summarise:

• WIP shots with brief descriptions here.
  
• Finished pictures of WIPs & projects also here.
  
• Full over-detailed fluff and descriptions on the other thread, with specific finished photos for illustrative purposes.

So without further ado.....

Some of my current projects:


The Brothers Grymm - Three conjoined Haemonculi, the regeneration processes corrupted in some way, forming a triumvirate spinning gently above the ground like some dread, fleshy carousel. How they became fused is unknown, indeed it is unsure whether they were even three to begin with, or whether due to experimentation into the regeneration process, unstable modification of their original flesh or stranger things still a single body became three, piece by piece. The mind splintering also, forming a triptych where once was one.

WIP




Cronos - WIP



There are also plans for 1-2 Coven Raiders, a specific Dracon (old fluff I didn't realise I hadn't posted now posted in the correct place - his photo will appear once my camera returns to the land of the living), and Trueborn on the go. ((There are other longer terms plans as well, but they're under my hat for the moment))

I was impressed by the snappy Coven/Kabal/Corsair names; I was floored by the awesome creepiness of the conjoined Haemonculi. Impressively disturbing
Very cool idea on the Cronos as well. Looking forward to more!

*tips hat*

Very glad to hear you like them Evil, and even more so that the Brothers are suitably creepy, always good to have an idea transmute correctly. I shall endeavour to continue in a similar vein...

Kein Yr'aanys - Dracon to the Inked Archon: WIP

Whoa, that guy looks amazing! Where is that model from?
Definetly better than my Dracon Evorian-conversion

Thank you very much, I had been planning that conversion since I saw the base model and it all just came together exactly as I pictured, which was rather handy.

As for what it is, the base model is the Wood Elf Highborn with great weapon with the Wrack Hexrifle and the spine of a Haemonculus, with the hand from one of the occupants of the Coven Throne kit - one of the vampires I believe.

Looking great so far! Loving the conjoined Haemies but I really love that Cronos.

I can't wait to see what will come next!

And so ticking comes the time thief. The floating parasite. Tendrils writhing, stripping the life away, leaving mummified husks in its wake, it comes. Stained with stolen ages, gaunt unhealthy flesh twisted to verdigris covered metal. The half clicking of impellors and dying whispers its only accompaniment through the night. Until it departs, pregnant with last breaths, drawn out in service to it's masters, bottled, caged, held waiting for their vile purpose.

Barring the vials, and a few small other details - which are similarly absent from the Talos - I am going to call my Cronos complete. Said vials and small details will likely be done in a batch at some point in the future when I've had more time practicing the technique for them, and or have more of them needing painting.





Next on the slab is likely to be a (re)construction project, or the start thereof. I believe the plan is for one Coven Raider and what could well become a Coven Ravager but we'll see about that. Some of that will need to wait for my latest delivery of parts to arrive, so it's possible I might do a bit of painting in the meantime.
I should do my second squad of Kabalites or my Wychs but that's less likely... the latter more because I have yet to really decide on a suitable colour scheme that grabs me about them - on consideration this may be helped by continuing to write up their fluff, thus there may be additions to the Lore & finished pictures thread in the near future as well.
If - on the other hand - I do something else, it's likely to be a model I've been [very] slowly making for my other half to lead her Daemons, for Valetines Day 2012. If Valkia does steal some attention rightly hers then I shall post her in one of the other sections of the forum as she's not rightly a part of my army, or any allied force I'm likely to use... for now....

In either or even any case, more photos will follow when we've got something.

I like the mix/match of Tyrannid and DE parts for the Talos...seems very natural.

The 3 conjoined Haemonculi are sick awesome. Very twisted and appropriate concept for them!

I have had that same wood elf figure for years and did not know what I would ever do with it... Now I know! Very creative idea. Major Kudos.

I'm very glad to hear you like them. Specifically the Wood Elf Highborn, it's one of my favourite models and I just had to make it work somehow. To me even the little sprite fits for Commorragh and making the Hexrifle work I was very happy with.

However one must not rest on ones laurels and I have been resting far too much. Or at least that is what this thread would show, so without further ado I present the next round of unpainted constructions, and before you ask... no, no I've not got any further on the previous. I will, eventually. I no longer hate painting and my Cronos was something I really enjoyed, so I will do it, I just need to finish building these things, possibly make a mess with some milliput and then sit down and paint. One can at least hope that pressure on ones finances may limit my ability to start another round of constructions, because the hands may become weak and spongy but the mind never stops, and there is so much art yet to to come....

Coven Ravager - WIP - Will be entirely repainted





Coven Raider - WIP - Exact gun placement to be confirmed and to be repainted




Wych Corsair Venom - Just needs painting, once I decide on a scheme





Razorwing - Minor conversion




Trueborn - WIP & more to come





Corsair Wych Haemonculus - Again to be painted when I work out a colour scheme for that part of the army

Yes, I love these conversions!

Great use of vampire counts bits in the Raider & Ravager. The true born are unique looking and I dig that Haemonculus.

Keep it coming

Those Coven Raiders are great, especially the second one. I love how you combined the old and new generations, and it works really well together.

The subtle mods on the Razorwing look terrific, and yeah, the Haemie is sweet. Can't wait to see them all painted.

Cheers.

The flesh vats have been slow of recent. The needle languishing over the stitch, the scalpel trailing on the slice. However some progress has been made and thus the latest fruits of our labours are to be presented for your delectation.

First more of the Trueborn. These congenitally spawned killers are my attempt to make each of them suitably unique. As the upper echelons of society it seemed to make sense that they all have gear that has been customised to suit their own tastes - thus the massive differences between then all, and many of their weapons only holding loose similarities with the traditional versions there of.

I had a few moments of what we'll call 'creative fail' whilst making some of them, so I have more Splinter Cannons & Dark Lances than I could field in a single unit, but this led to me to the thought process that as The Kabal of the Envenomed Mark is still somewhat smaller than many of its counterparts - see the blurb as to how the Inked Archon came to his current state - it would be reasonable for Trueborn to be co-opted into units with their tube-born cousins to act as specialists, something they would of course love and loath in equal measure.

To start the more general ones to bulk out the numbers and or because I had some ideas I wanted to make.

Splinter rifles




Splinter Sniper



Close Combat Weapons




Phantasm Grenade Launcher



Splinter Cannons



Dark Lances




Blasters




& the first of the Shredders





Next comes a single model that I found and bought on a whim because it is incredibly detailed and I thought looked fantastic. Size has dictated he'll probably be used as an Ur-ghul so I may switch him to a smaller base.




And finally for now.....

"There are sad, unfortunate times when one or other of our clients finds themselves unable to keep up with their end of the agreed bargain. Now in those moments we are nothing if not understanding. We do not rail, we do not threaten. We simply repossess our property. And allow our former client to go about their business. We tend to find they do not miss their augmentations overly."
Ril'ck Intercessor for the Shattered Helix






The repossession specialist of the Shattered Helix, a night surgeon who hunts those unfortunates unable to make their payments to the Coven. It's a thankless job, but somebody's got to do it and this chap will likely see the table doing it as an Acothyst, though he would likely make a passable stand in for Kheradruakh if for some reason I chose to field the mandrake lord. Because of the semi-crouched but highly mobile, almost looming stalker pose he seems to have gained I am planning on adding a victim to the floor in front of him. Almost as if he's poised regarding his victim about to peel off the tissue inch by inch so he can deliver unscathed organs to his masters.
What I would really like, if I can pull it off, would be for the victim to be very much still alive, albeit wounded and with a doubtful prognosis, attempting to crawl away with one arm outstretched. I need to find the right parts for that, as I think it would be more amusing to have an obviously Eldar or Dark Eldar victim, and it makes it more representative of his purpose.


Now at this point I wish to raise something that has begun to really bug me, and sadly seems to be impacting my ability to continue and finish my Dark Eldar. I am becoming very very irked by how fragile they are. Now before I ruffle feathers I should point out that I don't mean on the actual gaming table. I love their fragility in game and find it fits me even closer than the bio-vats of the Tyranids.

But the fragility of the models is my current issue. I love the models, they are beautiful... and yet I find myself spending more and more of my hobby time doing what I'm going to refer to as 'model upkeep', that being the reattachment or replacement of broken parts. And whilst it's less of a problem when it's just an arm that's come off, I tend to find blades snapping in half, scourges separating at the waist or wing pinion etc. and in all it's now getting to the point where if I take them anywhere to play with - or move them around individual without the utmost care - I will be stuck redoing things. As a specific example my Coven Ravager has lost one of the weapon sponsons and all the cabling after it's first trip out.

Obviously this is infuriating when it comes to unpainted models, but I am not looking forward to when it happens to anything I've actually 'finished'. I have a bad enough relationship with that side of the hobby as it is, without having to redo paint jobs on a weekly basis. So I come to you - and my point, eventually - what and how do you my fellow Archons, Succubi & Flesh Crafters all either prevent this happening, or deal with it in the first place?

I seem to be finding that transport is the largest source of these damages, and have tried investing in cases but so far with less than perfect results. Now perhaps I simply haven't found the best case or foam, and I've seen a few recommendations but my concern is that it's more than just the quality of foam and more something that I am or am not doing.

So I open the floor, any recommendations?

Wow.... just... wow !

About the transport, cases aren't designed for us. The DE miniatures don't fit in the holes. So i think the better way is magnets and metalic case. I've tried it on something like ten models, and it's really working. Did I mentioned that it was also cheaper than usual cases ?

Colour me interested. Might I enquire what exactly you're using?

I'm glad you like the conversions. I myself have always been a fan of the 'extremely great work' produced by your namesake and bare a striking resemblance to one of his incarnations.

Awesome models mate!
I love the chronos, really creepy looking!
That haemonculus is in line for the "guy I wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley" award, seriously dark and twisted!

Time, it slips us by, sand in the glass, dust in the wind. The stream that flows without ending.

I have been somewhat lax. Well very, but also not, more a case of being slow with certain things and very slow with other things, and then not wishing to post unfinished things. Suffice to say this is coming to an end, or at least a pause. At worst a blurt of brief expansive noise prior to another slide into silence.

But enough of that melancholy, some irrelevant news and then on with the show. Having convinced the soon to be Mrs Partridge King to accept my proposition of eternity - assuming the revivification cycles don't collapse - last year, the date of nuptiality is fast approaching, which bizarrely has given me a surge in creative effort even if not more time. And I have finally completed - I say completed none of them are even slightly painted, one still needs a mask and they all need to go on bases - my Grotesques.

To count them I now have:
The Naeddre x3
The Rabid x3
The 'break-dancing bigfoot' x1
Crypt Horrors x3
Amalgams x3
Centipedes x2
Mon'keigh-pede x1
Aberration x1

These are meant to represent the different artistic styles and preferences of the different Haemonculi within the Coven of the Shattered Helix and as such barring the standard Grotesque, the Crypt Horrors and the Aberration I can specify which Haemonculus created them.

Sadly I am extremely irked by my camera - with an actual macro function - having vanished somewhere into the flat, thus I can only supply photographs taken by phone and thus massively reduced in quality and clarity. In any case I present photos of some of them.


The Naeddre - (quoting from my Coven's fluff) Great hulking serpentine monstrosities, these four armed creations are the twisted products of the Coven Master's work with Sslyth. Their scaled heads fused to the dark metal of masks of traditional Grotesques these creatures have been similarly manipulated with the esoteric arts of the Haemonculi.

And thus created by The Ophidian Lord












2 of the Amalgams - The Amalgams, the Centipedes & the Mon'keigh-pede are all creations of the Brothers Grymm, with each 'brother' taking the concept of conjoined creatures in slightly different directions.




That was the one without it's mask.




This one will be more vertical once it's mounted on a base, trying to get the balance correct to photograph it was the issue.

1 of the Centipedes





The Mon'keigh-pede

(Spoilered due to the rating of the film that it's referencing - which I've not actually seen):

I've also put some base coating on my Trueborn and my Razorwing is getting a little experimentla painting treatment, we'll see how that turns out.

In other news I've started a new project #AgonyEngines (I'm not entirely used to this Hashtagging thing I'll admit) which can be found here.

After the Agony Engines I'm thinking of finally starting my Pathfinders, my Voidraven and then possibly either filling out the rest of the Coven - 'Wendigo' is a named Haemonculus still lacking from the table top - or perhaps the Intercessor who seems to be popping up as my Coven's salesman may get a model. We shall have to see....

These are delicious. Where do you usually look for inspiration?

Wonderful creatures, PartridgeKing, it is great to see such creativity being employed to broaden the Haemies' product range!

When is the big day with Mrs PK? We must make a sacrifice in your honour.

What body are you using for the Wych Haemon?

Thank you both, very glad they work, I've been working - very slowly - on these for far too long so it was good to have made the final push there! And though they're not exactly how I imagined them in some cases I'm pleased with what they ended up with, the Mon'keigh-pede for example captures the right amount of the source material whilst still being slightly different.

@Teetengee Bits and pieces from all over I think, my memory keeps things for a strange amount of time and picturing ideas in my head makes use of my 'aspiring writer' to take little bits from anything and everything. For example, obviously the Mon'keigh-pede is from the film (trailer), the Centipede proper was based on a character that appears very briefly in the 'Lucifer' graphic novels, or at least that's where the mental image came from. And the amalgams were an original attempt to do the same but in a different way, the one's here were created after I realised that I needed bits to make them 'bigger' if they were to be Grotesques.

@Gobsmakked Glad to hear you like them, and it is to be exactly two months from today, 22nd of March, and all the planning must be finished!

@Its_Rumble He's based on the Warriors of Chaos Sorcerer Lord I'd seen someone on here do a converted Archon with blaster using the body and a Dark Elf helmet and knew I had to find a use for it myself.

As part of my intention to continue my hobby progress productively and consistently I've decided to make use of this project log considerably more often, and to do small WIP updates whenever possible - this does obviously mean more photos of things coming together rather than just finished conversions but hopefully the City will forgive me that.

My current Agony Engine project is still on hold whilst I wait for my local games store to actually get in my order - recurrent issue whenever I order from them it seems, may lead to finding web based alternatives, anyone have experience of Dark Sphere? - but so that I'm still being productive and or getting somewhere I started on my Voidraven Bomber. Very much WIP of raw plastic coming together and some of the other things on my table due to only having an hour or two at it last night but still.





Voidraven, plastic Wracks & some of the Grotesques from my previous update.

And equally as - among all the other things - I'm vaguely attempting to write a cookbook focused on my somewhat questionable theories on flavour I will be adding in notes on what powered each of my hobby sessions. This is unlikely to be in massive detail but if anyone takes particular fancy to anything I can probably supply recipes.

Voidraven construction powered by Stilton & Bell-pepper jelly toasties.

I love Dark Sphere - the prices are the best I've found anywhere (short of fire-sale type events) and with GW stuff I've never had to wait more than 1 working day for my order to be shipped. Other items can take longer but that's generally if you order something that's out of stock that they need to order in.

Wonderful, methinks I shall have to trial them for the Harlequins!

Also whilst there's no progress thus far due to local gamestore related.... 'delay' ....I shall at least mention my own general modelling project to make a series of Agony Engines. Where the intention is to make a series of alternative engines created by the Haemonculi that fulfill additional purposes.