Harlequin Carnival - La Danse Macabre

I allway love looking thoug your army. really great covertions, thats show fantasy and original ideas

@Paland Thankyou I am pleased you enjoy looking at them.

SC

Designed these yesterday for one of the fiction comp winners and decided to cut myself a multicoloured set for my carnival. Gotta have some funky templates . Pretty darn pleased with them tbh



SC

So I go away for a few months, come back and find out you are continuing to come up with fantastically creative and characterful additions to your carnival. It just makes me wonder why did I leave it so long...
As ever thanks for sharing and reminding me why I love this hobby.

Thanks man, that is much appreciated

Sir!

I trust that you know I've been a long time admirer of your work, but I gotta say that some of the more recent stuff, like the Jokaero and the Lions, aren't doing it for me.

I feel like your best work is in things like the sslyth grotesque clowns. The dark eldar horror in those comes from the juxtaposition between horrific, bloated plague weirdos and the cute and colourful lollipop weapons. The clear juxtaposition in the models is unsettling, and I love that.

The Lions and monkeys, however, are just circus cute without any underlying horror or unsettling...ness.

I hope I'm doing a half decent job of making this constructive feedback because I DO believe that so much of your work is so strong. It's just the latest ones that seem like you could do so much more/better.

Does that make sense?

Hey Mr P. Thanks for the feedback, I always appreciate it no matter the bent

I know what you are getting at (although I am a little disappointed you think so) but I do not feel that they are weaker than my other work. Yes they are different but that was part of the intention. The clowns and talos ect are all creepy monsters, and I wanted something a little lighter and fun for the beasts. I think because the original Khymera models are mutated warp daemons I wanted to do something completely the opposite, and also fit in the carnival circus theme. Fear not however, I have no more plans for cute units. All my new ideas are of a similar bent to the creepy clowns

Hrm. "weak" probably wasn't the right word. They're still strong models, they're just different, as you say. And I now see how that's just a different sort of juxtaposition, particularly with the Khymera juxtaposition you point out.

I'm definitely looking forward to your further creations!

Barbarus, master Haemonculus and flesh crafter, smiled his thin lipped smile, limping slowly towards the bank of cages in front of him. The room reeked of bile, sweat and the strange scents of exotic perfumes. Trails of pus leaked from cracks in the cage walls, slime coating the bars as thin wails of anguish emitted from within.

"Ahhh my pretties, the time is almost ripe for your special unveiling" he cackled, drawing a key from his filthy robe.

" Many hours have been spent crafting your new forms, and it is time to prove your worth to our illustrious master"

He limped from cage to cage as he crooned, inserting the key into rusty locks which squealed their protest as they moved, showering rust onto the filthy floor.

Barbarus stepped back and waited expectantly as the doors slowly swung outwards. Cavities of blackness were revealed, like decaying sockets in a skull. Slowly the sound of shuffling increased in volume as movement could be seen in the depths of each cage. Suddenly loud bangs erupted and showers of confetti streamed from within, balloons appeared and floated fitfully towards the low ceiling, bobbing there until they were caught in gusts of foul reeking wind, and sent spinning crazily to the extremeties of the room.

The shapes revealed within moved slowly forward, shuffling ungainly and squinting as they came into the light. Foul creatures they were, tubes and coils of wire erupted from bloated humps and deformed limbs trailed behind their mutilated bodies . Twisted and mutated beyond all recognition, they were sad parodies of their former selves. Artists, musicians, and craftsmen they once were, plucked ignominiously from their homes, stripped of their armour and forced to suffer horrendous tortures at the hands of their captors

"Aaahhh my guardians, are you ready?"













I have succumbed. My Eldar allied detatchment has begun to be formed. I recently saw GAR's project log here where wraithknights were modified to have head dresses and exotic weapons, and I was instantly smitten. The cogs in my head started turning and an idea was formed. I have bought a dodgy wraithknight from ebay which is currently sitting in a tub of dettol to remove the paint, and this will be repurposed for my carnival. However unless I want to run unbound (which I don't) I needed some troops to fill out the detachment. Last week I was having a game with a pal and mentioned my idea. He suggested I convert up a load of guardians to accompany the knight, using the hobbit gremlins I had just aquired (I wanted the scenery to use in Malifaux). It was a great idea and as soon as I got home I set about converting them up. Below are the fruits of my labour. Pretty pleased with them tbh, they are suitably warped and creepy to fit into the theme I wanted (and they have inspired my first ever piece of fluff above). The talos limbs add some nice creepy brutal elements, and the wires, vials and tubes all add to that. Of course they don't look anything like Eldar guardians but who cares right? . The beauty of this carnival project is that I can use any unit for whatever I want and no one is any the wiser. They could quite easily stand in for wracks or even be mixed in with my current warrior squads and nobody would bat an eye. Glorious!

Of course your feedback on these is much appreciated. What do you think of them? Do they work or look a little crap?

Ta ta for now

SC

These look great!

@Woozl. Thanks dude

haha! they certainly don't look like guardians! but they do look awesome. The legs look really good, I'll have to take a look at some of the hobbit stuff

Love the use of some of the chaos bits, like the heads. The talos kit is great for all the little limbs it provides, what you going to do on the bases? keep em simple?

@solar shock. Cool thanks dude . It is great to get some feedback on them as I was not quite sure I pulled it off.

The hobbit goblins are pretty cool and all the mutated limbs have a really nice effect. I love the talos kit for all the bits it provides for conversions. It is seriously one of the best kits for converting dark eldar.

I am planning to just keep the bases simple and tie it in with the DE side of my carnival, so I will be keeping the same colours , grass and leaves .

SC

They're disgusting, twisted shadows of their former selves.

PERFECTION! I love them. I've been looking through Objective Secured and marvelling at your work. The beast pack monkey is my current fave for use of a model, although Cronos conversion is a close second. Lollipops and balloons and... terrifying, wondrous, SUPERB.

@Rathian. Thank you so much dude

I am super chuffed you are digging my blog and creations. It is very satisfying when someone else enjoys my work, as I really do enjoy the whole creative process that goes into the carnival (and all my other stuff tbh), and getting feedback for it is really encouraging.

The cronos is a personal fave of mine. I really like how the colours work together and the whole vibe is creepy yet strangely stately too

Thats right folks. As part of my Dreadtober vow (something going on in the the blogging community, where you have to commit to painting a dreadnought for the month of October) I have started on a carnival wraithknight for La Danse Macabre. Although strictly not a dreadnought I figured it would still count .

Now the plan is to simply complete the conversion by the end of October, and paint Bjorn as well (Part of my painting vow here on TDC too) Part of the reason for me starting this (as well as being fired up by the idea) is because I have only sporadic access to my painting desk due to my son sleeping in our bedroom in the evenings (where it is located), so I have to sit on the stairs and work, which is nearly impossible with paining. Therefore I decided to start this project alongside Bjorn, and tbh I am having an absolute blast converting it.











This knight was an ebay rescue job that has sat in dettol for the last few weeks stripping the paint off. I got it for £25 inc postage which I think is an absolute bargain and although it needed work doing to it, I was going to chop it up anyway so it did not really matter. So far I have reposed the legs so the right leg is balancing on a giant beach ball, and I straightened the left to take the weight of the (soon to be worked on) swinging body and arms. By far the biggest job has been removing all the gems and extensions to the leg parts, and filling, filing & sanding it all down and smoothing off. I really like the sleek look he now has, and the spikes to the rear really add a dangerous touch to the legs that I am liking alot. The final touch was a flowing banner attached to the crotch area and a cronos shield instead of the more Eldar one he had before. Overall I am really pleased with the progress so far and I cannot wait to get more done over the coming month.

What are your thoughts on him so far?

SC

Oh a Carnival Wraith Knight I'm so so keen to see where your imagination leads us on this one!
Thus far kinda hard to say much other than I agree the new sleeker look is nice and the blades do look dangerous (and cool). As a parting comment I love the idea of Dreadtober I feel the need to add an Angels of Vengeance Dread to my monthly vow, after all who doesn't like and angry half dead dark angel?

Thanks Punk

He has bee a blast to work on thus far, and I am really looking forward to working on the rest of him and see where the whole conversion leads. There is still a ton of work to do though.

Yeah Dreadtober is a great idea, and the participation across the net has been great. Chuffed to see you joining in with your dread. Will look forward to see what it will turn out like in your cool scheme.

SC

Hi SC,
I'm new in TDC and I really like your stuff in general and I can't wait to see the WK finished. I went through your topic and one of my favorite are the mandrakes based on dark elves rider. I love their dynamic posture and the contrast between their grim face and the bright colors.
Keep the painting and modelling modjo, to look at your stuff is really motivating.
F

Why thank you good sir, and welcome to the dark city

I am really pleased with the mandrake conversions and paint jobs. The torso's were a little tricky to sculpt but they came out really nicely. I love the bases too and think I might do something similar for another unit.

I have an update coming for the wraith knight so stay tuned. It is coming along nicely, although a few areas require a bit of a re-think and re-visit as they don't look quite right

Looks good already... will keep tabs on this, a mighty addition to the Carnival.

Thanks Rathian

I am plugging away at it every eve, so hopefully I get it finished to my satisfaction this month. I have a ruck of painting to do for a tourney so it might have to take a back seat if I get mega behind . Fingers crossed though

SC

Over the past week I have been plugging away here and there on the Wraithknight and just wanted to post up my progress so far.

First up I have done some work on one of the arms (the sword one). I scraped off and sanded down all the gems and added a few spikes for good measure. Then the sword and hilt were removed in readiness for the bar to be drilled through. Once that was all complete I inserted the metal rod and glued on a set of wooden beads (with drilled holes). Previously these had been worked on with green stuff to make them round and fill any gaps. It prob does not look like it but they took an inordinate amount of time to do, as they were shaped, sanded, filled, sanded again, liquid green stuffed, sanded ect ect. The final stage was to wrap copper wire round the hilts to look like banding and voila, a spiky arm holding two ginormous lollipops





So for the main torso I have again removed most of the gems (and a slice of my finger while I was at it) for the more sleeker look. At the back I added a power pack and some chaos speakers with additional spikes. I have a lot more work to do to this, with cables and pipes ect coming out of it, but the main chassis is attached now, ready for the additions. I cut out a section of the mask rim to make it flat as the plan is to have a clown face projected in the visor (like my first talos). The halo on the top of the head is the start of his hair do, but fret not my friends, there is a lot more to do before it is remotely in its finished state.









What are your thoughts so far?

SC

That's a ton of work! The Chuppa Chupp O'Doom looks great.

I am definitely going to have to paint it as a Chuppa Chupp now