Thorn Moons Crusade: The XXVIII Expeditionary fleet arrives at the Crataegus Fragmentum

The Shape of He to Come.

Over the past few months, we have been working on creating some Imperial Army/Guard to defend the Thorn Moons from a warpath of ravaging Space Wolves. Recently we started the process of creating some silicon molds to help expedite the process of building an army. For this post, we thought we would do something a little different and, rather than talk about our progress with the models, we would show the first of what we hope to be a few posts dealing with their background!

Thorn Moons Crusade: Making a mold for the Defenders of the 73rd Moon

It's understood, we'll do or die.

A few weeks ago, we showed our progress on our remnants of the Imperial Army defending the Thorn Moons. Since then, I have disassembled all of the models and built a few more weapons and sculpted some arms, preparing to create a silicone mold. I am pleased to say that I made the first mold for the guard, and it was quite successful! I wanted to show you a few pictures of the resulting mold and the resin casts it produces.

Thorn Moons Crusade: Defenders of the 73rd Moon

For a thousand years I spurned the flesh change
But I had lived as half a being
Until the celestial tides wrought our metagenesis.

Late last year, shortly after Iron Sleet announced their second Invitational, we began work on some Imperial Guard to defend the Thorn Moons, the remnants of the Imperial Army that originally explored the Crataegus Fragmentum during the Great Crusade. For the Guard, we wanted to create soldiers that were a little more grounded in reality than most of Games Workshop’s human warriors, eschewing bulky breastplates, rubberized mining suits, and heavily starched robes. To do this, I started to greatly modify Forge World Elysian Drop Troops. In the last few months, I have not had too much time to work on them, but am pleased to say I am now going to set my full attention on them again! I wanted to use this post to show my recent progress on them.

Thorn Moons Crusade: Invitational II WIP

"Searchers after horror haunt strange, far places."
- H.P. Lovecraft

Over the last few months, Iron Sleet has slowly been revealing glimpses of their next collaborative Warhammer 40k project, the Thorn Moons Crusade. From the enigmatic Elder Ones, to the shadowy Alpha Legion, to the howling slayers of the Vlka Fenryka, forces are mobilizing to turn the Thorn Moons of the Crataegus Fragmentum into a warzone. During this time, we built Elder One Othalanga to help defend the Thorn Moons, but still had many other ideas swirling through our heads of other things to create for the project, primarily focusing on the human defenders of the Thorn Moons. Incidentally, a few weeks ago Iron Sleet announced their second Invitational, inviting people to join in on creating models and lore to accompany the Thorn Moons Crusade, specifically asking for people to build 5 human-sized models that would fight alongside the many factions looking to spill blood in the coming conflict. We decided to take this as a cue to put some of our ideas into model form, creating some elements of the Imperial Army that originally explored the Crataegus Fragmentum during the Great Crusade, and has spent the last 10,000 years cut off from the wider Imperium.

Dragged into Turbolasers Episode 31: The Thorn Moons Crusade and the Iron Sleet Invitational II

The Green Man Cometh!

This episode is focused on talking about Iron Sleet’s next project, following the Pilgrym event, called the Thorn Moons Crusade. We talk a little about the origins of the project, and the lore that surrounds it, talking at length about the Thorn Moons and the Elder Ones and Green Mechanicvm that inhabit them. We also discuss the Elder One that Adam built and painted over the last few months. Finally, we talk about the Invitational that Iron Sleet extended to the world, encouraging people to create a series of 5 models to explore the human elements of the Crusade.

Thorn Moons Crusade: Elder One Othalanga Painted

From Throne to Thorne.

Elder One Othalanga is complete! At times it seemed like he would never be done, with all the  sculpting, casting, and experimentation on the proportion of Space Marines, but after 8 long months, he is done. He was created for Iron Sleet’s upcoming Thorn Moons Crusade, a collaborative event where the Imperium, led by a horde of Vlka Fenryka, is attempting to the expunge the Green Mechanicvm from existance. The Elder Ones are a mysterious Space Marine chapter dating back from the time of the Great Crusade, who were separated from the wider Imperium until the late 41st millennium due to warp storms. Although few in number, each Elder One is a prodigious warrior that towers above most Astartes, fitting well with the gigantic marine I sculpted. All of the other Elder Ones were created by the esteemed FPOA (who is now a member of Iron Sleet), and painted mossy greens and browns, suggesting their ancient lives amongst trees and thorns. When painting Othalanga, I wanted to achieve a similar look to FPOA, so that he would fit along side his brethren. To do this, I experimented with a few different techniques, focusing on using stippling to create variation in color rather than traditional highlighting. Below I will talk a little about the paints I used and how I went about the entire process.

Thorn Moons Crusade: Elder One Othalanga

Elder One Othalanga

Song of Othalanga, Cerberin Brier

With a Thousand Sons I walked betwixt a profusion of petals

Until lymph and serum congealed sweet and thick

Until my marrow drained and flesh transmogrified

For a thousand years I spurned the flesh change

But I had lived as half a being

Until the celestial tides wrought our metagenesis.

I am an envenomed barb, a binary poison

Cerberin brier, a wordless hex

The heart arrests and vision fades

Wreathed in white, brass, and iron

I forge adamantium and steel with branch and bough

I shape a truth that had been sleeping

As the Thousandth Son I am reborn

I am a wanderer of moons, a changer of ways.

From Throne to Thorne.

I must live, I must die, and live again

I am the memory of all that came before,

I am the worlds soil, and the world anew.

True-scale Black Templar Space Marine

No Fear! No Pity! No Remorse!

Despite the release of the new Primaris Space Marines, which we think would be an excellent foundation to create “true-scale” Space Marines, we have not given up on our efforts to create more anatomically correct Space Marines. We created silicone molds to cast our most recent attempt at a true-scale Space Marine, and as a proof of concept built a Black Templar Space Marine. I am pleased to say that this Black Templar is finally complete! With this post I want to talk a little about the painting process and show the completed model.

Building our first resin cast true-scale Space Marine

Thought begets Heresy. Heresy begets Retribution.

A large portion of my hobby time this year has been spent building a more anatomically correct true-scale marine, and then learning how to make two part silicone molds. Today I am quite pleased to reveal the fusion of both of these projects by showing you the first True-scale Space Marine that I created using silicone molds created. Not wanting the model to look too much like the original, which is still going to be turned into an Elder One for Iron Sleet’s Thorn Moon’s crusade, I decided to build an Astartes from Black Templar Chapter.

Building a True-scale Space Marine Redux

By the manner of their death we shall know them.

Space Marine anatomy is an odd thing, something that I think is often ignored due to it being behind armor. And while the plastic Space Marine models will always have a place in my heart, they have a lot of problems (leg attachment is ridiculous; they have essentially only a ribcage attached to their hips; arms are attached too high for them to attach to the scapula). The artwork of Kopinski and Dainton were some of the first examples I saw of someone eschewing these things to create something more believable. Having said this, that does not make their artwork perfect, with even the artists themselves shifting style and proportion between different pieces of artwork. The classic Crimson Fist marine Kopkinski drew is a good example, as in much of his later work (like the cover of the Uriel Ventris novel The Killing Ground) he increased the head size such that a humanoid figure could conceivably fit inside the armor. I tried my hand at creating a more anatomically reasonable Space Marine earlier this year in a collaborative progect with Mig’s from Iron Sleet, and was quite pleased with the result. No project is ever perfect, so when I started to consider creating a second Space Marine for FPOA’s Green Mechanicvm, I began thinking of what I would do differently. In this post I wanted to share some pictures of the current status of this Elder One, and talk a little about the challenges in its creation, something that I think is particularly relevant with the recent pictures of the upcoming plastic Roboute Guilliman (who is an anatomical mess).