Subdomina Sigma Onyx-004, the Voice of the Machine Spirit of the Light Arkcruiser Gravity's Relentless Blade. The Relentless Blade's chief tech priest and captain has fallen in to a communion with the vessel so deep that they're no longer capable of completing their corporeal duties, so Sigma Onyx-004 has been deputized as their seneschal in their place. Unlike most command skitarii who are draw the normal ranks, Sigma was a princeps of a ruststalker clade before her promotion. Most of her body is cybernetic, with the more apparently human parts of her frame simply being more discrete augmetics.
Warhammer 40k & Age of Sigmar – Trans Pride series !
My other big pride project, with the pride marine series ! The goal here is to paint one representative for each of the Warhammer40k and Age of Sigmar universes faction using the Trans Pride flag color scheme.
I’ve already done 11 factions (12 to be exact, the Ork I finished lately isn’t on the group picture yet).
Pictured above, from left to right :
Banshee (Nightaunt – AOS)
Horrmagaunt (Tyranids – W40k)
Spiritseer (Eldar – W40k)
Drone (Tau – W40k)
Cadian Castellan (Astra Militarum – W40k)
Reiver Space Marine (Adeptus Astartes – W40k)
Royal Warden (Necron – W40k)
Plague Marine (Death Guard – W40k)
Palatine (Adepta Sororita – W40k
Skitarii Marshall (Adeptus Mechanicus – W40k)
Xandria Azurebolt (Stormcast – AOS)
And a Warboss in Mega Armour I will post here later, probably.
Project Origins
For those who are wondering why I started this project, it’s pretty simple.
Everything started with a single model (obviously), the Horrmagaunt. I was trying to find an interesting gift idea for a close friend and, remembering that friend love the Tyrannids, I thought of painting them a little bugger. Since I wanted that gift to be even more personal, I decided to use colors that would be really meaningful to them, the trans pride flag colors. It was a first, since, up until that moment, I almost exclusively painted classic schemes (imperial Fists, blood angels, salamanders, etc...).
Here was the result :
As you can see, my goal when translating flag colors on a mini isn’t to reproduce the flag 1 for 1, but to evoke it as naturally and logically as possible.
To be perfectly honest, when I started that little gift, I wasn’t entirely convinced the result would be all that great. After all, it was first and foremost more about the meaning behind the colors than anything else. But oooooooh boy was I wrong because, as the kids says, « that shit slaps yo » or something. I don’t know, I’m not a kid anymore !!
But one thing was certain, I fell in love with that scheme and couldn’t wait painting it again.
So, that’s what I did, that time with a Space Marine seeing those are my personal favorites. And once again, I was really pleased with the end result :
Also look at them, being best friend forever, woooooh !
You can easily guess what’s next. I simply had to try that scheme on basically everything, so I started the project of doing it on every faction !
Hell, I had so much fun painting such an unusual scheme, and having to find ways to integrate it logically on a mini, that it's the reason I started another project in parallel, the pride marine one, to try and see if the other pride flag schemes would work as well as the trans pride flag (guess what : not a single one of the scheme I tried disappointed me, even if I have favorites).
Anyway, if you want to try that scheme on your minis and need some inspiration / guidance, here is the recipe I use for the 3 main colors of the flag. Have fun !
Adeptus Mechanicus people!! Skitarii Marshall Othala-Hagalaz 1-12, Forgemaster Verthandi-1 of Sanctum Novis, and Dominus Magos Caprella of Mars!
Othala's face was based off of Brigette Helm as Maria/Futura in Metropolis (1927), Verthandi was named after one of the Norns of Norse Mythology, and Caprella doesn't have enough face left for it to show very well, but I intended to base his face off of Idris Elba.
List of Magi and Other Characters Associated with the First Deimos Explorator Fleet
Fabricator Minoris Technoarcheologist Magos Domina Aleph-Gimmel Bellerov-2.0 (she/her): a xenarite who is in charge of the fleet and mostly responsible for the current state of the fleet in a penitent crusade they have just not returned from. Her specialty is wraithbone-necrodermis fusions to cancel out warp energies. She is rather brazen about her xenarite tendencies that emerged after a meeting with Cawl a few hundred years ago. Before said meeting she was a hardline orthodox techpriest. She is however an incredibly competent technoarcheologist and administrator, keeping the Fleet together. She was originally a diplomat for the fleet and for that reason has not had a lot of outward facial augmentations to make coordinating with other parts of the Imperium easier.
Mechasapient Magos Tsephor (he/him): Aleph-Gimmel's oldest friend and a manipulus magos only concerned with the care of the pteraxii of the fleet. Pteraxii are both symbols of good luck and his only obsession. He is a blank and utterly unconcerned with matters of religious importance as long as he can ensure his "birds" are well taken care of. He is not a xenarite and only in the fleet's penitent crusade due to close association with Aleph-Gimmel.
Datasmiths Pot-Ketl (he/it/they): a pair of Datasmiths or just one Datasmith who is either two techpriests who have augmented themselves into one person or one priest who split his brain in twain. They always speak in union and are on the FDEF for suspected experiments with Abominable Intelligence in their kastelan robots. However the Kastelans have been functioning better than ever before so this goes largely uncommented on. They have a piece of archeotech that allows them to communicate between each other across almost limitless distance.
Skitarii Marshall Kattal-4/28 (it/they): head of security aboard the fleet and Aleph-Gimmel’s personal Ark Mechanicus, Deimos’s Cog, it is the perfect representation of Aleph-Gimmel’s experiments with xenotech with much of their own augments being supplamneted by necrodermis and wraithbone supports. Their own personal weapon was stolen from a slain Aeldari warrior. Kattal-4/28 does not speak often but aboard the FDEF it is known two things. They speak with the vox of their Fabricator Minoris and they are given far more autonomy than any skitarii ought to, even by the liberal standards of the FDEF. Before becoming a Marshall it worked often with sicarian units and have grown fonder and fonder of cloak and dagger operations.
Admiral Ezekiel Bendavid (he/him): the head of the accompanying imperial Navy flotilla. He is the latest in a long line of scions of the Bendavid dynasty, skilled Navy commanders. He wished too be a general in the guard since reading the works of General Jenit Sulla and the exploits of Hero of the Imperium Ciaphas Cain. He is adept at void warfare and longs for the boarding actions of his youth when he was allowed to fight the enemy hand to hand and not kept cooped up in the battle deck of his ships.
Artificer Siderénia Teleiótita (he/they): the Chapter Master of the Ironsong Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. They claim in public to be sons of Ferrus Manus but in reality are an experiment made by the magi of Deimos using the geneseed of Fulgrim. Siderénia Teleiótita is the second chapter master of the Ironsong and has struck a balance between the industrial and artistic factions of the chapter embodies both ideals of a refined noble knight and master of mechanized warfare whenever the situation calls for it.
Malka the Phobeian (he/she):the head of one of Deimos’s several knightly houses who joined the fleet because her enginseer-Sacristan was sentenced there. He doesn't quite understand how a tech priest could commit heresy. That’s for more religious individuals, in the meantime she focuses on honor in battle, obliterating the enemies of the Emperor and ensuring the noble lineage of his house. He was never supposed to be the head of House Phobeian, the Terror of Phobos, but the next six heirs and children of her father all died in mysterious circumstances. Her Sacristan has assured her he is completely safe within her knight. Her melding with the throne mechanicum years ago stripped back many of her more shy and soft aspects of his personality.
Inquisitor Seraph Seraphdottior (she/her): an inquistor self appointed to monitor the FDEF, a member of the Ordo Machinum who is sure that Aleph-Gimmel has already fallen to Tzeentch, Admiral Ezekiel Bendavid to Khorne, and Artificer Siderénia Teleiótita to Slaanesh. She will only act however once she has concrete evidence because several plants and fleets worth of ships and technology are on the line. Seraphdottior has worked with the Prefecture Magisterium in the past. She is far colder and more aloof than most of the tech priests aboard the FDEF, because she is after all the Judgment Of The Emperor and can be allowed no errors.
Managed to digitally kitbash a rotor cannon onto a Tempestus Scion arm. Currently, this is my wip of my Veletaris for my Loyalist Solar Auxilia, equipped with said Rotor Cannons. I'm just really feeling that weapon atm.
I'm a lot happier with this updated design than what I had previously done for my veletaris, pictured below. I still like this previous design a lot! But there are a few aspects that I feel could be improved. Firstly, I think the arms are a little slim and uninteresting, I'd like something a bit bulkier which I think is achieved well with the Tempestus Scions arms. I'd like the gun to be a bit bulkier too. This one is bashed from Maker's Cult Engineers and a space marine Volkite whatever. But the Volkite is scaled to 90%, so a little small.
Finally I think the backpack is a little lackluster. It's a scan of the Navy Breachers so it's just like an oxygen tank. A little boring. Here I take inspiration from Gateway Wardens from Diverging Realm.
They have a neat aesthetic and the backpacks are really large and stand out. I'd like something a little smaller though. So this is my idea. Using Skitarii backpacks with the little light with the hanging tubes cut off and digitally kitbashed with some oxygen tanks. I think that'd add a lot of interest and balance to the silhouette. Along that note some little pouches around the waste would do the same thing.
This one ^
While I am pretty happy with the Veletaris design I wonder if a different helmet would do some work. I think a medieval type one could really differentiate them from the normal guys. I have a couple options in mind but not totally sure. First is this expansion to the Gothic Void troopers. Second is something from the Feudal Guard range from Maker's Cult. Not crazy on any of those options.
However, there's one I just found that I really like! It's from the Ultimate Knight Builder. One of the four of the top row, or the first from the left on the row beneath that would be a solid contender. That helmet on the second row just looks so inhuman, it'd look cool with some cables going into it (for oxygen, in the void of space obviously) .
The weapons in the pack would do well for some of my marines as well, and the swords I think I'll definitely use for my Auxilia, for my Legate Marshal, or as Power Axes. Here's just a sample as I've reached the limit for images! Those executioner style swords would look great on some truly demonic Veletaris.
what did you mean by jacked? did you mean are they still mostly organic and are traditionaly jacked? or do their augments look jacked?
what about pteraxii? what about sicarians? what about members of the serberys corps? what about Ironstrider Ballistarius and Sydonian Dragoon riders? what about skitarii marshals? are they also femboys?
Wandering back into Tumblr; let's see if I can post images.
Been a bit woefully low on the writing front, but have fallen hard in love with miniature painting. Current project: Beach-themed Admech... because it started as an Admiralty Blues reference and then escalated.
Latest: Skitarii Marshall, ended up being more grapes than wisteria, but I'll take it!