DEI GRECI: Stemming the Green Tide

DEI GRECI: Stemming the Green Tide: Well, the Deathwatch competition voting is over, so I'm now officially allowed to reveal my entry.
I'm appologizing to readers with limited bandwidth, as this post will most certainly eat it all up.
Tons of images!
"Stemming the Green Tide"


It ended 2nd with 349 out of 1413 votes (1st place had 351 votes).
The theme was:

Deathwatch Killteam Kompetition

They send the best to do the worst.

Across the reaches of Imperial Space the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos stand watch to defeat the alien scum that threaten humanity.
Small teams of Space Marines, comprised of different chapters, are ready at a moments notice to fight the xenos threat at its heart. Whether its small tactical insertions or leading armies of Imperial Troops to defeat unhuman invaders the members of the Deathwatch are honor bound and sworn to defeat the impure threat of human extinction at the hands of aliens.

Challenge Rules:
The Space Marines of the Deathwatch do not follow the standard Codex Astartes. They use advanced and often experimental or unique weapons. Their wargear is chosen from the most holy armories of the Ordo Xenos. Their tactics are unconventional, even by Astartes standards. They are the best gifted, best qualified, best armed and armored bug hunters in the galaxy! Now its your turn to show us some real Deathwatch Marines. Show us the unique nature of the
Deathwatch, what makes them the best individual Space Marines around.

Since I don't have much Space Marine stuff - especially no fancy weapons I decided form the begining to base the entry rather on the situation than on any fancy weaponry.
So I developed the idea of a Deathwatch Killteam arriving on Dencara to defend a holy, ancient shrine against relentless attacks by the Orks.
I rumaged through my bits boxes to create the mummy, or at least skeleton of some holy warrior that was displayed in the shrine.

Most pieces are from the fantasy bretonian line, plus some vampire warrior pieces for the bones.
The finished skeleton.


Then I assembled the warriors that would become the killteam. As you can see there's the SGT from Space Hulk, a Grey Knight, and a special edition (I think it was for GW Online Order) Scout Sgt.
And here's the plan I drew up for the scene.


Then I started to build the sacophargus for Emilius van Hainbruch.
The death angel is also from that fantasy sprue.


With ProCreate I sculpted the velvet carpet underneath the mummy.

Some ornaments for the oputside.


And then I created the actual base for the scene. It was made from some instant plaster, that I pured into cardboard forms and let dry on the heater over night. Due to the fast drying it did get some cracks - these were indeed intentional, as I experienced it by accident previously.
Then I used my scribing tool to engrave runes and ornaments.
Here is the sarcophagus on the base pieces.

Another staging shot.

Then I sculpted some shoulder pad icons for the Deathwatch.

While the PC cured I primed the base black.

Then some drybrushing with Khaki and Bleached Bone

The Ornaments received first Tinn Bizz as base color.

And some highlights with Shinign Gold. Then I painted the first slogan:
"Nullus Mundus Ultra Meum Ius Est; Nullus Adversarius Ultra Meam Iram Est"
No world is beyond my authority; no enemy is beyond my wraith.
The second slogan was
"Iter Ad Munditiam Perfusum Est Martyrum Sanguine"
The Road to purity is sprinkeled with the blood of martyrs.
More shoulder pads and the banner.

another staging shot.

The Killteam ready for priming.

First paint on the sacophagus.

The stone slab on which he rests is marble.

The velvet carpet and the golden armour.


Emilius van Hainbruch in all his glory :)


With the closed sacophagus.

The Killteam primed in black with a first coat of dark grey and some red washes on highlighted areas (to simulate the shine of flames of the battle).

Mithril Silver for the left arm and shoulder.

Then I started to paint non-metal gold.


This is the palette I used for the gold.


Sergeant Lorenzo from Space Hulk

The Scout Sergeant

The Grey Knight.


I'm quite pleased with the cloak thingie.


The wounded Banner Bearer.

Note the power cable for his energy lance.

First time I really tried some OSL for the power cables and eyes.


Grey Knight "Draco"


The scout sergeant.





The Killteam is slowly coming together










Top view with all actors in place.

And the images from the lightbox - unfortunately I had the ISO too high and the images got very grainy. The reason for the high ISO was to keep the shutter as closed as possible for maximum depth focus.

But in the end it cost me first place as the submitted image was just too grainy to apreciate the scene...oh well, lesson learned.


Never the less, I am mighty proud of second place and very satisfied with my entry.





Again, sorry for the mass of images, but I hope you enjoyed the read and it was worth your time.
Cheers
Klaus