Mudskipper & Pals

Mudskipper; Armiger Class Helverin Scout

Standing ready on the Corbenician shoreline, Mudskipper scouts ahead of the court

Despite featuring on the blog months ago as a WIP, I have only recently finished painting Mudskipper, completing my originally planned 10 knights for the Court of the Fisher King.  There may or may not be truth to the rumours that Mudskipper's completion was slowed by the intrusion of an 11th member of the court...

Far nimbler than the larger knight classes, the armiger chassis is a perfect vanguard engine

Uniquely, Sir Jayce Arron's Knight armour bears heraldic serpents; awarded for his peerless skill as a duellist in the Solstice Games

All Armiger class engines in the court are required to carry a signature deep-sea anchor ensuring that they can weather the unpredictably destructive currents which cut across Corbenic's ocean floors

The arm & carapace mounted harpoon launchers provide Mudskipper with a powerful array of weaponry with which to subdue oceanic fauna of immense size

Mudskipper frequently marches alongside his Helverin counterpart Trenchrunner, forming a potent hunting pack

Although used widely across the court, the colour white is much more predominant across Mudskipper's hull, denoting it's pilot's purity of heart

Mudskipper's hull incorporates a manipulation dendrite near the face plate to assist with deep sea maintenance duties

Mudskipper's honour markings are displayed across its armour panelling

Mudskipper with his Knight Scion Pilot, Sir Jayce Arron

The Armour on the Armiger mirrors that of the pilot

Jayce Arron chooses to fight with twinned weapons when mounted and on foot

Wielding exquisite duelling blades, Jayce Arron is a formidable adversary even outside of his war suit

Sir Arron has famously never refused nor lost an honour duel

Going full Scion

As previously noted on my blog, it's always been my intention to represent the pilot for each of my knights as miniatures outside of their titanic war mounts.  I've now finished the Scions for the two remaining knights in the court. 

Hastur Mordent

Riding the brutal Conga Blue deep into the oceans, Hastur Mordent is an assertive figure in the court, passionate in his beliefs and experienced beyond measure in the intricacies of ion shielding.  Hastur is a highly respected Scion who is always ready to impart his knowledge to younger more irascible members of the court.

Hastur Mordent has single handedly dispelled the widely held belief that an ion shield can only effectively defend a knight suit from one angle.  The level of skill required to achieve multi-directional deflection was previously thought impossible without a dedicated cogitator feed 

Hastur is currently tutoring the Count's son and daughter in the use of Questoris and Cerastus battle suits

Hastur's stoically refuses to upgrade his aged interface suit, claiming it is an 'antique' rather than a lived in relic from his days as a lowly squire

Patrocles Hiralden

Patrocles is the headstrong firstborn son of Count and Countess Hiralden.

Although he rushes to the fore in his Armiger class Warglaive Shellback, he is a capable pilot, able to fight his way clear of even the most precarious situations.

Patrocles constantly competes with the other members of the court to prove his marshal prowess. His rivalry with his sister Ivraine is legendary

Like his sister, Patrocles favours the close range punch of the Warglaive pattern Armiger chassis, using chain blade and melta fire to devastating effect

Despite their competitive nature, the two siblings are often found fighting side by side to overcome foes which would otherwise prove beyond the power of a single Warglaive 

Yet another box...

I previously showed my WIP fisher king crest which I've now finished painting.  Now it's done, I've mounted it on a new box for transporting dice etc and I'm quite happy with how it turned out!

Barracuda Squall joins the King's Court

A new steed joins the fray

Barracuda Squall is the 9th Knight to join the Court of the Fisher King and the first Dominus chassis that I've painted.

Dominus Knight Valiant Barracuda Squall

I built this miniature over a year ago, but was never happy with the left arm electro-goad I had modelled him with. I left him boxed up for months while I pondered an alternative until I finally settled on the idea of creating a huge wrecking ball on a retractable chain for his replacement weapon.

The wrecking ball was made from a hard plastic ball with huge spikes from 40k building pillars pinned in place

I made this image with a little digital trickery to see how he'd look with his wrecking ball retracted.  The answer is... brutal!

The top cannon was converted to fire large explosive harpoons

The wrecking ball 'receiver' was made to resemble a deep sea creature's mouth, multi-directional and hook toothed

I was very pleased with the green and white stripes with skull and cog markings - they took a while to do, but look great!

I love adding tiny power / warning decals around the reactor and power nodes

Just like his fellow knights, Barracuda Squall is heavily weathered and dotted with kill markings

The carapace missiles were converted to be torpedoes which Barracuda Squall would be able to launch while hunting in the ocean depths 

Barracuda Squall's old, weathered chain-beard

The gathered might of the court - Mudskipper is the only notable absence!  He is undergoing the rights of colour and will be joining his fellow Knights soon...

New Scions

I've created a unique Knight Scion pilot for each member of The Court of the Fisher King - I've already shown 5 in previous posts, but it's time to introduce 2 more!

Sir Parcival Ahabius

Sir Parcival, the pilot of Barracuda Squall, is a thick set giant of a man. Possessed of a stoic, brooding personality, Parcival follows the edicts of his lord without question. Though he rarely speaks, when his opinion is given, Parcival's words are highly valued by the Knight's council who appreciate the wisdom he has gained over a century of loyal service.

Sir Parcival's body glove is coloured to match his beloved knight armour

Unlike other Scions of the court who delegate the maintenance of their warsuits to the capable hands of Sacristan Nautolex, Parcival frequently performs the rights of maintenance on his faithful steed, much to the chagrin of the wiley Mechanicus adept...

Quietly performing his duties to the kingdom of Corbenic, Sir Parcival is seen as one of the most reliable members of the court

Countess Caelia Hiralden

Caelia Hiralden is the pilot of the Cerastus Knight Reef Thresher - she proudly rides to battle alongside her husband Octillus Hiralden, their dual knight lancers filling their foe's hearts with dread as they crash into enemy lines.

Countess Caelia, seen here reaching for her sidearm, is renowned for her accuracy, holding the record for best marksman in the arc rifle contest at the annual Corbenic Solstice Tournament

The Countess where's a beautifully detailed cloak with a fur shrug; attire befitting one with such elevated status in the court

A final little flourish

And finally, I thought I'd give you a quick sneak peek of the coat of arms I've sculpted for the Court - I'll be casting it up in resin and will post some images of the final piece along with Mudskipper in the near future!

Blackstone Fortress Progress

A nest of loathsome Ur-Ghuls stalk the depths of the Blackstone Fortress...

I decided to take a little break from making large miniatures for a while and instead concentrate on getting some more of my Blackstone Fortress miniatures painted up.

After completing several delves then our first Stronghold, we've ended up with the need for some extra gribblies.  In particular, the events we've triggered have left us with a higher alert level and more Spindle Drones being deployed during combats.  In order to ramp things up, I picked up 4 extra Spindle Drones and 4 more Ur-Ghuls as they're the most common enemies and I love the miniatures!

In addition to the sheer volume of miniatures required, I also wanted to be able to easily distinguish between the different squads as this can become confusing in the game if there's a lot of enemy groups on the board.  Having an extra set of each meant that I could paint them in opposing colours to make the squads clearly different.

As well as painting the new foes, I also managed to get a couple more characters finished along with an arco-flagellant retinue character.  I'll be back to working on giant robots again soon, but for now, enjoy the photos of my Blackstone Fortress denizens!

The motley band of adventurers grows! 

I simply reversed the leg and carapace colours for the new Spindle Drone squad giving a nice contrast while still keeping the colour palette the same

A veritable horde of drones ready to overwhelm our adventurers!

I have already assembled the large guardian drones from the BSF expansion Ascension - I intend to paint one to match each Spindle Drone squadron

Even the traitor guardsmen in the base game are gorgeously detailed

I've almost finished my first squad of traitors; the second squad's colouring will be different to help make them visually different during the game

My four new Ur-Ghuls have been painted in a very different contrasting scheme

The light underbellies and bloody mouths give the new pack a shark-like appearance 

My favourite of the four new Ur-Ghuls; 'Bony'

Imperator Titan Build Mega Update 3!

A Truly gigantic miniature!

After a design and build process spanning the last 6 months, Ira Metallum finally stands!

Measuring a whopping 4.5 feet tall, Ira Metallum is a beast of a titan

Getting the titan to stand unaided was a huge achievement!

As the structural build (with the exception of the arms and head) is now complete, I was able to assemble Ira Metallum.  I am close to being able to permanently fix the hips and feet in place, but am holding off until I'm completely happy with the pose.  I'm pleased with how she's looking so far; not static, but not over-extended either.

In terms of size, Ira Metallum is approximately 4.5 feet tall, absolutely dwarfing everything around it!  The width of her hips is approximately the same height as a Forgeworld Warlord titan!  I'm pretty happy with the size in general; I used plenty of reference when deciding on the scale.  The pictures below were pretty influential...

Cover art from 'The Burden of Loyalty' by Black Library

Cover art from 'TitanDeath' by Black Library

An Imperator should tower over everything else around and boy does she tower over my reaver titan!

Her feet are so huge, she could crush a knight like a bug...

...or kick a reaver titan like a football!

Ferrum Dominus only comes up to the pelvis!

Hellstorm cannon barrel size test

Build diary

Pelvis

In order to get Ira Metallum standing, I had to get the pelvis built and detailed to a point where I could lock in the hips.  I detailed the basic structure build in my last post - below are some images of the detailing process including the creation of a giant crotch plate bearing the Titanicus symbol.

Like the original epic model, I've created a 'belt' section with the Mechanicus symbol forming the centre of the buckle

Massive vents and piping populate the rear section

A section of my moulded arches line the upper rear

A storm bolter protects the rear of the pelvis

A large hatch and a loading door are separated by a winch which would be used in loading or accessing the titan's groin and core structure

Locator bars are used to mount the large crotch shield plate

Once I had created the basic shape of the shield from styrene, I added layers of plate detailing and trim.  Finally I carefully cut the Titanicus 'T' symbol from a thin piece of styrene and attached it to the centre of the plate

From the side, you can see the curvature of the plate.  This was achieved by carefully heating and bending several layers of styrene

Once I was happy with the basic shapes and details, I sculpted over the top of the T symbol finish the design

I fashioned two Piston rings which would need to be completed before mounting the legs

The piston rings fit over the main shaft before the hips are attached

Pistons will be attached between the rings and legs after the hips are locked in place

There are some huge pneumatic pistons on the legs and they will need huge hoses to function - these will be attached once the legs are finally posed.  Again, the electrical cabling also has connector ports located under the pelvis and inside the thighs

The pipes and cable bunches ready to be installed once the legs are set in place

Legs and feet

The legs have been the single hardest element to complete due to the complexity both in universe and in the real world due to the structural load on the hips.  In my last post, I showed how I was strengthening the load bearing areas.  Next came the posing so that I could work out exactly where the locators would need to be in order to lock the pelvis in an upright position.

I mocked up the leg positions and made sure that they were level as well as how they would fit on the base.  The right leg would be tilted as if the titan was about to raise its foot to take a step.  Once I was happy with these positions, I fixed the knees with screws and glue.

After the above picture was taken, I brutally cut off the toes of the right foot as they would need to be reposed to accommodate the pose.

Once I had worked out the height the heel would need to be, I created a wedge to support the ball of the foot 

I cut the side lower sections from the front toe door so that they could be positioned to tilt with the toe

You can see how they fit back into the door in the shin plate one the toe was located

A side view shows the tilt on the foot and toe

The angle on the toe isn't too extreme, but it really does give the impression of the foot raising off the floor

I angled the wedge connecting the toe to ensure that the structure was nice and solid so it could help support the rest of the foot

The two sections I cut from the door were glued to the toe in advance to help locate it when I was ready to reattach it to the foot

I detailed the bottom of the foot around as it would be slightly visible once the heel was off the ground

The treads were built around the foot supporting wedge

The wedge itself was made from foamex scraps as it will be covered with car body filler after the final assembly to add strength. It will then be covered with detritus etc which will make it look as though the depressed ground is falling away from the foot as it's raised

The fact that the foot supports the leg on its own was encouraging and showed that I had got the balance just right

The ugly wedge can't be seen as it's right under the middle section of the raised foot

While working on the foot, I also started detailing the leg, layering the structure to add depth

I designed the legs to incorporate large shock absorbers in the thighs

The shocks consist of large pistons and tracks for the two sections to move over, to give a nice controlled mechanical motion

The inner thigh in progress

Inner and outer leg comparison

Although I changed some elements, I tried to stay pretty true to my original blueprints

Once the sides were complete, the outer cladding was joined across the front

I added small cogged wheels to the shock tracks along with other minor details such as cabling

The final thigh assembly with the large shin piston in place

The legs are a lot chunkier now the details are on.  Note the outer knee cogs

TRIPLE SHOCK PISTONS FTW!

Once the detailing on the thighs was pretty much done, I tested the positioning again and was happy that they lined up as expected

Fixing the hips

Of all the structure, the hips would need to take the most amount of weight for their size.  Test fitting and marking positions for the piston rings was essential.  It also gave me an opportunity to check the rigidity of the legs and overall balance of the pose.

Then, with the help f my lovely assistant (the mrs), I was able to test the pelvis and mark the pistons of the piston receivers on the hips

Even though the legs were not glued to the shins, everything was holding its position perfectly

Mrs G's hand is only stopping the top heavy pelvis from revolving at this point as the legs are happily taking the weight

Once the positions of the hips were marked off, I could build the position lock inside the hip socket and connecting shaft.

I used a cross screwed into the hip sockets to stop the pelvis rotating.

The cross sockets were strengthened and set in place with filler making them solid as a rock.  Once I am happy with the final fit, I will be gluing them in place with epoxy for a super strong bond

On the inside of the pelvis shaft is a corresponding cross structure which is screwed into the pelvis and locked in with filler

Carapace

A gigantic titan needs suitably beefy point defence - enter the gatling cannons!

I had saved these two spare gatling cannons after building my knights.  With a little converting and some magnets, they fit perfectly under the lip of the carapace!

The rough carapace layout

I have already built the Macro / Quake Cannon tower and Apocalypse launchers, but there's a fair amount still to do on the carapace.  I'll be adding the two quad guns for AA support, the central volcano cannon and two turbo laser turrets.  There will also be a strategium dome in the centre like the original epic miniature.

What's up next?

As well as the structures, I've already created reloading servitors and crew for the carapace small arms (is a quad gun really small?!); I'll show some pictures in a future post!

I have a ton of filling and sanding to do as well as finishing off the left leg pistons.  Once that's done, I will be able to screw the feet into the base and finally glue the hips in place. Once I've done that, it will be time to detail the shins and add the cabling / hosing to the legs and pelvis.

I have intentionally left the really fine details for now.  I intend to try and do things like heraldic flourishes and rivets on the trim at once so as to avoid unnecessarily slowing down the build process.  Adding the rivets will be incredibly time-consuming as it involves drilling a shallow hole then gluing a 1mm ball bearing into the hole.  I estimate I have about a thousand of them to do...

I'll try and provide another update around mid-October - hopefully by then I will have some arms and a head to show as well!