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Black Lions - Entarion's DIY Space Marine chapter

36K views 111 replies 29 participants last post by  Entarion 
#1 · (Edited)




'I was there, the day Luther slew the Lion.'



'Welcome weary travelers to domain of the Black Lions. Here you'll find their mighty force. Enjoy your stay.' - Remembrancer Sarmëiaur

Let me explain easily what Black Lions are about
-take inspiration from Dark Angels, Space Wolves and Black Templars
-don't follow Codex Astartes to the point
-don't get on well with Ultramarines
-elitist chapter using a lot of veteran units
-use heavy weapons and units alongside with fast LS and bikes
-have Fallen Hunters unit. Very secretive, elite, chaplain-like unit led by chaplain.
-have only Venerable Dreadnoughts
-their names are derived from Elven words
-using HE and Scibor bits with lot of my own creations
-symbol is any Lion head. HE lion pads used by Tactical, Assault and Devastator marines. Veterans use Scibor lion pad on left shoulder. Proudlords use 2 Scibor pads on both shoulders.

Fluff and other things around them are still very WiP. With this project log and future fluff log I will try to shape them more to my liking. I know this is not much info but homebrew is like a child and grows only with time and dedication.

What to do list:

1st Company
8x Lion Guard (Honour Guard)
5x Proudlords with Thunderhammers
5x Proudlords with Lighting Claws
5x Proudlords with heavy weapons
10x Vanguard Veterans
10x Sternguard Veterans
5x Fallen Hunters (LotD)
1x Chaplain

3rd Company
Morraw the Black Lion (HQ)
Venerable Dreadnought
20x Tactical marines
5x Assault marines
6x Veterans scouts
3x Devastator Centurions

Vehicles
Land Raider Ares
Command Rhino
Predator
Land speeder fast response unit
- 2x Land Speeder
- Land speeder storm
Quad bikes
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Lets start with first Tactical squad as it is my only, almost, fully painted squad. They will be repainted in near future.
I am using diversity pattern for 5-10 man squads. Let me explain

Here you can see sergeant with squad "champion". He serves as leader for 2nd part if squad is divided and also carries squad banner


Special and heavy weapon bearers


Now for some diversity "veteran" marines. They are battle hardened marines soon to be promoted to Veteran ranks. You can see custom pads and helmets along with bolters to show their experience


And last 3 standard marines


More pics are coming soon
 
#6 ·
Thank you guys! Support is always appreciated.

So let me show you other pics. Veteran Scouts. I wanted to make them like a Spec Ops a bit but still not happy about them. I switch heads also, those are horrible and add some hoods.



I don't feel right about this one. Haha I know, right hand is completly wrong. Wasn't my day I guess. And also need to replace pointing hand. Probably back to one with scope so he looks like he is attaching it to weapon.




This one is a bit of baddass. He will get some bare head with mohawk.


For lion feel, lion furs


And finally modified weapons. Still need liquid GS to fill the gaps


So what do you think?
 
#7 ·
Nice use of those HE Lion parts are shoulder icons, I've considered using them on IG as shoulder pads and as a banner top on some Astral Claws but never as chapter symbols. I like the lasgun mod'd sniper rifle but I don't think the bolter one is quite as clean. Painting wise, I know yellow is a bitch to paint (hence why I stopped at 6 Lamenters before giving up.) but maybe another thin coat of the base yellow over the wash before the highlights would clean it up a bit, they are a bit dirty which is fine but it kind of jars the eye abit as the rest of the minis are so clean. Props on getting the white to be that clean btw.

You're GS'ing is impressive as well, nice work on the cloaks and the helmet mods. Looking forward to seeing where this is going.
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the feedback Jacobite!

When I started with chapter there were none Lion bits. But hopefully for me HE White Lions were released and Scibor also started with lion range.

Here is back shot. I think Lion is a strong theme for marines and gives them unique look


For the yellow. Tactical were painted with Sunburst Yellow. I wasn't pleased so I bought Golden Yellow. Result is much more cleaner and smoother but on the other hand Golden Yellow seems too dark



So I will probably stick to Sunburst but will try to get better look
 
#10 · (Edited)
I was quite exhausted after Tactical squad. They were for our local forum competition which never was. I wanted to do finally something extra. I decided to do Terminator. In the end I was so proud of him that I start to call them Proudlords.
Also add some fluff to them:

Although all veterans in 1st Company undergo training with Tactical dreadnought armour, there are only few who earned the right to always wear it on battlefield. They are called Proudlords. Seasoned veterans and most elite units in Black Lions chapter.

Conversion


Painted model Proudlord Callean. My first attempt to paint blonde hair. He may looks funny but I decided to not repaint it. I like him like that. Also all veteran models use, in addition to main scheme, gold and green colour as symbol of veterancy.


For more detail pics check this video
Proudlord Callean

I also converted two more models


I use my custom bits on these models to make them more unique.
 
#11 ·
Ok. So my very recent unit I did is Assault squad. One thing is I didn't know from the beginning that Sergeants are actualy Veterans (reason why tactical sergeant looks quite standard). But when I was working on Assault squad, I read some random articels and there was mentioned all sergeants are Veterans. With this in mind I tried to convert him that way.



Veteran Sergeant. I will use these champion helmets for all veterans but with slight conversion. Very similar to Astelan and pre-heresy DA. Knightly look.



 
#15 ·
Wow, just read through the whole thing and I gotta say wow. Nice background fluff and your progess is good too seeing improvements in painting and some bloody amazing green stuff I love the idea behind them and the colour scheme is simple but i really like the monochrome broken with the yellow. The terminator Proudlord rocks very good indeedy!

Your assault marine vet seargeants gs is impeccable squire wish my sculpting looked half as neat. Colour me impressed and kepp it up! +rep
 
#16 ·
Thank you guys! Your support really cheers me up.

I am working right now on Dreadnought banner. Once it is done I will use Instant mold to copy whole banner. It will be easier then, when GS is still soft, to shape banner. It is my first try making banner like that. What do you thing?
Eyes and details on lion head will be painted by hand. However it'd be nice to have whole plastic head,
it is hard for me to do something so small with gs. But any tips are welcome.

 
#18 ·
I am reworking that lion head on banner. Result should be seen tomorrow. In a meantime, as much as I like working on my models I also like improving background of my chapter. Unfortunatelly, there are more questions than answers so some appropriate literature is needed. Very recently I bought some books you can see below.
I read only Angels of Darkness three years ago and book influenced me a lot. If you like DA background, this is one of the most important books. Gav Thorpe really did them justice and you find book equally shocking and disturbing. Anyone who read it, too ?
Anyway, I really look forward to reveal more mysteries about DA so it will help me make better fluff. Just assuring you I take it seriously :grin:



But right now I am putting my effort to dread. I started work on him 2,5 years ago. Shame, I know. But he will be finished this week no matter what. So what is new.

First I had to change Assault cannon. Original one has really short barrels and dread weapons need to look massive. So here is the result.



Second weapon is melee. Not original one but venerable one. I played a bit with fingers so it looks like he is holding something...



something like head of a traitor! Muahaha

 
#20 ·
So I got response from guys on our local forum and they think letters look funny to the rest of the model. So I need to change this somehow. Any ideas ??

I have only one idea right now. Get a piece from venerable dread and use those letters. Or just do simple freehand.

 
#21 ·
So I got response from guys on our local forum and they think letters look funny to the rest of the model. So I need to change this somehow. Any ideas ??
If you have a local general hobby store in your area (like Hobby Lobby for example) or a scrapbooking hobby store you should be able to find small letters used for stamping, embossing, or press printing. You can then lay down a layer of GS and press your words into it.

Something like this should work...although you will have to find small letters (not sure on the size of the letters in that link).

*Edit* - another option could be to search old thrift or second hand stores for an actual ribbon print typewriter. The stamps from one should be about the right size.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Back in time - Part 1. Rhino

Hey. I am going to take you back in time today. Take it as an extra bonus about things before Black Lions. Yes, there was someone before. It was another chapter. Same colours, same fluff but their name was Death Angels with winged skull symbol. It was few months before I finally decided course of my chapter.

One of the models I am working on right now, along the dread, is Rhino. So, how did it look before.

I must be handicapped cause I have to convert everything. I just can't simply glue model and paint it. I have cut everything before. Look at the poor Rhino below. I didn't like that both hatches are next to each other. So I played with it a bit.



And now my own creation. Extra armour by using sprues! So simple but so awesome. I love it even after years.



And here it is painted. By hand! No black primer used. (Check Razor Blade made out of sprues!) But as I said I am re-making it by adding lion stuff and some other bits -> make it more awesome.




Thank you for reading. If you like it I have more "back in time" stories like that. So maybe in near future again.
 
#24 ·
Yes, Jac. From time to time I take GS and roll it out. It then serves as plastic card, but it is much more softer and more flexible. It is good for greave plates or any other extra armor.
But lion head for banner was done differently. I needed it as thin as possible, so flag is not thick. I cut head, eyes, nose, everything from paper and then used Instant mold. Paper is thin but it still left some texture in mold. Then I used GS and cut it out. Pretty simple.
 
#26 ·
Thanks. I roll it out on my working plastic plate. And actually I don't prevent it from sticking to it. I take advantage of it! When it sticks to surface I roll it out with fingers wider and wider. Then I push some plastic card on top to make surface smoother. When it dries I simply take knife and remove it. It is usually 0,5-1mm thick

 
#27 ·
Rhino - Conversion done

My today's work was Rhino from previous post. Major change is HB turret (should serve as extra SB for rhino). I wanted to do scratch build but it didn't go well.



Another change, apart from extra bits, are lights. I noticed it on new SM vehicles and it looks awesome. Thanks GW.



Lion symbol specially designed for vehicles



Reinforced turret. I saw it on the net and borrowed idea :p Anyway I am going to do some nice freehand on it.

 
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