Monday 10 August 2009

Terminator Squad Wavranka

On the wide open, wind swept and irradiated deserts of Konos III the few terminator suits of the 591st expedition had little direct application. Originally built several centuries earlier as the 'Cobra' designation exo-suits, designed for use in high pressure atmospheres, and then later partly modified with the latest 'Cataphracti' reactive armour design, the Terminators under Sergeant Wavranka took part in few actions during the compliance of Konos III; Their one notable involvement was their teleporting within the command headquarters of the Southern Confederacy during the final assault of that campaign. Sergeant Wavranka later received some condemnation from elements of the Imperial Army and expedition for failing to leave any survivors from amongst the ruling legislature during the assault, although notably there was no official reprimand from within the Legion itself nor from Commander of the Fleet Borya.





These miniatures are comprised of both loyalist and chaos terminators, although for the most part most of the chaos iconography has been removed - I did however leave a little bit on to represent both the more 'barbaric' look of some of the terminators in Collected Visions and perhaps to create the slight allusion that these marines are not quite so squeaky clean as they might once have been.

The shoulder pads are resin casts from a website called Wookiehole* with some extra studs added, and the storm bolters of the marines have been modified to a magazine fed rather than belt fed weapon, (along with a single barrel) to differentiate them from later weapon developments. The sergeant, perhaps due to his position, wields a prototype storm bolter.

The chainmail is greenstuff, and I've added a slight amount of weapon damage to represent the few shots which hit home during the assault in the campaign named above! Finally, the helmets are shaved down berserker helms, which are markedly similar to the 'Cobra' pattern helmets found on some of the early Rogue Trader-era terminator miniature seen below:



This is not only a reference to the Rogue Trader influence running through Collected Visions, but also helps mark the suits as being a direct descendant of the exo-armour suits from which terminator armour was originally derived.

*Sadly Wookiehole doesn't seem to be offering it services at the time of writing, although this could be something to do with its owner being in the process of opening a new Bricks and Mortar store in Aldershot, UK (Click here to be taken to that website). They are a great addition for pre-heresy modellers however, and hopefully they will become available again at some point in the future!
++EDIT++ I've just heard that the website above will be stocking the above parts at the end of August, so great news!

2 comments:

  1. They look great, though I'm not sure I see the single-barrel thing (my poor gamer-eyes are clinded by all the white... :P). Do you find the chainmail especially taxing?

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  2. Sorry about all the white mate, I'm sure you appreciate its just as frustrating to me! :)

    The chainmail it pretty straight forward TBH, it required very little re-working and just a little thought with regards to its thickness and keeping the porcelyn surface as damp as possible!

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