Valas Morovai

'All this power and pain at our fingertips. Weapons that can level cities. A warship capable of breaking entire fleet blockades. But this means nothing in the Long War. We can leave scars on steel, but so can any ragged pirate vessel with a battery of macro-cannons. We are the Eighth Legion. We wound flesh, steel and souls alike. We scar memories. We scar minds. Our actions must mean something, or we deserve to be forgotten, left to rot amongst ancient mythology.'

    - Talos Valcorian 'Soul Hunter'
         (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion) 

So this is it, the final post for First Claw, the final post of this week, which obviously details First Claw as a whole...

Firstly I would like to thank everybody who has looked at my posts, provided comments and criticism, it really does help to spur me on to carry on posting photos and modelling, and to improve my painting techniques...

 The question is, where do we go from here... 

I have already ordered some replacement parts for Variel, as I said, I wasn't really happy the out-come of him, so in time the Flayer will be re-appearing. Mercutian has been entered into my local GW's painting competition this month, not that I expect him to win as some of the entries were brilliant. 

Cyrion will also as some point be getting a remodelling too, but that's on hold for the moment. Lastly in regards to First Claw, I have ordered parts for my Duel entry, which doesn't need to be completed until September. However it will feature a particularly memorable battle between First Claw, and a particularly up-start champion of the Imperium. Any guesses?

Okay I'll give you a hint:

Anyway... Until next time...

Ciao!

Soul Hunter

'We have a world to bring to it's knees' 
     - Talos Valcorian 'Soul Hunter'
         (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion) 

So here he is, the man of the hour Talos Valcorian, Soul Hunter, The Prophet and Leader of the 10^th Company. The star of the show, Aaron Dembski-Bowden's conversion of the character from a humble Chaos Marine to a ruthless but disillusioned Chaos Lord is, simply a work of art. The description of Talos in Soul Hunter still sends a shiver down my spine.

Onto the photos...

Here you can see him complete with Aurum, Malcharion's Bolter, plenty of trophies, (he carries with him a total of 8 skulls/helms... as he is a Lord of the VIII Legion) the broken Aquila on his chest, the Skull Plate helm and his name Rune... It is safe to say a lot of work went into Talos...

'You should have never settled on this world.Our shame is our secret to keep. Tsagualsa will be clawed clean of life once more. Hide in your cities, mortals. Lock your doors, reach for your weapons and wait until you hear us howl. Tonight, we have come for you'

Apothecary Variel

'When you die, brother, you will leave a powerful legacy for the future.'
    - Variel
          (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion) 

So here we come to the latest addition to First Claw, Variel the Flayer, formally of the Red Corsairs and introduced in Blood Reaver. Unfortunately in the Chaos Codex their is no way to include a Apothecary and as such his rules are just that of a standard chosen, however, it was only right he was included in First Claw...

A fairly uneventful model to talk about, but, it's only right that he gets shown off with the rest of First Claw... I'm going to attempt a freehand of the Red Corsairs symbol on his shoulder pad, but haven't yet plucked up the balls to do it...

So with five out of six of First Claw now revealed, that only leaves one more...

Make sure you come back to see the Soul Hunter revealed tomorrow :D

Brother Mercutian

'I once saw Malek of the Atramentar head-butt someone with his tusks, I'd like to try that'
    - Mercutian
           (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion) 

So it is day four and another member of First Claw is revealed... The most solemn character in all the books, Mercutian has some fine moments, normally with his Heavy Bolter in hand, mowing down dirty loyalist space marines ;-)

Which is exactly how I have tried to portray him, with Heavy Bolter in hand, mowing down dirty loyalists... All joking aside, Mercutian was one of the easier models to build as he required no Green Stuff work and it was quite easy to make him posed effectively.

'We're going to die here.' 

Brother Cyrion

'At least we'll be killed by a hero.'
    - Cyrion
           (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion)

Hello again all, so here is the third instalment of First Claw, the character who turns out to be the ultimate bad guy of the series... Cyrion, regarded by Talos as his 2nd in command, it was certainly a big twist to find out that this guy as evil as he was...

This is by far the character who I struggled with the most, as it was really difficult to make him interesting, as such I'm still not happy with the results, and in time will probably re-do Cyrion, anyway, here is the murdering bastard in all his glory...

He is the only character that really stumped me when it came to designing him, but he'll do... for now ;)

Brother Uzas

'I killed dozens, yet bore the blame for hundreds!'
       - Uzas
           (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion)

Poor Uzas, bearing a Sinner's hands for crimes that weren't even his own, by the end of Void Stalker, I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. It was great fun building and painting this character, and in my opinion his pose is very important to the overall look of First Claw, the dynamic running legs help break up the static lines of the rest of the squad and gave great modelling potential...

Anyway, less rambling, more photos yes?
            

Here are many photos of Uzas's unique features, the blood hand print on his face, his sinner's red gauntlets, the flesh cloak, his relic bolter, gifted to him by Malcharion the War-Sage for exemplary tactical prowess, that is of course before Uzas became a frothing mad-man...

'I. Never. Worshipped. Anything!'

Make sure you stop by tomorrow...
who would you like to see next? Cyrion, Variel or Mercutian?

Brother Xarl

'I know all of these warriors. They are First Claw, and I know they'll die as they lived: trying to run away.' 
        - Xarl
           (1^st Claw, 10^th Company, VIII Legion)

This week is a special week for Heretical Thoughts, and here is why, each day, shall have a new post each devoted to an individual member of First Claw, so make sure you check back each day to see the finish model ;-)

So first up is Xarl, what can I say about this guy, except for that he is like all of First Claw, an utter bad-ass. He was a real pleasure to build and paint and now that he is finished he might as well be shown off in all his glory (I say finished, is anyone ever, truly finished)...

Comments and criticism is always welcome, anyway, make sure you check back tomorrow for the next instalment of our favourite murderous bastards...

Brothers of Darkness

'Do you hear their cries? Can you taste their fear, their agony? Know this mortal; we are coming for you!' 

     - Salvaged Vox transmission from the dead colony of Nux Haven, Travonth VI

This weekend was spent building more Night Lords for Thirteenth Company, who underwent their first trials of fire this weekend. Facing off against the forces of the greater good, I played two 1000 point games, and suffered terrible luck, the first (Relic) was a complete white wash, while the second (The Scouring) I managed to pull a win by the skin of my teeth (5 Victory Points to 4, although we only had time to play to round 3 and if we have carried on, I would have undoubtedly have lost).

Anyway, I present to you the rank and file of 13th Company, starting with First Claw. When at full strength this unit is going to be armed with two Plasma Guns and a Combi-Plasma for the sergeant. The role of this squad is simple, to sit in the backfield and claim and objective, hopefully getting to shoot someone in the process (It was this squad that won me the game today).

Trying to decide whether I should name them...

Next up we have the first Havoc Team, designated Fifth Claw, these Marines join First Claw, laying down covering fire with their Autocannons and Rocket Launchers. This unit is also the army list's answer to flyers, with both Rocket Launchers upgraded to have Flakk Missiles, in time this unit with be duplicated with Sixth Claw, at which point I will quite possibly switch the Rocket Launchers to one Squad and the Autocannons to the other...

We've got the Big Guns, pointed at your heart...

I also built the start of Second Claw, who act as Nakara's Bodyguard. This squad will eventually be 8 strong and equipped with a flamer, while the sergeant boasts a Power Sword and a Combi-Flamer... However as it stands, there are only three...

Bringing the fight to you...

And now a couple of individual shots, the first one has to come with a shout out to Dan the Deamon on Bolter and Chainsword, for his fantastic Night Lords blog, which serves as much inspiration...

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/172506-night-lords-18th-battle-company/

When I saw Dan's Autocannon conversion I knew that I had to make my own, and here he is, sporting his Autocannon and a chain to support the weight, lots of work to still do on him, but it is a start.

Next we have Second Claw's Sergeant Marox built using a mixture of Chaos Warrior, Chaos Raptor and Chaos Marine parts while the Combi-Flamer comes from the Night Lords Champion model and...

Who doesn't like burning their enemies alive?

Lastly we have Sergeant Vaas of First Claw, armed with a Combi-Plasma and making use of Forge World's Bionic Legs, you can just tell that Vaas is all kinds of evil... Unfortunately I forgot to take an individual photo of him but here he his hanging out with his buddy Marox...

Who needs a god when you're this badass...

The Lords of the Night

So here is, as promised, the second update of this week, featuring as you should be well aware, everyone's favourite genetically-enhanced murderers, Aaron Dembski-Bowden's First Claw... 

When First Claw come for you... run...

As I am sure you can see, only the basics of painting has begun on First Claw, this is for several reasons:

1. I hate Green Stuff - I really need to learn how to scuplt much more proficiently
2. I was scared - This for me is a massive project, and I wont lie, I'm really worried that wont be able to do them justice.

Anywaaaay, as shown, only the basics of the armour has been painted so far, I have started work on the detailing on the armour but not gotten much further in regards to painting. I have however, scuplted the dead skin mask on Variel's shoulder and the Flesh Cloak attached to Uzas's back. In addition there has been the addition of odd bits and pieces to make First Claw as WYSIWYG as possible, oh and I added a new muzzle to Mercutian's Heavy Bolter, cause... well why not? Anyhow, less chat, more close ups:

Talos Valcorian, The Prophet, The Soul Hunter

As you can see there is much still to do on Talos, as he is merely blue at the moment, the paint scheme for the armour is pretty simple, a Kantor Blue basecoat with a very healthy dose of Drakenhof Nightshade... I am currently researching NMM metallics for Aurum, whether I have the balls to do it however... (his sword ended up costing me nearly £5.00)

Heavy Bolter for when you absolutely, postively, have to kill every mother fucker in the room...

What is cooler than an Axe... An Axe combined with a Chainsaw!

Yet another murdering bastard...

Still probably my favourite character in the whole of First Claw

As you can see there is still much work to be done on each member of First Claw, many hours yet to come until I am satisfied with them... In all likelyhood I will end up pulling Uzas's cloak off and sculpting a new one because I am still not happy with it, Green Stuff can be such a pain in the arse to work with... Those keen eyed amonst you, will have noticed that there is no individual photo of Variel, I did take one, but seem to have lost it, which is a bit of a pain in the arse, but oh well... 

Getting Ready for 10th Company's annual Photo Shoot

Until next week

Ciao!