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!

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.' 

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!

Fire Support

Once again, be warned, this post will probably contain *SPOILERS* for Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lords series, ergo, if you have not read these novels yet and are planning on doing so... just look at the pretty pictures.

So as you probably know (wishful thinking? Pah!), my last post dealt with Xarl and Uzas, the close-combat elements of First Claw and as such it is only fitting that this post shall concentrate on the what could be considered the fire support element, Cryion and Mercutian.

Cryion, one of the original members of First Claw and considered to be Talos' second in command, was the figure who I have had the most trouble with thus far. This stems from the fact that, while he is a great character, with plenty of screen time, he is a fairly ambiguous character in my eyes. He is your typical local not-so-friendly traitor marine. He isn't like Uzas or Xarl of have very distinctive features to their armour, as such he is the model that I am least found of, but oh well...

Brother Cryion

Here he can be seen, in all his glory, the hope is to possibly sculpt the Night Lords symbol on his forehead (yikes!) and yeah...

I AM IRON MAN!

Showing off his trendy bionic arm, all the kids want one these days, oh and the 'Stabby bit' on the end of his boltgun for... stabbing people. I really (like really, really) wanted to equip Cryion with a Meltagun or maybe even a Plasma Gun, to make First Claw a little more competitive for the GW event, but it feels... wrong.

Anyway, while Cryion is a relatively uneventful model, Mercutain, on the other hand, I am very pleased with.

Say hello to my little friend!

Mercutian is a staunchly loyal member of First Claw, and wields their Heavy Bolter to provide some much needed fire support. Originally of 7th Claw, we met Mercutian towards the end of Soul Hunter when he and Adhemar joined First Claw (I was sorely gutted that Adhemar bought it, fighting Raguel the Sufferer).

Mr Big Guns

Yeah, that's right, Mercutian's Heavy Bolter has be drilled out (as is only right!) I can almost imagine him blasting some loyalist scumbags apart as we speak. I still have a little of work to do (as always), he obviously needs another shoulder pad, however I haven't made my mind up yet as to which one would be best. He also in the artwork by Shane Cook has a little shield on his chest armour, which I am very keen to incorporate. However, the biggest thing is the fancy decoration around the mouth of his heavy bolter, this needs to be incorporated and some point, and I'm looking forward to that even less than Uzas's cloak of skin!

And for another group photo:

4 Done, 2 to go...

So what is next for First Claw?

Firstly there is work to be done on Uzas with his flesh cloak and on Mercutian with his Heavy Bolter, I feel I should add some trophies to Cryion because he looks a little bland. apart from that it is just a case of making sure that all members of First Claw are fully WYSIWYG (What You See is What You Get) to make sure I don't drop points in the tournament.  Not sure where I am going to be able to add the Bolt Pistols and Swords and Grenades, I'm sure I'll figure something out.

Obviously, the biggest gap is that two members of First Claw are missing. I am pleased to say that Talos and Variel are both semi-assembled, but I am waiting for parts to be delivered. Unfortunately this is going to take some time as Variel's Backpack and Narthecium are being delivered from Australia (hopefully they'll turn up within a fortnight) While Talos is going to have his 3rd sword delivered as I was dissatisfied with the ones from the Sanguinary Guard and the Death Company, and as such have had to purchase:

Silly Blood Angel! 

Anyway until next time!