Brazen Claws Tactical Squad

The Brazen Claws are believed to be a Second Founding Iron Hands successor Chapter. Colours and markings from Insignium Astartes.

**UPDATE** New photos 13th November 2004

Sergeant Rhadamanthys

Hmm, pics are a bit dark, I'll fix it one day, promise.

Let's see, Chaos arms (love those gauntlets) on the Ravenwing Biker Sergeants torso, Autopistol barrel on boltpistol, also swapped linked ammo for a clip as it looks more Imperial that way. GS Tactical symbol squad on right shoulder, GS and plasticard purity seal on right knee.

Painting was pretty much the same as the other Brazen Claws you see, the obvious difference is that his colour scheme is swapped around to indicate his higher rank (not in Insignium Astartes but I like the effect). I also added more brass/gold to his appearance (shoulder pads, cuffs, tassle,studs), again to emphasise his rank. The highlights are a little sharper than on previous BCs as the Dullcote kept taking the edge off them, a look at the larger pictures (click the thumbnail pic) will show the highlighting/layering a little better.

Initiate

This chap is a junior Chaplain, or as they used to be known, an Initiate. As with my other junior Astartes officers, no in-game effects, just an excuse to do some minor converting and indivualise the model & squad. He carries a flamer to purge heretics, xenos & mutants with holy flame and carries a holy tome with him to inspire his squad mates to even greater heights of bravery. His devotion and purity are indicated by the large number of purity seals he bears, including the large one on his chest.

Plastic marine all round with plenty of additions, obviously he has the skulls and a black paint scheme on his right arm/shoulder pad and left knee to indicate his position within the Reclusiam. The skull on the knee is from a backpack, it's been glue and a little GS work has been done to fit it in nicely. The flamer is shortened by chopping of the barrel sections and gluing the flamer head directly to the body of the weapon, this was done so the figure didn't look too unbalanced. The book he is holding is from Mordheim, had to do some GS repair work to get the spine looking spiffy and added a purity seal to the front, I'd have liked an eagle or something similar but couldn't find one the right size. Large purity seal is from the Dreadnought sprue, it's there to emphasise his fanaticism along with 3 other seals. Broken tile on the ground will link this squad to the ruins/tiles several other squads in the crusade will stand on. Pity I just noticed the flamer nozzle is crooked...

Paint job isn't too bad, looking at it now I'd like to tone down the highlights on the right arm, they are too obvious. The skin tones are better in real life, including the new GW flesh tone Tanned Flesh as the base colour. The base colour for the book was the new Terracotta colour. The rest of the paintjob is my standard Brazen Claw scheme, though I feel I could have done better with this guy overall.

Medicae Novus

Another junior version of an Astartes officer, this one is an Apothecary in-training. I decided that there would be several junior ranks of each specialist type, for the Apothecary I'm going with Medicae Novus , Medicae , Apothecary Novus and finally Apothecary . None of the first 3 ranks has any in game effect, I'll just model more Apothecary bitz onto the figure to show his advanced level of training.

This figure is made from a basic plastic marine with the arm & shoulder pad from the Blood Angels Sanguinary Priest from the BA Honour Guard boxed set. Left arm is a bolt pistol arm with BP replaced by a bolter. The pose is supposed to make it look like he's absorbing the recoil from a shot he's just fired. Moderately pleased with the paint job, I still need to work on layering highlights a bit more, some are not noticeable, some too noticeable.

Squad Standard Bearer

The Squad Standard Bearer like the other junior Astartes officers, has no in-game effect, he's just there for variety's sake. A green arm to mark him out (green is the traditional colour of the Imperial Laurel, mark of the Standard Bearer), his right shoulder pad also bears a GS wreath. Didn't turn out as I'd hoped but doesn't look too bad, the green & the bronze look a bit funny together. The bolter also has 2 small GS laurels added to it plus the magazine from a Chaos bolter - one you can see the shells in, barrel is made frm plasticard tube, slightly longer than usual, again no real purpose, other than variety.

Banner itself is made from a Dark Elf flag and the little angel on top is from a WHFB figure of some kind. The hand holding the banner and the shaft of the banner pole are from a Mordheim figure who was carrying a torch, a little GS was added to make the hand look a little more armoured and less fleshy.

The chest is a metal part from the Iron Warriors box set with a little filing here & there to Imperialise it a bit more. Base is built up a little over some spare plastic junk which has been painted grey to match the ruined slates on some of the other bases for this squad. Paintjob is my standard Brazen Claw scheme with a Snot Green right arm, not very happy with the banner-top angel, but this guy has been kicking around for months so I thought I'd just finish him off for now.

TechMarine Grade Novus

Well for starters this guy needs a less cumbersome title... **Update** The Marine formerly know as the Apprentice Techmarine has a new title - TechMarine Grade Novus - Novus being Latin for young, thus indicating he is still in training and is not yet a full TechMarine.

Basic plastic marine with the arm from the Vindicator crewman, bolter with a thin plasticard sling and an Auspex. Obviously he's supposed to be giving a 'halt' signal, although by doing so right handed he's committed the cardinal sin of letting go of his weapon. Still there is no left hand in a 'halt' position, so tough, although the missile launcher hand couldn't be too hard to use as such with a little work.

About 70% happy with this guy, if I had my time again I'd let the phone ring while the glue was setting and make sure he was in the right position. Large aerial is cockeyed and his helmet dropped a fraction, so he's not looking right at the auspex unfortunately. Though that's a lot easier to spot in real life. Also next time I'd consider using Green Stuff to make attachment points for the sling rather than just glueing it on. I'd also add an extra layer of plasticard,about half the length of the sling and GS a buckle, to make it look like the sling is adjustable. Only other thing is the small GS tactical symbol on his leg, I figured he didn't have room for it on the shoulder pad so I'll put one on the knee, oh wait, no knees, oh well, the leg'll have to do. Not that the pics really show it, it also has a small Roman numeral II on the symbol to indicate his squad.

Click for larger image.

Click for larger image.

Tactical Marines

My fifth Brazen Claw, at least now I can field a game legal squad. Not the best photos, but adequate for the paintjob this guy got, which is, well, adequate. Kinda ran out of impetus towards the end and got lazy. Umm, not a lot else to say, he has a broken paving stone on his base? Yup, that's about it.

Quite happy with this guy considering he was the first to be painted, skin tones aren't too bad, brass colour of gasmask and chest eagle turned out OK. The claw symbol on the left shoulder pad is actually from the Space Wolves decal sheet, I had to flip it over to make it match the Chapter Symbol which is why so much of the decal film is visible.

'Bright' Brazen Claw Recipe

My early Brazen Claws use the same blue as my newer ones, so go there and follow those instructions…

The red is much brighter though, Scab Red over a black undercoat, when I've got a nice smooth red I add my basecoat. 2-3 layers of a Red Gore/Blood Red mix, about 60/40 RG/BR. The highlights are then layered on with additional Blood Red added to the RG/BR mix. For the final highlights I add some Blazing Orange to my mix and use it for the high points. I then use a red glaze over the top of that to take away the orange edge while still keeping a bright final highlight. The glaze is about 5:1 water:ink.

The resultant colour is certainly vibrant, but personally I prefer the new darker, more menacing red you see here.