Nemesis Dreadknight: Brother Diego

Grey Knight Nemesis Dreadknight: Brother Diego

Introducing, Brother Diego, my second Nemesis Dreadknight for my 4th Brotherhood Grey Knight army. I have spent quite a bit of time on this model and have done a lot of not so much converting but I would say altering. Mainly the repositioning of the left leg, both the Dreadknight and Pilot, but also the clever addition of magnets to enable a full weapon swaps if required.

Those of you that may not have noticed, this Dreadknight has also been given a Halberd close combat weapon as opposed to a Greatsword or Daemon Hammer. This was really fun to make and I will explain how I did it later. I have also been learning to use my camera a little more efficiently, so these photos are slightly different from the others on the blog and I hope they are more pleasing to the eye. Anyway more photos below.

For those of you who don't know me, I have a real love for Dreadknight's, they are an awesome model both in looks and in the game. Most though including my other Dreadknight, Brother Valance 'found here' are in a very static pose and are sometimes referred to as a baby carrier, but with this one I have broken that perception and I hope you will agree, it looks more menacing and dynamic now!

One of my greatest achievements on this model was the left leg. From the start I wanted to position it as if he was in motion, walking out towards the enemy, it also looks like he is bracing to fire his Heavy Incinerator which is quite cool. I always give my Dreadknight's the Personal Teleporter, so I figured I did not need to make him look like he was running, I mean why when I can Shunt and jump there instead! Walking is for Imperial Guard.

The most distinguishing feature of this model is the Halberd or as I have named it, the Nemesis Daemon Halberd. This was scratch built using a few components from various places.

The main shaft was made of aluminium tubing, this I got from my local hobby store, the rear end counterweight includes a canister from an incinerator and the end of the Daemon Hammer. The hilt was the other section of the hammer with what used to be half of a Rhino hatch stuck on the end. Yes that's right, I dug out half of a Rhino hatch to be used for the Halberd blade and very carefully  shaved and trimmed it down to become the weapon.

I then cut some thin plastic card to create the gold part keeping it in theme with the other Grey Knight weapons and added half an Aquila symbol on both sides from my bits box. I finished it of by adding the power source bit from a normal Grey Knight Daemon Hammer with a little vent on the end from the Stormtalon kit I had.

Being as all the really special weapons the Grey Knights use are acquired by the Inquisition, I made sure to include the iconic =][= symbol on the Halberd, these are on the counterweight and on the top of the hilt, but I also used a Grey Knight purity seal to bless the weapon, this also had the Inquisition icon on it. By doing this I think it looks truly special.

In apocalypse games I will be asking my opponents if I can use the following profile for it, otherwise it will just count as a Nemesis Greatsword.

Nemesis Daemon Halberd

Acquired by the most powerful lords of the Inquisition, the Nemesis Daemon Halberd is the latest weapon in the Grey Knights arsenal  Forged on their secret forge world, they have been produced in little numbers so far, but have given the Nemesis Dreadknight the ability to strike faster than ever before at the chosen foe!

Name                                       Range    Strength    AP    Type                                  Points

Nemesis Daemon Halberd*              -             User        2      Melee, Two-handed             35

*A Dreadknight armed with a Nemesis Daemon Halberd strikes at +2 Initiative. It is also a Force Weapon and has the Daemonbane rule as described in Codex: Grey Knights page 54.

I intend on creating a Paladin Dreadknight datasheet to be used in apocalypse games, when this is done it will be posted and available to download for free. In the picture above you can see the counterweight at the Halberds end, I think I got the proportions right for it, a lot of playing around led to this final result.

I tried to add purity seals to all the  major parts, I'm hoping it will help it to play better in games!

I gave the rear as much attention as the front, as this will be the bit I look at most in games, I tried out a new way of colouring the exhaust on this model as well, I wanted to get that hot and charred effect and I think it came out quite well. Over a Leadbelcher base I drybrushed the following colours, Warplock Bronze, Hashut Copper, Xereus Purple, Gilliman Glaze and a final dusting of Hashut Copper again.

I also added some light blue object source lighting to the Personal Teleporter, giving it that thrumming power source feel, this was simply done by lightly drybrushing with Lothern blue over Caledor Sky, the same was done for the pilots eyes.

The cables on the left leg were cut and extended to accommodate the change in leg position. Now I would just like to point out that even though this looks a simple job, in practice it is very difficult to alter the position of a Dreadknight's legs. Mainly because there are so many other parts you have to change, the cables being one of them but also the pilots legs and the internal leg parts and pistons. A lot of green stuff was also used to fill in  all the empty spaces especially remodelling the pilots legs. Not for the faint hearted.

You should be able to make out the position on the foot, I cut the toes off, dropped them to curve over the rock and then filled in the gaps with green stuff. I spent a lot of time dry fitting the legs so I could get the pose just right without it looking weird. Even though it is only raised ½ an inch, the overall effect looks a lot higher, you can also see the right leg tilting forward bracing the other. I am really pleased with the result.

The heavy incinerator was given the same treatment as the rear exhausts with a blue pilot light ready to ignite the torrent that comes out of the weapon. I made sure the purity seals all fell in the same direction so as not to look awkward or out of place.

Again you can see the Daemon Halberd looking quite fearsome. I drilled three holes in the blade to represent blood channels (things you have in some knives to make it easier for the blade to be pulled back out), this also makes it look that little bit cooler.

When it came to the finer detailing, I swapped out the normal head for a Paladin one, I think it just looks better. I also went through my spare transfer sheets and found some cool Inquisition symbols that I have adorned the model with, the skulls are from an old Sisters of Battle transfer sheet along with the script on the right leg. I tried my best to make the purity seal parchment look like it was worn with writing on, not really my strong point but it turned out ok.

Using magnets, I have made all the weapons interchangeable  here you can see the heavy Psycannon swapped out for the Gatling Psilencer. The Daemon Halberd can also be swapped, but at this point in time, I think it is just too cool to not use.

By magnetising the hydraulic arms that help to manoeuvre the massive limbs and weapons, means that even when not armed, they are still connected.  This was achieved with a series of 1mm x 1mm magnets on the joints. Quite fiddly, but it was worth the work.

The same was done on the other arm and weapon, thus enabling full weapon swapping. I intend on creating a shield for this Dreadknight that will use the same Weapon mounts, I will share this WHEN I have made it, soon I hope just waiting for parts.

Even without any ranged weapons the Dreadknight looks awesome, hopefully distracting any of my opponents on the battlefield. I have also managed to give the model that blue sheen to the lower parts of the armour plating that Grey Knights are so fond of, I have tried to accomplish this so many times ending in failure, but this time I have done it and I think it looks great.

With the Dreadknight's leg positioned on a rock, I wanted to make the base a little special to, I think the model deserved it. So I acquired some garden slate for the main rocks and used some gravel I had for the smaller parts, I then based it exactly the same as in my article 'Basing Your Miniatures (the basics)'. This added that extra dimension to the model needed to complete it. I might even revisit my other Grey Knights and add the same detail to the bases as I really like the look.

Well that's my latest Nemesis Dreadknight, As I have said, I will be making a shield for it and I will also be adding a 360^o photo shoot of this model in the very near future  so please keep an eye out for it. I Will also be creating a apocalypse version of a Paladin Dreadknight for you to use in your bigger games, this will be posted along with the shield. This model will look quite cool as a part of the Grey Knight Dreadknight Brethren Apocalypse Formation.

Hope you have enjoyed the model and post, comments are always welcome.

PPS 21 

To see more of my work in progress, head on over to 'The Forge' page.

~ Carry your faith as your torch, with it destroy the shadows ~