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Project Sky Pirates (Skaven Frigate - Small PIP update)


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Hello!

I'm new to AoS, and since it is beginning to get traction here in my gaming club in Brazil I decided to make an army, and Kharadron Overlords was the winner! Love Dwarves (duardin now), Pirates and Steampunk goodies, so this was an easy choice...

But things are not so simple...  ;)

I love to do fully converted armies, having done 5 for 40k (Nurgle CSM, Cthulhu/Deep sea diver inspired Chaos, SW 13th Company, Squats full of tanks, Skryre Skaven full of whacky machines), having never delved much into Fantasy before, but as said above, the new "steampunk" look and the concept of "everything goes/your imagination is the limit" in the Mortal Realms was the last straw...

Thus here comes my idea, based on many "hints" on the Kharadron army book: a bunch of Kharadron pirates/mercenaries, not aligned to any skyport (even Morhar was too much "strict to the code" for them), based on some sort of Pirate Town in the realm of Chamon, and like Mos Esley spaceport from Star Wars, "a wretched hive of scum and villainy". The idea will evolve into an army composed mostly of sky faring vessels and boats, with different races manning different ships, fully converted and scratchbuilt... Allegiance wise, I'm aiming for an Order or Tempest Eye alliance (from Firestorm), as using the Kharadron one I will be too much restricted modelwise. Please also bear in mind that the goal for the list was not to be overly competitive, and it will rely a lot on "count as" troops/units, our gaming group here is very welcoming to that an they love my crazy conversions...

So far my ideas are running around the following:

- Kharadron Overlords Ironclad, crewed by 20 Arkanaut Company with 6 skyhooks, those will be the "real" duardin/KOs, albeit with a piratey twist;

- Skaven "Frigate", crewed by 10 "Skaven Company" with 3 skyhooks (warpstone based). Plan to use the Bloodbowl skavens and some others

- Orruk "Frigate" (Grotbag Scuttlers from the KO book?), crewed by 10 'Orruk/Goblin Krumpany" with 3 skypikes. Plan to use 40k Flashgitz, as they have a piratey look to them, and some goblins from many kits

- Knight Venator, converted from a Girocopter with a skyhook to count as the starfate arrow, with endrins (ballons) also instead of the rotor blades, for a more Kharadron look & feel

- Skaven Girocopters, converted from the central part of the skaven Doomwheel

I would love to hear from the community what are your "visions" on how the ships from different races would look like... and which units could be used as a "count as" for this army... Orruk/Goblin full of scrap metal and parts, skaven with whacky technologies, like warplightning cannons instead of a sky cannons on the frigate, with warpstone tech instead of aether gold? I'm even thinking of a lean skyship, Drakkar like, full of flamethrowers for a "Drakeseer"  count as... ;)

So, what do you think? It is a very ambitious project, and will require a lot of bits and different kits, but could look good if pulled well (hopefully)...

Best Regards

AJ

 

 

 

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I love it :) I'll see if I can throw some pictures your way of some dark elves I converted to be sky pirates, if you want. For inspiration, or just as an example :)

 

You probably already know this, but the stormvermin skaven boxes come with two eye-patched skaven heads. Very piratey. 

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Oh! I also just remembered. The dark eldar ship thingies in 40k come with some kabalite bodies hanging from the sides, which shouldn't be too hard to AoSify with some kitbashing :)

The regular troops of the genestealer cults (again from 40k) come with bodies (torso, legs) that look sorta like the human sized equivalent of the kharadron uniforms.

Edit: neophytes, they're called :)

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13 minutes ago, Mayple said:

Oh! I also just remembered. The dark eldar ship thingies in 40k come with some kabalite bodies hanging from the sides, which shouldn't be too hard to AoSify with some kitbashing :)

Yup! I aready have one waiting to be cut and converted... It will be the base of the Skaven frigate... ;)

and fantastic idea on the Genestealet cults minis!!!! Perfect!!!!!!!!! and you know, I have a closed box of them for my Chaos Cthulhu army that was not used...

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Damn Photobucket! Used it many years ago without problems, but now it's terrible... Anyway, here comes the pics again, attached here now...

Orruk "Kaptin", count as as Admiral

IMG_3628.JPG.cb20c68b34963870da381421f617c2e6.JPGIMG_3629.JPG.472e0fe452ed0e9c03b31d4b755fbc53.JPG

My "count as" knight Venator, Kharadron style... The rotary gun represents the arrows, the harpoon represents the star fated "one-shot" arrow and the drill bill is the star-eagle..

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Converted skyhooks, from the thunderers kit, plus some goblin and skellies spears

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A Banner bearer, which will be painted with a pirate motif... Put him with a beard, to show a veteran status.

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And a "random" new guy, very helpful both on dwarf and pirate culture! The "master of Booze", with his portable bugman's ale keg and a serving harness, for a perfect temperature

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Sorry for the crappy pictures...

Hope you enjoy!

Cheers

AJ

 

IMG_3624.JPG

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This is fantastic... Love the conversions and the general style.

I always wanted to see how the Scourge Privateers would deal with thr Overlords. Suddenly DWARVES were outdoing them, and by AIR as well? I am thinking some traditional ships flying by magically conjured water, surfing rain clouds and such. Could be awesome.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Ok, some update on the state of this project...

I'm working now on the Skaven "Frigate" and Skaven  "Arkanaut Company".

I'm using a 40k Dark Eldar Ship as a basis for this conversion:

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After assembling the main hull, worked on the "engine" and propellors... The resing cogs are horrible casts, but after painting they will come up nicely. The propellors are from nautical models, and the rudder from the gyrocopter:

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Then for the aether cannon and aether carbines... For this I used the bitz from the warplightning cannon and the sides of the Doomwheel. The masts are the main support of the warplightning cannon, and added some skaven shields and skulls for decoration and a skaven look:

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Then the start of the "aether gold/warp gas" ballon. Instead of metal endrins I'm aiming for a more ramshackle look, so a leather ballon filled with gas... I used as a base a dog's toy in the format of a rugby ball...

5a04abc3ba110_skavenballoon.jpg.fac6e9e8a6644f4ec5d66e14c399b9c0.jpg

sanded it to take out the texture, and cut the points and glued some skaven bits:

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And now for the veeeeeery boring work of covering it with GS for the leather/canvas look:

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Did also a Captain, using a Storm vermin body, empire hat and the Ironclad helm wheel:

5a04abcba3298_skavenfrigcaptain.jpg.6a4716abc206672bd7361c4e1f2b9b08.jpg

So the result so far is like this:

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The structure below is from the screaming bell kit, and I will fill it full of skaven slaves... ;)

Still lots of work to do, like finishing the ballon, adding a warpstone boiler, and maybe a sail on the side...

Hope you liked it! Feedback, comments, ideas and criticist are more than welcome!

Cheers

AJ

skaven balloon5.jpg

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I love it! Truly a craft gifted by the great horned rat itself!

Feedback-wise, maybe rough up the sleek smoothness of the dark eldar vessel to match the aesthetic even more? Potentially by adding more spikes and/or details? You might accomplish this at the painting step, so might not be needed. Eagerly looking forward to the finished piece! :)

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I figured I should check out your board after you checked on mine.  :) 

 

I have to say you are working on projects and conversions that I am very much loving here mate! The ballon swap is something I been working on and not finding acceptable results on. I will for sure be looking into this thread more to see great works! :D

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Thanks for all the positive words, guys!

@Mayple: Yes, agree with you, the Dark Eldar Ship used as a base is too "smooth"... The original idea was to scratchbuild the whole hull, but I was afraid that it will look too "orkish", and since I'm planning an Orruk ship too, I left this for the next project... Anyway, I took your advice and will put some battledamage on it, and use some strings on the railings for a more ramshacke look...

@Kronos: Hummm... Warplock Privateers... Well, I'm making the Skaven Arkanauts with pistols and cutlasses, but you saying that made me want to do some skaven with long warplock jezzails to count as Grundstak Thunderers with Aether Rifles... kkkkkkkk, dammit, now I need to do this! Great idea! Thanks!

@Demorte: Will srite the fluff of my pirates soon to send you, ok? Lovin' your project too!

@TheWilddog@Artobans Ghost@Thundercake@Oneyah@flamingwalnut: Thanks for the feedback! This really helps making this project moving! And please, feel free to share ideas, suggestions and criticism, this is very welcome and helps creating something unique!

Well, now a quick update... after some looog GS sessions, the balloon is finally done! Oh-so-carefully I superglued some thread between the grooves of the ballon for that ropelike supports of the ballon:

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How it looks so far... Still lots of work to do, now need to do the "galleys" on the lower hull to put the crew... 

@Mayple , in this pic you can see the beginning of the threadwork on the railings, this will be done on all of them:

IMG_4216.JPG.731b5171483e631eaac3224335aa449c.JPG

And the rat ogre Harpooner that will be put on the prow... Still wip:

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Hope you enjoy! As always, ideas and suggestions are more than welcome!

Cheers

AJ

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Brilliant! I'd wanted to do a project like this myself and started it...then the actual KO came out. I loved the models so much, my conversions stopped cold right where they were. Fantastic imagination and conversions, keep it up!

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HEllo my friends! Here comes “The Skave”! My cloud ratz Frigate finally finished!!!

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I ditched the idea of the wooden hull below, it will be too difficult to fit on the dark eldar lower hull, so decided to put the crew in various positions alongside the ship...

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it was divided in 7 subassemblies, the hull, the balloon, the warpstone engine, the skaven engineers that work on it, the captain, the banner and the base... the ballon, base and banner will be kept separate for easier storage...

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now on his black primer glory! I love when I prime my conversions, it ties all elements together! ;)

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hope you liked! As always, ideas, feedback and critics are more than welcome!

cheers

AJ

D1333777-B284-4DAA-8C7B-E2773DBFAD6D.jpeg

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Been awhile since I tuned in and this is magnificent. I’m reading Overlords of the Iron Dragon as we speak and who should appear but grot skypirates for a brief moment. I had to think  I had seen this already and then remembered the skaven pirates. Ahead of your time ?

what an amazing amount of work. Looking forward to the painted finish. 

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