Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Well the Sons of Sek got finished right under the wire. The GT was a blast and I'll have full coverage by this weekend. 

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Sons of Sek - Company and Platoon Banners


In order to break up the monotony of the painting and also the overall appearance of 167 infantry, I would want several banners in the army. I decided that I wanted a company banner and a banner for each infantry platoon.

I decided early on that my army would be the 1st Company of the Sons of Sek 3rd Regiment ("The Magister's Fist"). So above is there Company banner, which says just that. As the 1st Company, their role is often as a spearhead or assault element (hence the "drop trooper" doctrine). The little stylized lightning bolts in the lower left corner represent that.

It was made from 2 Chaos Warrior banner poles. I cut part of one in half and glued it on to an intact one to add a little length. The flag itself is plasticard warped with a heat gun.

Back of Company Banner


A lot of the inspiration for this banner came from Ursarker Creed's banner. I wanted the front to be a little cleaner and less "chaotic" than an average Chaos banner, in order to reflect the drilled and disciplined nature of the Sons of Sek. I think the back of the banner makes up a little for the "chaotic" look with the script.

I knew I wanted to incorporate some kind of cross or St. Andrew's Cross into the design. I sketched and doodles for a while and came up with the top half of the Khorne symbol.

Picking the Colors
I knew it was going to be Black, Red and Ochre, I just couldn't decide on how those colors would be combined, so I made some quick flags using my paints on index cards. I never toyed with the idea of the "Khornate Cross" being black, only red or ocher. After seeing my examples I decided that the Khornate Cross should probably be red, and then eventually decided on the ochre border.

Background
Since the background would be black I began painting the entire banner black, working up progressive highlights of Vallejo German Grey, Dark Grey and Neutral Grey. Then I gave it a Chaos Black wash to smooth the transitions and take out some of the brightness.

Khornate Cross
Originally the cross was painted all the way to the edges using Mechrite. The top bars were originally solid, then I cut in with the black. I then added a black border, so there would be a black line between the red and the ocher border.


I then added the ocher border and highlighted up the red and ocher using my normal progressions. All of the symbols and writing were then painted on. I got a little eager in my painting, that I forgot to take pictures to document the progress.


Platoon Banners
The inspiration for these banners were taken from RonSaikowski's Banner Project: Imperial Guard, from From the Warp. Specifically the one below on the left:
The circled "3/1" on my banners denoted that they belong to the Sons of Sek 3rd, 1st Company. Nothing too complex with these banners, since they're essentially the normal Chaos warriors banners.

So that's all for now. 21 models done, 148 to go. I'm currently 2 days behind on my schedule, which is better because I was almost a full week behind last week. However I have to finish up the remnants for the Easterlings and Anthony's Uruk-Hai for the GT this weekend. So I imagine that I will start next week behind again. Oh well, can't be helped.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Freaking awesome work! I have never had the ambition for banners. I think they look great and can make or break an army, but I've never sat down and MADE myself work on one seriously. Those are down right inspirational. I'll definitely have to motivate towards banners for my armies now.

Boss Salvage said...

Rock solid job on those banners Sean! Very impressive and will add a LOT to the army. The red khorne cross on the big banner is particularly sweet, though I like the little ones as well.

My one quibble? That all 4 of the banner bearers have the same head and are basically identical. Unless I'm being dense and you've just swapped pinned banners on the same model but different pics?

- Salvage

Boss Salvage said...

(Note: not being dense, those are all unique models with the same head, different chaos warrior bodies ...)

- Salvage

Space Hulk Enthusiast said...

Great job on the banners, I love the army as a whole too!

This definitely is staying in my "5 Worthy of Note" section and getting recommended.

Absolutely great work, thanks for all the updates.

Anonymous said...

Great job as always Sean.... Wish I had your painting ethic and skill. But, you may want watch your language a bit :)

"I cut part of one in half and glued it on to an intact one to ass a little length."

dvdhwk said...

Thanks all.
@Boss - yep different models. Almost everyone in the army will have the same head. The exception will be the bodyguards of the officers (though they're all variations on the bald head and respirator mask).
@Ron - Thanks again for keeping me mentioned. I do like the bright red "Recommended"! :)
@WLR - Lol. Guess you can tell what was on my mind. I fixed that. See you this weekend at the GT!

SC Mike said...

What model heads did you use for your guyz, all the ones without the helmets.
You stuff is amazing
you can email me if you want to, I am very inpsired and would like to know more about the model conversions
Mike at Santa Cruz Warhammer
http://santacruzwarhammer.blogspot.com

Current Progress on the Sons of Sek

Current Progress on the Sons of Sek
Sept. 5th, 2008 - They were finished literally at the table before the first round began.