Night Lords Land Raider WIP

A once-noble land raider of the VIII legion Astartes, brimming with ghastly necromantic sorcery! 

I don't normally do WIP posts on this blog, but this time I couldn't resist... When the Blood Angels codex came out with its deep striking land raiders, I wanted to put one on a flying base being lowered by the space-marine angels of the sanguinary guard - like it was descending from heaven to bring God's vengeance directly to the enemy. I never got around to it, but the idea of kit bashing a Land Raider stayed with me. Really, they're the perfect model for it. It's a big and (theoretically) powerful model which provides the visual focal point for almost any army, so it can really reward the effort that gets put into it. But they also have alot of flat, featureless surfaces that a modeler can build on without obscuring the vehicle beneath. I had the idea for this particular project while idling about the local GW store one afternoon. Once the idea possessed me (so to speak), I knew I had to bring it to (un)life.

I've always liked the idea of a land raider as a chariot - a deliberately arcane tool of warfare thrust into the far future, like so much else in the 40k universe.

I have to say the coven throne is one of the most intimidating and intricate models that GW has ever produced. And also, I think, one of the best. The amount of detail that they put into it is just crazy, and it isn't at all obvious how to put it together if you just look at the sprues. It took a long time to figure out how that model was supposed to go together, let alone how to combine it with the more familiar Land Raider.

The hatches are waiting for the Night Lords upgrade from Forgeworld.

I suppose someone will ask me whether this thing is possessed or not, when I do finally put it on the table... Questions like that kind of make a guy want to shoot himself in the head, but it's not so bad when you see it coming I guess.

Eight skeleton torsos ring the front half of the raider, led (I think appropriately) by the guy with a scythe hanging off of the heavy bolter turret.

The guy who makes it all happen. He has no game effect, unfortunately. The banner to his left will be painted with an appropriate night lords symbol...

more crazy skeleton/spirit bits. 

Really, there was no way to not use the bowl of blood they give you in the coven throne kit. I mean... it's a bowl of blood.... I suppose the vampire slut is summoning more spirits or something by looking into it.

Sad to think that all this necromantic activity can be brought to a sudden and total halt by one clown with a meltagun... Alas. This is one of those projects that's about the hobby more than the game. Anyway, I'll post again when it's painted. That will be a trial in and of itself.

Like everything else I do on the site these days, this piece is for sale. If you're interested in this, or some other project, let me know.