Friday, November 23, 2012

It Came From the Forums: Metal Beast Mercenaries, Conversion Army!


Old School here with another It Came From the Forums. In this edition, we will look at Mayajid's Metal Beast Mercenaries, an army I would say is made as much of green stuff as it is of plastic. It is an army of Beastmen set in the 40k universe, but this is so much more than another Space Goats army, this is something else and it really is one of my favorite army themes and one hell of a lot of work! Let's take a look:




Where else would we start than with the troops. These Gors here are the counts-as Grey Hunters of the Mercenary force.


Here are the Meltagun beasts. The first thing you may notice is that these models blend together the parts from the Space Marine Champion, the Tau Stealth Suit, tac Marines and of course Beastmen Gors. To blend so much together and have it make something that looks like it was meant to be that way is truly the mark of great conversion work ... and this entire army is nothing but incredible kit bashes!


Here are the Bestigor (wolf guard) with powerfists.


These gentlemen are the Thunderwolf Cavalry! This is a great use of the Juggernaught kit and also fits the theme with giant metal Minotaurs!



The Wolf Lord here is a Bestigor riding a Giant CyberBoar!


The cybergor is an impressive model made from Green Stuff and Juggernaught bits! I also read in the thread that the front legs come from a Happy Meal toy!


The Metal Beast Mercenaries also travel to war in themed drop pods, complete with their own custom Green Stuff Work!

 Including this Necron Shield with a sculpted Beast Skull.


How do the steer their pods without the glorious technology of the mechanicum? Evil foetal goat psykers of course!


Here is the pod.


That awesome symbol!


The pod open. Note the floating freaky baby goat psyker!


And here it is with the whole gang!


Mayajid also made a converted Dreadnaught Drop pod for one of his more special models.



Hate doing your own custom Green Stuff work? Mayajid doesn't. Just look at how many custom drop pods he cranked out!


Here is an Iron Priest complete with a sculpted Goat skull head!


What counts as Space Wolf army would be complete with out Long Fangs, or in this case Long horns. Here is a shot of the leaders.


Here is a closer look at the awesome look-out!


And here are the missile launcher Long Horns. They are cool as hell with these back pack mounted launchers and if you look really close ... he sculpted beastman power armor helmets! 


I honestly never thought is would be possible to improve on the perfection that is the Wood Elf Glade Rider horse ... then I saw this grim dark Green Stuff work! Once again, keeping in theme with the Old World Beastmen, Mayajid has created futuristic centigors that are just incredible!


My jaw is on the floor ...



Need an attack bike? Just convert and sculpt a Razorgor! Why not?


Up next is Mayajid's take a Sammeal on his speeder. Check out this kitbashed speeder! 


This thing is so awesome. It just looks vicious and fast. 


The weapon mounts are cool as well.


Here is the whole model painted and finished.


And here are the regular Land Speeder Typhoons. The mono-wheel has always been one of my favorite design ideas and to include it in this army, which is already filled with cool conversions is just over the top in a great way!


Here is a shot of the fast mercenary elements going to war!


Now when I think of stuff that is kit bashed, I usually think of one or two little elements. This brings kit bashed to the next level. Check out how this cobbled together gang of bits turns into ...


Futuristic chariots! These are the best rhino conversions I have ever seen!


Not only are these in theme with the Beastmen style, but they are also 100% born from the artist's imagination! In my opinion, these are some of his best work.



Here is an incredible Rune Priest! He is meant to look like the Beastmen Shaman Character.


Here are some Ungor Scouts.


Is is a tentacle-rific look at the WIP version of the Rune Priest above!



Here is the center piece of the force: The Doombull! This model is simply incredible in its pose, construction, paintjob and theme! Bjorn has never looked better!


If you think this is impressive, you really need to look at the WIP shots in the artist's project log to get an idea of all the hard work that went into it. The link is posted at the bottom of this article.


Aside from table top art, the artist also has a lot of great ads for his army of mercenaries, including this flier! This is hilarious and really fun for an army of bestial mercenaries.



Here is a shot of his Rune Priest with Jump pack!


A wolf lord with a Frost WHip. You need to see the WIP on this one!



He also has a mind-blowing Canis conversion! Look at this Razorgor!


Just take a look at this close up and try to name all the bits. There is so much here and it is so cleverly placed! My hat is off to Mayajid on this one!


Let's not forget all the Cybergors that Canis likes to run with!


The artist also started to get into terminators. I honestly would have just tried the terminator kit myself, but then again, I don't have the imagination of the creator of this incredible army.


This is the average amount of GS work in the terminators for this force!


and here they are all together! This would take me a year to try to put together! The WIPs are awesome too and after really reading the project log, I picked up some ideas on how he makes these parts and doesn't have to take a year to do it! Threads like the project log linked below are the kind of thing that makes the Internet community great for our hobby! I learned a lot just reading it!

Yes, he even made a battlefleet Gothic fleet for his army!

For more on this great army, a look at how it was created and some tips for making green stuff cloaks and more - check out Mayajid's Metal Beast Mercenaries project log on Dakka Dakka! You will never regret it!

9 comments:

  1. Ridiculously beautiful army! Once again, something to aspire to!

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  2. Woooooooooow! I can't really leave a comment that can truly tell you how amazing this is, so I won't. Damn.

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  3. This is indeed one of the greatest armies out there, and definitely the best Beastmen-themed 40k army period!

    Immediately subscribed to this on Dakka once I saw it! Thanks for bringing it over here as well, OST!

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  4. GW should just hire the guy - very reminiscent of John Blanche - and that's some high praise.

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  5. Someone help me find my jaw. I dropped it about twenty minutes back....

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  6. Holy C%&p that's cool!

    I almost religiously avoid forums, so thanks for bringing this one to us.

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  7. Awesome!!! I just found this page thru a friend.... Firstly Thank you for all the kind word and writing about my army. I feel amazingly honored you did this. I'm actually kind of addicted to doing this now... at least a titan and 6 razor back in on the to do list. once again thank you soo much. for that please take this- http://i529.photobucket.com/albums/dd334/mayajid/beastmenvector_zps3a81d06a.jpg

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