Hunting for Inspiration

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secretpaintgeek

New member
Hey guys
Just started to get a urge to paint some nightlord marines (I know, I know. Marine is a bit of a swear word in here sometimes) :p I have been told i'm getting the forgeworld mk3 set at xmas and thought i'd start making some plans. Seems to be the perfect excuse to get in on the 30k scene, and have a break from painting skeletons for my undead :) Problem is the stuff I have seen around the net seems to either focus on the post heresy scene or just be pretty uninspiring. As I have not read any of the black library books im not too sure on things in fluff terms apart from the general jist of things that i have picked up here and there.
So..... I guess what i'm asking is if anyone owns / could post pics of / has ideas for a night lord force?
Any comments on the matter would be appreciated as I would like to keep things as true to the fluff and style of the legion as possible.
Thanks in advance
P.S Apologies to all the marine haters :p
 
RuneBrush

RuneBrush

New member
There isn't much Night Lord fluff out there currently. Although they have featured in the odd Black Library book, on the whole the background is quite sparse. They are similar to Raven Guard and White Scars in that they favour fast attacks (in their case from the shadows), not so fond of anything slow and ponderous. However if you're going to be collecting a HH Night Lords army, they're one of the army choices in Book Two which is meant to be coming out around about Games Day 2013, although this is not guaranteed.

Personally I think fluff themed HH armies are the best way to go - I'm about to pick up my first lot of mini's for a HH Death Guard army :)
 
me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
There are 3 night lords books (post heresy setting, but with several flashbacks) by Aaron Dembski-Bowden which are worth reading. They detail life on a night lords ship, and are largely told from the POV of some human servants.

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Authors/Aaron-Dembski-Bowden.html

There's one more book called Lord of the Night (http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1844161579/ref=mp_s_a_1?qid=1355636052&sr=8-1&pi=SL75) which is about a single NL marine who wakes up from stasis in a hive world and sets about retrieving a stolen something and single-handedly pacifying the population. Interestingly, he's NOT a chaos marine.


I think this is the most interesting thing about the legion, actually. They're not proper chaos marines per se. They don't worship chaos, and rather look down on those who do. They're not above summoning the odd daemon when a job requires it, but generally they prefer to get their hands dirty themselves. Tbh they don't translate well to a 40k game, as where they excel is terror tactics. A squad drop pods in out of radar range, spends a week or so sneaking through ductwork, and one morning the enemy soldiers wake up to find their high command crucified on top of the local cathedral. This kinda thing continues for a coupla weeks, and then the NL army itself shows up. By this point the defenders are ready to cry like big girls, throw down their guns and run for the hills. There's also the bonus that their primarch is basically Batman, but turned up to 11 :D

Personally, I reckon the best way to play Night Lords is to use the Blood Angels codex. Use the sanguinor as a Daemon Prince, the various jump pack troops for raptors, and death company as marines that are just a bit too tainted by chaos to be healthy. Other than that, marines is marines. You'd use chaos models to represent it all on the tabletop. Bonus points if you sculpt Batman ears on all the marines' helmets :p
 
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secretpaintgeek

New member
Thanks for the input guys. Will definatly have to check out that lord of night book! Sounds good. Cant wait till they release the next HH book as that is ment to be covering the Night Lords as well as others. Just a shame it looks like I'll be waiting till september. Think until then I'll just use the basic 30k legion list with a ton of recon and jump units.
Anyone know much about iconography? It says they display symbols of death but all i see on any artwork is the skull on the helm and the lightning bolt on the legs (Which i hate so wanna avoid if poss). I wanna keep them loyal looking but on the edge if you catch my drift.
Definatly a tough legion to get any real info on.
Thanks again for the input fellas
 
me_in_japan

me_in_japan

New member
The lightning effect was originally supposed to be actual lightning, supposedly from their time in the warp. Over time there's been a bit of a shift to it just being decorative. The basic, non-warp-influenced scheme is dark, dark blue (I'd use an actual dark blue for this, then add black for shading, rather than start with black and highlight up). Gold trim (not brass), and red or bone white for point details like eyes etc. Iconography is, unfortunately, set as the skull with red batwings. If you want to do proppa, pre-heresy NL then the batskull is your only option, I'm afraid. However, if you wanted to deviate a little from the fluff you could say your army is juuuust post heresy and has wandered off on its own after the Primarch got assassinated. That'd free you up to design your own iconography - crescent moons, eclipses, bats (realistic or stylised), and general goth typey symbols.

The NL come across as pretty goth in general, actually. Their skin is always very pale, they have black hair, their eyes are completely black (but they can see in the dark) and in general they're pretty nocturnal. The home planet, Nostramo, was riddled with crime lords (a la Gotham) when their Primarch first arrived. He grew up as a street rat, but being a Primarch was soon kicking ass and taking names. He terrorised the local criminal population into submission. Then the emperor turned up, took him away, and all the crime started up again. That is where Night Lords are recruited from. They're not very nice, even back when they were loyalist.
 
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Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

Active member
I think there may be some pre-heresy armor pics in an old chapter approved I have. I am currently on a business trip but will be more than happy to check when I get home this weekend. If there is anything useful, I'll scan it and try to post it.
 
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secretpaintgeek

New member
M_i_J: thanks dude, didnt realise that about the lightning. Think i'll leave it off mine now. Wasnt keen anyway :)

Bloodhowl: That would be good if you did have any luck on some. P.s Love the magnus quote sig. Wolves rock! All hail Russ!

Started work on a test model yesterday using the old doghouse WHFB chaos Warrior legs and the Forge World Mk IV torsos. Think i'll use them as veterans. Looks decent so far but still struggling to decide how far to go with the symbols of death thing. Not sure if i should add some heads etc from a zombie set or just stick o painting on iconography to the armour. I'll have to get some WIP up soon and get some opinions. One thing i am certain of is that i wanna avoid this whole batman thing that seems to have sprung up around the legion :p I dont get it really, Where is the batman link? Is it just that there is crime/vigilante angle?
 
RuneBrush

RuneBrush

New member
secretpaintgeek said:
Started work on a test model yesterday using the old doghouse WHFB chaos Warrior legs and the Forge World Mk IV torsos. Think i'll use them as veterans. Looks decent so far but still struggling to decide how far to go with the symbols of death thing. Not sure if i should add some heads etc from a zombie set or just stick o painting on iconography to the armour. I'll have to get some WIP up soon and get some opinions. One thing i am certain of is that i wanna avoid this whole batman thing that seems to have sprung up around the legion :p I dont get it really, Where is the batman link? Is it just that there is crime/vigilante angle?
Click to expand...

Goes back to Curze's homeworld. Basically it was a world full of criminals and gangs (a-la gotham) and Curze basically became a vigilante and all the criminals ended up living in fear that he'd catch up with him. Very similar to the whole batman set up.

Personally I'd go for painting on iconography as that way when FW do release models you know the one's you've laboured over aren't going to look out of place.
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

Active member
Bloodhowl said:
I think there may be some pre-heresy armor pics in an old chapter approved I have. I am currently on a business trip but will be more than happy to check when I get home this weekend. If there is anything useful, I'll scan it and try to post it.
Click to expand...

Sorry! It took me a bit longer to find it as it was not a Chapter Approved. It was Index Astartes II. :smile:

View attachment 17810

If you would like the whole article, I can scan the rest and email it to you. Just send me a pm with your email addy.
 
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