Leman Russ, Lord of the Rout

I finally finished Russ. Here he is! I'm looking forward to getting him out on the battle field now. Maybe I've finally got something that can slay Dad Rich's Sigismund (other than a Fellblade accelerator cannon to the face... followed by a demolisher cannon to the face... seemed to do the trick!)

Master of the Space Wolves Legion and Lord of icy Death World of Fenris, Leman Russ was an incomparable warlord, ferocious beyond measure and faultlessly loyal to the Emperor and his Imperium. Known as the Wolf King and the Lord of Winter and Ruin, as undoubtedly as savage as Leman Russ was, he was also wise beyond his Legion’s barbaric appearances and self-aware to a degree few guessed at, which made him doubly dangerous.

 At Prospero his loyalty and foresight were used against him by the machinations of Horus, as he was loosed upon his brother Magnus. What was to follow was one of the darkest hours of the Imperium’s history, as Space Marine was set against Space Marine in war unto the death. The Burning of Prospero was a conflict eclipsed only by the nightmare civil war that came after.

Fighting with a ferocity and skill far beyond anything human, Leman Russ wields the sword of Balenight, known as Mjalnar, an ancient blade whose dark legend stretched back to the Age of Strife; and Helwinter, Russ’ great frost axe, its murderous edge made with the kraken-teeth of a mighty beast Russ slew himself. His warplate is a suit of singular artificer power armour, incorporating unique exothermic field generators, otherwise unknown of in the Imperium’s arsenal of technology.
 

I really enjoyed painting this miniature, I really pushed my abilities. It is probably the most time I have spent on a single miniature for a long time, but I cut no corners and spared no expense in getting this to look how I wanted it to.

There looks like there are a lot of colours there, but it all ties together, yet stands out from the rest on the army in a good way. The basic palette is grey (armour and ruins), brown (fur and mud), gold (details) and red (cape, leather and blood), using a variety of shades of each. The spot colour is blue, used on the gems and differently on the power weapon's energy source. There are a lot of textures around the model and trying to do them all justice was difficult.

The runes, I wanted them to look like marble so I tried sponging. That didn't look quite right, so I added some layering, to look like the saw cuts you see in polished marble.

I'm happy with him anyway!

Comments and criticisms welcome. Fluff is from the Forge World Website.

Dave
 
fourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.co.uk – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads