Xenofauna Bore Kraken and Taloned Stonebreaker

[Hobby Services]

"The Venian bore kraken is not, contrary to appearances, a single organism but rather a complex biological collective.  The deeply-buried "mother core" is a nearly-immobile hermaphroditic lithovore which also acts as an incubator to the young of a variety of symbiotes.  These include the large "ingestion maw" and its own tentacular "hunter" forms, colloquially known as Grabbers, Stabbers, and Stingers.  The collective exploits many sources of potential nourishment to thrive even in the hostile environment created by the hyperbolic orbit of Venia and the highly variable output of the local star.  Some debate exists regarding the exact relationships between these creatures, which may be true symbiotes or a single species subject to extreme sexual polymorphism."

-Encyclopedia Xenobiologica, SF3229 Edition



Kitbashed out of a bunch of bits box stuff, intended to be used as random menace in skirmish scifi gaming or RPGs.









Comes with a big central maw and dozen symbiote tentacles to feed it with.



Three types of tentacles, the Grabbers



the Stabbers



and the Stingers.

[Hobby Services]

Thanks!  Inspired by various Rogue Trader projects, especially the ones on this thread:

http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=90994.0

[Hobgoblin]

Terrific! Great idea and execution.

[Vermis]

Very nicely done. I think I recognise the tentackes as chaos spawn bits, but where's the maw from?

[Hobby Services]

Very nicely done. I think I recognise the tentackes as chaos spawn bits, but where's the maw from?

Combination of Chaos Spawn parts and part of a Reaper Desert Thing from their Deadlands licensed range.

[Hobby Services]

"The Venian taloned stonebreaker is a burrowing predator of considerable size which hunts both subterranean life forms and surface-dwelling prey.  While slow, the creature has many clawed limbs of enormous length which it employs both as digging tools and to deliver meals (sometimes still living) to its main ingestion maw.  The creature bears a superficial resemblance to the omnivorous colony species known as bore kraken, and competes with them for near-surface hunting territory.  Mistaking one species for the other is a common and often fatal mistake, as the stonebreaker is noticeably more aggressive than the more opportunistic kraken."

-Encyclopedia Xenobiologica, SF3229 Edition   

Another take on the concept, this time with claws instead of tentacles.







Think I prefer the color choices on this lot, bit more subtle.

[YPU]

Cool concept, great execution. Are those mouths sunk into the base?

[Hobby Services]

Cool concept, great execution. Are those mouths sunk into the base?

Not really (it's basically a bit of texturing straight onto the base) but the illusion works pretty well thanks to the way the jaws are buried under a bit of ballast.  Probably works best on those lipped Reaper bases, a beveled-edge GW-style one doesn't have the slight inset for the upper surface.

[YPU]

Right right. The optical illusion is pretty strong though, especially with the second one.

[Hobby Services]

Right right. The optical illusion is pretty strong though, especially with the second one.

Thanks, I was pretty happy with it.  The second one got a little more buried, which probably helps.  One nice thing about my fondness for revisiting ideas is that I can gradually get better at doing each of them.  There's always something in any paint job or sculpting conversion that makes me think "I could do it better if I did this instead of that" and doing another take on the subject lets me improve a bit.

[FramFramson]

Really great work!

[chickenbane]

What he said! Brilliant.