Author Topic: Tanith First and Only (Read 9045 times)

Seraphim · « **on:** November 05, 2009, 06:31:00 AM »

Gaunt's Ghosts is, to my knowledge, the longest-running 40K book series, now on it's twelfth book. As such, interest in cosplaying the series is usually high among people who realize they can't make Space Marine costumes. [img]http://i6.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

Le Communard and I are both going to Comic-Con in Ghosts (or at least Sabbat Worlds Crusade) garb, and I'd like to point my friends to a thread and say "there is everything you need to know about making a Tanith costume. Now read the first omnibus and go make one".

So, from now on, I'm going to comb through all those wonderful links people have posted in the Useful links thread, and find the pieces of kit that correspond best to the Tanith. If anyone has the cover art for the novels saved, it would be much appreciated! I'll dig some up, but most of it is pretty low-res.

Basic Tanith uniform:
(Vervunhivers and Belladon have slightly different styles)
This seems to be pretty haphazard, aside from their camo-cloaks and straight silver. They appear to wear fatigue pants, army boots, and in many cases, short sleeves. I'm not sure whether this is mentioned in the novel, or just there to show off their bulging biceps. They sometimes wear body, shoulder, or arm protection, but it doesn't seem to be consistent.

The camo-cloaks seem to be large, made out of medium-weight green fabric, and have hoods that are normally thrown back from the face. Other gear appears highly personalized, especially the scouts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Gaunt...osts_characters list of characters.

Le Communard · « **Reply #1 on:** November 05, 2009, 06:40:00 AM »

Reposting: I actually think the best plan would be for someone who was good at this sort of thing (i.e. not me =P) to make an easy Regimental uniform template, that's a combination of some simple step-by-step patterns and some easy to get surplus. Even people like me could probably do it, and then we'd have a uniform regimental look as well. On the other hand, that might be totally unrealistic.

EDIT: Also, we should work on getting someone not into Sci-FI so much to come as Triumff. That'd be the prefect icing on the cake.

Also: I'm pretty sure there described as having Black webbing and gear in the books.

If this gets big enough, we should get Tanith patches made in bulk so we can ship em off to perspective members cheap. Thats thinking an awfully long way into the future, though.

I think we have to strike off the sleeveless--most of us just don't have bulging Tanith muscles, anyway, I'm pretty sure it's just for show.

Cover art seems to be all over Google, but I'll help index it--that's something I can do.

Double EDIT: PEOPLE WHO HAVE NOT YET FINISHED THE SERIES, DO NOT LOOK AT THE WIKI ARTICLE. COLOSSAL SPOILERS.

Kommissar · « **Reply #2 on:** November 05, 2009, 06:50:00 AM »

for the miniatures, alot of them have tank tops and are painted with them being black on the box

link to lexicanum camo cloak entry, no spoilers

i'd encourage going for the newer pixelated looking camo for the cloaks, as it would add to the belief that the cloaks are higher tech than just a cape.

Le Communard · « **Reply #3 on:** November 05, 2009, 07:07:00 AM »

Just found some guys who did Tanith already. Too bad they're across the pond--but we might get some inspiration:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2741...95&id=602504861

Also, all the new edition cover photos:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36728&id=39626759400

Tanith from the old Codex:

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/image...nithUniform.jpg

Blood Pact cover:

http://www.ottens.co.uk/gatehouse/user/fil...d%20Palumbo.jpg

Kommissar · « **Reply #4 on:** November 05, 2009, 07:24:00 AM »

shame the last pic isn't that useful to everyone, and hey, i recognize that spacewolf in the tanith cosplayers, ive seen shots of him with a sister of battle.

Korpsman · « **Reply #5 on:** November 06, 2009, 04:44:00 AM »

I dunno if I'll take this idea on this year, since I'm already going to be spread pretty thing money-wise anyway.

But I suppose I'll put in my thoughts on the matter. I'll list off the equipment needed for the uniform, if we want to all appear somewhat regimented:

- Leather Belt: Pretty much just a simple leather belt without a buckle. This looks like it'll do.

- Suspenders: Probably not totally necessary, given that the Old-Codex Tanith image seems to be lacking suspenders (though I've never heard of a free-standing army that lacks proper suspenders as standard-issue gear, soooo...). They seem to be in a similar style to the French Foreign Legion suspenders used in WWII.

- Ammunition pouches: Lots of inconsistency here. Some covers show them with both Three-cell SMG pouches, while others seem to have smaller leather stripper-clip-style pouches.

- Pants: I'd imagine any army-style, black, green, or olive-drab BDU pants will do.

- Uniform: This seems about right.

- Boots: Seem to just be standard black, polished combat boots. Some pictures show them with Puttees (easily made with fabric and held together with tied straps or Velcro), while others seem to give them bracers.

That pretty much fills out the basics. I don't think we need to be too restrictive with the gear, though, since the First and Only has more of a ragtag, improvised feel to them, so additional gear and other small touches are encourages.

Quote

i'd encourage going for the newer pixelated looking camo for the cloaks, as it would add to the belief that the cloaks are higher tech than just a cape.

Eh, no way. For one, the Tanith seem to have a very WWI-II appearance to them (but then again, so does the rest of the Guard), and digital camo is just fucking ugly.

I think we ought to all go through here first, and then decide on it. I'd check out the "European" section, since it seems to have the most "foresty" looking camouflage.

Seraphim · « **Reply #6 on:** November 06, 2009, 04:55:00 AM »

In the novels, regardless of the cover art, they are described as having black fatigues and green camo-cloaks, but they may change depending on their environment.

I'm not sure what armies have straight-up black fatigues, but I'll do some research and defer to Korpsman, he knows more about uniform history than I do.

Korpsman · « **Reply #7 on:** November 06, 2009, 07:27:00 AM »

Quote from: Seraphim date=1257501300

In the novels, regardless of the cover art, they are described as having black fatigues and green camo-cloaks, but they may change depending on their environment.

I'm not sure what armies have straight-up black fatigues, but I'll do some research and defer to Korpsman, he knows more about uniform history than I do.

Ah, well, if that's the case, I suppose finding some black fatigues isn't exactly too difficult or expensive.

EDIT: There, blam. 3 seconds on google.

Kommissar · « **Reply #8 on:** November 06, 2009, 04:16:00 PM »

Quote from: Seraphim date=1257501300

In the novels, regardless of the cover art, they are described as having black fatigues and green camo-cloaks, but they may change depending on their environment.

I'm not sure what armies have straight-up black fatigues, but I'll do some research and defer to Korpsman, he knows more about uniform history than I do.

just do a search for black BDU really

Le Communard · « **Reply #9 on:** December 04, 2009, 07:59:00 AM »

Nothing important to add to this right now, but I just found a great Rawne pic that could be useful:

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/6858/rawne2kx6.jpg

neophyl · « **Reply #10 on:** December 04, 2009, 01:58:00 PM »

Whoever did some of the cover art was either HEAVILY influenced by or did some 2000 ad work. Which if they are english wouldnt be surprising. The knee and arm pads on several of the covers are identical to that worn by Judges in the 20000AD comic.

I know there are people putting together Judge costumes (some of my local garrison members are doing it) so I could ask what they are doing for the knee and elbow pads if anyone wants me to.

For the rest of it a set of basic black fatigues with an olive t shirt underneath would seem to be the best compromise for the basic clothing layer.

Add on to that a mixture of old style canvas or leather pouches (58 pattern or similar) as well as some of the old french leather stuff and you would have your belt order/webbing pretty much sorted.

For the camo cloak as its supposed to be able to mimic the terrain then I guess you could get away with alot here. My preference though would br NOT to use one of the more distinctive exisiting camoflage patterns (though I dearly love tiger stripe).
Make the cloak (with hood) from a natural cotton canvas and then spot dye areas with mixtures of greens and browns to give a general mottled appearance and then go to work with either an airbrush or spraypaints in futher green, brown , dark grey tones in areas. This would give you a unique cammo cloak.

More effort yes but it would look alot better. You could also repaint areas occassionally so it would change [img]http://i6.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' />

So who wants to sculpt a tanith cap badge ?

wookieegunner · « **Reply #11 on:** December 04, 2009, 04:40:00 PM »

Not to hawk Rebel Legion again, but here is a link to a tutorial on how to do the Endor Commando's camo pattern using spray paint. Might have some useful information:

http://www.rebellegion.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11116

Seraphim · « **Reply #12 on:** December 07, 2009, 05:59:00 AM »

Quote from: Le Communard date=1259931540

Nothing important to add to this right now, but I just found a great Rawne pic that could be useful:

http://img111.imageshack.us/img111/6858/rawne2kx6.jpg

That is one amazing picture that is getting immediately saved in my Tanith references folder! Though the Ghost's fatigues are described as black, I suppose green works just as well thematically.

Neophyl, I like the spray paint idea, but I'd like to add it would probably look a lot better if after that the cloak gets thrown on the ground and rubbed with dirt and grass stains. Wash it off afterward if you like, and the stains remain, making it look more authentic.

The was a real cap badge available from Black Library for a while, but their website is down and I'm pretty sure it was sold out anyway. [img]http://i6.ifrm.com/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif' /> Someone start a petition to have them make another production run! There might be one on ebay, though.

Kommissar · « **Reply #13 on:** December 07, 2009, 06:35:00 PM »

yeah the cap badges are rare, i've got one, but i've never seen anymore, somehow it was sold at a games day a few years back

Seraphim · « **Reply #14 on:** December 08, 2009, 12:32:00 AM »

You realize that because you own a cap badge, you are obligated to either cosplay as a Ghost or have a friend do so, right?

That aside, it can't be that hard to make a cap badge. Their are nice clean graphics of the badge online, and it's not a high relief badge, so it doesn't take a ton of skill to cut the shape out of sculpy and bevel the edges a bit.