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Well done. I love the use of the cultists head to make traitors.

Thanks a lot for the kind words, guys! I am really rather happy with those traitor models, if I do say so myself.

This last weekend was spent messing around with the various functions of Pixlr a little more, and today I’d like to share some of the results with you:

Once I had started playing around with my various World Eaters photos, it goes without saying that I also had to give one of my favourite models another spin as well:



"Engine of Destruction"


And why limit myself to Khorne? Giving some of my Nurglite models another layer of grime and neglect turned out to be great fun as well:



"Nurgle's Children"


Seeing how the standoff between Marax the Fallen and a downed Space Marine had worked out so well, I also touched up another photo that had been taken during a game of 40k:



"Isgarad attacks"


The original photo was pretty terrible, but with the help of some filters, it became a rather more interesting battlefield impression.

Next up, another Helbrute: Khorlen the Lost:



"Lost Soul"


I liked the result so much that I had another go at this model, focusing on its wonderfully creepy face and thereby creating a more portrait-like image:



"And I Must Scream..."


This is maybe one of my favourite pictures, because it really embodies the horror about being interred into a corrupted sarcophagus. This picture also led to further explore the portrait approach, trying to explore the essence of specific characters (or creatures):



"Instrument of Wrath"



"Scarred Hunter"


And, last but definitely not least, this rather moody shot of an Imperial monument:



"Know Fear"


In this case, the original picture was actually pretty terrible, but I simply love the touched up version!

All in all, this was really a great way to discover new aspects about some of my models and bring out a new visual narrative in some pieces. Call me crazy, but working on these pictures and coming up with titles for them really made me think about several of my projects in slightly different ways. And, if nothing else, messing around with the software was just a lot of fun

As always, let me know what you think!

Splendid models Kraut and love the paint job!

Long live the photo filters! Nice way to spice up your miniature showcase!

Great pics !

You've got some excellent models there mate, and a great spare part knowledge !

Robbing ideas from you mercilessly !

Thanks a lot, guys! Glad you like the pictures!

Phew, work has been absolutely crazy this week, but at least I managed to pick up my pre-ordered box of Putrid Blightkings yesterday. I will be using these as 40k Nurgle models in some capacity, as I suppose some of you are planning to do as well, so let me share some brief, initial observations:

- the level of detail in this kit has to be seen to be believed! Seriously, those guys are every bit as spectacular as they looked in WD Weekly

- the amount of bitz you get is equally impressive: Even after building five complete models, you should have lots and lots of leftovers for the rest of your Nurglite army: The amount of heads, rusty weapons and armour plates alone is staggering!

- the kit is pretty flexible, and you'll be getting quite a few very different looking models out of this one -- however, the kit is not as flexible as many "classic" multi part plastic kits (most of the (Chaos) Space Marine range comes to mind), due to the way the models are put together. This is not a problem per se, but it does mean you'll need to plan ahead in order to convert these guys...

-...speaking of which: (Chaos) Terminator parts will work great on these, from a size perspective.

This last point is pretty important, I think, because many people planning to use these models in 40k seem to be unsure as to their actual size: I've seen speculations that the Blightkings are Ogre/Ogryn-sized, and I've snapped a quick comparison shot for you:



As you can see, these guys are definitely NOT Ogryn-sized. In fact, they are slightly smaller than Terminators. In my opinion, that makes them useful as stand-ins for Chaos Terminators (probably what I am going to do), true scale Death Guard Marines or something of the sort.

Anyway, hope this will prove useful to those of you who are on the fence about whether or not the kit is worth the purchase. More information on my experiences with these models as I start putting them together (and hacking them apart ).

I thought GW had gone overboard and made these things huge but I am pleasantly surprised to see that they are smaller than they look on the GW webstore.

True Scale Death Guard sounds like a great idea though.

Eh well their lovely models but ridiculous prices. I prefer Avatars of Wars take on the theme

Cheers, guys!

@ Gogsnik: Hmm, sorry, but I'll have to disagree here: Though not Ogryn-sized, these guys are still massive, and you get five of them out of the kit, complete with an almost obscene amount of extra bitz. GW stuff certainly is expensive, but the Blightkings are one of their more reasonably priced kits, I think.

So, another small update:

Most of my time this week has been spent participating in a local independent film festival, so I didn't really get that much hobby time. I did take a much needed breather today and relaxed with some kitbashing:

First up, I made a few very early attempts at "40k-i-fying" the Putrid Blightkings:





Nothing huge so far, just messing around with a few 40k parts and seeing what works. A more involved conversion was trying to add a breastplate to the one Blightking in the set that normally HAS to be assembled with a bare belly:



That did take quite a bit of cutting (and the model still needs some serious gap-filling).

I also worked on a kitbash for my fourth Dreadnought/Helbrute. Take a look:







The basic idea behind this guy is that he is a former Breacher Sergeant whose calling is still reflected in some elements of his ironform -- the Mk. 3-ish helmet, the shield on his left arm recalling a boarding shield and the melta, for example.

As always, let me know what you think!

Ooh goody someone using the blightkings, shame about the scale was really leaning towards the nurgle oblit angle but looks like they'll need some bulking up to go down that road, still I shall definitely have to grab some.

Nice job there man40k-ifying the blightkings, such detail deserves to expand beyond WFB. I would ike to ask though...would their breastpaltes fit on a regular terminator back?? or is it wasted time even to consider it?
Also very nice Helbrute, the helmet works wonderfully, as does this spiky chaos halo. My favourite thing about him however has to be th claw...totally vicious and scary as hell. Where did its parts come from??

Thanks, guys!

@ Legio Ultra: Regarding the Blightkings' compatibility with Terminator torsos...hmmm, I'll have to try that one -- hold that thought, I'll be right back

As for the Dread's claws, those are spiky bitz from the WoC Chariot's wheels.

Phenomenal work on the Dread, he fits your concept perfectly and that claw just oozes menace

Cheers, mate!

And another new piece: Here's a custom Kharn model that I built fairly recently for a conversion/painting contest over at Throne of Skulls:









The theme of the contest was to take one of the Khornate characters from among the 40k and WFB universes and build a better/updated/reimagined version of them. Since this is going to be a piece for the contest, above all else, I took the liberty of truescaling Kharn a bit...

As always, let me know what you think!

Kharn looks a bit out of proportion. The head looks a little off from the body and the Terminator legs are to big. IMHO Great work with the rest as always.

I don't think so - if there is a 40k charakter fitting to that ridiculous overdrawn Musklemania proportions SMs tend to have in the newer illustratons, it is Kharne. Yes, the head is really really small, but Kharne is infamous not for his elaborate reflections about the nature of war, is he? Also the massive helmet crest conceals it a bit. The legs? Massive men have massive legs, plus armour, naa I think it's just right as it is.

The only thing that strikes me as off with Kharn is his trigger finger!

The proportions look fine to me. And I love the look of that giant war-crest-helmet rearing back and baying to the bloody skies.

A very striking composition, and a characterful conversion.

I like the update, but I can't help but feel that the left arm just isn't bulky enough



**edit**
Also the thigh plates seem to thrown off the model, disrupt the silhouette, and just look very Terminator armour-esque

Cheers, guys!

As a matter of fact, that piece of artwork posted by Dreadclaw69 has been one of the main inspirations for the model

Anyway, regarding your feedback:

- when it comes to the proportions, I don't think they are that bad. Keep in mind that we are used to seeing Kharn at the heroic scale (i.e. with hands, a head and weapons that are ever slightly too big), which may be one of the reasons the truescaled version might need some getting used to. I'm not saying that the proportions are 100% perfect, but I think they work, generally speaking.

- I obsessed over the head for quite a while, but in the end, I didn't come up with a way of kitbashing a new head that was instantly recognisable as Kharn. And this aspect was key, because this isn't some counts as Kharn: This guy is supposed to be the genuine article. So after much deliberation, I realised that I would have to use the original head.

- as for the tringer finger,...hmmm, can we just say he's exercising trigger discipline, perhaps?

- the arm is one of the biggest challenges when building a TS Kharn, because it has to be big enough for the model not to look too lopsided, but it also has to be somewhat smaller than the armoured one - for obvious reasons. Let's just say I dare you to find a more fitting arm in GW's catalogue (oh, and for the record: I did try Ork boy arms...).

- I agree about the hip plates, but it's really too late now to change anything about that, so I'll just have to live with it


Oh, and I also have another small update: Since messing around with pictures of my models and some image editing software turned out to be so much fun, I gave it another try and tackled some more involved photomontages.

First up, a picture of my Hellrazor in action:



I used both Pixlr and Photoshop to create this image, and while there may be a lot of stuff that can be improved, I am still reasonably happy with the outcome.

I also found this very interesting post over at Tyler Mengel’s blog and decided I needed to try something similar. So here’s a composite picture of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt having some fun on the plains of a conquered Hive World:



Once again, both Pixlr and Photoshop were used in the creation of the image. I also found out that Pixlr is great for quickly obscuring rough areas noticeable seams between different parts of a composite picture. Granted, I still have much to learn, but I definitely like where this is going!

As always, let me know what you think!

Hell yeah, so much awesome

I am envious these models are awesome, love every bit of what you've done. love the mk 1 terminator model. giving me so many ideas for conversions, just wish I had the extra bits lol.

Oh I can totally relate on the struggle to find a fitting arm for the un-armoured one, tried so many variations and nothing seems perfect, half tempted to just get the FW Kharn and 40k him up a bit, seems a lot for a single character though.

Necromunda Goliath Arms. Great work on Kharn I can just see him bellowing "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED"

and my "captain-holding-a-chaos-marine-by-the-throat" kharn counts as is officially classed as lame. :(
because that thing is awesome.

Cheers, guys! Glad you like my new version of Kharn! I won't lie: He did take some time to come together. As for the arm issue, I do have a few plastic Goliaths from the Necromunda starter box, but the arms didn't work at all -- the sculpt has aged horribly, if you ask me

So, another small update: Seeing Jeff Vader's wonderful Blightking-based Plague Marine made me realise I need to get my act together regarding my own Blightkings, so I took another stab at them. I also realised that the truly complicated thing about converting them is that they are so dang near perfect out of the box

For instance, I really love the champion model and struggled with a way to make it more 40k, but in the end, I had an idea. Take a look at the finished conversion:





As you can see, I added a cracked breastplate (made from a seriously shaved down CSM torso front). I like the idea that the armour burst under some hideous internal pressure...ewww. I also exchanged the old standard backpack for a cooler one from the DV Chosen (with the vents slightly changed).

I also started on another model that was heavily inspired by Jeff Vader's conversion:





I did try to put my own twist on things, though. The fully armoured Blightkings are great base models for true scale Plague Marines.

Oh, and a dangling head trophy from the Blightking kit also allowed me to plug an unsightly gap on the Nurglite sorcerer I kitbashed a while ago:



In closing, here's another scale comparison picture:



As always, let me know what you think!

Those look fantastic, the Sorceror in particular is fantastic. Any chance you could let me know which parts you used to make it? I see blightking legs, a dark vengeance torso, raptor shoulders and a CSM backpack. Am I missing anything?

Cheers, mate! Regarding the sorcerer, the legs didn't come from the Blightkings, but rather from the chaos warshrine priest. The right hand is also from that kit. And there's a head trophy from the Blightking kit dangling below the model's left arm. The scythe was made from a Chaos Terminator lord's staff, a resin skull and a leg from the Chaos Daemon Blight Drones. Apart from that, well spotted

Great Work as always. You're making me want to start a Nurgle army now.

Looks like I'm late to the party again
Anyway, and first things first, your Kharn looks simply great!! (probably not the way I would have reimagined him tough). Can't wait to see him painted!
As for the Blightkings/Plague Marines, they look very nice though I feel like the first one is better than the second (who just looks slightly too medieval for a Plague marine imho...perhaps a gas mask would suit him best??).
All in all very nice job yet again

Thanks for the response KS!

Will you be doing any more battle reports with this army? I love reading reports from blogs like these, seeing such beautiful armies perform is a dream.