Im of the same minda DRommel when it comes ot the Chosen they just stand out way too much amongst my other troops, I have a dozen of them kicking around too lol.

The work you have done here especially on the second one has me considering working on mine again soon though, I feel Ive been a little hasty in writing them off. Great work buddy.

Thank you kindly, gentlemen!

To tell you the truth, converting that second guy was actually rather simple: The most complicated part was sawing through the original Chosen to separate both halves of the body without causing irreparable damage to either. As it is, I only had to replace the grip on the sword at the model's hip.

@ Rawson: Believe it or not, that head is from the DA sergeant that came with the Dark Vengeance box

@ DRommel: True enough. Fortunately, many of the mutations could possibly be painted as simple decoration on the armour: I am going to mostly paint them the same bronze colour as the armour trim, since I don't like my regular legionaries too mutated.

@ Biohazard: Go for it, buddy! The main problem to overcome is the fear of doing something wrong and ruining one of those gorgeous models. Then again, they won't do much good just lying around in the first place, so...

You make a good point, I have done a couple of arms swaps etc but nothing drastic. I have a lot of other projects on the go at the moment so will be a while. I do like the way the WHFB torso fits the legs though.

Cool conversions! especially the second guy. This reinforces my idea that the new stuff for chaos (including those raptor kits) is actually better when you water it down a bit and use the parts selectively... as a whole the models are extremely busy and hard to integrate into normal looking armies, but the bits are just awesome! Especially the backpacks, weapons and probably the helmets. There is one of them that is holding his helmet in his hands and one guy removed it (probably a painful, delicate operation) and put it back on... I'm sure it would also work with bunny ears and look really good.

 KrautScientist wrote:

i love this guy! he looks so good! he looks more than just a chosen though, he looks more like a huntsmaster to me.
how easy was he to assemble? i may take insperation *cough*steal*cough* for my khorne lord ('ill probably use a sanguinary gaurd front torso though)

looking foward to seeing how the other chosen turn out!!

 Chaos Emperor wrote:
how easy was he to assemble? i may take insperation *cough*steal*cough* for my khorne lord ('ill probably use a sanguinary gaurd front torso though)

Like I said, the hardest part was cutting through the Chosen model without causing too much damage. The most important thing is to not get impatient! As for the torso, the ones from the Skullcrusher kit fit perfectly. Those from the WoC Chaos Knights should work as well. I'm not 100% sure, but conventional Space Marine bodies might be a little short for the legs, so I would advise you to do some research beforehand.

Now that is one hell of a marine! Impressive idea that has paid off ten fold.

Thanks a lot, Peter! The model is quite a bit taller than any regular Chaos Space Marine, so you almost get a true scale look out of this conversion without fiddling with any GS

Another update:

Not only am I a great fan of building characters for my World Eaters army (as evidenced by many, many posts on this blog), I also enjoy having models to represent must – if not all – of the possible selections from the Codex. What’s more, I am constantly trying come up with conversions and kitbashes that put a spin on the ideas presented in the book and make the models fit my army’s background: My Chaos Spawn are former World Eaters and still retain some of the gladiatorial feel typical of the legion. My champions and officers are “Huntmasters”, accomplished hunters out to run down their prey. Indeed, most of my army is designed with the hunting background firmly in mind, and for each entry in the codex, I try to come up with a model that is not only clearly recognisable, but also makes sense within the context of the army’s overall look and feel.

The Dark Apostle HQ selection was one that had me stumped so far. You see, for me, the Dark Apostle will always remain a character type firmly connected to the Word Bearers legion. I also wanted to build my own model for a possible Dark Apostle instead of the Finecast one released by GW (though the model is, of course, really cool). So after a bit of thought, I figured that I had two possibilities:

1. Make the Apostle a Word Bearer that had been assigned to the 4th assault company during the Great Crusade and had been staying with them ever since.

2. Come up with a way to create a “Khornate” Dark Apostle that made sense within the framework of my army’s background.

While the first option may be pretty promising from a narrative standpoint, I somehow just wasn’t feeling it: While the Dark Apostle Azalon actually appears in the background of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt and definitely had a hand in their corruption, he’s a character I would maybe like to spin off into a separate army project one of these days. So I thought about making my own apostle as a member of the 4th assault company.

Several Khorne players have come up with some kind of “blood priest”, inciting his brothers to even greater rage during battle. But while that idea was also very cool, it still wasn’t what I was looking for. Instead, I thought about what the members of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt would possibly use as a means of bolstering their morale and drive them forward. And since it’s a hunting party we are talking about here, the answer was rather simple: a horn.

My Dark Apostle would be a hornblower, wielding an ancient and treasured artifact to call the warriors of the 4th to arms and order them forward. To my mind, it makes a lot of sense that the sound of their most revered warhorn should serve as a surge of motivation to the legionaries of the 4th!

So far so good! Now when it came to actually building the model, everything boiled down to a lucky coincidence, as is so often the case: When I swung by the FLGS the other day after a particularly horrible day at work, I couldn’t help but treat myself to one of GW’s brand new plastic Chaos Lords .

While I hadn’t been 100% sold on the model before, this guy is actually pretty great once you see him firsthand! So I sat down and did a couple of really easy changes to the model to transform him into my “counts as” Dark Apostle. Take a look:







As you can see, it didn’t take much to make the model look quite different: I carefully cut off the hand holding the glaive and used a different head. Oh, and I also “converted” the base to fit on a 40k round base. Apart from that, in a move that is fairly atypical for me, the model remains very close to the original design.

While the head that comes with the model is much nicer than the pictures in WD would have you believe, and while it has a really interesting “Herne the Hunter” vibe going on, it was a little to over the top for the look I wanted to achieve. So I used a champion head from the Skullcrusher kit instead. The Khorne rune on the forehead is quite a nice touch, and while I had originally planned to shave off the small set of horns, they somehow really complement the rest of the model rather well, don’t you think?







The huge horn came from the Chaos Daemon Bloodcrusher kit and is nicely decorated with different chaotic runes. I originally wanted to use the even cooler horn from the Skullcrushers, but that one was unfortunately right-handed, so I had little choice in the matter. In any case, the horn really looks like an ancient and powerful artifact of the Warp…



Granted, this guy still looks very much like a WFB model. But even though I might have been slightly tempted to make an even more involved conversion out of this model, I was too in love with the lines and silhouette of the model to further cut it up. And while I am not one to be easily swayed by GW’s marketing speak, their gushing about how great the model’s sword and cape are designed is, for once, really true. Take a look:



What’s really great about the new Chaos Lord is the depth of the model: He doesn’t look nearly as flat as the plastic models of old. However, this also comes at a price: The parts only fit together in a fairly specific way, so if you want to convert this guy, you should keep that in mind.

It’s fairly easy to swap in a couple of new forearms (and weapons) and the neck cavity will accept pretty much any head you choose to put there. The model could even conceivably be left off the sculpted base. Beyond that, though, converting this guy could get pretty complicated though. Still, knowing people like GuitaRasmus, PDH or migsula, I think we can rest assured that we will be seeing a couple of rather striking re-designs sooner rather than later…

Another word of advice: If you want to make painting this model a lot easier for yourself, you should think about what to glue together and what to leave apart before painting. Personally speaking, I would advise you to work in these four sub-assemblies:



A: You can definitely glue together the base and small rocky outcrop with a part of the model’s right foot on it. If you want to keep the glaive, this will be quite a bit more complicated, since the weapon potentially connects sub-assemblies A and B. Since I just cut it off, I made my life that much easier

B: The cape and forearms can be glued together: You can still add or remove the rest of the body (C) afterwards without a hitch. Again, see above for possible difficulties if you keep the glaive in the model’s right hand.

C: The model’s main body and right lower leg can also be glued together. There’s really only one possible position here. Even so, you might want to dryfit this part with sub-assembly A to make sure everything fits together.

D: Whatever head you want to use should probably be kept separate until after painting.

Oh, and one more thing: This guy is huge! Especially if you use the sculpted base! While he is a little less bulky than a Terminator, he almost reaches up to the same height as my Lorimar conversion (base included).

All in all, I am really pleased with this guy right now: I may add a small bit or two (and possibly a Dark Vengeance Chosen backpack, to make the model look a little more 40k), but he is pretty gorgeous and quite majestic as he is. I also think he makes for a rather convincing Dark Apostle in the context of my whole army. And I can also recommend the WoC plastic Lord, even though the price is nothing to laugh at.

Anyway, let me know what you think! And as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

It looks good! You could justify by saying that it's a magical suit of armour or taken from a killed planetary lord of a medieval-tech world, and then blessed?

Or it could be a gift of artificer armour from the Mechanicum (pre-Heresy) for his role in capturing something STC related, or a gift from the Dark Mechanicum for finding some previously forbidden technology. Either way the armour is so well crafted that it has its own integral power supply (like power armour worn by some Inquisitors) and so doesn't need a power pack. That way you don't distort the silhouette or cover up any of the detail of the cloak and sword.

**edit**
Or if you felt the need to have a backpack to tie him in with the rest of the force then some of the older Space Wolf Scout figures (1st & 2nd Edition) had smaller separate back packs that may be suitable, or even an Eversor's back pack.

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

I had originally planned to use a backpack from the Dark Vengeance Chosen, since it's far less bulky, but after a couple of tryouts, I realised that even the smaller backpack fiercely messes up the model's silhouette. So I might just ditch the backpack altogether and go with one of the reasons suggested by you

I am in love ! i picked up the tzeentch dude , now kinda regretting it ! superb work as per usual mate

Happy to help

 neil101 wrote:
I am in love ! i picked up the tzeentch dude , now kinda regretting it ! superb work as per usual mate

Thanks a lot, Neil! As for Vilitch: Don't be sorry! That's basically my favourite model from the whole new chaos release! If there was any way I could use him for anything, I'd get that model in a heartbeat!

...

As a matter of fact, I even touched up one of my older models due to Vilitch. Check it out over in my INQ28 thread!

Fantastic! I love the Dark Apostle!

Great tutroial for the Dark Apostle sub-assembly

You said that you were concerned that it looks too much like a WHFB model - I think I may have an idea as to how to correct this and bring him more in line with 40k.

Firstly, you could easily put a Chaos Power Armor backpack on him. Even though it might obscure some of the robes, I don't think it would be too severe.

HIs torso, legs, arms and shoulders are quite nice as they are and would easily appear as barque, demonic power armor. One thing that could sell it off as being more scifi would be to maybe strap a holstered bolt pistol to his bely or maglock a helmet to his waist.

Hope that helps!

Thanks, guys!

@ Crystal Geyser: Like I said, I tried a Dark Vengeance Chosen backpack, expecting it to be slightly less problematic due too its smaller footprint. It still messes up the model's silhouette something fierce, though, so I might just leave it off altogether and go with a fluff-related reason why the armour doesn't have an external power supply, like you suggested.

This weekend, I did a couple of smaller stuff. Biohazard was awesome enought to let me have his Dark Vengeance cultists, so quite a bit of time went into kitbashing some of those into all kinds of neat stuff. Some of that can be seen over at my INQ28 thread, the other half I'll post here:

First up, this is a conversion I have wanted to do for quite a while now:



The flamer was shortened and the barrels replaced with the blade from an Ork choppa. I also added that sinister, patched together hood from another cultist, leading to a nice, chainsaw-madman look


Ever since I got a box of WFB Marauder horsemen in order to use some of the bitz in my World Eaters army, the horses and rider bodies have sat in my bitzbox. The obvious solution was to use them to build a squad of Rough Riders for my Traitor Guard. However, I didn't want them to look either like "Barbarians in Space" or slightly grumpy Catachans, so I still needed something to give them a slightly eerie, chaotic look.

Well, with some of cultist heads that were left over from various conversions, I was finally on to something:





I also found a rather nice use for the leftovers from the chainsaw maniac above:





The cultist gas mask heads make these guys look rather sinister, don't you think? I also did an early mockup of a possible officer:



This guy will probably need quite a bit more work, though...


And finally, I even managed to get something painted. Yay!

The last two weapon options I need for my Chaos Dreadnoughts/Helbrutes are a Multimelta and rocket launcher. So I sat down to kitbash a Multimelta, using a leftover Dreadnought arm and a plastic Multimelta from an Adeptus Sororitas kit:





Since I had no more panels left from the Venerable Dread kit to cover up the loyalist decorations, I cut a Khorne standard to size. The Multimelta may be a bit on the short side, but I still think it works. That leaves only the rocket launcher, and I already have an idea for that...


Anyway, C&C always welcome!

wow, those traitor guard look amazing man. so sinister...
Can't think of any C&C to be honest. I love the look!

Great work brother

Thanks a lot, guys! I really appreciate it!

It’s plain to see that the various new Daemon Engines played a rather huge part in the last Chaos Space Marine release: While not everyone is especially fond of the Heldrake and fiend models, there’s no doubt that they add a new perspective to the army, both from a visual and a gameplay standpoint. The most eagerly disputed of these daemon engines has to be the Heldrake: Not only does it add the first real flyer to the traitor legions’ lineup, but the model itself is also a very clear case of “love it or hate it.”

I have to be honest with you: In this particular question, I feel rather drawn towards the haters’ camp: While I love the idea of a chaos flyer slowly mutating and changing to a quasi-living being, with its erstwhile pilot having atrophied to a husk serving as the beast’s black heart, and while the latest FAQ pretty much transformed the Heldrake from a very viable option into an “auto-include”, I am still not sold on the kit itself. Make no mistake, the beast has grown on me a little, and I don’t hate it as much as I did last October, but it was immediately clear to me that any Heldrake included in my World Eaters army would have to look pretty different. The next few updates, then, will deal with my own Heldrake conversion slowly taking shape.

As luck would have it, I had won a Painting/Converting Contest over at Throne of Skulls some time ago, and so I was allowed to choose the motto for the next contest — what better occasion than this to force myself to actually convert and paint a chaos flyer of my own? So I decreed that the contest would deal with Khornate Daemon Engines, in order to both let myself be inspired by other peoples’ awesome creations and to put myself under a bit of pressure regarding my own entry.

The first step was choose a general approach to the matter. I did pick up the Heldrake kit, because I felt it was at least a good starting point, and did a little research to find out what other people had done with the kit. After some time spent looking at a number of very cool chaos flyers, I knew what to do:

My inspiration for this conversion came from Marshalfaust’s thread on Warseer. Honourable mentions must also go to Morf’s exquisite “Hellbat” and Old School Terminator’s scratchbuilt Nurglite Heldrake (or his “Hellworm”: that …thing is truly something else) — those would be my conversions of choice if I wanted to build Night Lords or Death Guard flyers, respectively.

With my World Eaters in mind, though, the conversion ended up very close to Marshalfaust’s, in order to make the Heldrake look less like a dragon and more like a sinuous, strangely organic jetfighter. Take a look:









As you can see, only the longest set of front wings was used. I attached it directly to the main body, leading to a look slightly reminiscent of the different FW chaos flyers. One smaller set of wings was added in the regular position. While I wanted to add yet another set of wings towards the back in order to give further definition to the model’s shape, that would obviously have to wait until everything was painted (looking back now, that turned out to be a very smart decision…).

The neck was also left out, and the head replaced with an optional leftover head from the Forgefiend kit.



Due to a spontaneous moment of inspiration, I forced the remains of a WFB Necrosphinx skull head into the mouth cavity. Bydoing this, I wanted to give the model an actual “face” as a focal point. I also liked the notion that the skull’s mouth would be the place where the flames from the baleflamer emerged…

I also used some lasher tendrils from the Maulerfiend kit to “plug” some of the jet nozzles on the model’s back and make the body look even more disturbing:



With the lost arms and claws on my Heldrake, I also like to think that these tentacles are used as a CC weapon of sorts, slashing and whipping at other flyers and enemies on the ground.

All in all, I was reasonably pleased with the basic build of my Heldrake, which I decided to name the “Hellrazor” for a double pun – a cookie goes to you if you can figure it out

The next step was to start painting this thing, and I will not lie to you: It was a nightmare!



All those small panels on the wings took ages to paint. And there were so many of them, even though I hadn’t used all the wings that came with the kit in the first place!

Nevertheless, I persevered and used the same base colours appearing throughout all of my army: The red areas were painted using GW Mechrite Red, the Bronze trim was picked out in Vallejo Tinny Tin, and the silver areas were done with GW Boltgun Metal. I decided to paint the slightly fleshy, mutated bits of the model in a dark brown-red instead of a paler skin tone. That way, I would get a pretty organic transition to the reds on the model and would be able to avoid any expansive, pink areas.



I’ll be honest with you: Getting all the base colours done on the model was quite a chore, and not an experience I would want to repeat anytime soon. Oh, I worked in multiple sub-assemblies, by the way, with the head and armour plates on the model’s back being painted separately to make sure every detail was easy enough to reach. It also quickly became clear that the changes I had done to the wings and rear of the model didn’t exactly make the job any easier…



But in the end, all the base colours were done, and I was free to tackle the next, hopefully much more enjoyable, steps of the paintjob: Applying the washes, and then seeing to the details…

But that, as they say, is a story for anoter time. So stay tuned for the next update, coming this Friday!

Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

that is a serious improvement to the helldrake, well done.

Looking forward to seeing some washes on that bad boy. Really like this and it is soooo much better than the original models dragon look....

Though I think the original model could make for an interesting Khorne Chaos Dragon for Warhammmer Fantasy with only a little conversion work (addition of a proper tail)

Fantastic! I love your take on the Helldrake. Fabulous work.

Oh, and...

Thanks a lot, guys! I can promise you that you won't have to wait long for the painted model...

@ Yellowbeard: Cheers, mate! That was rather easy, though, wasn't it?

very cool indeed, im liking the whole change from a dragon to a bat, big improvement. keep up the awesome

Nice work I like that you gave the wings a similar shape to the FW Chaos flyers.

This looking good as always Kraut keep it up matey.

Thanks, guys. Not long now...

Alright, here's the next update on my converted Heldrake. Just to remind you, here’s where we left off last time:



With all the base colours in place, the next step was to apply the washes: Most of the model was generously washed with GW Agrax Earthshade to add some shadows to the red and bronze parts. The silver areas received the same treatment, only with GW Nuln Oil. After everything was well and dry, I drybrushed the Bronze with GW Dwarf Bronze, added a thin layer of GW Blood Red for the red parts and finally did some accents on the silver areas with GW Mithril Silver.

I also wanted to add an additional spot colour to show the power burning through the daemon engines innards. For that, I chose a simple OSL effect in light blue that was added to the head, mouth, engine and the underbelly of the model:



Another thing I wanted to do was to give the model a suitably detailed base. I knew I wanted some kind of ruined building, but all I had was a leftover Necromunda bulkhead. So I cut that apart, constructing a small ruin and added a couple of bitz as well as some of my trademark cork. Here’s what the painted base looks like:



As you can see, while I painted the ruined structure to look like rusty metal, the base itself was painted to fit in with the rest of my World Eaters. I also added numerous small details like the half-buried, dead (or is that dying?) Space Marine, two soldier’s graves and the unfortunate gravedigger himself — obviously, when they finally got him, there was nobody left to do the honours…



An opening was cut into the cork to leave a space for the flight stand to be inserted.

With both the model and base painted, I did a couple of final adjustments: The final set of wings could finally be added, changing the model’s silhouette quite a bit. But see for yourself. I give you: The Hellrazor.











As you can see, the OSL added to the model’s “mouth” makes it look like the baleflamer is just heating up:





And as a huge videogame nerd, I cannot help but feel immensely pleased by the fact that the Hellrazor’s shape recalls nothing so much as an endboss from a mid-90s 16bit shoot ‘em up like R-Type or Thunder Force:



All in all, I am prepared to call this project a success: Granted, this beast was a chore to paint, but I think that I’ve managed to convert a flyer that looks decidedly different from the original Heldrake will still maintaining a visual balance between jetfighter and strangely organic daemon engine. And the model also looks pretty similar in silhouette to the Forgeworld flyers — hence the name “Hellrazor”, to show a certain kinship to the Hell Blade and Hell Talon, in case you’re still wondering (there’s also another, even more obvious pun hidden in there, but I’m confident you’ll figure it out on your own ).

So the model was finished — all’s well that ends well, right? But wait, there was still the ToS contest to consider! Since I wanted to submit my flyer for the contest, I still needed to write a short piece of fluff to go with the model. Being a bit of an overachiever in this respect, I actually wrote two:

The cavernous hall was illuminated by the flickering half light of the grand furnace. Lorimar’s eyes needed a moment to adjust. Then he could see Deracin standing in front of the huge daemon engine, gazing up at its form. Lorimar approached the Keeper of the Forge. “I salute you, hunter. You requested my presence?” Deracin turned to face him and inclined his head. “Yes, lord.” But he did not say anything more.

“Is this about the daemon engine, then?” Lorimar growled. Deracin nodded ponderously. “Aye. As you can see, the vessel itself has been completed.” He gestured towards the shape of the war machine. Lorimar could see the pointed wings and jagged armour plates, he could see where fleshmetal had grown to fuse with the machine’s structure. Suspended above them was the daemon engine’s head, a grinning brass skull. The rest remained half hidden by the shadows, although Lorimar got a sense of the strangely organic shape of the thing. “And the incantations?” he growled.

Deracin kept his gaze locked on the machine, only the mostly bionic side of his face visible to Lorimar. “The bindings are in place. We have also completed the rituals. Yet something is amiss. I can feel it.”

Lorimar turned to face Deracin: “And what of …the pilot?”
Deracin seemed to grow uneasy. “My lord, it would be best not to refer to him as that any longer. We cannot be sure of what remains after the rituals. And truth be told, there was not much left even before that…” His voice trailed off.

“No, Deracin. He was our brother, an honoured member of the company. I refuse to refer to him as anything but.” Lorimar could feel the Keeper of the Forge’s gaze on him: “Even so, my lord, the binding seems incomplete. There is naught we can do.”

“Let me handle this, then!” Lorimar turned to face the huge brazen skull, seemingly suspended in nothingness. Then he addressed it:

“Old friend, forgive me for disturbing your slumber. But the company has need of you. There is still prey to run down. Your hunt is not yet over.”

They could both feel it. A strange feeling of otherness. And then a sound, low and guttural at first, but still unmistakeable: the sound of a huge animal drawing breath.

Whatever the daemon engine suspended in darkness above them may have housed. It lived.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the pounding of heavy artillery vibrating through his body, Lord Commissar Sondheim of the 45th Palthian Grenadiers urged his troops forward: „Advance, men of Palthia!”, he boomed. “Advance and deliver the Emperor’s Wrath to the enemy, lest it fall upon you instead!”
Sondheim used his field glasses to look towards the front lines, where the chaos forces were advancing towards the Imperial position. He could make out the red armoured shapes of their enemies, and he couldn’t suppress a sinking feeling. The traitor legionaries of the World Eaters were deadly in combat, and to let them reach their lines would mean disaster. However, the Guard’s superior firepower had so far proven successful in stalling the enemies’ advance, pinning the abhorrent traitor Astartes and preventing them from rushing the Imperial positions.

Sondheim turned to his aide-de-camp, Junior Commissar Kelso: “Armin, send word to the Lord General that we have matters under control here. As long as our ammunitions supply lasts, we should be able to hold them back indefinitely. The Emperor’s justice will be meted out to these vile abominations.” Telzo nodded and opened his mouth to reply, when both men suddenly heard something above the din of battle: A rolling thunder that was steadily growing louder and louder. “Air support. They have air support!”, Kelso said, his eyes frantically searching the horizon. “Don’t worry, lad!” Sondheim answered. “Just one of those light jetfighters. Our anti-aircraft guns will swat it down like a bothersome fly.” He took a look through his field glasses, and sure enough, there was the shape of a chaos flyer approaching, its shape like a jagged blade. There was something slightly warped about its silhouette, though. Sondheim grinned to himself: It was no use trying to keep track of all the different kinds of corruption that chaos wrought upon both its followers and their wargear. But Throne, that thing was fast! Sondheim could hardly keep it in focus. And the closer it came, the more he felt a certain apprehension. He could see the thing now, shaped like a two-pronged dagger, yet strangely sinuous and organic at the same time, weaving between the bursts of AA-fire that were supposed to take it out. The noise was also getting louder: a strange animal roar, and above it, something else, like the sound of a thousand voices screaming in unison. “What in the name of Terra…?”, he murmured. “My lord,” Kelso’s voice sounded worried, “shouldn’t we abandon this position? It’s coming straight at us!” Sondheim heard his words, but he found himself strangely transfixed, staring at the approaching horror, listening to the rumble of its engines. He could make out details now: The wickedly sharp wings, something that looked like a head, wrought in the shape of a stylised skull, its mouth seemingly weeping blue flame. “Retreat!” he heard Kelso scream above the horrible noise, “Abandon this position!” And it was at this exact moment that Lord Commissar Sondheim knew fear.
And then his world turned into fire.



And with that, my Hellrazor was completed. Next time, we’ll take a look at the other entries my model was up against.

Until then, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more! C&C always welcome!

That looks spectacular! The OSL also lifted the overall piece a lot.

So what`s the plan for nr.2? Because one is not enough

R

Wow, I really think your conversion was a huge improvement on the standard model. I would be proud to own such a beauty. Also, the paint job really brought it to life. The OSL was really done well. The only thing I might have done differently was put the extra wings slightly further back on the model, but that is such a minor detail in the grand scheme of things. You are a pretty talented author of short stories! Both of those were fun to read. The first one gave a real sense of danger and wonder, and the second one a good idea of just how deadly the thing can be to the enemies of the fourth assault company. Great thing to wake up to and read in the morning.

Well cheers, and I'm waiting to see your competition =)
Also, will you be able to post the other entries fluff bits too? I always love reading good short stories about 40k.

That is a huge improvement on the original, awesome fluff too. Good luck in the competition

Cheers, guys!

@ LordRogalDorn: Aww man, stop it already! I'm vain enough as it is Seriously, though, thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate it, especially about the fluff: It's good to hear that, even though I am not a native speaker of English, it seems I am able to get a couple of ideas across in my fluff

As for the extra wings: Indeed, there is probably a myriad ways of attaching these, and you could possibly change the overall look of the model quite a bit! Just check out Rhasputine's conversion , where he proves that the model can be made to look even more like a FW chaos flyer in shape! At the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference, but the option's clearly there if you want it.

Oh, and while I won't post the other guys' fluff here in my thread to avoid stealing their thunder, I will provide a link to the original posts over on ToS, so you'll get to read their fluff (which is excellent, btw), so no worries!

Congratulations on the Hellrazor, Kraut! You managed to pull of something really awesome from something kinda scrumpy.
I've got one Heldrake still unopened as I didnt know what to do with it but thanks to you I have plenty Inspiration for my
Manta.heldrake-thingy...

Cheers, mate! Glad to be of help!

@ Red Skullz: Oh, I just realised I didn't reply to your question there. Sorry! Concerning a potential, second flyer, I think I can safely say that it won't be another conversion of the Heldrake kit: I cannot actually see myself painting those wings ever again

If I were to build a second flyer, my favourite option would be to pull of something similar to this fantastic conversion over at Eye of Error. That flyer looks brilliant, and I even have the G.I.Joe toy to pull it off! Now to work up some courage...

Nae worries mate If you do make a flier that Stiletto flier would be awesome indeed!

R

That flyer looks awesome! For some reason I like the way the underside looks even better than the top... the contrast between the blue OSL and bronze treatment came out really good.

Hmm...

I love the paintjob, and the top-down view looks awesome...

But somehow the Heldrake conversion just doesn't look quite...right. I see what you were aiming for, but it looks too much like a Heldrake torso with the ends of the wings sticking out the shoulders to me.

@ Meade: Cheers, mate!

@ Squigsquasher: Well, in the end, it always comes down to personal taste, of course. I can at least safely say that the conversion turned out the way I wanted it to -- Your mileage may vary concerning everything beyond that

I've always loved your short stories. They were both great little reads!
As for the model I think it's cool, a take on the Helldrake that I wouldn't of thought of Though I don't understand why people dislike the original GW Helldrake model. I personally think it's awesome.
Keep up the great work

Love your take on the Heldrake: both the conversion and the narrative. Well done, sir!

I have a challenge for you, Scientist.

The techmarine you wrote about in your fluff peice for the Helldrak - Docinar, I think it was? Can we see a model of him?

It would be intereting to see how one reconciles the bloodlust of Khorne with the cool logic of the Adpetus Mechanicus - can we see a model that somehow represents this internal struggle? I don't know if that's anywhere close to what his character is like but it's just an idea I had.

Also...

Khornate Mechadentrites. Now, that would be some scary sh*t.

Awesome army, KS! As a newcomer to the hobby working on a World Eaters army, this is some really inspirational stuff.

Yeah Kraut, I wanna see you work on a Techmarine as well so I can steal some ideas from you.

Thanks a lot for the kind words, people!

@ Crystal Geyser: That is indeed quite a challenge, and one I've thought about quite a few times already! I believe that Deracin will probably one of the most difficult models to get right. I imagine him as a huge, imposing guy with quite a few bionic implants. Instead of being a raging madman, I think he's more of a classic berserker: Calm and dignified outside of battle, but he'll be terrifying once you manage to make him angry.

My first attempt to build Deracin was based on an old WD conversion for Huron Blackheart, but it didn't go anywhere. Then I planned to actually base him on the Huron Blackheart model, but then the new codex was released. And while I think the Warpsmith would be a pretty good start, I also feel a little hesitant about the whole thing. I'm a little afraid of that axe bending out of shape all the time, for one, and I would definitely have to replace the head with something more fitting. This guy's face, for instance, pretty much shows Deracin as I imagine him.

Anyway, I'll have to tackle this challenge sooner or later, especially if I ever want to be able to run a Warpsmith, but I won't hurry it until I have an idea that I know will work (like I did with the Dark Apostle).


So, let's take a last look at my converted Heldrake for now: As you know, I built the model to enter it into the Eleventh Throne of Skulls Painting/Converting Contest. So how did it go?

The deadline for the contest came, and, as you know, my entry looked like this:



But what was I up against?
The other contestants were Biohazard and swamp, and I was thrilled to see their entries:

Biohazard submitted his fantastic, kitbashed Bloodstalker:



I couldn’t begin to tell you how much I love this model! Biohazard is a true master of kitbashing huge chaos war machines, and his Bloodstalker is a testament to that: Kitbashed from many disparate parts into something that looks almost like a regular GW kit, this beast ranks among the best Defiler conversions I have ever seen and would also certainly be a fierce opponent.

And here’s swamp’s entry:



A masterfully painted Forgeworld Decimator. The model itself is lovely, and the smooth blending technique on this piece managed to blow both my and Biohazard’s paintjobs clean out of the water. Fantastic work!

What I especially liked about the three entries was how different they were from one another. And still, each of them represented an imposing daemonic contraption, bound to the will of Khorne.

So how did it all end? Well, I didn’t win this time. But I didn’t mind, since losing to either of these models certainly was no shameful affair. In fact, I was actually really happy when Biohazard’s Bloodstalker won the competition! A well deserved victory! Great job, buddy!

All in all, what a great result: The contest produced three great entries. My favourite managed to win. And I even ended up with a converted and fully painted chaos flyer for my army. Plus I am really thrilled to see what kind of motto Biohazard will come up with for the next contest!

Head on over to ToS , in case you’re interested in seeing more pictures of the other guys’ entries as well as their fluff. You can also see more pictures of Biohazard's Bloodstalker on his Dakka thread . Don't forget to congratulate him, while you're there! And let me wind up this update with a little image I crudely slapped together for Biohazard in Photoshop:



BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!

Oh, one more thing: If you want to own your very own Bloodstalker pattern defiler, you are in luck! Biohazard has you covered: He was actually nice enough to write up a tutorial on how to build this beauty. It also explains which bitz you are going to need. Check it out here.

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

I have to say that watching your blog and Biohazard's develop together has been wonderful. Keep up the work you two! Khorne is pleased.

Congrats to you guys... and especially Biohazard for the win!

Swamps' had the best paintjob, but clearly creativity/converting was a big factor in the judging... which is nice.

very epic comp held there. Love all the models, but that helldrake is very impressive.

Thanks a lot, guys! Agreed on the congratulations for Biohazard! That Bloodstalker is simply brilliant!

 Freytag93 wrote:
I have to say that watching your blog and Biohazard's develop together has been wonderful. Keep up the work you two! Khorne is pleased.

You're really on to something there, mate! It goes to show how hobbyists can really inspire each other to keep pushing the envelope on their armies, which is really one of the best parts of the hobby! Plus without Biohazard's continuous generosity in donating bitz to my cause, many of my models wouldn't have been completed in the first place

Seeing the Helrazor from a different angle, and on it's base, makes me like it a whole lot more. It looks great now it's more or less finished!

Keep up the good work!

Gosh, I cant believe you've made the Helldrake look good! It looks so much faster and sinister than the original kit, and I love the echoes of the Hell Talon fighter. Gotta run to lectures, but I'll come back to chat in more detail in a bit.

Love the tentacles on the back though! So cool!

Sweet Maker, that Helldrake looks good. I too like the new head and the Necrosphinx insert - very tasteful conversion from awkward dragon-flyer thing into an actual machine that's been given consciousness while somewhat retaining more of its mechanical aspects.

And a double for Biohazard's chaos walker... thingy! Holy hell, I love it! It's a fantastic conversion that I can't even begin to place, plus it has that old Mechwarrior Madcat/Direwolf pose to it to boot! Awesome throwback, intentional or not...

Very smooth on swamp's entry as well... not sure if those neon green crosses are part of the original, but they make a great spot color and detail to the model!

All very, very nice toys you have, gentlemen.

-Remi

really liking your converted Heldrake - loving the swept forward wings and the simplicity of it. Much more of a techno-organic beastie than the standard model. Thumbs up!

Thanks a lot, guys! Yeah, that Bloodstalker really is something else, isn't it?

I recently decided to enter cormadepanda's painting contest , mostly to force myself to paint another character I had originally planned to enter Lord Captain Lorimar, but it quickly became obvious that he would need more work than I can realistically get done until the end of February. So I switched around entries and instead opted to paint my counts as Dark Apoostle.

Started painting him today, and I have to tell you: That new plastic Chaos Lord is a joy to paint! At least if you were clever enough to resist glueing everything together right at the beginning

Anyway, here's a couple of PIP pictures to feast your eyes on:









The model needs quite a bit more detailing work, but I am already pretty happy with how it's coming along.

C&C always welcome!

 HF Izanagi wrote:

And a double for Biohazard's chaos walker... thingy! Holy hell, I love it! It's a fantastic conversion that I can't even begin to place, plus it has that old Mechwarrior Madcat/Direwolf pose to it to boot! Awesome throwback, intentional or not...
Remi

Thanks for the kind words, the Mechwarrior Madcat pose was a subconcious decision I think. I used to lve those games
And a thanks to everyone else. I have it on good authority the comp was one of the closest we have had on ToS and that it was a VERY narrow margin to win. I cant wait to see what the next one produces.

As for the Apostle hes looking fantastic with some paint on him, I especially like the way you're painting the cape. Looking forward to the finished model buddy.

Saw your progress on the comp page, I must say the apostle is looking great, best of luck to you, at this rate I don't think I'll come close with my slaanesh herald

Great work in this thread. Always a pleasure to check the progress.

D

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Biohazard: It was a victory though, and a well-deserved one at that, buddy. Stop being so fething modest about it!

@ Matt.Kingsley: Aww, you do me too much honour! Plus there are a few guys participating in that contest that'll probably blow us both out of the water painting-wise, so take heart!

@ evildrcheese: Cheers, mate!

LOL ok, I won :p

 KrautScientist wrote:


@ Matt.Kingsley: Aww, you do me too much honour! Plus there are a few guys participating in that contest that'll probably blow us both out of the water painting-wise, so take heart!

You are probably right there, unfortunately

Well, we'll just have to do our best, in any case

Speaking of which...

Some time ago, I showed you my WIP model for my World Eaters’ counts as Dark Apostle. Now since I wanted to enter the finished model into cormadepanda’s modelling/painting contest , I had a real incentive of actually painting up this guy sooner rather than later. So today, I would like to talk about painting the model and show you the finished piece.

Here’s where we left of last time:



Before breaking out the paints, I seriously considered adding a backpack to the model to 40k-ify it a bit more. Yet after trying several options (regular CSM backpacks, old Space Crusade backpacks, still sporting that semi-organic look of the Rogue Trader days, and even one of the new Dark Vengeance Chosen backpacks), I found out that adding a backpack would always mess with the model’s silhouette, especially with the nice flowing lines from the huge warhorn along the model’s horned head and down its left shoulder to the left hand. So I decided to just leave it off and come up with a fluff explanation for the unconventional armour: After all, it could be a relic from the Dark Age of Technology, a custom job from the Dark Mechanicum or even a prized chaos artifact: In any case, I would rather have a cool-looking model than be 100% correct about background minutiae all the time ;-)

Anyway, this model was a joy to paint, mostly because I managed to glue everything together at the start, instead working in four tidy sub-assemblies, as suggested in my earlier post. So while every area of the model remained easy to reach with a brush, the different components could just as easily be slotted together whenever I needed to take a look at what the complete model would look like.

The different portions of the model could be finished independently from one another, so I always had something to do while waiting for a particular colour to dry. The first part that was actually finished was the base (with a part of the model’s right foot):




The colour did a good job of blending together the sculpted plastic rocks and the bits of cork added by me.

Here’s another snapshot of the PIP model, with the base colours and washes in place and some areas of red just receiving their second coat of colour:



As for the overall colour scheme, I stayed true to my tried and true recipe, with dark red armour, bronze trim and very pale skin. The one deviation from my usual approach was that I chose to paint the model’s cape in a dark turquoise to add in an additional spot colour.

All in all, this guy was finished fairly quickly, in about two sittings. The first one took about 2-3 hours and ended with the model mostly complete. The second sitting (about one hour) was just to finish the fine detail, add a few visual flourishes etc.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s the finished model:















As you can see, I added quite a few accents to the cape, in order to give it as much depth as possible. The pictures also nicely show off the depth of the sculpt. It really is a lovely model!

Here’s a couple of additional detail shots:



Even though I tend to limit the use of chaotic mutations for my World Eaters, the horned head works rather nicely in this case. The Khorne rune is a nice touch as well.



I had originally planned to paint the runes on the horn in a small OSL effect to show that they are glowing with daemonic energy, but I feared that would have made the model look a little too busy, so I chose a different, simpler approach. I feel this might have been the right decision.



In hindsight, maybe I should have painted a small planet into the gaping maw on the model’s right bracer. It would have looked even more like a stylised representation of the World Eaters’ legion badge…



I think the armour of the model comes together rather nicely. Oh, and I also added a skull trophy before painting — the codpiece was looking a little funny, and a few dangling skulls are never the wrong way to go with a follower of Khorne…

Lastly, here’s a closer look at the base:



I have never been a huge fan op piling huge amounts of skulls on bases, but I hink it works this time. The base also fits in really well with the bases on my other models.

So with that, the model was complete. I am rather happy with how it turned out:



As is my usual custom, I also thought about the models actual background, and wrote a short piece of fluff to add a bit more depth to the character. Check it out:



Huntmaster Stian Gul, Bearer of the Horn of Leires

Many forces of the traitor legions let themselves be inspired by the flaming words of heretical preachers and orators, among them the fanatical Dark Apostles of the Word Bearers. Yet the warriors of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt have little tolerance for sermons: For them, war itself is the sole worthy act of worship, and the sounds of hunting horns, howling chain weapons and pounding artillery are all the inspiration they need. And so the task of fueling the fires of their belligerence falls not to any preacher, but to Huntmaster Stian Gul, also called the Apostle of War:

Even in a force of superhuman warriors, Gul is an arresting presence: Clad in full baroque plate of uncertain origin, his head crowned with a set of horns, Gul resembles the appearance of the archetypal god of the hunt as described in a million different mythologies. He wields the Horn of Leires, a huge warhorn etched with runes of dark power, said to be fashioned from the horn of a Greater Daemon. Its sounds incite the legionaries’ rage and bloodlust far more than any sermon ever could. And it is well, for Stian Gul is a mysterious and taciturn figure, only seeming truly alive at the heart of battle, while shadowy and reclusive between engagements.

Those who have to face the World Eaters’ 4th assault company in battle fear the mournful sounds of the Horn of Leires, for they signal not only the beginning of battle, but also the fact that the Apostle of War has come and demands his due, to be paid in blood.


C&C always welcome! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Oh wow. That looks amazing!

Such a great conversion! Super smooth, looks like a normal production model Where is that horn from again?

In hindsight, maybe I should have painted a small planet into the gaping maw on the model’s right bracer. It would have looked even more like a stylised representation of the World Eaters’ legion badge…

Not too late, you know I think it would be a great touch!

Keep up the great work!
Rawson

He looks beautiful, in a savage sort of way

In all seriousness, great work! Now I need to finish my entry...

What an intimidating model. Well done sir!
I agree with Rawson. You should go back and paint a world. Even if it's not for the competition, i believe it would be a perfect finishing touch and would tie the model together.

Really liking Gul, I love the way you have done the cape its very effective. Have you used him in a game yet? If so, is it worth taking a DA?

Very nice, KS. I really like that horn. The bone color is beautiful. The bright blue eyes on the armor are really nice, too.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone!

Now I did of course go back to add that small planet on the bracer -- you people will be the death of me one day

Unfortunately, the result turned out less spectacular than you might have hoped -- it is a really small area after all, plus I seriously suck at freehanding:



Still, probably an okay little addition.

@ Rawson: The horn is the musical instrument from the Chaos Daemons Bloodcrusher kit. I would have loved to use the Skullcrusher horn instead, but it was on the wrong gand

@ Matt:Kingsley: Go for it, mate! Not much time left!

@ Biohazard: Sorry buddy, but it's actually been ages since my last game, so no firsthand experience on using apostles. Sad, isn't it? The common opinion seems to be that they're a little expensive and fragile for what they actually do, though. In any case, I just needed an excuse to convert one more chaos lord...

Nice work

Cheers mate!

Just a small update today: Imagine my elation when, after a particularly grueling week at work, I came home today to find the parcel from Dreamforge Games containing the models I had funded by participating in Mark Mondragon's Kickstarter late last year had finally arrived (four weeks after leaving the USA - the German postal service really has it in for me at the moment):



The box contains 20 Eisenkern Stormtroopers, another box with an almost ridiculous amount of conversion bitz for them, plus three Kickstarter exclusive models -- all in glorious plastic.

Here are the Stormtroopers:



At least some of these will probably end up doing service in my Traitor Guard in the end. Expect a more detailed look at the kit on my blog soon -- a first impression, though: The level of detail and quality of the sculpt are simply fantatic!

Oh, and I also started yet another hobby project. Check it out here , in case you're interested!

Thank God it's Friday!

Having followed your fantastic conversions for quite a while now, I love your non-stereotype and narrative approach to chaos. I wish my own talent in this direction was only a part of yours!

- As you seem not really satisfied with your end-product concerning the World Eaters Logo on your Huntmaster, may I humbly suggest the following approach:

Paint the world ball on paper (you could even print out something, but I think it would be not fitting concerning the overall colour structure) then use a leather hole-punch to get a correct circle with sparply defined edges. Glue it on and then use varnish on it to seal it up and blend it in to the rest of the figurine.

The outlines of the continent will not be real important to the result, only the edge of the circle is what really matters. For the pauldron is bearing relief, the tiny ledge due to the thickness of the paper should even contribute to the result.

That is a seriously cool huntsman. You've given me a few ideas now for that model
Keep up the beautiful work and fluff for each model

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

@ Hruotland: Thanks for the tip! To tell you the truth, though, I guess I'll just leave it as it is: The area in question is TINY, and I don't believe I'd do a better job using a different approach -- quite the opposite, actually: As soon as glue is involved, I am sure to mess up irrevocably (probably ruining the rest of the model in the process ). The best way would have been to add a small piece of GS before undercoating, using it to sculpt the basic shape of the planet. Too late for that now, though...


Anyway, no World Eater today, but a small side project I started a while ago.

You may recall that work in progress Nurgle Terminator I posted. This is what we looked like when we last saw him:



In the meantime, I was taken by a fancy to actually finish this guy, so I put a bit more painting in.

All in all, the objective here was basically not only to get the model done (and have it look at least halfway presentable), but also to experiment will all kinds of rust and weathering effects and see whether I could make them work on a model. So I tried my hand at different effects for rusty metal, verdigris and just general signs of decay and decline. And here’s what I ended up with:













The model’s mutated right hand and strangely organic trophy spikes were painted in a slightly distressed flesh tone to contrast with the muddy green armour. And, as you can see, the different weathering effects on these guy did receive quite a bit more attention since the WIP stage: All the bronze areas were washed with a watered down mix of Vallejo Halcon Milenario Turquoise and white to achieve a verdigris effect. I also thinned down GW Vermin Brown, using it much like a slightly heavier wash in the recesses of the armour to build up a rust effect.

And I finally painted the model’s huge warscythe, adding the same weathering effects. With rusty metal like this, instead of painting everything silver and then suitably dirtying it, my usual approach is to paint the whole area in brown, then stipple on additional rust in a haphazard pattern, using a lighter shade of brown and only then add a small amount of actual metal colour to the edges and surfaces. Like so:



You may also have noticed that I added a small OSL effect to the eye and the skull atop the scythe, trying to achieve a simple lighting effect similar to the one I use on plasma pistols and the like, only in a different colour.

In order to finish this guy, I also built and painted a base for him:



While the base is similar enough to the bases of my World Eaters (you never know…), it also features the same disgusting ichor as the base of the Plague Champion I built earlier for my Ruinous Powers mini series:



The fluid was done by covering a part of the base in a thick layer of wood glue, then wait for it to dry, creating a slightly muddy looking surface that was then painted in several shades of green and yellow and coated with gloss varnish.

All in all, this guy was both quite a bit of fun to pain and a great way of experimenting with different effects! Plus I learned that using different colours for undercoating can make painting quite a bit easier: I have sinced used brown spray paint for my first Orc test model as well, and it was definitely a good choice — but more on that soon…



So while I am in no hurry to paint up a whole Nurgle army – or even just a unit of Plague Marines, for that matter, trying all kind of weathering techniques in this guy was a blast. And it’s nice to know that I now have a few more tricks up my sleeve

C&C always welcome! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

You don't stop do you?

I like the Nurgle Terminator, he looks like a 10,000 year veteran that could have been there when the Heresy started. The weathering is perfect and the OSL is just right.

 KrautScientist wrote:

Coincidentally I've started on the Nurgley part of my chaos force, and I'd like to know... Where's that amazing head from!?
Also, I'm not sure if it's just the lighting but the nurgle terminator looks quite blue in some of the pictures. is it a rust effect or the colour of the sky?

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

@ ExNoctemNacimur: Ah, you know how it is: Always just one more...

@ Dreadclaw69: Cheers, mate!

@ Know No Pear: That's a WFB Zombie head (the kit may be horrible, but some of those heads are still ace!), combined with a rebreather from the Cadian command squad kit.

The blue parts on the Termie are a verdigris effect I added to the bronze areas, using a thinned down mix of Turquoise and white.

dude that is one super nice nurgle termie, count him as typhus and go fuq up some poor sods day

When I left this forum almost a year ago I was in love with your models and the skills You have in the Hobby.
Now is all even better.

He looks immense buddy, great job on the OSL especially.

The Nurgle termie is looking really nice, he reminds me of a gladiator.

That's one nasty-looking nurgle termi

Thanks a lot, guys!

The termie was really just a way to experiment with different effects and a different kind of undercoat, but it's still good to know you like him

@ SelvaggioSaky: Welcome back mate! I used the time during your hiatus to step up my game, obviously

@ GiraffeX: Well, what can I do? I am such a World Eaters fanatic that my love for gladiators may occasionally bleed into my other hobby projects as well...

If only there was a way to transmit this blog directly into my brain...

@ Marine-With_Heart: Well, considering the social media revolution we are currently experiencing, the guys over at Silicon Valley may already be working on something like that

Some time ago, I showed you some test models for a small squad of traitorous Space Wolves. I had put off painting the first test model until now, since I wanted to use a dark grey undercoat on them, and I had to wait for my FLGS to get its next shipment of Army Painter spray cans.

But lo and behold, when I swung by the store last week to spent yet more money on plastic crack, a can of Army Painter Uniform Grey was already waiting for me, so I could finally start to experiment with the paint recipe for my Khorne Wolves.

I wanted them to still look fairly close to the original Space Wolves’ colour scheme, yet with parts of their armour picked out in red and bronze to serve as subtle clues as to their new allegiance. I also wanted the armour to be more of a dark grey, as opposed to the bluish grey of GW’s loyalist Wolves paint scheme.

Anyway, I chose this model for my experiments:



I think we can all agree that, for this guy, any coat of paint would be a huge improvement

So the first step was to get the model undercoated. I had never worked with Army Painter spray cans before, and had only recently read a horror story about someone ruining a couple of models using them, so I was really careful. My worries were unfounded, however, since It turned out that the paint worked almost like GW’s undercoat, only in a different colour. So this is what the model looked like after undercoating:



Surprise, surprise: It turned out that Uniform Grey wasn’t nearly as dark as I had hoped. In fact, it looked pretty much exactly like unpainted GW plastic. Here’s a comparison shot with an unpainted Marine leg for reference:



With the grey much lighter than anticipated, I felt tempted to call this a failure altogether, abandon the project and return to painting more Blood Bowl Orcs , but I persevered. After all, no telling what the rest of the paintjob might yet achieve, right?

So I picked out the details in different colours: GW Mephiston Red for the shoulderpads and parts of the armour, Vallejo Tinny Tin for the armour trim and decorations, GW Boltgun Metal for the weapons, flex fitting, cables etc. and GW Snakebite Leather for the teeth and bones. Here’s what the model looked like after this step:



So my first lesson with using grey undercoat: The model will look even worse with just the base colours blocked out than when I use Chaos Black. Not exactly a reassuring observation, to be sure…
I knew better than to stop now, however much I would have liked to throw away my brush in frustration. I was reasonably sure applying some washes would save the day once again…

So here’s the same model after a healthy dose of GW Agrax Earthshade and GW Nuln Oil, respectively:



Definitely better, if only because there is much more depth to the model now. The armour came out looking slightly worn and dirty, but I guess I like the effect well enough. I then added GW Bleached Bone to the areas of bone, GW Dwarf Bronze to the edges of the armour trim, and I painted the model’s eye lenses a piercing blue:



At this point, I thought the model looked okay, but still quite a bit lighter than I would have liked. I was afraid this guy didn’t read as a traitorous wolf, but rather as a member of the 13th company at best. Would I have to rethink my whole approach?

I still kept plugging away at him, finishing the details, painting the backpack and adding a chaos star decal to his left shoulder pad. So here’s the finished model, photographed this time without the garish flash







So what would I call the result of this exercise? Slightly inconclusive, to tell you the truth. While the grey armour is quite a bit lighter than I would have preferred, I have to admit the model has grown on me. But the question remains: Does he look chaotic enough?

Would love to hear your thoughts on this! C&C always welcome! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

It honestly looks fine to me. Some SWs are grey like this, so it looks like a dirty SW. He does look chaotic, but somehow I feel that his helmet doesn't fit him. Perhaps choose a more SW helmet? Or let him go unhelm'd(no matter how much i don't like that) 'cuz SWs usually don't wear their helmets for some reason. They have rather distinct hairstyles, so you could use that to show their ex-alliegiance!

Aside from the Khorne shoulder pad, there's nothing that really stands out as chaos to me. I could just be a space wolf veteran at first glance.

It's mostly there though, but I definitely think you could go darker with the colors. If you have a way of creating a very dark bluish grey (german grey or paynes gray) I think it would look better... use the color that you have for the highlights, pretty much... also, anything ragged or sharp and mangy looking, rather than the chains and skulls, also red eyes not blue, would go a long way some really torn fur pelts (not hard to do with greenstuff, considering it doesn't have to look neat) might do the trick.

I think he looks just about right. Maybe if you have him standing near some of your chaos models and things or your renegade guardsmen he may blend in a little more despite the grey armour. Maybe the odd skull or two (there can never be too many at times) would help show his dark and sinister intent as a skull taker of Khorne now. Possibly add the odd Khorne rune or chaos marker like over the eye of his helmet or something?

Yeah. Adding some chaos runes or the chaos star would make his fall from grace more obvious. And i'd think that a fallen SW would probably land in the bloody fold os khorne. So some blood splatters on his weapons and armor and bloody skulls on his base could be a nice addition.

But other than that he doesn't need to change. The colors fit.


Just a question. Where is his chainsword from? Is it a SW one? I can't remember seeing a double sided chainblade on such a slim frame on regular Marines or CSMs.

Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys! That really helps!

I realise my Khornate Wolves will have to look a little more feral than the test model. I think the main problem with the model - colour considerations notwhitstanding - is the fact that none of the bitz I used are really all that chaotic to begin with. For the next models, that probably means: more spiky bitz, skull trophies and tattered fur cloaks, as you guys suggested.

I have also considered adding a copious amount of bloodspatters, but have yet held myself back for basically two reasons:

1.) I am terribly afraid of going way OTT with the blood.

2.) I think it would look a little strange if the wolves were to be all bloody when the actual World Eaters in the army are not -- even moreso since the wolves will be used as "regular" Bolter CSM, if anything.

I guess I will have to give this more thought...

@ Know No Pear: Oh, there will definitely be quite a few bare heads in the squad -- don't worry!

@ Meade: some great suggestions, mate! Although I will probably keep the blue eyes: I really like the effect, plus I am not really fond of red eyes, since it's such a tired trope. The only way for me to incorporate red eyes would be to have them look as excellent as the ones on your BL models, and since that won't work, I might just as well keep them blue to begin with

@ Marine_With_Heart: Agreed. He does actually have a chaos star on his left shoulderpad, although it's not clearly visible in the photos.

@ btldoomhammer: The chainsword is indeed from the SW kit. Not only is it double-aged, but I also really love the wickedly slim look It's a great bit, to be sure!

 KrautScientist wrote:
The chainsword is indeed from the SW kit. Not only is it double-aged, but I also really love the wickedly slim look It's a great bit, to be sure!

Thanks for the info.
Maybe I can get hold of some as they'd probably look really good on my slaanesh themed models. Slim and deadly but still brutal looking with all those chain-teeth.

 KrautScientist wrote:

@ Meade: some great suggestions, mate! Although I will probably keep the blue eyes: I really like the effect, plus I am not really fond of red eyes, since it's such a tired trope. The only way for me to incorporate red eyes would be to have them look as excellent as the ones on your BL models, and since that won't work, I might just as well keep them blue to begin with

well I do think you do have the skills to do the OSL like my black legion dudes, based on what you've been posting lately.... even with the airbrush that I use... but yeah, people are very used to the visual language that evil dudes have red eyes, good guys have blue eyes! If you stick with the blue, the only thing I might recommend is to tone down the baby blue hues slightly and make it a more glowing white effect, it might help.... a stronger white/black contrast can look pretty evil if you do it right.

Colours look fine, a nice dark blend of Khorne and wolf colours. Echoing others, runes and symbolism would help make the model stand out.

*Sorry missed the new post*

Cheers, guys!

@ btldoomhammer: You should also take a look at the new Raptors kit! Not only are the chainswords in there absolutely fantastic, it also has those little speakerboxes in the models' armour that would work great for a Slaanesh-themed force!

@ That's nice of you to say, mate! Will try to work out the last kinks of my blue formula. Let's see how that goes...

@ Cheers, mate!

In the meantime, I've started work on my Joras Turnpelt conversion. Take a look:







And a comparison picture with the first test wolf:



The model is still missing a couple of details, as well as its base and cape. For the cape, I am considering painting it brown and having it look really grimy and tattered.

Let me know what you think!

I like the look of that terminator, and the general theme of your corrupted (enlightened?) Wolves. Of course we all know what will happen when they bump into the real boys in red (Betrayer anyone?), but I guess it'll be good times and skulls for the boss whichever way you slice it.

And I agree with you on the red eyes - the blue looks better.

Dan

 KrautScientist wrote:
You should also take a look at the new Raptors kit! Not only are the chainswords in there absolutely fantastic, it also has those little speakerboxes in the models' armour that would work great for a Slaanesh-themed force!

Funny that you mention them because i had a box of them lying around since they came out. I had nearly forgotten that i had them. I'll kitbash them with my possessed box for a bunch of nice demonic warp talons. That leaves me with a lot of unused chainswords.

Joras looks great. The larger red areas, the gritty colors and the use of chaos shoulders let him look more traitorous than your first traitor wolf. And the space wolves head looks really great for a ravaging mad slaugtherer in the name of Khorne. That massive axe is a cool conversion too. I might get one of those warriors of chaos axes myself now.

Thanks, guys!

@ wonkobaggins: Well, we all know how it goes: "Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows" and all that

@ Cheers, mate! The axe came from the Chaos Knights, however.

Turnpelt is very cool! But he needs a cape... I'm guessing a chaos terminator lord one?

The little glowing eyes on the front of the armor came out great as well. It's all about the gradient...getting a nice deep blue at the edge going into white in the middle.

Thanks, Meade!

Yes, the chaos lord cape is lying in front of me, awaiting undercoating

Lovely stuff Kraut

Btw, looking forward to see more of the Dreamforge stuff - been wondering about the use of them for bits etc

Cheers

Janushedemann

Cheers, mate!

Yeah, I'll have to do a proper review of the Dreamforge stuff, but I have yet to put my first Eisenkern Trooper together -- sad, isn't it? Here's the short version, though: Fantastic stuff, all of it! The detail on the models is off the hook, and the sprue with all the conversion bitz should give me lots of useful stuff for INQ28 as well.

At least I immediately put together the Ada model that I got as a Kickstarter exclusive:



As you can see, the detail on the model is great. I am feeling really tempted to use her in one of my Inquisitorial retinues...

/off topic rant

Looking good Kraut

Im very tempted to order a set of them

If you got the time one day to upload a pic or two of the bits, feel free

Cheers

JanusHedemann


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Details on that model is great btw

/Janushedemann

I always felt that those were to futuristic looking for 40k. But it isn't as bad as i thought it would be. Just the weapon looks a little bit strange for 40k.

How do they scale up next to warhammer models?

As I recall the scale, they are abit larger than 40k guardsmen, perhaps between guardsmen and marines.

Janushedemann

 btldoomhammer wrote:
I always felt that those were to futuristic looking for 40k. But it isn't as bad as i thought it would be. Just the weapon looks a little bit strange for 40k.

How do they scale up next to warhammer models?

there is a good article on BOLS showing them combined with GW bits.

I don't think they mesh well. GW figures are just fatter and badly proportioned... the Eisenkerns are good on their own.

I would love to do an in-depth look of my own at the models, but I haven't yet had the time to write a post that does the models justice.

While it's true that the Stormtroopers are as tall as (or even slightly taller than) GW Space Marines, and they would probably look rather silly when used alongside Marines in the same army, I guess it would look quite badass if I were to use my Traitor Guard as a standalone force, and the Stormtroopers are taller than any Marine models in the opposing army. And while the models may be taller, the bitz should still be useable in INQ28 and 40k conversions. But I'll have to test that for myself. Will report back with a writeup as soon as I find the time

 KrautScientist wrote:
I would love to do an in-depth look of my own at the models, but I haven't yet had the time to write a post that does the models justice.

While it's true that the Stormtroopers are as tall as (or even slightly taller than) GW Space Marines, and they would probably look rather silly when used alongside Marines in the same army, I guess it would look quite badass if I were to use my Traitor Guard as a standalone force, and the Stormtroopers are taller than any Marine models in the opposing army. And while the models may be taller, the bitz should still be useable in INQ28 and 40k conversions. But I'll have to test that for myself. Will report back with a writeup as soon as I find the time

Well, I think marines look silly to begin with... therefore the whole 'true scale' thing... so I'm probably the wrong guy to give an opinion about that

I wonder how they would look against Mantic corporation troopers. Similar realistic proportions, at least.

 KrautScientist wrote:
Thanks a lot for the feedback, guys! That really helps!

I realise my Khornate Wolves will have to look a little more feral than the test model. I think the main problem with the model - colour considerations notwhitstanding - is the fact that none of the bitz I used are really all that chaotic to begin with. For the next models, that probably means: more spiky bitz, skull trophies and tattered fur cloaks, as you guys suggested.

I have also considered adding a copious amount of bloodspatters, but have yet held myself back for basically two reasons:

1.) I am terribly afraid of going way OTT with the blood.

2.) I think it would look a little strange if the wolves were to be all bloody when the actual World Eaters in the army are not -- even moreso since the wolves will be used as "regular" Bolter CSM, if anything.

I guess I will have to give this more thought...

I know that I'm struggling with my own prejudice when it comes to Chaos-ified Space Wolves because they seem par for the course with a lot of Chaos players, especially those with Red Corsairs. Looking at the test model though I have to agree that the choice in bitz means that he stands apart from the rest of your force. Also the colour scheme looks off in my opinion. I think though that much of what I'm seeing in your test model looks like the 13th Company Space Wolves that were in White Dwarf years ago (possibly around the 3rd Armageddon campaign, I don't have the magazines anymore) that were kit bashed from Space Wolves and Chaos Marine parts to show their long campaign without resupply in the Eye of Terror. They still mostly retained their grey armour, but had spot colour from Chaos forces to represent scavenged parts.

For constructive critiscim I would say that your Blood Wolves have great potential to tie into the feral nature of the Eternal Hunt, especially with their pelts and totems. The backpack helps change the silhouette to differentiate it from a loyal Space Wolf, but I think that more Chaos bitz, and maybe more red, would help tie them together with your main force.

Just my 2 cents on the matter though.


**edit**
What about using the Chaos Marine helmets with the curved, ridged horns on them also. It helps change the silhouette of the model, and is similar enough to the Khorne bunny ears to tie the Blood Wolves to your main force, but also distinguish their role within the army.

@ Dreadclaw69: Thanks for the detailed feedback, mate! I really appreciate it! You're quite right about the 13th company comparison -- I still have those WDs However, there is one marked differende: The "chaotic" parts on the 13th company were always just one leg cuisse, one pauldron, etc., painted in a rather haphazard way to show how those were basically replacement parts found in the Eye of Terror. I think my test wolf has a more organised look, like the red parts and chaotic touches are there for a purpose -- but maybe I'm just making excuses here

In the end, I believe it will come down to maintaining a balance of parts when building these: enough SW parts to show their origins, yet enough chaotic bitz to make it clear that they have turned. I'm not especially sold on the idea of using those horned helmets, to tell you the truth, but I am pretty sure that I'll be able to find some other way of making these guys look suitably chaotic. In any case, I don't consider it a bad thing that they stand apart from the regular World Eaters, since that is exactly the way they feel: their connection to their chapter has been severed, yet neither can they fully accept their new "home" -- I'll admit it's a bit of a narrative thing, though


Anyway, I got some more work in on Joras Turnpelt. Take a look:










As you can see, some skull trophies were added to the cape, to make Joras’ new allegiance even more obvious (I also wanted to obscure the small “smoke stacks” on the cloak, since they seemed slightly silly to me). Note the dirty and tattered cape:



The effect was created by drybrushing multiple times with GW Graveyard Earth, which led to a very dusty, dirtied look. Unfortunately, the photo eats up some of the subtle shades, so you’ll have to take my word for it: It does look really dusty when seen up close!

It’s also a nice coincidence that the cape nicely complements the model’s overall pose, adding to the sense of movement.



When it came to Joras’ face, I wanted him to be pale and slightly haunted-looking, and I guess I succeeded reasonably well:




Maybe he’ll need one more pass of GW Leviathan Purple in the deepest recesses to make him look even more drawn.

And finally, the base: It goes without saying that I couldn’t resist adding a small loyalist touch…



And here’s a comparison shot with Joras and one of my World Eaters Terminator Lords:



I like the fact that Joras has a pretty distinct silhouette, seeming quite bulky (mostly because of the cape).

All in all, I am pretty pleased with the model: I think the paintjob nicely captures the fact that Joras is a warrior in transition: While there are still some strong clues as to his loyalist origins, several other visual elements make it perfectly clear that he now follows a very different master.

And finally, as is my usual routine, let me also give you some background for the model (a slightly revised version of the first sketch, in this case):



Joras Turnpelt

Joras Turnpelt was once a member of Einar Longbeard’s Great Company, and served as the Wolf Lord’s second-in-command as well as his trusted friend. When the company found itself facing the warriors of Khorne’s Eternal Hunt in battle, the fighting turned out to be extremely bloody and unforgiving, due to both sides’ ferocity in combat. With the battle dragging on, the Space Wolves found themselves slowly bleeding out from the costly engagements. And to make matters even worse, Longbeard and Joras did not see eye to eye regarding how to proceed: The Wolf Lord knew that the Space Wolves were in acute danger of losing the battle and wanted to consolidate their forces, maybe even order a tactical retreat, while Joras would hear none of it. Seething with adrenaline and beginning frenzy, he wanted to press on and obliterate the enemy, and ordered an attack in direct defiance of his superior’s orders. During the ensuing fight, Joras eventually flew into a berserker rage, slaying his own Wolf Lord, who was trying to intervene. This act of betrayal shattered the great company, with the brethren falling on each other as well as the World Eaters. In the end, only a small band of warriors remained, defeated and encircled by the warriors of the 4th, shaken by their own actions and ready to be killed. But Lorimar let them live, feeling that Joras, in the depths of his rage, had found something dark and powerful. The Master of the Hunt was intrigued.

Ever since, Joras and his remaining warriors have been fighting alongside Khorne’s Eternal Hunt, adopting some of the 4th’s traditions while also keeping themselves apart in other respects. And Joras has become known as the “Turnpelt”, considered a despised traitor of his own chapter and hated enemy by the sons of Russ…


As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Lovely model mate - and always good with some background

I think the eyes on the plate are perfect - the light seems to shine out of them, good effect

/Janushedemann

 KrautScientist wrote:
@ Dreadclaw69: Thanks for the detailed feedback, mate! I really appreciate it! You're quite right about the 13th company comparison -- I still have those WDs However, there is one marked differende: The "chaotic" parts on the 13th company were always just one leg cuisse, one pauldron, etc., painted in a rather haphazard way to show how those were basically replacement parts found in the Eye of Terror. I think my test wolf has a more organised look, like the red parts and chaotic touches are there for a purpose -- but maybe I'm just making excuses here

In the end, I believe it will come down to maintaining a balance of parts when building these: enough SW parts to show their origins, yet enough chaotic bitz to make it clear that they have turned. I'm not especially sold on the idea of using those horned helmets, to tell you the truth, but I am pretty sure that I'll be able to find some other way of making these guys look suitably chaotic. In any case, I don't consider it a bad thing that they stand apart from the regular World Eaters, since that is exactly the way they feel: their connection to their chapter has been severed, yet neither can they fully accept their new "home" -- I'll admit it's a bit of a narrative thing, though

Glad you know where I'm coming from I know its all too easy to armchair model so I was trying to be constructive, and for my own sake I wanted to rationalise out my own thoughts. When I moved all my GW stuff was left behind so I couldn't give an issue number. I think part of the problem for me is seeing the test model in isolation, you have a clear idea of how the Wolves should look as a force.

Your Turnpelt fluff is awesome and the extra touches to the figure make such a difference The transition that you talk about for the Wolves makes sense too, and how the Hunt reacts to them.

If you're looking to tie the Wolves into the Eternal Hunt a bit more, here's my take on it:

From the comparison photo of Turnpelt and the the World Eaters Lord (I forget the name, my apologies), I'd say Turnpelt's red armor looks significantly lighter. It may just be the photo, but I'd say that if you paint the reds, brasses, and blue spot colors (power weapons, glowing eyes, gems etc) in exactly the same way between both the Wolves ad the Hunters, they'll look nicley coherent. Also, Turnpelt's flesh looks a bit healthier than the Hunters' skin does - although you did say that you weren't don with it. Maybe the purple wash will help.
Hope that helps!

Beautiful work as always, KS. Turnpelt is a great name, by the way. I'm not sure I like the Gray, but I get why you did it. I think the axe works really well for this model. I really like the cloak (pelt) and Joras' face, but the glowing eyes on the chest plate are my favorite part.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Just to be clear, though: I am quite alright with the Khornate Wolves looking quite different from my regular World Eaters, and there will be no transition from wolves to World Eaters, with the armour becoming more and more WE-like or something like that.

You see, in my idea of the background, after their great company was sundered, the Wolves were really shaken, ready to be killed by the World Eaters: Their rage and frenzy had proved to be their downfall, and after the destruction of their company and the death of their Wold Lord, they knew they could never go back to their chapter. However, Lorimar let them live: Maybe because he saw them as a potential asset. Maybe because something of their situation reminded him about the World Eaters' own history. Maybe he was amused by their plight. Maybe it was all of the above.

Ever since, the Wolves have been in an interesting fix: They have begun to accept Khorne as their new patron: After all, what else remains to them? But they couldn't simply ceise being sons of Fenris, so they remember their traditions, their warrior culture etc. The difference between them and the World Eaters, however, is that the World Eaters feel that their choice of abandoning the Emperor, whom they saw as a weak hypocrite, was a righteous one, whereas Joras and his brothers know full well that they fell from grace in the worst possible way...

Anyway, that's my reasoning behing those guys, and the reason they don't have (or want) to fit in with the World Eaters. As a matter of fact, I can easily imagine the World Eaters' feelings towards their new allies to be rather conflicted as well, with some of the legionaries wary of the "loyalist dogs", and some of the Huntmasters even asking themselves what Lorimar sees in the Turnpelt...

So, maybe I am just using fluff to justify dubious modelling and painting choices here, but in the strange and twisted hinterlands of my brain, it all makes sense somehow. I promise

I'm loving the traitor wolves, however, I think their armour looks a bit too grey. I've always seen Space Wolves as more bluish. But regardless, they look excellent.

Each time i see these i love them

Thanks, people!

@ Squigsquasher: Ah, but then, that was the whole point -- I didn't want to have them the more bluish colour, but give their armour a more greyish hue.

@ Miss Dee: That's nice of you to say!


Touching up my World Eaters bikes some time ago gave me the idea for an additional bike in the squad. Once again, I wanted to build a model channelling the legion’s gladiatorial traditions, serving not so much as a mobile weapons platform, but rather as a modernised version of one of the chariots you would expect to see in films about gladiators in ancient Rome.

I was pretty sure that the World Eaters would have found a way to adapt the regular Space Marine trike to their gladiatorial fighting style. So I mulled over the idea and talked to Biohazard, who, bless his heart, pointed me towards Big Jim’s fantastic Infernal Assault Bike conversion. That really got my creative juices flowing, so I got myself a trike and some bitz from my bitzbox and got to work. And here’s the result: The Veredus Pattern Assault Trike:







Quite an easy kitbash, really: The undercarriage came from the regular trike, although I had to use a plate from an Ork kit to close the huge hole that was created by leaving off the seated marine. A huge shield from the WFB Minotaurs was added to serve as front armour. Apart from that, I only used a couple of additional spikes and a horned skull (once again from the Minotaur kit) to make the whole vehicle look more chaotic.



Getting the two World Eaters assembled and posed took a little more doing: The driver was simple enough, but the gladiator standing in the sidecar was a little more complicated, since I wanted him to be gripping the front of the sidecar for support, while brandishing a chain weapon in his other hand.

I used an unarmoured arm from the WFB Chaos Marauders and combined it with the hand from a CSM biker to achieve the pose I wanted. I also gave the model a bare head from the Grey Knights kit to make it look even more like a World Eater — those cables make for really convincing Butcher’s Nails!



Getting the model into the right position without having it awkwardly bump into the rider was probably the most difficult part. Seeing how little room there actually was, I decided to use a Dark Vengeance Chosen backpack since it’s a little less bulky than the regular CSM backpacks.



The rider is a fairly straightforward build, with just an arm wielding a wicked looking axe added for some extra brutality (the arm came from the Skullcrusher kit). However, after having obsessed over the choice of head for quite some time, I went for something a little more unconventional, sawing through one of the old, early 90s plastic berzerkers Biohazard sent me. That was quite an intense bit of surgery, but I managed to keep the head perfectly intact — I really love the facemask on that helmet!



And with that, my attack trike was finished. I may attach an additional bit here and there, but the overall build is as complete as it is ever going to be. As for gameplay uses, I may just use this trike as a regular bike or – when I am feeling adventurous – as a counts as Chaos Lord riding a juggernaut

Anway, I think the model is a really nice fit for both the World Eaters’ gladiatorial traditions and my own army’s background as a hunting party.

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

That bike is looking absolutely superb! I love the side cart rider!

Yummers! I guess in friendly games you could come up with some rules for them if you wanted? And I'd love to see two more, to make a trio of Chariots! You could have one with chains dragging a deceased behind it in typically violent fashion. Maybe another throwing a Javelin?

In a fun note, Ancient times Chariot warfare was rarely about riding headlong into the enemy; they were more mobile arrow platforms, used to deadly effect by the Egyptians and Mesopotamian empire. But I guess Khorne has no time for piddly cowardly tactics like that. He's much more of a 'run them down' kinda guy. Plus, I think a 40k trike is slightly more durable than a palm wood Chariot of Ancient times!

That trike is just all kinds of awesome. I love the classic helm you used

Cheers, guys! Glad you like it!

@ ghosty: Damn you, for giving me even more conversion ideas! Will you people never be satisfied?

 KrautScientist wrote:
Thanks, people!

@ Squigsquasher: Ah, but then, that was the whole point -- I didn't want to have them the more bluish colour, but give their armour a more greyish hue.

@ Miss Dee: That's nice of you to say!


Touching up my World Eaters bikes some time ago gave me the idea for an additional bike in the squad. Once again, I wanted to build a model channelling the legion’s gladiatorial traditions, serving not so much as a mobile weapons platform, but rather as a modernised version of one of the chariots you would expect to see in films about gladiators in ancient Rome.

I was pretty sure that the World Eaters would have found a way to adapt the regular Space Marine trike to their gladiatorial fighting style. So I mulled over the idea and talked to Biohazard, who, bless his heart, pointed me towards Big Jim’s fantastic Infernal Assault Bike conversion. That really got my creative juices flowing, so I got myself a trike and some bitz from my bitzbox and got to work. And here’s the result: The Veredus Pattern Assault Trike:







Quite an easy kitbash, really: The undercarriage came from the regular trike, although I had to use a plate from an Ork kit to close the huge hole that was created by leaving off the seated marine. A huge shield from the WFB Minotaurs was added to serve as front armour. Apart from that, I only used a couple of additional spikes and a horned skull (once again from the Minotaur kit) to make the whole vehicle look more chaotic.



Getting the two World Eaters assembled and posed took a little more doing: The driver was simple enough, but the gladiator standing in the sidecar was a little more complicated, since I wanted him to be gripping the front of the sidecar for support, while brandishing a chain weapon in his other hand.

I used an unarmoured arm from the WFB Chaos Marauders and combined it with the hand from a CSM biker to achieve the pose I wanted. I also gave the model a bare head from the Grey Knights kit to make it look even more like a World Eater — those cables make for really convincing Butcher’s Nails!



Getting the model into the right position without having it awkwardly bump into the rider was probably the most difficult part. Seeing how little room there actually was, I decided to use a Dark Vengeance Chosen backpack since it’s a little less bulky than the regular CSM backpacks.



The rider is a fairly straightforward build, with just an arm wielding a wicked looking axe added for some extra brutality (the arm came from the Skullcrusher kit). However, after having obsessed over the choice of head for quite some time, I went for something a little more unconventional, sawing through one of the old, early 90s plastic berzerkers Biohazard sent me. That was quite an intense bit of surgery, but I managed to keep the head perfectly intact — I really love the facemask on that helmet!



And with that, my attack trike was finished. I may attach an additional bit here and there, but the overall build is as complete as it is ever going to be. As for gameplay uses, I may just use this trike as a regular bike or – when I am feeling adventurous – as a counts as Chaos Lord riding a juggernaut

Anway, I think the model is a really nice fit for both the World Eaters’ gladiatorial traditions and my own army’s background as a hunting party.

As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

There ya go. So people can see the sheer awesomeness without going back a page. (because I for one, never use the "Blog View" button)

Ghosty's ideas for the trike are pretty sound, although I like the way it looks as it is now too. My one thing if it were mine (and this has been done countless times before) would be to have the passenger dragging the top of his weapon on the ground a la the 80s Akira OVA, entrance of the Clown gang.

Has this army ever been featured on the GW website newspage? If not, get on that - this entire kitbashed army is too good just to share with the Dakka community.

This makes me want to start a PH World Eater army... or PH Nightlords... all super-kitbashed and greenstuffed, with wicked stories for each figure... take years to complete and will never see any action on the tabletop...

Damn you, Kraut. Damn you....

-Remi

Trike = pure win!

R

Kraut, once again you make an amazing converted masterpiece. I think the strongest part of your work is the ability to put movement into your models. The trike just oozes anger and potential violence, particularly from the side rider. Well done and keep it up!

No melta guns??

Again, thanks a lot, people!

@ HF Izanagi: Thanks for the repost, Remi! I feel honoured that I inspire you to start a WE army -- always a noble endeavour, to be sure In my opinion, go for post-heresy though: That gives you more options to play around with, plus you don't have to paint them white and blue -- just my opinion, though

My models have never been featured on the GW page. I'll admit I've been tempted to post stuff to their Flickr account once or twice, but I'm not swallowing their BS regarding granting them all the rights to the pictures forever, removing all watermarks etc. Plus I wouldn't want them to add some garish Photoshop effects on top (like they did for GuitaRasmus' stuff once) I am very pleased that you consider my work good enough to be featured in WD or on the GW homepage, though!

Regarding the weapon dragging on the ground, that is one awesome idea! I'd rather keep it for a regular biker, though, since lining up the passenger in that sidecar was enough of a hassle already. I do have that huge, lovely Ironguts weapon lying around though...a World Eater dragging it along the floor might be next in line...

@ Red Skullz: Cheers, mate!

@ Freytag93: That was really the effect I was going for, so I am glad it seems to have worked out!

@ Miss Dee: I already added Meltagungs to two of my "regular" bikes, and seeing how this might not be considered a "legal" model if push comes to shove, I didn't want to take any chances. Plus lining up that skull between the weapons was much easier with regular bolters.

Beautiful work as usual!

Why don't You do one with the passenger launching a net from a missile launcher?

The trike is pure win! Rule of cool always wins

Hmm my post seems to not have posted...

oh well, loving the trike... damn I may have to make on for my Emperor's Children but make it more, well, Slaaneshi-y

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ SelvaggioSaky: I did actually eyperiment with a Dark Eldar net at one point, but it just didn't end up very World Eater-ly: These guys are not trying to take prisoners, after all, and immobilising your opponent using a net would probably be something they consider beneath them

Yes. I had this though as well, just want to be sure thet You (of course You did) took the net in consideration

The guy on the chariot reminds me of the bare-chested berserker you made a while back - do they have the same head? I agree, the cabling makes for very good Butcher's Nails.

Thanks, guys!

@ SelvaggioSaky: Yeah, I am, of course, considering everything at all times Seriously, though, I am considering using that DE net on some footslogging model or other at some point, since I would like to incorporate some more models wielding "gladiatorial" weapons into my force.

@ Crystal Geyser: You're quite right about the head: It's the same design I used on that barechested model you mentioned. It's just about the perfect head for a World Eater, in my opinion!

Wow. That Trike is just amazing. Consider it stolen (if I ever get around to doing my World Eaters properly!)

Kudos to you!

Cheers, mate! Steal away!

Right, and it's time for another update: You may remember that I was working on a squad of traitorous Space Wolves to serve as regular Chaos Space Marines in my force of World Eaters. Just to refresh your memory, these were the first test models I cobbled together from some – very rough – bitz:



And this is the first of those I painted as a tester:



As some people have pointed out, the problem is that the model looks a little too much like a member of the 13th company just having a slightly bad day. So while I liked the overall look and paint recipe well enough, it was clear to me that the main challenge would be to achieve a look that, while still obviously showing the wolves’ loyalist heritage, also made it perfectly clear that they had turned and now served another master.

The most effective way to achieve this was by carefully considering which bitz to use. So I dove headfirst into my bitzbox — and also received quite a nice bitz drop courtesy of fellow hobbyist Gerner (cheers, mate!). Both factors allowed me to work on some more models for my Blood Wolves, and I believe you’ll find these to be somewhat less conventional than the initial test models. Let’s take a look:





This first model is actually one of the test models shown above, only slightly reworked: I wasn’t perfectly happy with the model, so I added a different head and right arm. The whole model was also undercoated with Army Painter’s Uniform Grey, in order to better blend together the different (partly painted) bits I used.

And here’s the third test model from the picture posted above:





While I was already happy enough with the menacing look and overall pose, I still made some small changes: The shoulder pads were exchanged for SW pads to make the loyalist origins of the model more obvious. The head was replaced with a similar but slightly more chaotic looking head from the Raptor kit (to which I added a wolf totem from one of the SW helmets). Again, the model was undercoated grey. I must say I am really pleased with this guy! He has a menacing, predatory look about him that rather fits a fallen Space Wolf…

There were also two models I had originally built as World Eaters. Yet due to the fact that I had used some SW parts in their construction, they had just the right look for my squad of Khornate wolves, so I just chose to repurpose them:





In my opnion, this first model is a pretty good blend of SW design and a clearly Khornate touch. As you can see, I used the huge axe from the SW terminator kit: A memento of the Marine’s original chapter as well as a fitting weapon for a servant of Khorne! An energy generator (without the power coils) from the Battle for Maccrage boxed set was used as some kind of toppled Imperial icon for the model to stand on. I really like the badass look of this guy!

The other model was designed to be channelling a very classic 90s pose:



I just couldn’t help it...

And finally, I built some new models from the bitz I had assembled. First of all, an icon bearer for the squad:





The model uses one of my favourite heads from the WFB Marauder Horsemen. While this guy could still be mistaken for a loyalist, I imagine the icon itself will change that, once it is finished. I’ll be using a huge, trophy-like banner from the WFB Minotaur kit. I love the static but powerful stance oj this guy!

And finally, I needed a worthy squad leader, of course! Another great head from the Marauder Horsemen and some bitz from the Skullcrusher kit did the trick. Take a look:





Easily my favourite model in the squad so far, this guy really maintains a delicate balance between a SW/barbarian look and a couple of clearly chaotic attributes.

So far, the squad seems very focused on combat at close quarters. However, I still have enough bitz for another six models, and most of those will be wielding a trusty Boltgun. But I think the new models are already far more recognisable as chaos followers. I really like their massive and grizzled look. Take a look at the squad so far:



What I like about these models is that including a squad of fallen Space Wolves with some actual background seems far preferable to just building World Eaters wielding Bolters, just for the sake of WYSIWYG.

So what do you think? Are those new models a step in the right direction? I’d be happy to hear any C&C you might have!

In any case, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

These new guys are looking very promising... I love how you played up the viking aspect of SW's. The horned helmet and chaos fantasy bits start to tie in a lot more... and the posing is cool.

Thanks a lot, Meade! Glad I seem to have found the right balance this time around!

Those are perfect I know that I was one of the ones saying that your test models looked more 13th Company than Traitors but I think you've got the ideal look for them now. I was scrolling down and they were just getting better and better. Very keen to see what the standard bearer and the leader look like when they're painted.

If it's the paintjob that is making it difficult to discern whether they're 13th company or khorne wolves, you could always go for the covered in gore route.

I saw it in a whitedwarf wayback when with some warriors of chaos. They were painted in full metallic armour, but had their shields, and a lot of their plate splattered with gore, to show their allegiance to Khorne. You could do something similar; have them in probper spacewolf colours, but have their armour daubed with blood, and symbols of khorne.

It's further them from looking like 13th company, who scavenge their armour, because they'll look like wolves who've devoted themselves to chaos.

Something to think on if nothing else.

Traitor wolves are lookin' good!

One way to differentiate the more vanilla looking wolves would be the application of some good ol' fashioned spikes to the shoulder pads. I dunno, I have quite a fondness for those spiky shoulders...

 KrautScientist wrote:
Thanks a lot, Meade! Glad I seem to have found the right balance this time around!

Yeah dude, I'm more of a fan of their space viking side than their wolf side anyway!

Also I've been watching 'Vikings' on the history channel

Cool dude love the feral aspects of them. Gotta get me some of those horsemen heads, they are awesome!

 KrautScientist wrote:

And finally, I built some new models from the bitz I had assembled. First of all, an icon bearer for the squad:





The model uses one of my favourite heads from the WFB Marauder Horsemen. While this guy could still be mistaken for a loyalist, I imagine the icon itself will change that, once it is finished. I’ll be using a huge, trophy-like banner from the WFB Minotaur kit. I love the static but powerful stance oj this guy!

I love all the models in this thread and I think you are onto something with the Fallen Wolves (Heretic!), but this is by far my favorite model in this group, and possibly in this thread. The head is an awesome choice. It has such a resigned, and perhaps a little regretful look to it. Love it

I need to get the Marauder Horsemen set it seems... Lol.

 KrautScientist wrote:

And finally, I needed a worthy squad leader, of course! Another great head from the Marauder Horsemen and some bitz from the Skullcrusher kit did the trick. Take a look:





Easily my favourite model in the squad so far, this guy really maintains a delicate balance between a SW/barbarian look and a couple of clearly chaotic attributes.

I like this guy a lot too. Are his arms and shoulder pads all from the Skullcrusher kit? They look great, and will be perfect for when I pull my thumb out and make my truescale Wolves.

Good work, as always Stefan.

~Eric

Again, thanks a lot, guys!

@ Dreadclaw69: Cheers, mate!

@ ghosty: While you're quite right in theory, I believe the gore route won't work here: These will probably used as "regular" (bolter wielding) CSM, and on top of that, it would look silly to have them covered in gore when the World Eaters right next to them aren't. That's due to my decisions, though, not because your idea is bad or anything

@ Squigsquasher: Hmmm, that might be work a look, even though I've never been a fan of too many spikes.

@ Two Spartan: Indeed, those Horsemen are worth it for the bitz alone! Also quite a steal, by GW standards. You'll end up with quite a few leftover horses and riders, though, so you better have a Traitor Guard force or WoC army ready as a side project

@ Taarnak: I agree about the icon bearer: Great expression on that face! Oh, and the champion uses arms from the skullcrusher kit (except for the left hand, obviously), while the pauldrons are from the regular Chaos Knights.

Splendid work as always mate

But that squadleader is awesome!
He is really up in your face - and so potent-agressive, with his "Want a piece of me boy ? " attitude

Cheers

Janushedemann

 KrautScientist wrote:
Again, thanks a lot, people!

@ HF Izanagi: Thanks for the repost, Remi! I feel honoured that I inspire you to start a WE army -- always a noble endeavour, to be sure In my opinion, go for post-heresy though: That gives you more options to play around with, plus you don't have to paint them white and blue -- just my opinion, though

LOL... but I like the white and blue... Besides, you're murdering the market on post-heresy man... your half-SW/half-awesome models would whup anything I'd be able to produce on limited time and budget. I guess that leaves PH Night Lords...? I love the whole Batman thing, anyways...

 KrautScientist wrote:

My models have never been featured on the GW page. I'll admit I've been tempted to post stuff to their Flickr account once or twice, but I'm not swallowing their BS regarding granting them all the rights to the pictures forever, removing all watermarks etc. Plus I wouldn't want them to add some garish Photoshop effects on top (like they did for GuitaRasmus' stuff once) I am very pleased that you consider my work good enough to be featured in WD or on the GW homepage, though!

... aaand I've never heard of this... really? That kinda sucks, and nevermind, then. (Link to GuitaRasmus' messed up pics, please?) But either way, if it wasn't as strict/stupid, this group should be in there. It's an army kitbashed and painted to a high-standard and ingeniously. AND it's all GW parts. Why the hell wouldn't it be in the magazine??

 KrautScientist wrote:

Regarding the weapon dragging on the ground, that is one awesome idea! I'd rather keep it for a regular biker, though, since lining up the passenger in that sidecar was enough of a hassle already. I do have that huge, lovely Ironguts weapon lying around though...a World Eater dragging it along the floor might be next in line...

True, a big weapon and a single biker. The marine on the side may slice off his own trike wheel if he gets too enthusiastic with an upward crotch-splitter slice from the drag position.

Again, always a pleasure to see your stuff - your speed of production is putting us to shame here!

-Remi

@ janushedemann: Cheers, Janus! Glad you like him!

 HF Izanagi wrote:
LOL... but I like the white and blue... Besides, you're murdering the market on post-heresy man... your half-SW/half-awesome models would whup anything I'd be able to produce on limited time and budget. I guess that leaves PH Night Lords...? I love the whole Batman thing, anyways...

Ah, come now: How do we get better if we don't challenge ourselves? I dare you to do some awesome post heresy WE -- besides, mine are definitely not the be all and end all: Check out Wade Pryce's army or GuitaRasmus' models -- that's the kind of stuff I'm[i] afraid of, and I am still plugging away at my army regardless That said, if I ever were to go Pre-Heresy and had to choose on of the Astartes Legions, I guess I'd probably go for Iron Warriors (since they really didn't change all that much). Sons of Horus or Emperor's Children (all the bling and the perfection angle are kinda tempting). When it comes to Night Lords, I'd always prefer them post heresy as well, when they had really managed to turn frightening people into an art form...

 HF Izanagi wrote:

 KrautScientist wrote:

My models have never been featured on the GW page. I'll admit I've been tempted to post stuff to their Flickr account once or twice, but I'm not swallowing their BS regarding granting them all the rights to the pictures forever, removing all watermarks etc. Plus I wouldn't want them to add some garish Photoshop effects on top (like they did for GuitaRasmus' stuff once) I am very pleased that you consider my work good enough to be featured in WD or on the GW homepage, though!

... aaand I've never heard of this... really? That kinda sucks, and nevermind, then. (Link to GuitaRasmus' messed up pics, please?) But either way, if it wasn't as strict/stupid, this group should be in there. It's an army kitbashed and painted to a high-standard and ingeniously. AND it's all GW parts. Why the hell wouldn't it be in the magazine??

Actually, I think it wasn't GuitaRasmus' stuff after all, but one of the other guys whose blogs I follow -- can't find it right now, so you'll have to take my word for it. I'm not kidding though, it did happen. And "ruined" may be too strong a word, they just added some pretty hokey Photoshop shadow effects on top, IIRC.

In any case, I guess I'm content with people liking my World Eaters well enough on the forums. And while I would love one of my models to appear in WD one day, I guess there might be more likely candiates in my collection.

 KrautScientist wrote:
@ janushedemann: Cheers, Janus! Glad you like him!

Ah, come now: How do we get better if we don't challenge ourselves? I dare you to do some awesome post heresy WE -- besides, mine are definitely not the be all and end all: Check out Wade Pryce's army or GuitaRasmus' models -- that's the kind of stuff I'm[i] afraid of, and I am still plugging away at my army regardless That said, if I ever were to go Pre-Heresy and had to choose on of the Astartes Legions, I guess I'd probably go for Iron Warriors (since they really didn't change all that much). Sons of Horus or Emperor's Children (all the bling and the perfection angle are kinda tempting). When it comes to Night Lords, I'd always prefer them post heresy as well, when they had really managed to turn frightening people into an art form...

Yeeess... but you know how you want to "try something like (person of interest)'s (project of interest)"? Not thought out well with your own strong ideas/differential points, chances are you get something that looks exactly like (person of interest)'s (project of interest). Example, Dust Brothers versus my Cawdor... had to try real hard to get away from the originality of the Dust Brothers on CMON, and now I'm just kinda slogging through them with no real passion.

True, yours are not be-all end all... but if I were to go at it... SW/Dark Wolves would be more my style. Waaait... I've seen this before...




I also looked at the Pryce and GuitaRasmus' armies. They're nicely done... but not to my taste. In my opinion (because it counts for absolutely nothing in this wide world of talent) I like the stylings of yours more, especially your leader figures and matte/subdued red-and-gold painting style. Jus sayin'.

So... "no"... I will not willing go into the post-heresy World Eater meatgrinder. I do have an extra Chapterhouse Tru-Scale body though... and access to SW heads... alright. I'll do ONE... ONE "all-out" PH WE figure. Damn you, Kraut...

-Remi

Haha, your point is well taken Remi. So let me just say that I am really happy that you like my models!

 HF Izanagi wrote:
I do have an extra Chapterhouse Tru-Scale body though... and access to SW heads... alright. I'll do ONE... ONE "all-out" PH WE figure. Damn you, Kraut...

Ah, here's the kicker, though: One thing I learned from occasionally getting to play with the big boys: Every model has to be "all-out"!

(not saying I can actually pull it off, mind you, but you get the idea...)

Anyway, looking forward to your Truescale World Eater, then. The bare head from the GK is fantastic to represent a World Eater's Butcher's Nails. And you'll definitely need a pot of Tamiya Clear Red!

Hey guys, just a teeny tiny update today.

This used to be one of my converted Chosen:



Alas, when I cannibalised the model for bitz (needed the head for my traitorous Wolves), the poor guy was quickly left without a head and both arms. Not so bad, since I'd never been all that happy with the model, but I needed to refurbish him. Here's the result:







Nothing earth-shatteringly cool, to be sure, but a nice exercise for an idle moment The bucker makes him look suitably gladiatorial, too



C&C always welcome!

BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!

Good to see that you are a busy bee.

Very nice Standard Chosen or the Champion?

Cheers, guys!

@ Nasbashem: No, he's just a "regular" Chosen. You see, the problem with my Chosen is that they were built quite some time ago, before the release of the new Codex (and Dark Vengeance), back when my ambition was still considerably lower. So they run the risk of looking slightly pedestrian when compared to both the DV Chosen and some of my later creations. I think I managed to salvage this guy at least, though

He does look pretty badass still I'd love to see what you could do fore more chosen with the new book

As a matter of fact, messing around with very fiddly INQ28 conversions all weekend made me hungry for converting something less delicate: some good, old, clunky World Eaters So I revamped some additional older models:

First up, I touched up another Chosen. This is the model before:



And after:



Not an enormous change, to be sure, but I think it's still an improvement: The ill-fitting berzerker bunny ears were replaced with pieces from the Skullcrusher kit. He now has an axe. And a severed head, courtesy of the WFB warshrine kit.

Then there's this guy (I don't have a before picture in this case, but I can assure you he wasn't much to look at):





So here are the three "refurbished" Chosen so far:



Let me also show you some additional models I built quite some time ago on a whim:

First up, the pose on this guy was stolen from an excellent Pre-Heresy WE thread, the name of which has unfortunately escaped me for the moment -- if you recognise the pose, feel free to barge in and link the thread in question:





And another model I built using leftover arms from a WFB Khorne champion:



I guess the underlying theme for all of these, apart from a general "gladiatorial" vibe, is that they present a more "zoomed in" look at WE legionaries, if you will, showing them more as characters and less as cannonfodder -- something that I am definitely going for with my Chosen.

And you may be right, I should do a post on the rest of my Chosen soon. Hmmm...

Anyway, let me know what you think!

Those are instantly recognisable as Chosen and not your regular Marines. I love everyone of them, they all ooze character. Brillant stuff

These are great hugely individualistic with a brilliant fighter vibe.

Cheers, guys! Glad you like them!

I felt the urge to paint something today, so I started to work on the next two traitorous Space Wolves. Take a look:











Now these obviously still have a ways to go, but they're definitely getting there. I'll probably finish the bases, backpacks and final touches later today.

Here are the first two test models so far (the finished one is in the middle):



Let me know what you think!

Very nice, KS. I really like the 2 guys with the helmets. Very intimidating! I know I said before that I didn't really like the gray, but I think it works well on these guys. I'm not sure what is different... maybe where you painted red and gold. In anycase, nice work. And as always, I really like your use of blue/turquoise.

those chosen and the converted wolves look nice! or rather, not nice actually, in fact very very mad. Also quick question, do you have any experience with converting csm with A Woc set?

Thanks for the positive feedback, guys!

@ Yellowbeard: Maybe it's also the fact that the new models are more clearly recognisable as chaotic due to the parts I used? In any case, I think those three together no longer look 100% like members of the 13th company, at least.

@ I guess you're referring to conversions using the bodies of standard WoC, right? I did several of those, as a matter of fact, and it can either be very easy or very complicated, depending on what you're trying to do:

- You can get very quick results by just using regular CSM arms on a WoC model. The arms fit reasonably well with a little cutting, and it looks really good (if a bit static) for models carrying Bolters, since it gives them the look of relentlessly advancing. It's also very easy to use CSM heads of WoC bodies (and vice versa).

- The slightly more complicated way of going about this would be to use a CSM torso. That will require either losing the WoC torso altogether or - in case you want to keep the cloak - hollow it out using a knife. That's what I did for my conversion of Huntmaster Bardolf here:



I did even more cutting on him, since I wanted to use CSM shoulder pads. Almost took off a finger during the conversion

Finally, many people prefer replacing the lower legs with Marine legs -- either by splicing in actual Marine legs, or by using GS. There's a pretty good tutorial for that type of conversion over at B&C.

Hope this helps!

Hm, i'll get right on this soon, thanks for the advice! and P.S. i love your stuff!

One looks like Eric Magnus Lencher

Cheers, people!

@ wolfmerc: Glad to be of help!

@ Miss Dee: You mean Magneto? Now that you mention it, some of those Marauder Horsemen helmets do actually have a certain Magneto-vibe!

The refurbished chosen are looking so much better, it's hard to believe actually as they looked really good before.

Traitor space wolves are great looking. Grand choice in colour scheme.

Conversions, as always, excellent and characterful. Time for another full army shot soon?

The chosen look great! As do the newly painted 'wolves!

Cheers, guys!

@ Medium of Death: Another army shot, huh? Hmm, maybe once I've managed to paint that whole squad of traitorous Wolves, or else there wouldn't be that much to show you guys since the last army shot. I'm much better at building World Eaters than at actually getting paint on them.

In any case, expect the finished wolves soon-ish

Alright, people, it might have taken a bit longer than anticipated, but here's the promised update on my first Blood Wolves models:

Here are the finished models:







This guy is actually my favourite so far, since that Raptor helmet just looks quite menacing for some reason, but not so overtly chaotic that you can put your finger on what it is right away. The model was painted in the same colours as the first test model, and the fur areas gave me a nice chance to introduce an additional colour to the model. I also added one of my simple OSL effects to the model’s plasma pistol.

And the last remaining test model:









This guy actually shows some skin, so I used the same recipe for pale skin that had already worked rather nicely on both my Traitor Guard and the Joras Turnpelt model. This model was in a pretty rough condition due to the bitz I used in its construction being in a verry sorry state to begin with, so I had to be careful during painting, paying attention not to slather yet another thick coat of paint on top. That said, I think I managed to salvage the model well enough!

So here’s a comparison shot for you:

This is what the models looked like before painting:



Still not easy to look at, am I right?

And here they are as they are looking now:



Quite a transformation, don’t you think? Especially if you consider the rather sorry state some of those bitz were in! As you can see, I did some slight changes to the models, adding a trophy here or swapping a head or shoulder pad there, but all in all, they still look reasonably similar to the initial builds. The new colours are much nicer, though…

So, just for fun, I also took another picture of the models alongside some chaos hounds I painted quite a while ago:



These are a great fit for both my World Eaters and their Blood Wolves allies, and if I ever add daemonic allies to the force, I believe these hounds will be used as “counts as” Bloodletters. The image of a huge pack of hounds being used by Khorne’s Eternal Hunt to run down their prey really appeals to me!

And, of course, a picture of all the Blood Wolves I have managed to paint so far:



Both the models and paint recipe took some time to come together, but I am reasonably pleased now. While these are looking quite distinct from my World Eaters, that had been the plan all along. And I think they are doing a good job of channelling the sinister, feral side of the Space Wolves.

So, what do you think? Am I onto something here? Let me know what you think! And, as always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Those guys are looking awesome! although if you are looking for any cc another heavy handed dark wash wouldn't hurt at all (could just be my taste, or the pics)

 KrautScientist wrote:

These are a great fit for both my World Eaters and their Blood Wolves allies, and if I ever add daemonic allies to the force, I believe these hounds will be used as “counts as” Bloodletters. The image of a huge pack of hounds being used by Khorne’s Eternal Hunt to run down their prey really appeals to me!

well if you've got some bloodletters, why not use them as flesh hounds of khorne and bloodletters both?

In the future you could have some sort of large monster wolf, a lord from the chaos codex riding jugger or karanak, and have them all scout with the flesh hounds, I believe. because they can join each other and scout applies to the whole unit.

I know that I was a little critical of your test Wolves but your latest ones are perfect Great work

Cheers, guys!

@ Meade: I did actually use another pass of GW Nuln Oil on the first test model, but it didn't really change anything. These last pictures were also taken in very bright daylight, as you may be able to tell, so the models are actually a bit darker than that.

Those suggestions RE: the Hounds are very interesting by the way....

@ Dreadclaw69: Cheers, mate! Glad I managed to win you over

Nice work mate Look Chaosy without being OTT. Good job

I dig! Keep up the good work as usual! I really like the bronze you have, and the ratio of bluish-grey to red is perfect!

I wasn't expecting anything else from You (after I saw Turnpelt the first time )

An entire squad like this would just be awesome

Looking good as always great poses on the chosen

Young Logan

Thanks a lot, guys! I really appreciate the kind words!

Wow, i like the end results! you really capture traitorous wolves with those guys. nice work!

Cheers, wolfmerc!

After seeing a beautifully painted World Eaters lord converted from the new plastic CSM Aspiring Champion over on Infestus' B&C thread , I felt the need to do something with the model as well. So I swung by the FLGS earlier today, picked up the model and got to work. I settled for a head swap, but even that involved a fair bit of cutting, due to the original head being firmly attached to the model's torso.

Anyway, here's the result:







I noticed something funny, though: The plastic on this model was a bit darker and harder than the usual material, and quite a bit more brittle, with parts prone to snapping of when put under a little bit of pressure (instead of the usual bending out of shape). The material also seemd much closer to resin when I scraped off the moldlines. Is GW experimenting with a new plastic, perhaps? Or did I just get a model from a bad batch? Has anyone made similar observations lately?

In my case, the slightly different material was almost useful, since the head snapped off at exactly the point I needed it to after I had managed to saw through half of the neck. All in all, though, the model was noticeably harder to work with than usual. Strange...

Anyway, let me know what you think!

That is one great looking Khorne Lord and the whole concept is great too. Good work.

My experience is that GW changes their plastic formula every now and then. I have like four different colours of plastic on my desk.
The one they used back in 3rd edition times sucked a**. It got fragile as it got older.

Cheers, mate!

You're right about the different colours, I have them all in my collection (and I actually love working with the light grey stuff because it can be carved into shapes like soft wood ). This new stuff - if it is new stuff, mind you - is much closer to FW resin, though. Hope it's just a coincidence, because even though I'm a conversion fanatic, I hate working with FW's type of resin!

EDIT: Let me just bring this over here, so whoever's interested doesn't need to go back a page:

 KrautScientist wrote:
Cheers, wolfmerc!

After seeing a beautifully painted World Eaters lord converted from the new plastic CSM Aspiring Champion over on Infestus' B&C thread , I felt the need to do something with the model as well. So I swung by the FLGS earlier today, picked up the model and got to work. I settled for a head swap, but even that involved a fair bit of cutting, due to the original head being firmly attached to the model's torso.

Anyway, here's the result:







I noticed something funny, though: The plastic on this model was a bit darker and harder than the usual material, and quite a bit more brittle, with parts prone to snapping of when put under a little bit of pressure (instead of the usual bending out of shape). The material also seemd much closer to resin when I scraped off the moldlines. Is GW experimenting with a new plastic, perhaps? Or did I just get a model from a bad batch? Has anyone made similar observations lately?

In my case, the slightly different material was almost useful, since the head snapped off at exactly the point I needed it to after I had managed to saw through half of the neck. All in all, though, the model was noticeably harder to work with than usual. Strange...

Anyway, let me know what you think!

He looks like he means buisness wouldn't want to be on the recieving end. Can't wait to see him painted

Awesome head choice!

Very nice It's almost like the head was made for that model.
The only minor thing that I think might improve the model was if you angled the head down a little, to give it more momentum, especially when viewed from the front

I like it man. I'm amazed at the stuff people can do with the single pose DV models - he looks awesome.

If I were that guy, I'd be worried about angling my head down - once that crest starts headed toward the ground, I'm not sure even a space marine's neck muscles are going to stop it.

Dan

That is a point; I never considered having giant horns and metal plates stuck on your helmet would get in the way of everyday life.


Imagine trying to get through doors.

Cheers, guys!

Regarding the head, I didn't add any glue yet, so it's quite possible I'll still experiment with its position some more. And regarding how heavy those helmet crests must be, well, if they are wearing them to worship Khorne, it stands to reason that Khorne should bless them with the strength to hold their head high, so to speak

That has to be one of the best head swaps I've ever seen. It looks perfect for the body.

Very nicely done.

Thanks, guys!

@ tarar2d2: To be fair, though, it is maybe the best Khornate heömet ever, so I was mostly waiting for a worthy body to add it to

Nice head swap, it'd be cool to see it painted.

God damnit Kraut!
I simply adore your style as a modeller, pump out some more of everything for me to drop my jaw over!

Oh well, I am only too happy to oblige

It's been quite some time since we last heard of my converted chaos spawn, so I decided I wanted to get another of those painted this weekend.

You may remember that my chaos spawn were converted to look not so much like creepy crawly monsters, but rather to represent "The Forsaken", those brothers of the World Eaters 4th assault company whose madness and physical corruption have devolved them so much that they are now merely raging beasts. The models were built using Vargheist/Crypt Horror bodies and Minotaur arms, with lots and lots of GS in between to build up the necessary muscle mass.

Anway, here's the model I managed to complete just now:



The model was built to be looking like it was bellowing in rage at its prospective next enemy. As you can see, I added some Butcher's Nails implants to the Forsaken's head, as well as a Triumph Rope scar to its chest.







The horrible, open back of the model (where I imagine a combination of the physiological changes necessary for becoming an Astartes and the raw forces of chaos has begun to tear the wretched creature's body apart, was painted using Tamiya Clear Red to make it look like a sickening, glistening mess of raw meat. I seriously considered painting the spine in metal, but in the end, decided against it.

Here's a detail shot of that particular area:



And here are the two finished Forsaken so far:



And the third one has been undercoated, at least:



As always, C&C are very welcome!

Very impressive. I like the way you adapt units and models to suit your fluff.

Excellent conversions I was kind of wondering what that was on their bums, but I figure it's a mix of chaos and I don't what to know what else . I like how you have them fi into the story.

Great work A very nice change from lump of changing flesh You give them such character. Bravo

Very impressive

I really like your miniatures. However, your Forsaken doesn't seem as dynamic as it can be. In that stance, the arms should be swung quite far backwards, with the weapons pointed towards his middle line
/O\
/_|_\ < Like so, if that makes sense. Right now he just looks like he's going to topple.

I was worried about the arms a bit, but with the paintjob they've integrated very well! I like the details like the butchers nails and stuff.

He looks upset, what did You do to him?

Great conversion, the skin color is spot on, but I think a bit too clean to be what It is

Looks great.

Thanks for the feedback, guys! Regarding the tie-in with my army's fluff, I was never all that fond of chaos spawn as a concept, until I started thinking about how to make the unit type fit my narrative. Or rather, I had the idea for these devolved former Astartes, who still show some of their legion's gladiatorial stylings. Initially, I even considered using them as Mutilators (seeing how the stock models are hideous). But then I realised that they actually were a perfect fit for chaos spawn. In fact, coming up with a unique narrative bend for unit types can make you appreciate selections that you wouldn't normally find interesting.

@ Theophony: Ah, well, I'm innocent: That fur on their behinds was there on the original parts, mate! Best not to think about why they would have fur there, though...

@ Know No Pear: In all fairness, there's not actually that much wiggle room for the arms' pose when using Minotaur arms on a Vargheist body: They only ever seem to attach at one very specific angle, and even then, there's quite a bit of GS sculpting involved to make it all look resonably plausible. So there wasn't that much I could do in the first place. I also have to admit that I am rather pleased with the - admittedly pretty static - pose: This guy is just taking a moment in the middle of battle to roar at his enemies. As a matter of fact, I can almost see how the scene plays out in my mind Oh, and those Vargheist bodies are *horribly* static, except for the running one. Take a look at the Crypt Horror models on GW's homepage, and you'll see what I mean.

@ Meade: Cheers, mate! I was actually really happy how well the paint managed to cover the obvious joints, to tell you the truth!

@ SelvaggioSaky: I hear what you're saying: He probably should be covered in blood, right? I have to admit that I am pretty hesitant about going overboard with the Clear Red, though, since it's so easy to have it look terrible in the end. Plus in this case, the model uses the exact same colour on his back, so I didn't want to cause any additional confusion. Come to think of it, my entire World Eaters force is rather restrained when it comes to gore effects...

I wasn't talking about blood only ( even it that could add something IMHO), but real dirt.
If they are like beasts they shouldn't have a shower and smell nice

Hey Kraut! Long time no real see I really like these guys! A very nice way of filling out an army choice without having to use the actual spawn miniatures. The paintjob I think is pretty nice, maybe a bit flat at places, but overall it's a good effect. I don't think they need to be plastered in dirt or blood either; it's your discretion whether you want to or not, and seeing as the rest of your army are quite up to date with keeping themselves clean, surely these monsters being caked in dried gore would look a bit out of place? What d'you think?

Just to be clear: I'm not saing that You should do It because I say It.
That's just as I envision them after the fluff.
They look awesome as I said already and the light coloured skin is perfect with the deep red armor

Again, thanks a lot, guys!

@ SelvaggioSaky: You raise an interesting point: Of course, by rights they should be dirty enough, caked in the grime of the battlefield as well as in the dried blood of their victims.

However, silly as that may seem, I have so far been going for a rather "clean" look for my World Eaters: There may be the odd blood effect here and there, sure, but all in all they look like a rather cleanly bunch, though. While this may be far from realistic, it supports the strong contrast in their general colour scheme: Red armour, bronze armour trim, silver weapons and grey, dead-looking skin (and some turquoise daemon weapons and/or light blue plasma effects) -- that's it. All in all, I decided to use this rather stylised recipe to go for contrast over realism (now, there's also the fact thet the warriors of Khorne's Eternal Hunt try hard to keep functioning as an organised force, so they might actually keep their gear in better order as well, but it was really an aesthetic choice, first and foremost).

The Forsaken are interesting in this, because they pretty much use an "inverted" recipe: Where the normal legionaries are mainly red, with very little bare skin on display, the Forsaken are all bare skin, with very little red armour added for contrast. To be honest, I might even prefer another skin colour for creatures that mainly consist of bare skin, but it's important to use the same colour on all of the World Eaters, so it's immediately obvious that these are devolved World Eaters.

So yeah, that's the rationale behind this particular choice. Less realism, more contrast, I guess

Now (because the fluff and your explanation are spot on) I'll create my own bit of fluff on the Forsaken...

The new members of the Hunt have the task to wash the Forsaken after every blod battle.
It's a task that only the ones that truly can become part of the Hunt can accomplysh ( just joking, love your work eheheh)

^ lol

I started messing around with some bitz during an idle hour yesterday, so I have some WIPs to show you. There's been a box of the old Beastmen Gors and Ungors (less detail than the revised sculpts, but the box will give you 12 Gors and 8 Ungors, so it's still quite a bit of bang for the buck) at my FLGS for ages, and I always planned on picking it up one of these days. I finally caved in this week, adding a huge pile of Beastmen bitz to my already sizeable cupboard of shame

Anyway, since the box still comes from a time were you'd get much more stuff than you strictly need to build the models, I played around a bit. The Gors will obviously end up as cultists/traitor soldiers, to be used either for my World Eaters or Traitor Guard. I did an early mockup for a first model:







Nothing earth-shatteringly cool so far, although I am rather happy I may finally have found a use for the weapon arms from those horrible Goliath plastic models I picked up during an ebay auction a while back: They are a perfect fit for the Gor bodies!

I also took a shine to the brutal looking beastman swords and started to think about using some on a World Eaters model. Now some of you may remember the barechested World Eaters gladiator I posted a while back:



So I decided to build a little playfellow for him:







I am rather pleased with this guy atm, to be honest

C&C always welcome!

Looks cool! I think he'd benefit from a particularly impressive back banner or trophy rack to give him a bit more presence and bulk.

The Gor and the last guy are incredible - the beastman weapons go really well with the marine parts.

Good job amigo.

My only criticism of the Forsaken is that the rope scar doesn't seem as "scar-like" as it could. I suppose it's an old scar, but maybe you should do something to make it look a bit different from the rest of the flesh, otherwise it looks more like a weird sculpting error or, worse, it become unnoticeably. Maybe a slight wash of very diluted pink would help? Otherwise, everything is looking great!

Cheers, guys!

@ Squigsquasher: Hmm, I don't think I'll be adding a back banner to the model, seeing how these gladiators are rather about stripping down the model's silhouette, rather than building it up. To be honest, I am generally reluctant to use back banners on my World Eaters, since they always seem so impractical for a band of raving lunatics, so I may be biased in this respect

@ Crystal Geyser: Ah, well, the problem is just that I couldn't sculpt my way out of a wet cardboard box, so the best I'll ever get out of GS is "not completely terrible" You're also quite right: Under normal circumstances, I'd highlight the scars with a slightly different colour. Pink would be a good idea. In this case, however, I really don't want to add any more colours to the mix, since I want the palette to be really limited on these guys. It's a bit of a tricky position, admittedly

Anyway, today I can finally show you the third Forsaken and the squad as a whole.

As you may remember from the WIP pictures posted a while ago, he third model in the squad has a more crouched position, almost like a huge ape. Here’s the conversion before undercoating:





Once again, new shoulder muscles, a Triumph Rope and some Butcher’s Nails were added. Since I was running out of suitable Crypt Horror parts at this point, the model received a Vargheist’s hirsute back, giving it an even more beastly, feral look. I also added a crude weapon fist from the WFB Ogre bulls, since I thought the weapon was a nice callback to the World Eaters’ gladiatorial traditions.

Seeing how the model had such an apelike, crouched position, I thought it would be interesting to pose it above the remains of its latest opponent/meal, so I built and painted a fitting base:



The basic construction uses the usual mix of cork, modelling sand and small pieces of slate. Between the rock outcrops where I eventually wanted to place the model, I added some bones to represent the remains of whatever unlucky creature(s) last had a run in with the Forsaken. A generous helping of Tamiya Clear Red was added to communicate the fact that this meeting had not taken place on amicable terms…

And here’s the finished model that went on top of the base:













This guy’s pose took ages to get right, and even then, it remained the least exciting among the members of the squad. But seeing the model now, I feel rather pleased with the result: The Forsaken looks like it’s crouched atop a rock after its latest fight/meal, turning around to face its next foe.

Even though I am usually rather hesitant when it comes to adding blood effects – since it’s very easy to go over the top with the blood – in this case, I even smeared some Clear Red on the lower half of the Forsaken’s face: Maybe this guy has indeed recently eaten (*shudder*)…



And with that, my initial squad of three chaos spawn was finished! I am really happy that I managed to come up with a couple of conversions that fit the overall look and feel of my army. Plus these guys are far less “creepy crawly” than the usual chaos spawn models. Instead of ending up as quivering mountains of flesh, the Forsaken have evolved into the perfect hunters, as befits their master Khorne…



I also like the fact that I have managed to come up with some fairly unique models. While the Vargheist kit is not all that flexible (and the Crypt Horrors look fairly bare bones out of the box), it offers a fantastic base for conversions, if you’re willing to experiment. It’s strange that we don’t see more conversions involving these guys…

So, what do you think about the models? C&C always welcome!

Those three look perfect - from fluff, to concept, to conversion, to painting I can't add anything that I would have done differently

^^ This! I've been away from Dakka practically as long as it took you to complete all three of those. You had just started before I took my hiatus. They look great, Kraut!

Thanks a lot, guys! Glad you like the models! And welcome back, Moltar

Glad to be back! Actually plan to start up a small CSM army here real soon. Knew coming back would give me lots of motivation.

The Spawn squad is looking epic! And your new Gladiator looks very intimidating, wouldn't want to meet him on the battlefield.
Really liking your cultist/traitor guard mock up.

Hey guys, I urgently need some feedback regarding my current conversion project. I am not perfectly sure about how best to proceed, so I thought asking the whole of Dakka for some ideas and feedback might be helpful So what is this about?

Everything started when I discovered Chris' absolutely fantastic kitbashed Decimator earlier this week. When I saw that thing, I realised I'd have to try something similar.

Anyway, long story short, I picked up a Dreadknight right away and got to work: While I wanted to stick to Chris' general approach, I also made some slightly different choices. However, one problem is that I lack some of the parts that make his Decimator as cool as it is, so I'll probably need to improvise. That's where you come in

Here's where the model stands right now:



The legs and arms have been more or less completed (although I may yet add some bits and bobs here and there). Now I've started on the torso, but I'm currently messing around with several ideas and builds and would like to hear your thoughts on them. So here goes:





Since I didn't have that awesome Warsphinx skull head, I used a skull from one of the 40k diceholders in this case. Not sure what to make of it, though...

Then there's another mockup, using a juggernaut head. I am slightly reluctant to move into this direction, though, since I already used a jugger head on one of my dreadnoughts and don't really want to duplicate the effect.



And, of course, there's that head I wanted to use on another dreadnought ages ago, but it proved to be too big. Not so now:



I think this is a rather interesting choice, to tell you the truth. The mechanical nature of it and the cyclopean eyeslit really have a pretty brutal look going on.








So let's hear what you think! Any and all ideas and remarks are very welcome!

The last head looks the best. Go for it.

I vote for the last head too, but with horns/spikes if possible.
try a mockup with those and see

Hey kraut!
I have had an idea like this myself, so I hope I can help. you could use a defiler face plate as a head and greenstuff in a neck, or use stut or piston bits with wire or guitar string to create a techy looking neck (or a mix of both for a flesh tech approach)

the cyclopean head looks good, if you use it you could even add on some 'bunny ears' to tie-in with your other world eaters.

there is also the demon prince head, or even the minotaur head if you have some.

whatever you use, it will probably look epic
looking forward to seeing the completed piece!!!!

Have to say I like the Jugger head but see what you mean about the repeat. I'd go with number 3 as well.

Number 3 with spikes and bunny ears if you ask me.

Thanks for the validation, guys! I think I needed that for getting this thing finished Put some more work in yesterday evening and added some more details. Here's the model right now:





As you can see, the chest plate received some additional decoration to hide the hole in it. I also moved those circular trophy racks slightly to the sides.

Regarding the head, it was permanently attached and I used some cabling and part of a lasher tendril to build a neck/spine construction for it and blend it into the body a bit better:



A defiler armour plate is used as some kind of cowl over the models shoulders atm, though this may need more work.

I think I am now at a point where I can call the basic construction finished. I'll add more bitz to the model (trophies, icons of chaos) and some more cabling and techy bitz to the torso around the head.

The head itself will likely receive a bit or two as well, to better tie it into the 40k scale. For once, though, I'll probably pass on the bunny ears: I think the head has a nice and blunt silhouette as it is, and I wouldn't want to lose that. Maybe some tusks, though. Hmmm...

Again, thanks for the feedback! That has been a huge help!



As always, C&C are very welcome!

I like the head you picked and i think tusks would make an interesting adition to it, that said i think some gs or something on it would also help a lot as it is quite plain as is. Also, is this the stance your going to have it in leg wise, since it looks fairly static for a big dready type thing.
just some thoughts, overall looks good though

The pose is great - you've done an excellent job on avoiding the static "two legs splayed, weapons up" pose that the dreadkight seems to get stuck in often. WHat you've got there looks very cruel and vindictive, like the decimator is sizing up his prey before blasting them into smithereens with his contempt.

I like everything except that head. It seems to be too large, making his right arm look too thin in comparison.

Why not use Defiler Head C?

That thing looks totally boss! Quite menacing, indeed!

Cheers, guys! I completed some more detail work on the model and took some better photos. Some hobbyists over at the German forums pointed out that the head wasn't detailed enough compared to the rest of the model, and I started to address that concern, using a couple of additional bitz to better blend it in. Apart from that, I guess all I'll be adding to the model are some skulls, chains and spiky bitz.

@ bigfish: Ah, yes, the pose: I would have preferred something a little more dynamic, to be honest, but had already assembled the legs before I realised they would have needed some serious cutting. Maybe it's for the best, though, since it would have been easy to ruin a 40 Euros kit with just one over-enthusiastic cut...

@ Crystal Geyer: Well, as I stated above, the pose was mainly an accident/oversight, but since I really like your explanation, and it makes me sound much cooler, sure, let's go with that!

@ Medium of Death: All my Defiler facemasks were either used on different models or traded away, unfortunately. That said, I am really rather happy with the head now. And let's not get into proportions, because then I would have to address the fact that the torso is quite a bit too short (not my doing, but GW's) and the arms are too long. It's a daemon engine, though, so let's cut it some slack

@ Moltar: Cheers, mate!

Anyway, here are the new pictures:











And a closer look at the detail work on the head:



Let me know what you think!

Wow thats a beast and half although it could do with a set of boxing gloves I was looking at it this for ages and trying to work out why the head looked familiar

The extra tubing plus the khorne brass icon have sold it to me. Disregard my previous comments.

Looks great, I to thought the head was a bit off but now with the extra bits and if i'm right you've lowered the head slightly and bulked up the shoulders and back. I cant wait to see him geared up and ready for war!

Lovely conversion and painting work Eternal Hunt. Gorgeous. Wish I'd come across this thread ages ago.

That's a big improvement, awesome use of cables and bits!

Really good job at blending the head in. Great to see the pace after confirmation has set in as well.

I like it, but the legs are to static in my opinion. However that is just a problem with the base kit.

Thanks a lot, guys! To tell you the truth, the model really came together in a bit of a building spree, and I can only marvel at the fact that it's almost completely built now -- surely, that couldn't have been me?

The one big problem was which head to use, and the positive feedback over here really helped me feeling confident in my choice! At first, I thought it was a bit of a shame that I didn't have the means to duplicate Chris' brilliant idea with the warsphinx head, but now I am really rather happy with my own approach. After all, I don't want my model to be just a perfect recreation of somebody else's -- where's the fun in that?

Anyway, I'll probably start painting this guy as soon as I can get my hands on a new can of Chaos Black. I suspect/hope that painting the model will be slightly similar to painting a bigger dreadnought. If I happen to be right, it should be a blast to paint!

@ lone dirty dog: Haha, cheers for spotting the head's origins, mate! I am actually tempted to call the model "Cobra pattern warwalker", or something to that effect, as a nod towards the bitz source

I cant believe no one else had mentioned it I went through 4 pages back to make sure that I had not missed a quote.

Well nice if not risky choice but well pulled of and very fitting now what can you do with this guy

Loving the additions mate, your work is really along, can't wait to see this Decimator painted. The legs are a PITA to work with, I found the same issue with my Lasher Fiend model.

Sweet Decimator Kraut.
The blood on the third forsakens mouth looks great.

Cheers, guys!

@ lone dirty dog: Phew, mate, that's a tough nut to crack. The crocodile might make a nice Loxatl, I guess?

@ Biohazard: Yeah, there's a teeny tiny window of opportunity for doing something more interesting with the legs, and then it closes before you even realise it. Nuts!

@ Igandris: Cheers, mate! You know, I actually am rather pleased with those blood effects


And another small update today: I managed to paint the new World Eaters gladiator I posted a while ago:









As you can see, I stuck to my regular recipe fairly closely, save for one important difference: A red, warpaint-like tattoo was added to the gladiator’s forehead, harking back to Angron’s own facial markings:



A brilliant idea that was “borrowed” from fellow World Eater Szczur22′s thread over on ToS . I think I’ll add variations of this to all the coming models in the squad.

Here are the two gladiators together:



And here they are, together with the Forsaken I completed earlier. I took this photo for no other reason than the fact that those guys look great together



It’s fun little projects like these that will keep you interested in an army, even if you haven’t got the time (or motivation) to finish a tank or a whole squad. Sure, this guy didn’t bring me much closer to finishing the next 500 (or even 50) points for my army, but he offered me the opportunity to add some character to the force and to explore the background lore of my chosen legion — and as far as worthy hobby endeavours go, that has always been good enough for me! I also think there may be more models where those two came from — maybe each of them wielding a different set of gladiatorial weapons? And some of those models will also have to be quite dynamic, come to think of it…

Anyway, let me know what you think!

Great addition and I totally agree on the little things that make an army unique and interesting (like my koptakanz, built for the same reason )

If You do a squad of gladiators with a few dynamic poses it will be moar awesome, if possible

Cool posing on the gladiator looks evil and aggressive perfectly fitting, the tattoo adds to the character as well nice addition.

I am sure you can crack that nut good cool on the crock.

Cheers, guys!

@ SelvaggioSaky: Having built two of these already, an entire squad (albeit a small one) is pretty much a given at this point -- I am already collecting bitz, as a matter of fact I'd love each of the coming models to have an individual set of gladiatorial weapons. More on this as it develops.

Nice work as always, the tattoo really adds to the character. For the gladiatorial weapons will you be taking any cues from the Heresy range?

Those Gladiators look brutal, I like the one with the Angron-esque warpaint the most.

Do you count them as anything? I know you've said that you're more interested in creating stuff that looks awesome rather than tying it to the rules directly, but i'm a curious beast.

 KrautScientist wrote:
Cheers, guys!

@ SelvaggioSaky: Having built two of these already, an entire squad (albeit a small one) is pretty much a given at this point -- I am already collecting bitz, as a matter of fact I'd love each of the coming models to have an individual set of gladiatorial weapons. More on this as it develops.

Waiting to be amazed again mate

@ Dreadclaw69: Possibly so. As a matter of fact, I kitbashed a squad of berzerkers long before the FW Rampager models were released, and they still ended up looking pretty similar, weapons and all. So for the gladiators, expect a mix of classical gladiator weaponry and HH style weapons, I guess. With the odd chain-glaive thrown in for flavour

@ Medium of Death: Even though it may not be the most important consideration, I do of course think about a possible use for the models I build. In this case, the models are probably quite versatile: They could be berzerkers (DUH! ), CC focused Chosen or possibly champions for different squads. The one restriction is that they shouldn't be used to represent a shooty unit, I guess...


Anyway, who knows: I may even kitbash some new gladiator models during the weekend. Keep your fingers crossed

In the meantime, to celebrate the fact that my blog, Eternal Hunt managed to attract 100,000 views, I made some new photos of the painted part of my army. Take a look:



Even though I may have been rather lazy since showing you the last family portrait some time ago, the army still fills me with pride (click on the following picture for a huge, zoomable version!):



I only really painted some 15 new models since the last set of photos was taken, but at least some of them were pretty huge. The army also ends up looking rather imposing lined up like that, if I do say so myself!



The biggest addition to the army since we last saw it was of course the Hellrazor, my converted Heldrake:



But I also managed to paint some more lords (a lasting addiction of mine) and fellows in terminator armour. These three gentlemen can already make up a small Termicide unit, if push comes to shove:



And there’s an equally large collection of Chaos Lords in power armour, of course. Among them my converted Dark Apostle (shown on the left):



Then there’s a small collection of champions and models I painted just for fun (among them the starts of a dedicated gladiator squad). While several of those concepts may be spun off into an own squad, all of these “stragglers” together can almost make up another berzerker squad:



And finally, there’s the beginnings of Joras Turnpelt’s small detachment of traitorous Space Wolves, to be used as regular CSM, if the battle plan so requires:



As always, thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!