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 ExNoctemNacimur wrote:

 KrautScientist wrote:
Thanks a lot, guys!

It's you who we should be thanking for giving us these awesome minis, or GW since I want to do some World Eaters after reading your blog!

Aw shucks, that's awfully sweet of you

Alright, today I want to show you something that I am really proud of. Let's start with a quote though:

“You fools! Your gods have blinded you with visions of glory and power, of a golden future that awaits you in their service. But our lord has shown us more than you could ever imagine. There are no empires awaiting you. In the endless cold between the stars, there is only the hunter and his prey. And those who were once the former and are now the latter. All that remains is the hunt, for only the hunt is eternal.”

attributed to Lord Captain Lorimar of the World Eaters’ 4th assault company


There are some hobby projects that we keep putting off. Sometimes it’s because the project in question doesn’t seem all that interesting to us (I am looking at you, unpainted Rhinos), sometimes it’s because we consider something to be either completely out of our league or just too much work to even bother (my WFB Ork army would be a sterling example). But sometimes, we put off a certain conversion or paintjob because we fear we cannot do justice to the idea we have of the character or to a particularly brilliant sculpt. And sometimes we just have to buckle up and face those demons (not daemons, mind you). That’s what this update is about.

So what demon are we talking about here? If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may have gathered that I like my wargaming with a narrative bend: I enjoy writing background chronicling my litlle plastic men’s exploits (don’t judge me). I like thinking of them as characters instead of mere playing pieces (not as real people, though, that way madness lies… ). Towards this end, I have been cooking up a relatively expansive background for my army of World Eaters and their leader, one Lord Captain Lorimar.

But for all the characters I have invented and for all the conversions and kitbashes, I never quite got around to actually building a model for Lorimar that felt up to my own expectations: He was just too important in my fluff, and I feared I couldn’t do him justice — yet.

As a matter of fact, I haven’t even written all that much background for Lorimar yet, but I have a rather clear idea of him as a character. Here’s a short sketch I did a while ago:

The battle was over. The red haze of anger had dispersed, once again leaving nothing but a dull emptiness.
Lorimar gazed across the barren wasteland that had been the stage for the last fight. He felt that a very similar wasteland lay hidden within himself.
Andrakhas was dead. Lorimar himself had slain the warlock and bagged the prey. He could still see Andrakhas’ body in the distance, burning in a multi-coloured fire.

Lorimar and his warriors had advanced through the Thousand Sons’ hail of fire. The Rubric Marines’ firepower had been superior, but in the end, it had not been able to save them from the wrath of Khorne’s servants. Lorimar gazed at the helmet he was holding in his massive, armoured gauntlet. Whatever may have been left inside the suits of armour had escaped with a dry rustling when Andrakhas died. Lorimar stared into the empty eyesockets as if they might provide an answer. Ghostly automata, slaves, damned to an eternal cycle of war and death. Was there a reason for this? He did not know. Neither did he know who had been the winner of today’s battle after all. The prey had been run down. That was all that mattered.

One last moment, then Lorimar closed his armoured fist and ground the helmet to a fine powder, trickling through his fingers. “All is dust”, Lorimar growled, “all is dust indeed.”


Lorimar also features in this piece of background I wrote as part of our ongoing campaign.

In my mind, he is far more complex as a character than you would expect of your typical World Eaters officer: He wanted to find a measure of identity to raise the morale of his men and steel them against the grueling battles of the Great Crusade, yet his work led to their undoing and their fall to chaos. Later, when the legion tore itself apart, it took all the strength he had to keep at least his company together as a fighting force. Ever since, Lorimar has been fighting a losing battle, trying to keep his company from falling to the madness that consumed the rest of the legion. He is utterly disillusioned by the path that lies ahead of them, but he also feels that the 4th assault company’s martial honour is the last thing that gives them purpose. So he retains a certain nobility as well as a terrible kind of dignity.
Make no mistake, though: Lorimar is definitely not a good guy! He’s a remorseless killer and, at least occasionally, a frenzied madman. But he has his doubts, his regrets and his honour, and those make him more than just an angry guy in red armour – or at least that’s what I would like to believe.

Sounds rather complex, doesn’t it? Well, let me assure you that building a suitable model for Lorimar was something that took me several attempts. Let me chronicle some of those attempts for your entertainment:

The first model I ever used to represent Lorimar was this old metal Chaos Lord. And while the model still holds up reasonably well compared to some of the other old chaos models, it was also fairly clear to me that I couldn’t really use his as Lorimar any more after getting back into the hobby: He simply wasn’t impressive enough.

So I had to get creative. My first attempt at building Lorimar dates back to early 2011, a relatively short while after I had gotten back into the hobby:



As you can see, I was already very fond of the Chaos Terminator Lord back then
Actually, this was the first of those I ever built! But while I am still reasonably pleased with the model, it simply wasn’t Lorimar. So when I finally get around to painting this guy, he’ll end up as one of the 4th assault company’s officers, but not as its master…

My second attempt at building a model for Lorimar was a little more involved: Even though I used the same kit as a base for the conversion, I added all kinds of personal touches and did more actual conversion work. The result looked like this:



Quite a nice model, if I do say so myself, in fact one of my favourites. But somehow it still wasn’t right. It didn’t feel like Lorimar, for some reason. So the model was renamed to Huntmaster Isgarad and now serves the 4th assault company in that capacity.

I then started to use the (unpainted) FW model Lord Zhufor to represent Lorimar on the table. Unpainted because I was actually too afraid to mess up all that fantastic detail with my clumsy attempts at painting. But that didn’t feel right either: Even though Zhufor is simply a fantastic model (maybe my favourite model ever, and definitely the best World Eater ever released), it didn’t sit right with me that I should use an unconverted, “stock” model in an army where virtually every model was customised. There was no way around it: A dedicated model for Lorimar would have to be converted one of these days.

And then, by a strange twist of fate, Ron (of FTW fame) held a raffle in late July, where the prize was to have a custom model built and painted by him. This was my way out of this whole mess — I was sure of it! Incidentally, the chaos lord in the header picture Ron chose for that very post had a lot of what I considered Lorimar to look like. So I sat back and waited luck to decide in my favour — I was reasonably sure that my name would be drawn from the hat.

It wasn’t of course. Everyone who knows the first thing about probabilities could have told me. But in this (very likely) outcome, I witnessed the hand of fate: Fate didn’t want me to take the easy way out. If I wanted to have a fitting model for Lorimar, I would have to build and paint it myself (I do of course realise that fate had nothing to do with it, but bear with me for the sake of narrative thunder).

So over the coming months, I slowly gathered inspirational artwork and bits for this project and also worked on building up my courage. Until, one evening in early December, I just sat down after getting home from work and built my version of Lorimar.



Here’s a piece of artwork that tremendously inspired me: Although the Chaos Lord in the artwork above looks a little too twisted to fit my idea of Lorimar, the pose and overall look are fantastic. So I wanted to build a model that took all that was cool from this model, but also added some nobility and martial pride.

Here’s what I came up with: My WIP version of Lord Captain Lorimar, Master of the Hunt:









As you can see, my beloved Termie Lord kit is once again at the heart of this conversion. But I added quite a few additional bits and bobs to make Lorimar look more impressive, almost regal even: The Khornate bunny ears and pauldrons came from the brand new WFB Skullcrusher kit (which is chock full of fantastic bits for outfitting your World Eaters). The sword and cape are from the WFB Chaos Lord on Manticore, and by sheer coincidence, both have small icons of chaos that closely resemble the World Eaters’ legion badge. The vicious looking axe was painstakingly spliced together from two WFB Chaos Knight axes. And of course I added all kinds of skulls and chains — with any World Eaters model, you can never have enough of those!

Maybe the most important part of the model is the head, though: I didn’t want the face to be too monstrous, and I also wanted it to look fairly unique. The chaos priest’s head from the new Warshrine kit was a perfect fit, and thanks to Biohazard’s continued generosity in donating bitz to my cause, I was able to get the perfect head for my chaos lord. Yay!



And the unthinkable happened: When I held the completed model up to the light, I was finally happy: This was Lorimar, pretty much as I had imagined him! Mission accomplished!

The work doesn’t end there, of course: I’ll still have to build a suitably impressive base (which will probably end up looking reasonably similar to the artwork above, only minus the metric ton of dead Arbites judges). And the whole package will then have to be painted – to the best of my ability, no less!

But the fact that I have finally managed to build a character that I have been envisioning for so long proves to be a great motivational factor, so expect more on this particular model pretty soon.

In closing, I sincerely hope that my rambling hasn’t yet bored you to tears. If you have any C&C on my Lorimar model, let me know!

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



“Tell the galaxy about us what you must. But tell them this also: We still have our honour!”

Lord Captain Lorimar, of the World Eaters’ 4th assault company

Thanks a lot for the many comments, guys! I really appreciate it!

Gerner wrote: I also like the cape, but on the pictures it looks a bit weird placed, I would maybe cut the middle long piece of so it was equally long everywhere.

I've thought the exact same thing, but I have to admit I am a little scared of ruining the bit if I start cutting. Maybe I'll need to work up some more courage for this

Gerner wrote:To be honest I'm not that fond on the weapons, don't take me wrong the weapons are amazing - but they are so huge, even compared to his terminator size and he wields two of them. It becomes slightly cartoonish, and looks unbalanced. Instead I think you should have gone with one of them and an empty hand - less is more.

If there was one thing I would change, it would be the axe: Even though it was such an enormous amount of work to get right, it does look a bit clunkier than I had imagined. Still, I am not so unhappy as to instantly rip it off. Hmmm...

Freytag93 wrote:I have to agree with Gerner on this. I love this model, but the weapons are too over the top. I would get rid of the sword and go for a 2 handed mace look.
Otherwise, this is a fantastic model. It is for sure better than I could create.

See my comment above for the axe. The sword is definitely staying, though: I love the almost-WE-legion badge on the crossguard, and I'll probably be playing it as the "Murder Sword" from the new codex: It may not be the most competitive weapon in the book, but the rules read like it was made with my army in mind

Medium of Death wrote:The only thing I don't like about it is the Cadian head. Looks a bit too clean for me.

Mate, that's not a Cadian head: It came from the new WFB warshrine priest...although there are some similarities. That said, I wanted a cleaner, less twisted look for the face.

bigfish wrote: (...)his face looks good clean but maybe a single scar? he has been in conflict for an incredibly long time and i just think it would add to the whole "honourable but still a monster" theme.

Definitely some food for thought there, bigfish! Although I am rather scarred of messing up the head (it'll be rather hard finding a replacement). Maybe it's something that could be achieved with multiple layers of liquid GS?

Anyway, thanks for the feedback, gents! It's really helpful, even in those cases where I stubbornly refuse to follow your suggestions!

 Biohazard wrote:
I have the Grey Knight hand holding the Bloodletter head if you fancy trying that on Lorimar? The sword looks awesome to me so I would def keep that.

Hmm, while I feel a WE holding a severed Bloodletter hand would maybe seem a little strange, there is also the hand holding a severed Daemonette head, and I have that in my bitzbox. So thanks for giving me the idea, buddy!

Still, I am hesitant to cut off the axe: I really like the concept of fighting with an axe and a sword for Lorimar. I guess I'll either change the axe to look different or just keep it. Like I said, it doesn't really bother me enough to get rid of it...yet.

Again, thanks a lot guys!

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! While I myself was definitely not as productive from a hobby perspective as I would have liked, I did have the time to do some more conversion work which I'll be showing off in some more detail shortly. But first things first: I worked on Lorimar some more.

While I am still in love with the notion of him fighting with a sword and axe, and while I like the axe I built for him well enough on its own, it continued to be the one thing that bothered me about the model: It just didn't look like a weapon combination that could be comfortably wielded. So the axe head I painstakingly converted went back into the bitzbox (for some future project, of course ), and I replaced it with something a bit less OTT. Oh, and I also built a base for him. Take a look:



Just a quick photo for now, and the base still needs a coupl of finishing touches. The weapon setup seems less lopsided now, though, doesn't it?

Let me know what you think!

Cheers, mate!

I actually combined two sets of pauldrons: One is from the WFB Knights of Chaos, and I added another pair from the WFB Skullcrushers on top to bulk the model out a little. I also wanted the armour to look like it could have "evolved" out of the original Pre-Heresy one Lorimar might have worn during the Great Crusade.

Thanks, guys! Glad you like the updated model! I'll be posting a couple of better pictures soon, and after that, I guess I'll have to work up the courage to actually paint him

In the meantime, though, let's take a look at something different: Even though I have been phenomenally lazy for the last two weeks, I still managed to sit down after Christmas to finish a couple of models I had been working on for ages. I also managed to get some more work done on Lord Captain Lorimar, although that will warrant a post of its own.

Today, let’s look at some more chaos models in Terminator armour: I realise you might be getting tired of these, but they are just so much fun to build

First up, a Chaos Lord in Terminator armour wielding a pair of lightning claws: This guy is the beginning of a small, dedicated LC unit:







As you can see, the Chaos Termie Lord kit once again formed the base for the conversion (although the torso front came from the regular Chaos Terminators). I added a pair of SW Lightning claws, since I liked the extra sharp look of the claws. The head and right shoulderpad came from the FW World Eaters Terminators, while the Khornate bunny ears were cut off a WFB Finecast champion of Khorne. It seems like a very easy kitbash, but it took me ages to get the pose on this guy right.

The second model I managed to complete has already appeared in some of my fluff: It’s Brother Hokar, Master of the Guard. Here’s a brief decription from a piece of background I wrote:

“(…)Khoron laughed. The sound recalled sheets of metal grinding against each other. A strange sound for a Dreadnought. Khoron took a step forward and Bardolf could see fresh damage on his armoured form. “Oh, I have been here for a while. As a matter of fact, I was quite honoured to accompany our brother Charun on his latest …sortie.”

“And quite a sortie it was”, came a new voice. Bardolf turned around to face the new arrival. It belonged to Hokar, Lorimar’s Master of the Guard. His Terminator armour was exquisitely crafted, forming a cowl in the shape of a snarling skull that cast a shadow over his pale features. His expression was utterly inscrutable. Nothing new there.

“I salute you, hunter”, Bardolf addressed him, “I thought you were campaigning in the Diammar sector.”

Hokar’s eyes were like shards of volcanic glass. “Indeed I was. But your inability to keep our brother Charun in check managed to end my hunt somewhat…prematurely. Or did you think our Lord Lorimar brought the majority of the company here for a spot of hiking?”

To be fair, I had already begun building the model when I wrote this. But in case you wondered what Hokar looked like, here he is:





The idea of using the great Chaos Knight pauldrons as a sort of cowl was lifted from Lamby’s excellent “Legion of Thorns” thread. I think it really adds character to a Terminator! I also had the idea of arming him in a rather unconventional way by giving him a spear and shield. I wanted this to reflect the World Eaters’ gladiatorial traditions: I imagine that gladiators in the grimdark of the far future would be trained to use different weapon configurations (pretty much like the gladiators in ancient Rome), so I thought it would be interesting to explore different loadouts for no other reason than to give some additional character to the individual models. I can imagine a bodyguard for Lorimar where every member is wielding a highly individual combination of weapons — wouldn’t that be cool?

Anyway, as you can see, the model’s legs came from a SW Terminator. I felt the trophy pelt was a nice callback to the 4th assault company’s role as a hunting party. I used some bits from the Skullcrusher kit to make the armour on the legs look slightly more chaotic.



Hokar also uses a shield from the Skullcrusher kit. Many people are skeptical of shields on Khorne models, but I felt that, as Master of the Guard, Hokar should really be equipped for defense as well as offense. Plus everyone who has seen the fantastically corny Spartacus series knows shields can be used in fairly creative ways…

So yeah, those are my latest projects. C&C always welcome!

Thanks for looking and stay tuned for more!

Cheers, mate! The head is an old tactical sergeant head from the regular Space Marine kit.

Phew, tough question... Even though it's possible to arm models with power spears in 6th edition, once I use a model on the tabletop I usually tend to fall back on a tried and true formula (twin LC, usually). What is important o understand is that I usually don't even think about equipment while building a model: I always go with the option that looks cool and feels "right" for the character at hand. I am fortunate to be playing in a rather laifback group, so no one will raise an eyebrow if the model is wielding a sword, yet I play it as if it were armed with twin LC, for example. The most important thing is to tell people in advance what a model is equipped with and what it can do. Oh, and it goes without saying that the model's weapons cannot magically change midway through a game

But yeah, I usually go with what looks cool and only think of the actual equipment later.

Thanks, guys! For the sake of completeness, here are some better photos of the current status of my model for Lord Captain Lorimar:

First up, the base:











As you can see, the rock from the Chaos Lord kit was used as a centrepiece for the base. The model had been built with this particular rock in mind as well, so it made a lot of sense to use it. The bit was combined with quite a bit of cork in order to make it look a little less generic. I used a couple of skulls on stakes, but I didn’t go overboard with it: After all, the model has enough skulls as it is
I also added a couple of spears, jutting out of the ground at different angles. Those came from the WFB Marauder Horsemen. I used the he same kind of spears when building my custom objective markers, leading to a nice bit of visual consistency across the army.

Although the base still needs some additional cork chaff and small pieces of slate to better blend in the plastic rock with the rest of the base and to add some texture, the overall build is complete.


And here's the model again, complete with new axe:









The new axe head came from one of the Dark Vengeance Chosen, btw. Even though it doesn’t look as unique as the original axe, I still think it strikes a far better balance: Lorimar looks like he could actually fight wielding both weapons at the same time, which had been the original plan for the model.

Some smaller additions to the base notwithstanding, this is basically the finished model ready for painting. So when you next hear about Lorimar, expect the model to have some paint on it

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

Thanks, guys!

I really want to see him painted as well, I only hope I'll be able to work up the courage and motivation to get started soon!

In other news, ever since seeing the Hobbit shortly after Christmas, I can't stop thinking about how to add a model inspired by Azog to my World Eaters. Strange, I know...

 ghosty wrote:
You have to admit, that guy is essentially the posterboy of the bad guys in Hobbit. He isn't even deformed or ugly! Gothmog or Lurtz would be ashamed to call him brother.

I think the fact he's not nearly as deformed as all the other Orcs actually makes him seem even more sinister. Also makes his replacement arm look all the more horrible

As for how to build such a model: Having him ride a Juggernaut would be one obvious option (pretty easy to do as well, since I got hold of the Skullcrusher kit before Christmas). The other option would be to build him as a model on foot, perhaps using a Chaos Termie Lord's legs and adding a fitting torso -- but I can't seem to come up with an upper body that would work scale-wise. He wouldn't look at all like an actual Orc, of course: I just like the juxtaposition of armoured legs and a completely (or mostly) bare upper body. The pale skin should also look great against the red and bronze armour. Anyway, this is just a fun plan for the moment. If anyone's got a suggestion about it, though, I'd be glad to hear it

I am considering something similar to this guy I posted some time ago:



Only bigger (Terminator-sized) and badder, and with even less armour on his upper body. It'll be fairly difficult finding a torso that works, though...

Thanks for the suggestions, guys!

@ Biohazard: I fear the old DP torso might be a) too big for what I have in mind and b) looking a bit to ...unwholesome. I'd prefer a more chiseled look.

@ Chaos Emperor: The savage Orc's muscles look a bit too comic-book like for my taste, although maybe the plastic Savage Orc Waaghboss that's available as a single model might work? That introduces a whole new problem though: What head to use? A regular Marine head would probably be to small. Curses!

Oh, and I believe they didn't do an Azog mini (yet) because New Line absolutely wanted the look of Azog to be kept secret until the film's release: It looks like they did pull all kinds of strings to prevent an image of Azog to appear on the Internet prior to the release. Releasing a model for him for the tabletop game would have meant spoiling his look, so they instead released his son who'll only appear in the second movie at best -- yeah, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you're not into economics

@ Taarnak: You may really be on to something with those Barbarians, mate! Come to think of it, I saw a really nice Angron conversion some time ago that also used a Barbarian as a base model. It looks a lot like what I have in mind for my "version of Azog". Take a look:

http://www.coolminiornot.com/316633?browseid=4062387

Anyway, thanks again for the suggestions, guys! I'll think about it for a while longer and then decide. In the meantime, I am working on a pretty huge model anyway, so expect some news pretty soon...

Thanks a lot, guys! I really appreciate it!

@ rodgers37: Cheers, mate! As for the bitz, well, what can I say? They tend to accumulate rather quickly, once you truly get going with the kitbashing. Virtually lacking any form of impulse control when buying new stuff doesn't help either... On the other hand, I consider myself to be quite a thrifty user of bitz, using some stuff that other people would discard outright. So yeah...

In any case, be sure to shoot me a link once you start the project you refer to!

@ DRommel: Hey buddy, great to hear from you again

As for the "Azog character", after giving it a bit of thought, I will probably go with this guy (also used in the CMON link I posted above):

http://www.hfminis.co.uk/shop?product=wolf-%28b%29~hfh046&category=miniatures~fantasy-humans

He is pretty much perfect for what I have in mind, plus the CMON mini proves that the torso works with Terminator legs. The one problem is that it's a metal mini, and I'll need to do some sawing (which I hate), but I guess the overall look is what counts, right?

Cheers, mate!

And now for something completely different

To be honest with you, I’ve been in a bit of a motivational slump lately. Maybe it’s just the remains of my holiday laziness rearing its ugly head again, maybe it’s the murky weather outside, but I find myself with very little inclination to paint anything at the moment. However, this is not a case of complete hobby burnout: I love trawling the forums and looking at stuff. It’s only when it comes to the projects sitting unfinished on my desktop that I fall short.

So, apart from a rather big project (my contribution for the latest Painting/Modelling contest over at Throne of Skulls, which I’ll probably be unveiling rather soon), my work at the moment is pretty limited. In any case, I feel that the one thing I can do to restore my hobby mojo is not to force it, but to do things that take my fancy in pursuit of that elusive power: inspiration. Today’s post, then, will deal with one of those spontaneous moments of inspiration:

I’ve been thinking about converting some Space Wolves that have fallen to Khorne for a while now. Not for gameplay reasons, mind you, I just like the thought of a squad of Wolves transformed into berserkers in the heat of battle, discovering the wrath of Khorne that lies within them. It’s not even clear whether I will use these on the tabletop. And if I do, they’ll likely be played as normal CSM (or Khrone berzerkers, for that matter).

In any case, I think that these will be a great way of getting a slightly different perspective on traitors. You see, the original traitor legions have been at this game for so long that they have fully renounced their loyalist origins. And while there may be all kinds of anger, resentment and bitterness among them, they can at least feel assured in the knowledge that their entire legion joined what they considered to be the “right side” during Heresy (except, maybe for the Alpha Legion, where things are slightly more complicated…). But what about a Space Wolf who has to come to terms with the fact that his rage and subsequent betrayal have estranged him from the rest of his chapter forever? There should be all kinds of tasty, chaotic emotions and self-hatred there to explore, from a narrative standpoint. This was the beginning of the story of one Joras Turnpelt and his fellow traitorous Space Wolves…


Joras’ Great Company fought against Khorne’s Eternal Hunt, and given both sides’ ferocity in combat, the fight was extremely hard and unforgiving. The company’s Wolf Lord and Joras (his second in command at the time) didn’t see eye to eye regarding how to proceed: The Lord knew 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, in direct defiance of his superior’s orders. During the fighting, 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 themselves and the World Eaters at the same time. At 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…

Anyway, so much for my preliminary background sketch. As for the modelling part, I built a couple of test models using some really badly painted SW bitz and some rather rough Khorne berzerker parts that I had picked up from different auctions, rescued from the depths of several bitzboxes and the like:



The first model combines SW and CSM parts in equal measure. The torso and arms came pre-assembled as well as pre-painted, so I only added some chaos shoulderpads and a CSM head.



This guy uses an old berzerker body, combined with SW arms and a SW head. For some reason, he looks rather menacing, if you ask me.



With the third model, I wanted to explore the more barbaric side of the Space Wolves, so I used a bare head as well as an unarmoured arm from the WFB Chaos Marauders.

And here’s the whole “squad” so far:



To be honest with you, I cannot help but shudder inwardly at their partly painted horribleness right now, but rest assured that this will be changed as soon as I ‘ve managed to pick up some of Army Painter’s Uniform Grey basecoat at the FLGS. All in all, I am considering dark grey with silver trim for most of the armour, with the shoulderpads and some of the detail picked out in red (the same red I use on my World Eaters, in fact), with added brass trim. That should make them look slightly reminiscent of the original SW palette, while also nicely tying them into the rest of my World Eaters force.

Like I said, there’s very little actual gameplay reason for these models. I would just like to explore the modelling and painting opportunities as well as the narrative potential. Weird, huh? The again, the fact that these are mainly built using old SW and Khorne Berzerker parts I picked up from the bottoms of different bitzboxes, makes this a fancy that is really rather easy to indulge right now.

Oh, I also did a first mockup of Joras Turnpelt, of course:





As you can see, I did manage to find an alternate use for that doubleheaded axe I originally converted for my Lorimar model after all

All in all, this guy was inspired by DRommel’s excellent “Ljotolf the Kinslayer” model, so I used the same head. I wanted Joras to look like he was about to be rushing forward, swinging his axe in wide arcs, which was rather easy to achieve with the walking/running SW Terminator legs I still had. I also gave him a single Lightning Claw, just for the heck of it (I really like the asymmetrical look achieved by this). He’ll probably need a couple of additional bitz, and I am considering adding a Chaos Hound’s head to his fur cloak, but the basic build of the model is pretty much complete as this point.

So let’s see where this small project takes me. And let’s wind up this post with a closer look at Joras and his start of darkness. Enjoy!


When Joras came to, he was kneeling at the center of a circle of traitor legionaries, disarmed and bleeding from a dozen wounds. He looked around, seeing his surviving brothers. Now that the frenzy had left them, their eyes had the glazed-over dullness of someone who has just escaped a nightmare, only to wake up to an even more horrifying reality. Joras understood them perfectly. He was feeling the same.

In front of him, the circle of red and bronze parted, and an enormous figure emerged: A hulking traitor wearing a baroque suit of Terminator armour, the surfaces of which were encrusted with heretical symbols of the Blood God. The Chaos Lord’s gaunt features were entirely without expression, his dark eyes bored into Joras’. This had to be the monster itself: Lorimar, master of the World Eaters’ warband known as Khorne’s Eternal Hunt.

Tapping reserves he hadn’t realised he possessed, Joras threw himself at the traitor, his fists his only weapons, a blood curdling howl on his lips. He didn’t even see Lorimar move, as he backhanded him across the face with his armoured gauntlet, sending Joras sprawling to the ground again, where he had to draw a few ragged breaths before looking back at his enemy.

“Fight me!”, Joras roared.
“There does not seem too much fight left in you, loyalist dog.” The traitor’s voice was impossibly deep, a dark growl that chilled Joras to the bone.

Joras got up again with a wordless below, rushing at the Chaos Lord once more. This time, Lorimar swiftly drew a long, wickedly serrated blade, burning in an evil glow. The daemon weapon’s point came to rest against Joras’ throat, pinning him where he stod. “Fight me!”, he howled with frustration. Lorimar made a grating noise in his throat. It took Joras a moment to realise it was a chuckle.

“Fight you? Look at yourself: You are weak, broken, defeated. There would be no honour in taking your skull now. Besides…”, Lorimar’s eyes were aflame with cold fire, “it seems you took your first prey in the eyes of our Lord Khorne. It would not be right to take your life, now that your path to true glory has but begun.”

“Do not mock me, monster!” Joras growled. “This is madness!”

Lorimar chuckled again: “Oh, to be sure. When you killed your lord and gave in to your anger, it was madness that lay hidden within you. When you tore through both my warriors and your own brethren, it was madness that made your heart race. You howled with frenzy, …brother wolf, and something deep within you howled back. Indeed, madness has transformed you. The change is quite …uncanny.”

“Kill me then.” Joras whispered, suddenly feeling very tired.

Again, Lorimar chuckled. Joras wanted to make him shut up. Tear out his heart like wild beast. Rip off his smirking head and hold it aloft, howling out his victory and then… Joras felt his rage subside. And a terrible, yawning feeling of horror fill his guts with ice. Lorimar seemed to understand his thoughts, and he locked gazes with Joras once more. His next words were almost gentle:

“Oh, I might kill you yet, brother wolf. But not here, and not now. For after all, we now serve the same master.”


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

Thanks a lot for the kind words, guys! I realise that these last models are looking a little rough atm, but you can probably expect that to change pretty soon

@ Meade: The wolves do indeed make for rather interesting traitors, since they really have it in them all the time. All that barbarism and frenzy and pride in combination with their animalistic side mean that they are probably constantly in danger For my own traitorous wolves, I wanted to explore the idea that their treason was really more a spontaneous moment and less of a long decay into madness: I like the idea that one moment of weakness is really enough to damn them forever. And I think this has the potential of making Joras into a quite interesting character. We'll see...

As for the conversion and paintjob: You're right, he definitely needs some additional stuff to make him look more feral! When it comes to the paintjob, I realise that it'll be a delicate balance to maintain, but I think I have a pretty good idea of what I want to achieve. I should be able to paint the first test model soon...

Hey guys,

just wanted to let you know that I posted a rather detailed look at the new WFB chaos models along with a couple of conversion ideas over at my blog. I don't want to post all that stuff in this thread since it goes quite a bit beyond my World Eaters army, but in case anyone's interested, you are very welcome to take a look.

In other news, expect some new pictures of stuff I built on Friday.

Indeed, the Slaughterbrute could end up getting the short end of the stick once the (plastic?) GDs are released. Still, the kit would make an interesting alternative for the regular Maulerfiend model.

Alright, I also have something to show you today:

Shortly after getting back into 40k big time, I purchased an old Chaos Megaforce online. It was a great deal, giving me lots and lots of models to bolster the ranks of my World Eaters (as well as a Rhino and a Defiler). Three bikes were also part of the deal, but in those days, bikes weren’t all that hot from a rules perspective, so while I wanted to build them, I did not obsess over how well the models would turn out. Big mistake on my part, but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Anyway, I built a Chaos Lord on bike to represent Huntmaster Gerrax, Master of the Hounds. I am still reasonably pleased with the model



This guy was pretty much an amalgamation of all the great ideas I could find online. I also gave him a spear and slightly more ornate armour to make him look more like the hunter he was. And I think he really looks the part.

But there were two more bikes, and I put them together and used some berzerker parts to make the riders look like they were World Eaters. I also did a number of minuscule conversions to add cc weapons (and a Meltagun), but then I called them finished. Here’s what they looked like:



In hindsight, I would call these serviceable at best. What they are certainly not is the least bit visually exciting. And that’s why I didn’t feel the pull to actually paint them (or add any more bikers) for quite a long time. Even when the new codex made bikers very interesting again (especially for World Eaters armies), I just couldn’t be bothered to think about more bikes. The ones I already had didn’t seem to warrant any more attention to the subject.

But then, last week, I saw the bikes Biohazard had built on his Dakka thread . And I realised that this was what I actually wanted my bikes to look like: aggressive, dynamically posed and quite a bit more imposing than my own. So I immediately sat down, taking apart the bikers and adding a couple of bitz. I also started to think about how to use the bases as a means of making the models more interesting: Granted, I hadn’t done that with my old bikes at all, but I really should have, since it’s a crucial element!

In short, I finally did what I should have all along and went the extra mile.

For the first biker, I didn’t even change any of the original parts! I just tilted the bike to the side a bit and changed the rider’s position. Like so:









Quite a change, don’t you think? And all it took was a couple of minutes!

For the second biker, I was feeling a little more adventurous, so in addition to changing the model’s pose, I also added a couple of new parts. Here’s the result:











The model received a new axe and some new pauldrons (courtesy of the WFB Skullcrushers kit) as well as a bare head from a loyal Marine kit. I think he really looks like he means business now!

Concerning the Huntmaster, I didn’t change too much, since the model was busy enough as it was. I did however tilt the bike a little…







…and I also changed the position of the head to make it look like the Huntmaster was focusing on an enemy:



So, are these models completely fantastic and earth-shatteringly cool now? Nah, probably not. But they are much better than before, and that is what matters
Maybe I’ll have to add some additional skulls and chains to the bikes, but all in all, I already think they are much improved. What’s more, I actually feel motivated again to think about adding further bikes to my army. I am even considering building a bike with a sidecar, with a World Eater using it as some kind of “chariot” — wouldn’t that be a really cool idea, fitting nicely with the World Eaters’ gladiatorial traditions?

Anyway, what I learned from this is that you should’t settle for “quite alright” when building models! Go the extra mile, and you’ll probably end up with a model that is much cooler — and sometimes it can be as easy as just tilting this part or that a few degrees to the side! This doesn’t mean that you have to obsess over stuff for ages, just that you take some time to come up with something special!
It can also be a lot of fun to go through yourcollection of models and tweaking a model here and there, actually it's almost as as interesting as building something completely new! And finally, it’s great that there are always talented hobbyists around to steal ideas from

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

Thanks a lot, guys!

@ Yellowbeard: Unfortunately, there really isn't a good way to add a special weapon to a bike: Give it to the biker, and it ends up looking goofy. Add it to the bike itself, and it can only ever realistically be fired in the direction the bike is facing. That said, I am rather happy with my decision regarding the meltagun. It was also a very easy conversion with minimal cutting involved. As you can see with the Huntmaster, the Chaos Terminator combi-weapons also work reasonably well for this!

@ Meade: Oh, he is definitely keeping that backpack/banner-combo! It wasn't permanently attached yet, and I just forgot to tack it on when I took the new set of pictures. As for the sense of motion, I may add some skulls on chains and stuff like that to add a sense of motion to the bikes.

As for the bikes' angle, I am rather happy with that, to be honest. The mechanical shortcomings of Astartes bikes have already been thorougly discussed over in Biohazard's thread, so I don't think it's really all that bad when these end up looking slightly unrealistic/OTT. As a matter of fact, I am even considering adding a bike with the biker being catapulted from the saddle towards the enemy, brandishing his chainaxe We'll see...

That said, the beauty of this is that the bikes are only tacked to the bases as of now, so everything can still be changed.

Thanks a lot, guys! My painting motviation tends to be a bit haphazard atm, so I can't be entirely sure which model I am going to paint next. I could happily kitbash and convert new stuff all day, unfortunately... That said, look forward to a rather big painted model pretty soon

Meanwhile, I only have some more conversion work to offer you...

Remember those Chosen that came with Dark Vengeance? The models are so good that any chaos player should be happy enough to draft them into his forces, right?



So why haven’t I done any work on these? They are, without a doubt, some of the finest CSM models ever released, yet they have sat untouched in their box so far — what the heck is wrong with me?

Well, there may be a couple of reasons, actually: First of all, I already converted some Chosen for my army before Dark Vengeance came along. And while they may not look nearly as cool as these guys, they fit the look of my army. They also decidedly look like World Eaters, while the Dark Vengeance Chosen were designed to represent Chaos on a more global scale — and rightly so!

What this means, though, is that it is actually rather hard to find a place for these in my army. Plus I felt slightly reluctant to cut apart the beautiful models.
But as is so often the case, something happened that set things in motion. It all began with this guy:



He may actually be my least favourite Chosen model: While he is nicely detailed, the model has a slightly squat look to it when seen firsthand. He did have a very nice power axe, though, so I used this guy as a donor when the time came to re-arm Lord Captain Lorimar. After that, things didn’t look to good for the poor Chosen: Without a CC weapon left, it didn’t really look like this guy was being fast-tracked for promotion in the World Eaters’ 4th assault company.

But for some reason, I picked up the model recently and started to work on it: After all, the new challenge rules in Codex Chaos Space Marines meant I was in dire need of a skull champion or two wielding power weapons. And there was no reason why I shouldn’t use this guy for that, right?

So a short while later, this is what he looks like:







A pretty straightforward conversion, as you can see: I added some Khornate bunny ears which succeeded in making the model look decidedly more like a World Eater and also managed to balance out the somewhat squat-looking helmet. And of course, the model needed a new axe, courtesy of the WFB Chaos Knights:



Coincidentally, this is an axe blade identical to the ones I used to build the first version of the axe wielded by Lorimar (later replaced by the Chosen’s power axe) — that’s Karma for you…

Anyway, while this was a fairly simply conversion, I still think the model now makes for a rather imposing skull champion!

Motivated by my unexpected success, I then turned to this guy:



Again, a nice model, but he really doesn’t look like a World Eater. The fact that he’s armed with a Bolter doesn’t really help either. And due to the fact that there are actually two models of this particular design in the box, I could actually try a more involved conversion without destroying a unique model.

So I was feeling a little more adventurous this time around. Still, I got a bit carried away at some point, hacking and slashing and kitbashing away, until I finally came to and this guy was standing before me:



Quite a transformation, if I do say so myself…
As you can see, this is a far more involved conversion, only keeping the base model’s legs. I mostly added parts from the WFB Chaos Knights and the new Skullcrusher kit to build a pretty bad-ass looking Khornate champion:







What I especially like about this conversion is that it really developed quite organically without much of an overarching plan in place. It also looks quite different from the original model (and, again, much more like a servant of Khorne) now.

So it looks like I have found a place for the first two Chosen at last. I don’t doubt that their buddies will also find their calling in due time. In any case, I love the fact that the Dark Vengeance starter box is still fun to work with, even months after its release.

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

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...

 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.

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!

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

 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!

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!

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!

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?

Thanks, guys. Not long now...