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Some time ago, a friend of mine ordered the Berzerker conversion kit from Forge World because he wasn't real happy with the plastic 'zerkers. I can't really blame him - they haven't aged well at all and the running pose looks more like someone ice skating rather than hauling ass. He wanted to include Khârn in his army, but similarly, that figure hasn't aged well either. And to take things one step further, he's also not fond of what we refer to as the "Ears of Khorne" on the 'zerker helmets. I mentioned the possibility of a conversion and using one of the half-bare heads from the FW sprues with the idea that maybe the big guy would want to feel the blood spray on his face, and he liked that idea. My friend is also relatively new to the hobby so I offered to do the conversion in exchange for some future payment.

Now that I'm getting back into the swing of the sculpting stuff with my Angels of Vengeance, the idea of that conversion has been kicking around in my head. Originally, my friend wanted a very dramatic action-y pose, but the more I thought about that, the more I thought that along with the different look to this Khârn that he wanted, I didn't want to do the typical pose almost every conversion falls back on. The fluff from the previous Chaos Codex(not the current horror show, but the last decent one) always stuck with me, about the 'zerkers taking cover from artillery in a bombed out shrine and then everything goes quiet. They step outside and see all the guardsmen slain and the artillery destroyed, and then they see Khârn and are shocked, as if they didn't know he was going to be there.

Over the years, I grew to imagine Khârn, being the Chosen of Khorne and all that, more like a demon that just shows up at battles across the unvierse to hurl more trophies at the feet of his ever-hungry god. You don't take a drop pod or lander down to the surface from some bigger ship with this guy. His only allegiance is to Khorne, and if you see him on the field of battle, you better hope there's plenty enough bodies between the two of you to make good your escape.

At least that's my take on him.

The pose I had in mind was something a little less explosive, but maybe more intimidating. I kept seeing Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th movies pop into my head while I was running through possible ideas, and I always thought it was scarier that he never ran down any of his victims, but was this walking juggernaut; an implacable foe that there was no escape from no matter how fast you ran or how well you thought you had hidden yourself as though he was Death itself. The Blood God will have his due, after all.

So here's the rough 'sketch' I did earlier to get a feel for the pose and my friend seemed to like it. This will be a side project so the updates won't happen as often as my AoV guys:




Before anyone shouts out about the head choice, that's the one my friend wanted, so that's what it will be. Beyond that, any and all comments and critiquing are welcome.

-BCK

After much fuss and digging through bits boxes and boxes full of untouched sprues, I think I came up with something that will work for the much revered axe of Khârn:




On the left is Gorechild, then a regular 'Zerker chain axe, and finally a Forge World chain axe. I think it's a good balance of size for the axe and length for the haft to believe that it could have been wielded by a Primarch, once upon a time. I know it's very "in progress" right now(and toothless), but it gets the idea across, yeah?

And then the man himself:





Whatcha think?

-BCK

I think he looks cool, it's a really good start although I don't share your aversion to the Khorne bunny ears. Was Gorechild once wielded by a primarch? Won't it be tricky to do the teeth on it? My only concern is he doesn't look quite unhinged enough - he is striding forward purposefully and almost looks sane - is there anyway you can ramp up the crazy? And to make it look more like Kharn you could use some elements from the old model - the chains on the wrist, the skull on the belt, etc.

Well if he's going for the Friday the 13th Jason look. You'd have him slowly but purposefully striding towards the enemy delivering a blow that shatters bones and rends flesh as he swings his axe like it's a child's toy.

Can't wait to see more.

Bruticus wrote:I think he looks cool, it's a really good start although I don't share your aversion to the Khorne bunny ears.

I don't personally have an aversion to the Ears of Khorne, but my friend thinks they can look silly sometimes and didn't want them on the conversion.

Bruticus wrote:Was Gorechild once wielded by a primarch?

Yep. Angron had a massive two-handed pole axe named Brazentooth, the one you usually see in conversion models and the artwork, but later he had two one-handed axes, Gorefather and Gorechild, forged for him. Once he became a demon prince and got his giant black sword of killy death, he gave Gorechild to Khârn. Here's Angron and the kids from the cover art of "The Butcher's Nails":

Bruticus wrote:Won't it be tricky to do the teeth on it?

I have an idea for them, but if it doesn't work out, I might be in trouble.

Bruticus wrote:My only concern is he doesn't look quite unhinged enough - he is striding forward purposefully and almost looks sane - is there anyway you can ramp up the crazy? And to make it look more like Kharn you could use some elements from the old model - the chains on the wrist, the skull on the belt, etc.

Even in the 40k setting, I have a hard believing that anything besides demons could be seething with bloodthirsty rage all day long, every day, for years. Besides, as I mentioned above, I was going for a different feel for the posing on this. Some of the familiar details will be included, like his Champion of Khorne belt.

Shadowbrand wrote:Well if he's going for the Friday the 13th Jason look. You'd have him slowly but purposefully striding towards the enemy delivering a blow that shatters bones and rends flesh as he swings his axe like it's a child's toy.

Can't wait to see more.

Indeed!

More might be along faster than I thought. This intended side project seems to want to take a front seat lately.

Looks interesting...nice start!

Gorechild needs to be in his un-armored arm. The one with all the ripped muscles and stuff.

Also, he kinda looks like Bane in the upcoming Batman movie.

Great work! Can't wait to see the pistol.

Begel Dverl wrote:Gorechild needs to be in his un-armored arm. The one with all the ripped muscles and stuff.

Also, he kinda looks like Bane in the upcoming Batman movie.

Great work! Can't wait to see the pistol.

Agreed on all accounts. But its looking promising

Not sure I agree, I think the Kharn model looks really good currently but I will be intrested to see what you come up with.

The "bunny ears" are partial iconic on the khone side of CSM.

Anyway looks good!

KrimsunBaron wrote:Not sure I agree, I think the Kharn model looks really good currently but I will be intrested to see what you come up with.

The "bunny ears" are partial iconic on the khone side of CSM.

Anyway looks good!

It's a commission more or less, and the customer wants a new Khârn figure and no ears on him, despite how iconic they may be.


Here's an update with the axe in a new position:

Very nice! That face and pose makes him really menacing.

This is shaping up to be a truly epic conversion.

I had an idea for the teeth on Gorechild, but it didn't work out, so here it is with traditional teeth:




Oh, and do NOT Google "Gorechild" with Safe Search off. Trust me on this one. Your ability to sleep tonight will thank you.

Arm update!



I currently have greenstuff curing on the legs and the chest(making it deeper with a spacer between the halves) so I'll try to have more updates later tonight once they're safe to handle.

Nice work on the chains!

The chains are just a length of real chain secured to his arm with some greenstuff and a few dots of superglue.

Updated pics:

Looking very atmospheric so far.

Very soon his left hand will be filled with a bunch of severed heads.

Ok, now its looking badass to the extreme. Keep us updated

lol, thanks!

It's been looking pretty close to finished in my head for a week now, but I'm still conferring with my friend over little details and we haven't even talked about basing yet.

I will keep it updated, not to fear.

Looks good. I always hated the Kharn model.

Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:Very soon his left hand will be filled with a bunch of severed heads.

In that case, damn the pistols! Who needs 'em?

This is how a champion of Chaos should look. That's all I'm saying, bravo.

Deadshot wrote:Looks good. I always hated the Kharn model.

Thanks.

When I first got into the game right after 3rd launched, I remember thinking he looked pretty neat. I don't dislike the model but I just think it looks a little dated in comparison with the newer stuff. The figures back then were a little more cartoonish and sometimes even downright silly. In contrast, the current figures have a more realistic styling and it's almost a jarring contrast to see them together on the table.

Begel Dverl wrote:

Brother Chaplain Kage wrote:Very soon his left hand will be filled with a bunch of severed heads.

In that case, damn the pistols! Who needs 'em?

My friend and I didn't want the focal point of his menace to be the plasma pistol. It's a nasty weapon, sure, but if you had to choose between being shot with that or having him come at you with the gigantic chain axe, which would you choose?

So the scarier one is the focal point. The pistol will be holstered to ensure it's there for WYSIWYG and completeness.

Sir Samuel Buca wrote:This is how a champion of Chaos should look. That's all I'm saying, bravo.

/bow

I'm glad other people are thinking so!

OK, so... Khârn's short waist was bothering me. With the bigger, longer legs and the arms reaching almost to his knees, it needed something.

Also, the skull I wanted to use for the belt wouldn't fit unless there was more room, so there's that too:




Once this cures up, I'm going to widen out the chest some more.

-BCK